A Dream of Red Mansion

by Cao Xueqin

  “Is that all?” Granny Lai smiled. “I thought it was something serious. Take my advice, madam, and if he’s done wrong, beat him, reprimand him and make him mend his ways, but don’t dismiss him—that would never do. He can’t be treated like one of our children, as his mother came here with the mistress at the time of her marriage; so dismissing him would reflect badly on Her Ladyship. Keep him on, I say, madam, and give him a good beating to teach him a lesson. If you’ve no consideration for his mother, at least have some for Lady Wang.”

  Xifeng turned to Lai Da’s wife. “In that case give him forty strokes, and see to it that he doesn’t get drunk again.”

  Lai Da’s wife assented and Zhou Rui’s wife kowtowed her thanks. She would have kowtowed to Granny Lai too, but Lai Da’s wife stopped her. Then these three women left and Li Wan and the girls returned to the Garden.

  That evening Xifeng was as good as her word. She had servants get out all the painting material in the storeroom and send it to the Garden. Baochai and the rest went through it and found only half what they wanted. They made out a list of the other things they needed for Xifeng to purchase. But no more of this.

  Soon the silk had been sized with alum outside, and the draft drawing was delivered. Baoyu went to help Xichun every day, while Tanchun, Li Wan, Yingchun and Baochai often forgathered there to watch her painting and to be together.

  As the weather was chilly now and the nights were lengthening, Baochai asked her mother for some sewing to do. Every day she paid two courtesy calls on the Lady Dowager and Lady Wang, and could not but keep them company for a while if they seemed so inclined; and from time to time she felt obliged to drop in for a chat with the girls in the Garden; thus her days were so fully occupied that she sewed every night by lamplight, not going to bed till the third watch.

  Daiyu, who suffered from a bad cough around every spring and autumn solstice, had overtaxed her strength this year by going not more than usual, because of the Lady Dowager’s good spirits, and had recently started coughing again worse than ever. She therefore stayed in her own rooms to rest. Sometimes she grew bored and wished the girls would drop in for a chat to while away the time; yet when Baochai and the rest called to see how she was, a short conversation was enough to exhaust her. Knowing how delicate and hypersensitive she was, they all made allowances for her, overlooking any lack of hospitality and courtesy.

  Today Baochai came to visit her and turned the conversation to her illness.

  “Though the doctors who come here aren’t bad, their prescriptions don’t seem to be doing you much good,” said Baochai. “Why don’t you ask a real authority to come and examine you and see if he can’t cure you? You can’t go on like this, having trouble every spring and summer. After all, you’re not an old woman or a child.”

  “It’s no use,” was Daiyu’s reply. “I have a hunch I shall never get over this. You know how poorly I am at the best of times, let alone when I’m ill.”

  “That’s true.” Baochai nodded. “The ancients said, ‘Food is life,’ yet what you normally eat doesn’t give you energy or strength, and that’s a bad sign.”

  “Life and death are determined by fate, rank and riches decreed by Heaven,” quoted Daiyu with a sigh. “It’s beyond the power of man to alter fate. It seems to me my illness is worse this year.” This short speech had been punctuated by several bouts of coughing.

  “I saw your prescription yesterday,” said Baochai. “It struck me there was too much ginseng and cinnamon in it. Although they stimulate the vital forces, you shouldn’t have anything too hot either. To my mind, the first essential is to calm your liver and improve your digestion. Once the fire in your liver is quelled so that it can’t overcome the ‘earth’ element your digestion will be better and you’ll be able to assimilate your food. When you get up each morning, you should take an ounce of the best quality bird’s-nest boiled into a gruel with half an ounce of crystal sugar in a silver pot. Taken regularly, this is a better tonic than any medicine.”

  “How good you always are to others!” Daiyu exclaimed with a sigh. “I’m so touchy that I used to suspect your motives. I really began to appreciate you that day when you warned me against indiscriminate reading and gave me such good advice. I can see now I’d misjudged you all along. My mother died early and I’ve no sisters or brothers so, come to think of it, in all my fifteen years no one ever advised me as you did the other day. No wonder Xiangyun speaks so highly of you. I used to be sceptical when she sang your praises, but not after my own recent experience. For instance, when you said anything I always answered back, but instead of taking offence you offered me good advice. That showed that I’d been wrong. If I hadn’t realized this the other day, I wouldn’t be confiding in you now.

  “You just said I should eat bird’s-nest. Bird’s-nest is easy to buy, but my health is so poor that I fall ill every year and while it’s nothing serious I’ve already caused plenty of trouble, what with sending for doctors-and preparing medicine with ginseng and cinnamon. If I started demanding bird’s-nest now, the old lady, Lady Wang and Xifeng wouldn’t say anything, but those below would be bound to think me too pernickety. Look how jealous these people are and how much gossip there is here because the old lady favours Baoyu and Xifeng. In my case, they’d resent it even more. After all, I’m not a daughter of the house, I’m here because I’ve nowhere else to go. They resent me enough as it is. If I should push myself forward, they’d all start cursing me.”

  “Well, in that case I’m in the same position as you.”

  “How can you compare yourself with me? You have your mother and your brother too; you have shops and land here as well, not to mention all your property at home. You’re just staying here to be close to your relatives, not spending a cent of their money on anything, free to leave whenever you please. But I have nothing. Yet all I eat, wear and use, down to the least blade of grass or sheet of paper, is the same as their own girls get. Naturally those petty-minded people dislike me.”

  “It only means providing one extra dowry in future,” Baochai chuckled. “And it’s too early to worry about that yet.”

  Daiyu flushed red. “I confide my troubles to you, thinking you’ll take them seriously,” she said, “but instead you make fun of me.”

  “I was only joking, but it’s quite true. Don’t worry. As long as I’m here I shall keep you company. Just tell me any complaints or troubles you have, and I’ll help as far as I can. As for my brother, though, you know what he’s like. My only advantage over you is that I have a mother. Fellow-sufferers can sympathize with each other. Why should an intelligent girl like you lament your lack of a brother? Of course, you were right just now in saying that it’s better not to put people to too much trouble. Tomorrow when I go home, I’ll ask my mother for some of the bird’s-nest I fancy we still have, and bring you a few ounces. You can get your maids to prepare some every day. It won’t cost anything and you’ll not be putting anybody out.”

  “It’s a small thing, but I appreciate your kindness,” said Daiyu gratefully.

  “It’s not worth mentioning. I’m afraid I’m often lacking in consideration. Well, you must be tired, I’ll go now.”

  “Do drop in again this evening for a chat.” Baochai promised to do this and left.

  Daiyu sipped two mouthfuls of rice gruel, then lay down to rest again.

  The weather changed unexpectedly before sunset and it began to drizzle. Autumn is a capricious season of many showers and as dusk fell it grew very dark, while the rain pattering on the bamboo leaves made the place seem unusually lonely. Knowing that Baochai would not come out in this weather, Daiyu picked up a book at random under the lamp. It was an anthology of Yue-fu, containing lyrics such as Autumn Sorrow in a Girl’s Chamber and The Pain of Parting. Daiyu was moved to write a poem about separation herself entitled A Windy, Rainy Evening by the Autumn Window in the style of A Night of Flowers and Moonlight by the Spring River. This was her poem:

  Sad the autumn flowers, sear
the autumn grass,

  Autumn lamps flicker through the long autumn night;

  Unendurably desolate by the autumn window,

  In the wind and rain autumn seems infinite.

  The wind and rain speed autumn on its way,

  By the window shattering her autumn dream;

  And the girl with autumn in her heart cannot sleep

  But trims the candle by her autumn screen.

  Guttering on its stick, the candle sheds tears of wax,

  Evoking the grief of separation, its pain,

  As through each autumn courtyard gusts the wind

  And on each autumn window beats the rain.

  The autumn wind, through silken quilts strikes chill,

  Her water-clock the autumn rain spurs on.

  All night the pelting rain and soughing wind

  Accompany her tears for one now gone.

  Chill mist enwraps the court in loneliness,

  Bamboos drip by the lattice without pause;

  None can tell when the wind and rain will cease,

  But already tears have soaked her window’s gauze.

  Having read this through, she had just put down her brush and was about to go to bed when Baoyu was announced. And in he walked, in a large hat of plaited bamboo leaves and a coir cape.

  “Where does this fisherman come from?” she greet him laughing.

  “Do you feel better today? Have you taken your medicine? How is your appetite?” As he made these inquiries he took off his cape and hat and picked up the lamp, shading it with one hand, to examine her face intently.

  “You look a little better today,” was his verdict.

  She saw that he was wearing a red silk coat, no longer new, with a green girdle, green silk trousers embroidered with flowers, cotton socks embroidered with gold thread, and slippers with butterfly and flower designs.

  “Why did you only protect your head and clothes from the rain, not your footwear?” she asked. “Not that your shoes and socks are dirty either.”

  “I’ve got a complete set of rain-wear,” he told her gaily. “I came here in pyrus-wood patterns, which I left outside on the verandah.”

  She noticed then that his cape and hat were not the usual sort sold in the market, but extremely finely made.

  “What plant are they woven of?” she asked. “You don’t look like a hedgehog in that cape, for a wonder.”

  “These three things are all presents from the Prince of Beijing. When it’s raining he wears a similar outfit at home. If you like them, I’ll get you a set. The best thing is the hat as it’s adjustable—the crown can be detached. So men or women alike can wear it in winter in the snow. I’ll get you one for when it snows this winter.”

  “No thank you,” Daiyu chuckled. “If I wore one of those, I should look like the fisherman’s wife in paintings and operas.”

  As these words left her lips she remembered with dismay that she had just greeted Baoyu as a fisherman. She flushed scarlet and leaned forward over the table, coughing as if she could never stop. Baoyu, however, appeared not to have noticed. Catching sight of the poem on the table, he picked it up, read it through, and exclaimed in involuntary admiration. Daiyu hearing this instantly snatched the paper from him and burned it over the lamp.

  “Too late! I know it by heart,” he said cheerfully.

  “I’m better now. Thank you for coming so often to see me, even in the rain,” she said. “Now it’s late and I’d like to sleep. Please go now. Come again tomorrow.”

  At this he took from his pocket a golden watch the size of a walnut. Its hands, he saw, showed that it was after nine. Replacing the watch he agreed:

  “Yes, it’s time to turn in. I’ve disturbed you too long again.” He put on the cape and hat and took his leave, turning back at the door to ask, “What would you like to eat? Let me know and I’ll tell the old lady first thing in the morning. I’m a better messenger than those old women.”

  “I’ll think about it during the night, and let you know early tomorrow. Listen, how it’s pouring outside. You’d better go quickly. Have you anyone with you?”

  Two serving-women answered, “Yes, they’re waiting outside with umbrellas and a lantern.”

  “A lantern? In this weather?” she asked in surprise.

  “That’s all right,” said Baoyu. “It’s a horn lantern, and it’s rainproof.”

  She took an ornate glass lantern from the bookcase, ordered a small candle to be lit in it, and handed it to him.

  “This is brighter, just the thing to use in the rain.”

  “I have one like that too,” he said. “I didn’t bring it for fear they might slip and break it.”

  “Which is more valuable, lamp or man? You’re not used to wearing patterns, so get them to carry the horn lantern in front and take this one yourself, since it’s handy and bright and meant to be used in the rain. Wouldn’t that be better? You can send it back later. And even if you drop it, it won’t matter. What’s come over you suddenly that you want to ‘cut open your stomach to hide a pearl’?”

  Baoyu promptly took the lantern. Two serving-women led the way with an umbrella and the horn lantern, while two young maids with umbrellas followed behind. He made one of these hold the glass lantern and rested a hand on her shoulder.

  Scarcely had he gone when a woman, also with an umbrella and a lantern, arrived to deliver a big package of the best quality bird’s-nest and a packet of fine plum-petal snow-white sugar from Alpinia Park.

  “This is better than any in the shops,” she said. “Our young lady hopes you will use it, and when it’s finished she’ll send some more.”

  Daiyu thanked her and asked her to sit down in the outer room to have some tea.

  “I won’t stay,” the woman replied. “I’ve got other things to do.”

  “I know what keeps you busy,” rejoined Daiyu laughingly. “Now that it’s turning cold and the nights are long, this is the time for evening gambling parties.”

  “I’ll confess, miss, my luck has been very good this year,” said the woman with a smile. “There are always a few of us on night duty, and we mustn’t sleep during our watch; so gaming helps to keep us awake and pass the time pleasantly. Tonight it’s my turn to be banker. Now that the Garden gates are closed it’s time to start.”

  “Thank you very much for bringing these things in the rain. I’m sorry if I’ve kept you from making more money.” She ordered her maids to give the woman a few hundred cash for wine to keep out the chill.

  “Thank you, miss, for treating me again.” The woman kowtowed and, having gone to the outer room to take the money, went off with her umbrella. “

  Zijuan put away the packages, moved aside the lamp and lowered the curtains, then helped her mistress to bed.

  Daiyu’s thoughts turned to Baochai as she lay on her pillow, and again she envied her for having a mother and a brother. Then she reflected that, good as Baoyu was to her, there was still a certain distance between them. Moreover, the rain drumming steadily down on the bamboos and plantains outside wafted a chill through her curtains and made her shed tears again. Only towards the end of the fourth watch did she finally fall asleep.

  If you want to know the sequence, read the next chapter.

  Chapter 46

  An Old Reprobate Makes an Unseemly Proposal

  Yuanyang Vows Never to Marry

  Daiyu did not fall asleep till nearly dawn. But let us leave her now and turn back to Xifeng, who received a mysterious summons from Lady Xing and after hastily changing her clothes went off in her carriage to the east court.

  Lady Xing sent her maids away then confided to Xifeng, “The Elder Master has given me a difficult task, and I am at a loss, so I want your advice as to how to handle it. He’s taken a fancy to the old lady’s maid Yuanyang and wants to make her his concubine. He’s told me to go and ask the old lady for her. I know this is quite commonly done, but I’m afraid the old lady may not agree. What would you advise me to do?”

  �
��If I were you, I wouldn’t run my head against a brick wall,” replied Xifeng promptly. “The old lady can’t even eat without Yuanyang; how could she part with her? Besides, when we’re chatting I’ve often heard her remark that the Elder Master, at his advanced age, shouldn’t be taking concubines left and right. For one thing, he’s spoiling those girls’ chances of marriage; for another, he’s injuring his health and neglecting his official duties by spending all the time drinking with his concubines. You can judge from that, madam, that she’s not particularly partial to the Elder Master. He’d do better to try to avoid offending her further instead of ‘tickling the tiger’s nose with a straw.’ Please don’t be annoyed, madam, but I haven’t the courage to approach her. As far as I can see, it would be useless and just cause unpleasantness. The Elder Master’s behaviour is rather unbecoming for a gentleman getting on in years; you should talk him out of it. It wouldn’t matter if he were young; but when a man has such a flock of younger brothers, nephews, children and grandchildren, doesn’t it look bad to go on fooling around like this?”

  “Other noble families often have three or four concubines, so why shouldn’t we?” retorted Lady Xing coldly. “I doubt if I can talk him out of it. Even if Yuanyang is the old lady’s favourite maid, when her elder son, a grey-bearded official wants her for his concubine his mother can hardly refuse him. I invited you over simply to ask your opinion, but at once you trot out all these reasons against it. Did you think I’d send you on this errand? I shall go myself, of course. You blame me for not dissuading him, but surely you know your father-in-law better than that. He’d ignore my advice and fly into a temper.”