A Dream of Red Mansion

by Cao Xueqin

  After Xifeng had learned all these particulars, she gave Lai Wang a packet of twenty taels of silver and secretly ordered him to get Zhang Hua to stay with him and bring a suit against Jia Lian. He was to accuse him of marrying during a period of state and family mourning, against Imperial decree and unknown to his parents; of relying on his wealth and power to force Zhang Hua to renounce his engagement; and of taking a second wife without the consent of his first.

  Zhang Hua, however, only too well aware of the danger involved, dared not bring such a charge. When Lai Wang reported this to Xifeng she fumed:

  “Damn him for a mangy cur that won’t let itself be helped over a wall! Go and explain to him that it doesn’t matter even if he accuses our family of high treason. I just want him to make a row so that everyone loses face. If big trouble comes of it, I can always smooth things over.”

  Lai Wang carried out her orders and explained this to Zhang Hua.

  Xifeng also instructed Lai Wang, “Get him to implicate you, then you can confront him in court—I’ll tell you just what to say— and I guarantee everything will be all right.”

  When Lai Wang saw that he had Xifeng’s backing, he told Zhang Hua to include his name in his charge.

  “Just accuse me of acting as the middleman and of putting Second Master up to this,” he said.

  Zhang Hua, given this cue, acted on Lai Wang’s advice and wrote out his plaint, taking it the next morning to the Court of Censors. When the judge took his seat in the court and saw that this charge against Jia Lian involved his servant Lai Wang, he had no choice but to send for the latter to answer the charge. The runners, not daring to enter the Jia mansion, meant to order a servant to deliver the summons. But Lai Wang had reckoned on their coming, and was already waiting out in the street, When he saw the runners he approached them with a smile.

  “Sorry to have put you to this trouble, brothers,” he said, “I must have done wrong. All right, put the chains round my neck.”

  Not venturing to do this, they replied, “Please just come quietly, sir, and stop joking.”

  Then Lai Wang went to the court and knelt down before the judge, who showed him the charge. He pretended to read it through and then kowtowed.

  “I was in the know about this,” he admitted. “My master did this all right. But this fellow Zhang Hua has a grudge against me, that’s why he’s accused me of being the middleman. Actually, it was someone else. I beg Your Honour to make investigations.”

  Zhang Hua, kowtowing too, said, “That’s true; but it’s someone I dared not mention, that’s why I accused the servant instead.”

  “Silly fool!” Lai Wang made a show of desperation. “Hurry up and come clean. This is a government court. You must name him even if he’s a gentleman.”

  Then Zhang Hua named Jia Rong. And the judge had to have him served with a summons.

  Xifeng had secretly sent Qinger to find out when this summons was issued. Now she promptly called for Wang Xin, explained what had happened, and told him to go and bribe the judge with three hundred taels just to make a display of severity in order to frighten the culprits.

  That evening Wang Xin went to the judge’s house and fixed things up. The judge, knowing the situation, accepted the bribe and the next day announced in court that Zhang Hua was a scoundrel who had trumped up this charge against innocent people because he was in debt to the Jia family. For as this judge was on good terms with Wang Ziteng, after a word in private from Wang Xin he was all for settling the matter without making trouble for the Jias. He therefore said no more, simply detained the plaintiff and the accused and summoned Jia Rong to court.

  Jia Rong was seeing to some business for Jia Zhen when someone brought him word of this charge against him and urged him to think of a way out at once. He made haste to report this to Jia Zhen.

  “I was prepared for this; but that fellow certainly has a nerve!” said Jia Zhen.

  At once he sealed two hundred taels in a packet to be sent to the judge, and ordered a servant to go and answer the charge. As they were discussing their next step, the arrival of Madam Lian from the West Mansion was announced. Both men started and wanted to slip away into hiding, but it was too late—Xifeng had already entered.

  “A fine elder brother you are!” she cried. “A fine thing you got your younger brother to do!”

  Jia Rong hastily stepped forward to pay his respects. Xifeng simply caught hold of him and went on in.

  “Entertain your aunt well,” said Jia Zhen. “Order a good meal for her.” He then called for his horse and made off.

  Xifeng marched Jia Rong towards the inner rooms and Madam You came out to meet her.

  “What’s the matter?” she asked, seeing how furious she looked. “Why this hurry?”

  Xifeng spat in her face.

  “Couldn’t you find husbands for the girls of your You family that you had to smuggle them into the Jia family?” she demanded. “Are all men of the Jias so wonderful? Have all the other men in the world died out? Even if you want to pawn off your sisters, there’s a proper procedure for marriage and it should be announced in a decent way. Have you taken leave of your senses? How could you send her over during a time of state and family mourning? And now that someone’s brought a charge against us, I’m all in a flurry. Even the court thinks me a jealous shrew and has summoned me to stand trial. My name will be mud! And I shall be divorced!

  “What wrong have I done you since I’ve come to this house that you treat me so cruelly? Or did Their Ladyships tip you a hint to trap me like this so as to get rid of me? Let’s go to face the judge now, both of us, to clear this up. Then we can put the case before the whole clan. If they give me a bill of divorce, I’ll leave.”

  Sobbing and storming she caught hold of Madam You, insisting on going to court. Jia Rong knelt in desperation and kowtowed, begging her not to be angry.

  “May lightning blast your skull!” she swore at him. “May five devils tear you apart, you heartless wretch! You fear nothing in heaven or on earth, playing such dirty tricks all the time and doing such shameless, lawless things to ruin our family. Even your dead mother’s spirit will disown you, so will all your ancestors. How dare you appeal to me?”

  After this tearful tirade she raised her hand to strike him. Jia Rong thumped his head on the ground again.

  “Don’t be angry, aunt!” he cried. “Don’t hurt your hand—let me slap myself instead. Please don’t be angry, auntie.”

  He raised his hands and slapped himself on both cheeks.

  “Will you meddle in that thoughtless way again?” he asked himself. “Just listen to your uncle and not to your aunt?”

  All present, repressing smiles, begged him to stop.

  And now Xifeng threw herself into Madam You’s arms to weep and wail, calling on Heaven and Earth.

  “I wouldn’t mind you finding another wife for your brother in-law,” she sobbed. “But why make him flout the Imperial decree and keep it secret from his parents? Why give me a bad name? We must go to find the judge before he sends police and runners to arrest me. After that we must go and see Their Ladyships and call the whole clan together to discuss this. If I’ve acted so badly, refusing to let my husband take a second wife or another concubine, just give me a bill of divorce and I’ll leave at once.

  “Actually, I’ve fetched your sister here myself, but didn’t venture to report it to Their Ladyships for fear they’d be angry. She has maids in the Garden to wait on her hand and foot, and I’ve prepared rooms for her in our place exactly like my own, where I meant to take her as soon as the old lady knew. We could all have settled down then, minding our own business, and I’d have let bygones be bygones. How was I to know that she was engaged to another man before? How was I to know what you’d been up to?

  “Yesterday, hearing that her betrothed had brought a charge against me, I was so desperate that I had to take five hundred taels of the mistress’ silver to use as a bribe; because if I were summoned to court your Jia family would
lose face. And my servant is still locked up by the police.”

  She went on storming and wailing, sobbingly invoking their ancestors and her parents, then tried to dash out her brains and kill herself. Madam You, reduced to a squelch, her clothes covered with tears and snot, could only round on Jia Rong.

  “You degenerate!” she scolded. “You and your father are to blame for this. I warned you against it.”

  Xifeng let out another wail, clasping Madam You’s face between both hands.

  “Were you crazy?” she demanded. “Was your mouth stuffed with eggplant or with a bit and curb, that you couldn’t let me know? If you had, I wouldn’t be in such a fix, with this business so out of hand it’s been taken to court. Yet you’re still trying to shift the blame to them! As the saying goes, ‘A good wife keeps her husband out of trouble—a sound woman counts for more than a sound man.’ If you were any good, how could they do such things? You’re as stupid and dumb as a gourd with its tip sawn off. All you care about, you fool, is getting a name for goodness. So they’re not afraid of you and won’t listen to what you say.” She spat again and again in disgust.

  “That’s how it was, really,” sobbed Madam You. “If you don’t believe me, ask the servants. Of course I tried to stop them—they just wouldn’t listen. So what could I do? I don’t blame you for being angry, sister, but I simply couldn’t help it.”

  The concubines and maids kneeling fearfully round them now pleaded with Xifeng, “You’re so wise and understanding, madam, even if our mistress did wrong you’ve got even with her now. Usually, in front of us slaves, you’re both on the best of terms. So please leave her some face!”

  They brought Xifeng some tea, but she smashed the cup. However, she stopped crying and smoothed her hair.

  “Fetch your father here!” she ordered Jia Rong. “I want to ask him why, with still a fortnight to go before the mourning for the uncle was over, he let the nephew take a wife. I’ve never heard of such a thing! I must learn the rules of propriety from him so as to pass them on later to the young people.”

  Still on his knees, Jia Rong kowtowed and protested, “This had nothing to do with my parents. It was I who put my uncle up to it—I must have eaten some shit. My father knew nothing about it. He’s gone now to prepare for the funeral procession. If you make a scene, aunt, it will be the death of me. Whatever punishment you impose I’ll accept it, but for pity’s sake settle this court case—it’s too serious for me to handle. You’re so intelligent you know the saying: ‘If your arm is broken, hide it in your sleeve.’ I was an utter fool. As I’ve done such a despicable thing, I’m just like a cat or a dog. Now that you’ve given me this lesson, auntie, do please do your best to settle this with the court. Though I’ve been so undutiful and wronged you, aunt, by causing all this trouble, what else can I do but beg you to take pity on me!” He went on kowtowing as if he would never stop.

  The behaviour of mother and son made it hard for Xifeng to go on storming at them. She had to adopt a different attitude now.

  Apologizing to Madam You she said, “I’m too young and inexperienced. When I heard the case had been taken to court, I was frightened out of my wits. How could I have been so rude to you just now, sister! Still, Rong is right: ‘If your arm is broken, hide it in your sleeve.’ You must forgive me. And please ask Cousin Zhen to lose no time in settling this lawsuit.”

  “Don’t worry,” Madam You and Jia Jung assured her.

  “Uncle won’t be involved at all,” added Jia Rong. “You said just now you’d spent five hundred taels, aunt. Of course we’ll get together that sum and send it over to make it up to you. How can we make you out of pocket over us? That would be even more outrageous. But one thing, aunt, will you help see to it that no word of this reaches Their Ladyships?”

  Xifeng smiled sarcastically at Madam You.

  “First you stab me in the back and now you ask me to hush it us for you! I may be a fool but I’m not all that foolish. Your cousin happens to be my husband, sister. If you were worried because he had no son, wouldn’t I be still more worried? I look on your younger sister as my own sister. When I heard about this I was too excited to sleep and made my people get ready rooms at once, to fetch her in to live with up. Actually the servants had more sense: they said, ‘You’re too kind-hearted, madam. It seems to us it would be better to wait till you’ve reported this to Their Ladyships and see what they have to say.’ That made me rage at them, so they said no more.

  “But nothing worked out as I wanted. Like a slap in the face or a bolt from the blue came this suit brought by Zhang Hua. I had to beg people to find out who this Zhang Hua was, that he had such a nerve; and two days later I was told he was a rascally beggar. Being young and ignorant, I laughed and asked what he’d accused us of. The servants told me, ‘The new mistress was engaged to him. Now he’s desperate, liable to starve of freeze to death anyway, so he’s seized on this chance. Even if he dies for it, it’s a better bet than dying of hunger and cold; so how can you blame him? After all, the master acted too hastily and was guilty of two offences by marrying during state mourning and family mourning. He was wrong, too, to keep it a secret from his parents and to take a new wife without his wife’s consent. As the proverb says, “One who will risk being sliced to pieces dare unsaddle the Emperor.” A man so desperately poor will go to any lengths. He’s in the right too, so why not make an indictment?”

  “So you see, sister, even if I’d been as wise as Han Xin or Zhang Liang,’ such talk would have frightened me out of my wits. Besides, with my husband away, I had no one to consult; I could only try to patch things up with money. Yet the more I gave him, the more I was at his mercy and the more he blackmailed me. But how much can he squeeze out of me? No more than from a pimple on a rat’s tail. That’s why I panicked and flew into such a rage that I came looking for you...”

  Not waiting for her to finish, Madam You and her son said, “Don’t worry. We’ll see to it.”

  Jia Rong added, “It’s Zhang Hua’s poverty that’s made him so reek less he’s risked his life to indict us. I know what to do. Promise him some money and get him to admit that he brought a false accusation; then we can settle the business. When he comes out, we’ll give him some more silver and that will be that.”

  “What a clever boy!” said Xifeng derisively. “No wonder that you did this thing with no thought of the consequences. How stupid you are! Suppose he agreed to what you proposed and got money from us after the case was settled, of course that would be that—for the time being. But as such people are rascals, as soon as that silver was spent he’d start blackmailing us again. If he made further trouble what should we do? We may not be afraid of him, still it’s something to worry about. And he can always say if we hadn’t wronged him why should we give him money?”

  Jia Rong had sense enough to understand this.

  He said with a smile, “Well, I have another plan. Since I caused the trouble it’s up to me to fix it. I’ll go and sound Zhang Hua out. Does he want her back, or will he give her up and settle for money with which he can marry another girl? If he insists on having her, I’ll go and persuade my second aunt to leave here and marry him; if he wants money, we shall have to give him some.”

  “That’s all very well,” said Xifeng hastily. “I certainly don’t want her to leave us, and I certainly won’t let her. If you’ve any feeling for me, nephew, just give him a bigger sum in settlement.”

  Jia Rong knew very well that in spite of Xifeng’s protestations she really wanted to get rid of Second Sister and was only posing as broad-minded. He had to agree, however, to whatever she said, at which she looked delighted.

  “The problem outside is easy to handle, but what about the arrangement at home?” Xifeng now asked. “You must come back with me to report this.”

  This threw Madam You into another panic. She begged Xifeng to make up some story for her.

  “If you can’t talk your way out, why do this in the first place?” asked Xifeng sarcastical
ly. “I’ve no patience with the way you’re carrying on. But it wouldn’t be like me to refuse to find a way out for you, as I’m so soft-hearted that even when people trick me I still act like a fool. All right then, I’ll see to this. Both of you keep out of it.

  “I’ll take your sister to pay her respects to Their Ladyships, and tell them that I took a fancy to her, and because I have no son I was thinking of buying a couple of concubines. Finding your sister so charming, and as we’re relatives too, I wanted her to be Lian’s second wife. But because her parents and sister had died recently and she was finding it hard to manage, with no home of her own, how could she possibly wait till after the full hundred days’ mourning? So I decided to bring her into our house, and I’ve made the side rooms ready for her to stay in for the time being. Once the mourning is over she can live with my husband.

  “I shall brazen it out somehow in my shameless way. If anyone is blamed it won’t be you. What do you think of this plan?”

  Madam You and Jia Rong responded, “It’s most generous and kind of you. How clever you are! Once it’s settled, we’ll certainly both come to thank you.”

  Madam You ordered her maids to help Xifeng wash her face and comb her hair. Then the table was spread and she herself served the wine and food. Before long, however, Xifeng rose to go.

  She went to the Garden and told Second Sister what had happened, explaining how worried she had been, how she had ascertained the facts, and what would have to be done to keep them all out of trouble. She promised to get them out of the dilemma.

  To know what her plans really were, read the next chapter.

  Chapter 69

  Crafty Xifeng Kills Her Rival by Proxy

  Second Sister Swallows Gold and Dies

  Unable to express all her gratitude, Second Sister went off with Xifeng. And propriety required Madam You to accompany them to report to the old lady.

  “You needn’t say anything.” Xifeng assured her, “Leave all the talking to me.”