by Cao Xueqin
“I did give Fangguan some,” said Xiren, “but I don’t know what she did with it.” Fangguan, when questioned, was startled into admitting that she had indeed given it to Wuer. Then Fangguan told Baoyu, and he was worried too.
“Though the rose juice business is cleared up,” he said, “if the pachyma flour is brought into it she’ll have to own up; and when they know that her uncle got it at the gate he’ll be blamed. They meant well, but we’ll be getting them into trouble.”
He lost no time in talking it over with Pinger.
“The rose juice business is cleared up,” he told her. “But they’re still in the wrong over the pachyma flour. Why not just say, good sister, that theft is the thief herself, but as there’s no evidence how can we accuse her?”
“Never mind,” said Baoyu. “I’ll take the blame for that too. I’ll say I filched it on the sly from my mother’s place to frighten them for fun. Then both matters will be settled.”
Xiren commented, “Of course that would be a kind deed, clearing their reputations. When the mistress hears about it, though, she’ll scold you again for having no sense and acting so childishly.”
“That doesn’t matter so much,” said Pinger with a smile. “Actually, I could easily find the evidence in Concubine Zhao’s rooms, but I was afraid that would make another good person lose face. Other people wouldn’t mind, but she’d certainly be angry. It was her I was thinking of. I didn’t want to smash a jade vase to catch a rat.” While saying this she held out three fingers to indicate to Xiren and the others that it was the third young mistress, Tanchun, whom she had in mind.
“Quite right,” they said. “Better put the blame on us here.”
“Even so,” proposed Pinger, “we must call those two trouble-makers Caiyun and Yuchuan over, and get them to agree to this arrangement. Otherwise they’ll get off unscathed without knowing the reason, thinking instead that because I hadn’t the gumption to get at the truth, I had to beg you people here to cover up the theft. That would encourage one of them to go on stealing with impunity, the other to let things drift.”
“That’s true,” agreed Xiren and the rest. “You must make it clear where we stand.”
A messenger was sent by Pinger to fetch the two girls.
“You don’t have to worry,” they were told. “We’re found the culprit.”
“Where?” asked Yuchuan.
“In Madam Lian’s place,” Pinger told her. “She admits to everything, but I know quite well that she didn’t steal those things; the poor creature’s confessed to it because she’s frightened. Master Bao here is sorry for her and means to take half the blame. I could, of course, name the real thief, but it so happens that she’s a good friend of mine. I don’t care much what happens to the receiver of the stolen goods, only this would damage a good person’s reputation too; so being in a quandary I’m going to ask Master Bao to take the blame, so as to keep the rest of us out of trouble.
“Now I want to know what you intend to do. If you both agree to be more careful in future, so that nobody loses face, I’ll ask Master Bao to take the blame. If not, I’ll report the truth to Madam Lian rather than wrong an innocent person.”
Caiyun, at this, blushed with shame.
“Don’t worry, sister,” she said. “There’s no need to wrong an innocent person, or to make a young lady who wasn’t involved lose face. It was Concubine Zhao who kept begging me to filch things, and I gave some of them to Master Huan—that’s the truth. Even when the mistress is at home, we often take this or that to give to friends. I thought after a couple of days this storm would blow over; but I can’t stand seeing an innocent person accused. You’d better take me to the Second Mistress, and I’ll make a clean breast of everything to her.” The others hearing this were impressed by her courage. “That’s very decent of Sister Caiyun,” said Baoyu. “But there’s no need for you to admit it; I’ll just say that I took it in secret to tease you all, and now that trouble’s come of it I should own up. I simply ask you sisters to make less trouble in future. That would be best for us all.”
“Why should you own up to something I did?” asked Caiyun. “I’m the one, if anyone, who deserves to be punished.”
“That’s not the way to look at it,” interposed Pinger and Xiren. “If you were to admit it you’d have to let on about Concubine Zhao, and when Miss Tanchun heard of it she’d feel bad again. Better let Master Bao take the blame to keep us all out of trouble. Apart from the few of us here, no one else need know about it—isn’t that much neater? In future, though, we must all of us be more careful. If you want to take anything, at least wait till the mistress is back; then even if you give the whole house away, it’ll be no concern of ours.”
Caiyun lowered her head in thought and then agreed. After their plans were laid, Pinger took the two of them with Fangguan to the front where women kept watch at night and, having summoned Wuer, gave her secret instructions to say that the pachyma flour had also been a present from Fangguan. After Wuer had poured out her thanks Pinger took them to her own quarters, where Mrs. Lin and some other serving-women had long been waiting, holding Mrs. Liu.
Mrs. Lin told Pinger, “I brought her here first thing this morning. For fear nobody would see to the young ladies’ morning meal, I sent Qin Xian’s wife to the Garden to take charge for the time being. Why not suggest to the Second Mistress that Mrs. Qin, being clean and painstaking, might as well be assigned the job for keeps?”
“Who is Qin Xian’s wife?” asked Pinger. “I don’t seem to know her.”
“She’s one of those who keep watch at night at the south gate of the Garden,” Mrs. Lin answered. “She has nothing to do in the day time; that’s why you don’t know her. She has high cheekbones and big eyes, and is very clean and spry.”
“That’s right,” put in Yuchuan. “How could you forget, sister? She’s the aunt of Siqi who serves Miss Yingchun. Though Siqi’s parents belong to the Elder Master’s household, her uncle works here.”
Pinger recollected the woman then and smiled.
“Ah, if you’d said that before I’d have known,” she said. “Still, you’re in too much of a hurry to give her a job. The fact is, this business is more or less solved; we’ve even found out as well who took the things missing from the mistress’ place the other day. It was Baoyu who went over there and asked those two wretched girls for something. To tease him they said they dared not take anything with the mistress away; so when they weren’t looking he went in and took the things. Those silly creatures didn’t know, that’s why they got scared. Now that Baoyu knows this has involved other people, he’s told me the whole story and shown me the things he took—there’s nothing missing. He got that pachyma flour outside as well, and shared it out to a whole lot of people, not just the girls in the Garden. Even the nannies got some to take out for their relatives, some of whom passed it on to other people. Xiren gave some to Fangguan and others too. This was just doing friends a favour, nothing unusual. As for those two baskets brought the other day, they’re still in the hall and the seals on them haven’t been broken; so how can we accuse people of pilfering them? Wait till I’ve reported this to my mistress and then we’ll see.”
She went into the bedroom to tell Xifeng the same story.
“That’s all very well,” said Xifeng, “but we know Baoyu. He sticks up for those girls even if they’re in the wrong. And if people appeal to him or flatter him—crowning him with a charcoal basket—he’ll agree to anything. If we take his word for it and there’s worse trouble of this kind in future, how are we to control these servants? We must go on making detailed investigations. My plan is to fetch all the maids from the mistress’ house here. No need to torture or beat them; we can just make them kneel in the sun on shards of porcelain with nothing to eat or drink. If they don’t come clean, they’ll have to kneel all day. Then even if they’re made of iron, in a day they’re bound to confess.”
She added, “Flies go for cracked eggs. Even if this Liu woman d
idn’t steal anything, she must have been up to something or people wouldn’t have accused her. Even if we don’t punish her, we should dismiss her; that’s the usual court procedure. It wouldn’t be doing her an injustice.”
“Why trouble yourself over this?” countered Pinger. “We should be lenient whenever we can. This isn’t anything so important that you can’t overlook it. What I feel is this: however hard you work over here, you’ll be going back eventually to the other house; so why make enemies of the servants here, making them bear you a grudge? It’s not as if you haven’t troubles enough of your own. You managed after years to conceive a son but lost him in the seventh month through a miscarriage brought on, for all we know, by overworking and getting too upset and worked up over things. Wouldn’t it be better, while it’s not too late, to shut your eyes to half of what’s going on?”
This advice made Xifeng smile.
“All right, you little bitch,” she said. “Do whatever you like. I’m just feeling slightly better; I don’t want to lose my temper.”
“That’s the right way to talk!” chuckled Pinger.
With that she went out to deal with the women outside one by one. To know what happened later, read the next chapter.
Chapter 62
Sweet Xiangyun Sleeps Tipsily Among Peonies
Silly Xiangling Coyly Takes Off Her Pomegranate Skirt
Pinger, going out as we saw, told Lin Zhixiao’s wife, “A prosperous family ought to minimize big scandals and overlook minor ones. It wouldn’t look good if we were to ring bells, beat drums and raise a rumpus over a trifle. So take mother and daughter back now: they’re to keep their jobs. And send Qin Xian’s wife back as well. There’s no need to say any more about this business. Just make a careful inspection every day.” With that she left.
Mrs. Liu and Wuer hastily stepped forward to kowtow their thanks, after which Mrs. Lin took them back to the Garden and reported the matter to Li Wan and Tanchun, both of whom approved of the way it had been settled.
So Siqi and the rest had worked themselves up for nothing. And Qin Xian’s wife, after this stroke of luck came her way, was able to gloat for no more than half a day. She had busily taken over and checked up on the utensils, rice, grain, charcoal and so forth in the kitchen, where she discovered serious shortages.
“There’s two piculs of good rice short,” she observed. “An extra month’s supply of ordinary rice has been drawn in advance, and there’s charcoal missing as well.”
At the same time she prepared presents for Mrs. Lin, secretly getting ready a load of charcoal, five hundred catties of firewood and one picul of good rice outside the Garden for her nephew to take to the Lins’ house. In addition, she prepared gifts to send the accountants and some dishes to treat her new colleagues. “My coming here is all thanks to your help,” she told them. “In future we shall be one family. If I overlook anything, please see to it for me.”
As she was bustling frantically about, a messenger suddenly arrived to announce: “You’re to leave after serving the morning meal. Mrs. Liu has been cleared and the job given back to her.”
Thunderstruck and utterly cast down by this news, Qin Xian’s wife made haste to pack up and beat a retreat. She was badly out of pocket over the presents, and now she had to make good that sum herself. Siqi too was completely taken aback, but fume as she might there was nothing she could do.
As for Concubine Zhao, because Caiyun had given her so many things on the sly and Yuchuan had raised such a fuss, she was afraid others would find out the truth. This kept her in a constant cold sweat as she waited to hear the upshot. When Caiyun assured her that there would be no further trouble as Baoyu had taken the blame, this took a great load off her mind. It only made Jia Huan more suspicious, however. He fetched out all Caiyun’s secret gifts to him and threw them at her face.
“Sneaky double-crosser!” he swore. “I don’t want this trash of yours. If you weren’t on good terms with Baoyu, why should he cover up for you? If you had any guts, you wouldn’t have let a single person know you’d given me these things. Now that you’ve blabbed about it I’d lose face if I kept them.”
Caiyun frantically assured him that she was not on friendly terms with Baoyu, nor had she told anyone. Sobbingly she tried in all sorts of ways to convince him, but Jia Huan stubbornly refused to believe her.
“If not for our past friendship,” he cried, “I’d go and tell sister-in-law Xifeng that you stole these things and offered them to me, but I dared not take them. Just think what would happen then!” With that he stormed out.
By this time Concubine Zhao was frantic too.
“Ungrateful brat!” she cursed. “Misbegotten monster!”
Caiyun, weeping her eyes out, looked quite heart-broken no matter how the concubine tried to comfort her.
“Good child, how ungrateful he is, after all your kindness!” she said. “But I know how it is. Let me put these things away, and in a couple of days he’ll come to his senses again.”
She wanted to take the things, but Caiyun in a fit of pique bundled them up together, and when no one was watching slipped into the Garden and threw them all into the stream, where some sank and some floated away. That night, under her quilt, she secretly wept with rage.
By now Baoyu’s birthday had come round again, and they found that Baoqin’s birthday happened to fall on the identical day. As Lady Wang was away from home, however, it was not as lively as in previous years. Still, the Taoist priest Zhang sent over four gifts and a new charm with the boy’s Buddhist name on it; then some monks and nuns from various abbeys, nunneries and temples brought sacrificial offerings of food, pictures of the God of Longevity, sacrificial paper for burning, the name of his own star god, the name of the star god presiding over that year, and lock-charms to safeguard Baoyu throughout the year. Men and women story-tellers who frequented the house came to offer congratulations.
Wang Ziteng sent his nephew his usual gifts: a pair of shoes and socks, a suit of clothes, a hundred longevity cakes in the shape of peaches, and a hundred bundles of “silver-silk” noodles of the kind used in the Palace. From Aunt Xue the boy received half this amount, appropriate to her status. As for the rest of the family, Madam You gave him her usual gift of a pair of shoes and socks, and Xifeng a pouch symbolizing harmony embroidered in the Palace, in which were a golden God of Longevity, as well as a toy from Persia. Alms and gifts were dispatched to various temples, and there were presents for Baoqin as well, but we need not enumerate these. The girls just sent whatever they pleased—a fan, some calligraphy, a painting or a poem—to mark the occasion.
Baoyu got up early that morning and as soon as his toilet was finished put on ceremonial dress and went to the front court. There Li Kui and four other stewards had set ready the incense and candles for the sacrifices to heaven and earth. Baoyu lit the incense, bowed, poured libations and burned sacrificial paper, then went to do obeisance in the clan temple and the ancestral hall in the Ning Mansion. This done, he came out to the terrace of the ancestral hall to bow in the direction of the Lady Dowager and his parents. Next he called on Madam You to pay his respects, and after sitting there for a while returned to the Rong Mansion.
Here, he called first on Aunt Xue, who held him in her arms to prevent him from kneeling to her. Then he saw Xue Ke and after an exchange of courtesies went into the Garden attended by Qingwen, Sheyue and a small maid carrying a rug. He called to pay his respects in turn to all his seniors starting with Li Wan, and then went out of the inner gate to the outer courtyard to see his four old nannies Li, Zhao, Zhang and Wang. On his return, everyone wanted to kowtow their congratulations, but he would not let them do so.
On his return to his quarters, Xiren and the other maids simply offered him verbal congratulations, for Lady Wang had forbidden the young people to let others bow to them for fear of spoiling their luck; hence none of the maid-servants kowtowed to him. And when presently Jia Huan, Jia Lan and others called, Xiren promptly stopped them from bowing an
d made them sit down for a while before they left.
“I’m tired after walking,” remarked Baoyu now.
He curled up on the bed and had just drunk half a cup of tea when gay chattering sounded outside and along came a troop of eight or nine laughing maids: Xiaoluo, Cuimo, Cuilu, Ruhua and Xiuyan’s maid Zhuaner, as well as a nurse carrying little Qiaojie, and Cailuan and Xiuluan, each of whom had brought a red rug. They cried out merrily, “We’ve gate-crashed to offer our congratulations. Hurry up and bring us some of the birthday noodles!”
The next moment Tanchun, Xiangyun, Baoqin, Xiuyan and Xichun arrived too. Baoyu hurried out to meet his cousins, beaming.
“Thank you for coming!” he said. “Brew some good tea, quick!”
Once inside they deferred to each other, then all took seats. Xiren and some other maids handed round tea, and barely had they sipped it when Pinger approached, freshly made up and as pretty as a flower. Baoyu hastily went out to greet her with the words:
“I went just now to Cousin Xifeng’s place, but was told she wasn’t free to see me; so then I sent someone in to ask after you.”
“I was helping your cousin do her hair,” Pinger explained. “That’s why I couldn’t come out to speak to you. When I heard you’d asked after me I felt so honoured that I’ve come specially now to kowtow to you!”
“That would be doing me too much honour!” he chuckled.
By now Xiren had placed a seat in the outer room for Pinger. The latter curtseyed to Baoyu, who hastily bowed to her in return. Then Pinger knelt down and he at once followed suit. Pinger curtseyed again, and once again Baoyu bowed.
“Make another bow,” prompted Xiren, nudging him.
“Why another? I’ve bowed already.”
“She came to congratulate you,” Xiren said, “but today is her birthday too. So it’s up to you to congratulate her as well.”