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- The Drum Singers
7
Three vacant rooms in the theater were rented as a meeting place to a group that twice a week sang Peiping opera. They had learned a few arias while living in Peiping and back in Chungking had formed a music club. Apart from the few hours the club of opera fans met, the rooms were always empty.
The music lovers did not know many operas. Even if all of them were together they could not sing a complete opera. After a few meetings, they lost their enthusiasm for Peiping opera, and many of them didn't care to sing any more. If they turned up at the club rooms at all, they played mahjong. But the music club paid its rent every month, and officially occupied the three rooms to demonstrate that they were lovers of Peiping opera.
Pao Ching had to find a place to live. He could not stay on in that little hotel. But Chungking was getting more and more crowded every day. Shipload after shipload of people arrived every twenty_four hours, and it was almost impossible to find a place to live. There were those three vacant rooms over the theater. What could be better? He had to have them. But how about the Peiping opera lovers?
He went to see the club president. With subtle tact he made no mention of the empty rooms. Instead he talked about the ancient glories of Peiping opera and lauded the club president's accomplishments in that field. Had he not heard his name and talent praised when he himself was in Peiping, in Shanghai, in Nanking? All over China in fact. And had not the Nanking newspaper given him glowing reviews when he had made a guest appearance in an opera there? (The truth was that the opera club president had never made any guest appearance anywhere. But he did not want to correct Pao Ching.) From Peiping opera the subject turned to drum singing. Pao Ching edged in his point so gradually and with such charm that the club president was soon agreeing that drum singing was second only to Peiping opera, although he had never heard any drum singing in his life. But Pao Ching was a cultured man from the cultured city of Peiping, and so he would welcome him as a friend. How great was the bond between real music lovers! Half an hour later the music club for lovers of Peiping opera was officially without its club rooms. An hour later Pao Ching and his family had moved in — over the theater.
Lotus Charm and Phoenix Girl shared one room, and Pao Ching and his wife the other. The center room they used as a living room. Useless Fang objected to making up his bed every night in the living room. He would stay and suffer in the little hotel. And he suffered in comfort, with a room all to himself, which gave him delightful privacy.
Pao Ching liked the new quarters. The rent was low and the rooms were right above the theater. What more could he ask! No more exertion of going to and from work every day. And he would now have time to manage the home himself.
But his content was short_lived. He should have known he could always count on the Tangs. Since the Tangs had failed to get a raise for Jeweled Lute, they had to think up other ways of making trouble for Pao Ching. They had their problems — the greatest of all, to make a living. They couldn't tell Jeweled Lute to quit Pao Ching's company, or they would be without money. But on general good principle they had to annoy Pao Ching. Fat Mrs.Tang was mistress of the art of irritating. Her husband had learned from her, and she saw to it that he did an efficient job.
One day she sent him to Pao Ching to ask for Jeweled Lute's salary in advance. The child had to have clothes; and they hardly had enough to eat. Then Jeweled Lute was sick, too sick to appear, so she must take a day off.
Pao Ching endured all this with resignation. It was silly to give in to these leeches, he knew, but he was sorry for them, because they had not learned how to live at peace with the world. They were not even discouraged when he refused to advance Jeweled Lute's carfare.
The day that the Fang family moved in over the theater brought a crisis. Fourth Master Tang, looking more like a frustrated weasel than ever, arrived at the theater soon after dawn. His eyes were heavy with reproach, and his mouth was downturned with frustration.
He indicated to Pao Ching very plainly that the whole Tang family thought he was a monster for finding his family a place to live, and neglecting to do the same for his dearest and most faithful friends — the Tangs. “My friend," he said with a hint of harshness, “you must do something for us. You have influence. You must use it to find us a place to live. After all, you found luxurious quarters for yourself."
So Pao Ching promised. He was always promising, and he didn't like to. It hurt him to have to promise, when he did not intend to do anything. But the Tangs forced this on him with their constant complaints, and he let Fourth Master Tang gabble on. He listened quietly, nodding his head and smiling.
Mrs.Tang, too, came to life socially. Every day she would waddle up to the apartment over the theater to see her dear friend Mrs. Fang — Pao Ching's wife. Her visits were always the same. She would enter the living room with a broad, friendly smile on her face. “So here I am," she would puff. “I've walked all this way specially to see you. After all, I said to myself, we are strangers in this wretched town, and so we should stick together. I feel absolutely lost if I don't see my only friends every day. The thought of not seeing you makes me thoroughly unhappy."
Then after she had wedged her vast behind into the largest chair, she would begin her tirade. “Has that clever husband of yours found us a place to live?" she would ask Mrs. Tang. “Has he? Now you must hurry him up. We are so unfortunate having to live in a hotel, and the cost is terrific. We simply cannot get along."
And there she would sit for hours, drinking all the tea, eating everything she could lay her hands on.
There were other visitors too. The local police chief, the detectives, the gangsters, and a few rich young men. They came to look at Louts Charm, and often stayed longer than Mrs. Tang. And of course Pao Ching had to entertain them. Tea and melon seeds, and conversation.
Often they came before Lotus Charm was up. They would sit in the living room, their eyes on the cotton print curtain in the doorway to Lotus Charm's bedroom. Pao Ching knew what they came for, but he dared not turn them out. If he did, a gang of them might show up at the theater one night and start trouble. A few teacups smashed, a shot or two fired at an electric light bulb, and there it was. One riot, and his business would be ruined.
Worst of all, among the young men who called early was the local sheriff — a handsome young man with a roguish smile, and a way with women. He just came and sat, a toothpick in his teeth, his eyes always on the door. One day one young man more daring than the others got up, and walked right into the room where Lotus Charm was asleep. The others followed.
Pao Ching found them all gaping at his daughter, and he did a lot of talking. Lotus Charm was tired. She needed a great deal of rest for her singing. Reluctantly they moved back into the next room, and sat waiting. Pao Ching was burning inside with anger. But he held his temper in check and kept his smile. This was life, this was show business. If only the police chief would give him some protection.
Or his wife. She could have stopped all this, if she had wanted to. All she had to do was tell these rascals that the only thing Lotus Charm had to sell was her art. If only his wife would explain that — but she wouldn't. Mrs. Fang had her own plans for Lotus Charm.
Lotus Charm was embarrassed by all the attention. She guessed what the men wanted, and she wasn't interested. But whenever she left her room, she had to face them. Usually she begged Phoenix Girl to come with her. Phoenix Girl always refused. She didn't want to appear beside her beautiful sister. She knew that the men in the living room were there to feast their eyes on Lotus Charm, and that they wouldn't give her a second look. So she told Lotus Charm to go out alone, and her attitude made it plain that her adopted sister was a man's plaything, while she was a lady with social status.
Finally Lotus Charm would walk out alone — like an actress making an exit. And she nearly always walked straight across the room — without giving any of the men a look — right into her mother's room on the other side. She knew that she dared not give the men a glance, or they would all jump up and surround her.
These morning walks across the living room were sad experiences for her. She knew she was just an orphan — a little drum singer — and the most she could ever expect from her adopted mother was a little kindness. There would never be real affection. She had grown up now, and she needed love and advice.
With her womanhood in bloom, her little breasts showing to the world, and the soft curves revealing themselves under her gowns, she desperately needed security and comfort. And knowledge! There were things she wanted to discuss with Mrs. Fang, and dared not. Who then would tell her?
Each morning as she walked through the crowded living room, she hoped she would find her mother in a sweet, gentle mood. But usually Mrs. Fang was feeling mean. “Go out and entertain your guests, worthless," she would croak. With a fixed smile on her face, Lotus Charm would go back into the room, hoping with all her heart that she looked like a twelve_year_old and praying that her womanly figure might shrink away.
She had noticed what men did to girl singers — how they kissed their hands and stroked their thighs. She knew that girls went off with men, sometimes without their parents' permission. And she knew that streetwalkers were paid for something, but she didn't know for what. She relied implicitly on the protection of her father. Pao Ching was both mother and father to her, manager and tutor. Whenever she heard a story about a girl running off, or going to bed with a man, she thought it amusing, particularly because it was told in whispers.
She had noticed too, when she and her father sang at rich men's houses, that some of the girl singers allowed men to fondle them, and received fancy presents. She had asked Phoenix Girl why men gave presents to girls just to touch them. Phoenix Girl should know all the answers, with her social status, Lotus Charm thought. But Phoenix Girl merely got red in the face. Lotus Charm turned to Jeweled Lute, who made money on the side by going out with men, but Jeweled Lute only giggled and said,“You are too young. Children shouldn't ask questions."
The only thing was to ask Pao Ching. Lotus Charm found it extremely difficult, however, to put her question to her father. When she finally plucked up her courage, Pao Ching blushed. She had never seen a man so unhappy. She would always remember how he puckered his brow and rubbed his shiny pate thoughtfully with his hands. After a while, he said,“I wouldn't ask about such things, child. They are too low for you to think about."
Lotus Charm wasn't satisfied. She detected reproof in Pao Ching's tone. Her face burned with sudden shame, and there was anger and frustration inside her. “But, father," she blurted out, “if that is low, then our business is low,too. I know lots of girls who do it."
“Some years ago,"Pao Ching said,“all opera singers and artists were considered of no account — little better than slaves and beggars. But times have changed. So long as we ourselves are honest and upright, we cannot be classed as lowly worthless people." Lotus Charm thought awhile. Her father hadn't told her how the social status of stage people had changed, though often he had told her that they were singing songs that were a thousand years old.
“Then why don't we go in for some other kind of business, papa?" she asked.
Pao Ching didn't answer.
Lotus Charm decided that her job was a lowly one; she would never amount to anything socially. This time, as she walked into the room full of men, she decided to be entertaining, to see what might happen. But she saw her father standing by the door, changed her mind, and ran like a mouse into her bedroom. There she stayed playing domino solitaire until it was time to go to the theater. When she went down, two of her admirers were still there.
Mrs. Tang kept up her visits. She knew why all the men were waiting in the living room, and she thought it would be amusing to entertain them. Also, she had decided to take revenge on the Fangs — her friendly enemies, those robbers who cheated her and her family of the good things of life. She started telling the men that all they needed to get Lotus Charm was enough money. Patience and money, she said.
But she had reckoned without Pao Ching. If one thing made him speak his mind, it was anything that menaced Lotus Charm. One day he opened up on Mrs. Tang. He was angry, his face red, his voice stern. “Please," he said, “if you come here, go and sit in my wife's room. I don't need you to entertain our guests."
Mrs. Tang laughed. She snapped her fingers and cackled like a hen which has just laid a double_yolked egg. “Ho! Ho! Is it wrong for me to entertain these charming people?" She spoke in a loud voice. “So, I am wrong. And they are all having such a good time."
Pao Ching looked at her sternly, wrath in his eyes. “I do not wish it," he said. “I beg you to remember that this is not a house of prostitution. It is a theater — the home of the arts."
Mrs. Tang's face spat venom as she said, “Huh, we'll see. I've yet to find any good in our profession."And with a swing of her gargantuan hips, she flounced back to the men.
For several days she stayed away. However, she told Jeweled Lute not to go backstage between her acts. If she wanted to rest, she said, she was to go to Lotus Charm's bedroom. She knew Pao Ching would hate that.
So Pao Ching had another worry. He wanted the two girls to become friends as much as he wanted the plague. And there was Jeweled Lute lolling in Lotus Charm's room, with her heavy perfumes, and her lazy arrogance.
Jeweled Lute used Lotus Charm's room for makeup. She came early in the afternoon to fix her lips, her nails, her eyebrows. And she used all Lotus Charm's makeup. This Lotus Charm did not like. It was all right for Phoenix Girl to take some, but not a professional like Jeweled Lute. She earned money and should buy her own. Lotus Charm took her troubles to her father. Pao Ching shrugged his shoulders. He did not want to make an issue of such a little thing. “Don't worry," he said, “I'll buy you more, when that is all used up."
Lotus Charm knew he would, but she did not see why he should have to pay for Jeweled Lute's make_up.
“Look here," she said very firmly one day, “that powder of mine is expensive."
Jeweled Lute grinned happily. “Of course, it is. That's why I like it. I can't afford it myself." And she used more, dabbing it under her arms and over her body, filling the room with fine white dust as she shook out the powder puff. Lotus Charm was pale with anger.
One day Jeweled Lute turned up with a man. They walked right into Lotus Charm's bedroom, and sat on the bed. Lotus Charm blushed, and got up to go. But she felt she could not leave Jeweled Lute in her room. She might steal everything she had. Besides, where was she to go? If she went to her mother, across the living room, there might be a scene. Yet she did not want to watch Jeweled Lute entertain a man. But then she thought she might as well see what happened when a girl entertained a man. Was it really low? She would have to know one day. So she sat down to watch.
Jeweled Lute and her guest were talking and joking like ordinary people. There seemed nothing wrong with that. Then they held hands, but it still didn't seem bad. When finally they left, Lotus Charm wondered if the man had paid money just to sit on the bed and talk to Jeweled Lute.
Then one day she walked into her bedroom. Jeweled Lute was lying on the bed with a man kissing her.
Lotus Charm was furious. She wanted to throw them out, but she could not offend Jeweled Lute because of her father's business. At the same time, she was curious to see what they were doing. The thought made her blush. She ran into her mother's room. She thought her mother would know how to deal with such matters better than she.
Mrs. Fang was half drunk, but she sensed what was going on. She grunted to herself. This daughter of hers. A silly little virgin. Of course a virgin was worth more than a professional, but what tiresome ideas some girls had. Let Jeweled Lute earn an extra dollar! The girl had to have a bed somewhere. Perhaps it would be a good thing if Lotus Charm lost hers. It would open Pao Ching's eyes. He was stupid about this girl. Whoever heard of keeping an adopted daughter like a queen. Mrs. Fang's thoughts were ugly as she squinted at her frightened daughter.“Oh,get out," she cried. “You are a show girl like her. Who do you think you are?"
She raised her wine cup and held it in mid_air, as if making a decision. Then she suddenly threw it at Lotus Charm. It missed, but the liquid spattered brown_yellow over Lotus Charm's dress.
For a moment Lotus Charm stood speechless, unable to think, powerless to move. So her mother wanted her to be like Jeweled Lute. Her mother didn't care, didn't love her. Black rage rose in Lotus Charm's heart. She wanted to strike this woman, to rip her coarse skin with her nails, to curse her.
But she turned and ran down to the theater in search of Pao Ching. He was not there. To the front of the house. Where was he? She went back to the darkened stage. There she stood and stamped her feet and cursed. Only the echo of her anger came back from the empty house.
Then blindly she walked out — to the only friendly person in the whole world, Useless Fang.
Lotus Charm ran all the way across town to the hotel where Useless Fang lived.
“Tell me the whole story," he said, with all the solemnity of a judge ordering a witness to relate his version of a crime. As he heard Lotus Charm's story he released a string of oaths, descriptive of his judgment on Jeweled Lute and her parents.
His suggestions, however, were less than judicial. He would go to the theater and beat Jeweled Lute till she could no longer wag her bottom at a man. He would challenge the entire Tang family to a duel. He would express himself forcibly to fat old Mrs. Tang. Lotus Charm shook her head. None of these would do. Her father's business must not be upset on her account.
Useless Fang sat on the bed, and scratched his head with his long dirty fingernails. Then what should be done? The situation was intolerable.
Having told her story Lotus Charm felt better. Useless Fang loved her, she was sure, and it was pleasant to have such a sympathetic listener. And his cursing was educational. Such scholarly epithets.
Useless Fang had a ready suggestion. If Lotus Charm had funds they could go to a restaurant and eat. Or they could buy some tangerines. He knew where for fifty cents they could buy enough tangerines to give the whole family a stomach ache. And he knew a pleasant spot on the hillside where they could sit and eat them.
Lotus Charm suggested it would be better if he took her home, because her father would be worried.
“Let them all worry," said Useless Fang. “There is no need to go back to that den of vice until it is time for the show. If they dare scold you I will tear down the whole theater with my own hands. Come, let us go buy the tangerines. I shall think better on a full stomach,as my eyes enjoy the beauty of nature."