The Warning Voice

by Cao Xueqin

  She would have taken them, but Sunset forestalled her, sweeping them angrily into a bundle, which, when no one was looking, she carried into the Garden and emptied out over the lake. Some of the things sank straight to the bottom, the rest floated about on the surface of the water. She was still angry when she went to bed, and cried all night long under the bedclothes.

  *

  The day of Bao-yu’s birthday arrived – the same day, it had been discovered, as that on which Bao-qin had hers. Because Lady Wang was away, rather less fuss was made of it than in previous years. There were the customary four kinds of birthday present from Abbot Zhang together with a new amulet to replace the one he had worn during the previous year, and from the monks and nuns of various temples a token share of the day’s offerings accompanied by such other little gifts as the religious are wont to give on these occasions: little figures of Old Longevity, sacred colour-prints, offertory scrolls, talismans inscribed with his personal star guardian, and annually renewable lockets inscribed with the current year-star. A number of the blind ballad-singers both male and female regularly patronized by the household called in to offer their colourful felicitations. His uncle Wang Zi-teng’s family sent him the usual suit of clothes and two pairs of shoes and socks, together with a hundred little peach-shaped birthday cakes and a hundred little bundles of the finest ‘silver thread’ vermicelli. From his Aunt Xue he received exactly the same presents as from his uncle but in appropriately reduced amounts. The only other presents from senior members of the family were a pair of shoes from You-shi and a heavily-embroidered ‘propitious encounter’ purse with a tiny gold image of Old Longevity in it and a piece of Persian ware from Xi-feng. As in previous years, a distribution of alms was made on his behalf to the monks of various temples.

  And then of course there were Bao-qin’s presents; but to enumerate them as well would be tedious.

  The presents which Bao-yu received from the girls were of a less formal nature and chosen more to mark the occasion than for their intrinsic value: a fan from one, a specimen of calligraphy from another, a painting or a poem.

  On the morning of his birthday Bao-yu rose at dawn, and after completing his toilet, put on his most formal clothes and went out to the main front courtyard of the mansion, where Li Gui and three other of his grooms were waiting for him by a table they had made ready with an incense burner and candlesticks and offerings as an altar to Heaven and Earth. Bao-yu lit some sticks of incense and made his prostrations, poured out a libation of tea, and burned the paper offerings and offertory scrolls. Then he went round to the Ning-guo mansion and kotowed his respects to the ancestors, first in the shrine and then in the hall. Emerging from the latter, he knelt down on the terrace outside and ‘kotowed upwards’ to his absent dear ones – Grandmother Jia, Jia Zheng and Lady Wang – rising on his knees after each prostration and lifting his clasped hands up in front of him. He called in at the main apartment on his way out and made his kotow to You-shi, after which he sat and talked to her for a bit before returning to Rong-guo House. His first visit there was to Aunt Xue, who made vigorous – though, of course, unsuccessful attempts to prevent his kotowing to her. After that he called on Xue Ke, who was slightly senior to Bao-yu but not enough to warrant an obeisance and whose efforts to prevent a kotow, therefore, were more successful. After exchanging a few words with Xue Ke, he went back into the Garden. There he found Skybright and Musk waiting for him. They were accompanied by two junior maids holding a red carpet which was intended for kneeling on. Attended by these four, he now proceeded to visit all those in the Garden beginning with Li Wan who were senior to himself. Then back to the mansion again and out through the inner gate to call on Nannie Li and three other of his former nannies, with each of whom he was expected to spend some time in conversation. On his way back the servants inside the Garden gate would have liked to kotow to him, but he would not let them; and when he was once more back in his room, Aroma and the other maids offered him only verbal greetings and did not attempt to kneel. Lady Wang had forbidden the maids to kotow to younger members of the family for fear it might shorten their lives.

  Soon after this Jia Huan and Jia Lan arrived. Aroma prevented them from kneeling and made them sit down for a while. As soon as they had gone, Bao-yu declared himself tired out by all the walking he had done and put his feet up on the bed. But not for long. He had barely had time to drink half a cupful of tea when there was a confused sound of chattering and giggling outside and eight or nine maids burst laughing into the room. There was Ebony and Periwinkle and Kingfisher and Picture, Xing Xiu-yan’s maid Signet, the nursemaid carrying Xi-feng’s little girl Qiao-jie, and two of the maids from Lady Wang’s room, Avis and Avocet. He noticed that they were carrying a red carpet between them.

  ‘Where are the birthday noodles?’ they said. ‘See how your doorway is crowded with people who have come to wish you happy returns!’

  No sooner were the maids inside than Tan-chun, Xiang-yun, Bao-qin, Xiu-yan and Xi-chun appeared behind them. Bao-yu hurried out to greet them. ‘How kind of you all to come!’ he said, and as he ushered them inside, he called out to Aroma to get them all some tea. A great deal of polite tussling ensued before his guests could finally be persuaded to sit down. Aroma now brought in tea for them all on a tray; but they had taken no more than a sip of it when Patience arrived, dressed to the nines in all her finery, and Bao-yu had to get up once more and hurry out to greet her.

  ‘When I went to Feng’s place just now,’ he said, ‘the person who announced me told me that she couldn’t see me, so I asked if I might see you instead. Why wouldn’t you let me?’

  ’The first time you sent in I couldn’t come out because I was doing your Cousin Feng’s hair,’ said Patience. ‘When you sent in the second time and said that you wanted me to receive you in her place, I naturally couldn’t let you because it would have been too great an honour. It is I who should kotow to you – which is what I have come to do now.’

  ‘But that’s too great an honour for me!’ said Bao-yu, laughing.

  Aroma nevertheless brought a chair over and made Bao-yu sit in it. Patience made him a curtsey. Bao-yu, already on his feet again, answered it with a bow and pumped his hands. Patience went down on her knees. Bao-yu knelt down too. At once Aroma raised Patience to her feet, whereupon she curtseyed to Bao-yu once more and Bao-yu, who had got up when she did, answered her with another bow and another pumping of the hands.

  ‘Now another one,’ said Aroma smiling and giving him a nudge.

  ‘Why?’ said Bao-yu. ‘We’ve finished.’

  ‘She’s finished making her birthday reverence to you,’ said Aroma; ‘but it’s her birthday today too, so you still have to make yours to her.’

  Bao-yu bowed again, delightedly.

  ‘So it’s your birthday too, Patience?’

  Patience returned his bow with another curtsey.

  Xiang-yun took hold of Bao-qin with one hand and Xiu-yan with the other.

  ‘At this rate the four of you are going to be making reverences to each other all day long!’

  ‘Oh, of course!’ said Tan-chun. ‘It’s Cousin Xing’s birthday as well. I’d quite forgotten.’

  She turned to one of the maids:

  ‘Go and tell Mrs Lian about this; and get them to send another lot of presents like the ones they did for Miss Qin to Miss Ying’s apartment.’

  The maid went off to do her bidding. Now that the fact that today was her birthday had become public knowledge, Xiu-yan was obliged to make a round of the apartments, bowing and kotowing to everybody, as Bao-yu had had to do before her.

  ‘Interesting, all these coincidences,’ said Tan-chun. ‘You expect a few birthdays every month; but it’s only when you get a lot of people living together like us that you begin getting two or three of them on the same day. We even have a birthday on New Year’s Day in this family: Yuan-chun’s. She comes first in that as in everything else. I suppose that’s what makes her so lucky. It was great-grandfat
her’s birthday as well, New Year’s Day. The fifteenth of the first month is Aunt Xing’s birthday and also Cousin Chai’s – another coincidence. The first of the third month is Mother’s birthday. The ninth of the third is Cousin Lian’s. We haven’t got anyone with a birthday in the second month.’

  ‘Yes you have,’ said Aroma. ‘Miss Lin’s is in the second month, on the twenty-second. It’s true there’s no one of your surname, though.’

  ‘My memory is hopeless!’ said Tan-chun.

  ‘Not at all,’ said Bao-yu. He pointed smilingly at Aroma: ‘She only remembers it because her own birthday is on that day.’

  ‘Oh, you’re on the same day as her, are you? I don’t recollect your ever having come round and kotowed to me on that day,’ said Tan-chun teasingly. ‘And Patience: this is the first time I’ve heard that your birthday was today.’

  ‘What sort of great ladies do you think we are to be bothering with birthdays?’ said Patience. ‘Kotows and birthday presents are not for the likes of us. My birthday is just another day, to be got through with as little fuss as possible. I don’t suppose you’d ever have known about it at all if she hadn’t let on. Now that you do know, I’ll gladly come round and kotow to you when you get back later to your room.’

  ‘I don’t in the least want you to do that,’ said Tan-chun. ‘On the other hand, I should very much like us to celebrate your birthday for once. In fact, I shan’t be content unless we do.’

  ‘Hear, hear!’ said Bao-yu and Xiang-yun.

  Tan-chun gave instructions to one of the maids:

  ‘Go to Mrs Lian and tell her, from us all, that we want to keep Patience with us for the day. Tell her we are going to pool together and celebrate her birthday.’

  The maid went off, laughing excitedly. It was some time before she returned with Xi-feng’s answer.

  ‘Mrs Lian says thank you very much for the honour you are doing her. She says she doesn’t know what you will be giving Patience to eat, but provided you let her have some of it, she will agree to leave her here in peace.’

  The cousins and maids all laughed when they heard this message.

  ‘It so happens that, as the birthday noodles and all the other things needed for today’s meals are being seen to by the big kitchen outside, the Garden kitchen has got nothing to do today,’ said Tan-chun. ‘So when we’ve made our collection, we can give it to Cook Liu and get her to prepare this private party for us in the Garden kitchen.’

  The others having readily agreed that this would be best, Tan-chun sent someone to tell Li Wan, Bao-chai and Dai-yu what had been decided and invite them to contribute. She also sent for Cook Liu and asked her to prepare a two-table banquet in the Garden kitchen. Somewhat puzzled by this request, Cook Liu pointed out that on this particular occasion the catering was all being done in the outside kitchen.

  ‘Yes,’ said Tan-chun, ‘but this is only for us. Today is Patience’s birthday and we want to pool together and have a special little party for her. So do something nice for us, will you? You can bring the bill to my place afterwards and I will give you the money.’

  ‘Miss Patience’s birthday today?’ said Cook Liu. ‘Well I never!’ And she stepped briskly forward and made her a kotow. Patience bent over in confusion and raised her to her feet.

  The cook hurried off to begin preparations.

  Tan-chun now invited Bao-yu to accompany her to the ‘jobs room’ and break his fast there with some noodles. Having first waited for Li Wan and Bao-chai to arrive, she sent someone to ask if Aunt Xue and Dai-yu would care to join them. Now that the weather was warmer, Dai-yu’s illness was very much better than it had been and she was able to come. With so many people in party dresses the crowded office was beginning to take on an unusually gay and festive appearance. Unfortunately a formal present for Bao-yu – a handkerchief, a fan, some sticks of incense and a length of silk – arrived at that moment from Xue Ke, and Bao-yu had to abandon the female company of the office and go to take noodles with Xue Ke.

  Since the Xue and Jia families each had a birthday on this same day, each was supposed to entertain the other with birthday wine. Accordingly, at about noon that day, Bao-qin was brought over by Bao-chai to make a birthday reverence to her elder brother and to wait on him and Bao-yu while they drank the wine. But Bao-chai was impatient of punctilio.

  ‘There is no need for you to send our wine over there,’ she told Xue Ke. ‘This year at least we can dispense with those empty formalities. You can invite our employees from the shop in to help you finish it. Cousin Bao and I must go back to the Garden now. Excuse us for leaving you like this, but we have other people there waiting for us to entertain them.’

  ‘I won’t try to detain you then,’ said Xue Ke politely. ‘To tell the truth, our people from the shop will feel freer to call here when you are gone.’

  Having apologized to Xue Ke on his own account, Bao-yu accompanied the two girls back into the Garden. As they passed into it through the corner gate, Bao-chai made the women there lock it up after them and hand her the key.

  ‘Why is it necessary to lock this gate?’ Bao-yu asked her. ‘There are only a few people using it, and now that you and Aunt and Qin are all three living in the Garden, it must be an awful nuisance if you have to lock and unlock it every time you need to go and fetch something from your place outside.’

  ‘One can’t be too careful,’ said Bao-chai. ‘Look at all the incidents you people have been having during the past few days; yet not once have any of our people been implicated. I put that down entirely to the fact that this gate is kept constantly locked. If it were left open, other people besides us would want to use it for the convenience of taking short cuts; and as it would be too invidious to begin distinguishing between who might use the gate and who might not, it is better to keep it permanently locked and stop everyone using it, even though it means a certain amount of inconvenience for Mamma and me, because at least it ensures that when there is any trouble none of our people will be under suspicion.’

  ‘You heard about the missing objects, then?’ Bao-yu asked her.

  ‘You mean the Essence of Roses and Lycoperdon Snow?’ said Bao-chai. ‘I don’t suppose you would have known even about them if your own protegés had not been involved. No, I was thinking about something rather more serious than that – something which, for all our sakes, I hope will never come to light. If it does, a great many people will be implicated. I can tell you this, because you have nothing to do with the management of the household. I told Patience the other day too. Patience is an intelligent girl, and as her mistress cannot get about now, I thought she ought to know about it. As I say, I hope nothing will come of it; but if it does blow up, Patience will have been warned and will know how to safeguard herself against being wrongfully accused again. Bear in mind what I am saying so that you are warned, too, if anything should happen. But don’t let anyone else know that I told you this.’

  They had been approaching Drenched Blossoms while she was speaking. In the pavilion at the centre of the bridge a group of ten or so girls – Aroma, Caltrop, Scribe, Skybright, Musk, Parfumée, Étamine, Nénuphar and one or two others they could not identify – were leaning over the railings looking at the fish in the water below. As Bao-yu and his two cousins approached, they chorused out to them:

  ‘The party’s all ready in the Peony Garden. Hurry up and take your places!’

  Taking the maids with them, the cousins made their way to the lakeside Peony Garden in the midst of which was the large, open summerhouse where the tables for the party had been laid. Even You-shi had been invited and was already sitting there waiting for them. In fact, by now almost everyone had arrived except Patience herself.

  Patience had intended to drop in only briefly at Xi-feng’s house in order to change into something more suitable for the party; but no sooner had she reached it than presents began arriving from the Lin and Lai households. The bearers of these proved to be only the forerunners of a stream of callers from every level
of the domestic staff, who arrived in twos and threes, bringing her gifts or offering their congratulations. Patience was kept continuously busy dealing with these callers, rewarding the deliverers of gifts, thanking those who had come in person to felicitate her, and running in and out to show her presents to Xi-feng. She kept only a few of these for herself; the rest she either courteously returned or immediately gave away. Even when she had finished with her visitors she had to serve Xi-feng her lunch of noodles and wait until she had finished it before she was at last able to get changed and hurry back into the Garden.

  A number of maids who had been sent out by the others to look for her took charge of her as she entered it and carried her off to the summerhouse. It was a dazzling sight there that met her eyes: not perhaps the

  chelonian tables, lotus-cushioned chairs

  of the poet; but no effort had been spared to make it an eyecatching and appetizing spread.

  A friendly laugh greeted her arrival.

  ‘Now all the birthday folk are here!’

  They wanted to make her and the other three – Bao-yu, Bao-qin and Xiu-yan – sit at the head of the feast, but as Aunt Xue was present, all four of them naturally refused.

  ‘A slow old buffer like me is no fit company for you young people,’ said Aunt Xue. ‘I should only feel uncomfortable if I stayed. Let me go and lie down in the jobs room. I don’t feel like eating anything and I’m not much of a drinker. You will be much better able to look after your guests if I am not here.’

  You-shi and the others loudly insisted that she should stay. Only Bao-chai dissented.

  ‘Whether or not we should get on better without Mamma,’ she said, ‘I’m sure Mamma herself would be happier lying down in the jobs room than sitting here with us. If there is anything here she fancies, we can have it sent over to her and she will be able to eat it there on her own in comfort. Besides, there is no one in charge there at the moment. If Mamma is there, she will be able to keep an eye on things.’