A Dream of Red Mansion

by Cao Xueqin

  In great jubilation the servants at the gate said, “Hand it over and we’ll go and report it for you.”

  The fellow reached in his pocket for the notice, pointing at it for them to see.

  “Wasn’t this put up by your house?” he asked. “It says clearly here that whoever returns the jade will get a reward of ten thousand silver taels. I may look poor now to you gentlemen, but once I have that silver I shall be rich; so don’t be so high-handed!”

  He spoke with such confidence that the gateman answered, “Well then, just show me the jade so that I can report this for you.”

  At first the man was unwilling, but on second thoughts he produced the jade and displayed it in the palm of one hand.

  “Isn’t this it?” he demanded.

  These servants on duty at the gate all knew of the jade, but this was their first close look at it. They hurried in, eager to be the first with this good news. That day Jia Zheng and Jia She were out. Only Jia Lian was at home.

  Hearing this report, he asked, “Is it genuine?”

  “We’ve seen it for ourselves,” the servants answered. “But he won’t give it to us underlings. He wants to see one of the masters, to hand over the jade to him in exchange for the money.”

  Jia Lian hastened in happily to report this to Lady Wang who then told the old lady, so delighting Xiren that she clasped her hands together, invoking Buddha. And the Lady Dowager was as good as her word.

  “Tell Lian to ask that man to wait in the study while he brings the jade here,” she said. “Once we’ve seen it we’ll give him the silver.”

  Jia Lian accordingly invited the fellow in, treating him as a guest and thanking him profusely.

  “I would like to take this jade in to show the young master himself,” he said: “Then we’ll give you your full reward.”

  The man handed him a red silk wrapper. Jia Lian opened it and saw indeed a fine translucent jade. He had paid scant attention to Baoyu’s jade before and now took a good look, a careful scrutiny disclosing the inscription “warding off evil.” Overjoyed, he ordered servants to wait on the visitor, then hurried in to let the old lady and Lady Wang identify the stone.

  By now everyone was agog to see the jade. As soon as Jia Lian came in Xifeng snatched it from him and, not venturing to examine it herself, presented it to the old lady.

  Jia Lian chuckled, “So even over a trifle like this, you won’t let me take the credit!”

  When the Lady Dowager unwrapped the jade, it struck her as much more opaque than before. She rubbed it with her fingers while Yuanyang fetched her spectacles and, putting them on, she scrutinized the stone.

  “That’s odd!” she exclaimed. “This is the jade all right, but how is it that it’s lost all its former lustre?”

  Lady Wang examined it for some time but could not give a positive opinion. She told Xifeng to have a look.

  “It resembles it, but the colour’s not quite right,” Xifeng observed. “Better let Baoyu look at it himself, then we shall know.”

  Xiren beside her also had her doubts, but in her eagerness to have the stone prove authentic she did not express them. Xifeng took the jade from the old lady and went in with Xiren to show it to Baoyu, who had just woken from a nap.

  “Here’s your jade,” Xifeng told him.

  Baoyu, his eyes still blurred from sleep, took the jade and without so much as looking at it threw it on the ground.

  “You’re trying to fool me again,” he said with a cynical smile.

  Xifeng hastily picked up the jade, protesting, “Strange! How can you tell without even looking at it?”

  Baoyu said nothing, just smiled.

  Lady Wang had come in too and seeing this she said, “It goes without saying he must know, as that strange jade came from the womb with him. This one must be a counterfeit made from the description in the notice.”

  Then the truth dawned on everyone.

  “If it’s a fake, give it to me and I’ll ask him how he dare play such tricks,” cried Jia Lian, who had overheard this from the outer room.

  But the old lady remonstrated, “Just return it to him, Lian, and let him go. The poor devil must have been trying to capitalize on this trouble in our family; but now he’s spent money on making this for nothing and we’ve seen through his trick. In my view we shouldn’t make things hard for him. Just return him the jade saying that it isn’t ours and give him a few taels. Then when outsiders hear of it, if they pick up some clues they’ll be willing to let us know; whereas if we punish this fellow, then even if the genuine jade is found no one will dare bring it to us.”

  Jia Lian agreed to this and withdrew. The man after his long wait was already somewhat apprehensive, and now he saw Jia Lian come out in a towering rage. But to know what happened next, read the following chapter.

  Chapter 96

  Xifeng Withholds Information and Lays a Cunning Plan

  Disclosure of a Secret Deranges Daiyu

  Jia Lian stormed to the study with the counterfeit jade, and when the man there saw how angry he looked his heart misgave him. He hastily rose to greet him, but before he could speak Jia Lian laughed scornfully.

  “Of all the gall!” he swore. “You scoundrel! What place is this that you dare play such devilish tricks here?”

  He called for servants. Those outside answered his summons with a shout like thunder.

  “Get ropes and tie him up,” ordered Jia Lian. “We’ll report this to the master on his return and send this rogue to the yamen.”

  “Very good, sir!” chorused the servants, but made no move.

  Nearly paralysed with fright by this show of power, the fellow knew that there was no escape and dropping to his knees kowtowed to Jia Lian.

  “Don’t be angry, Your Lordship!” he begged. “It’s because I was driven to it by poverty that I thought up this shameless scheme. I borrowed money to get that jade made,, but I won’t venture to ask for it back—I’ll give it as a plaything to your young masters.” He kowtowed again and again.

  “You stupid fool!” Jia Lian spat out. “Who in this mansion wants your trash?”

  At this point Lai Da came in. With a smile he urged Jia Lian, “Don’t be angry, sir. This wretch isn’t worth it. Let him off and send him packing.”

  “It’s disgraceful!” Jia Lian fumed.

  So Lai Da took a soft line, Jia Lian a hard one, until the servants outside called, “You stupid cur! Hurry up and kowtow to the master and Mr. Lai, then clear off. Are you waiting to be kicked out?”

  Then he hastily kowtowed twice and slunk away. But this counterfeiting of Baoyu’s jade became the talk of the town.

  When Jia Zheng returned that day from his round of calls, as the matter was done with and they were afraid to enrage him during the Lantern Festival, no one reported it to him. Yuanchun’s funeral had kept them busy for some time and now, with Baoyu ill, although there were the usual family feasts the whole household was in low spirits and nothing noteworthy happened.

  By the seventeenth of the first month Lady Wang was looking forward to her brother Wang Ziteng’s arrival when Xifeng came in with bad news.

  “Today the Second Master heard outside that uncle was travelling here posthaste, and was only two hundred li or so away when he died on the road!” she cried. “Did you here this, madam?”

  “Not I!” exclaimed Lady Wang in consternation. “The master said nothing about it last night either. Where did this news come from?”

  “The house of Chancellor Zhang.”

  Lady Wang was speechless, in tears.

  Presently, wiping her eyes, she said, “Get Lian to check up on it and let me know.”

  Xifeng went off to do this.

  Lady Wang had been reduced to weeping in secret as she mourned her daughter and worried over Baoyu, and now this third misfortune in swift succession was more than she could bear—she came down with colic. Moreover, Jia Lian confirmed that the news was true.

  “Uncle was worn out by travelling so fast and
he caught a chill,” he told her. “When he reached Shihtun a doctor was sent for, but unfortunately that place has no good doctors. The wrong medicine was prescribed and one dose killed him. We don’t know whether his family has arrived there or not.”

  Lady Wang’s heart ached at this news, aggravating her pains. Unable to remain seated, she made Caiyun and others help her on to the kang, then speaking with an effort told Jia Lian to report this to Jia Zheng. “Make ready to go there at once to help see to things,” she said. “Then come straight back to let us know about it, to set your wife’s mind at rest.”

  Unable to refuse, Jia Lian had to take his leave of Jia Zheng and set off.

  Jia Zheng, who had heard the news earlier, was thoroughly disconcerted, knowing also that Baoyu since losing his jade had grown feebleminded and no medicine would cure him, while now Lady Wang was ill too.

  That year the records of officials in the capital were examined, and the Ministry of Works ranked Jia Zheng as first class. In the second month, the Minister of Civil Affairs took him to an audience at court and the Emperor, in recognition of his frugality and circumspection, appointed him Grain Commissioner of Jiangxi. That same day, giving thanks for this favour, he reported to the throne the date of his departure. Kinsmen and friends came to offer congratulations, but disturbed as he was by his domestic problems Jia Zheng was in no mood to entertain them. Still he dared not postpone his journey.

  He was in a quandary when he received a summons from the old lady and, hastening to her room, found his wife there too in spite of her illness. He paid his respects to his mother, who told him to take a seat.

  “You will soon be going to your new post,” she said tearfully. “There is much I want to say to you, but will you listen?”

  Jia Zheng promptly rose to his feet.

  “Just give me your orders, madam. How dare your son disobey them?”

  “I’m eighty-one this year, yet you’re going to post in the provinces,” she sobbed. “You can’t ask for compassionate leave either, as you have an elder brother at home to take care of me. Once you’re gone, there’ll be only Baoyu here that I care for, but the poor boy’s losing his mind and we don’t know what will become of him! Yesterday I sent Lai Sheng’s wife to get someone to tell Baoyu’s fortune. She found a very clever fortune-teller who said, ‘He must marry a bride with gold in her stars to help counteract his bad luck; otherwise there’ll probably be no saving him.’ I know you don’t believe in such things, so I’ve asked you here to consult you. Your wife is here too, so the two of you can talk it over. Should we try to save Baoyu? Or let things take their course?”

  Jia Zheng answered submissively, “You were so good to your son, madam, do you think I don’t love my son too? It’s only because Baoyu made so little progress that I was often exasperated with him—just a case of wanting to ‘turn iron into steel.’ If you wish him to take a wife, as is right and proper, how could I disobey you and show no concern for him? I am worried too by his illness. Since you kept him away from me I dared not object; but can I not see for myself just how ill he is?”

  Lady Wang saw that the rims of his eyes had reddened and knew how distressed he was. She therefore told Xiren to bring Baoyu in. When the boy saw his father, prompted by Xiren he paid his respects; but with his emaciated face and his lack-lustre eyes he looked like a moron. Jia Zheng told them to take him back.

  He reflected, “I’m nearing sixty, and now I’m posted to the provinces with no knowing when I shall come back. If this child really doesn’t recover, I shall be left heirless in my old age; for my grandson, after all, is another generation removed. Besides, Baoyu is the old lady’s favourite: if anything happens to him, I shall be guilty of a greater crime.” He saw from his wife’s tears how this must affect her too.

  Rising to his feet he said, “Old as you are, madam, you show such concern for your grandson, how can I, your son, disobey you? I shall fall in with whatever you think best. But will Aunt Xue agree to this, I wonder?”

  “She gave her consent some time ago,” Lady Wang told him. “We haven’t spoken of it yet simply because Pan’s business still isn’t settled.”

  “This is the first problem,” he answered. “With her brother in jail, how can his sister get married? In the second place, although an Imperial Consort’s death does not preclude marriages, Baoyu should mourn for nine months for a married sister, and this is hardly the time for him to take a wife. Furthermore, the date of my departure has already been reported to the throne, and I cannot postpone it. How are we to arrange a wedding in these few days?”

  The old lady thought, “He’s right. But if we wait till these are no longer problems, Baoyu’s father will be gone, and what shall we do if his illness gets steadily worse? We shall just have to disregard certain rules of etiquette.”

  Her mind made up she said, “If you’re willing, I know of a way to get round these obstacles. I shall go myself with your wife to ask Aunt Xue’s consent. As for Pan, I’ll get Ke to tell him that we have to do this to save Baoyu’s life, and then he’s bound to agree. Of course it wouldn’t do to have a real marriage while in mourning, and Baoyu is too ill for that anyway—we just want a happy event to ward off evil. As both our families agree and there was that prediction about the young people’s ‘gold’ and ‘jade,’ there’s no need to compare their horoscopes; we’ll just select a good date to exchange gifts according to our family status. Then we’ll choose a day for the wedding, not engaging musicians but following the example of the Palace, fetching the bride over in a sedan-chair with eight bearers and twelve pairs of lanterns. They can bow to each other as is done in the south, then sit down on the bed and let down the curtains, and won’t that count as a wedding?

  “Baochai’s so intelligent, we don’t have to worry. Besides, he has Xiren in his chambers as well, and so much the better, as she’s another reliable, sensible girl who knows how to reason with him. She and Baochai get on well too.

  “Another thing. Aunt Xue once told me, ‘A monk said that Baochai with her golden locket is destined to marry someone with jade.’ So for all we know, once she marries into our household her gold locket may bring the jade back. Then he should get steadily better, and wouldn’t that be a blessing for us all?

  “All that needs to be done straight away is to get their rooms ready and furnished—it’s for you to assign them a place. We won’t give any feasts, but wait till Baoyu’s better and out of mourning before inviting relatives and friends. In this way we can manage everything in time, and you can leave with an easy mind, having seen the young couple settled.”

  Jia Zheng though averse to this could not gainsay his mother. Forcing a smile he said, “You have thought it out well and that would be most fitting, madam. We must order the servants, though, not to noise this abroad or we should be censured for it. I’m only afraid Aunt Xue’s family may not agree. If they really do, we must manage it your way.”

  “Just leave Aunt Xue to me,” she said, then dismissed him.

  Jia Zheng withdrew feeling thoroughly uneasy. He had so much to do before going to his post, what with fetching credentials from the ministry, receiving relatives and friends who came with recommendations and entertaining a host of other people, that he left the arrangements for Baoyu’s wedding to his mother, wife and Xifeng. All he did was to assign his son a side-court with more than twenty rooms in it, adjacent to Lady Wang’s house behind the Hall of Glorious Felicity. When the old lady sent him word of some decision, he simply replied, “Very good.” But this is anticipating.

  After Baoyu had seen his father, Xiren helped him back to the kang in the inner room. Since Jia Zheng was outside, no one ventured to speak to Baoyu, who dozed off and thus heard nothing of the conversation in the outer room. However, Xiren, keeping quiet, heard it clearly. Talk of this had reached her before, though only as hearsay, yet she tended to believe it in view of the fact that Baochai’s visits had stopped. This confirmation today delighted her.

  “The mistresses c
ertainly have good judgement,” she thought. “This is just the match for him. And what luck for me too! If she comes, my load will be ever so much lighter. But he’s set his heart on Miss Lin, so it’s a blessing that he didn’t hear this. If he had, Heaven knows how wildly he’d carry on!” This set her worrying.

  “What shall I do?” she wondered. “Their Ladyships have no idea of their feelings for each other. They may be so pleased that they tell him, in the hope of curing him. Then suppose he acts the way he did when he first met Miss Lin and tried to smash his jade; or that summer in the Garden, when he mistook me for her and poured out his love; or when Zijuan teased him later, and he nearly cried himself to death? If they tell him now that he’s to have not Miss Lin but Miss Baochai, it may not matter if his wits are wandering; but if he’s fairly lucid, far from curing his madness it may hasten his death. Unless I explain this to them I may ruin three lives!”

  Having reached this resolve she waited till Jia Zheng had gone, then leaving Baoyu in the care of Qiuwen she slipped out and quietly asked Lady Wang to go with her to the back room. The Lady Dowager paid little attention, assuming that there was something Baoyu wanted, and went on considering the gifts and arrangements for the wedding.

  Once in the back room with Lady Wang, Xiren threw herself on her knees and burst into tears.

  Lady Wang pulled her up and asked in surprise, “What’s come over you? What’s the trouble? Get up and tell me.”

  “This is something a slave shouldn’t say, but I see no other way out!”

  “Well, take your time and tell me.”

  “Your Ladyships have decided to marry Miss Baochai to Baoyu, and of course nothing could be better. All I’m wondering, madam, is this: which of the two, Miss Baochai and Miss Lin, do you think Baoyu prefers?”

  “As he and Miss Lin were together as children, he’s slightly fonder of her.”

  “Not just ‘slightly fonder,’“ Xiren demurred, going on to cite examples of their behaviour. “Except for the avowal he made that summer, which I’ve never dared tell anyone, you saw the other instances yourself, madam,” she concluded.