Six Records of a Floating Life (Chapter one: Wedded Bliss 18)

    "She breaks the rule! Two big cups!" Yun shouted. 

    "He called me 'common little fellow.' Why shouldn't I strike him?" protested Suyun.

    “He really means by the 'common little fellow' something which you don't understand. You finish these two cups first and I'll tell you."

    When Suyun had finished the two cups, Yun told her of our discussion about the jasmine at the Ts'anglang Pavilion. "Then the mistake is mine. I must be penalized again," said Suyun. And she drank a third cup. Yun said then that she had long heard of her reputation as a singer and would like to hear her sing. This Suyun did beautifully, beating time with her ivory chopsticks on a little plate. Yun drank merrily until she was quite drunk, when she took a sedan-chair and went home first, while I remained chatting with Suyun for a moment, and then walked home under the moonlight.

    At this time, we were staying in the home of our friend Lu Panfang, in a house called Hsiaoshuanglou. A few days afterwards, Mrs. Lu heard of the story from someone, and secretly told Yun, "Do you know that your hushand was drinking a few days ago at the Bridge of Ten Thousand Years with two sing-song girls?" "Yes, I do," replied Yun, " and one of the sing-song girls was myself." Then she told her the whole story and Mrs. Lu had a good laugh at herself.

    When I came back from Eastern Kwangtung in the seventh moon, 1794, there was a boy cousin-in-law of mine, by the name of Hsii Hsiufeng, who had brought home with him a concubine. He was crazy about her beauty and asked Yun to go and see her. After seeing her, Yun remarked to Hsiufeng one day, "She has beauty but no charm. " "Do you mean to say that when your husband takes a concubine, she must have both beauty and charm?" answered Hsiufeng. Yun replied in the affirmative. So from that time on, she was quite bent on finding a concubine for me, but was short of cash.

    At this time there was a Chekiang sing-song girl by the name of Wen Lenghsiang, who was staying at Soochow. She had composed four poems on the Willow Catkins which were talked about all over the city, and many scholars wrote poems in reply, using the same rhyme-words as her originals, as was the custom.

    There was a friend of mine, Chang Hsienhan of Wukiang, who was a good friend of Lenghsiang and brought her poems to me, asking us to write some in reply. Yun wasn't interested because she did not think much of her, but I was intrigued and composed one on the flying willow catkins which filled the air in May. Two lines which Yun liked very much were:

"They softly touch the spring sorrow in my bosom,

And gently stir the longings in her heart."

    On the fifth day of the eighth moon in the following year, my mother was going to see Huch'iu with Yun, when Hsienhan suddenly appeared and said, "I am going to Huch'iu, too. Will you come along with me and see a beautiful sing-song girl?" I told my mother to go ahead and agreed to meet her at Pant'ang near Huch'iu. My friend then dragged me to Lenghsiang's place. I saw that Lenghsiang was already in her middle-age, but she had a girl by the name of Hanyuan, who was a very sweet young maiden, still in her teens. Her eyes looked “like an autumn lake that cooled one by its cold splendour. After talking with her for a while, I learnt that she knew very well how to read and write. There was also a younger sister of hers, by the name of Wenyuan, who was still a mere child. I had then no thought of going about with a sing-song girl, fully realizing that, as a poor scholar, I could not afford to take part in the feast in such a place. But since I was there already, I tried to get along as best I could.

  "Are you trying to seduce me?" I said to Hsienhan secretly.

  "No," he replied, "someone had invited me today to a dinner in Hanyuan's place in return for a previous dinner. It happened that the host himself was invited by an important person, and Iam acting in his place. Don't you worry!"

    I felt then quite relieved. Arriving at Pant'ang, we met my mother's boat, and I asked Hanyuan to go over to her boat and meet her. When Yun and Han met each other, they instinctively took to each other like old friends, and later they went hand-in-hand all over the famous places on the hill. 

    Yun was especially fond of a place called "A Thousand Acres of Clouds" for its loftiness, and she remained there for a long time, lost in admiration of the scenery. We returned to the Waterside of Rural Fragrance where we tied up the boats and had a jolly drinking party together. When we started on our way home, Yun said, "Will you please go over to the other boat with your friend, while I share this one with Han?" We did as she suggested, and I did not return to my boat until we had passed the Tut' ing Bridge, where we parted from my friend and Hanyuan. It was midnight by the time we returned home.