Ni the usurer proves impulsively generous when drunk.

Ni the usurer proves impulsively generous when drunk. A lovelorn maid

gets queer ideas about a lost handkerchief.

WHEN BLACK JADE TURNLD ROUND THERE .WAS LOTUS, THE STOLEN

slave girl and daughter of Shih Ying, standing before her.

"Stupid creature to frighten me so!" said Black Jade, angrily. "What

are you looking for here?"

"I am looking for my young mistress, Miss Precious Clasp, but I can‐ 

not find her anywhere. And your maid Cuckoo has been inquiring for

you. Madame Cheng has sent you a package of tea from the new

hai vest. Would you please come and receive the gift."

Black Jade set out hand in hand with Lotus towards her pavilion.

She accepted the tea from the new harvest, and of the best quality,

which her Aunt Cheng had just sent her and kept Lotus with her for a

while. She found her company pleasant in her present state of mind.

She discussed with her the excellence of this tapestry and the charm of

that piece of embroidery, and did not let her go until they had played

a game of chess and read some passages from a book together. But let

us now leave those two alone for a while and talk of Pao Yu.

When he got back to his dwelling with Pearl he found the maid

Mandarin Duck lying on his divan examining a piece of embroidc y

which Pearl had begun.

"Where have you been hiding?" she asked Pao Yu when he entered.

"The old Tai tai sent over for you quite a long time ago. You are to

hurry across and visit your sick uncle. Quick! Change your clothes."

While the maid Pearl went into the next room to fetch his visiting

clothes, he sat on the edge of the divan and pushed his slippers off with

his toes. Then he turned round and, taking advantage of Pearl's ab‐ 

sence, thoroughly inspected Mandarin Duck, who waa lying behind

him. She was Tying with her face towards the wall and was so absorbed

in the embroidery that she no longer noticed him. He found her most

bewitching, in her little bright red silk jacket over the green bodice and

the white satin sash which encircled her slender waist. And he could

not resist bending over her neck eagerly to sniff the fragrance which

emanated from her, and to stroke her back playfully.

"Dear Mei mei, do let me lick a little of the pink stuff from your

lips," he whispered, nestling close up to her and encircling her with his

arm and leg.

"Come and look, Pearl!" cried the girl, laughing loudly as she tried

to disengage herself from him. "You have been with hyn goodness

knows how long, and you have not yet taught him to behave."

Pearl hurried along with a bundle of clothes in her arms. With one

glance she grasped the situation.

"I see that all my good teaching is in vain," she said, turning to Pao

Yu. "If that ever happens again I will leave at once."

Pao Yu kept a rather shamefaced silence, changed his clothes, and

went off to his grandmother accompanied by two maids. In the fore‐ 

court of her pavilion he found his servants already waiting with his

saddled horse, to take him to Prince Shieh. As he was mounting his

horse while at the same time exchanging a few words with Cousin Chia

Lien, who had just come back from a ride, he heard a young man call‐ 

ing up to him from the side: "Tsing an, Uncle!"

Pao Yu looked down from the saddle. The young man might have

been eighteen or nineteen years old. He was slender and well built, his

finely formed face seemed somehow familiar, but Pao Yu could not

recall his name or who his family were.

"Why on earth are you staring at him like that? Do you not know

him? He is our nephew Little Yun,. son of our sister‐in‐law Five,"

Cousin Lien informed him, laughing.

"Oh, of course! I remember him now. And the boy behaves as if he

were my son!"

"Don't be funny! He is four or five years older than you are,"

laughed Cousin Lien.

"Hello, how old are you, then?" asked Pao Yu condescendingly.

"Eighteen," replied Little Yun smiling and added with quick wit:

"No doubt my worthy uncle is thinking of the proverb of the grand‐ 

parents who have kept themselves until old age as young as the child in

the cradle and of the grandchildren who are old before their years.

Now, even if I surpass you somewhat in years, that does not prevent

your surpassing me in worth as the sun surpasses the mountain, and

since my real father is dead, \ would deem myself most happy if you

would do me the honof of making me your adopted son."

"At the moment I have no time for you, but come and visit me to‐ 

morrow and we shall have a cup of tea and a good chat," said Pao Yu,

flattered. "I shall show you the park. But keep clear of the girls."

And with a salute, he rode off, followed by the troop of servants, to

the dwelling of Prince Shieh. His attention pleased the Prince, who

after a brief greeting sent him off to the Princess. It turned out that

Prince Shieh's indisposition was not very serious; he had only caught

a slight cold. The Princess kept Pao Yu to dinner, and ! found hir

cousins there also, and so he returned to the Park of Delightful Vision

in their company. But let us return now to Little Yun.

Little Yun belonged to a poor branch of the Chia clan, and being the

only son of a widow, he was intent upon finding occupation and a liveli‐ 

hood by rendering occasional small services to his rich and fashionable

relatives. His visit to the Yungkuo palace today had this end in view.

"Is there anything for me to do?" he asked his uncle Lien when Pao

Yu had ridden away.

"I had something in view for you recently, but unfortunately my

wife has meantime given this worjc to Chia Lin, who also needed it

urgently. However, there will soon be various jobs in the garden to do,

and my wife* has promised me that she will give you the task of super‐ 

intending them. I cannot do anything for you today, but come round

again in the morning immediately after the roll call and you will have

an opportunity of presenting your petition to my wife in person. But

now excuse me; I have an appointment."

Little Yun thanked him and went off. On the way he said to himself

that it would do his prospects good if he could win the favor of the

almighty Madame Phoenix by means of some little attention. But where

was he to get money for a gift? He decided to look up his maternal

uncle, the spice and provision dealer Pu, and to extract something from

him.

"I need your assistance, dear Uncle," he said to him‐. "Do please let

me have four ounces of camphor and four ounces of musk on credit. I

will pay you promptly at the Mid‐Harvest Festival."

Uncle Pu put on a sour grin. "I am sorry," he said, "that I cannot

enter into such credit transactions. Only a short time ago one of my

employees abused my good nature and took goods on credit from the

business and of course did not keep his promise. The result was that

my partners and I had to cover the loss out of our own pockets. Since

then we have agreed together, under pain of a fine of twenty taels,

never again to enter into similar private credit transactions. I have to

keep strictly to this. Moreover, the stock of camphor and musk in my

modest shop is quite small, and I could not satisfy your requirements

completely even if you were to pay cash. You had therefore better look

around elsewhere. Besides, it is a well‐known fact that money transac‐ 

tions spoil friendship. You are a thoughtless young fellow and none too

particular about what is right and wrong. You would take your debt

lightly, you would forget to pay, I would have to keep dunning you for it,

and you would take that ill of me. My advice to you is this: Help your‐ 

self and save money in good time, so that you will not have to borrow

at all and your uncle will be pleased with you ! "

"You are perfectly right, dear Uncle," replied Little Yun, controlling

his feelings with difficulty. "But you must take into account that I lost

my father while I was still a child, and for that reason have not had the

right instruction and upbringing. My mother has always said how lucky

we were in at least having your support and help, most‐honored Uncle.

That is why I thought I could count upon your help. Moreover, I was

not aware that I had frivolously squandered away any inherited prop‐ 

erty, whether a house or a piece of land. Even the best housewife can‐ 

not cook rice soup if there is no rice to hand. How, then, could I have

put anything aside up to the present when I had not got an income?

However, you may count yourself lucky that I do not importune you

two or three times a day with this and that request, as many another

in my position would do."

"My dear boy, I am in a pretty bad way myself; otherwise I would

most willingly give you a hand. But why do you not turn to your rich

paternal relations? See that you fill your pockets as full as you can in

the Yungkuo palace behind the backs of the gentlemen of the house. Or

why not try to ingratiate yourself with their majordomo by dint of flat‐ 

tery, and engage in some rewarding enterprise that will bring in a good

commission?"

Little Yun remained silent and turned to go.

"Why are you in such a hurry? You can surely stay for a bite," said

the avaricious uncle, just for form's sake. But at the same moment the

scolding voice of his wife became audible. "Are you hovering up in

the clouds again?" she asked. "I have Jbarely enough food for ourselves

in the larder, and there you are, playing the splendid host!"

"If that's so, buy some more provisions for our guest!" he replied,

whereupon the ill‐tempered female voice was heard once more: "Go

over to neighbor Wang and ask her could she help us out with twenty or

thirty pence worth of rice; I would pay it back tomorrow," she ordered

her daughter.

But Little Yun had had enough of this miserable kind of hospitality,

and he contrived to get away, and so he set out on his nocturnal journey

home in depressed spirits. As he walked along deeply sunk in his

thoughts, he stumbled absent‐mindedly against a drunken man who

had come reeling towards him. The drunkard grabbed him by the arm

and shouted: "Hi, have you no eyes in your head?"

The voice seemed familiar to Little Yun, and right enough it was his

neighbor Ni, the well‐known usurer and gambler, drunkard and rowdy.

"Let me go, old friend! It is I, your neighbor, Little Yun," he de‐ 

clared, laughing.

The drunken man scrutinized him intently out of glazed eyes. At last

he recognized him. He let him free, murmuring a few words of excuse.

"Where are you going, little friend?" he asked.

"Ah, don't ask me. I'm in a bad humor. One's dear fellow beings are

so annoying!"

"Speak your mind with confidence! Who has annoyed you? I, the

drunkard Ni, stand up for my friends in the whole neighborhood. Any‐ 

one who harms one of them will have to reckon with me. I'll pull down

his shop and chase his wife and children out on the street!"

Little Yun told him of his futile begging visit to his uncle.

"The wretch! If he did not happen to be your relative, I would make

him pay dearly for that!" stormed neighbor Ni indignantly. "But don't

worry. I have some small change with me by chance, and I will lend

you a few taels, naturally without interest, as is right and proper be‐ 

tween good neighbors."

He put his hand in his belt pocket.

"Here are fifteen taels. I hope they are enough."

"You are a good fellow, and I would not like to offend you by refusing your friendly offer; so I accept it with thanks. As soon as I get

home I shall write you a receipt."

"What nonsense! If you come to me with a receipt I won't give you

a copper."

"As you wish, then. Many thanks."

"That's good. And now I must be getting along, as I have another

business call to make; otherwise I would ask you to have a drink. And

now, when you go home, would you be good enough to call at my house

and tell my people that I shall not be home tonight, and that if they

want anything they must send for me in the morning. They will find me

at the horse dealer Wang's."

And he reeled on. But Little Yun was delighted with his unexpected

good fortune, and his only fear was that as soon as his benefactor be‐ 

came sober he would repent the noble impulse which had overcome

him when drunk, and would demand back the sum lent with the addition

of a usurious interest. But he would find it easy enough to pay even

usurious interest if only Madame Phoenix would give him the hoped‐ 

for order.

Very early the next morning he sought out^a grocery store in the high

street outside the South Gate and bought a package of camphor and a

package of musk. Then, well groomed and dressed in his best clothes,

he went to the Yungkuo palace. There he was told that Madame Phoe‐ 

nix was just about to go to the Princess Ancestress. Her husband was

not at home either. He waited in the forecourt, which several servants

were busily sweeping and cleaning with enormous brooms. Just at that

moment the wife of the majordomo Chou called out:

"Clear the way. Put by your brooms! The mistress is coming!"

Immediately afterwards Madame Phoenix appeared, surrounded by

a swarm of serving matrons and waiting maids. Little Yun stepped up

a bit closer and paid her reverence with a deep bow. She did not deign

to look at him, but continued to walk straight on, merely inquiring

casually how his mother was and why she never came to see her.

"She has not been quite herself these days, but she is very often with

you in her thoughts, and is longing to see you," replied Little Yun

glibly. He knew that Madame Phoenix was extremely amenable to

flatteries.

"Come, come! Don't be too gushing!" she remarked with a smile,

slowing down her pace a little. "I am pretty sure she would not have

thought of me if I did not happen to mention her."

"Oh, how would I dare to tell lies in your presence, revered Aunt?

Only yesterday my mother spoke of you. In spite of your delicate

health, she said, you had taken the whole burden of the great house‐ 

hold upon your shoulders, and it is only thanks to your incomparable

energy that everything runs as if on well‐oiled wheels in the western

palace. You are simply indispensable and irreplaceable, she thinks."

Madame Phoenix stood still. A benign smile spread over her face.

"And what was your reason for discussing me with your mother be‐ 

hind my back?" she asked, graciously.

"Oh, I had a very sound reason. A good friend of mine, a wealthy

dealer in spices, has recently obtained by purchase the post of subpre‐ 

fect in a district of the province of Yunnan. Before setting out with his

family to take up his position he sold out his stock and closed down his

shop here. When he did this he gave many valuable lots of goods as

gifts to his close friends and acquaintances. He remembered me too and

gave me a parcel of camphor and musk. I consulted my mother as to

the best use I could make of his gift. It seemed to us a pity to sell these

valuable drugs below their value, and there did not seem anyone among

our close friends worthy of giving them to. Then we remembered that

you, esteemed Aunt, always need a great deal of camphor and musk for

incense, and we thought that, especially in view of the proximity of the

Boat Festival of the Dragon, you would not disdain to accept this little

parcel from us as a small token of our true devotion to you."

And with a deep bow he handed her a beautiful little pinewood box

in which a small package of camphor and another of musk were neatly

packed. His gift was really very welcome to Madame Phoenix, for she

could not have anything like enough incense materials in her household

stores for the approaching Boat Festival of the Dragon. With a gra‐ 

cious inclination of the head she indicated that one of her retinue should

receive the box on her behalf.

"Thank you for your attention, dear Nephew," she said. "I see that

my husband is not mistaken in saying that you possess understanding

and tact, and in speaking favorably of you in other respects too."

"Oh, does he really speak of me sometimes?"

Madame Phoenix was on the point of telling him that she had already

decided, at the instance of her husband, to give him the task of super‐ 

vising the intended garden work. But then she said to herself that if she

expressed her approval of his appointment so promptly he would prob‐ 

ably imagine that her favor could be bought with trifling gifts such as a

few ounces of camphor and musk, and would think the less of her for

it. She therefore refrained from replying to his question and went

proudly on her way.

There was nothing for Little Yun to do but return home still in un‐ 

certainty; in the afternoon, however, he set out again for the Yungkuo

palace to accept the invitation given him by Pao Yu the previous day.

In front of the library, not far from the apartments of the Princess An‐ 

cestress, he met Pao Yu's valet, Ming Yen.

"Is your master not coming over from the Park at all today?" he

asked.

"I do not know, but I shall go and announce you."

Little Yun passed the long time of waiting looking at the pictures

and curios in the library. While he was absorbed in gazing at them, he

heard a girl's gentle voice calling for one Ko ko. He went out and

caught sight of a pretty little maid of about fifteen or sixteen. When she

saw him she turned away hurriedly and ran off. As it happened, Ming

Yen was just at that moment coming back. He went up to her and

asked her whether she had seen her master, Pao Yu. "You see, she

belongs to his staff," he explained to Little Yun, who had come run‐ 

ning up to him. "I myself have been unable to find him."

"Dear girl, be so good as to announce to your master that his nephew,

Little Yun, is here," he asked the little girl. This time she did not run

away. Hearing that the stranger belonged to the family had reassured

her to some extent, but she seemed still not quite to trust him.

"Come again tomorrow, because I shall hardly have a chance of

speaking to my master before this evening, and you surely would not

wish to wait until then," she said, briefly and definitely, with the man‐ 

ner of one fully convinced of the importance of her own person. And

with this she dismissed him. Little Yun could not help casting a few

furtive glances at her as he went away.

When he returned to the Yungkuo palace early the next day he had

the good fortune to meet Madame Phoenix as soon as he arrived. She

had just got into her carriage to take an outing. When she saw Little

Yun she had him called over to her carriage door.

"Look here, my boy, you are being a bit cheeky with me, I think,"

she said, smiling out the carnage window. "Your gift of yesterday was

only an excuse, of course. My husband has meantime told me what you

want."

"Oh, has he? How awkward! Yes, that is quite right; I would like

very much ... I am only sorry that I did not come straight to you in

person in the beginning, dear Aunt. If I had done so, the matter would

have been settled long ago. But one does not realize that Uncle Lien

really has so little say in things."

"So that's the way, is it? It was only after having been unlucky with

him that you wanted to try it with me yesterday?"

"You do me an injustice, dear Aunt. I regarded it as my duty as a

nephew not to go over the head of my uncle. But now that I know how

matters stand, I shall apply only to you in future. And will you be so

good as to lend me a kindly ear now?"

"Oh, now, straight away? You should have opened your mouth

sooner. There are all sorts of trees to be planted and flower beds to be

laid out in the park. If you had only said a timely word to me, I would

perhaps have entrusted you with the matter."

"Do please do so even yet!"

"That can hardly be managed now. But have patience until next New

Year i'estival, when we shall have to buy fireworks. I may perhaps con‐ 

sider you then."

"Dear, dear Aunt. Do please try me out right away instead. You may

depend upon me to acquit myself well. You will be so pleased with me

that you will entrust me with the New Year Festival order straight

away."

"My word! The boy does know how to look ahead! Well, you may

thank your uncle for having put in a word for you. I would not have

bothered about you of myself. So now, to come to the point: Come back

again today after breakfast. Call at the Estate Cashier's office, and see

that you get started with the garden \\ork the day after tomorrow!"

And giving a sign to the coachman, she drove off.

Little Yun was overjoyed. He hoped to fill in the time of waiting until

after breakfast by visiting Pao Yu. But Pao Yu was spending the whole

of today in the house of his new friend, the Prince of the Northern

Quietness.

Punctually at eleven o'clock Little Yun went to the Estate Cashier's

Office, armed with the letter of authority which Madame Phoenix had

sent to him in the meantime, and there he was handed the handsome

sum of two hundred taels. He then hurried home and had a good time

for the whole day with his mother. The next morning he settled his ac‐ 

count with his neighbor Ni, then went to the nursery garden of Fang

Chun outside the Western Gate and bought flower plants and trees to

the value of fifty taels. But let us leave him for the time being to his

new occupation and return to Pao Yu.

When he had made an appointment the day before yesterday with

Little Yun, this was only one of those polite but empty compliments

which upper‐class people are in the habit of expressing without a mo‐ 

ment's thought to people of lower social station. He had of course for‐ 

gotten the appointment meantime. When he returned home towards

evening from his visit to the Prince of the Northern Quietness he felt

that he would like a bath. It happened by chance that he was sitting

quite alor.e in his room for a long time, because the maid Pearl had

accepted an invitation from Precious Clasp, the maid Musk was ill in

bed, and two other maids had gone off to fetch hot bath water. Thus it

happened that now when he called two or three times for tea, only the

two elderly matrons who had been assigned to him as chaperons an‐ 

swered his call.

"That is all right. You may go," he said, shooing them straight out

again with a wave of the hand. He would prefer to get the tea himself,

he said. So he went into the kitchen and pottered around the hearth,

and was just about to pour a pot of boiling water into the teapot when

he heard someone behind him saying: "You will burn your hand.

Please let me do it!"

At the same moment a pretty young thing came to his side, took the

pot of hot water from him, filled the teapot, and took the tea things

into his room. As he sipped ' is tea he eyed the young maid attentively.

He had not noticed her at all before. What lovely curly hair she had,

and what a slim, delicate little face.

"Do you belong to my staff loo?" he asked.

"Yes."

"How is it, then, that I have never seen you before?"

"There are so many of us, it would be hard for you to know each one.

Besides, I am still new, and I have never had any personal services to

do for you, such as making your tea."

"Why not?"

"Because the others, the older ones, who have been longer with you,

keep those services for themselves."

"That is a pity, for one cannot see you at all then."

"Not unless there is a special order, such as the one on which I came

here just now. A certain Mr. Yun asked for you yesterday afternoon. I

told him to come back today as you had had no midday sleep yesterday

and were tired. Now, today you were with the Prince of .the Northern

Quietness, and so Mr. Yun has missed you a second time."

"Oh, indeed, so he was here?"

He would have liked to continue the conversation with the dainty

little creature, but she suddenly darted off because two older waiting

maids were coming along laughing and chatting. They were carrying a

splashing tub of bath water. With their free hands they were holding up

the edges of their skirts, which had been wetted by the splashes of wa‐ 

ter. Little Siao Hung ran towards them, amiably anxious to help them

carry the tub. When the two older maids reached the room they ob‐ 

served to their surprise and annoyance that Pao Yu was all alone. After

they had prepared the bath for him they took the little new maid to

task. "What were you doing with him just now when we came?" they

asked her suspiciously.

"Nothing at all. I was looking for my handkerchief, which I had lost.

He called for tea and as no one else was there to serve him, I gave him

his tea. That's all."

"Don't try to hoodwink us, you cheeky creature!" cried the elder

girl angrily, spitting in the young one's face. "We can see now why

you did not run to fetch the bath water just now, as was your duty, but

left it to us two to go instead of you. Your excuse that you hadn't time

was just invention and deceit. You wanted to get rid of us so that you

would be alone with the young master. But just look in the glass and

see if you art fit to show yourself in his presence."

"I'll tell Pearl tomorrow how you pushed yourself forward," the sec‐ 

ond one put in. "The next thing will be that you will want to serve the

young master alone. We others have become unnecessary, isn't that

so?"

After the quarrel had been going on this way for a while, a serving

matron arrived with a message from Madame Phoenix to the effect that

the gardeners would be coming into the park tomorrow and that the

waiting maids must keep modestly in the background and not

around out of curiosity and that they must not Show their underclothes

openly on the washing line before the eyes of the strange men. More‐ 

over, all the part of the park which was to be planted would be screened^

off.

"Who is supervising the work?" the two elder waiting maids wanted

to know.

"One Mr. Yun," replied the chambermaid. The name was quite new

to them. But little Siao Hung remembered very well that the nice young

man who had spoken to her yesterday in front of the library door, and

had then turned round so noticeably to look after her, was called Yun.

Would she really see him again, she wondered. For the little creature

was ambitious and wanted to rise in the world. For a long time past she

had been hoping to he noticed by Pao Yu, but her elder colleagues al‐ 

ways knew how to keep her in the background. And after being caught

out today, the very first time she had been alone with Pao Yu, she would

have to suffer more envy and more slights than ever from now on. But

her forlornness was changed in the twinkling of an eye into joyous an‐ 

ticipation when she heard the old serving matron utter the name Yun,

and for the whole day she could not stop thinking of her meeting of

yesterday with the nice young man. Then, that night, when she was

alone in her room and lay down to sleep, the thought of him did not

leave her even in her sleep. Suddenly she seemed to hear a voice outside

her bedroom window saying: "I have found your handkerchief, Siao

Hung."

She got up and went to the door. There was the young man of yes‐ 

terday standing before her.

"Where did you find it?" she asked, shyly.

"Come with me. I will show you the place," he answered, drawing

her to him and clasping her in his arms. She disengaged herself and

tr^ed to run back to her room, but stumbled over a step on the way.

This awoke her. What a pity! She had only been dreaming.