A Dream of Red Mansion

by Cao Xueqin

  “If that’s the case,” exclaimed Jia Lian, “We’ve been worrying needlessly for several days.” As Xue Pan had spoken of finding a wife for Xianglian, he hastened to continue, “I’ve got the very bride for him, a splendid match for Brother Liu.” He went on to explain how he had married Second Sister You and now wanted to find a husband for her younger sister, omitting only to add that Liu was Third Sister’s own choice. He then cautioned Xue Pan, “Mind you don’t tell the family. Just wait until she has a son, then of course they’ll have to know.”

  Xue Pan was delighted.

  “You should have done that long ago,” he said. “It serves Cousin Xifeng right.”

  “You’re talking nonsense again,” put in Xianglian with a smile. “You’d better shut up.”

  “In that case,” said Xue Pan, changing the subject, “we must fix up this match.”

  “It’s been my intention all along,” Xianglian told them, “to marry only an outstanding beauty. But as this proposal comes from my honourable elder brothers, I shan’t insist on that. I’ll agree to whatever you suggest.”

  “Words don’t carry conviction,” Jia Lian rejoined. “But once you see her, Brother Liu, you’ll realize that this sister-in-law of mine is a matchless beauty.”

  Xianglian was overjoyed by this assurance.

  “If that’s so,” he said, “When I’ve called on my aunt, in less than a fortnight I’ll come to the capital and we can settle everything then. How’s that?”

  “We’re both men of our word,” replied Jia Lian. “But you’re such a rolling stone, always on the move, I don’t like leaving it undecided. If you drift away now and don’t come back, what’s to become of her? You’d better let me have some betrothal token.”

  “A true man never goes back on his word. I’m not rich and I’m in the middle of a journey, so where would I get a betrothal token?”

  “I’ve something suitable,” Xue Pan cut in. “Just take it, Second Brother.”

  “I don’t want gold or silk,” said Jia Lian. “What I have in mind is one of Brother Liu’s personal possessions; it doesn’t have to be anything valuable. I’ll just take it as a pledge.”

  “Very well, then,” agreed Xianglian. “The only things I have with me, apart from this sword which I need in self-defence, are a pair of ‘duck and drake’ swords in my luggage—they’re a family heirloom which I never use but always keep with me. You can take them as a pledge. However much of a wanderer I am, I’d never give up these swords.”

  After that they drank a few more cups, then mounted their horses, took their leave of each other and went their different ways.

  Truly:

  Generals, not dismounting from their horses,

  Gallop off to their destinations.

  After Jia Lian reached Pinganzhou he called on the governor to settle his business, and was told to come back again before the tenth month. The very next day he hurriedly started back, and as soon as he got home went to see Second Sister.

  Since his departure Second Sister had been running her household most prudently, staying in every day behind closed doors and taking no interest in outside affairs. And Third Sister had proved her iron resolution: apart from waiting on her mother and sister she had kept to herself, doing her share of work every day and sleeping alone at night on her lonely pillow. Although unaccustomed to such a solitary life she avoided all company, simply longing for Liu Xianglian’s early return, so that the main affair of her life could be settled.

  When Jia Lian saw how things were, he was very pleased with Second Sister’s virtuous conduct. After the usual civilities had been exchanged, he described his encounter with Liu Xianglian on the road and taking out the pair of swords passed them to Third Sister. She looked at the dragon and serpent designs on the sheath which was studded with bright pearls and jewels, then drew out the two swords, identical in size, one engraved with the word “duck,” the other “drake.” The blades had the cold gleam of two autumn streams. Overjoyed, she hastily took them to her chamber to hang them on the wall over her bed. Every day she would feast her eyes on them, happy that her future was provided for.

  After Jia Lian had spent two days there, he went to report on his mission to his father, then returned home to see his family. By now Xifeng was well enough to attend to affairs and get about again. When Jia Lian told Jia Zhen about Third Sister’s engagement his cousin showed little interest, as he had recently found himself a new mistress and given up calling on the You sisters. He was willing to let Jia Lian do as he pleased. But suspecting that the latter might be unable to defray all the expenses, he gave him thirty taels of silver which Jia Lian passed on to Second Sister to prepare her sister’s trousseau.

  Liu Xianglian did not come to the capital till the eighth month. When he called on Aunt Xue and Xue Ke he learned that Xue Pan, being unaccustomed to the rigours of travel and a different climate, had fallen ill as soon as he arrived home and was still being treated by doctors. Hearing of Xianglian’s arrival, he invited him into his bedroom.

  Full of gratitude for the good turn Xianglian had done them, Aunt Xue let bygones be bygones, both she and her son thanking him most profusely. They went on to speak of the wedding, all the preparations for which were complete except for the choice of an auspicious day. Xianglian, in turn, was loud in his thanks.

  The next day he called on Baoyu, and meeting again they felt so at home with each other that Xianglian asked for more details about Jia Lian’s secret marriage to a second wife.

  “I only heard about it from Mingyan and the others,” Baoyu told him. “And it wasn’t my business to interfere. I also heard from Mingyan that Cousin Lian was very anxious to find you I don’t know what for.”

  Xianglian explained all that had happened on the road.

  “Congratulations!” cried Baoyu. “You’d be hard put to it to find a lovelier girl. She’s really ravishing, just the right match for you.”

  “If she’s so lovely she ought to have lots of suitors; why should he single me out? It’s not as if the two of us were close friends or he has any special concern for me. In our brief meeting on the road he kept pressing me to agree to this engagement. Why should the girl’s family be in such a hurry? I couldn’t help having misgivings, and soon started regretting having given him my swords as a pledge. That’s why I thought of asking you just what’s behind this.”

  “You’re a smart fellow,” answered Baoyu. “Once you’ve given your pledge how can you start having second thoughts? You always said you wanted a ravishing beauty, and now you’ve got one. Isn’t that good enough? Why be so suspicious?”

  “If you didn’t know about Jia Lian’s secret marriage, how do you know that she’s so beautiful?”

  “She’s one of the two daughters of Madam You’s step-mother, old Mrs. You, by her first marriage. I saw a lot of them for a couple of months, so of course I know. She and her sister are really a pair of beauties.”

  Xianglian stamped his foot.

  “That’s no good then! I can’t go through with it. The only clean things in that East Mansion of yours are those two stone lions at the gate. Even the cats and dogs there are unclean. I don’t want to be a cuckold and take someone else’s leavings.”

  Baoyu blushed. And Xianglian, regretting his tactlessness, made haste

  to bow.

  “I deserve death for talking such nonsense. But do at any rate tell me what her character’s like.”

  “If you know so much already, why ask me! I may not be clean myself either.”

  “I forgot myself just now,” said Xianglian with a smile. “Please don’t make such an issue of it.”

  “Why mention it again?” retorted Baoyu. “This makes it seem that you take it seriously.”

  Xianglian took his leave then with a bow and left. He thought of going to see Xue Pan, but reflected that as the latter was unwell and so irascible at the best of times he had better go and get his pledge back instead. This decision reached, he went to find Jia Lian.
<
br />   Jia Lian was in the new house. When he heard that Xianglian had come he was overjoyed and hurried out to welcome him, then ushered him into the inner room and introduced him to old Mrs. You. To his astonishment, instead of kneeling to her as his future mother-in-law, Xianglian simply bowed and addressed her as “aunt,” referring to himself as “your nephew.”

  And as they were sipping tea he said, “During my journey, as it happened, I was overhasty, not knowing that my aunt had arranged a match for me in the fourth month, making it impossible for me to retract. It wouldn’t be right would it, brother, for me to accept your proposal and refuse my aunt’s. If I’d given the usual gifts of money and silk, I wouldn’t venture to ask to have them back; but those swords were left me by my grandfather, so I must beg you to return them.”

  Jia Lian was very put out when he heard this.

  “A pledge is a pledge,” he argued. “And a pledge is given to stop a man from going back on his word. Can you cancel an engagement so casually? Pray reconsider the matter.”

  “In spite of what you say,” replied Xianglian, “I’m willing to accept any penalty, but on this matter I definitely cannot obey your order.”

  Jia Lian was about to reply when Xianglian stood up.

  “Let’s discuss this outside,” he proposed. “It’s not convenient her.”

  Third Sister had heard all this clearly from her room. She had been waiting and waiting for Liu Xianglian’s arrival, but now he had suddenly broken the engagement. It was clear to her that he must have heard some gossip in the Jia mansions which led him to believe her a shameless wanton, not fit to be his wife. If she let the two men go out now to discuss it, she foresaw that Jia Lian would fail to win him round and she would be utterly humiliated. So as soon as Jia Lian agreed to his proposal she took down the swords, concealing the “duck” behind her elbow, and went out to intercept them.

  “There’s no need for you to go out to discuss this further,” she told them. “Here’s your pledge, I’m returning it.”

  Her tears falling like rain, with her left hand she passed the sheath with one sword in it to Xianglian, and with her right cut her throat with the other blade. Alas!

  The jade hill crumbles, never to rise again;

  Peach-blossom, trampled, stains the ground with red.

  Her fragrant spirit is lost in the infinite—

  None knows whither it has fled.

  All present were consternated and tried in vain to revive her. Old Mrs. You sobbing with horror cursed Xianglian, while Jia Lian seized hold of him, calling servants to tie him up and drag him to court.

  Second Sister dried her tears then to urge her husband, “Let him be! He didn’t threaten her, she took her own life. So what use would it be to take him to court? That would only cause a worse scandal. You’d better let him go, to save further trouble.”

  Then Jia Lian, not knowing what else to do, let go of Xianglian and told him to get out. However, he did not move but burst into tears.

  “I never knew this intended wife of mine was so chaste, such a magnificent girl!” he exclaimed.

  Prostrating himself over her corpse he gave way to a storm of weeping. And when a coffin was brought and her body laid in it, he clasped it and lamented bitterly before finally leaving them.

  Once outside the gate he did not know where to go, dazed and sunk in gloom as he recalled what had just happened. “So she was so lovely and chaste,” he reflected, torn by remorse.

  He wandered aimlessly on until one of Xue Pan’s pages appeared and asked him to go back. The boy took him to a magnificent bridal chamber. He heard the tinkling of pendants, and in came Third Sister, in one hand the “duck and drake” swords, in the other a book. With tears she told him:

  “Your devoted handmaid waited five years for you, my lord, not knowing you would prove so cold-hearted. I have paid with my life now for my infatuation. Today, at the order of the goddess of Disenchantment, I am going to the Illusory Land of the Great Void to register all the amorous spirits in this case. But I couldn’t bear to go away without bidding you farewell, for from this day on we shall never meet again.” This said, she turned to leave.

  Xianglian could not bear to let her go and quickly stepped forward to stop her and question her.

  “We came from the Heaven of Love and we must return there from the Earth of Love,” she told him. “I was deluded by love in my last life, but as I have repented of it and awakened, from now on I shall have nothing to do with you, sir.”

  As her voice died away, a fragrant wind sprang up and she vanished into thin air.

  Xianglian woke with a start, wondering if he had been dreaming. When he opened his eyes and looked round, there was no sign of the Xues’ page boy or of the bridal chamber. He was in a tumble-down temple, and beside him a lame Taoist priest was sitting catching lice. Xianglian rose to his feet, then bowed to the ground.

  “Where are we, holy master?” he asked the priest. “And what is your immortal name?”

  The priest chuckled, “I myself don’t know where we are or who I am. I’m simply putting up here for the time being.”

  At this Liu Xianglian shuddered with cold, as if the marrow of his bones had frozen. He drew the “drake” sword and with one stroke cut off his hair, then went away with the priest, no one knows where.

  To know what became of him, read the next chapter.

  Chapter 67

  A Gift of Local Products Makes Daiyu Homesick

  Xifeng Questions a Page Boy and Hatches a Plot

  After Third Sister’s suicide, it goes without saying, old Mrs. You, Second Sister and Jia Lian were overcome with grief, as were Jia Zhen, his wife and Jia Rong as soon as they learned of it. They at once prepared to bury her in style.

  As for Liu Xianglian, Third Sister’s death had filled him with remorse and inspired him with foolish passion, till a few words from the Taoist priest freed him from his delusions. Thereupon he cut off his hair and renounced the world to go off with the priest, none knew where. But no more of this.

  Aunt Xue had been so delighted to hear of Xianglian’s betrothal to Third Sister that she had decided to buy and furnish a house for him, prepare the bride’s trousseau and then choose an auspicious day for the wedding to express her gratitude to him for saving her son’s life. Now, hearing from one of their servant boys that Third Sister had taken her own life and Xianglian had gone off with a priest, she was overwhelmed by distress and bewilderment. And just then Baochai came over from the Garden.

  “Have you heard the news, child?” her mother asked. “Wasn’t Third Sister You, the younger sister of your Cousin Zhen’s wife, engaged— and a very good match it would have been too—to your brother’s sworn brother Liu Xianglian? But for some unknown reason she’s cut her throat and he’s renounced the world. Isn’t it amazing? A real bolt from the blue!”

  Baochai, however, did not take it to heart.

  “As the proverb says,” she replied, “‘Sudden storms spring up in nature, and the fortunes of men may change overnight.’ They can’t have been predestined to be husband and wife. You’re upset, mother, because he rescued my brother, and if all had gone well between them of course it would have been only right for you to help with the wedding. Now that one of them is dead and the other’s gone, it seems to me you’d better let things be. Don’t grieve so much for them that you injure your health.

  “Now quite a time’s passed since brother came back from the south, and all the goods he brought ought to be disposed of. The assistants who went with him worked hard for several months. Why not talk it over with brother, and invite them to a meal to express our gratitude? Otherwise they may think we’re lacking in manners.”

  In came Xue Pan then, tears still in his eyes. As he stepped through the door he clapped his hands together.

  “Mother,” he blurted out, “have you heard about Brother Liu and Third Sister You?”

  “I heard talk of it in the Garden, and your sister and I were speaking about it just now
.”

  “Isn’t it extraordinary?”

  “It certainly is. Why should a smart young man like Master Liu suddenly do such a foolish thing, going off with a Taoist priest? I suppose it’s because he was pre-ordained in some former existence to become a saint that he was so ready to listen to the priest. As you were such good friends and he lived all alone here, with no parents or brothers, you ought to make a thorough search for him. How could that lame and crazy priest go very far? He must be hiding in one of the temples near by.”

  “That’s exactly what I thought,” replied Xue Pan. “As soon as I got this news I took my servants out to search high and low, but not a trace of him could we find. And everyone we asked said they hadn’t seen them. I was so frantic that, before coming back, I faced northwest and burst out howling.” As he said this his eyes brimmed with tears again.

  “If you’ve made a search and failed to find him, you’ve done your duty as a friend,” said his mother. “After all, his renouncing the world may not be a bad thing. You’d better not worry too much. For one thing, you’ve your business to attend to; and then you should make preparations in good time for your own wedding. Our family’s short-handed and, as the proverb says, ‘A slow sparrow should make an early start.’ We don’t want to find, when the time comes, that we’ve forgotten this, that and the other, so that people laugh at us.