by Cao Xueqin
‘Well, that’s nicely settled!’ said the prioress. ‘So can we look forward to your kind help in this matter tomorrow ? We may as well get it over and done with.’
‘You can see how busy I am and how impossible it is for me to get away,’ said Xi-feng. ‘I’ve told you I’ll do it, and so I will – in my own time. Surely that is enough for you?’
‘A little thing like this might seem a great deal of trouble to some people,’ said the old nun artfully, ‘but even if it involved more than it does, it would still be nothing to a capable person like you, Mrs Lian. You know what they say: “The able man gets little leisure ” – that’s why Her Ladyship leaves everything to you. She knows how capable you are. Of course, you have to be careful that you don’t overtax yourself. Your health is precious!’
Soothed by such flatteries, Xi-feng forgot her weariness, and the conversation continued with animation.
Meanwhile Qin Zhong had taken advantage of the darkness and the fact that there was no one much about to prosecute his designs on Sapientia. He found her on her own in one of the rooms at the back of the priory washing up tea-things. Throwing his arms around her from behind, he gave her a kiss. Sapientia stamped with vexation:
‘What are you doing? Stop it!’
She was about to call out, but Qin Zhong spoke entreat-ingly:
‘Darling Sappy! I want you so desperately! If you won’t let me, I’ll just lie down and die!’
‘If you want me,’ said Sapientia, ‘you must first get me out of this hole and away from these people. Then you can do what you like.’
‘That’s easy,’ said Qin Zhong. ‘But “distant water is no cure for a present thirst”…’
And with that he blew out the light, plunging the room into inky darkness, and carried Sapientia on to the kang. She struggled hard to get up – though still not daring to call out; but soon, almost before she knew it, her breech-clout was off and the ship was in the harbour.
Suddenly, in less time than it takes to tell, a third person bore down on them from above and held them fast. The intruder made no sound, and for some moments the other two lay underneath his weight, half dead with fright. Then there was a splutter of suppressed laughter and they knew that it was Bao-yu.
‘What do you think you’re playing at?’ said Qin Zhong crossly, as he scrambled to his feet.
‘If you won’t let me, darling,’ Bao-yu mimicked, ‘I’ll call out!’
Poor Sapientia was so overcome with shame that she slipped away in the dark. Bao-yu hauled Qin Zhong from the room.
‘Now,’ he said: ‘are you still going to pretend that Sappy means nothing to you ?’
‘Look, be a good chap! I’ll do anything you say as long as you promise not to shout.’
‘We won’t say any more about it just now,’ said Bao-yu genially. ‘Wait until we are both in bed and I’ll settle accounts with you then.’
Bedtime soon came and they partially undressed and settled down for the night, Xi-feng in an inner room and Bao-yu and Qin Zhong in an outer room adjoining it. As there were numerous old women on night duty lying about everywhere on the floor wrapped up in their bedding, Xi-feng was afraid that the ‘Magic Jade’ might disappear in the course of the night; so as soon as Bao-yu was in bed she sent someone to fetch it from him, and put it under her own pillow for safety.
As for the ‘settling of accounts’ that Bao-yu had proposed to Qin Zhong, we have been unable to ascertain exactly what form this took; and as we would not for the world be guilty of a fabrication, we must allow the matter to remain a mystery.
Next day someone arrived from Grandmother Jia and Lady Wang to see how Bao-yu was getting on. He was counselled to dress up well against the cold and to come back home if there was nothing further to do. Bao-yu was most unwilling to return on his own account, and his unwillingness was reinforced by the promptings of Qin Zhong, who was anxious to see more of Sapientia and urged him to ask Xi-feng for another day.
Xi-feng reflected a little. The main business of the funeral was now over, but a sufficient number of minor matters still remained to be done to justify their staying on another day if they wanted to. Three arguments in favour of staying presented themselves to her mind:
1. It would be a gesture of considerateness to Cousin Zhen which would increase his indebtedness to her.
2. It would give her a breathing-space in which to get Euergesia’s business attended to.
3. It would make Bao-yu happy, which would put her in good odour with Grandmother Jia.
Having now made her mind up, Xi-feng acceded to Bao-yu’s request in the following terms:
‘My own business here is all finished now, but if you want to amuse yourselves a bit longer, I suppose I must resign myself to staying. However, we definitely must go back tomorrow.’
When Bao-yu heard this it was all ‘dearest Feng’ this and ‘darling Feng’ that, and he promised faithfully to return on the morrow without demur. Accordingly it was settled that they should stay for one more night.
Xi-feng immediately sent someone in great secrecy to explain Euergesia’s business to Brightie. Brightie grasped the situation at once, hurried into town, sought out a public letter-writer, had a letter written in Jia Lian’s name to the captain’s commanding officer, and set off for Chang-an overnight bearing the spurious missive with him.
Chang-an is only thirty or so miles from the capital, so that Brightie could finish his business and be back again within a couple of days. The general’s name was Yun Guang. He was indebted to the Jia family for a number of past kindnesses and was only too pleased to be of service to diem in a matter of such trifling importance. He said as much in the letter of reply which he gave Brightie to carry back with him. But that part of his mission is omitted from our story.
When their second day at the priory was over, Xi-feng and the boys took leave of Euergesia, and as she said good-bye, Xi-feng told the prioress to call at the Rong-guo mansion in two days’ time to hear the news from Chang-an.
This parting was an unbearably painful one for Sapientia and Qin Zhong, and all sorts of secret vows were exchanged and whispered contracts made before they could tear themselves apart. We omit all details of that harrowing scene.
Xi-feng called in at the Temple of the Iron Threshold on the way back to see that everything was in order. Jewel, it seemed, refused absolutely to go back home, and Cousin Zhen was obliged to leave a woman or two at the temple to keep her company.
Their return, and the events which followed it, will be dealt with in the following chapter.
Chapter 16
Jia Yuan-chm is selected for glorious promotion
to the Imperial Bedchamber
And Qin Zhong is summoned for premature departure
on the Journey into Night
Xi-feng, Qin Zhong and Bao-yu, as we have said, called in at the Temple of the Iron Threshold on their way home. After looking round for a while, the three of them got back into their carriage and continued their journey into the city. Home once more, they first called on Grandmother Jia and Lady Wang and then went off to their several rooms. But of the rest of that day and the night which followed, our story says nothing.
Next morning Bao-yu found that his outer study had now been finished and was ready for use. He looked forward to beginning night-work in it with Qin Zhong, in accordance with a promise they had made each other. But unfortunately Qin Zhong’s always sickly constitution had been much neglected during their two-day excursion into the country, and the unwonted exposure to wind and cold and immoderate indulgence in secret frolic with Sapientia had resulted on his return in a cough and chill accompanied by total loss of appetite. Altogether he presented so sorry a spectacle that study was quite out of the question and they were obliged to send him back home to bed. Although Bao-yu was very disappointed, there was nothing at all he could do but wait for his friend to get better.
Xi-feng had now received Yun Guang’s reply to the bogus letter, expressing his readiness to com
ply with her (or, as he supposed, Jia Lian’s) request. Euergesia communicated this information to the Zhangs; and soon the captain, swallowing his anger and resentment as best he could, was obliged to receive back the betrothal gifts he had sent them on behalf of his son. But Jin-ge possessed a far nobler spirit than might have been expected in the daughter of such mercenary parents.
On learning that her affianced had been sent packing, she quietly went off and hanged herself in her scarf. The captain’s son, too, turned out to be a young person of unexpectedly romantic notions, for on hearing that Jin-ge had hanged herself, he promptly threw himself into a river and was drowned. The Zhangs and the Lis were thus left in a very unenviable situation:
‘the maid and eke the money gone’
in the words of the poet. The only gainer was Xi-feng, who now had three thousand taels of silver to sit back and enjoy at her leisure. Not an inkling of this affair reached the ears of Lady Wang.
Emboldened by this taste of success, Xi-feng from now on undertook many more ventures of a similar nature – far more than we could give an account of in this history.
The day of Jia Zheng’s birthday arrived and all the members of the Ning-guo and Rong-guo households were gathered together to celebrate it. Just as the festivities were at their height, one of the janitors from the main gate burst in on the assembled company:
‘The Master of the Imperial Bedchamber Mr Xia is on his way, sir, with an announcement from His Majesty the Emperor 1’
Jia She, Jia Zheng and the rest were taken completely by surprise, quite unable to guess what the meaning of this visitation could be. Hurriedly giving orders for the players to halt their performance and for all traces of the feast to be cleared away, they caused a table with burning incense (which would be required for the reading of the Proclamation, if there was one) to be set down in its place. Then, throwing open the centre of the three main gates, they knelt down in the entrance of the mansion to receive their visitor.
Soon Xia Bing-zhong, the Eunuch Master of the Bed-chamber, arrived on horseback with a retinue of eunuchs at his back. He appeared to have no Imperial Proclamation or other document on his person, for instead of dismounting, as etiquette prescribed that he should if he was carrying a Written Instrument, he rode straight on to the foot of the main hall. There, with beaming countenance, he got down from his horse, climbed the steps, faced south and gave utterance to the following announcement:
‘By order of His Imperial Majesty:
Jia Zheng is commanded to present himself at court immediately for private audience with His Imperial Majesty in the Hall of Reverence.’
Having delivered this message he got straight back on to his horse without staying for so much as a cup of tea and rode away. Still no wiser, Jia Zheng hurried into his court dress and hastened to the Palace, leaving Grandmother Jia and the rest in an extreme state of alarm which they endeavoured (unsuccessfully) to allay by dispatching a regular stream of mounted couriers post-haste to the Palace to inquire for news.
About four hours later Lai Da, the Chief Steward of the Rong-guo mansion, and three or four other stewards came panting into the inner gate and gasped out congratulations.
‘Master’s orders,’ said Lai Da between breaths: ‘will Her Old Ladyship please bring Their Ladyships to the Palace to give thanks to His Majesty for the great favour he has shown us!’
Unable in her agitated state to remain indoors, Grandmother Jia had been waiting outside in the loggia, whither the others -Lady Xing, Lady Wang, You-shi, Li Wan, Xi-feng, Aunt Xue and the girls – had also congregated to await news of Jia Zheng. Grandmother Jia called Lai Da inside to explain his cryptic message in somewhat greater detail.
‘We servants were all waiting in an anteroom,’ Lai Da told her, “and we had no idea what was going on inside. Eventually Mr Xia came out and saw us waiting there.” Congratulations I “he said. “Your eldest young lady has been appointed Chief Secretary to the Empress and is to become an Imperial Concubine.” Then after that Master came out, too, and told us the same thing. “I have to go off to the East Palace now,” he said, “to see the Prince. But you must hasten back as quick as you can and tell Their Ladyships to come to the Palace and give thanks.”’
Lai’s Da information at once dispelled the anxiety that Grandmother Jia and the others had all this time been feeling, and the worried looks on their faces quickly gave way to smiles of pleasure. Now a great dressing-up began as each lady robed herself in the costume appropriate to her rank. Then off they went to the Palace in four sedans one behind the other: Grand-mother Jia’s at the head, then Lady Xing’s, then Lady Wang’s, and then You-shi’s. Jia She and Cousin Zhen also changed into court dress, and taking Jia Rong and Jia Qiang with them, accompanied Grandmother Jia to the Palace as her male escort.
There was one person who did not share the unbounded delight now general among the members of the Ning-guo and Rong-guo households – who behaved, indeed, almost as if he had not heard the news at all. This person was Bao-yu. What was the reason for his unsociable lack of enthusiasm on this occasion?
A short time previously the little nun Sapientia had absconded from Water-moon Priory and made her way into the city to look for Qin Zhong. Qin Bang-ye had discovered her, driven her from the house, and given Qin Zhong a beating. The shock and anger of the discovery had brought on an attack of the illness from which the old gentleman was a chronic sufferer, and within only four or five days he had breathed his last. Qin Zhong had always been of a weak and nervous disposition and had still not fully recovered from his sickness when these events occurred. The severe beating followed by the overwhelming grief and remorse attendant on the death of his father from anger which he had himself provoked led to serious complications in his illness.
This, then, was the reason for Bao-yu’s unseasonable melancholy – a melancholy which the news of his sister Yuan-chun’s dazzling promotion was powerless to dispel. Grand-mother Jia’s visit to the Palace to give thanks, her return home, the visits of friends and relations to congratulate the family, the unwontedly cheerful bustle of the Ning and Rong households during the days that followed, the general satisfaction that everyone in those households now seemed to feel – as far as Bao-yu was concerned these things might just as well not have been: he viewed them with the eyes of an outsider. The rest of the family merely laughed at him, seeing in this behaviour only further confirmation of their belief that he was ‘a bit touched’.
But then there was Jia Lian’s and Dai-yu’s homecoming to look forward to. The advent of the messenger sent on ahead to announce that they would be arriving next day produced the first glimmer of cheerfulness that Bao-yu had so far shown. On being questioned for further details the messenger told them that Jia Yu-cun was also returning to the capital to have an audience with the Emperor. This was the doing of Wang Zi-teng, who had recommended him in a report to the throne for promotion to a metropolitan post. As he was both a cousin (albeit a remote one) of Jia Lian and also Dai-yu’s former teacher, it had been resolved that he should travel with them. Lin Ru-hai having been laid with his ancestors in the family burying-ground and his obsequies duly concluded, they would, if they had proceeded to the capital by the usual stages, have been arriving back some time in the following month; but when Jia Lian heard the news about Yuan-chun’s elevation, they had decided to make greater speed, travelling by night as well as by day. The journey had been smooth and uneventful.
Bao-yu merely asked if Dai-yu was all right, and on being assured that she was, paid no further attention to the man’s news.
Having waited with great impatience until the early afternoon of the following day, Bao-yu and the rest were rewarded with the announcement ‘Mr Lian and Miss Lin have just arrived!’ The joy of their reunion was, however, tempered with grief, because of the two deaths that had occurred since their parting, and for a while there was much loud weeping on either side. Then there were words of comfort and congratulation to exchange and Bao-yu had an opportunity of s
tudying Dai-yu more carefully. He recognized the same ethereal quality he had always known in her, but it seemed to have deepened and intensified during her absence.
She had brought a lot of books back with her and was soon busy superintending the sweeping out of her bedroom to accommodate them and arranging various objets d’art around it which had also formed part of her luggage. She had salvaged some paper, writing-brushes and other articles of stationery from her old home which she distributed as presents to Bao-chai, Ying-chun, Bao-yu and the rest. Bao-yu for his part hunted up the rosary of fragrant Indian beads given him by the Prince of Bei-jing and offered it as a gift to Dai-yu; but she flung it back at him disdainfully:
‘What, carry a thing that some coarse man has pawed over? I don’t want it!’
So Bao-yu was compelled to take it back again.
But let us now turn to Jia Lian.
When he had finished seeing everyone in the family, Jia Lian returned at last to his own apartment. Xi-feng, though still so busy that she had not a moment’s leisure, had somehow contrived to find time to welcome back her wandering lord.
‘Congratulations, Imperial Kinsman!’ she said with a smile when, except for the servants, they were at last alone together. ‘You have had a tiring journey, Imperial Kinsman. Yesterday when the courier gave notice of your arrival, I prepared a humble entertainment to celebrate your homecoming. Will the Imperial Kinsman graciously condescend to take a cup of wine with his handmaid ?’
Jia Lian replied in the same vein:
‘Madam, you are too kind! I am your most oble-e-eged and humble servant, ma’am!’
As they joked together, Patience and the other maids came forward to welcome their Master back, after which they served them both with tea. Jia Lian asked Xi-feng about the events that had occurred during his absence and thanked her for looking after things so well while he was away.