A Room Surrounded by Grass    Part 2
有青草环抱的房间  （二）

By Xie Ting / English Tr. by Chen Zihong
谢挺/  英译 陈子弘

Ning living together with me just one month, he reviewed his lessons during the day, and only in the evening will we talked about romantic things and poetry. All this was arranged by me, and since he is a scholar who seeks an official position, I think he should focus on his future. He was happy to follow my plan, which was mainly that he was very obsessed with me. When he was absorbed in reading during the day, I made tea and ground ink for him. At night, however, we indulged in a lot of pleasure on the bed, that belonged to us. But, but not overly so. Sometimes I also feel very lucky to be his teacher about the birds and the bees, it's me, personally put a shy boy, a shysexual into an enormous man. But those are just on paper, some things made him more confused, he finally realized that the actual operating was more fantastic than the book, that's really amazing. I still remember the first time we had sex, as soon as it was over, Ning was so excited and wanted to marry me immediately, he took my shoulders but he called his mother, he said, "Mother!" Few days after, Ning had become an expert for this, he has a good and sentimental temper, his likes were revealed in the face, and such a joy made him become sentimental, he always called me Qian Qian, and shouted that he was going to buy back my freedom, as soon as he got up. That really was a rare moment of happiness I have ever had at Heavenly Fragrance Pavilion, but every day was like not enough, time flew rapidly. What else can a woman just like me expect? I was probably not supposed to like someone, but I still found that most of the affection I gave back to Ning essentially came from my heart.

宁采臣宁公子在我那儿住了一个月，白天温习功课，晚上我们才在一起谈谈风月，聊聊诗文。这都是我安排好的，宁公子既然是个求取功名的读书人，我觉得就应当把精力放在前程上。他很听我的话，这主要源自他对我的痴迷，白天他收摄心神发奋读书时，我为他沏茶，研墨，直到晚上，我们才稍稍放纵一下自己，尽情享受那份属于我们的床第之欢。有时候我也觉得十分幸运，能成为宁公子的人生启蒙，是我，亲手把一个羞涩的男孩变成一个威猛的男人。宁公子说他在家时就偷偷地看过他的父亲收藏的《金瓶梅》、《肉蒲团》，还有一部道教典藏《素女心经》，有些段落他甚至能够背诵，但那毕竟是纸上谈兵，有些东西只会令他加倍地匪夷所思，谁料想实际操作竞比理论强过千倍万倍不止，真是别有洞天!我记得我们第一次交合结束宁公子就兴奋地要和我成亲，他揽着我的肩头喊的却是他娘，他说，娘啊娘!仅仅过去几天，宁公子已经演练成此间的个中高手了，他是个性情中人，一有喜欢就露在面上，欢乐让他变得情意绵绵的，他总是叫我倩倩，兴头上又嚷着要替我赎身。那真是我在天香楼少有的一段幸福时光，每天总像不够用，时间正在快速地流逝，像我这种女人，还能期望什么呢?我大抵也不应该喜欢上谁的，可我还是感觉到，在我回馈给宁公子的好感中，十有八九是发自我的内心。

Ning actually knew that he misidentified me as Li was a misunderstanding, but usually we only used this misunderstanding to amuse each other, whenever he saw Li he completely didn't look sideways. Once, when he brushed past Li, he deliberately put his nasal mucus on Li's dress. I knew he trying to comfort me and making me happy, however, I am a woman who does not have much faith in my own appearance. I told Ning not deliberately to cheer me up-Li is really a bewitching female, I would like her if I'm a man. Li is a well-renowned beauty, how can I compare with her. Of course, this is only a joke of me, to my surprise, he patted his chest, swear to the God, and said he only love me during his lifetime, or he will be rotten. I hurried up to cover his mouth, like those lovers in the novel, I snuggled up in Ning's arms, full of tears. Was I happy? I actually deplored it that moment, lamented my own life, also sighed the childish infatuation of him. He caressed my hair and said to me-as for fame, it is a worldly possession, by reputation we mean the attachment to reality. His point of view is exactly the same as Yan Chixia. Yan also talked about our top babe Li--
that's what he said, the most famous hooker is the bitchiest hooker!

宁公子早已经知道把我当成李姑娘只是一场误会了，平时我们只会用这个误会来相互逗趣。他见到李姑娘时则目不斜视，有一次当他们错肩时，宁公子故意把鼻涕抹在李姑娘的衣裙上。我知道他是想安慰我，同时让我高兴，可我毕竟是个没有太多信心的人，我对宁公子说，你别哄我高兴了，李姐姐那才是真正的漂亮，你看她的眉眼，那么柔顺，我就是男人也会喜欢她——再说，李姐姐是名扬天下的美人，我怎么比得上她。我只是一句玩笑话，谁料宁公子竞拍着胸口，指天发誓，说今生今世只爱聂姐姐一个人，否则肠穿肚烂。我赶忙上前去捂住他的嘴，就像我从书上看到的那些情人做的那样，我满脸泪水地靠在宁公子的怀里。我感到幸福了吗?那一刻我竟然有些痛惜，感怀身世，又叹息宁公子那份涉世不深的痴情。宁公子抚着我的头发接着说，至于名声，那是身外之物，所谓名者实之宾也。他的观点竟然和燕赤霞一样，燕赤霞就差不多这么谈论过我们天香楼的头牌——
他这么说的，名气最大的鸡就是最烂的鸡!

Sketch 75, Pu Songling: A Collection of Notes

Yan Chixia was actually a street gangster, a small hooligan, who consorted with prostitutes but never paid. But from those who lionized him, it had repeatedly said that he was an immortal master, a swordsman, who can play with a small flying knife. In this gloomy and complex building, he could come and go without hindrance, and he should have skills that ordinary person never has. He had the knack of finding the exit easy. But he was an immortal, how could he come to a bordello? Was it the re-engraving of Sengcan (Gem Monk) of that year, where he was practicing Heart Sutra? So what could he do with Xiaoqian? Borrowing feminine sexual energy, or just robbing? How did he and Ning share her? Which of them was more intimate for Qian? Ning or Yan? And, which one will I become a continuation of?

留仙笔记之75：

    燕赤霞是个街口混混，小流氓，专嫖霸王鸡。不过从敬畏他的人口中听到的传闻却是他是个有道的真人，一名剑客，会使小飞刀的把戏。不过，在这个阴森复杂的天香楼里他竟然能来去无阻，也应当有他过人之处。他有那份神通，发现出口并不难。不过他是一名得道的真人，又怎么会来此烟花柳巷?难道是当年禅宗三祖的重演，在此调心?那么他和小倩都能干些什么呢?采阴补阳，还是吸星大法?他和宁采臣又怎么分配聂小倩?小倩对待他们中哪一个更亲厚一些?宁采臣还是燕赤霞，我又会成为他们中的哪一个的延续?

Yan Chixia is my old patron, he is a recluse with no fixed abode, and I have not met him for a long time, I guess he probably went to Zhongnan Mountains to practice his new magic trick. But recently I suddenly have some worry, I am afraid that he will meet with Ning, these days Ning is in a foul mood, very unsettled and anxious while reading. One day Ning suddenly said to me that he didn't want to go to the exam. Another day, he suddenly asked me, "Have you decided? I'm going to buy back freedom for you, aren't you tired of this place?"

燕赤霞是我的老熟客了，他是个闲云野鹤似的人物，已经有很长一段时间没在我这儿露面了，我猜他大概又到终南山修炼他的新式功法。但近来我忽然有了一种担心，我害怕他会和宁公子逢面，宁公子这段时间情绪不稳，读书时总是心神不定的，胡乱翻书也会意气浮躁，有一天他忽然对我说，我不想去考试了。又有一天他忽然问我，你想好没有，我要替你赎身，你在这个地方还没有呆腻吗?

Ning has always had an illusion that I am his woman. This was overbearing from his youth and his ignorance. But the world was never created for youngsters, much less for the ignorant. I tolerated his arrogance, of course, I admonished him to take the exam: "You should take it. You said that your father always wants you to be Number One Scholar, to reflect glory on your ancestors, if so, much money, power and wealth will be owned by you. " But he responded coldly, so what? I didn't think so, that there's anything to say. Perhaps I talked to him about too many ridiculous things from official life. I told him that the various officials, high or minor, when coming here, they would immediately tear off their masks, becoming a beast, becoming an unperson. One of the most wonderful examples is the magistrate of our district, every time he came he would tell me that he was working hard in his political career, and he always repeated the same story, probably that was the only thing he deserved to be commended for. He was nothing more than a poor family child, with no powerful people in the family, with no help from his female relatives, and he was not well-looking so that he was not taken a fancy to by any daughter from any family. At that time he was still an alternate official, and one day, he finally was accepted by a senior cabinet official as his disciple. Once the old mother of that senior official was seriously ill, he felt that the opportunity just coming. In order to express his concern, he went to taste the old woman's doo-doo. He said that the stool tasted bitter and smelly, and if the stool was not so the disease did not been healed. When he said the taste, he deliberately lowered his volume. "I haven't even tasted my mother's stool yet," he said. He asked me to strip him, tie him to the head of the bed, and beat him with a water-soaked willow branch. But to my surprise, there was a sound of praise and admiration coming out of his mouth. He liked me to put my foot on his face, and he asked me to ask him, "Are you a scum?" "Yes, yes!" he responded heartily, then he ejaculated. If Ning asked me this way, "Do you want me to be this kind of person?" I couldn't argue, but I knew he wouldn't be such a person if he doesn't want to. So I thought Ning just gave himself an excuse not to read, and to fail his old father with this. Was he already decayed? But the next to torture him may be a regret anytime and anywhere.

    宁公子一直有一种错觉，我是他的人。这一点霸道得自他的年轻，和他的无知。可这个世界从来就不是为年轻设立的，更不是为无知者。所以对他想当然的狂妄，我一则隐忍，二来也没有少对他进行规劝，试嘛，你也应当去应，你不是说，你父亲不是一直盼着你成为状元郎嘛，光耀门庭，五花马、千金裘、权利、财富无所不有。但他冷冷地回答我，那又怎么样?!我觉得无话可说了。大概我和他谈论的官场上的可笑事情太多了吧。我告诉他来我这儿的那些形形色色、大大小小的官吏，他们一到我这儿就立即撕下自己的假面，变成了禽兽，变成了非人。最有名的一个例子是那位知府大人，每次来他都会给我讲他在官场上攀登的艰辛，而且老是重复同一个故事，大抵因为那也是他唯一值得称道的。他不过是一个穷人家的孩子，没有权势，更没有裙带关系，因为长相不美也没被谁家女儿看中。那时候他还是一名候补的官员时，终于拜在了当朝宰相大人的门下。有一次宰相大人的老母病重，他觉得机会来了，为了表示关切，他竟上门去尝了一下那老女人的大便。他说大便是苦臭的，不是苦臭的大便病就没有好，可他说臭时还不敢太大声。我连我老妈的大便都没有尝过，说到这儿，知府大人总会恸哭起来，他让我把他全身扒光了，捆在床头上，然后用一根泡过的柳树枝用力抽打他的全身，而此时他嘴里发出的竟是惊叹和赞美。他最喜欢的就是我用脚踩住他的脸，他让我问，你是不是一个败类?!是，是!  老大人由衷地说。接下来，老大人的高潮就该来了。宁公子可以这么问我，你希望我成为这种人吗?!我没法分辩，但我知道只要他愿意，他也可以不成为这种人。所以我觉得宁采臣公子只是给自己找到了一个不读书的借口，并以此来辜负他的老父，他是不是已经自甘堕落?接下来折磨他的可能将是无时不存在的懊悔。

Their so-called buy-back is the most popular thing I've ever heard in Heavenly Fragrance Pavilion. When the play was coming to an end, they always loved to say the word, they might think that this word is the most beautiful voice, the most touching word to hit my heart. But they didn't know that such an idea of salvation had bored me. Did they think that they had such a big capacity, that Heavenly Fragrance Pavilion is as a bigger living hell than the back garden beyond their house? Only Ning let me move, with his youth and ignorance. At the first time, I heard this word from him, I was so excited about it, and I probably had a series of associations. But if I marry into his decent family, let my beauty just for him alone, then I will be saved for this? This doubt let me down, but also let me off the plan that I had just come up to go back to his hometown and be the wife of a landlord. I told Ning that he can only save my flesh but not my soul. Ning looked startled, perhaps he could not grasp my true intentions immediately, perhaps he thought I had been controlled by a mysterious religious group, and I was involuntarily held against my will.

    至于说赎身，那也是我在天香楼听的最多的一句话，那些嫖客朋友们，意兴阑珊之时，脱口而出的大多是这句话，他们大概以为这句话是天底下最动听，也最能够打动我芳心的一句话。可谁知这中间的救赦心理已让我厌烦透顶。他们以为他们有这么大的能力，以为天香楼比他们家后花园更像一个大火炕。只有宁公子让我感动过，以他的年轻、无知，第一次听到他的话我心里竟然难得地为之砰然，大概，我还因此产生了一系列联想。可我一想到从良，让我的美丽为一人所专有，真会有那么大起死回生的功效?我难道会因此而得救?这种想法让我沮丧，也让我打消了刚刚产生的和宁公子一起回乡务农的念头。我跟宁公子说，你就是赎了我的肉身，也救不了我的灵魂!宁公子一脸错愕，大概一时他还无法体会这其中的深意，或许他还以为我已经被某个神秘的宗教团伙控制了，正在身不由已。

Yan Chixia finally arrived. He came on the night of the winter solstice. His meeting with Ning was a dramatic scene, and I really wanted to tell you just then. Yan asked me, "who is this new guy? Don't you introduce him to me?" Ning had been looking at this uninvited guest, and asked immediately: "Qian, who is this old man?" Then I introduced them to each other. Yan is a good person, he nodded implicitly after that, but Mr. Ning seemed to have been hinting that I should hasten to dismiss this visitor, but how could I do so? Then my bad temper also came up, I wanted to tell him here is Heavenly Fragrance Pavilion, and everyone who comes in is my friend. Ning had been hanging his head, as a newcomer on the first day of work, looked like he was about to cry. I turned to ask Yan, asking what new movements he had recently practiced. In fact, I also wanted to let Ning see the extraordinary skills of him. Yan asked me for an embroidered needle, inserted it into the ground, gently lifted one foot and stood on it with the other, probably because there was an outsider next to him, his performance was unsuccessful, the needle was broken three times, but in the end, he still stood on it. Ning jumped up at that time, wanted to see through the trick, he looked at Yan's head, but insisted that was false, and requested big brother to reveal the secret. In the middle of the night, the two suddenly appreciate each other, both said that each other had good taste, otherwise they would both wait at the door of our top babe Li Shishui. They began to race who can drink more wine, good wine to use good dishes, I went to inform the kitchen to send a table of dishes, after coming back, I heard they were playing a finger-guessing game, I thought that was also for drinking, later learned that it was not. No matter what, I was happy for them to get along well.

    A wild dragon playing with water--
    The bamboo shoot  teasing the lotus flower--
    A cypress branch standing in front of the door--
    Ning was sweating and hesitated for a long time to respond：towards conscience, climbing up the tower--
    I then joined in, I said: A room surrounded by grass，it's greener!
"What is that?" they both asked me.
"Nothing, just a riddle."

    燕赤霞还是来了。他是冬至的那天夜里来的。他和宁采臣见面是个极富戏剧性的场面，我想接下来就告诉你。燕赤霞问我，这位新人是谁——不介绍一下?宁公子一直对这位不速之客怒目而视，这时候当仁不让地反问，倩倩，这个老头是谁?我给他们介绍了。燕赤霞是位有道之人，听完后含蓄地点头，宁公子可能一直在暗示我赶紧把燕赤霞打发走，我又怎么能这么做呢?这时我的负气也上来了，我想告诉他这儿是天香楼，每个进来的人都是我的朋友。宁公子一直低垂着头，样子就像新人坐台，看上去马上要哭了。我转身去问燕赤霞，最近又练出了什么新招?这么做，也是想让宁公子看看燕赤霞非凡的一面。燕赤霞向我讨了一支绣花针，插在地上，又轻轻地抬起一只脚立在上面，可能有外人在场，他的表演不太顺利，绣花针断了三枚，但还是让他站稳了。宁公子这时候跳起来，去找“魔术”的机关，他看看燕赤霞的头顶，却还是说这是假的，定要燕哥揭秘。这种情形到中夜后才有所改观，两个男人忽然间变得惺惺相惜，都说对方有眼光，否则的话都到李似水门口排队去了。他们开始斗酒，无酒不成席，我让厨房送来一桌菜，等我回来时，听到他们又在比拳，我以为这也是为了喝酒，后来才知道不是。但我还是为他们能和平共处而愉快。

    狂龙戏水——
    一笋托莲花——
    门前柏树枝——
    宁公子憋了一头汗才答上来，致良知——
    这时候我也插进去了，我说，有青草环抱的房间!

那是什么?他们俩一并问。
没什么，一个谜语。

（to be continued  未完待续）