A Flower’s Shade (4 page)

All of a sudden, Miss Yu seemed to understand what today's assembly was all about, and she cut Seventh Grandfather roundly off, saying "I know why there are so many people here today. First, it's for my father's funeral, and second, I'm afraid everybody's worried. You're worried that now that my dad's dead, the money that he's promised to the clan won't be coming in. Now I've got all the money in my hands, and if I say I'll give money then I'll give money, and if I say won't give money, then I won't. And there's nothing you can do about it, right?"

The men's sense of propriety was upset; they could hardly believe that Miss Yu's first words would be so blunt, and so outlandish. Irrepressible, the whispers once again arose, and a full spectrum of expressions could be seen on the men's faces. Miss Yu was eccentric, but she certainly had hit the nail on the head, though her words were too cutting. The women keeping vigil before the coffin all craned their necks to be able to see her. Miss Yu was saying languidly, "You can all set your minds at ease. Whatever my dad did, now that he's dead, I'll just keep doing the same thing."

These words from Miss Yu worked like a reassuring tonic on all present. Among the men who had come for the funeral, more than a few were tenant farmers of Miss Yu's family. A man in a long patched gown was standing in the crowd, trying discreetly to signal to Seventh Grandfather. But Seventh Grandfather hadn't quite cottoned on, so the man simply took a step forward and, in some embarrassment, said to Miss Yu, "My lady, the harvest year—I'm afraid it isn't very good. The rent is due at the end of the year, and—"

Miss Yu glanced at the man without interest and said, "Well then, we'll strike the rents this year."

The men began to chatter wildly, some of them less happy than others, since only Miss Yu's tenant farmers would be very pleased. If Miss Yu struck the rents, other landowners would feel pressured to do the same, and if the rents were struck, that would affect how much money could go to the clan. Fourth Uncle from Zhushan, sitting nearby, could no longer keep his peace and he suddenly reminded her, "When your father was alive, there was never any such rule."

"That's true. When the old master was alive, he never struck the rents entirely." Fourth Uncle's words had produced an immediate reaction.

"The old master?" Miss Yu rolled her eyes contemptuously at Fourth Uncle and said lazily, "The old master's dead, isn't he?"

"A rule like that, being a rule, can't simply be changed just on a whim. Let's drop the matter for the moment." Seventh Grandfather frowned, thinking that Miss Yu was scandalous, and that one couldn't allow her to keep spouting nonsense as long as she felt like it. He raised his left hand, summoning Huaifu from the crowd and saying earnestly to Miss Yu, "Your branch of the clan has only had one son for four generations. It's never been a large family, and now there isn't even a proper man. The clan has conferred on the issue, and we have decided to let Huaifu assist in managing the family affairs. He's an upright and honest youngster, and he's also a close cousin, now in mourning for your father, the same as you."

Miss Yu cast a sideways glance at the man named Huaifu. He was a tall and honest-looking young man, too timid to look her straight in the eyes. He interested her immensely, and she beckoned him to come closer. Huaifu glanced at those around him, and then fearfully took a few steps towards her.

Miss Yu looked at the uneasy, deeply blushing young man, and she suddenly had a marvelous idea. With a silent laugh to herself, she said something which caused a great disturbance. "Hey! Do you know how to prepare opium?" she asked, without batting an eyelid.

Huaifu, deeply confused, looked at Miss Yu without the faintest idea of how to respond.

Miss Yu knew that everyone would now be staring at her in stupefaction, and this pleased her—she had always derived pleasure from shocking people. She maintained her composure. At the moment she seemed to have eyes for no one but Huaifu. "Let me tell you—when I was only five, my father was blowing opium over my face for me to breathe in. What's-your-name, that's right, Huaifu, you can stay here, you can be my opium-breather. It's alright if you don't know how, you can learn."

M
iss Yu's suggestion that Huaifu serve as her opium-breather produced an immediate and hefty reaction. Assigning Huaifu to go to the Zhen Estate had been a weighty decision, taken by the conference of clansmen. Tall, forthright, and modest, he had been entrusted with the particular responsibility of assisting with the Estate's affairs until Miss Yu had given her hand in marriage to a suitable man. After all, Miss Yu was a woman, and there were certain affairs that could only be dealt with by a man. Huaifu had been assigned to the Estate as a monitor, to prevent Miss Yu from doing anything silly.

When the news of Old Master Zhen's sudden death had reached the village of Yaoshan, there had been much discussion among the clansmen, and an emergency meeting had been convened. It had been unanimously agreed that in any event a husband urgently needed to be found for Miss Yu. By hook or by crook, a man was needed to keep affairs under control. With matters as they stood, the selection of a husband for Miss Yu was a matter of burning urgency, not to be deferred.

There had been lively debate, but in the end an agreement had been reached by which, after Miss Yu's marriage, her first son would be given up to Suqin to be raised. This son would not only bear the name of Zhen, but, as heir to the entire family property, he would occupy a very privileged position. In other words, the existence of this son would limit the extent of Miss Yu's husband's power. The property of the Zhens had to be under the control of a male Zhen, so that neither Miss Yu, nor the man brought in to marry her, could act as anything more than temporary caretakers of the property. The Zhen clansmen would never stand for Zhen family property to fall into the hands of another family, nor would they let it be despoiled by an opium-fiend heiress.

It was an open secret that Miss Yu smoked opium. Yet to openly confess her addiction in front of the entire Great Hall, over a dozen years after the foundation of the Republic, was certain to cause a furor. Old Master Zhen had only one daughter, and she had always been the apple of his eye. The way he had displayed his affection had been very unusual, and was quite as Miss Yu had confidently proclaimed in front of all present in the Great Hall. At the age of five, he had smoked his opium and then breathed it out over her face to amuse her. In turn, exhaling opium for her father had been the most diverting game of Miss Yu's childhood. From childhood into adolescence, from adolescence into adulthood, the game had never found any end. But after she grew into adolescence, it was no longer her father who did her opium breathing for her, but Mrs. Wu, who had nursed her from earliest childhood.

By the time that Miss Yu really understood that smoking opium was no very healthful affair, it was too late for her to give it up. Since both father and brother were opium smokers, it mattered little in the Zhen Estate that Miss Yu had picked the habit up as well. Like any confirmed old addict, Miss Yu also knew how to cook the opium paste; in that case, she would lay down on the heated opium bed, take the opium pipe and blow clouds of smoke with it. But she seldom smoked from her own opium pipe, and was accustomed to having an opium breather. This was because her father had once jokingly warned her that a woman who always smoked from an opium pipe would in time develop a crooked mouth.

"A girl with a crooked mouth; you can be sure that you won't find a husband." her father used to tease Miss Yu, "You might be cute as a button, but what use is that if your mouth is crooked?"

Miss Yu's mouth did not grow crooked, and she was as pretty as ever, radiant, and excited the admiration of all the men who saw her. But because she was known to be an opium addict, even if hers had been the face that launched a thousand ships, it was nevertheless true that no one could muster the courage to make her his wife. Despite the enormous family fortune of the Zhen Family, and even though they would have given her a rich dowry, it would still be no joke to marry a woman who might exchange the entirety of her family fortune just to get her hands on some opium. In Miss Yu's childhood, her father had arranged a very suitable match for her. But when the party in question had heard that she smoked opium, he had on some pretext backed out of the marriage at once.

After Naixiang's attack, they practically ran the legs off the matchmaker, but all to no avail. Father and son had spent all day in debauchery, and when they occasionally recollected that it was a question of Miss Yu's whole life, they also took alarm, regretting that they had led her into the destructive habit of smoking opium, and thus seriously impaired her marriage prospects. Miss Yu did not say a word about it, but her character grew more and more eccentric. When she was only seventeen, she began in secret to read her brother's copy of the risqué novel The Plum in the Golden Vase. This was a book that she had happened to pinch from her sister-in-law Suqin's pillow when she had gone to spend the time of day with her. She had only meant to thumb through it, but as soon as she discovered how interesting it was, she decided not to return it to its owner, ever. Suqin knew very well that the book was now at Miss Yu's, and had asked repeatedly for its return. But faced with Miss Yu's refusal, there was nothing Suqin could do about it.

For a long time, Miss Yu, who was often bored to tears, would rely on The Plum in the Golden Vase for amusement. This classic of the Chinese erotic tradition became Miss Yu's secret handbook of carnal knowledge. Once she knew the book well, Miss Yu found that her luck had taken a turn for the better after Naixiang's incapacitation. There were after all men who took a fancy to her, and would be glad to become son-in-law to the Zhen Family. At one time, Miss Yu had even nearly become a bride. Many men were interested in her as the heiress to the Zhen Family fortune, and so, considering the question from the perspective of investment, had sent one matchmaker after another to press their suits. A young man in suit and leather shoes, and with a part in his hair, had made so bold as to present himself in person for the honor of Miss Yu's hand in marriage. His appearances in the Zhen Family parlor, his grandiloquent manner—all of these had made a real impression on Miss Yu's heart. But this first love had no sooner burgeoned than it miscarried. Facts soon showed that this young man, his conversation sprinkled with the newfangled talk, was no more than a textbook con artist. Not only was he already married, but he was openly conducting a liaison with a rich widow. Naixiang and he had been gambling friends, and, after Naixiang himself, he had been the most notorious skirt-chasing playboy of the small town.

The young playboy had heard the secret from the rich widow: Miss Yu was desperate to be married. This was because the rich widow, before her widowhood, had herself been more than friendly with Naixiang. Moreover, this widow was a good friend of Suqin's, and when they met for an idle chat, slandering Miss Yu was a topic which amused them both. It was hard to deny that Suqin had to some degree smoothed in the playboy's entry into the Zhen Estate, but in any event when the Old Master had grasped the actual situation, he had ordered the servants to throw the man out.

"I would never let that animal screw my daughter, not if he were the last man on earth." the Old Master had railed. Even two days after this event, his temper had still not calmed, and he shouted furiously at one of his own concubines, "Do people think I can't support her? What's the big deal, she's my daughter, I can support her, I can support her for her whole life."

The lesson he drew from this episode was to become impossibly fastidious when it came to the question of any potential suitor for Miss Yu. Whenever a matchmaker came to make a visit, the first thing that occurred to him was that the man had his eye on the inheritance Miss Yu would one day succeed to. Countless matchmakers were ejected from the Estate in the most peculiar ways. With his son an invalid, his only daughter must not fall lightly into the hands of some pernicious fellow. The thought of a son-in-law coming to live in Zhen Estate tormented Old Master Zhen. He could not endure the idea of a stranger, a man who was not a member of the Zhen family, being the master of the place that once had witnessed his nightly revels. There could be no two masters.

"I'm your father, and I know what men are like." Old Master Zhen had once remarked very seriously to his daughter, "This Estate belongs to men. If you really brought home a husband, he'd be like myself and your brother, keeping a heap of concubines, you can depend on it. How could you bear it?"

A
maid brought in a copper kettle with tea for everyone. Miss Yu looked languorously at her bowl of tea, and stretched her hand out. She noisily slurped her tea, and then said offhandedly, "Seventh Grandfather, have some tea. Have some tea, everyone." There were so many men present today, and she observed that they were all at a loss about how to deal with her. This made her feel excited and proud.

Seventh Grandfather still wore an expression of absolute displeasure. As the senior member of the clan, he had hoped today to bring his prestige to bear. But ever since he had entered through the Estate gates, he had repeatedly had to endure Miss Yu's insolence. He scowled, lifted his bowl, used the lid to scoop away the broken tea leaves floating on the surface, and gently sipped his tea. Then he gave a dry cough, and broached the topic of finding a son-in-law.

Seventh Grandfather said, "I'm afraid your marriage is a matter which urgently requires our attention."

Miss Yu was just raising the tea to her lips. Her eyes flashed, and it was uncertain whether she was pretending not to have grasped his meaning, or whether she found this very topic particularly fascinating.

"It is said that a man of age must find a wife, and a woman of age must find a husband. If only for this enormous Zhen property, you must quickly find a husband to—"

Miss Yu began to cackle. The sound was piercing, unrestrained. Seventh Grandfather found it very odd, and wondered whether there hadn't been some mistake. On a day like this, in front of all these men, in the funeral hall, in front of Old Master Zhen's coffin, lying there behind the white curtain, with Miss Yu herself in mourning—yet she dared to laugh so brazenly. Seventh Grandfather's train of thought had been entirely disrupted by her laughter, and the corners of his mouth trembled in rage. He stood bolt upright, remained standing a moment, and then sat down again, indecisive but fuming, at a loss as to what he ought to say. All present were stunned. The men, standing at one side, and the women, kneeling in front of the coffin—all saw Seventh Grandfather's look of bewilderment.