by Cao Xueqin
He was on his own and they therefore moved into the attack with short swords, only to find themselves quickly outmatched. With a few powerful and deftly placed strokes of his club, Bao Yong had soon despatched one of them off the roof, while the rest fled over the wall into the Garden, where others of the gang had been stationed to receive the stolen goods. These now drew their swords in defence of the returning party, and seeing there was only one man following them, they closed in on him.
‘Petty thieves!’ stormed Bao Yong. ‘Do you dare to do battle with me?’
‘They knocked one of us down!’ exclaimed one of the gang. ‘He may not even be alive, but we’d better try to get him out!’
Bao Yong moved into the attack, and four or five of the thieves formed a ring around him, brandishing their swords in a confused mêlée, which finally broke up when some of the night-watchmen plucked up enough courage to come to Bao Yong’s aid, and the outnumbered thieves made good their escape. Bao Yong, still in hot pursuit, tripped over some unseen obstacle lying on the roof, and when he clambered to his feet and saw that it was a chest, he deduced that the thieves had failed to take their loot with them, and therefore abandoned his pursuit. They must anyway be well ahead and beyond reach by now, he reflected. He told the servants to fetch lights. On closer inspection he discovered that there were several chests and that they were all empty. He gave orders for them to be removed and himself headed back to the main apartment. His lack of familiarity with the lay-out of the mansion caused him to wander into Xi-feng’s apartment, where all the lights were ablaze.
‘Have the thieves been here?’ he asked.
‘We haven’t opened the doors,’ came Patience’s trembling voice from within. ‘But we heard cries from the main apartments – you’d better go there.’
Bao Yong had no sense of direction, but he saw the other watchmen in the distance and followed them to the main apartment, where he found doors and windows thrown open and the women on night-duty sobbing.
Presently Jia Yun and Steward Lin arrived, appalled by the news of the burglary. They found Grandmother Jia’s door wide open and could see by the lamplight that the lock had been wrenched open and the chests and cupboards inside had all been broken apart. There were curses for the women on night-duty:
‘Are you all half-dead? Didn’t you even know there were thieves in the house?’
‘There’s a roster for night-duty,’ came the tearful reply, ‘and we’re on second and third watches. We never stopped on our rounds, we checked front and back. The thieves came during the fourth and fifth watches, just after we finished duty. We heard the shouting, but couldn’t see anyone, and when we came to look, the things had already gone. Please, sirs, question the fourth and fifth watch, not us!’
‘You deserve to die, the lot of you!’ exclaimed Steward Lin. ‘I’ll talk to you later. First I must inspect the rest of the house.’
The night-watchmen led him to You-shi’s apartment, which was securely closed. They heard voices crying from within:
‘We nearly died of fright!’
‘Has anything been taken from here?’ asked Lin. The women finally opened the door.
‘No, we’ve had nothing stolen.’
Next Lin led his men to Xi-chun’s, where again they heard voices inside:
‘Lord save us! Miss Xi-chun’s died of fright! Please wake up, miss!’
Lin told them to open up, and asked them what had happened. An old woman appeared in the doorway:
‘The thieves were fighting in our courtyard, and Miss Xi-chun was terribly frightened. Luckily Sister Adamantina and Miss Landscape have brought her round. We’ve had nothing stolen.’
‘What do you mean – fighting?’ asked Lin.
One of the watchmen replied.
‘It was young Bao Yong who saved the day, sir. He climbed onto the roof and chased them away. And I heard one got knocked down.’
‘Yes,’ put in Bao Yong. ‘The body’s over by the Garden gate. You’d better hurry over there and have a look.’
Jia Yun and company went to the Garden gate, and sure enough there lying on the ground was the dead body of a man, which on closer inspection was found to resemble very closely Zhou Rui’s adopted son He San. They were all greatly taken aback by this discovery. One man was left to stand guard over the body and two were sent to keep a watch on the front and rear Garden gates, which were both found to have their locks intact. Lin now gave orders to open the main gate and to report the burglary to the police.
The police arrived straight away and began their investigation. The thieves, they concluded, had climbed up onto the roof-top from a back alley and had made their way across to Grandmother Jia’s apartment, where broken tiles were found and more tracks leading straight to the Garden at the rear.
‘They were armed!’ cried all the servants on night-duty.
The police officer seemed somewhat put out by this:
‘There is no evidence of torches or anything that would point to armed robbery. What grounds have you for this accusation?’
‘When we chased them, they started throwing tiles at us from the roof and we couldn’t get near them. But our Bao Yong managed to climb onto the roof, and he went after them and chased them as far as the Garden, where a whole lot more of them were waiting and put up a fight. But when they found they couldn’t beat our Bao Yong, they fled!’
‘You see,’ exclaimed the officer. ‘If they were really armed robbers, they would surely have been able to overpower a single opponent. Anyway, enough of that. Find out exactly what’s been taken and provide us with an inventory. Then we can make a proper report on the matter.’
Jia Yun and the other men now went to the main apartment, where they found Xi-chun, and with her Xi-feng, who had dragged herself there despite her illness. Jia Yun enquired after Xi-feng’s health, and greeted Xi-chun, and then they all set about the unenviable task of determining what was missing. With Faithful dead, and Amber and the other maids away at the funeral, no one knew where to start. The stolen things were all Lady Jia’s personal belongings and had always been kept stored away under lock and key. They had never been properly inventoried.
‘The chests and cupboards were full of so many different things,’ they said. ‘And now they’re all empty. The thieves must have had ample time to do their work. What were the women on night-duty doing, for heaven’s sake? Since the dead body was He San’s, and since he is the adopted son of the Zhous, they were probably all in on it together.’
Xi-feng was livid with rage when she heard this.
‘Tie up all the women concerned,’ she ordered, ‘and hand them over to the police for questioning.’
There was a general outcry, pleas for mercy, women down on their knees begging. To learn what was done with them, and whether or not any of the stolen goods were found, please turn to the next chapter.
Chapter 112
Adamantina discharges a karmic debt and receives a blow from the Hand of Providence
Aunt Zhao concludes a deadly feud and sets out on the road to the Nether World
The women on night-duty went down on their knees and begged Xi-feng to spare them, but Steward Lin and Jia Yun told them they were wasting their breath:
‘The Master left us to mind the house, and now that things have gone wrong, we must all take our share of the blame. You needn’t think anyone’s going to bale you out. If Zhou Rui’s adopted son is involved, then everyone – from Her Ladyship downwards – men and women, masters and servants, is under suspicion.’
‘Fate has brought this on us,’ said Xi-feng, struggling for breath. ‘Why waste words? Just take them away. As for the stolen things, you must be sure to tell the police that they all belonged to Her Old Ladyship. Only the masters know the details. When we’ve sent word to them and they come home, then of course we can make out a list and hand it in to the police. The same statement must be made to the civil authorities.’
‘Yes, ma’am.’ Jia Yun and Steward Lin went out to exec
ute these instructions.
Xi-chun had said nothing throughout this, but now she began to whimper: ‘I’ve never heard of anything so terrible in all my life! Why did it have to be us? When Uncle Zheng and Aunt Wang come home, how am I to face them? They’ll say they left the house in our hands, they’ll blame us for this disaster. I shall die of shame!’
Xi-feng: ‘It’s not our doing. The women on night-duty must take the blame.’
Xi-chun: ‘It’s all very well for you to say that. You were ill anyway. But I’ve got no excuse! It’s exactly what my sister-in-law planned! She wanted me to come to grief! She deliberately talked Aunt Xing into giving me this responsibility. Now I’m quite disgraced!’ She broke down, sobbing violently.
Xi-feng: ‘You mustn’t take it like that. We are all in disgrace. If you adopt such a silly attitude, how am I to hold my head up?’
As they were speaking they heard a man’s voice shouting in the courtyard:
‘I said we should have no truck with such women. They’re witches and whores the lot of them! The Zhen family never allowed people like that in the house, and I didn’t expect things to be so lax here! Her Old Ladyship’s funeral procession was hardly through the front entrance yesterday when that nun from that Hermitage place came pestering to be let in. I told her straight out that she couldn’t, but then the old women on the side gate turned round and gave me some cheek, and begged her to come in. So some of the time the side gate was closed, some of the time it was open – who could tell what was going on! I lay awake worrying about it till two in the morning, and then I heard shouts coming from the house here. So I called at the gate, but they wouldn’t open up, and as the shouting was getting worse I broke the gate down and came in. I saw some men in the west courtyard, chased them and killed one of them. I only found out today that the place I was in was the courtyard of Miss Xi-chun’s apartment. So the nun was there with her at the very time the burglary took place. She slipped out this morning before dawn. She must have been the one who let the burglars in. She’s the traitor in our midst!’
‘Who is that insolent fellow?’ asked Patience. ‘How dare he use such language with Mrs Lian and Miss Xi-chun here inside?’
‘He mentioned the Zhen family,’ said Xi-feng. ‘It must be that vile servant they palmed off on us.’
Xi-chun had heard and understood Bao Yong only too clearly, and felt more wretched than ever as a consequence.
‘Wasn’t there something about a nun in his babblings?’ Xi-feng continued, turning to Xi-chun. ‘How did you come to have a nun staying with you? Where did she spring from?’
Xi-chun told her that Adamantina had visited her, and that she had stayed on to play Go and keep her company during the night.
‘Oh, Adamantina!’ exclaimed Xi-feng. ‘How could she possibly have betrayed us! What a ridiculous idea! But still, it would be most unfortunate if this loathsome creature’s accusations ever reached Sir Zheng’s ears.’
The more Xi-chun thought about the possible consequences for Adamantina the more distressed she became. She rose to leave, but Xi-feng, though anxious herself to return to her own apartment, feared that Xi-chun might do something rash in her present state, and asked her to wait a little.
‘Before we go, we must make sure they have sorted what’s left of Grandmother’s belongings; and we must set a watch.’
Patience: ‘But nothing can be sorted before the authorities carry out their inspection. Till then we should leave everything as it is. Has anyone been sent to inform Sir Zheng?’
Xi-feng: ‘You’d better send one of the serving-women to find out.’
Presently the reply came back:
‘Steward Lin can’t go himself. Most of the servants are needed to be in attendance for the inspection, and those that can be spared are incapable of explaining things clearly to the Master. So Young Master Yun has already gone.’
Xi-feng nodded, and sat down anxiously with Xi-chun to wait.
The gang, who had been brought together by He San and his friend for the express purpose of burgling Rong-guo House, succeeded in laying their hands on a fair amount of gold, silver and valuables and had already passed it out before they were discovered. Even then they were able to see at a glance that their pursuers were nothing to be afraid of, and therefore moved on to the west courtyard to investigate possibilities for burglary there. Through the window they spied two very attractive young ladies sitting together in the lamplight, one of whom was dressed in a nun’s habit. Their baser instincts were immediately aroused, and they would have burst recklessly in had they not a moment later seen the figure of Bao Yong coming in hot pursuit. They then made a quick getaway, leaving the unfortunate He San behind to the fate we have already described, and reassembled afterwards in secret with their ‘fence’. The next day they learned that He San had been stopped and killed, and that the police and civil authorities had been alerted. It was no longer safe for them in town, and after some discussion they decided to make their way back without delay to their headquarters on the coast and rejoin their pirate friends. A general warrant for their arrest would soon be issued, after which it would be impossible for them to pass through the inspection posts.
There was however one especially brazen character among them.
‘It’s all very well saying we ought to leave town,’ he said. ‘But I’ve still got my eye on that little nun. Beautiful little piece of work! I wonder which convent she’s from, the luscious thing!’
‘Aiyo!’ exclaimed one of the others. ‘I’ve just remembered. She must be that nun who lives right on the premises, in Prospect Garden, in that place they call Green Bower Hermitage. Wasn’t there a story going round a year or two ago about her and their Master Bao? She fell head over heels in love with him and in the end they had to call in the doctor. She must be the one!’
‘In that case,’ said the first, ‘let’s lie low tonight and give the skipper time to buy the gear we need to pass as travelling merchants. Tomorrow at dawn bell you can start leaving town at intervals and wait for me at Seven Mile Bank.’
It was settled. They shared out the spoils and went their separate ways.
When Jia Zheng and the rest of the cortège had conveyed the coffins of Lady Jia and Faithful to the temple and had formally deposited them there until such time as they could be placed in a permanent grave, the various relatives and friends who had accompanied them took their leave. Jia Zheng installed himself in one of the outer wings of the temple as his ‘mourning quarters’, while the ladies stayed in the inner room where the coffins had been placed. There was continuous lamentation throughout the night.
The next morning they began the funeral offerings once more, and were in the act of setting out the sacrificial dishes when Jia Yun burst in. First he kowtowed before Grandmother Jia’s coffin, then he hurried over to Jia Zheng, dropped one knee to the ground and proceeded to give a breathless account of the previous night’s burglary and the loss of Grandmother Jia’s belongings. He described how Bao Yong had given chase and had killed one of the robbers, and concluded by saying that the facts had already been laid before the police and civil authorities. Jia Zheng listened to all this aghast, while the ladies, who overheard with horror from the inner room, were also too shocked to speak and could only sob loudly. Eventually Jia Zheng composed himself sufficiently to ask:
‘What sort of an inventory has been made of the stolen items?’
Jia Yun: ‘None of the servants knew what was there, so the inventory has not been made yet.’
Jia Zheng: ‘A good thing too. After the confiscation, if we were to include things of value in the inventory, we’d be guilty of a further infringement of the law. Tell Lian to come here at once.’
Jia Lian had gone with Bao-yu and some of the other young male Jias to make offerings in a different part of the temple, and hurried back on receiving Jia Zheng’s summons. The news put him in a state of extreme agitation, and in front of Jia Zheng he began cursing and swearing at Jia Yun:
&n
bsp; ‘Miserable wretch! I entrust you with an important responsibility, and expect you to organize the night-watch properly, and look what you have gone and done! Are you half-dead or something? I’m amazed you have the nerve to come here at all!’
He spat in his face. Jia Yun stood there with his hands hanging at his sides, not daring to breathe a word.
Jia Zheng (to Jia Lian): ‘Swearing at him won’t achieve anything.’
Jia Lian (falling to his knees): ‘What are we to do?’
Jia Zheng: ‘There’s nothing we can do, except wait and hope that the authorities apprehend the thieves. The trouble is we never opened any of Grandmother’s boxes. When you came to me for money, I thought it improper to start taking her silver when she’d only been dead a few days. I decided to wait until after the funeral and to settle all our accounts at once and invest any surplus in trust-estates here and in the South. So we don’t even know exactly what she had left. Now the police want an inventory, and we can hardly include anything of value on it; but at the same time we’ll never get away with “sundry quantities of gold and silver and various items of clothing and jewellery”. Come on, what are you still kneeling down there for, you useless creature!’
Jia Lian did not dare say a word, but rose to his feet and began walking out of the room.
Jia Zheng: ‘Where are you off to now?’
Jia Lian retraced his steps.
‘I thought I should go home at once and try to sort this out properly.’