A young Chinese man in a carriage was traveling with a young woman, who appeared to be a courtesan, seated beside him. Up to this point, it was a common sight.
In Shanghai, there were surprisingly many Chinese people who drove Western carriages, and they were almost all young.
To be able to drive a Western carriage in Shanghai during this era, one had to be incredibly wealthy.
In the eyes of the Chinese, a Western carriage was a luxury item representing the latest trend.
Just as wealthy young Chinese people in the 21st century flaunt their wealth and youth by driving supercars, the youth of Shanghai in 1877 were showing off by riding in Western carriages.
Their behavior was similar as well; there were speed seekers and reckless drivers.
The young men who wanted to enjoy speed would go to the deserted, newly paved roads on the outskirts of the Concession to race, while the reckless ones would speed on roads crowded with people, often causing accidents.
Their reaction when an accident occurred was also similar; they would not admit their fault for driving at excessive speeds on roads where people were passing.
If an accident happened, a person with decent character might throw some money to settle the matter immediately.
However, most would instead get angry and blame the other party for the accident.
If the other party was a poor member of the lower class, they would swing their whips as if to kill them or make unreasonable demands for compensation for their own losses.
In any case, the behaviors shown by the young second and third-generation tycoons of the 21st century were already being displayed by these people back then.
However, the incident that unfolded before our eyes took a completely different turn.
A young man who looked wealthy was driving a carriage with a young woman who appeared to be a courtesan by his side, looking quite pretentious.
Then, the carriage stopped after nearly hitting an old woman crossing the street with a cane—an accident that could be seen at any time in Shanghai.
It was also typical behavior for the young man driving to step down from the carriage with a whip in his hand, shouting to look impressive for the young woman sitting next to him.
However, the man suddenly froze while spewing insults at the old woman who had interrupted his path and forced the carriage to stop.
“What kind of hag dares to cause a commotion in front of someone else’s carriage…”
The woman in front of the carriage, who had almost been hit, removed the cloth covering her face and revealed herself, raising the club she held.
The woman they thought was an old lady was actually a young woman, and what they thought was a cane was a club.
“Yes, I stopped your carriage. Do you have a problem with that?”
“W-Wife, you see, this is…”
Before the man could even finish his sentence, the courtesan who had been sitting jumped up, leaped from the carriage, and began to run away.
Courtesans aren’t usually startled by such commotions since they happen so frequently, and they don’t typically run away even if the man is caught by his family.
A courtesan is just doing her job, and since these occurrences are so common, there is usually no reason to flee.
However, there is one exception: if the man’s legal wife appears, they must run away no matter what.
No one in this world will help a courtesan who gets caught and beaten by a man’s legal wife for being with her husband.
Even if she is beaten so severely that she appeals to the government office, the authorities won’t even spare a glance unless it results in murder.
It goes without saying for passersby in such a place.
If they see a legal wife catching and beating a courtesan, a refined person will click their tongue and continue on their way, while others will simply surround them and watch, never offering help.
A legal wife beating the woman her husband had an affair with is a universal realization of social justice.
Unfortunately, this courtesan did not manage to get very far.
The legal wife, who grabbed the end of the husband’s Queue—often jokingly referred to as a neural link—so he couldn’t run, shouted.
“Catch that girl!”
In fact, before the legal wife’s command even fell, two other women had already run out to catch the courtesan.
They grabbed the hair of the courtesan, who couldn’t flee properly due to her foot-binding, and dragged her back.
While the courtesan was being dragged back, the legal wife was already beating the man with her club.
“Argh! Please calm down, Wife! Please, I was wrong. So please, calm down. Aaargh!”
The two women who brought the courtesan back also began to beat her with clubs.
“Aah! You’re killing me! Oh, Madam, this lowly one was wrong! Please, just spare my life!”
The woman beating the courtesan snatched the whip from the man’s hand and began to beat the courtesan with it.
Of course, in the meantime, the legal wife’s hands, which were thrashing her husband, did not slow down one bit as she continued to beat him.
I asked Yuli Briner.
“In Joseon, it’s common to see a wife catching and punishing a cheating husband, but I thought the Qing Dynasty was more patriarchal than Joseon, so they couldn’t do that. Seeing this, it seems the Qing Dynasty is no different from Joseon.”
“People live similarly everywhere. In any society, there are strong-willed women who grab their husbands and swing them around. Even in the Qing Dynasty, the authorities turn a blind eye when a legal wife beats her cheating husband.”
However, Yuli Briner, who was watching the scene where the women took the whip from the man’s hand to hit the courtesan, said, “That’s a bit strange. The women hitting that courtesan are either the man’s concubines or housemaids, but it’s odd that they took the whip without showing even a shred of respect for the man. In such cases, even if the legal wife doesn’t need to worry about others, concubines or maids usually can’t act like that because they have to be mindful of their master.”
However, the question was resolved through the conversation of the people around us. The Chinese onlookers were also curious about the scene we found strange and asked around why it was happening. Someone who knew the situation of the man and the wife spoke up loudly.
“That’s because all the money in that household belongs to the woman, and those women are like sisters to the wife. Those women were raised like adopted daughters by the wife’s father. When the father died, he married the wife off to that man and sent those women along as concubines. He sent them with the intention that they would rely on each other like sisters and live together even after he died. But since the man got caught cheating using his dead father-in-law’s money, who can he blame for being treated like this?”
The Chinese are very tolerant of a man having concubines.
No one says anything if a man with money takes concubines or plays with courtesans.
They think a man can do that. (Of course, they don’t specifically sympathize if he gets caught and beaten by his legal wife.)
However, that’s the story when the man himself is rich.
Even the Chinese do not tolerate a fellow who lives off his wife’s money or became rich through her, only to use that money to cheat.
Once the fact that the man had been playing with a courtesan despite living off his wife’s money became known, the people who had been watching and laughing began to shout.
“Beat him more! A guy living off his wife’s money who gets caught cheating with her money should die! Just kill him right here!”
Finally, the women, thinking they had punished the courtesan enough, released her.
The courtesan, with torn clothes and disheveled hair, crawled away to escape.
The legal wife grabbed the end of her husband’s Queue and climbed into the carriage he had been driving.
One of the women who had been beating the courtesan took the reins and the carriage disappeared somewhere.
The man who had explained the circumstances of the husband and the legal wife said, “Ah Rin really raised one hell of a daughter. Even though her husband is a Geoin, he can’t even lift a finger against her.”
A Geoin refers to someone who has passed the provincial examinations and is qualified to participate in the metropolitan examinations held in the capital.
They hold considerable privileges, such as not being easily punished by local officials and being exempt from taxes and corvée labor.
There are truly few women who would have the courage to catch and beat such a husband in the middle of a street.
A refreshing spectacle like this was rare even in a large city like Shanghai, and the onlookers all went their separate ways, satisfied with the good show.
Yuli Briner approached the man who had explained the situation earlier with a curious face and asked, “You just referred to that woman as Ah Rin’s daughter. By Ah Rin, do you perhaps mean the Ah Rin from Sassoon & Co.?”
The man looked at Yuli, a Westerner, with wonder because he spoke fluent Chinese. He scanned him up and down before nodding.
“That is correct. Ah Rin, the Comprador of Sassoon & Co., is that woman’s father. Do you happen to know Ah Rin?”
“I received a bit of help from him in the past. It seems he has passed away.”
“Yes, he died two years ago, leaving behind that one daughter. They say he died worrying whether she would be able to manage the wealth he left her, but since the daughter is such a remarkable woman, he probably doesn’t need to worry even in the afterlife.”
“That is truly a relief. Thank you for telling me.”
After parting with the man, I asked about Ah Rin, and Yuli said, “There is a company created by the Sassoon family called Sassoon & Co., and Ah Rin was its Comprador.”
“He must have had a lot of wealth.”
“There’s no way a Comprador of Sassoon & Co. wouldn’t have money. I heard he possessed more than a million Silver Taels.”
“Would Archie know him too?”
“Big merchants like that know each other well. Besides, they were of similar age and were quite close. Both were active in Hong Kong.”
While we were sharing such stories and having a meal back at the hotel, a message came from Archie of Jardine Matheson saying he wanted to meet.
When we went to Jardine Matheson, Archie said, “The kelp is of somewhat low quality, so it came out to a total of 570 taels. And regarding the Ginseng, I know you entrusted it for auction, but I have an urgent need for it. Could you hand it all over to me for 30,000 Silver Taels?”
I had heard roughly about the market price of Ginseng from Yuli Briner, and 30,000 Silver Taels for 120 geun of Ginseng was practically the top price.
It seemed certain he had a place to use it.
When Yuli Briner looked back at me to see what I would do, I nodded and said, “We also suddenly have a need for two geun of Ginseng today. So, if you allow us to take two geun, we will sell it.”
Archie nodded at my words and said as he set aside two geun, “What is this sudden need for?”
“I heard that Archie is close friends with Ah Rin, who was the Comprador of Sassoon & Co. I would like to meet Ah Rin’s daughter. Could you write a letter of introduction for me?”
“Did you also see what happened earlier today?”
I nodded my head.
“Hearing that she was the daughter of the Comprador of Sassoon & Co., I have a request I would like to make of her.”
“With Ginseng as a gift?”
“That’s right. That’s why I asked to set aside two geun of Ginseng.”
“Since her husband was beaten so much, are you sending it to have him eat some Ginseng?”
“What is there to like about a guy who cheats using his wife’s money that I would give him Ginseng? It’s for the wife who must have suffered a lot with such a husband.”
Archie struck his knee in delight at my words.
“Indeed, Ah Rin’s daughter is a Yeojunghogeol. As Ah Rin’s friend, I felt it was such a pity that she had such a piece of trash for a husband, but hearing your words makes my anger subside a bit. Ordinarily, I couldn’t write a letter introducing a man to that girl, but since you are still young, that part won’t be a problem. If you tell me for what purpose you intend to meet her, I will write the letter of introduction.”
“Watching what happened today, I thought she was truly a Yeojunghogeol, and I saw that I could start a large business with her. So the first purpose is to say hello in advance to get acquainted, and the second is that since her late father was the Comprador of Sassoon & Co., I want to ask if I can request a letter of introduction to the Sassoon family in Bombay, India.”
“If it’s a letter of introduction to Bombay, I could write one for you as well, but since it seems you have another purpose in meeting Ah Rin’s daughter, Lee Geom-min, I will write the letter.”
Archie wrote a letter of introduction for Ah Rin’s daughter, Lee Geom-min, and said that the character for ‘sword’ was included in her name because her father, Ah Rin, wanted her to live strongly.
Lee Geom-min shared the same surname as me, which made it even more comfortable to meet.
In China, there is a custom of regarding foreigners as belonging to the same clan if they have the same surname.
Because of this, the Lee clan of China never marries a Lee of China, let alone a Lee of Joseon.
I left Yuli Briner at Jardine Matheson and headed to Lee Geom-min’s mansion alone with the Ginseng as a gift.
It was because Yuli was a Westerner and an adult male, making it difficult for him to meet another man’s wife, whereas it was comfortable for me to meet a young wife since I still looked like a young child to anyone’s eyes.
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