The Golden Days

by Cao Xueqin

  ‘How are you, Miss ?’ asked Zhou Rui’s wife, returning her smile and sitting down on the edge of the kang. ‘I haven’t seen you over our side these last two or three days. Has Master Bao been upsetting you ?’

  ‘Good gracious, no!’ said Bao-chai with a laugh. ‘I’ve had an attack of my old sickness again and thought I had better rest quietly at home for a day or two. That’s the only reason.’

  ‘Very sensible!’ said Zhou Rui’s wife. ‘But what is this sickness of yours, Miss ? Oughtn’t you to call in a doctor and get it properly seen to? It’s no joke when a young person of your age lets an illness get its grip on them.’

  ‘Oh, don’t talk about my illness!’ said Bao-chai. ‘I don’t know how many doctors we must have consulted about it, and how many medicines I must have swallowed, or how much money we must have spent on it – all without any benefit whatsoever. In the end we were fortunate enough to hear of a monk who specialized in treating illnesses that other people couldn’t diagnose and asked him to have a look at me. He said that I had a congenital tendency to overheatedness, but that fortunately, as my constitution was a strong one, it wasn’t serious. He said the usual medicines wouldn’t do it any good, and he gave us a prescription supposed to have been handed down from the Immortals of the Islands. He also gave us a packet of powder with a very unusual fragrance which he said was to be used as the base. He said that if each time I had a turn I took just one of the pills made up from this prescription, the sickness would go away. And the remarkable thing is that they really have proved quite effective.’

  ‘What was this prescription, Miss? If you will tell me, I shall try to remember it so that I can pass it on to others. If I ever met anyone else who had the same sort of illness, I could do them a charity, couldn’t I ?’

  ‘You don’t know what you are asking,’ said Bao-chai. ‘It’s such a finicky prescription, it would drive anyone mad trying to make it up. It’s not so much the materials. There is, after all, a limit to the number of drugs from one part of the world or another that are available. It’s the timing involved that is so difficult.

  ‘You have to take twelve ounces of stamens of the spring-flowering white tree-peony, twelve ounces of stamens of the summer-flowering white water-lily, twelve ounces of stamens of the autumn-flowering white lotus, and twelve ounces of stamens of the winter-flowering white plum and dry them all in the sun on the day of the spring equinox of the year immediately following the year you picked them in. Then you have to mix them with the powder I told you about and pound them all up together in a mortar. Then you must take twelve drams of rain water that fell on the Rain Days in the second month…’

  Zhou Rui’s wife laughed.

  ‘Why, that’s already three years it would take! And suppose it didn’t rain that year on the Rain Days ?’

  ‘Exactly,’ said Bao-chai. ‘Rain is seldom so obliging. You would just have to wait till the next year. Then you have to collect twelve drams of dew on the day White Dew in the ninth month, twelve drams of frost at Frost Fall in the tenth, and twelve drams of snow at Lesser Snow in the last month of the year, stir these four kinds of water into the mixture, make it up into pills about the size of a longan, and store the pills in an old porcelain jar. The jar is supposed to be buried in a flower bed and only dug up when you have an attack of the illness. Then one of the pills is taken out and swallowed in hot water into which one and a quarter drams of tincture of phellodendron has been stirred.’

  ‘God bless my soul!’ Zhou Rui’s wife exclaimed. ‘You would certainly need some patience! Why, you might wait ten years before getting all those things at the proper times!’

  ‘Well,’ said Bao-chai, ‘we were lucky. Within only a year or two of the monk’s visit we had managed to get all the ingredients together and were able to make up the pills without trouble. We brought them with us when we came to live here and have buried them under one of the pear-trees in the garden.’

  ‘Has this medicine got a name?’ Zhou Rui’s wife asked.

  ‘Yes,’ said Bao-chai. ‘The monk said the pills are called “Cold Fragrance Pills”.’

  Zhou Rui’s wife nodded appreciatively.

  ‘Tell me, Miss, what exactly is this illness of yours?’

  ‘It doesn’t really bother me very much. It makes me cough and wheeze a bit. But as soon as I have taken one of the pills, it goes away.’

  Zhou Rui’s wife was about to ask something else when they were interrupted by a call from Lady Wang:

  ‘Who have you got in there?’

  She hurried back into the outer room to make her report on Grannie Liu. Having finished it, she waited for some comment from Lady Wang, but finding that none was forthcoming, was on the point of withdrawing when Aunt Xue smilingly enjoined her to stay.

  ‘Just a moment! There is something I should like you to take for me.’

  She called to someone outside.

  ‘Caltrop!’

  The rings of the portière rattled and the young girl whom Zhou Rui’s wife had seen a few minutes before playing on the steps with Golden came into the room.

  ‘You called, Madam?’

  ‘Bring me that box with the flowers in!’

  Caltrop went into a side room and returned with a small embroidered box.

  ‘There are twelve artificial flowers in here,’ said Aunt Xue. ‘They were made in the Imperial Palace, all in the latest fashion. I suddenly thought to myself yesterday what a pity it was to leave them lying around here doing nothing, and how much nicer it would be to give them to the girls to wear. I meant to send them round yesterday but forgot. It’s lucky that you came here today, because you will be able to take them for me. There are two each for each of the Jia girls. That leaves six. Then two for Miss Lin, and the remaining four for Mrs Lian.’

  ‘Keep them for Bao-chai to wear,’ said Lady Wang. ‘What do you want to go bothering about our girls for ?’

  ‘You don’t know our Bao-chai. She is funny about these things. She has never liked ornaments or make-up or anything of that sort.’

  Zhou Rui’s wife took up the box and went out into the courtyard, where she came once more upon Golden, sunning herself on the steps.

  ‘Tell me,’ she asked her, ‘is that little Caltrop the one they are always talking about who was bought just before they came to the capital ? The one they had the murder trial about ?’

  ‘That’s her,’ said Golden.

  At that moment Caltrop herself came skipping up with a sunny smile on her face, and Zhou Rui’s wife took her by the hand and studied her curiously. Then she turned to Golden again.

  ‘You know, there’s something about this child’s face that reminds me of Master Rong’s wife over at the Ning mansion.’

  ‘That’s just what I’ve said,’ Golden agreed.

  Zhou Rui’s wife asked Caltrop how old she was when she became a slave. Then she asked her where her parents were, what her age was, and what part of the country she came from. But to all of these questions Caltrop only shook her head and said that she didn’t remember.

  Zhou Rui’s wife and Golden exchanged glances and sighed sympathetically.

  Bearing her box of flowers, Zhou Rui’s wife presently came to the part of the house behind Lady Wang’s quarters. Grandmother Jia had recently decided that her granddaughters were becoming too numerous and declared that she would retain only Bao-yu and Dai-yu in her own apartments to keep her amused. Ying-chun, Tan-chun and Xi-chun were to move out into the penthouse behind Lady Wang’s, with Li Wan to supervise them and keep them company. Thither, accordingly, Zhou Rui’s wife now directed her steps.

  A number of little maids were sitting under the eaves there waiting to be called, and just as she arrived, Ying-chun’s maid Chess and Tan-chun’s maid Scribe came through the portiere, each carrying a teacup on a tray, from which she deduced that the two cousins must be inside together.

  On entering the room, Zhou’s wife found Ying-chun and Tan-chun sitting by the window playing Go. She presented
the flowers and explained who they were from, and the two girls stopped their game for a moment to bow their thanks, and gave orders to the maids to take charge of them.

  ‘Where is Miss Xi-chun?’ Zhou Rui’s wife inquired.

  ‘Isn’t she in the next room?’ said the maids; and there in fact she proved to be, playing with the little nun Sapientia from Water-moon Priory. She asked Zhou Rui’s wife what she had come for, and when Zhou Rui’s wife took the flowers from the box and explained, she laughed:

  ‘I was telling Sapientia that one of these days I am going to have my hair shaved and go off with her to be a nun, when just at that very moment you came in with these flowers. What shall I do with flowers when I have no hair to stick them in?’

  Further pleasantries followed from the others present.

  Xi-chun told one of the maids to take the flowers and look after them.

  ‘When did you arrive?’ Zhou Rui’s wife asked Sapientia. ‘And where’s that precious Mother Superior of yours gone off to, bald-headed old mischief?’

  ‘We arrived first thing this morning,’ said Sapientia. ‘Mother Euergesia went off to visit the Yu mansion after she had seen Her Ladyship. She told me to wait for her here.’

  ‘Have you had this month’s donation yet ?’ said Zhou Rui’s wife. ‘It was due on the fifteenth.’

  Sapientia said that she didn’t know.

  ‘Who looks after the monthly donations nowadays?’ asked Xi-chun.

  ‘Yu Xin,’ said Zhou Rui’s wife.

  ‘That explains it. As soon as Mother Euergesia arrived, Yu Xin’s wife was in here like a shot and they were chattering together for ages. I expect that’s what it was about.’

  After gossiping a bit longer with Sapientia, Zhou Rui’s wife made her way to Xi-feng’s quarters. To get there she had to go down a passage-way between two walls, under the windows at the back of Li Wan’s apartments, along the foot of an ornamental wall, and through a gateway in the western corner of the compound. When she entered Xi-feng’s reception room, a maid sitting on the threshold of the inner room hurriedly waved her away and told her to go across to the other side of the house. Taking the hint, Zhou Rui’s wife tiptoed quietly into the room opposite, where she found the baby’s nurse patting her rhythmically to make her sleep.

  ‘Is the mistress taking her afternoon nap?’ she asked the nurse in a low whisper. ‘I think you’ll have to wake her, even if she is.’

  The nurse smiled, grimaced, and shook her head. Zhou Rui’s wife was about to ask her what she meant when she heard a low laugh in what was unmistakably Jia Lian’s voice from the room opposite. It was followed almost immediately by the sound of the door opening, and Patience came out carrying a large copper basin which she asked one of the maids to fetch water in.

  ‘Ah, Mrs Zhou!’ she said, catching sight of Zhou Rui’s wife and crossing into the room opposite. ‘What brings you back again ?’

  Zhou Rui’s wife hastily rose to her feet and picking up the box, proferred it to Patience and explained her mission. Patience opened the lid, selected four of the flowers, and slipped away again for several minutes. She came back with two still in her hand, which she gave to a little page called Sunshine.

  ‘Take these to Master Rong’s wife over in the Ning mansion and tell her they are for her to wear,’ she said. Then turning to Zhou Rui’s wife she asked her to convey Xi-feng’s thanks to the donor.

  Zhou Rui’s wife now made her way towards Grandmother Jia’s apartments. Just as she was coming out of the covered passage-way, she ran head-on into her daughter, all dressed up in her best clothes having just arrived on a visit from her mother-in-law’s.

  ‘What’s suddenly brought you here at a time like this?’ she asked her daughter.

  ‘How have you been keeping, Mother? I’ve been waiting at your place for hours for you to come back. What’s been keeping you all this time ? I got tired of waiting. I thought I’d go and say “hello” to Her Old Ladyship, and now I was just on my way to see Her Ladyship. Have you still not finished then ? What’s that you’ve got in your hand ?’

  Zhou Rui’s wife laughed.

  ‘Today is not my lucky day! First of all someone called Grannie Liu turned up, so like a fool I spend half the day rushing around with her. Then, as if that wasn’t enough, Her Ladyship’s sister sees me and gets me delivering flowers to the young ladies. I haven’t finished yet. Now what have you come here today for ? Something’s gone wrong, I’ll be bound !’

  ‘I don’t know how you always manage to guess, Mother, but you’re right: it has. I’ll be honest with you. My man had a cup too much to drink the other day and got into a fight with someone, and now, out of spite, they are trying to stir up trouble for him. They say his papers aren’t in order, and they’ve reported him to the yamen and want to get him deported back South to his old village. So I thought I’d come and ask your advice, Mother, and see if you couldn’t get someone here to put in a word for him. Do you think there’s anyone who would be able to help?’

  ‘I knew it would be something like this,’ said Zhou Rui’s wife. ‘Well, cheer up, it’s not so serious as all that! You just go back and wait while I take these flowers to Miss Lin. You can’t see Her Ladyship now. She and the young mistress are both busy.’

  The daughter obediently turned back to her mother’s quarters. As she went, she said pleadingly,

  ‘Be as quick as you can, Mother, won’t you?’

  ‘Yes, yes, yes. I’ll be as quick as I can! You young people take everything so tragically 1 Lack of experience, that’s what it is!’ said Zhou Rui’s wife, and moved on to Dai-yu’s room.

  Dai-yu was not in her own room, but with Bao-yu, trying to undo metal puzzles.

  ‘Miss Lin,’ said Zhou Rui’s wife with a smile, ‘Mrs Xue asked me to give you these flowers.’

  ‘What flowers?’ said Bao-yu. ‘Let me see!’

  He stretched out his arm, took the box from Zhou Rui’s wife, and looked. Two artificial flowers, exquisitely fashioned by Palace craftsmen out of silk gauze, lay inside it. Dai-yu glanced over his arm into the box.

  ‘Am I the only one getting these, or have the others had some too?’

  ‘All the young ladies are getting them,’ said Zhou Rui’s wife. ‘These two are for you, Miss.’

  ‘I thought as much,’ said Dai-yu sneeringly. ‘I get the leavings when everyone else has had their pick.’

  Zhou Rui’s wife received this sally in silence, not daring to retort.

  ‘What were you doing at my aunt’s place, Zhou?’ Bao-yu asked.

  ‘Her Ladyship was there, and I had something to tell her.

  Then while I was over there, Mrs Xue took the opportunity of giving me these flowers to deliver for her.’

  ‘Was Miss Bao-chai there?’ Bao-yu asked. ‘Why hasn’t she been round these last few days ?’

  ‘She’s not very well.’

  Bao-yu turned to his maids.

  ‘Which of you will go and see Miss Bao-chai for me? Say that Miss Lin and I send our regards to her and her mother, and ask her if her illness is any better and what she’s taking for it. Say that I really ought to go myself, but that as I’ve just got back from my lessons and have caught a bit of a cold, I shall be coming round another day.’

  Snowpink said that she would go, and she and Zhou Rui’s wife left the room together and went their separate ways.

  This son-in-law of Zhou Rui’s who had got himself into trouble was none other than Jia Yu-cun’s old friend, Leng Zi-xing. He had recently become involved in a lawsuit arising out of the sale of some antiques, and had asked his wife to get strings pulled for him at the mansion. Zhou Rui’s wife made light of the affair, confident of her employers’ power to influence. A word to Xi-feng in the evening, and it would be as good as settled.

  At lighting-up time that evening Xi-feng came in partial négligé (having removed her ornaments for the night) to report on the day’s affairs to Lady Wang.

  ‘Today I received the things sent us
by the Zhen family. The Zhens have their own boat delivering seasonal produce for the New Year, so I have given their people our presents to the Zhens to take back on their return journey.’

  Lady Wang nodded.

  ‘I’ve got our birthday presents ready for the Earl of Lin-an’s mother,’ continued Xi-feng. ‘Who would you like us to send with them?’

  ‘Just see which women are free and send four of them,’ replied Lady Wang. ‘You don’t have to ask me about things like that!’

  ‘Today Cousin Zhen’s wife invited me to spend tomorrow with them at the other house,’ Xi-feng continued. ‘Is there anything tomorrow that needs doing here ?’

  ‘Whether there is or not,’ said Lady Wang, ‘I don’t see that it matters. Generally when she brings an invitation it is for all of us, and you are naturally too busy to go. This time the invitation is to you personally, which shows that she had deliberately arranged this in order to give you a rest. The thought is a kind one, and it would be ungrateful to refuse. I think you ought to go.’

  By now Li Wan and the three girls had also arrived for their evening duty, and when all had wished Lady Wang good night they departed to their different rooms.

  Next day, as soon as Xi-feng had completed her toilet, she first reported to Lady Wang and then went to take her leave of Grandmother Jia. Hearing that she was going to the other house, Bao-yu said he wanted to go too, and Xi-feng was obliged to say that she would take him and to stand waiting for him while he changed his clothes. The two then got into a mule-cart and were soon inside the Ning-guo mansion, where Cousin Zhen’s wife You-shi, her son Jia Rong, her little daughter-in-law Qin-shi, and a large number of women attendants and maids were standing outside the inner gate ready to welcome them.