by Cao Xueqin
Presently wine and sweetmeats were served.
‘There’s no need to send any out to the men,’ said Grandmother Jia. ‘Today can be ladies’ day.’
Though Bao-yu was a married man, as Grannie’s favourite he was allowed to join in the fun. He was placed not at a table with Xiang-yun and Bao-qin, but on a special chair next to Grandmother Jia. He went round with Bao-chai, pouring a cup of wine for each of the guests on her behalf.
‘Sit down now both of you,’ commanded Grandmother Jia, ‘and let’s all have a drink. Later in the evening you can do your duty to everyone. But if you start getting all formal now and make everyone stand on ceremony, you’ll spoil my mood and take all the fun out of the party.’
They obeyed and sat down. Grandmother Jia turned to the others:
‘For goodness’ sake let’s relax a bit. We only need one or two maids each to wait on us. Faithful, take Suncloud, Parrot, Aroma and Patience off to the back and have a cup of wine together.’
‘But we still haven’t kowtowed to Mrs Bao,’ protested Faithful. ‘How can we go and drink without having done that?’
‘If I say so, then you can. Now, off with you!’ ordered Grandmother Jia. ‘We’ll send for you later if we need you.’
Faithful and her fellow maids obeyed.
Grandmother Jia now pressed her guests to drink up. But she soon discovered that they were not at all their old party-going selves.
‘What’s the matter with you all?’ she asked fretfully. ‘Why can’t everyone cheer up a bit?’
‘We’re eating and drinking,’ replied Xiang-yun. ‘What more do you expect of us?’
‘When they were still children,’ said Xi-feng, ‘it was easy for them to be carefree and happy. Now that they’re grown up, they’re too self-conscious and well mannered to let themselves go. That’s why they seem so dull.’
Bao-yu said confidentially to Grandmother Jia:
‘It’s best if we don’t say anything, Grannie. If we so much as open our mouths we’re bound to upset someone. Why don’t you suggest a drinking game instead?’
Grandmother Jia had inclined her head to one side to listen to him.
‘If it’s to be a game,’ she replied with a laugh, ‘we’ll have to call Faithful back!’
Bao-yu needed no second bidding, but went straight out to the rear of the apartment to find Faithful.
‘Grandmother wants to play a game and needs your help.’
‘Mr Bao, can’t we relax and drink a cup of wine in peace? Do you have to invent ways of disturbing us?’
‘It’s nothing to do with me. Honestly. It’s Grandmother. She sent me to fetch you.’
‘Oh very well then,’ said Faithful, resigning herself to her fate. ‘You all stay here and drink your wine. I’ll be back shortly.’
She set off to Grandmother Jia’s apartment.
‘There you are!’ cried Grandmother Jia when she appeared. ‘We’re going to play a drinking game.’
‘Mr Bao said you wanted me, Your Old Ladyship,’ said Faithful, ‘so I came straight away. What kind of game were you thinking of playing?’
‘Well not one of those clever bookish ones, for a start. They’re too boring. And not one of those rowdy ones either. Think of something new and entertaining for us.’
Faithful pondered for a moment:
‘As Mrs Xue is one of our visitors, and seeing that she is an elderly lady and won’t want to rack her brains too much, why don’t we just get out the dice-bowl and throw for song-titles? The loser has to drink a cup of wine.’
‘That sounds a good idea,’ said Grandmother Jia. She told one of the maids to put the dice-bowl on the table.
‘We’ll throw four dice;’ said Faithful. ‘If the combination has no particular name, the thrower’s forfeit is one cup of wine. If it does have a name, the number of cups the others have to drink will depend on the combination.’
‘That sounds easy enough,’ they replied. ‘We’ll follow your lead.’ Faithful threw two dice to determine who should start. They insisted that Faithful should drink a cup first herself, then counting from her they came to Aunt Xue, who threw, and came up with four ‘ones’.
‘That has a name,’ said Faithful. ‘ “The Four Old Hermits of Mount Shang”. All senior guests must drink a cup.’
Grandmother Jia, Mrs Li, Lady Xing and Lady Wang complied.
Just as Grandmother Jia was raising her cup to her lips, Faithful said:
‘Since that was Mrs Xue’s throw, she must now think of a song-title to match it; and the person next to her must cap it with a line from “The Standard Poets”. Forfeit for failure in either case is one cup.’
‘This is a plot!’ cried Aunt Xue. ‘I don’t stand a chance!’
‘Go on,’ Grandmother Jia encouraged her. ‘Have a go. You’ll spoil the fun if you back out. I’m next, and I’m sure to fail, so then we’ll be in the same boat.’
Aunt Xue tried her hand:
‘How’s this: “Greybeard sporting in the Flowers”?’
Grandmother Jia nodded, and recited the line:
‘ “They deem it idle mimicry of youth …” ’
The dice-bowl passed to Li Wen, who threw two ‘fours’ and two ‘twos’.
‘That has a name too,’ said Faithful. “ ‘Two Travellers Lost in the Tiantai Mountains”.’
Li Wen proposed the song-title ‘Two Scholars at Peach-blossom Spring’, and Li Wan, who was sitting next to her, recited the line:
‘ “Searching for Peach-blossom Spring to flee the tyranny of Qin“.’
Everyone had a drink, and the dice-bowl passed to Grandmother Jia, who threw two ‘twos’ and two ‘threes’.
‘I suppose I shall have to drink a forfeit.’
‘No,’ said Faithful. ‘That has a name. “A Swallow over the River Guiding her Chicks”. Everyone has to drink a cup.’
‘Most of your chicks have flown the nest, haven’t they, Grannie?’ quipped Xi-feng.
They gave her a meaningful look, and she immediately fell silent.
‘Now what shall I say for my song?’ said Grandmother Jia. ‘What about “The Sire Leading his Grandson”?’
Li Qi was next to her, and quoted the line:
‘ “Lazily watching the children catch willowfloss”.’
Everyone applauded her choice.
Bao-yu was longing to have a go, but so far the dice-bowl had not reached him. Now at last it was his turn. He threw a ‘two’, two ‘threes’ and a ‘one’.
‘What’s that?’ he asked.
Faithful laughed.
‘A dud! Drink a forfeit and throw again.’
Bao-yu did as he was told. This time he threw two ‘threes’ and two ‘fours’.
‘That’s better,’ said Faithful. ‘That’s “Zhang Chang Painting his Wife’s Eyebrows”.’
Bao-yu knew she was making fun of him, and Bao-chai blushed fiercely too. Xi-feng didn’t seem to have noticed anything out of the ordinary, and told him to hurry up and think of a song.
‘Then we’ll see whose turn it is next.’
Bao-yu was too embarrassed:
‘I’ll pay the forfeit. And there’s no one sitting next to me anyway.’
The bowl came next to Li Wan. She threw, and Faithful announced the name of the combination as ‘The Twelve Beauties’. Bao-yu hurried over to Li Wan’s side and studied the dice: the red and green pips were symmetrically paired.
‘Doesn’t that look pretty!’ he exclaimed.
Suddenly he recalled his dream, and the registers of the Twelve Beauties of Jinling. He wandered back to his seat in a daze.
‘In my dream they were twelve,’ he mused. ‘But of my fair cousins, most have been scattered to the four winds. Why have so few been spared?’
He gazed around him. Xiang-yun and Bao-chai were present that day, it was true; but the absence of Dai-yu struck him with a sudden and overwhelming force and he knew that he was about to burst into tears. Not wanting the others to witness his distress, he p
retended to feel hot, and expressed a desire to go and change. He begged leave to ‘hand in his tally’ and left the party.
Xiang-yun noted his departure, and thought he was probably peeved by the fact that he had not had a good throw and had been outshone by the others. She herself began to feel rather bored and irritated by the game.
‘I can’t think of anything,’ said Li Wan, who had thrown the ‘Twelve Beauties’. ‘We are missing one of the party now anyway. I’d better just drink my forfeit and be done with it.’
‘This game is not turning out to be much fun,’ said Grandmother Jia. ‘Why don’t we call it a day? Let Faithful have one last throw.’
A junior maid placed the bowl in front of Faithful, who did as Grandmother Jia told her and threw the dice. She had two ‘twos’ and a ‘five’. As the last dice continued to rattle in the dice-bowl, Faithful cried out:
‘Pray I don’t get another “five”!’
Finally it came to rest; there it was, five pips as plain as could be.
‘Oh dear!’ exclaimed Faithful. ‘I’ve lost.’
‘Doesn’t that have a name?’ asked Grandmother Jia.
‘It does,’ said Faithful. ‘But I’ll never be able to think of a song to match it.’
‘Well, you tell us the name, and I’ll try to think of something.’
‘This one’s called “Waves Sweep the Floating Duckweed”.’
‘There’s nothing particularly hard about that,’ said Grandmother Jia. ‘Here’s a song for you: “Autumn Fish in a Den of Caltrops”.’
Xiang-yun, who was sitting next to Faithful, proposed the line: ‘ “The white duckweed moans, as autumn descends on the south-ern river.” ’
‘Very apt!’ they all exclaimed.
‘The game’s finished,’ announced Grandmother Jia. ‘Let’s all have two more cups of wine and then eat our dinner.’
She looked round and noticed that Bao-yu was still absent.
‘Where’s Bao-yu gone? Why isn’t he back yet?’
‘He went to change,’ Faithful informed her.
‘Who went with him?’
Oriole came forward:
‘When I saw that Mr Bao was going out, I told Aroma to go with him.’
This set the ladies’ minds at rest. They waited a little longer for him to return, and then, since there was still no sign of him, Lady Wang sent one of the junior maids out to look for him. The maid went to his new apartment, but the only person there was Fivey, setting out candles.
‘Where’s Mr Bao gone?’ the maid asked her.
‘He’s over at Her Old Ladyship’s for the party,’ replied Fivey.
‘No he’s not. I’ve just come from there. Her Ladyship sent me to fetch him. She’d hardly do that if he was there in the first place.’
‘Well, in that case, I don’t know where he is. You’d better look somewhere else.’
The maid was obliged to return and on her way met Ripple.
‘Did you see where Mr Bao went?’
‘I’m looking for him too,’ said Ripple. ‘Her Ladyship and the others are waiting for him so that they can start dinner. Where can he have got to? You’d better hurry back and report to Her Old Ladyship. Don’t say we can’t find him, just say the wine didn’t agree with him and he won’t be having any dinner. Say he’ll be over when he’s had a little lie-down. Ask Her Old Ladyship and Their Ladyships to start without him.’
The junior maid carried Ripple’s message to Pearl, who passed it on to Grandmother Jia.
‘He doesn’t usually eat much anyway,’ commented the old lady. ‘He may as well miss out on dinner then, and have a rest. Tell him he needn’t come back at all today. His wife is here, and that will do.’
‘Is that clear?’ said Pearl to the junior maid.
‘Yes, Miss Pearl,’ said the maid, not daring to explain what had really happened. She went out and walked around for a bit, then returned, claiming to have conveyed the message to Bao-yu. No one took a great deal of notice. They ate their dinner and then sat chatting.
Our narrative leaves them and returns to Bao-yu. Overwhelmed by a sudden sense of grief, he had quit the party and was wandering aimlessly outside. Aroma hurried after him and asked what the matter was.
‘Nothing really,’ he replied. ‘I just feel very miserable all of a sudden. Why don’t we go for a little stroll over to the apartment where Cousin Zhen’s wife is living, and leave them to their drinking?’
‘But Mrs Zhen is at the party,’ said Aroma. ‘Who do you want to visit in her apartment?’
‘No one,’ replied Bao-yu. ‘I just thought I might drop in on her for a second. I’d forgotten she was at the party. I’d still like to go and see what sort of an apartment it is that she is living in.’
Aroma went along with him, and the two of them talked as they went. They soon came to You-shi’s apartment, and noticed that the small side gate next to it leading into the Garden was half-ajar. Bao-yu did not go into You-shi’s apartment at all; instead he went up to the two old serving-women in charge of the side gate, who were sitting there on the threshold having a conversation, and asked them:
‘Is this side gate kept open?’
‘Not usually,’ replied one of them. ‘But today we were told that Her Old Ladyship might be wanting some fruit from the Garden, so it’s to be kept open in case.’
Bao-yu walked slowly up to the gate and, having confirmed for himself that it was open, made as if to go in; but Aroma held him back anxiously.
‘You mustn’t go in there. The Garden is haunted. It’s been empty for ages. You might bump into something nasty like the others did!’ Bao-yu was tipsy enough to feel a little daring, and replied:
‘I’m not afraid of such things!’
Aroma tugged at him with all her might and wouldn’t let go. The serving-woman came up:
‘Nowadays the Garden is ever so quiet and peaceful. Since the priests came and drove away the evil spirits, we often go in on our own to pick flowers and fruit. If Mr Bao wants to have a look, we’ll go in with him. With so many of us, there’s surely nothing to be afraid of.’
Bao-yu was delighted; and Aroma was obliged to abandon her attempts to dissuade him, and followed them in herself.
As Bao-yu entered the Garden, a scene of utter desolation greeted his eyes whichever way he turned. The flowers and trees seemed every one to be wilting, to be more dead than alive, and the paint had long since started to peel from the walls of many of the buildings. In the distance he espied a thicket of bamboo, an isolated patch of brilliant green foliage.
Bao-yu contemplated the view for a moment.
‘Ever since I fell ill and left the Garden,’ he said, ‘I’ve been living at Grannie’s. It must be months since I’ve been here. What a wilderness it has become in that time! But look over there at that single clump of green bamboo that’s doing so well – surely that’s the Naiad’s House?’
‘You’ve been away too long,’ said Aroma. ‘You’ve lost your sense of direction. While we’ve been talking we’ve already walked past Green Delights. And look –’ (she turned back and pointed) – there’s the Naiad’s House, over there!’
Bao-yu’s eyes followed the direction of her pointing hand.
‘If we’ve already passed it, then let’s go back and have a look.’
‘It’s getting rather late now,’ said Aroma. ‘Her Old Ladyship will be waiting for you to start dinner. We’d better go back to the party.’
Bao-yu said nothing. He walked on, along the route he imagined he had trodden so many times in the past, and began making his way towards his ‘Naiad’s House’. Percipient Reader, it will no doubt have surprised you to hear that Bao-yu had lost his way in the Garden after an absence of less than a year. The truth of the matter is that Bao-yu was quite correct in his orientation; it was Aroma who, anticipating his reaction to the sight of the Naiad’s House, had at first deliberately kept him occupied with conversation, and then when she saw him walking instinctively in that direction despi
te her efforts – heading, as she feared, straight into the arms of evil spirits – had tried to convince him that they had already walked past the place. Bao-yu’s heart was fixed, however; his compass was firmly set, and he was not to be so easily diverted.
He pressed ahead, and reluctantly Aroma followed. Suddenly he stood still. He seemed to be listening and watchin.
‘What is it?’ asked Aroma.
‘Is there someone living there now?’ he asked.
‘I should hardly think so,’ she replied.
‘I could have sworn I heard someone weeping inside! There must be someone!’
‘You’re imagining things,' said Aroma. ‘It’s because you always used to come here and find Miss Lin crying.’
Bao-yu was unconvinced and still wanted to approach and listen from a closer distance. The old women hurried forward:
‘It’s getting rather late now, sir. Time to be getting back. We’re not afraid of going anywhere else in the Garden, but just here the way is so dark and you never know … We’ve heard tell that since Miss Lin died they’re always hearing sounds of weeping here. No one will come near the place.’
Bao-yu and Aroma both started when they heard this.
‘You see! I told you!’ cried Bao-yu, the tears springing to his eyes. ‘Oh, Cousin Lin! Cousin Lin!’ he sobbed. ‘How could I have wounded you so! Please don’t reproach me! Don’t feel bitter towards me! It was my father and mother who made the choice. In my heart I was always true to you!’
With each word he became more and more distraught, and finally broke into a great wail of grief. Aroma was wondering what on earth to do, when she saw Ripple hurrying towards her with a cohort of serving-women.
‘Are you quite out of your mind!’ cried Ripple. ‘Bringing Mr Bao here of all places! Her Old Ladyship and Her Ladyship are dreadfully worried and have sent everywhere to look for him. Just now the women on the side gate said they’d seen the two of you come in here. Their Ladyships had the fright of their lives when they heard! They scolded me and told me to form a search party and come straight here. Hurry up now, we’d better be quick!’