The pleasure launches then crowded round Beautiful Jade's boat. She opened her ruby lips, revealing her sparkling white teeth, and began to sing accompanied by a flute.
It was the middle of the eighth month and it was already cool on the lake, but Beautiful Jade's voice suggested warm breezes and fragrant flowers.
"Such talent," Qian Long sighed.
To his great delight, Beautiful Jade's dew-drop eyes constantly looked over in his direction as she sang. Qian Long loved demonstrating his talents in art, calligraphy and poetry and his ministers, not surprisingly, praised everything he did. But for a beautiful woman to favour him not because of reverence for his position as Emperor, but because of his real worth meant she had recognized his ardour, good looks and talent. Famous courtesans are truly discerning, he thought. He immediately ordered He Jia to present Beautiful Jade with fifty taels of gold.
The boats of all the courtesans were piled up with gifts, especially those of the Four Beauties. Midnight approached and the judge began the job of inspecting the gifts. As with the imperial examinations, not only the courtesans, but also the spectators on the lake, were anxious about the outcome.
Qian Long said a few quiet words to He Jia, who nodded and hurried back to the Yamen. He returned a while later with a package.
The inspection over, the boats all clustered round the launch on which the judge sat to hear him announce the winners.
"The gifts presented to Miss Twin Pagodas are the most numerous," he announced. There was a roar from the other boats as some applauded and some groaned.
"Not so fast," someone shouted. "I will present one hundred taels of gold to Miss Water Lily."
"And I present Miss Lunar Palace with a jade bracelet and ten pearls," another wealthy gentleman called out. The crowd saw the green bracelet and the large round pearls sparkling under the lantern light and knew that they must be worth well over a hundred taels of gold. All concluded that Miss Lunar Palace was certain to be chosen at the Top Candidate for the years.
Suddenly He Jia called out: "Our master has a number of items he would like to present to Miss Beautiful Jade!"
A servant carried the package over to the judge, a man of about forty with a lean, handsome face and a wisp of moustache. He opened it to find it contained three scrolls. He turned to the old man on his left and said: "Master Fan, this is indeed a refined gentleman. I wonder what treasures he has presented?" He ordered the servants to unrill the scrolls.
As the first scroll was unrolled, the judge and the others started in surprise: it was a poem written in the hand of the famous cillgrapher, Zu Yunning.
"This is extremely valuable," exclaimed the man called Master Fan. They hurriedly opened the second scroll and saw it was a painting of flowers on the top of which was the Imperial vermilion seal of Qian Long. Yuan Mei was puzzled and turned to ask his colleagues if they knew who the benefactor was. They looked at the scrolls and pondered silently.
"Why don't we go over and meet him?" one finally suggested.
"If we do that, people will accuse us of being unfair," replied another. "With such treasures as these two scrolls, the Top Candidate is obviously Beautiful Jade."
"Let us have a look at the third scroll," suggested a third.
They unrolled it and saw it was a piece of unsigned calligraphy.
"Not very graceful," remarked one of the experts. "The writing style lacks strength."
"Shh! It's written in the Emperor's hand," another whispered urgently. The others all jumped in fright and dared not discuss the matter further.
"The judging of the gifts has been completed," Yuan Mei announced in a loud voice. "The Top Candidate is Miss Beautiful Jade, second is Miss Lunar Palace, third is Miss Water Lily."
Applause arose from all corners of the lake.
Beutiful Jade began to sing again, and her tender voice penetrated Qian Long's bones, making his heart itch unbearably.
"Go and tell that girl to come over," he said to He Jia. "And don't say who I am."
The boat glided over to Beautiful Jade's and He Jia leapt across. After an interval, he returned with a piece of paper and handed it to Qian Long and said: "She told me to give this to you."
Qian Long peered at the note under the lamplight and saw it read: "Tomorrow."
The calligraphy was very poor, but the paper was heavily scented with a fragrance that made his heart quiver.
"Why wait until tomorrow? I am here now," he said. But when he looked up again, he saw Beautiful Jade's boat was already moving off. As Emperor, the concubines of the palace tried every trick they could think of to be favoured by him. When had a woman ever rejected his advances? But the more she kept him at arms length, the more he desired her. He hurriedly issued an Imperial command: "Chase after that boat!"
Qian Long stood silently on the prow, his heart pursuing the boat ahead. The lights on the lake were going out but the music had not yet been extinguished. He indistinctly heard what he thought was the sound of laughter and soft words from the boat in front.
The distance between the two boats gradually closed. Suddenly the curtain on the flower boat parted for a second and a object was flung in the direction of Qian Long. Bai Zhen lunged forward to intercept it, and as it hit his hand he noticed the object was not a dart as he had expected but a red handkerchief with all four corners knotted together. He quickly presented it to the Emperor.
Qian Long untied it and inside he found a lotus sweet and a lily bulb: both were symbols of a well-matched couple. How could he fail to catch the meaning of such a romantic message?
The flower boat reached the bank, and Beautiful Jade stepped off and into a small horse-drawn carriage. She looked out of the carriage window and smiled seductively at Qian Long, then released the carriage curtain.
"Hey! Wait a moment, don't go!" He Jia yelled, but the driver took no notice and with a clatter of horses' hooves, the carriage moved off south.
"Get another carriage quickly!" He Jia called. The bodyguards soon found a carriage and forced its occupants out. Qian Long stepped inside and it raced off after the other carriage.
Bodyguard Bai Zhen saw they were heading towards the prosperous district of the city, and decided everything was all right: the Emperor had obviously decided to spend the night at the home of the courtesan. But having seen her only a few days before with the Red Flower Society men, he had to take precautions against a trap. He quickly ordered Rui Dalin to bring extra men to help protect the Emperor.
Beautiful Jade's carriage passed along several streets, then turned into an alley and stopped in front of a pair of black-painted gates. An attendant on the carriage jumped down and knocked on them just as Qian Long was descending from his carriage. With a long squeak, the gates were opened, and an old woman came out, pulled aside the carriage curtain and greeted Beautiful Jade. She stepped out of the carriage and, seeing Qian Long standing to one side, hurried over to greet him.
"Aiya, Master Dongfang," she said. "Thank you so much for your gifts just now. Please come in and have some tea." Qian Long smiled and walked through the gates.
One of the bodyguards rushed in ahead of the Emperor, his hand on the hilt of his sword, checking for assassins or perhaps a customer of the prostitute who would wish to protest that he was first.
Beyond the gates was a courtyard. A wave of flowery fragrance assailed their noses and tree shadows danced on the ground around two cinnamon bushes which were in full bloom. Qian Long followed Beautiful Jade into a small, elegantly-decorated chamber lit by two tall, red candles.
A maid brought in wine and food. Qian Long looked at the plates of delicacies, including marinated chicken and Thousand-Year-Old eggs, and marvelled at how exquisite they were compared to the heavy food he was served in the Imperial palace. The maid strained two cups of aged, deeply-fragrant rice wine.