Jin Ping Mei (金瓶梅）(Chapter 3)
Chapter Three: Wang Po (王婆), Paid to Be a Go-Between, Takes a Bribe; the Rake Sets His Snare and Secretly Makes His Advance
The poem says:
At first they faced each other as strangers still,
Then slowly thought there might be feeling there.
One meeting over cups before them,
Two eyes fell in love beneath the flowers.
New airs startled and half betrayed the heart;
Old names were asked in broken, blurred-out words.
Tonight the candle holds their shadows both,
And through the mind ten thousand crossings run.
Now Ximen Qing (西门庆), having begged Wang Po (王婆), had but one thought in his heart: he must meet that woman once face to face. So he said, “Godmother, if you truly bring this matter to success for me, I will give you ten taels of silver.” Wang Po (王婆) said, “Great Gentleman, listen to me. Of all things, the two words to steal a gleam are the hardest. What do I mean by steal a gleam? Why, what common folk now call a secret love affair. For such a thing, five conditions must all be present. First, one must have the looks of Pan An. Second, one must have a donkey-sized piece of goods. Third, one must have Deng Tong’s wealth. Fourth, one must be young and in his spring, and also soft, patient, and yielding, like a needle wrapped in cotton. Fifth, one must have leisure on his hands. Those five things are called Pan, Donkey, Deng, Youth, Leisure—Pan lü Deng xiao xian (潘驴邓小闲). If all are there, then the business may be had.”
Ximen Qing (西门庆) said, “I tell you plainly, I have all five. First, though my looks may not match Pan An, they pass well enough. Second, when I was younger and drifted about the lanes and alleys, I raised for myself a very fine great turtle indeed. Third, my house has some ready wealth. It does not equal Deng Tong’s, but it serves well enough for life. Fourth, I am patient beyond measure. She may beat me four hundred times, and I will never dream of returning her one blow. Fifth, I have idle time in plenty, else how could I come here so often? Godmother, only bring it about for me. Once all is made ready, I will reward you heavily.”
Wang Po (王婆) said, “Great Gentleman, you say the five are all there. Yet I know of one thing besides that may still hinder you, and often enough it makes the thing fail.”
Ximen Qing (西门庆) said, “Speak then. What is this one hindrance?”
Wang Po (王婆) said, “Great Gentleman, do not blame this old body for plain speaking. In all such stealing of the gleam, the hardest part lies there. In ten cases, even where money carries things to nine parts, nine hairs, and nine grains, there can still be failure. I know you have always been tight with your purse and not one to scatter money at random. That is the trouble.”
Ximen Qing (西门庆) said, “That is easily managed. I need only follow your word.”
Wang Po (王婆) said, “If Great Gentleman is willing to spend, then this old woman has one fine scheme. It will certainly bring Great Gentleman face to face with the creature.”
Ximen Qing (西门庆) said, “What fine scheme is that?”
Wang Po (王婆) laughed and said, “It is late today. Go home for now, and come back in half a year or three months, and we shall discuss it.”
Ximen Qing (西门庆) pleaded, “Godmother, do not play games with me. Only bring it about for me, and your kindness will be richly repaid.”
Wang Po (王婆) laughed aloud. “Great Gentleman grows flustered again. This scheme of mine may not win a place in the Temple of King Wucheng, but it is stronger than Sun Wu’s drill of the women soldiers. Eight or nine times in ten it takes. Since things stand thus, I will tell you plainly today. This creature, though she comes from a low beginning, is sharp as a hundred clever girls. She can sing and play, sew and stitch, sing songs from every house, and play backgammon and chess. There is nothing she does not know. Her little name is Jinlian (金莲). Her family name is Pan (潘). She was once the daughter of Pan the Tailor (潘裁) outside the South Gate, and was sold into Zhang Dahu’s (张大户) house to learn music and song. Later, because the old householder had grown aged, she was sent out, and Wu Dalang (武大郎) got her for nothing, not paying one copper for her. That creature does not often come out. When this old body has nothing to do, I often go over and sit gossiping with her. And when she has business, she asks me to help settle it. She too calls me godmother. These past days Wu Dalang (武大郎) goes out early. If Great Gentleman means to do this thing, then buy one bolt of blue silk, one bolt of white silk, one bolt of white silk gauze, and ten taels of good cotton. Bring all of it here to me. Then I shall go over and ask to borrow her almanac, and beg her to choose a lucky day for cutting clothes, and say I mean to call in a tailor. If, hearing me, she picks a date yet refuses to make them for me, then the matter ends there. But if she says in delight, ‘I will make them for you myself,’ and I need not fetch a tailor, then there is one part of light in it. If I can get her to come make them, and stitch for me with her own hand, then there are two parts. If she comes to sew, then at noon I shall lay out wine, food, and sweetmeats and ask her to eat. If she says it is not proper and insists on taking the work home to do, then the matter ends. But if she says nothing and eats, then there are three parts. On that day you must not come. Not until the third day, about noon. Then you must dress yourself out neatly and come, with a cough for the signal. At the door you are to call, ‘How is it I have not seen my godmother Wang (王干娘) for so many days? I have come to buy a cup of tea.’ I shall come out and invite you in to sit and drink tea. If, when she sees you, she gets up and goes home, can I pull her back? Then the matter ends. But if, when she sees you come in, she does not rise, then there are four parts. Once you sit down, I shall say to the creature, ‘This gentleman is the benefactor who gave me the cloth for the clothes. Much thanks to him.’ Then I shall praise Great Gentleman in every way, and you may praise her needlework. If she does not answer and draw you in, then the matter ends. But if she answers you and speaks, then there are five parts. Then I shall say, ‘It is hard on this lady too, to use her own hand to help me so kindly. I owe much to you two benefactors, one giving money, the other giving labor. Had this old body not been troublesome enough to beg it of her, it would be rare indeed to have this lady here. Great Gentleman, play the host for me and buy a little wine to wet the lady’s hands.’ Then you are to take out silver and ask me to go buy it. If she rises and leaves at once, can I pull her back? Then the matter ends. But if she does not move, the thing becomes easier. Then there are six parts. I shall take the silver and, as I go out, say to her, ‘I trouble the lady to keep Great Gentleman company a while.’ If she rises and goes home, I cannot stand in her way. Then the matter ends. But if she does not rise, then all goes well again, and there are seven parts. When I come back with the things and set them on the table, I shall say, ‘Lady, put your work aside a little and have a cup of wine. It is not often that a gentleman spends his money so freely.’ If she refuses to sit at table and eat with you and goes off, then the matter ends. But if she does not rise, then that is good again, and there are eight parts. Once she has drunk enough and the talk has gone well into the harbor, I shall pretend we are out of wine and send you to buy more. You will hand me silver, and I will go to buy wine and fruit to match it. Then I shall pull the door shut and leave the two of you locked in the room together. If she grows flustered and runs home, then the matter ends. But if I shut the door and she does not grow flustered, then there are nine parts—only one part lacking. That last part is the hard one. Great Gentleman, when you are in the room, use a few sweet words and lead matters in gently. You must not be rash or rough, nor go straight to grabbing and pawing and spoil the whole affair. If you do that, I will not answer for you. First brush one pair of chopsticks off the table with your sleeve. Then pretend to pick them up, and as you do, squeeze her foot once with your hand. If she makes an outcry, I shall come in and rescue things. Then the matter ends, and it will be hard to mend again. But if she says nothing, then the business is ten parts lit and complete. And when these ten parts of light are done, how will you thank me?”
When Ximen Qing (西门庆) heard this, he was overjoyed. “It may not hang in the Hall of Lingyan, but, Godmother, your scheme is a matchless one, a truly exquisite scheme!”
Wang Po (王婆) said, “Only do not forget the ten taels you promised me.”
Ximen Qing (西门庆) said, “Once a man has had even one strip of orange peel, let him not forget Lake Dongting. When may this scheme be put in motion, Godmother?”
The old woman said, “Come back tonight, and I shall have an answer for you. I will go over now, before Wu Dalang (武大郎) returns, borrow her almanac, and tell it all to her little by little. You must quickly send the silks and cotton over. Do not delay.”
Ximen Qing (西门庆) said, “Since this is my own affair, how should I dare fail you?” So he took leave of Wang Po (王婆), left the tea-shop, and went into the street to buy three bolts of silk and gauze, together with ten taels of fine clean cotton. Then at home he called Daian (玳安) and had him wrap the things in a felt cloth and carry them straight into Wang Po’s (王婆) house. Wang Po (王婆) joyfully received them and sent the boy away. So it is:
When shall the cloud and rain of Mount Wu be joined?
Let not King Xiang fail the terrace he built in Chu.
At once Wang Po (王婆), having taken in the silks and cotton, opened her back door and went across to Wu Dalang’s (武大郎) house. The woman received her and went upstairs with her to sit. Wang Po (王婆) said, “Why has the lady not come over these last few days to drink tea in my poor house?”
The woman said, “These few days my body has felt unwell, and I have been too lazy to stir abroad.”
Wang Po (王婆) said, “Does the lady have an almanac at home? Lend it me for a look. I need to choose a day for cutting some clothes.”
The woman said, “What clothes is godmother making?”
Wang Po (王婆) said, “It is because this old body is forever sick in nine parts out of ten. If suddenly I should meet some mountain-high or river-deep mischance, and my son is not at home...”
The woman said, “How is it I have not seen Elder Brother for so long?”
Wang Po (王婆) said, “That brat followed a traveler off somewhere and has not sent back one word. This old body worries over him every day and cannot set her heart down.”
The woman said, “How old is Elder Brother this year?”
Wang Po (王婆) said, “That fellow is seventeen.”
The woman said, “Why not find him a marriage and have a daughter-in-law to lend godmother a hand?”
Wang Po (王婆) said, “That is just the point. There is no one in the house. When this old body has patched one thing from east and another from west, sooner or later I must find him someone. When he returns, I shall see to it. As things stand now, I wheeze and cough by day and by night. My body feels as if broken to pieces. I cannot sleep lying down. It is all pain. So for now I mean to make ready the clothes that are to send me on my last journey. There is one rich gentleman who often comes to drink tea in my poor house. Whenever his household needs a doctor, a servant girl, or a marriage broker, and sees how decent and reliable I am, there is no great or small matter in which he does not look after me. He even gave me a whole set of burial clothes—silk and lining, all complete—and with them a fair amount of good cotton. It has lain in my house more than a year, and I have never yet been able to get it made. This year I feel myself failing badly indeed, and besides, by bad luck there has come an intercalary month. Since I have two idle days at the moment, I would like to have them made, yet the tailor has been squeezing and pressing me, always saying he is too busy with other work to come. I cannot tell how bitter that is.”
When the woman heard this, she smiled and said, “I fear only that I may not make them to godmother’s liking. If godmother does not despise my work, these few days I am rather idle. What if I made them myself for you?”
The old woman, hearing this, piled smiles upon her face and said, “If I may have the honor of the lady’s noble hand at the work, then even in death I shall go with profit. I have long heard how fine the lady’s needlework is, but did not dare trouble you.”
The woman said, “What difficulty is there in that? Since I have promised godmother, I must certainly make them for you. Take the almanac and let someone choose an auspicious day under the yellow way, and then I shall begin.”
Wang Po (王婆) said, “Lady, do not pretend that this old body knows nothing. In poems, songs, and the characters in the books of all the schools, you know who can say how much. How should you still need another to read an almanac for you?”
The woman smiled faintly and said, “Your servant lost her schooling from childhood.”
The old woman said, “That is well said, well said,” and handed her the almanac. The woman took it in her hand and looked through it a while, then said, “Tomorrow is a broken day. The day after is no good either. Not until the day beyond that is there a proper day for cutting cloth.”
Wang Po (王婆) snatched the almanac back in one hand and hung it up on the wall. “If the lady is willing to bring this about for me, that in itself is one lucky star. Why should I still need to choose a day? I too had someone look at it, and he said tomorrow is indeed a broken day. Yet this old body thought that for cutting cloth there is no need to fear a broken day.”
The woman said, “For burial clothes, a broken day is exactly the right one.”
Wang Po (王婆) said, “Since the lady is willing to do me this favor, then I grow bold. Only I must trouble the lady to begin tomorrow and come over to my poor house.”
The woman said, “Why not bring the things here and let me make them?”
Wang Po (王婆) said, “It is because this old body wants to watch the lady at her work, and besides I fear having no one by the door.”
The woman said, “If it is like that, then I will come after the midday meal tomorrow.”
Wang Po (王婆) thanked her a thousand times, went downstairs, and that night reported the whole matter back to Ximen Qing (西门庆), fixing the day after next as certain. That night there is nothing to tell.
Next morning at dawn Wang Po (王婆) put her room in order, laid out her sewing things, made ready tea and hot water, and waited at home. As for Wu Dalang (武大郎), after breakfast he took up his carrying pole and went out. The woman hung up the curtain, told Ying’er (迎儿) to mind the house, and came through the back door to Wang Po’s (王婆) place. The old woman was glad beyond measure. She brought her in to sit and brewed for her a strong tea steeped with walnuts and pine nuts. Then, after wiping the table clean, she brought out the three bolts of silk and gauze. The woman measured them, cut them to proper lengths, and set to stitching. The old woman watched and cried out in praise without ceasing: “What skill! This old body has lived sixty or seventy years, and never yet with these eyes has seen such needlework.” The woman sewed till noon. Wang Po (王婆) then laid out wine and food for her and served her a bowl of noodles besides. After she had sewn a little longer, evening drew near. She put her work away and went home. Just then Wu Dalang (武大郎), carrying his pole, came in by the door, and the woman hurried to pull the door and drop the curtain. Wu Dalang (武大郎) came into the room and saw that his wife’s face was somewhat flushed. He asked, “Where have you come from?”
The woman answered, “It was only that godmother next door begged me to make some burial clothes for her, and at noon she laid out wine, food, and sweetmeats and pressed me to eat.”
Wu Dalang (武大郎) said, “You ought not to have eaten her things. We too may have need of her one day. Since she begged you to make the clothes, you should have come home yourself and eaten a little here. It is not worth much, yet one ought not to trouble her. If you go again tomorrow to work, carry some money with you and buy a little wine and food in return. There is a saying: a near neighbor is better than distant kin. One must not lose the ways of human feeling. If she will not let you repay her there, then bring the work home and finish it here for her.” So it is:
The old woman’s snare was deep-laid and close-woven,
But simple Dalang (大郎) had no ear for the tune.
He sent money after wine to pay back craft and treachery,
And with his own hands offered up his wife to others.
When the woman heard Wu Dalang’s (武大郎) words, there was nothing more that night.
The next day after the midday meal Wu Dalang (武大郎) shouldered his pole and went out. Wang Po (王婆) then came slipping over to invite the woman. The woman went to her house, brought out the work, and stitched at it again. Wang Po (王婆) busied herself making tea and gave her tea to drink. By the time the sewing had gone on till noon, the woman drew three hundred cash from her sleeve and said to Wang Po (王婆), “Godmother, let your servant buy you a little wine to drink.”
Wang Po (王婆) said, “Aiya, what sense would there be in that? I was the one who troubled the lady to work here. How can I let the lady pay instead? The old woman’s wine and food will not be eaten to ruin.”
The woman said, “It is only that my clumsy husband charged me to do so. If godmother thinks of me as an outsider, then I may as well take the work home and finish it there for you.”
When the old woman heard this, she said, “So Dalang (大郎) truly understands such things! Since the lady speaks this way, I will take it for the moment.” Inwardly she feared only that some disturbance might spoil the matter, so she added some of her own money and bought better wine and better dishes and entertained the woman with great care. Good reader, take note: however fine and careful a woman may be in this world, if someone uses little attentions of that sort on her, nine times out of ten she will be led along the path. The old woman laid out wine, food, and sweetmeats, and the woman ate with her. Then she sewed a little longer. As evening came on, she received a thousand thanks and went home.
Let us not be long-winded. On the third day, after breakfast, Wang Po (王婆), having only waited till Wu Dalang (武大郎) had gone out, came over to the back door and called, “Lady, this old body grows bold.” The woman answered down from upstairs, “Your servant was just about to come.” So the two met and went together into Wang Po’s (王婆) room, sat down, and took up the sewing again. The old woman brewed tea for her as before, and there is no need to say more of that. The woman sewed till about midday. Now as for Ximen Qing (西门庆), he had hardly been able to wait for this day. He dressed himself out in full order, cap and robes all neat, carried three or five taels of silver on him, took a gilt Sichuan fan in his hand, and came swaying straight toward Purple Stone Street (紫石街). When he reached Wang Po’s (王婆) door, he gave a cough and called, “Godmother Wang (王干娘), how is it I have not seen you these last days?”
The old woman, playing her part, answered, “Well now, who is it that calls your old mother?”
Ximen Qing (西门庆) said, “It is I.”
The old woman hurried out, looked, and laughed. “I wondered who it might be. So it is Great Gentleman! You have come at just the right moment. Pray come inside and take a look.” Then she caught hold of his sleeve and tugged him into the room, and said to the woman, “This is the gentleman who gave the cloth for my clothes.”
Ximen Qing (西门庆) opened his eyes wide and looked upon the woman. Her cloudlike hair was piled in dark green folds, and spring seemed to bloom from her powdered face. She wore a white cotton blouse above, with a peach-red skirt and a blue sleeveless jacket, and was seated in the room sewing clothes. When she saw Ximen Qing (西门庆) come in, she lowered her head. Ximen Qing (西门庆) at once bent himself forward in greeting. The woman immediately set down her work and returned him a deep bow. Wang Po (王婆) then said, “Thanks to the gentleman’s bolts of silk and gauze, which have lain in my house more than a year without ever being made, and thanks to this lady next door who has kindly used her own hand and finished them for me, all is now done. Truly she sews as fast as a loom, and so well and so close that it is a marvel. Great Gentleman, come here and have a look.”
Ximen Qing (西门庆) took up the garment and looked at it, praising it as he did so. “This lady,” he said, “has such famous needlework. Such a hand is like a goddess’s.” The woman lowered her head and smiled. “The gentleman must not mock me.”
Ximen Qing (西门庆), pretending not to know, asked Wang Po (王婆), “Godmother, if I may ask, of what household is this lady the wife?”
Wang Po (王婆) said, “You guess.”
Ximen Qing (西门庆) said, “How could such a one as I ever guess it?”
Wang Po (王婆) laughed aloud. “Great Gentleman, sit down, and I will tell you plainly.” Then Ximen Qing (西门庆) sat facing the woman. The old woman said, “Now let Great Gentleman know it all. The day you passed beneath the eaves and were struck, that blow fell in a very good place.”
Ximen Qing (西门庆) said, “Do you mean it was this very lady who dropped the curtain-rod on me that day at the door? I did not know whose household she belonged to.”
The woman lowered her head still more and smiled. “That day your servant struck by mistake. The gentleman must not blame me.”
Ximen Qing (西门庆) answered quickly, “I would not dare.”
Wang Po (王婆) said, “This is the very one. She is the wife of Wu Dalang (武大娘子) next door.”
Ximen Qing (西门庆) said, “So that is how it stands. I have been remiss in not recognizing it sooner.”
Wang Po (王婆), turning toward the woman, said, “Lady, do you know this gentleman?”
The woman said, “I do not.”
The old woman said, “Then let the lady know. This gentleman is one of the rich men of our county. Even the county magistrate has dealings with him. He is called Great Gentleman Ximen (西门大官人). At the county gate he keeps an apothecary shop. In his house money runs past the Northern Dipper, grain rots away in the storehouses, what is yellow is gold, what is white is silver, what is round is pearl, what shines is treasure. He has rhinoceros horn and elephant ivory too. The First Lady in his house—I myself made that match—is a daughter of the Thousand-Household Wu (吴千户), sharp and clever in a hundred ways.”
Then she turned and asked, “Great Gentleman, how is it you do not come to my poor house for tea more often?”
Ximen Qing (西门庆) said, “It is only that these last days there has been a marriage arranged for my little daughter, and I have had no leisure.”
The old woman said, “To what house has Great Sister (大姐) been promised? Why did you not ask this old body to broker it?”
Ximen Qing (西门庆) said, “She has been promised to the Chen house, kin by marriage to Commander Yang (杨提督) of the Eight Hundred Thousand Imperial Guards in Dongjing. Their son Chen Jingji (陈敬济) is only seventeen and still goes to school. It was not that we did not ask a go-between. On their side a certain Wen-sao came to ask for the card, and on our side we also used Xue Sao (薛嫂), who is always going in and out of our house selling kingfisher ornaments. The two of them together stood as matchmakers for this affair. If godmother is willing to come, then tomorrow, when we send the first tea, I shall have someone come and invite you.”
Wang Po (王婆) laughed loudly. “This old body was only teasing Great Gentleman. We matchmakers are all born of dog-wombs. When others are arranging the match, there is never any place for me; and when the rice is cooked and done, who would willingly let this old body share even one spoon? There is an old saying: one trade presses on another. When the bride has entered the door tomorrow, then after three or five days I may bring a bit of courtesy and go make my round, and perhaps beg half a table or a whole one out of it. That is the proper course. Why should I go and fight over the matter with others?”
So the two traded remarks back and forth for a while. The old woman did nothing but praise Ximen Qing (西门庆) and chatter on, while the woman kept her head lowered and stitched. So it is:
Since old times, women’s nature runs like water;
Behind a husband’s back they often steal with other men.
Jinlian (金莲) had already set her heart on Ximen Qing (西门庆),
And spring lust in her would not be governed.
Ximen Qing (西门庆), seeing that Jinlian (金莲) showed some feeling and pleasure toward him, longed then and there to be made into a pair with her. Wang Po (王婆) went and made two cups of tea, handed one to Ximen Qing (西门庆) and one to the woman, and said, “Lady, do Great Gentleman the kindness of sharing tea with him.” Then she turned and touched her own face with her hand. Ximen Qing (西门庆) already knew that there were five parts of light in the matter. Since ancient days, “tea furthers the match in affairs of love, and wine is lust’s true go-between.” Wang Po (王婆) then said, “Had Great Gentleman not come, this old body would not have dared invite you to your face. One thing is that fate brought the meeting; another is that you have come at the perfect moment. There is a saying: one guest need not trouble two hosts. Great Gentleman is the one who paid the money, and this lady is the one who lent her labor. Much thanks are owed to you both, my two benefactors. If this old body had not begged in her clumsy way, it would be hard indeed to find this lady here at such a time. Great Gentleman, be the host for this old body and take out some silver, so that I may buy a little wine and food to wet the lady’s hands. What say you?”
Ximen Qing (西门庆) said, “I had not thought to reach so far, but silver I have here.” Then he drew from his purse a lump of about one tael and handed it to Wang Po (王婆), telling her to go prepare wine and food. The woman said, “There is no need to put yourself to such trouble,” yet as she said it she did not rise. Wang Po (王婆) took the silver and, as she went out, said, “I trouble the lady to keep Great Gentleman company a little while. I shall go and return at once.”
The woman said, “Godmother, spare yourself,” yet she too did not rise. So Wang Po (王婆) went out and left Ximen Qing (西门庆) and the woman alone in the room.
Ximen Qing (西门庆) fixed both eyes upon the woman and never turned them away. The woman too stole glances at Ximen Qing (西门庆), then lowered her head and kept at her sewing. Before long Wang Po (王婆) returned, having bought ready-cooked roast goose, roast duck, cooked meat, fresh pickles, and fine little fruits. She set them all out on dishes and arranged them upon the table in the room. Then she said to the woman, “Lady, put the work aside a little and drink a cup of wine.”
The woman said, “You may keep Great Gentleman company yourself. I am not fit.”
The old woman said, “It is meant especially to wet the lady’s hands. Why speak so?” As she spoke, she set the dishes before them, and the three sat down while the wine was poured. Ximen Qing (西门庆) lifted a cup of wine and said, “Godmother, help me urge the lady to empty a few cups.” The woman bowed in thanks and said, “Your servant’s measure is shallow. I cannot drink.”
Wang Po (王婆) said, “This old body knows full well that the lady can drink deep. Pray open your heart and take two cups.” The woman took the wine in her hand and made a respectful bow to each of the two men. Ximen Qing (西门庆) picked up his chopsticks and said, “Godmother, choose some dishes for the lady on my behalf.” The old woman picked out the best morsels and passed them over to the woman. Three rounds of wine were poured in a row. Then the old woman went off to warm more wine.
Ximen Qing (西门庆) said, “I would not dare ask lightly: what spring age has the lady reached?”
The woman, head lowered, answered, “Twenty-five.”
Ximen Qing (西门庆) said, “Then the lady is of the same year as the lowly wife in my own house, also a gengchen year, under the dragon. She was born at midnight on the fifteenth day of the eighth month.”
The woman answered again, “To compare Heaven and earth in that way is too much for your servant.”
Wang Po (王婆) cut in and said, “What a fine and careful lady, sharp and bright in a hundred ways, and not for nothing so skilled with needle and thread. The books of all the schools, backgammon, chess, cards, and writing slips—she knows them all. And she writes a fine hand too.”
Ximen Qing (西门庆) said, “Where is such a one to be found?”
Wang Po (王婆) said, “This old body does not mean to speak ill of anyone, but in Great Gentleman’s house, for all the many women there, where could one find another to match this lady?”
Ximen Qing (西门庆) said, “That is just it. It is a long story. I was born with a thin lot in fate and have never yet brought a truly good one into my house.”
Wang Po (王婆) said, “Surely Great Gentleman’s first wife was a good one.”
Ximen Qing (西门庆) said, “Do not speak of it. If my first wife were still alive, my house would not be so without a master, my rooms all upside down. Now though there are three, five, seven mouths at home eating my food, none attends to anything.”
The old woman clucked and said, “I had quite forgotten—how many years has it been since the First Lady died?”
Ximen Qing (西门庆) said, “What is the use of speaking it? My first wife, née Chen (陈氏), though of humble stock, was bright and capable in a hundred ways and stood in for me in every matter. Unluckily she died, and more than three years have passed since then. Since then I have taken this present burden of a wife, and she is always sick and takes no care of things, so that the affairs of the house are all seven times upside down and eight times awry. Why else do you think I keep coming out into the street? At home I do nothing but swallow vexation.”
Wang Po (王婆) said, “Great Gentleman, do not blame me for plain speech. Neither your former wife nor your present one had this lady’s hand with needle and thread, nor this bearing and appearance.”
Ximen Qing (西门庆) said, “Even the women in my chambers are not, like this lady, so full of charm.”
The old woman laughed and said, “Great Gentleman, that outside establishment you keep in East Street—how is it you never invited this old body there for tea?”
Ximen Qing (西门庆) said, “That is only Zhang Xichun (张惜春), who sings slow tunes. I see her as a woman of the roads and have no great liking for her.”
The old woman said again, “And with Li Jiao’er (李娇儿) from the singing quarter, Great Gentleman has kept company a long while.”
Ximen Qing (西门庆) said, “That one I have already married into the house. If only she knew how to manage a household, I would set her up as principal wife.”
Wang Po (王婆) said, “And what of the good terms you kept with Zhuo Erjie(卓二姐)?”
Ximen Qing (西门庆) said, “Do not mention Zhuo Diu’er (卓丢儿). I too had already brought her into the house as third wife. Lately she took some small disease and then died.”
The old woman smacked her lips. “Dear me, dear me! If there were one like this lady here, suited to Great Gentleman’s mind, would it be no matter to bring her into your house and speak of it?”
Ximen Qing (西门庆) said, “My father and mother are both dead. I am master of my own affairs. Who would dare say me nay?”
Wang Po (王婆) said, “I was only jesting. Where at short notice is there to be found one who fits Great Gentleman’s mind so well?”
Ximen Qing (西门庆) said, “Why should there not be? It is only that my lot in marriage is thin, and such a one has never yet crossed my path.”
So Ximen Qing (西门庆) and the old woman traded one saying for another a while longer. Then Wang Po (王婆) said, “The wine is out again at just the right moment. Great Gentleman must not blame this old body for sending you. How would it be if I went and bought another bottle?” Ximen Qing (西门庆), reaching again into his purse, had three or four taels of loose silver left, and gave it all to Wang Po (王婆), saying, “Godmother, take it. If more is needed, only fetch it. What is left over, godmother may simply keep.” The old woman thanked him and rose. Glancing sidewise at the painted one, she saw that with three cups of wine gone into her belly, spring desire had begun to stir. The two were already speaking back and forth and each had his mind set. The woman only kept her head lowered and did not rise. So it is:
Meaning in the eyes and feeling in the brows had not yet ceased,
When fate drew together a pair in the face of passing charm.
Wang Po (王婆), greedy for bribes, had no other skill at all,
Only a tongue of flowers and a clever mouth.