by Cao Xueqin
If you want to know how Xi-feng dealt with these abuses, you will have to read the chapter which follows.
Chapter 14
Lin Ru-hai is conveyed to his last
resting-place in Soochow
And Jia Bao-yu is presented to the Prince of
Bei-jing at a roadside halt
When Lai Sheng, the Chief Steward of the Ning-guo mansion, learned that Xi-feng had been invited to take on the management of the household, he called his cronies together and addressed them in the following terms:
‘Well lads, it seems that they’ve called in Mrs Lian from the other house to run things here for a bit; so if she should happen to come round asking for anything or have occasion to talk to you about anything, be sure to do what she says, won’t you ? During this coming month we shall all have to start work a bit earlier and knock off a bit later than usual. If you’ll put up with a little extra hardship just for this month, we can make up for it by taking things easy when it’s over. Anyway, I’m relying on you not to let me down. She’s well known for a sour-faced, hard-hearted bitch is this one, and once she’s got her back up, she’ll give no quarter, no matter who you are. So be careful!’
There was a chorus of agreement from the rest. One of them did observe, half-jokingly, that ‘by rights they could do with someone like her to straighten things up a bit, considering the state they had got into’. But just at that moment Brightie’s wife arrived on a mission from Xi-feng. She was to take receipt of some ledger-paper, buckram, and book-labels, and had a tally in her hand and a slip of paper specifying the quantities required. The men pressed round her offering her a place to sit and a cup of tea to drink while one of them hurried off with the list to fetch the needed items. Not only that, but, having fetched them, he carried them for her all the way to the inner gate of the mansion, only handing them to her then so that she could take them in to Xi-feng by herself. Xi-feng at once ordered Sunshine to make them up into stout workbooks for use in the office. At the same time she sent for Lai Sheng’s wife and asked her for the register of the household staff. She also told her to get in touch with all the married females on the staff and arrange for them to assemble first thing next morning to be told their new duties. Then, after roughly checking through the numbers in the ‘establishment’ sheet and questioning Lai Sheng’s wife on a few points, she got into her carriage and drove back home.
At half past six next morning she was back at the Ning-guo mansion. By this time all the married women on the staff had been assembled. Not daring to go in, they hung about outside the window listening to Xi-feng discussing work-plans with Lai Sheng’s wife inside the office. ‘Now that I’m in charge here’, they heard her telling the latter, ‘I won’t promise to make myself agreeable. I haven’t got a sweet temper like your mistress, you know. You won’t find me letting you do everything just as it suits you. So don’t let me hear anyone saying “We don’t do it that way here ”! From now on, whatever it is, you do it the way I tell you to, and anyone who departs by as much as a hair’s breadth from what I say is for it good and proper, no matter how senior or how important she thinks she is!’
Having delivered herself of this formidable preliminary she ordered Sunshine to call the roll. One by one the women stepped into the office to be looked at. When she had looked at them all, Xi-feng proceeded to make her dispositions.
‘This twenty here. I want you to divide yourselves into two shifts of ten. Your job every day will be to look after lady visitors and serve them tea. That’s all you have to do. Nothing else.
‘This twenty here. I want you divided into two shifts like the others. Your job will be serving tea and meals to the family. Nothing else.
‘These forty. Again, two shifts. Your job is to look after the shrine: lighting fresh joss-sticks, keeping the lamps in oil, changing the drapes. You will also take turns by the spirit tablet, making offerings of rice and tea, kotowing when the visitors kotow, wailing when they wail. That is your job and nothing else besides.
‘You four are to look after the cups and plates and so forth in the ladies’ tea-room. If anything is missing, you share the responsibility between you and a quarter of the cost will be stopped out of each of your wages.
‘You four here are to look after the dinner-ware: bowls, wine-cups and the like. Anything missing will be stopped out of your wages.
‘This eight here. I want you to take charge of all funeral offerings sent in from outside.
‘This eight. I want you to look after oil, candles, and paper-offerings. I’m going to put the whole lot in your charge; then whenever any is needed somewhere, you must go to wherever it is and supply them with whatever amount I tell you to.
‘This twenty here. I want you doing night duty by rota. You are to see that all the gates are locked and keep a look-out for fires. You’ll also be responsible for keeping the outside properly swept.
‘The rest of you are to be divided up between the different apartments. Each of you will be responsible for the things in your own apartment, from furniture and antique ware down to spittoons and dusters. If the tiniest sliver gets lost or broken, you will be held responsible and will be expected to make it good.
‘Lai Sheng’s wife will make a general inspection every day, and if she catches anyone idling or gambling or drinking or fighting or being difficult, she will at once bring them to me for dealing with. And there will be no favouritism. If I find you’ve done something wrong, I shan’t care whether you’ve been in service here for three or four generations, it will make no difference to me.
‘Well, now you all know the rules. From now on whenever any trouble occurs I shall know exactly who to hold responsible.
‘Those who are used to working with me at the other place always have a watch handy, and everything they do, no matter how small a thing it is, is done at a fixed time. You may not have watches, but at least there is a clock in your master’s drawing-room you can look at. So here are the main times to remember. At half past six I shall come over to hear the roll-call. At ten o’clock I take my lunch. I shall see people with reports to make or tallies to collect up to, but not after, eleven o’clock. At seven in the evening, as soon as the paper-offerings have been burnt, I shall make a personal tour of inspection; and when I get back from it, I shall issue those on night duty with their keys. Then next day I shall be back here again at half past six.
‘I dare say we are all going to be a bit overworked during the days ahead, but I am sure your master will want to reward you all for your trouble when this is over.’
Xi-feng now proceeded to supervise the distribution of supplies of tea, oil, candles, feather-dusters, and brooms to some of her work-parties, and to issue others with table-cloths, chair-covers, cushions, mats, spittoons, footstools, and other furnishings, an entry of the amount supplied being made in the book as each consignment was handed over.
A clear record now existed of what individuals were in charge of which parts of the household, what items they were responsible for, and what duties they were expected to perform. Gone now were the days when everyone picked the easiest tasks to do first and the less popular ones never got carried out; gone the convenient disorder in which objects had so easily strayed (no one ever knew how) from the rooms where they belonged. Even with the greatly increased coming and going occasioned by the bereavement, it was quieter now than it had been before, when muddle and confusion still prevailed. And the old idling and pilfering appeared to have been eradicated completely. Secure in her authority, respected and obeyed by all, Xi-feng might be forgiven for contemplating her achievement with a certain amount of satisfaction.
Meanwhile You-shi was still unwell and Cousin Zhen too crushed by his somewhat disproportionate grief to think much about eating and drinking. Xi-feng accordingly had all sorts of invalid slops for You-shi and tempting little delicacies for Cousin Zhen prepared in the kitchens of the Rong-guo mansion and sent over each day to the prostrate couple. Cousin Zhen reciprocated by instructing his
own cooks to prepare dishes of the very highest quality exclusively for Xi-feng and having them carried round to her in her little penthouse office.
Xi-feng seemed quite tireless in the discharge of her extra duties. Every morning she would be over at the appointed hour to hear the roll-call and would sit there alone in her office, never once emerging to mix with the young Ning-guo women of her own generation. Even when lady visitors arrived she remained in the office and took no part in their reception.
The Thirty-fifth had now arrived – an important day in the penitential cycle of seven times seven days preceding the funeral – and the monks in the main hall had reached a particularly dramatic part of their ceremonies. Having opened up a way for the imprisoned souls, the chief celebrant had succeeded by means of spells and incantations in breaking open the gates of hell. He had shone his light (a little hand-mirror) for the souls in darkness. He had confronted Yama, the Judge of the Dead. He had seized the demon torturers who resisted his progress. He had invoked Ksitigarbha, the Saviour King, to aid him. He had raised up a golden bridge, and now, by means of a little flag which he held aloft in one hand, was conducting over it those souls from the very deepest pit of hell who still remained undelivered.
Meanwhile the ninety-nine Taoists in the Celestial Fragrance Pavilion were on their knees offering up a written petition to the Three Pure Ones and calling on the Jade Emperor himself in his heavenly palace. Outside, on their high staging, with swinging of censers and scattering of little cakes for the hungry ghosts to feed on, Zen monks were performing the great Water Penitential. And in the shrine where the coffin stood, six young monks and six young nuns, magnificently attired in scarlet slippers and embroidered copes, sat before the spirit tablet quietly murmuring the dharani that would assist the soul of the dead woman on the most difficult part of its journey into the underworld. Everywhere there was a hum of activity.
Knowing that the day would be a busy one bringing a greater than usual number of visitors, Xi-feng had risen at four o’clock in the morning to begin her toilet. By the time she had completed it, paid her daily tribute to nature, washed her hands, drunk a few mouthfuls of milk, and rinsed out her mouth, it was already half past six and Brightie’s wife, at the head of the other female domestics, had been waiting for some considerable time in the courtyard outside. At last she emerged and stepped into the waiting carriage. Two horn lanterns inscribed in large characters with the words
RONG-GUO HOUSE
were borne before her as she went.
The great gate of the Ning-guo mansion was hung with lanterns and there were rows of identical standard lanterns on each side of the gateway illuminating the entrance with the brightness of noonday and eerily emphasizing the whiteness of the mourning-clothes worn by the menservants lined up to receive the carriage. At their invitation it was drawn in through the centremost of the three gates. Then the men-servants retired and Xi-feng’s own women hurried forward and raised the curtain of the carriage for her to descend. She did so, leaning on the shoulder of her maid Felicity, and the two women with the lanterns led her in, lighting the way for her as they went, while her other women closed in behind her and the women of the Ning-guo household advanced to meet her, curtseyed, and chorused their morning greetings.
Xi-feng walked slowly through the All-scents Garden until she came to the shrine in the Ascension Pavilion. As soon as she caught sight of the coffin the tears, like pearls from a broken necklace, rolled in great drops down her cheeks. A number of pages were standing stiffly in the courtyard outside awaiting the command to set fire to the paper offerings. Xi-feng gave orders for them to begin and for tea to be offered up inside the shrine. At once there was a clash of cymbals followed by the mournful strains of a funeral band. An armchair had already been called for and set down facing the spirit tablet. In this Xi-feng now sat, and raising her voice to a shrill pitch, wept with abandon, whereupon the entire household, high and low, male and female, indoors and out, responded by breaking into loud and prolonged lamentation.
Presently a representative of Cousin Zhen and You-shi arrived and begged Xi-feng to desist. Brightie’s wife poured out a cup of tea for her to rinse her mouth with, and when she had sufficiently recovered herself she rose to her feet once more, took leave of various members of the clan who were present, and went off to her office in the penthouse.
An inspection of the roster showed that all the members of her work-parties were present except for one woman belonging to the group responsible for the reception of friends of the family. Someone was sent to fetch her, and presently the woman arrived, flustered and fearful.
‘So it is you!’ said Xi-feng with a chilling smile. ‘I suppose you thought that because you have a somewhat more ladylike job than the rest, you could afford to disobey my orders!’
‘Oh no, madam, indeed not!’ said the woman. ‘I’ve been coming extra early every day. It’s only today, because I overslept, that I’m a bit late. Please let me off this once, madam! It really is the first time.’
Just at that moment Xi-feng observed Wang Xing’s wife from the Rong-guo mansion, peeping round the door as if looking for a chance to speak to her.
‘Yes, what is it ?’ she asked, turning away from the offender but giving her no indication that she might go.
Wang Xing’s wife approached and said that she wanted a tally authorizing the purchase of silk cord to be made up into carriage trimmings for the funeral. She handed Xi-feng a slip of paper on which the order was written. It specified the number of network trimmings that would be required for two large sedans, four small sedans, and four carriages, and the number of pounds of silk cord that would be required for that amount of network. Xi-feng made Sunshine read it out to her, and having satisfied herself that the figures were correct, told him to enter them in his book and to issue Wang Xing’s wife with one of the Rong-guo tallies, whereupon the latter hurried off to complete her mission.
Xi-feng was about to address the latecomer when four more servants from the Rong-guo mansion came in asking for tallies. She told them to hand over the order-slips and made Sunshine read them out to her. Two of them contained errors, and Xi-feng flung them down and told the bearers to ‘go away and come back when they had got their figures right’. The two of them went off crestfallen.
Xi-feng next observed Zhang Cai’s wife hovering about at the edge of the room and asked her what she wanted.
‘It’s those carriage curtains, ma’am. We want the money for the tailor who made them up.’
Xi-feng took the bill and told Sunshine to enter the figures from it in his book. But she would not authorize Zhang Cai’s wife to pay for the tailoring until Wang Xing’s wife had returned the tally for the material used and the buyer’s receipt. There was a second piece of paper which Sunshine now read, requesting permission to purchase paper for the windows of Bao-yu’s outer study, which had just been redecorated. This too Xi-feng kept, and made Sunshine enter the amount in his book. She told Zhang Cai’s wife that the goods must be supplied first before any payment could be authorized.
‘Tomorrow another one will be late and the day after that it will be someone else,’ said Xi-feng turning to the still waiting offender, ‘and before we know where we are we shall have no one turning up at all. I should have liked to let you off, but if I’m lenient with you the first time, it will be that much harder for me to deal with someone else the second time; so I am obliged to make an example of you.’ Her face hardened as she pronounced sentence: ‘Take her out and give her twenty strokes of the bamboo!’
Seeing that Xi-feng was really angry, the servants dared not show themselves slack in executing her command. The wretched woman was half-dragged from the room and the flogging administered in full view of the waiting throng, after which they came in again, the executioners to report that they had discharged their duty and their victim to thank Xi-feng for her punishment. Xi-feng threw down one of the Ning-guo tallies.
‘Take this to Lai Sheng and tell him to stop a
month’s pay from her wages. If anyone is late tomorrow they will get forty strokes and the day after that it will be sixty. So if you enjoy being beaten you have only to come late for roll-call. Dismiss.’
The servants, including the shamefaced and silently weeping victim, trooped off to their various duties.
Now began a steady stream of servants from both households collecting and returning tallies, each of whom Xi-feng attended to in a brisk and efficient manner.
From that day onwards the staff of the Ning-guo mansion realized just how formidable Xi-feng could be and went about their duties in fear and trembling, not daring to idle or delay.
But let us now turn to Bao-yu.
On this particular occasion, fearing that with so great an influx of visitors Qin Zhong might find himself somewhat overwhelmed, Bao-yu brought him round to Xi-feng’s office for a quiet chat.
‘Did you smell the food?’ said Xi-feng with a laugh. (She was halfway through her lunch when they entered.) ‘Come up on the kang and have some!’
‘Thank you, but we have already eaten,’ said Bao-yu.
‘Here, or in the other house?’
‘Catch me eating here with those clowns!’ said Bao-yu. ‘No, back at home, with Grandmother.’
He and Qin Zhong sat down, and presently Xi-feng finished her lunch. Just then a woman came in asking for a tally with which to obtain a fresh supply of oil for the altar lamps.
‘I calculated that you would be needing some by now,’ said Xi-feng with a smile. ‘I thought you must have forgotten. If you had forgotten, you’d have had to pay for it yourself. That would have suited me down to the ground!’
‘Oh no, madam! As you say, I just forgot. I only thought of it a moment ago, and I realized that if I didn’t hurry I should be too late to get a tally.’
So saying, she took her tally and went. For a short while longer the handing over of tallies and registering of amounts continued.
‘Both your houses use these tallies for everything,’ said Qin Zhong, who had been watching these transactions with some interest. ‘Suppose some outsider were to forge one and use it to get a lot of money with?’