Not Concerned with any Particular Attribute of
Those who are Involved
Unendurable was the intermingling of hopes and fears with which Kai
Lung sought the shutter on the next occasion after the avowal of
Hwa-mei’s devoted strategy. While repeatedly assuring himself that it
would have been better to submit to piecemeal slicing without a
protesting word rather than that she should incur so formidable a
risk, he was compelled as often to admit that when once her mind had
formed its image no effort on his part would have held her back.
Doubtless Hwa-mei readily grasped the emotion that would possess the
one whose welfare was now her chief concern, for without waiting to
gum her hair or to gild her lips she hastened to the spot beneath the
wall at the earliest moment that Kai Lung could be there.
“Seven marble tombstones are lifted from off my chest!” exclaimed the
story-teller when he could greet her. “How did your subterfuge
proceed, and with what satisfaction was the history of Weng Cho
received?”
“That,” replied Hwa-mei modestly, “will provide the matter for an
autumn tale, when seated around a pine-cone fire. In the meanwhile
this protracted ordeal takes an ambiguous bend.”
“To what further end does the malignity of the ill-made Ming-shu now
shape itself? Should it entail a second peril to your head--”
“The one whom you so justly name fades for a moment out of our
concern. Burdened with a secret mission he journeys to Hing-poo, nor
does the Mandarin Shan Tien hold another court until the day of his
return.”
“That gives a breathing space of time to our ambitions?”
“So much is assured. Yet even in that a subtle danger lurks. Certain
contingencies have become involved in the recital of your admittedly
ingenious stories which the future unfolding of events may not always
justify. For instance, the very speculative Shan Tien, casting his
usual moderate limit to the skies, has accepted the Luminous Insect as
a beckoning omen, and immersed himself deeply in the chances of every
candidate bearing the name of Lao, Ting, Li, Tzu, Sung, Chu, Wang or
Chin. Should all these fail incapably at the trials a very undignified
period in the Mandarin’s general manner of expressing himself may
intervene.”
“Had the time at the disposal of this person been sufficiently
enlarged he would not have omitted the various maxims arising from the
tale,” admitted Kai Lung, with a shadow of remorse. “That suited to
the need of a credulous and ill-balanced mind would doubtless be the
proverb: ‘He who believes in gambling will live to sell his sandals.’
It is regrettable if the well-intending Mandarin took the wrong one.
Fortunately another moon will fade before the results are known--”
“In the meantime,” continued the maiden, indicating by a glance that
what she had to relate was more essential to the requirements of the
moment than anything he was saying: “Shan Tien is by no means
indisposed towards your cause. Your unassuming attitude and deep
research have enlarged your wisdom in his eyes. To-morrow he will send
for you to lean upon your well-stored mind.”
“Is the emergency one for which any special preparation is required?”
questioned Kai Lung.
“That is the message of my warning. Of late a company of grateful
friends has given the Mandarin an inlaid coffin to mark the sense of
their indebtedness, the critical nature of the times rendering the
gift peculiarly appropriate. Thus provided, Shan Tien has cast his
eyes around to secure a burial robe worthy of the casket. The
merchants proffer many, each endowed with all the qualities, but
meanwhile doubts arise, and now Shan Tien would turn to you to learn
what is the true and ancient essential of the garment, and wherein its
virtue should reside.”
“The call will not find me inept,” replied Kai Lung. “The story of
Wang Ho--”
“It is enough,” exclaimed the maiden warningly. “The time for
wandering together in the garden of the imagination has not yet
arrived. Ming-shu’s feet are on a journey, it is true, but his eyes
are doubtless left behind. Until a like hour to-morrow gladdens our
expectant gaze, farewell!”
On the following day, at about the stroke of the usual court, Li-loe
approached Kai Lung with a grievous look.
“Alas, manlet,” he exclaimed, “here is one direct from the presence of
our high commander, requiring you against his thumb-signed bond. Go
you must, and that alone, whether it be for elevation on a tree or on
a couch. Out of an insatiable friendship this one would accompany you,
were it possible, equally to hold your hand if you are to die or hold
your cup if you are to feast. Yet touching that same cask of hidden
wine there is still time--”
“Cease, mooncalf,” replied Kai Lung reprovingly. “This is but an eddy
on the surface of a moving stream. It comes, it goes; and the waters
press on as before.”
Then Kai Lung, neither bound nor wearing the wooden block, was led
into the presence of Shan Tien, and allowed to seat himself upon the
floor as though he plied his daily trade.
“Sooner or later it will certainly devolve upon this person to condemn
you to a violent end,” remarked the far-seeing Mandarin reassuringly.
“In the ensuing interval, however, there is no need for either of us
to dwell upon what must be regarded as an unpleasant necessity.”
“Yet no crime has been committed, beneficence,” Kai Lung ventured to
protest; “nor in his attitude before your virtuous self has this one
been guilty of any act of disrespect.”
“You have shown your mind to be both wide and deep, and suitably
lined,” declared Shan Tien, dexterously avoiding the weightier part of
the story-teller’s plea. “A question now arises as to the efficacy of
embroidered coffin cloths, and wherein their potent merit lies. Out of
your well-stored memory declare your knowledge of this sort, conveying
the solid information in your usual palatable way.”
“I bow, High Excellence,” replied Kai Lung. “This concerns the story
of Wang Ho.”
The Story of Wang Ho and the Burial Robe
There was a time when it did not occur to anyone in this pure and
enlightened Empire to question the settled and existing order of
affairs. It would have been well for the merchant Wang Ho had he lived
in that happy era. But, indeed, it is now no unheard-of thing for an
ordinary person to suggest that customs which have been established
for centuries might with advantage be changed--a form of impiety which
is in no degree removed from declaring oneself to be wiser or more
profound than one’s ancestors! Scarcely more seemly is this than
irregularity in maintaining the Tablets or observing the Rites; and
how narrow is the space dividing these delinquencies from the actual
crimes of overturning images, counselling rebellion, joining in
insurrection and resorting to indiscriminate piracy and bloodshed.
Certainly the merchant Wang Ho would be a thousand taels wealthier
to-day if he had fully considered this in advance. Nor would Cheng
Lin--but who attempts to eat an orange without first disposing of the
peel, or what manner of a dwelling could be erected unless an adequate
foundation be first provided?
Wang Ho, then, let it be stated, was one who had early in life amassed
a considerable fortune by advising those whose intention it was to
hazard their earnings in the State Lotteries as to the numbers that
might be relied upon to be successful, or, if not actually successful,
those at least that were not already predestined by malign influences
to be absolutely incapable of success. These chances Wang Ho at first
forecast by means of dreams, portents and other manifestations of an
admittedly supernatural tendency, but as his name grew large and the
number of his clients increased vastly, while his capacity for
dreaming remained the same, he found it no less effective to close his
eyes and to become inspired rapidly of numbers as they were thus
revealed to him.
Occasionally Wang Ho was the recipient of an appropriate bag of money
from one who had profited by his advice, but it was not his custom to
rely upon this contingency as a source of income, nor did he in any
eventuality return the amount which had been agreed upon (and
invariably deposited with him in advance) as the reward of his
inspired efforts. To those who sought him in a contentious spirit,
inquiring why he did not find it more profitable to secure the prizes
for himself, Wang Ho replied that his enterprise consisted in
forecasting the winning numbers for State Lotteries and not in solving
enigmas, writing deprecatory odes, composing epitaphs or conducting
any of the other numerous occupations that could be mentioned. As this
plausible evasion was accompanied by the courteous display of the many
weapons which he always wore at different convenient points of his
attire, the incident invariably ended in a manner satisfactory to Wang
Ho.
Thus positioned Wang Ho prospered, and had in the course of years
acquired a waist of honourable proportions, when the unrolling course
of events influenced him to abandon his lucrative enterprise. It was
not that he failed in any way to become as inspired as before; indeed,
with increasing practice he attained a fluency that enabled him to
outdistance every rival, so that on the occasion of one lottery he
afterwards privately discovered that he had predicted the success of
every possible combination of numbers, thus enabling those who followed
his advice (as he did not fail to announce in inscriptions of
vermilion assurance) to secure--among them--every variety of prize
offered.
But, about this time, the chief wife of Wang Ho having been greeted
with amiable condescension by the chief wife of a high official of the
Province, and therefrom in an almost equal manner by the wives of even
higher officials, the one in question began to abandon herself to a
more rapidly outlined manner of existence than formerly, and to
involve Wang Ho in a like attitude, so that presently this
ill-considering merchant, who but a short time before would have
unhesitatingly cast himself bodily to earth on the approach of a city
magistrate, now acquired the habit of alluding to mandarins in casual
conversation by names of affectionate abbreviation. Also, being
advised of the expediency by a voice speaking in an undertone, he
sought still further to extend beyond himself by suffering his nails
to grow long and obliterating his name from the public announcements
upon the city walls.
In spite of this ambitious sacrifice Wang Ho could not entirely shed
from his habit a propensity to associate with those requiring advice
on matters involving financial transactions. He could no longer
conduct enterprises which entailed many clients and the lavish display
of his name, but in the society of necessitous persons who were
related to others of distinction he allowed it to be inferred that he
was benevolently disposed and had a greater sufficiency of taels than
he could otherwise make use of. He also involved himself, for the
benefit of those whom he esteemed, in transactions connected with
pieces of priceless jade, jars of wine of an especially fragrant
character, and pictures of reputable antiquity. In the written manner
of these transactions (for it is useless to conceal the fact that Wang
Ho was incapable of tracing the characters of his own name) he
employed a youth whom he never suffered to appear from beyond the
background. Cheng Lin is thus brought naturally and unobtrusively into
the narrative.
Had Cheng Lin come into the world when a favourably disposed band of
demons was in the ascendant he would certainly have merited an earlier
and more embellished appearance in this written chronicle. So far,
however, nothing but omens of an ill-destined obscurity had beset his
career. For many years two ambitions alone had contained his mind,
both inextricably merged into one current and neither with any
appearance of ever flowing into its desired end. The first was to pass
the examination of the fourth degree of proficiency in the great
literary competitions, and thereby qualify for a small official post
where, in the course of a few years, he might reasonably hope to be
forgotten in all beyond the detail of being allotted every third moon
an unostentatious adequacy of taels. This distinction Cheng Lin felt
to be well within his power of attainment could he but set aside three
uninterrupted years for study, but to do this would necessitate the
possession of something like a thousand taels of silver, and Lin might
as well fix his eyes upon the great sky-lantern itself.
Dependent on this, but in no great degree removed from it, was the
hope of being able to entwine into that future the actuality of Hsi
Mean, a very desirable maiden whom it was Cheng Lin’s practice to meet
by chance on the river bank when his heavily-weighted duties for the
day were over.
To those who will naturally ask why Cheng Lin, if really sincere in
his determination, could not imperceptibly acquire even so large a sum
as a thousand taels while in the house of the wealthy Wang Ho,
immersed as the latter person was with the pursuit of the full face of
high mandarins and further embarrassed by a profuse illiteracy, it
should be sufficient to apply the warning: “Beware of helping yourself
to corn from the manger of the blind mule.”
In spite of his preoccupation Wang Ho never suffered his mind to
wander when sums of money were concerned, and his inability to express
himself by written signs only engendered in his alert brain an
ever-present decision not to be entrapped by their use. Frequently,
Cheng Lin found small sums of money lying in such a position as to
induce the belief that they had been forgotten, but upon examining
them closely he invariably found upon them marks by which they could
be recognized if the necessity arose; he therefore had no hesitation
in returning them to Wang Ho with a seemly reference to the extreme
improbability of the merchant actually leaving money thus unguarded,
and to the lack of respect which it showed to Cheng Lin himself to
expect that a person of his integrity should be tempted by so
insignificant an amount. Wang Ho always admitted the justice of the
reproach, but he did not on any future occasion materially increase
the sum in question, so that it is to be doubted if his heart was
sincere.
It was on the evening of such an incident that Lin walked with Mean by
the side of the lotus-burdened Hoang-keng expressing himself to the
effect that instead of lilies her hair was worthy to be bound up with
pearls of a like size, and that beneath her feet there should be
spread a carpet not of verdure, but of the finest Chang-hi silk,
embroidered with five-clawed dragons and other emblems of royal
authority, nor was Mean in any way displeased by this indication of
extravagant taste on her lover’s part, though she replied:
“The only jewels that this person desires are the enduring glances of
pure affection with which you, O my phoenix one, entwined the lilies
about her hair, and the only carpet that she would crave would be the
embroidered design created by the four feet of the two persons who are
now conversing together for ever henceforth walking in uninterrupted
harmony.”
“Yet, alas!” exclaimed Lin, “that enchanting possibility seems to be
more remotely positioned than ever. Again has the clay-souled Wang Ho,
on the pretext that he can no longer make his in and out taels meet,
sought to diminish the monthly inadequacy of cash with which he
rewards this person’s conscientious services.”
“Undoubtedly that opaque-eyed merchant will shortly meet a revengeful
fire-breathing vampire when walking alone on the edge of a narrow
precipice,” exclaimed Mean sympathetically. “Yet have you pressingly
laid the facts before the spirits of your distinguished ancestors with
a request for their direct intervention?”
“The expedient has not been neglected,” replied Lin, “and appropriate
sacrifices have accompanied the request. But even while in the form of
an ordinary existence the venerable ones in question were becoming
distant in their powers of hearing, and doubtless with increasing
years the ineptitude has grown. It would almost seem that in the case
of a person so obtuse as Wang Ho is, more direct means would have to
be employed.”
“It is well said,” assented Mean, “that those who are unmoved by the
threat of a vat of flaming sulphur in the Beyond, rend the air if they
chance to step on a burning cinder here on earth.”
“The suggestion is a timely one,” replied Lin. “Wang Ho’s weak spot
lies between his hat and his sandals. Only of late, feeling the
natural infirmities of time pressing about him, he has expended a
thousand taels in the purchase of an elaborate burial robe, which he
wears on every fit occasion, so that the necessity for its ultimate
use may continue to be remote.”
“A thousand taels!” repeated Mean. “With that sum you could--”
“Assuredly. The coincidence may embody something in the nature of an
omen favourable to ourselves. At the moment, however, this person has
not any clear-cut perception of how the benefit may be attained.”
“The amount referred to has already passed into the hands of the
merchant in burial robes?”
“Irrevocably. In the detail of the transference of actual sums of
money Wang Ho walks hand in hand with himself from door to door. The
pieces of silver are by this time beneath the floor of Shen Heng’s
inner chamber.”
“Shen Heng?”
“The merchant in silk and costly fabrics, who lives beneath the sign
of the Golden Abacus. It was from him--”
“Truly. It is for him that this person’s sister Min works the finest
embroideries. Doubtless this very robe--”
“It is of blue silk edged with sand pearls in a line of three depths.
Felicitations on long life and a list of the most venerable persons of
all times serve to remind the controlling deities to what length human
endurance can proceed if suitably encouraged. These are designed in
letters of threaded gold. Inferior spirits are equally invoked in
characters of silver.”
“The description is sharp-pointed. It is upon this robe that the one
referred to has been ceaselessly engaged for several moons. On account
of her narrow span of years, no less than her nimble-jointed
dexterity, she is justly esteemed among those whose wares are
guaranteed to be permeated with the spirit of rejuvenation.”
“Thereby enabling the enterprising Shen Heng to impose a special
detail into his account: ‘For employing the services of one who will
embroider into the fabric of the robe the vital principles of youth
and long-life-to-come--an added fifty taels.’ Did she of your house
benefit to a proportionate extent?”
Mean indicated a contrary state of things by a graceful movement of
her well-arranged eyebrows.
“Not only that,” she added, “but the sordid-minded Shen Heng, on a
variety of pretexts, has diminished the sum Min was to receive at the
completion of the work, until that which should have required a full
hand to grasp could be efficiently covered by two attenuated fingers.
From this cause Min is vindictively inclined towards him and,
steadfastly refusing to bend her feet in the direction of his
workshop, she has, between one melancholy and another, involved
herself in a dark distemper.”
As Mean unfolded the position lying between her sister Min and the
merchant Shen Heng, Lin grew thoughtful, and, although it was not his
nature to express the changing degrees of emotion by varying the
appearance of his face, he did not conceal from Mean that her words
had fastened themselves upon his imagination.
“Let us rest here a while,” he suggested presently. “That which you
say, added to what I already know, may, under the guidance of a
sincere mind, put a much more rainbow-like outlook on our combined
future than hitherto appeared probable.”
So they composed themselves about the bank of the river, while Lin
questioned her more closely as to those things of which she had
spoken. Finally, he laid certain injunctions upon her for her
immediate guidance. Then, it being now the hour of middle light, they
returned, Mean accompanying her voice to the melody of stringed wood,
as she related songs of those who have passed through great endurances
to a state of assured contentment. To Lin it seemed as though the city
leapt forward to meet them, so narrow was the space of time involved
in reaching it.
A few days later Wang Ho was engaged in the congenial occupation of
marking a few pieces of brass cash before secreting them where Cheng
Lin must inevitably displace them, when the person in question quietly
stood before him. Thereupon Wang Ho returned the money to his inner
sleeve, ineptly remarking that when the sun rose it was futile to
raise a lantern to the sky to guide the stars.
“Rather is it said, ‘From three things cross the road to avoid: a
falling tree, your chief and second wives whispering in agreement, and
a goat wearing a leopard’s tail,’” replied Lin, thus rebuking Wang Ho,
not only for his crafty intention, but also as to the obtuseness of
the proverb he had quoted. “Nevertheless, O Wang Ho, I approach you on
a matter of weighty consequence.”
“To-morrow approaches,” replied the merchant evasively. “If it
concerns the detail of the reduction of your monthly adequacy, my word
has become unbending iron.”
“It is written: ‘Cho Sing collected feathers to make a garment for his
canary when it began to moult,’” replied Lin acquiescently. “The care
of so insignificant a person as myself may safely be left to the
Protecting Forces, esteemed. This matter touches your own condition.”
“In that case you cannot be too specific.” Wang Ho lowered himself
into a reclining couch, thereby indicating that the subject was not
one for hasty dismissal, at the same time motioning to Lin that he
should sit upon the floor. “Doubtless you have some remunerative form
of enterprise to suggest to me?”
“Can a palsied finger grasp a proffered coin? The matter strikes more
deeply at your very existence, honoured chief.”
“Alas!” exclaimed Wang Ho, unable to retain the usual colour of his
appearance, “the attention of a devoted servant is somewhat like
Tohen-hi Yang’s spiked throne--it torments those whom it supports.
However, the word has been spoken--let the sentence be filled in.”
“The full roundness of your illustrious outline is as a display of
coloured lights to gladden my commonplace vision,” replied Lin
submissively. “Admittedly of late, however, an element of dampness has
interfered with the brilliance of the display.”
“Speak clearly and regardless of polite evasion,” commanded Wang Ho.
“My internal organs have for some time suspected that hostile
influences were at work. For how long have you noticed this, as it may
be expressed, falling off?”
“My mind is as refined crystal before your compelling glance,”
admitted Lin. “Ever since it has been your custom to wear the funeral
robe fashioned by Shen Heng has your noble shadow suffered erosion.”
This answer, converging as it did upon the doubts that had already
assailed the merchant’s satisfaction, convinced him of Cheng Lin’s
discrimination, while it increased his own suspicion. He had for some
little time found that after wearing the robe he invariably suffered
pangs that could only be attributed to the influence of malign and
obscure Beings. It is true that the occasions of his wearing the robe
were elaborate and many-coursed feasts, when he and his guests had
partaken lavishly of birds’ nests, sharks’ fins, sea snails and other
viands of a rich and glutinous nature. But if he could not both wear
the funeral robe and partake unstintingly of well-spiced food, the
harmonious relation of things was imperilled; and, as it was since the
introduction of the funeral robe into his habit that matters had
assumed a more poignant phase, it was clear that the influence of the
funeral robe was at the root of the trouble.
“Yet,” protested Wang Ho, “the Mandarin Ling-ni boasts that he has
already lengthened the span of his natural life several years by such
an expedient, and my friend the high official T’cheng asserts that,
while wearing a much less expensive robe than mine, he feels the
essence of an increased vitality passing continuously into his being.
Why, then, am I marked out for this infliction, Cheng Lin?”
“Revered,” replied Lin, with engaging candour, “the inconveniences of
living in a country so densely populated with demons, vampires,
spirits, ghouls, dragons, omens, forces and influences, both good and
bad, as our own unapproachably favoured Empire is, cannot be evaded
from one end of life to the other. How much greater is the difficulty
when the prescribed forms for baffling the ill-disposed among the
unseen appear to have been wrongly angled by those framing the Rites!”
Wang Ho made a gesture of despair. It conveyed to Lin’s mind the wise
reminder of N’sy-hing: “When one is inquiring for a way to escape from
an advancing tiger, flowers of speech assume the form of noisome
bird-weed.” He therefore continued:
“Hitherto it has been assumed that for a funeral robe to exercise its
most beneficial force it should be the work of a maiden of immature
years, the assumption being that, having a prolonged period of
existence before her, the influence of longevity would pass through
her fingers into the garment and in turn fortify the wearer.”
“Assuredly,” agreed Wang Ho anxiously. “Thus was the analogy outlined
to me by one skilled in the devices, and the logic of it seems
unassailable.”
“Yet,” objected Lin, with sympathetic concern in his voice, “how
unfortunate must be the position of a person involved in a robe that
has been embroidered by one who, instead of a long life, has been
marked out by the Destinies for premature decay and an untimely death!
For in that case the influence--”
“Such instances,” interrupted Wang Ho, helping himself profusely to
rice-spirit from a jar near at hand, “must providentially be of rare
occurrence?”
“Esteemed head,” replied Lin, helping Wang Ho to yet another
superfluity of rice-spirit, “there are moments when it behoves each of
us to maintain an unflaccid outline. Suspecting the true cause of your
declining radiance, I have, at an involved expenditure of seven taels
and three hand counts of brash cash, pursued this matter to its
ultimate source. The robe in question owes its attainment to one Min,
of the obscure house of Hsi, who recently ceased to have an existence
while her years yet numbered short of a score. Not only was it the last
work upon which she was engaged, but so closely were the two
identified that her abrupt Passing Beyond must certainly exercise a
corresponding effect upon any subsequent wearer.”
“Alas!” exclaimed Wang Ho, feeling many of the symptoms of contagion
already manifesting themselves about his body. “Was the infliction of
a painless nature?”
“As to whether it was leprosy, the spotted plague, or acute demoniacal
possession, the degraded Shen Heng maintains an unworthy silence.
Indeed, at the mention of Hsi Min’s name he wraps his garment about
his head and rolls upon the floor--from which the worst may be
inferred. They of Min’s house, however, are less capable of guile, and
for an adequate consideration, while not denying that Shen Heng has
paid them to maintain a stealthy silence, they freely admit that the
facts are as they have been stated.”
“In that case, Shen Heng shall certainly return the thousand taels in
exchange for this discreditable burial robe,” exclaimed Wang Ho
vindictively.
“Venerated personality,” said Lin, with unabated loyalty, “the
essential part of the development is to safeguard your own
incomparable being against every danger. Shen Heng may be safely left
to the avenging demons that are ever lying in wait for the
contemptible.”
“The first part of your remark is inspired,” agreed Wang Ho, his
incapable mind already beginning to assume a less funereal forecast.
“Proceed, regardless of all obstacles.”
“Consider the outcome of publicly compelling Shen Heng to undo the
transaction, even if it could be legally achieved! Word of the
calamity would pass on heated breath, each succeeding one becoming
more heavily embroidered than the robe itself. The yamens and palaces
of your distinguished friends would echo with the once honoured name
of Wang Ho, now associated with every form of malignant distemper and
impending fate. All would hasten to withdraw themselves from the
contagion of your overhanging end.”
“Am I, then,” demanded Wang Ho, “to suffer the loss of a thousand
taels and retain an inadequate and detestable burial robe that will
continue to exercise its malign influence over my being?”
“By no means,” replied Lin confidently. “But be warned by the precept:
‘Do not burn down your house in order to inconvenience even your chief
wife’s mother.’ Sooner or later a relation of Shen Heng’s will turn
his steps towards your inner office. You can then, without undue
effort, impose on him the thousand taels that you have suffered loss
from those of his house. In the meantime a device must be sought for
exchanging your dangerous but imposing-looking robe for one of proved
efficiency.”
“It begins to assume a definite problem in this person’s mind as to
whether such a burial robe exists,” declared Wang Ho stubbornly.
“Yet it cannot be denied, when a reliable system is adopted in the
fabrication,” protested Lin. “For a score and five years the one to
whom this person owes his being has worn such a robe.”
“To what age did your venerated father attain?” inquired the merchant,
with courteous interest.
“Fourscore years and three parts of yet another score.”
“And the robe in question eventually accompanied him when he Passed
Beyond?”
“Doubtless it will. He is still wearing it,” replied Lin, as one who
speaks of casual occurrences.
“Is he, then, at so advanced an age, in the state of an ordinary
existence?”
“Assuredly. Fortified by the virtue emanating from the garment
referred to, it is his deliberate intention to continue here for yet
another score of years at least.”
“But if such robes are of so dubious a nature how can reliance be
placed on any one?”
“Esteemed,” replied Lin, “it is a matter that has long been suspected
among the observant. Unfortunately, the Ruby Buttons of the past
mistakenly formulated that the essence of continuous existence was
imparted to a burial robe through the hands of a young maiden--hence
so many deplorable experiences. The proper person to be so employed is
undoubtedly one of ripe attainment, for only thereby can the claim to
possess the vital principle be assured.”
“Was the robe which has so effectively sustained your meritorious
father thus constructed?” inquired Wang Ho, inviting Lin to recline
himself upon a couch by a gesture as of one who discovers for the
first time that an honoured guest has been overlooked.
“It is of ancient make, and thereby in the undiscriminating eye
perhaps somewhat threadbare; but to the desert-traveller all wells are
sparkling,” replied Lin. “A venerable woman, inspired of certain magic
wisdom, which she wove into the texture, to the exclusion of the
showier qualities, designed it at the age of threescore years and
three short of another score. She was engaged upon its fabrication yet
another seven, and finally Passed Upwards at an attainment of three
hundred and thirty-three years, three moons, and three days, thus
conforming to all the principles of allowed witchcraft.”
“Cheng Lin,” said Wang Ho amiably, pouring out for the one whom he
addressed a full measure of rice-spirit, “the duty that an obedient
son owes even to a grasping and self-indulgent father has in the past
been pressed to a too-conspicuous front, at the expense of the
harmonious relation that should exist between a comfortably-positioned
servant and a generous and broad-minded master. Now in the matter of
these two coffin cloths--”
“My ears are widely opened towards your auspicious words,
benevolence,” replied Lin.
“You, Cheng Lin, are still too young to be concerned with the question
of Passing Beyond; your imperishable father is, one is compelled to
say, already old enough to go. As regards both persons, therefore, the
assumed virtue of one burial robe above another should be merely a
matter of speculative interest. Now if some arrangement should be
suggested, not unprofitable to yourself, by which one robe might be
imperceptibly substituted for another--and, after all, one burial robe
is very like another--”
“The prospect of deceiving a trustful and venerated sire is so ignoble
that scarcely any material gain would be a fitting compensation--were
it not for the fact that an impending loss of vision renders the
deception somewhat easy to accomplish. Proceed, therefore,
munificence, towards a precise statement of your open-handed
prodigality.”
*
Indescribable was the bitterness of Shen Heng’s throat when Cheng Lin
unfolded his burden and revealed the Wang Ho thousand-tael burial
robe, with an unassuming request for the return of the purchase money,
either in gold or honourable paper, as the article was found
unsuitable. Shen Heng shook the rafters of the Golden Abacus with
indignation, and called upon his domestic demons, the spirits of
eleven generations of embroidering ancestors, and the illuminated
tablets containing the High Code and Authority of the Distinguished
Brotherhood of Coffin Cloth and Burial Robe Makers in protest against
so barbarous an innovation.
Bowing repeatedly and modestly expressing himself to the effect that
it was incredible that he was not justly struck dead before the
sublime spectacle of Shen Heng’s virtuous indignation, Cheng Lin
carefully produced the written lines of the agreement, gently
directing the Distinguished Brother’s fire-kindling eyes to an
indicated detail. It was a provision that the robe should be returned
and the purchase money restored if the garment was not all that was
therein stipulated: with his invariable painstaking loyalty Lin had
insisted upon this safeguard when he drew up the form, although,
probably from a disinclination to extol his own services, he had
omitted mentioning the fact to Wang Ho in their recent conversation.
With deprecating firmness Lin directed Shen Heng’s reluctant eyes to
another line--the unfortunate exaction of fifty taels in return for
the guarantee that the robe should be permeated with the spirit of
rejuvenation. As the undoubted embroiderer of the robe--one Min of the
family of Hsi--had admittedly Passed Beyond almost with the last
stitch, it was evident that she could only have conveyed by her touch
an entirely contrary emanation. If, as Shen Heng never ceased to
declare, Min was still somewhere alive, let her be produced and a
fitting token of reconciliation would be forthcoming; otherwise,
although with the acutest reluctance, it would be necessary to carry
the claim to the court of the chief District Mandarin, and (Cheng Lin
trembled at the sacrilegious thought) it would be impossible to
conceal the fact that Shen Heng employed persons of inauspicious omen,
and the high repute of coffin cloths from the Golden Abacus would be
lost. The hint arrested Shen Heng’s fingers in the act of tearing out
a handful of his beautiful pigtail. For the first time he noticed,
with intense self-reproach, that Lin was not reclining on a couch.
The amiable discussion that followed, conducted with discriminating
dignity by Shen Heng and conscientious humility on the part of Cheng
Lin, extended from one gong-stroke before noon until close upon the
time for the evening rice. The details arrived at were that Shen Heng
should deliver to Lin eight-hundred and seventy-five taels against the
return of the robe. He would also press upon that person a silk purse
with an onyx clasp, containing twenty-five taels, as a deliberate mark
of his individual appreciation and quite apart from anything to do
with the transaction on hand. All suggestions of anything other than
the strictest high-mindedness were withdrawn from both sides. In order
that the day should not be wholly destitute of sunshine at the Golden
Abacus, Lin declared his intention of purchasing, at a price not
exceeding three taels and a half, the oldest and most unattractive
burial robe that the stock contained. So moved was Shen Heng by this
delicate consideration that he refused to accept more than two taels
and three-quarters. Moreover, he added for Lin’s acceptance a small
jar of crystallized limpets.
To those short-sighted ones who profess to discover in the conduct of
Cheng Lin (now an official of the seventeenth grade and drawing his
quarterly sufficiency of taels in a distant province) something not
absolutely honourably arranged, it is only necessary to display the
ultimate end as it affected those persons in any way connected.
Wang Ho thus obtained a burial robe in which he was able to repose
absolute confidence. Doubtless it would have sustained him to an
advanced age had he not committed self-ending, in the ordinary way of
business, a few years later.
Shen Heng soon disposed of the returned garment for two thousand taels
to a person who had become prematurely wealthy owing to the distressed
state of the Empire. In addition he had sold, for more than two taels,
a robe which he had no real expectation of ever selling at all.
Min, made welcome at the house of Mean and Lin, removed with them to
that distant province. There she found that the remuneration for
burial robe embroidery was greater than she had ever obtained before.
With the money thus amassed she was able to marry an official of noble
rank.
The father of Cheng Lin had passed into the Upper Air many years
before the incidents with which this related narrative concerns
itself. He is thus in no way affected. But Lin did not neglect, in the
time of his prosperity, to transmit to him frequent sacrifices of
seasonable delicacies suited to his condition.