The Dreamer Wakes

by Cao Xueqin

  Alas, that daughter of so great a house

  By Buddha’s altar lamp should sleep alone.

  He could not refrain from uttering a few sighs. Then he remembered the bunch of flowers and the mat, and glanced at Aroma. Tears started to his eyes. When the family saw him behaving in this strange fashion, laughing one minute and crying the next, they could only think it a symptom of his old fit. None of them knew that their conversation had sparked off a flash of illumination in Bao-yu’s mind, with the result that he could now remember word for word every poem from the registers in his dream. Although he said nothing, in his mind a new resolve was already formed. But we anticipate.

  After Bao-yu’s sudden recovery, his spirits improved daily, and with the regular administration of medicine he continued to make steady progress. Now that his son was out of danger, Jia Zheng was anxious to proceed with the interment of Lady Jia’s coffin, which had been resting for a long while in the temple. He himself was still in mourning and therefore free from official obligations. There was no telling when (or if) Jia She would be pardoned, so Jia Zheng decided to act on his own initiative and arrange for his mother’s mortal remains to be transported to the South and given proper burial there. He sent for Jia Lian to discuss the matter.

  ‘Your proposal is an excellent one, Uncle,’ said Jia Lian. ‘It would be best to proceed with this important task now. Once the mourning period is over, it may be harder for you to find the necessary time. Father is not at home, and it would be presumptuous of me to undertake a task of this nature. My one concern is the cost. You will require several thousand taels. Our stolen property must I am afraid be written off as an irretrievable loss.’

  ‘My mind is made up to do this,’ said Jia Zheng. ‘In your father’s absence I sent for you merely to discuss the best ways and means. You cannot go, since that would leave no one at home. I am proposing to go myself, and to take several coffins simultaneously. I will need some assistance, and am thinking of taking young Rong with me. There will be three coffins altogether, including your wife’s and your cousin Lin’s. It was your grandmother’s wish that her granddaughter should be buried with her in the South. As for the money, we shall simply have to borrow a few thousand taels from somewhere.’

  ‘There is little generosity left in the world these days,’ commented Jia Lian bitterly. ‘You are in mourning, Uncle, and Father is in exile. I fear that it may prove impossible to borrow the money. We shall be obliged to mortgage some of our property.’

  ‘But our residence was granted us by Imperial decree,’ objected Jia Zheng. ‘We are not free to dispose of it in this way.’

  ‘That is true,’ said Jia Lian. ‘But we have other properties available for mortgage. They can be redeemed after your period of mourning, and after Father’s return – all the more so if he is reinstated. Our chief concern is that you may overtax yourself, embarking on such a strenuous journey at your age.’

  ‘It is a duty I owe your grandmother,’ said Jia Zheng. ‘While I am away, I am counting on you to be diligent here at home, and keep things firmly under control.’

  ‘You can set your mind at ease on that score,’ said Jia Lian. ‘I shall do my utmost. As you will be taking several servants with you, that will mean fewer mouths to feed here, so we should be able to save a little. If you need any help along the way, you will be travelling close by the official residence of Lai Shang-rong, Steward Lai’s son, so you can always call on him for assistance.’

  ‘This affair is my responsibility,’ commented Jia Zheng drily. ‘Why should I need his or anyone else’s assistance?’

  ‘Of course,’ Jia Lian hastily concurred, and withdrew to make his own financial calculations.

  Jia Zheng informed Lady Wang of his plans, exhorted her to keep a careful eye on the household, and selected a day in the almanac auspicious for setting out on his long journey. Then he made his preparations to leave.

  Bao-yu was now completely restored to health, and Jia Huan and Jia Lan were earnestly engaged in their studies. Jia Zheng entrusted them all to Jia Lian, reminding him:

  ‘The state examinations will be held this year. Huan will not be able to compete because he will still be in mourning for his mother. There is nothing to prevent Lan from doing so, however, since his mourning period is shorter and will be over by then. He and Bao-yu should attend together. If they can pass the examination and become Provincial Graduates, it will help to redeem the family from its present disgrace.’

  Jia Lian hastened to assure him that he would carry out these instructions. Jia Zheng then addressed the domestics at some length, took ceremonial leave at the ancestral shrine, and after a few days spent outside the city attending religious services at the temple, was finally ready to board his barge and set off. Steward Lin and a handful of servants were travelling with him, and a few members of the family came some of the way to bid him farewell and see him on his way. He did not trouble any other relatives or friends.

  Now that Bao-yu had been given his orders to attend the next Civil Service examinations, Lady Wang began to apply more pressure and came constantly to see how his work was progressing, while Bao-chai and Aroma added their support in the form of periodic lectures. They observed the daily improvement in his spirits, but remained quite unaware that a great inner change had been wrought within him, drawing him in an unprecedented (indeed for him almost perverse) direction. In addition to his inveterate contempt for worldly success and advancement, he had of late begun to adopt an attitude of indifference towards the whole gamut of romantic attachment – in a word, towards love itself. But this radically new departure was hardly noticed by those around him, and he himself said nothing to enlighten them.

  Nightingale was one of the few to detect the early symptoms of this inner change, and she drew her own conclusions. She had just returned from accompanying Dai-yu’s coffin to the landing-stage, and was sitting in her room brooding and weeping to herself.

  ‘How cold-hearted Bao-yu is! It doesn’t seem to have upset him in the slightest to see Miss Lin’s coffin taken away. He didn’t so much as shed a single tear. He could see me crying my eyes out, and didn’t even try to comfort me, but just stared at me and smiled. What a deceiver! All those fine things he used to say to us in the past were just meant to fool us. Thank goodness I’d seen through him the other evening and didn’t fall for it again! But there’s still one thing I don’t understand. He even seems to have become cold towards Aroma. I know Mrs Bao has never been a very warm or close person by nature – so she probably doesn’t mind his change of heart. But what about Musk and the others, don’t they feel hard done by? They’ve let their feelings make fools of them and have wasted half their lives over him, only to be forsaken like this!’

  As she was brooding, she saw Fivey coming towards her.

  ‘You’re not still weeping for Miss Lin, are you?’ asked Fivey, seeing Nightingale’s tear-stained face. ‘If you want my opinion of Mr Bao, I think it’s high time we forgot about his reputation, and looked at what he really is. I was always being told how kind he was, especially towards girls. That’s why my mother tried so hard to get me into service with him. Since then I’ve waited on him from the beginning of this illness of his. But now that he’s better, I haven’t had so much as a kind word from him! In fact he won’t even acknowledge my existence!’

  Nightingale burst out laughing at this comical tale of woe.

  ‘Pshh! Why, hark at you, you little vixen!’ she exclaimed. ‘How do you want Mr Bao to treat you? Really, you should be ashamed of yourself! When he’s not even interested in the maids that are closest to him, do you expect him to find time for you?’

  She laughed again and drew a reproving finger across Fivey’s face.

  ‘What kind of a niche are you carving out for yourself in Bao-yu’s affections?’

  Fivey blushed at her own foolishness. She was on the point of explaining that it wasn’t so much her own treatment at Bao-yu’s hands that was worrying her as his whole attitude
towards the maids, when they heard someone calling from outside:

  ‘The monk is back! And he’s demanding his ten thousand taels! Her Ladyship doesn’t know what to do and wanted Mr Lian to go and talk with him, but Mr Lian’s not at home! The monk is outside, ranting and raving. Her Ladyship wants Mrs Bao to go over and consult with her.’

  To learn how they placated the monk, please read the next chapter.

  Chapter 117

  Two fair damsels conspire to save the jade, and forestall a flight from earthly bondage

  An infamous rogue takes charge of the mansion, and assembles a gang of cronies

  Lady Wang sent for Bao-chai to consult with her, while Bao-yu, hearing that the monk was outside, rushed to the front courtyard on his own.

  ‘Where is my Master?’ he shouted.

  Finally, as there was no sign of the monk there, he went outside, where he found his groom Li Gui barring the monk’s way.

  ‘My mother bids me invite His Reverence in,’ said Bao-yu.

  Li Gui relaxed his grip, and the monk went swaggering in. Bao-yu observed at once the resemblance between this monk and the guide in his dream, and the truth began to grow clearer in his mind. He bowed:

  ‘Master, please forgive your disciple for being so slow in welcoming you.’

  ‘I have no desire to be entertained,’ said the monk. ‘I just want my money, and then I’ll be off.’

  This was hardly the way one would have expected a man of great spiritual attainments to talk, reflected Bao-yu. But then he looked at the monk’s head, which was covered with scabs, and at his filthy, tattered robe, and thought to himself:

  ‘There’s an old saying: “The True Sage does not reveal himself, and he who reveals himself is no True Sage.” I must be careful not to waste this opportunity. I had better reassure him about the money, and sound him out a little.

  ‘Father,’ he said, ‘please be patient. My mother is preparing your money at this very moment. Please be seated and wait a while. May I venture to enquire, Father, whether you have recently returned from the Land of Illusion?’

  ‘Illusion, my foot!’ exclaimed the monk. ‘I come whence I come, and I go whither I go. I came here to return your jade. But let me ask you a question: where did your jade come from?’

  For a minute or so Bao-yu could think of no reply. The monk laughed.

  ‘If you know nothing of your own provenance, why delve into mine?’

  Bao-yu had always been a sensitive and intelligent child, and his recent illumination had enabled him to penetrate to a certain extent the veil of earthly vanity and illusion. But he still knew nothing of his own personal ‘history’, and the monk’s question hit him like a whack on the head.

  ‘I know!’ he exclaimed. ‘It’s not the money you’re after. It’s my jade. I’ll give you that back instead.’

  ‘And so you should!’ chuckled the monk.

  Without a word, Bao-yu ran into the house. He reached his apartment and, finding that Bao-chai, Aroma and the others had all gone out to wait on his mother, he quickly picked up his jade from where it lay by his bed and ran back with it. As he left the room, he collided with Aroma, giving her the fright of her life.

  ‘Her Ladyship was just saying what a good idea it was,’ she protested, ‘for you to sit and keep the monk company, while she tried to work out a way of raising the money. What on earth have you come rushing in here for again?’

  ‘I want you to go back at once,’ ordered Bao-yu, ‘and tell Mother she needn’t bother about the money. I shall give him back the jade. That will settle the bill.’

  Aroma seized Bao-yu at once:

  ‘That’s completely crazy! The jade is your very life! If he takes that away, you’ll fall ill again for sure.’

  ‘Not now,’ replied Bao-yu. ‘I shall never fall ill again. Now that I know my true purpose, what do I need the jade for?’

  He shook Aroma off and made to leave. She hurried after him, crying:

  ‘Come back! There’s something else I want to tell you!’

  Bao-yu glanced back at her:

  ‘There’s nothing more to be said.’

  She pressed after him, casting aside her inhibitions and crying as she ran:

  ‘Don’t you remember the last time you lost it, how it was nearly the end of me? You’ve only just got it back, and if he takes it away again now it will cost you your life and me mine too! You’ll be sending me to my death.’

  She caught up with him as she was speaking, and held him tightly.

  ‘Whether it means your death or not,’ said Bao-yu with strange vehemence, ‘I shall still give it back.’

  He pushed Aroma away with all his might and tried to extricate himself from her grip. She, however, wound the ends of his sash around her hands and sank to the ground, sobbing and calling for help.

  The maids in the inner apartments heard the noise and came running out, to find the two of them locked in this desperate impasse.

  ‘Quickly!’ cried Aroma. ‘Go and tell Her Ladyship! Master Bao wants to give his jade back to the monk!’

  The maids flew to Lady Wang with this message, while Bao-yu grew angrier than ever and tried to wrench his sash from Aroma’s hands. She held on for dear life, and Nightingale came rushing out from the inner apartment as soon as she heard what Bao-yu was contemplating. Her alarm and concern seemed if anything greater than Aroma’s, and her previous resolution to be indifferent towards Bao-yu seemed to have vanished without trace. She joined forces with Aroma, and Bao-yu, though a man against women, and though he flailed and struggled for all he was worth, could do nothing in the face of their desperate refusal to let go. Unable to set himself free, he could only sigh and say:

  ‘Will you fight like this to preserve a piece of jade? What would you do if I left you?’

  These words produced a noisy outburst of sobbing from Aroma and Nightingale.

  Things had reached this impasse when Lady Wang and Bao-chai hurried onto the scene. Now Lady Wang could verify the truth of the report with her own eyes.

  ‘Bao-yu!’ she cried, her voice choking with sobs. ‘Have you taken leave of your senses again?’

  Bao-yu knew that with the arrival of his mother he no longer stood any chance of escape – and therefore changed his tactics.

  ‘There was really no need for you to alarm yourself so, Mother,’ he said, with a placatory smile. ‘They always make such a fuss about nothing. I thought the monk was being most unreasonable, insisting on being paid every penny of ten thousand taels. It made me very cross and I came in here with the idea of handing him back the jade and at the same time pretending that it was a fake and worthless to us anyway. If I could convince him that it was of no real value to us, then he would probably accept whatever reward we offered him.’

  ‘Goodness! I thought you were in earnest!’ exclaimed Lady Wang. ‘I must say, you might have told them the truth – look at the state they’re all in!’

  ‘It may seem a good idea to do as Bao-yu suggests,’ said Bao-chai. ‘But I still think it would be risky even to go through the motions of giving it back. If you ask me, there’s something most peculiar about that monk. He could very easily do something terrible and throw the whole family into confusion all over again. We can always sell my jewellery if we need to raise the money.’

  ‘Yes,’ said Lady Wang. ‘Let’s try that first.’

  Bao-yu made no comment. Bao-chai came up to him and took the jade from his hand.

  ‘There is no need for you to go,’ she said. ‘Mother and I can give him the money.’

  ‘Very well then, I won’t give him the jade,' said Bao-yu. ‘But I must at least see him this once.’

  Aroma and Nightingale were still loath to allow him out of their sight. In the end it was Bao-chai who ordered them to set him free:

  ‘He’d better go if he wants to.’

  Reluctantly Aroma complied.

  ‘You all of you seem to value the jade more highly than its owner!’ said Bao-yu with a wry smi
le. ‘What if I go away with the monk and leave you with the jade? You’ll look rather silly then, won’t you?’

  This revived Aroma’s anxiety, and she would have seized hold of him again had she not felt constrained by the presence of Lady Wang and Bao-chai and by the need to preserve some semblance of respect towards Bao-yu. It was too late anyway, for the moment they loosened their grip Bao-yu was gone. Aroma contented herself with despatching a junior maid to the inner gate with instructions for Tealeaf and Bao-yu’s other page-boys to keep an eye on him, as he was ‘acting rather strangely’. The maid went at once to do her bidding.

  Lady Wang and Bao-chai meanwhile walked in to Bao-yu’s apartment and sat down. They asked Aroma exactly what had happened and she gave them a full account of all that Bao-yu had said. They were both extremely perturbed and sent another messenger with instructions that the servants were to watch Bao-yu and do their utmost to hear what the monk said. A short while later, a junior maid returned to report to Lady Wang:

  ‘Master Bao is acting very strangely, madam. The pages outside say that since you would not give him the jade, he now feels obliged to offer himself in its place.’

  ‘Gracious!’ exclaimed Lady Wang. ‘And whatever did the monk say to that?’

  ‘He said he wanted the jade, not the man,’ replied the maid.

  ‘Not the money?’ asked Bao-chai.

  ‘They didn’t even mention that. Afterwards the monk and Master Bao started talking and laughing together. There was a lot said that the pages couldn’t follow.’

  ‘The little idiots!’ complained Lady Wang. ‘Even if they couldn’t understand it themselves, they could at least repeat it to us. Go and tell them to come here.’

  The maid sped to do Lady Wang’s bidding. Presently Tealeaf arrived, stood outside in the covered walk and paid his respects through the intervening window.

  ‘Surely,’ said Lady Wang, ‘if you couldn’t understand the meaning of what Master Bao and the monk were saying, you could at least manage to repeat the words to us.’