by Cao Xueqin
“It’s cold on that stone. Come back to my place to rest,” he suggested, nudging her.
Helping her up, he invited Pinger too for a cup of tea. Pressed by both Pinger and Xiren, Yuanyang acquiesced and the four of them went together to Happy Red Court. The conversation Baoyu had overheard had naturally depressed him. He simply lay down quietly on his bed, leaving the three girls to chat in the outer room.
To return to Lady Xing, she had learned from Xifeng that Yuanyang’s father Jin Cai and his wife were acting as caretakers in Nanjing and seldom came up to the capital. However, her elder brother Jin Wenxiang was a buyer for the Lady Dowager, and her sister-in-law was chief laundress in her apartments.
Lady Xing promptly sent for Wenxiang’s wife and told her what she proposed. Young Mrs. Jin was of course only too pleased and went off jubilantly to find Yuanyang, sure that her mission would meet with instant success. Instead, she was denounced to her face by Yuanyang and snubbed by Xiren and Pinger into the bargain.
She returned, angry and discomfited, to report to Lady Xing, “It’s no use, she just swore at me.” Since Xifeng was present she dared not mention Pinger, but she added, “Xiren joined in her attack on me and talked a whole lot of other nonsense too, which doesn’t bear repeating. You had better persuade Lord She to buy another girl, madam. That little bitch isn’t cut out for such great fortune, nor are we for such good luck.”
“What has this to do with Xiren?” asked Lady Xing. “How did she come to hear of it? Who else was there?”
“Miss Pinger was there too.”
Xifeng promptly interposed, “Why didn’t you slap her face? Every time I go out, off she goes to amuse herself. When I got home today there was no sign of her. I suppose she took Yuanyang’s side too?”
“Miss Pinger wasn’t there on the spot,” replied Mrs. Jin. “It looked like her from a distance, but I may have been mistaken. That was just my guess.”
Xifeng ordered a servant, “Go and fetch Pinger, quick. Tell her I’m back and Her Ladyship is here too. She’s wanted for something.”
Fenger hastily stepped forward to put in, “Miss Lin sent a maid with a note several times to invite her over, so finally she went. As soon as you came back, madam, I went to fetch her, but Miss Lin asked me to tell you she’d like to keep her for a Utile, madam.”
“Every day she seems to want her for something or other,” remarked Xifeng, then let the matter drop.
As there was nothing more Lady Xing could do, she went home after dinner and told her husband that evening what had happened. Jia She thought the matter over, then summoned Jia Lian.
“We have other caretakers besides the Jins in Nanjing,” he said. “Send at once to have Jin Cai recalled.”
“According to the last letter from Nanjing, Jin Cai has had a stroke, sir,” replied his son. “Money for his coffin has already been issued there, and for all we know he may already be dead. Even if he’s still living he’ll be in a coma, so it wouldn’t be any use sending for him. And his old wife is deaf.”
Jia She swore. “You scurvy scoundrel!” he fumed. “Quite a know-all, aren’t you? Get out!”
In consternation Jia Lian promptly withdrew. Soon he heard the order given to fetch Jin Wenxiang. He himself remained on call in the outside study, daring neither to go home nor to confront his father.
Presently Wenxiang arrived and some pages ushered him through the inner gate. He was with Lord She for the space of five or six meals, and after he left Jia Lian did not venture to ask what had been said. Not until late that evening, having ascertained that his father was asleep, did he finally go home where Xifeng cleared up the whole mystery for him.
As for Yuanyang, she passed a sleepless night. The next day her brother came and asked the Lady Dowager’s permission to take her home for a rest. The old lady agreed and told her to go. This was not what Yuanyang wanted, but she complied reluctantly in order not to arouse the old lady’s suspicions. Her brother told her what Lord She had said and what dignity she would have as his secondary wife. However, Yuanyang refused to consider it. Unable to change her mind, he had to go back and report this to Jia She.
Jia She flew into a rage. “Tell your wife to tell her this from me,” he fumed. “Tell her these are my own words. ‘From of old, young nymphs have preferred youth to age. She must think me too old for her. I daresay she has set her heart on one of the young masters, most likely Baoyu or possibly my son. If that’s her scheme, tell her to forget it. For if she refuses me, who else will dare take her later? That’s the first thing.
“‘The second is this: if she’s counting on the old lady’s partiality to her to find some decent husband outside, she’d better think again. For no matter whom she marries she’ll still be within my reach, unless she dies or remains single all her life, in which case there is nothing I can do. Otherwise, the sooner she changes her mind the better for her.’“
Wenxiang had expressed agreement after each sentence of this diatribe. Now Jia She added:
“And don’t you try to cheat me. Tomorrow I shall send the mistress to her again. If you’ve really told her and she still refuses, I won’t hold you responsible. But if when we ask her again she agrees, you’ll have to watch out for your head!”
Jin Wenxiang agreed hastily and withdrew. Upon his arrival home, without waiting to get his wife to pass on this message he told Yuanyang himself, reducing her to a state of speechless anger.
After some reflection she said, “Well, supposing I agree, you’ll still have to take me back to report this to the old lady.”
Her brother and his wife were overjoyed by this apparent change of heart. Her sister-in-law at once took her to the Lady Dowager, who happened to be chatting with Lady Wang, Aunt Xue, Li Wan, Xifeng, Baochai and the other girls, as well as a few of the chief stewards’ wives, all of whom were doing their best to amuse the old lady.
Delighted by this opportunity, Yuanyang drew her sister-in-law forward and threw herself on her knees before her mistress. Sobbing, she told the old lady what Lady Xing had said to her, what her sister-in-law had told her in the Garden, and how her brother had threatened her today.
“Because I wouldn’t agree, the Elder Master says I’ve set my heart on Baoyu. He swears I’ll never escape him, not even if I marry someone outside, no, not even if I go to the ends of the earth—he’ll have his revenge in the end. Well, my mind’s made up. Everybody here can bear witness. I shall never marry so long as I live, neither Baoyu with his precious jade, nor someone born with silver or gold, not even a Heavenly King or Emperor!
“If Your Ladyship tries to force me, I’ll kill myself rather than marry. If I’m lucky, I shall die before you, madam. Otherwise I mean to serve Your Ladyship till the end of your life; then, rather than go back to my parents or to my brother, I shall commit suicide or shave my head and become a nun. If you think I’m not in earnest and this is just empty talk which I’ll go back on later, may Heaven, Earth, all the deities and the Sun and Moon who are my witnesses choke me with an ulcer in my throat so that I rot away into a pulp!”
Before coming in, she had hidden a pair of scissors in her sleeve, and while uttering this oath she let down her hair with her left hand and started cutting it with the scissors in her right. Maids and serving-women hurried over to stop her. She had cut off one lock already but, luckily, her hair being so thick, it was difficult to cut much. They lost no time in dressing it for her again.
The Lady Dowager was trembling with rage.
“The only girl left I can trust, and they want to get her away from me,” she quavered. Her eye falling on Lady Wang beside her, she cried, “So you’re all deceiving me, putting on a show of being dutiful but plotting against me in secret. Whenever I have anything good you come and demand it from me. And my best servants too. Now I’ve only this one girl left, and seeing how partial I am to her naturally infuriates you. You’re trying to get her away from me, so as to get me under your own thumb.”
Lady Wang had risen to he
r feet but did not venture a word in self-defence. And Aunt Xue being her sister, could not try to shift the blame from her. Li Wan had quietly taken the girls outside when Yuanyang began her story.
Tanchun, however, had sense enough to see that it was not for Lady Wang to clear herself of these false charges, nor for Aunt Xue to defend her sister, nor for Baochai to defend her aunt, while Li Wan, Xifeng and Baoyu were in no position to protest either. It was now up to one of the girls to speak. But Yingchun was too naive, Xichun too young. So after listening for a while outside the window, she entered the room with a smile.
“What has this to do with Her Ladyship?” she asked her grandmother. “Just think, madam, how could a younger sister-in-law know that her elder brother-in-law was going to get a concubine? Even if she did, could she say anything?”
At once the old lady chuckled, “I’m losing my wits with age,” she exclaimed. “Don’t laugh at me, Madam Xue. This elder sister of yours is a very good daughter-in-law, not like my elder son’s wife who’s so afraid of her husband she only makes a show of compliance to me. Yes, I was wrong to blame your sister.”
Aunt Xue murmured agreement, then added, “I wonder if you’re not, perhaps, rather partial to the wife for your younger son, madam?”
“No, I’m not partial,” the old lady declared. She continued, “Baoyu, why didn’t you point out my mistake and prevent me from blaming your mother so unfairly?”
“How could I stick up for my mother at the expense of my elder uncle and aunt?” he countered. “Anyway, someone’s done wrong; and if mother here won’t take the blame, who will? I could have said it was my fault but I’m sure you wouldn’t have believed me.”
“Yes, that’s right,” chuckled the Lady Dowager, “Now kneel to your mother and ask her not to feel hurt, but to forgive me for your sake on account of my old age.”
Baoyu stepped forward and knelt to do as he was told, but his mother instantly stopped him.
“Get up,” she cried with a smile. “This is absurd. How can you apologize for your grandmother?”
As Baoyu rose to his feet the old lady said, “And Xifeng didn’t pull me up either.”
“I haven’t said a word against you, madam,” retorted Xifeng laughingly, “but now you’re trying to put the blame on me.”
All the others laughed and the old lady cried, “This is strange! Let’s hear what you have to say against me.”
“Who told you, madam, to train your girls so well? If you bring one up as fresh as a sprig of young parsley, you can’t blame people for wanting her. It’s lucky I’m a grandson’s wife. If I were a grandson I’d have grabbed her long ago. I shouldn’t have waited till now.”
“So it’s all my fault, is it?” the old lady chortled.
“Of course it is,” agreed Xifeng.
“In that case I won’t keep her. You can take her away.”
“Wait till I’ve done enough good deeds in this life to be reborn as a man. Then I’ll marry her.”
“You can take her and give her to Lian. See if that shameless father-in-law of yours still wants her then or not.”
“Lian doesn’t deserve her,” said Xifeng. “He’ll have to make do with scarecrows like Pinger and me.”
They were all laughing at this when Lady Xing was announced, and Lady Wang went out to greet her.
If you want to know what followed, read the next chapter.
Chapter 47
A Stupid Bully Is Beaten Up for His Amorous Advances
A Cool Young Gentleman Leaves Home for Fear of Reprisals
Lady Wang hurried out to greet Lady Xing who had come in the hope of news, unaware that the Lady Dowager knew all about her proposal to Yuanyang. Only as she stepped into the courtyard was she quietly apprised of this by some serving-women; but it was too late to retreat now that her arrival had been announced and Lady Wang had come out to meet her. She had no choice but to go in and pay her respects.
The old lady received her without a word, to her great mortification. Xifeng had already left on the pretext of some business, while Yuanyang had retired to her room to sulk. Now Aunt Xue, Lady Wang and the others withdrew one by one to spare Lady Xing embarrassment. She herself dared not leave, however.
Once they were alone the Lady Dowager sneered, “I hear you’ve been doing some matchmaking for you husband. Quite a model of wifely submission and virtue, aren’t you? Only you carry this obedience too far. You have children and grand children now, yet you’re still afraid of him. Instead of giving him a little good advice you let him carry on just as he pleases.”
Blushing all over her face Lady Xing replied, “I have reasoned with him several times, but he pays no attention. You know how it is, madam. I had no choice.”
“Would you commit murder too if he insisted? Have some sense! Your sister-in-law is a simple soul and, for all her poor health, she has to worry about high and low in this household. Though your daughter-in-law helps her, her work is never done. So I don’t make too many demands on them, and when the two of them overlook certain things, that child Yuanyang is thoughtful enough to attend to my wants. She sees I get what I need, and tells them in time what wants replenishing. If not for her, in all their press of business the pair of them would be bound to forget this or that. Do you expect me to see to everything? To work out every day what I need to ask for? She’s the only maid left me who’s not just a child and knows something of my ways and temperament. In the second place: she gets on well with the older and younger mistresses alike here, and never tries in my name to ask this mistress for clothes or that for money. So during the last few years the whole household old and young, starting with your sister-in-law and daughter-in-law, all trust her. It’s not just that I rely on her, she saves them trouble too. As long as I’ve someone like her, I don’t have to worry about going short of anything even if my daughters-in-law or my grandsons’ wives forget it. But who would you give me in her place if she left now? Even if you managed to produce a girl of her size made of pearls but unable to talk she’d still be no use to me.
“I was just on the point of sending to tell your husband: I’ve money here for him if he wants to buy someone, and I don’t care if it costs eight or even ten thousand taels; but he can’t have this girl. If she can be left to wait on me for a few years, that’ll be the same as him waiting on me day and night himself like a dutiful son. It’s a good thing that you’ve come. It’s more fitting that he should hear this from you.”
She called for her maids then and told them, “Ask Madam Xue and the young ladies to come back. We were having fun together, why have they all left?”
The maids made haste to carry out her orders.
Everyone hurried back except Aunt Xue, who objected, “I’ve just got home, why should I go over again? Tell her I’m sleeping.”
“Do us a favour, dear madam, good ancestress!” pleaded the maid. “Our old lady’s in a bad temper. If you won’t go, we shall never manage to soothe her. Just do it for our sake. If you’re tired, madam, I’ll carry you there on my back.”
“You little imp!” Aunt Xue chuckled. “You’ve nothing to fear except a taste of her tongue.” None the less she felt constrained to go back with the maid.
The Lady Dowager made her sit down and suggested, “What about a game of cards? You must be rather rusty, so let’s sit together to make sure that Xifeng can’t cheat us.”
“That’s right, you must help me, madam,” agreed Aunt Xue. “Shall we have a foursome or rope in one or two others?”
“Yes, there are just four of us,” observed Lady Wang.
“One more would be more fun,” put in Xifeng.
“Then send for Yuanyang,” directed the old lady. “Tell her to sit on my left. Your aunt’s eyesight isn’t good; she can help us both with our cards.”
Xifeng sighed and remarked to Tanchun, “With all your education, it’s too bad you haven’t learned to tell fortunes too.”
“What an odd thing to say!” exclaimed Tanchun. “Why not
concentrate on winning some money from the old lady instead of thinking about fortune-telling?”
“I want some fortune-teller to predict how much I’ll be losing today. How can I hope to win? Look, before the game even starts they’ve laid ambushes right and left.”
The Lady Dowager and Aunt Xue laughed.
Presently Yuanyang arrived and took a seat between the Lady Dowager and Xifeng. The red felt cloth was spread and the cards were shuffled and drawn. After the five of them had played for a while, Yuanyang noticed that the old lady needed only a “two of circles” to win the game, and she signaled this to Xifeng whose turn it was to discard. Xifeng deliberately hesitated.
“I’m sure Aunt Xue has the card I want,” She said. “If I don’t play this she’ll never part with it.”
“I haven’t anything you want,” said Aunt Xue.
“I won’t believe that till I’ve seen your hand.”
“You can have a look if you like. But first discard and let’s see what that card is.”
Xifeng put down the “two of circles” in front of Aunt Xue. “I don’t want that,” chuckled the latter. “I’m only afraid the old lady is going out.”
“I’ve thrown the wrong one!” cried Xifeng hastily. But the Lady Dowager, beaming, had already laid down her hand. “Don’t you dare take it back,” she crowed. “Who told you to throw he wrong card?”
“You see why I wanted to consult a fortune-teller,” said Xifeng. “But this time it was really my own fault.”
“That’s right.” The old lady laughed. “You should slap your own face and blame yourself.” She turned to Aunt Xue. “It’s not that I’m miserly and to win; I play for luck.”
“Of course, madam,” replied Aunt Xue with a smile. “Who’s so foolish as not to know that?”
Xifeng, who was counting out the cash she had lost, strung the coins together again on hearing this. “That’s fine,” she cried with a twinkle. “If the old lady only plays for luck, not for money, I needn’t count my cash in this miserly way. I’ll put it away at once.”