by Cao Xueqin
‘It wasn’t toxic,’ protested the Taoists, alarmed for their own safety. ‘It was an infallible secret formula, but it needed to be taken in the right conditions. We told him he wasn’t ready for it, but he wouldn’t believe us. He must have taken it during the vigil last night, when he was meditating on his own and there was nobody around to stop him. He will have gone straight to heaven, of course: such faith is sure to be rewarded. We must rejoice that he has cast off the corrupt garment of flesh and left this sea of misery behind him.’
But You-shi had no intention of getting drawn into an argument. Her only reply was to give orders that they should all be locked up again and remain so until Cousin Zhen could deal with them when he got back. Riders were dispatched post-haste to inform him of his father’s death.
You-shi could see at a glance that the monastery’s accommodation was far too cramped for the lying-in-state; on the other hand there could be no question of her taking the corpse back with her into the city. She therefore had it wrapped up and carried in a curtained chair to the Temple of the Iron Threshold. And as she calculated that it would probably be at least half a month before Cousin Zhen got back, by which time, as this was the hottest part of the year, the process of decomposition would already be well advanced, she decided, acting on her own initiative, to consult an astrologer and find out the earliest date on which the body could be encoffined. The coffin was conveniently to hand, having been deposited in the Temple of the Iron Threshold when it was purchased some years previously. The formal going into mourning and its attendant ceremonies were scheduled to take place three days later. Staging was put up in readiness for the Taoists and Buddhists, but their requiems were to be deferred until Cousin Zhen should have returned.
While You-shi and the already depleted staff were attending to these matters outside the city, no one with authority was left in the two mansions able to deal with callers from outside. On the Rong-guo side Xi-feng was still unable to see people because of her illness, Li Wan was fully occupied in looking after the young people, and Bao-yu was too lacking in savoir-faire to be trusted. It was necessary to call in a number of obscure junior clansmen who had done occasional odd-jobs for the family in the past: Jia Bin, Jia Guang, Jia Heng(I), Jia Chang and Jia Ling. On the Ning-guo side even the internal running of the household was a problem, since You-shi was for the time being unable to get back at all. She had to call on her step-mother, old Mrs You, to keep an eye on things for her. As Mrs You had two young unmarried daughters by a previous marriage, the most sensible arrangement seemed to be to bring the girls with her and install herself in temporary residence at Ning-guo House.
At this point our story moves elsewhere. As soon as the news reached him of his father’s death, Cousin Zhen made an urgent application for leave of absence to the Board of Rites. He included Jia Rong’s name in the petition, since Jia Rong was, nominally at any rate, the holder of a commission. The officials of the Board of Rites, bearing in mind His Imperial Majesty’s devotion to the Late Emperor and determination to give fullest expression to it in these obsequies of the Late Emperor’s favourite Consort, dared not grant leave of absence on their own initiative and referred the matter to the Emperor himself in a memorial. But the Son of Heaven, with that godlike compassion that is so typical of him, far from making his own bereavement an objection, saw it as all the more reason for sympathizing with the bereavement of a subject – particularly one whose ancestor had performed such great and signal services for the Crown. His immediate reaction on reading the memorial was to ask for particulars of Jia Jing’s official rank. The Board of Rites memorialized back as follows:
Jia Jing: Palace Graduate, Second Class. His hereditary office and emoluments were passed on during his lifetime to his son Jia Zhen. Owing to age and ill-health, he had for some years past been living in religious seclusion at the Dark Truth Monastery, where he was resident at the time of his death. Jia Zhen and his son Jia Rong are in attendance here at the mausoleum for the obsequies of Her Late Highness and are Your Imperial Majesty’s petitioners for leave to absent themselves in order to attend to the funeral arrangements.
On receipt of this memorial His Imperial Majesty was graciously pleased to issue the following Rescript:
Although Jia Jing’s own life appears to have been undistinguished by service to the state, nevertheless in recognition of the distinguished record of loyal service to the Crown of his grandfather the Duke of Ning-guo it is Our pleasure that a Court appointment carrying the honours and entitlements of an officer of the Fifth Rank should be bestowed upon him posthumously, and that his son and grandson should be authorized to convey his remains into the Capital, entering by way of the Lower North Gate, and to display them there in their private residence in the customary manner; and there after, having duly carried out all rites and ceremonies that are lawful to be performed, to convey them thence to the deceased’s registered place of origin for interment. And further more it is Our pleasure that Our treasury at the Imperial Victuallers should disburse to the said son and grandson a sum being the equivalent of one portion of funeral offerings of the First Grade towards the defrayment of the said Jia Jing’s funeral expenses; and that it should be lawful and permitted for holders of Court appointments up to and including the rank of Prince and Duke to make offerings and condolences.
When the contents of this Rescript were made known, it was not only the members of the Jia family who expressed their gratitude: all the great officers of the Court were loud in their praises of this extraordinary example of Imperial magnanimity.
Cousin Zhen and Jia Rong at once set off on horseback, determined to ride both night and day until they reached their destination. About half way along their road they came upon a group of horsemen riding hell-for-leather towards them who turned out to be Jia Bin and Jia Guang at the head of a party of Jia family domestics. They threw themselves from their saddles as soon as they recognized Cousin Zhen and touched knee and hand to the ground in the Manchu salute.
‘Why have you come?’ Cousin Zhen asked them.
‘Mrs Zhen was worried that when you and Rong left there would be no one to escort Her Old Ladyship,’ Jia Bin replied, ‘so she sent us to take your place.’
Cousin Zhen expressed his approval of his wife’s thought-fulness.
‘And what about things at home?’ he asked. ‘How have you been managing?’
Jia Bin told him how You-shi had had the Taoists put under arrest, how she had Jia Jing’s body moved to the family temple, and how, in order that there might be someone at home to keep an eye on things during her absence, she had persuaded her step-mother and two step-sisters to move into temporary residence at Ning-guo House. At mention of the two step-sisters the face of Jia Rong, who had dismounted when the others did, was observed to break into a grin. For his part Cousin Zhen merely nodded, observed several times over that these arrangements were ‘very sensible’, and, touching the riding-whip to his horse’s flanks, was on his way once more.
Cousin Zhen and Jia Rong rode on then through daylight and darkness, stopping at post-houses along the way only long enough to obtain a change of mount. It was night-time when they approached the outskirts of the Capital and well after two in the morning when they reached the Temple of the Iron Threshold. Those keeping watch had to rouse the others up to meet them. Cousin Zhen and Jia Rong dismounted and lifted up their voices in loud wailing. Still wailing, they crawled on their knees all the way from the outer gate of the temple to the lying-in-state room inside. There, at the foot of the coffin, they knocked their heads repeatedly on the floor and wept with abandon until daylight, by which time they had all but lost their voices.
After a brief intermission during which Cousin Zhen was greeted by You-shi and the rest (for he had not, till that moment, had an opportunity of speaking to them) he and Jia Rong changed into the appropriate hempen mourning-garments before returning to bow once more at the foot of the coffin.
Cousin Zhen found it impossible to achieve quit
e that state of self-absorbed grief – ‘oblivious to all around’ – which books of etiquette require of the bereaved son: there were too many things that needed attending to. For example, friends and relations had to be informed about the Gracious Rescript permitting a lying-in-state at the mansion and the receiving of offerings and condolences there. Jia Rong was ordered back home to make all preparations necessary for receiving the coffin.
Jia Rong was pleased with his commission. Hurrying to horse, he rode briskly into the city. As soon as he got back, he ordered the servants to begin clearing the furniture from the front reception hall at Ning-guo House and making a shrine for the coffin there out of screens and hangings. He also told them to put up awnings for the funeral bands outside the doorway, and a cloth and cane archway which should later be covered with funerary inscriptions. When he was satisfied that all this work was well in hand, he hurried into the inner apartments to meet his grandmother and two young aunts.
The Hon. Mrs You (the late Mr You – You-shi’s father – had been a mandarin of the sixth rank) was an elderly lady much given to taking naps. She was in fact recumbent upon the kang and refreshing herself with sleep at the moment when Jia Rong entered. It was the two daughters, sewing amidst their maids, who welcomed him.
‘I’m glad you’ve come, Auntie,’ said Jia Rong, grinning broadly at the elder of them. (Her name was Er-jie.) ‘Father has been longing to see you.’
Er-jie turned red.
‘Now look here, young Rong,’ she said, ‘you behave yourself! I suppose you are one of those people who, if they don’t get a good telling-off every once in a while, don’t feel comfortable. You are supposed to be a well-bred, educated young gentleman, yet a coolie would have better manners.’
She picked up the nearest object to hand, which happened to be a flat-iron, and made as if to aim it at his head. Jia Rong ducked in alarm, clasping his head in his arms; he ducked not away from her, however, but towards her, and ended up on her bosom, laughing and begging for mercy. At this the younger sister, San-jie, came over and tried to fasten her nails upon his mouth.
‘We’ll tell our sister about you when she gets back.’
Jia Rong knelt between them on the kang, entreating them not to, whereupon the two sisters collapsed in laughter.
He noticed that Er-jie was eating cardamums and made a grab at them intending to take some for himself. As he did so, Er-jie spat a chewed-up mouthful of them in his face. Quite unperturbedly, he began licking off the particles that he could reach with his tongue and nibbling them. This was more than even the maids could stomach.
‘Look at you, freshly in mourning and your old grannie lying there right under your nose!’ they said. ‘These are your aunts, after all, even though they are so young: you ought to have more respect for your mother than to treat her family like this. Wait till we tell the Master when he gets back: he’ll give you what for!’
Temporarily abandoning his aunts, Jia Rong went over to the maids, put his arms around two of them and began kissing them.
‘My darlings, you are so right! I shan’t interfere with them any more.’
The maids pushed him off indignantly.
‘Pig!’ The maid who said this spoke with feeling. ‘You have a wife and maids of your own; what do you need to come bothering us for? An understanding person would realize that this was only fun, but what about someone who didn’t know? There are plenty of dirty-minded, gossiping busy-bodies who would be only too pleased to go tattling about this sort of thing to the other mansion, and before you know where you are the gossips there will be passing round the most terrible stories about us.’
‘Their household is completely separate from ours,’ said Jia Rong, ‘why should they bother about what we do here? Anyway, they’ve got scandal enough of their own to keep them busy! Every family history has got a few scandals in it Look. at the stories they tell about the rules of the Han, and Tang dynasties: “Filthy Tang and stinking Han” they say, don’t they? If even the families of emperors were like that, you can hardly expect ours to be any different. As for the household next door: look how strict Great-uncle She is, yet Uncle Lian still manages to get up to a few tricks with that little chamber-wife; and look what a tough nut Aung Feng is, yet that didn’t stop Uncle Rui thinking he could settle her business. Do you imagine I don’t know what they get up to over there – ?’
He seemed to be warming to the subject and would doubtless have treated them to other even less edifying examples of Rong-guo depravity, had not the old lady suddenly woken up at that point, necessitating an abrupt change of manner. At once he dropped down on his knee and began inquiring solicitously about her health.
‘It is so good of you to have gone to all this trouble for us, Grandma,’ he said, ‘and for Auntie Er and Auntie San to put up with so much inconvenience on our behalf. Father and I don’t know how to thank you. I expect after this business is over we shall all be coming round to your place and making you a kotow.’
‘Bless the boy, what eloquence!’ said the old lady, nodding appreciatively. ‘For our own kin, though: it’s the least we could do. And how is your father?’ she asked him. ‘When did he hear the news? When did you get back?’
‘We’ve only just got back,’ said Jia Rong. ‘Father sent me on to see you immediately. He was particularly anxious that I should persuade you to stay here until everything is over.’
He winked at the two young aunts while he was saying this. Er-jie pretended to grind her teeth angrily, though she was trying not to laugh.
‘Glib-tongued little ape!’ she said.’ We’re to be kept around here as second strings for your father, I suppose?’
‘Don’t you worry!’ said Jia Rong, his eye on the old lady. ‘My father has your interests very much at heart. He’s been looking for years now for a couple of well-placed, rich, handsome young husbands for my two aunties. Now he’s found one at last – someone he met the other day on the journey.’
He was only joking, but the old lady took it all as gospel truth and asked him what the name was of this prospective son-in-law. Er-jie, laughing, laid down her sewing and ran across to strike him.
‘Don’t believe a word he says, Ma! He’s a wicked liar!’
Even the maids were outraged.
‘If the Lord in Heaven can hear you, you’d better watch out for the lightning!’ said one of them.
Just then a servant entered:
‘We’ve finished all the things you told us to do, Master Rong. Will you go back now and tell the Master it’s all ready?’
Off went Jia Rong then, smiling all over his face.
But what happened after that will be told in the following chapter.
CHAPTER 64
Five fair women make subjects for a chaste maid’s verse And nine jade dragons make a love-gift for a flirt
As soon as Jia Rong learned that everything was ready, he returned to the temple and reported to his father to that effect. At once preparations for the procession into the city were put in motion. Bearers were organized, insignia, funeral banners and all the other paraphernalia got ready overnight, and messengers hurriedly sent out to relations and friends telling them when the procession would set out: five o’clock on the morning of the fourth.
The procession, needless to say, was of dazzling magnificence, and troops of mourners took part in it. It provoked varying reactions from the crowd numbering many thousands who lined the road to watch it, all the way from the Temple of the Iron Threshold to the gates of Ning-guo House. Some took a simple pleasure in the spectacle; others admired the wealth which had created it; but there were also a few sour-faced Confucian scholars who looked down their noses and muttered something about sumptuousness being no substitute for grief. A buzz of discussion followed its passing all along the route.
The procession reached the mansion at about three in the afternoon; the coffin was deposited in its shrine in the main hall; offerings were made; the lament was raised. After that the mourners began gradually t
o depart. Only those members of the Jia clan remained who had undertaken to lend the family a hand with the reception. Among relations not of the Jia surname the only one to stay behind was Lady Xing’s brother, Xing De-quan.
As long as there were visitors around, convention obliged Cousin Zhen and Jia Rong to remain in appropriately grief-stricken attitudes beside the coffin, conforming, as far as possible, to the scriptural canons on mourning which enjoin the bereaved son, among other things, to ‘lie upon rushes with a sod of earth for his pillow’; but as soon as the last guest had gone, they were off like a shot to enjoy the society of their young female relations inside.
Throughout this period Bao-yu too was expected to put on mourning and go over every day to Ning-guo House to spend the whole day there beside the coffin. Xi-feng was not well enough to go over daily, but on days when there were sutra-readings and the callers were numerous, she would drag herself over and lend You-shi a hand in entertaining the wives.
One morning after the early offering, when Cousin Zhen and Jia Rong, worn out by a succession of short nights and long, exhausting days, lay dozing beside the coffin, Bao-yu thought that as there were no visitors he might just as well go back home and see Dai-yu. Calling at Green Delights on the way, he found the courtyard silent and deserted. In the coolness of the surrounding gallery a few old women and junior maids were sitting or lying about in various postures of sleep. He had no wish to disturb them, and would have made his way into the house alone; but just as he was approaching the doorway, Number Four caught sight of him and started up, intending to raise the blind for him to enter. She had not time to do so however, for at that very moment Parfumée came rushing out and very nearly ran into him. She checked herself just in time.