A Dream of Red Mansion

by Cao Xueqin

  “Won’t you let us drink a cup in peace, young master?” she protested. “Why come and disturb us?”

  “It’s true,” he insisted. “The old lady wants you there. This isn’t my doing.”

  Yuanyang had to tell the others, “Just go on drinking, I’ll be back before long.” With that she rejoined the old lady.

  “So here you are, eh?” said the Lady Dowager. “We want to play drinking games.”

  “I came because Master Bao told me you wanted me, madam. What game would you like to play?”

  “Those literary games are terribly dull, but rowdy ones are no good either. You must think of something fresh.”

  After a moment’s reflection Yuanyang said, “Aunt Xue at her age doesn’t like to cudgel her brains, so why don’t we fetch the dice-pot and toss for the names of melodies, making the losers drink?”

  “Very well.” The old lady sent for the dice-pot and had it put on the table.

  “We’ll throw four dice,” Yuanyang announced, “Anyone who fails to produce a name must drink one cup as forfeit. If a name is thrown, the others will have to drink according to the pips.”

  “That sounds simple,” said the rest. “We’ll do as you say.”

  They made Yuanyang drink a cup and toss to see who should start, counting from herself—and it happened to be Aunt Xue, who threw four ones.

  “The name for this,” said Yuanyang, “is ‘The Four Elders of Shangshan.’ Those getting on in years should drink.” This meant the old lady, Aunt Li, Lady Xing and Lady Wang. But as the old lady raised her cup Yuanyang continued, “Since Aunt Xue threw this, she must give the name of a melody corresponding to it, and the one whose turn is next must follow with a line of poetry. The forfeit if either of them fails is one cup.”

  “You’re having me on!” objected Aunt Xue. “How can I possibly answer?”

  “It’s too tame if you don’t,” said the Lady Dowager, “so better make a try. It’s my turn next, and if I can’t think of a line I’ll drink with you.”

  Then Aunt Xue said, “The melody’s called Retreating into Flowers as Old Age Approaches.”

  The old lady nodded and quoted:

  “Men may say that in idle moments I ape children.”

  Then the dice-pot was passed to Li Wen, who tossed two fours and two twos.

  Yuanyang said, “This has a name too. It’s ‘Liu Zhen and Yuan Zhao Go to Mount Tiantai.’“

  Li Wen named the melody Two Scholars Go to Peach-blossom Stream, and Li Wan who was next to her quoted:

  “Finding Peach-blossom Stream to escape from Qin.”

  All took a sip of wine, after which the dice-pot went to the old lady, who tossed two twos and two threes. “I suppose I shall have to drink,” she said.

  But Yuanyang told her, “There’s a name for this: ‘The Swallow on the River Leads Its Fledgelings.’ Everybody has to drink.”

  “Many of the fledgelings have flown,” began Xifeng, when glances from the others silenced her.

  “Well, what shall I say?” the old lady went on. “The Grandfather Leads His Grandchildren.”

  Li Qi, the next, quoted:

  “Idly watching children catching willow-catkins.”

  And this won general approval.

  Baoyu was eager to try his hand but had to wait for his turn. While he was thinking the pot was set before him and he threw one two, two threes and a single one. He asked, “What is this called?”

  Yuanyang smiled and replied, “It’s no good. Drink up and throw again.”

  This time he threw two threes and two fours.

  “This is called ‘Zhang Chang Paints His Wife’s Eyebrows,’“ Yuanyang announced.

  Baoyu knew that she was teasing, and Baochai blushed scarlet. But Xifeng, not catching on, urged him, “Answer quickly, Cousin Bao, so that we can pass on to the next.”

  He gave up then, saying sheepishly, “I’ll pay the forfeit. There’s no one after me either.”

  Then the dice-pot went to Li Wan who made her toss.

  Yuanyang said, “You’ve thrown ‘The Twelve Girls with Golden Hairpins.’“

  Baoyu at once hurried over to have a look and saw that half the pips were red, half green. “Very pretty!” he exclaimed. Suddenly recalling his dream of twelve girls he went back to his seat in a daze. “Those twelve girls were supposed to be from Jinling,” he mused. “How is it that of all those in our family only these few are left?” Seeing Xiangyun and Baochai there but not Daiyu, he felt tears well up in his eyes and, to escape detection, excused himself on the pretext that he was hot and wanted to take off some clothes. Xiangyun, who noticed him slip away, supposed that he was sulking because he had tossed less successfully than the rest. She was rather vexed herself too because the game was so dull.

  Then Li Wan said, “I’m stumped. There are people missing too. I’d better pay the forfeit.”

  “This game isn’t much fun, let’s give it up,” suggested the old lady. “Let Yuanyang have a try. See what she gets.”

  A young maid put the dice-pot before Yuanyang, who did as she was told, throwing two twos and one five. While the fourth dice was still rolling in the pot she cried. “Not a five!” But a five it was. “Too bad!” she exclaimed. “I’ve lost.”

  “Doesn’t this count as anything?” asked the old lady. “Well, it has a name, but I can’t think what melody goes with it.”

  “Tell me its name and I’ll think up something for you.”

  “It’s ‘Water-weeds Swept by Waves.’“

  “That’s not difficult. Here you are: Autumn Fish Amid Caltrops.”

  Xiangyun who came next recited:

  “I sang white water-weeds on the southern river in autumn.”

  “Very apt,” approved the others.

  “This game’s finished. Let’s drink a few cups, then have rice,” proposed the Lady Dowager, then noticed that the place beside her was empty. “Where has Baoyu gone? Why isn’t he back yet?” she asked.

  Yuanyang told her he had gone to change his clothes.

  “Who went with him?”

  Yinger stepped forward to report, “When I saw Master Bao going out I told Sister Xiren to go with him.”

  Their Ladyships felt reassured, but after waiting for a while Lady Wang sent a young maid in search of him. She went to the bridal chamber where Wuer was setting out candles.

  “Where is Master Bao?” asked the maid.

  “Over with the old lady, drinking.”

  “I’ve just come from there, sent by Her Ladyship to find him. If he were there, why should she send me?”

  “In that case I don’t know where he is,” said Wuer. “You’d better try somewhere else.”

  On her way back the maid met Qiuwen. “Have you seen Master Bao?” she asked her.

  “I’m looking for him too,” was the reply. “The mistresses are waiting for him to start dinner. Wherever can he have got to? Hurry back and tell the old lady, not that he’s not at home but that he’s feeling out of sorts after drinking and doesn’t want any food. After resting for a little he’ll rejoin them. He hopes Their Ladyships will start without him.”

  The young maid ran meekly off to give this message to Zhenzhu, who reported it to the Lady Dowager.

  “He never eats much,” the old lady said. “So missing a meal doesn’t matter. Tell him to have a good rest and not to trouble to come back today as we have his wife here instead.”

  Zhenzhu asked the younger maid, “Did you hear that?”

  Replying in the affirmative and not liking to tell them the truth, the girl went out for a stroll then came back to report that she had delivered this message. The others paid no attention and after their meal broke up into groups to chat. But enough of this.

  Baoyu who had left the feast in a fit of distress was at a loss what to do. Xiren overtook him to ask what was amiss.

  “Nothing,” he answered. “I’m just bored. While they’re drinking, suppose we stroll over to Madam You’s place.”

  “S
he’s with the old lady,” Xiren pointed out. “How can you call on her?”

  “I’m not thinking of calling on anyone, just of seeing what her place is like.”

  Xiren had to follow him, chatting as they made their way to Madam You’s lodge, near which they saw a small gate left ajar. Instead of going in, Baoyu accosted two matrons in charge of the Garden who were sitting on the threshold gossiping.

  “Is this small gate always open?” he asked.

  “No, it’s usually kept shut,” they answered. “Today, hearing that the old lady might be wanting fruit from the Garden, we opened it in readiness.”

  He strolled over and looked at the half open gate. Before he could step through it Xiren stopped him.

  “Don’t go in there,” she warned. “The Garden’s unclean after being deserted for so long, and you might see another apparition.”

  Rather tipsily he boasted, “I’m not afraid of such things!”

  Xiren tried hard to restrain him, but the old women butted in, “This Garden’s been quiet ever since the priests haled off the evil spirits that day, and we often go in alone to pick flowers or fruit. If Master Bao wants to go in we’ll keep him company. There’s safety in numbers!”

  Baoyu was pleased and Xiren, unable to stop him, had to go along with them.

  When Baoyu stepped into the Garden, it struck him as a scene of desolation. The plants were withering, and the paint was flaking off the lodges in various places. In the distance, however, he saw a clump of bamboo which was still luxuriant. After a second’s thought he said, “Since moving out of the Garden because of my illness, I’ve been living in the back and haven’t been allowed to come here for months. How quickly the place has run wild! Look, the only green things left are those bamboos. Isn’t that Bamboo Lodge?”

  “After a few months away, you’ve even lost your bearings,” Xiren told him. “We were so busy chatting, you didn’t notice passing Happy Red Court.” She turned and pointed behind. “Bamboo Lodge is over there.”

  He looked in the direction in which she was pointing. “Have we really passed it?” he asked dubiously. “Let’s go back and have a look.”

  “It’s getting late, time to go home. The old lady must be waiting for you to start dinner.”

  Baoyu made no answer but found the path and walked on. You may wonder, Reader, how he could possibly have forgotten the way, even after an absence of nearly a year. The fact is that Xiren had tried to fob him off for fear that the sight of Bamboo Lodge, reminding him of Daiyu, would distress him again. When she saw him heading straight there and was afraid that he might be bewitched, she had pretended that they had passed the place. But Baoyu had set his heart on visiting Bamboo Lodge. He strode swiftly ahead and she had to follow him, till he froze in his tracks as if watching or listening to something.

  “Do you hear anything?” she asked.

  “Is there anybody staying in Bamboo Lodge?”

  “I shouldn’t think so.”

  “I distinctly heard sobbing inside, so there must be someone.”

  “That’s just your imagination. Because you often used to come here before and find Miss Lin weeping.”

  Baoyu did not believe her and wanted to go closer to hear better.

  The matrons overtaking them urged, “Better go back, Master Bao. It’s growing dark. Other places aren’t scary, but this is out of the way and they say that since Miss Lin’s death weeping has often been heard here, so everybody gives the place a wide berth.”

  Baoyu and Xiren were startled.

  “So it’s true!” he exclaimed, shedding tears. “Cousin Lin! Cousin Lin! There was nothing the matter with you, but I killed you! Don’t hold it against me—my parents made the decision. It’s not that I was untrue!” Feeling broken-hearted he burst into loud sobbing.

  Xiren was at her wit’s end when Qiuwen and some others hurried towards them.

  “Whatever possessed you?” Qiuwen asked Xiren. “Why bring Master Bao here of all places? Their Ladyships are so frantic, they’ve sent out search parties. Just now someone at the side-gate said the two of you had come here, so frightening Their Ladyships that they lashed out at me and ordered me to bring people here at once. Hurry up and go back!”

  Baoyu was still weeping bitterly. Ignoring his sobs, Xiren and Qiuwen dragged him off, wiping his tears as they told him how worried his grandmother was. He had no choice but to go back.

  To allay the old lady’s anxiety Xiren took him straight to her room, where the others were still waiting.

  “Xiren!” stormed the Lady Dowager. “I entrusted Baoyu to you thinking you had some sense. How could you take him to the Garden today, with him just over his illness? If something had given him a turn and brought on another fit, what should we have done?”

  Not venturing to justify herself, the maid hung her head in silence. Baochai was appalled too by Baoyu’s unhealthy colour, thus it was left to him to exonerate Xiren.

  “What does it matter in broad daylight?” he asked. “It’s so long since I’ve had a stroll in the Garden that I went there after drinking to clear my head. How could anything there possibly give me a turn?”

  Xifeng, who had been so terrified in the Garden, shivered with fright at this. “Cousin Bao’s too reckless!” she cried.

  “Not reckless but loyal,” put in Xiangyun. “He must have gone to find the Hibiscus Spirit, or in search of some other goddess!”

  Baoyu made no reply, and Lady Wang was too worried to get a word out.

  “Did anything frighten you in the Garden?” the old lady asked him. “Well, don’t talk about it now. If you want to stroll there in future, you must take more people with you. If not for this rumpus you made, our party would have broken up long ago. Go and have a good night’s sleep now, everyone, and mind you come early tomorrow. I want to make it up to you all by giving you another day of fun. Don’t let this rumpus he kicked up upset you.”

  Then they all took their leave, Aunt Xue going to spend the night with Lady Wang while Xiangyun stayed with the Lady Dowager, and Yingchun went with Xichun. The others all returned to their own quarters.

  Baoyu, back in his room, heaved sigh after sigh but Baochai, knowing the reason for this, ignored him. However, for fear that his grief might bring back his old illness, she called Xiren into the inner room to ask her just what had happened in the Garden. If you want to know Xiren’s answer, read the next chapter.

  Chapter 109

  Baoyu Waits for a Fragrant Spirit and Wuer Is Loved by Default

  Yingchun Pays Her Mortal Debt and Returns to the Primal Void

  After Baochai had heard Xiren’s story, for fear lest Baoyu should fall ill from grief she spoke to her, as if casually, of Daiyu’s death.

  “People feel for each other while on earth,” she said. “But after death they go their separate ways, no longer the same as in life. Even if the one still living remains fond, the one who is dead can’t know it. Besides, Miss Lin is said to have become an immortal, so to her all men on earth must be unbearably vulgar and she’d never stoop to coming back. To imagine otherwise is to invite evil spirits to take possession of you.”

  Aware that these remarks were intended for Baoyu’s ears, Xiren chimed in, “That’s true, her coming back is out of the question. I was on good terms with her too, so if her spirit were still in the Garden how is it I’ve never seen her once in my dreams?”

  Baoyu eavesdropping outside thought to himself, “Yes, this is strange! Though I’ve thought of her time and again each day since her death, why has she never appeared to me in dreams? She must have gone up to Heaven, I suppose, and because I’m too vulgar to have any communication with the divine I’ve not once dreamed of her. Well, tonight I’ll sleep in the outer room and maybe, now that I’ve visited the Garden, she’ll know my heart and let me dream of her. I must ask her where she’s actually gone and offer regular sacrifices to her. If she’ll really have nothing to do with a lout like me and won’t let me dream of her, then I’ll stop thinking abo
ut her.”

  His mind made up, he announced, “Tonight I’m going to sleep in the outer room, and you can just let me be.”

  Baochai made no attempt to dissuade him, only saying, “Don’t go imagining all sorts of things. Didn’t you see how worried your mother was—too worried to speak—because you went to the Garden? If you don’t look after your health and the old lady hears of it, she’ll blame us for not taking better care of you.”

  “I just said that for fun,” he answered. “I’ll join you after sitting here awhile. You must be tired; you’d better turn in first.”

  Believing him, Baochai prevaricated, “I’ll go to bed and let Xiren wait on you.”

  This was just what Baoyu wanted. After Baochai had retired he told Xiren and Sheyue to make up a bed for him outside, then sent them in several times to see whether she was sleeping yet or not. She pretended that she was, but in fact stayed awake all night.

  When he thought Baochai was asleep he told Xiren, “I want you all to turn in. I’ve stopped feeling upset. If you don’t believe me you can wait till I’ve dropped off before going inside, but mind you don’t disturb me.”

  Xiren helped him to bed, made his tea then went inside, closing the door behind her, to attend to other things, after which she lay down fully dressed, ready to go out if summoned.

  As soon as she had gone, Baoyu dismissed the two matrons who were sitting up to keep watch. Then he quietly sat up to pray below his breath before lying down once more. At first he could not sleep; but once he had calmed himself he dozed off and slept soundly all night, not waking until dawn. He sat up, rubbing his eyes, and thought back— no, he’d had no dream. With a sigh he recited the lines:

  One living and one dead, sundered for years,

  Her spirit never appeared to him in his dreams.’

  Baochai who had passed a sleepless night herself heard this from the inner room. “That’s a wild way to talk!” she called out. “If Cousin Lin were alive she’d take offence again.”