by Cao Xueqin
“Wasn’t Miaoyu in our Green Lattice Nunnery kidnapped? Could she be the girl who was killed?”
“Yes, it must be her!” said Jia Huan.
“How do you know?” they asked him.
“That creature Miaoyu was disgusting, the airs she gave herself! She was all smiles to Baoyu, yet never cast so much as a glance at me. If it turns out to be her I’ll be only too glad!”
“Women are being kidnapped all the time. This doesn’t have to be her.”
“There’s some indication that it is,” said Jia Yun. “The other day we heard that her serving-woman dreamed that she saw Miaoyu murdered.”
The others chuckled, “A dream doesn’t count!”
“Never mind about her dream,” said Uncle Xing. “Let’s have supper now. We must play for high stakes tonight.”
The rest were willing and after their meal started betting heavily. They were still at it after midnight when they heard a clamour from the inner apartments.
A servant reported, “Miss Xichun has quarrelled with Madam You, then cut off all her hair and rushed to kowtow to Their Ladyships, begging them to let her enter a nunnery and threatening that if they won’t she’ll kill herself on the spot. Their Ladyships don’t know what to do and want Master Qiang and Master Yun to go in.”
Jia Yun knew that Xichun had taken this into her head when left in charge of the house, and they had little chance of dissuading her. He proposed to Jia Qiang, “Though Their Ladyships have sent for us we can’t—and indeed we shouldn’t—make any decisions. We’ll have to try to talk her round and, failing that, leave it to them to decide. After discussing it we can write to report this to Uncle Lian so that we won’t be held responsible.”
Having agreed on this they went inside to see Their Ladyships, and made a show of dissuading Xichun. She, however, was determined to renounce the world and begged them, if they would not let her leave, to give her a couple of clean rooms in which she could chant sutras and worship Buddha. Since the two young men were unwilling to make a decision and Xichun might really commit suicide, Madam You had to decide the matter herself.
“All right,” she announced. “I’ll take the blame. We’ll just say that I couldn’t stand my young sister-in-law and forced her to become a nun. Of course we mustn’t let news of this get out. Here at home, with Their Ladyships as witnesses, let me take the responsibility. Qiang will have to write to Master Zhen and your Uncle Lian.”
The two young men assented. To know whether Their Ladyships agreed or not, you must read the next chapter.
Chapter 118
A Disgruntled Uncle and Cousin Delude a Helpless Girl
Alarmed by His Cryptic Talk Wife and Concubine Reprove Their Witless Husband
Madam You had convinced Their Ladyships that Xichun’s case was hopeless.
“If you’re set on worshipping Buddha,” said Lady Wang, “it must be predestined and we really can’t stop you. It doesn’t seem proper, though, for a girl from a family like ours to become a nun. Now your sister-in-law has agreed to it and your piety is commendable, but I’ve one condition to make: Don’t shave your head. So long as you’re sincere, what does your hair matter? Just think of Miaoyu—she became a nun with long hair—but who knows what change of heart she had to come to such a bad end! Since you’re set on this, we’ll count your present quarters as your convent. We’ll also have to question all your maids, and if some are willing to stay with you we won’t find husbands for them; for the rest we’ll make other arrangements.”
At this, Xichun stopped weeping and kowtowed her thanks to Their Ladyships, Li Wan and Madam You.
Then Lady Wang asked Caiping and the other maids, “Which of you want to join in your young lady’s devotions?”
“Whichever of us you choose, madam,” they replied. And, inferring that they were unwilling, she started casting about for someone else.
Xiren Standing behind Baoyu expected him to burst into tears and have another relapse. But to her surprise, upsetting her even more, he simply sighed, “How sublime!”
Though Baochai said nothing, not yet having fathomed his meaning, her heart ached to see him a victim still of delusions. Before Lady Wang could question any more maids, Zijuan came forward and knelt down before her. “Just now you asked who would stay with Miss Xichun,” She said. “Whom do you have in mind, madam?”
“How can I choose anyone against her will?” was Lady Wang’s reply. “If anyone wants to, she can volunteer.”
“Of course Miss Xichun’s doing this of her own free will, but the girls in her service aren’t willing to do the same,” said Zijuan. “I have a request to make, madam. It’s not that I want to separate the other girls from Miss Xichun, but we each have our own ideas. I waited on Miss Lin all that time and Your Ladyship knows how good she was to me. I can truly never repay her tremendous kindness. When she died I longed to follow her to the grave, but as she belonged to another family and I’m a bond-slave of this house I could hardly kill myself. Now that Miss Xichun wants to enter holy orders, I beg Your Ladyships to assign me to wait on her all my life. If you will agree to this, I shall count it my good fortune!”
Before Lady Xing or Lady Wang could answer, Baoyu felt a pang at the thought of Daiyu and shed tears. The others were about to ask the reason when he burst out laughing again.
“It wasn’t my place to propose this,” he said, stepping forward. “But as you assigned Zijuan to my service, madam, I’m emboldened to ask you to agree so that she can realize her aspirations.”
His mother objected, “When Tanchun married you nearly cried your heart out; yet now that Xichun wants to become a nun, instead of trying to dissuade her you approve. What do you mean by this? I can’t understand you.”
“You’ve already agreed to her becoming a nun, and I assume her mind’s made up on the subject. If that’s the case, there’s something I’d like to tell you; but if she hasn’t decided yet I dare not speak out of turn.”
“How ridiculous you are, cousin,” protested Xichun. “If I hadn’t made up my mind, how could I have won round the mistresses? I agree with what Zijuan just said. If you let me have my way I shall count it my good fortune. Otherwise I can always die—I’m not afraid! So just say what you have in mind.”
“It can’t count as disclosing any secret, as this was fated. I’m going to recite you a poem.”
The others expostulated, “Why pester us with your poems when we’re all so upset?”
“It’s not my poem, but one I read somewhere. Listen.”
“All right,” they conceded. “Recite it, but stop talking nonsense.”
Without further argument Baoyu declaimed:
She sees through the transience of spring,
Dark Buddhist robes replace her garments fine;
Pity this child of a wealthy noble house
Who now sleeps alone by the dimly lit old shrine.
Li Wan and Baochai exclaimed, “Oh dear! He’s bewitched.”
Lady Wang, however, nodded and asked with a sigh, “Tell me truly, Baoyu, where you saw this poem?”
Not liking to disclose his dream he answered, “Don’t ask me the place, madam.”
Having digested the meaning she burst out sobbing, “I thought at first you were joking, but then you came out with this poem. All right, I understand. What do you expect me to do? I shall simply have to let you do as you choose; but just wait till I’m dead before you each go your own way!”
Baochai, trying to console her, felt such a stab of anguish that she could not help sobbing too, while Xiren was so prostrated with grief that Qiuwen had to support her. Baoyu neither wept nor attempted to comfort them, simply remaining silent. And at this point Jia Lan and Jia Huan slipped away.
To soothe Lady Wang, Li Wan said, “Baoyu must have been so upset by Xichun’s decision that he started raving. Don’t take his nonsense seriously, madam. Why not give Zijuan an answer, so that she can get up?
“What does my consent count for?” replied Lady Wa
ng. “When someone’s made up her mind there’s no stopping her. As Baoyu said, this was fated.”
Zijuan kowtowed. Xichun also thanked Lady Wang. Then Zijuan kowtowed to Baoyu and Baochai too.
“Amida Buddha! Fine!” cried Baoyu. “You’ve stolen a march on me!”
Baochai, for all her self-control, was finding it hard to bear up. And Xiren despite the presence of Lady Wang sobbed, “I want to be a nun with Miss Xichun too.”
“You mean well,” Baoyu told her gently. “But you’re not fated to enjoy this pure happiness.”
“Do you mean I’m going to die?” she cried.
Grieved as he was for her he could not tell her more, and since it was nearly dawn he urged his mother to rest, whereupon Li Wan and the others dispersed. Caiping escorted Xichun back as usual, but was later married off; and then Zijuan waited on Xichun as long as she lived, without any change of heart. But this is anticipating.
Let us now return to Jia Zheng, who was escorting the old lady’s coffin south. On his way, boatloads of troops withdrawing upstream jammed the river and held him up, much to his anxiety. Luckily he learned from some officials from the coast that the garrison commander there had been recalled to the capital, and it relieved him to think that Tanchun must be going home. However, he was upset, not knowing when she would be starting on her journey. Estimating that his funds would be running out, he had no choice but to write to Magistrate Lai Shangrong, the son of Lai Da, to ask for a loan of five hundred taels of silver, instructing the messenger to overtake him with the requisite sum.
Some days passed, during which his boat proceeded only a few dozen li; then his servant overtook them and, coming aboard, delivered Lai Shangrong’s letter. It pleaded poverty, and the silver sent was a paltry fifty taels.
In a rage Jia Zheng ordered the man, “Take this back at once with his letter, and tell him not to trouble.”
The servant had to go back to Lai Shangrong. Worried by the return of his letter and the silver, and aware that he had bungled things, Lai added another hundred taels and begged the servant to take this back and put in a good word for him. The man refused, however, and left without the money.
Lai Shangrong in dismay at once wrote home to his father, urging him to ask for leave and to buy his freedom. The Lai family requested Jia Qiang and Jia Yun to beg Lady Wang to be kind enough to release him; but Jia Qiang knew that this was out of the question and told them a day later that she had refused. Thereupon Lai Da asked for leave and sent to advise his son to resign on the pretext of illness. Lady Wang, however, knew nothing of all this.
Now Jia Qiang’s lie that Lady Wang had refused to let Lai Da redeem himself had dashed Jia Yun’s hope of bettering his position in the Rong Mansion. While gambling outside he lost heavily for several days in succession and, unable to pay up, applied to Jia Huan for a loan. But Jia Huan had not a cent, having already squandered his mother’s savings, and was unable to help anyone else. Resenting his harsh treatment at Xifeng’s hands, he decided now that Jia Lian was away to vent his spite on Qiaojie, using Jia Yun as his cat’s paw.
He jeered at him, “You’re a grown man, yet for lack of guts you let go a chance to make money, and instead come begging from a pauper like me!”
“That’s ridiculous talk, Third Uncle,” protested Jia Yun. “Being on the spree together all the time, what chance have we to make money?”
“Didn’t someone say the other day that a prince in a border province wants to buy a concubine? Why not discuss this with Uncle Wang and marry Qiaojie off?”
“Don’t take offence, uncle,” retorted Jia Yun. “But if that prince were to buy her, how could he keep on good terms with our family?”
Jia Huan whispered something into his ear, but although Jia Yun nodded he thought this too childish a notion to entertain seriously.
Just then Wang Ren turned up. “What are you two plotting behind my back?” he asked.
Jia Yun told him what Jia Huan had just whispered to him.
Wang Ren clapped his hands crying, “This is a fine idea! There’s money in it! I’m only afraid you won’t be able to pull it off. If you have the nerve to, as her maternal uncle I can authorize it. If Huan will propose it to Lady Xing I’ll have a word with Uncle Xing; then if the other mistresses ask about it you can speak up in favour and it should go through.”
Once they had agreed to this, Wang Ren went to find Uncle Xing while Jia Yun made this proposal—in an embroidered form—to Their Ladyships. Lady Wang was somewhat sceptical, but when Lady Xing heard that her brother approved she sent to sound him out.
Uncle Xing, who had been won round by Wang Ren and hoped to share the proceeds, told his sister, “That prince is most distinguished. If we agree to this match, even though she’s not his principal wife, once she goes to his palace my brother-in-law’s rank is bound to be restored and you’ll be in a good position again.”
Lady Xing had no mind of her own. Taken in by Foolish Uncle’s fabrications she consulted Wang Ren, who gave her even more blarney. Then she sent to urge Jia Yun to make the proposal, and Wang Ren lost no time in despatching a messenger to the prince’s palace.
Not knowing the truth of the matter, the prince ordered some of his household to inspect the girl. Jia Yun informed them, “We’ve kept this secret from most of the family, just telling them that His Highness is proposing marriage. But once it’s settled, as her grandmother approves and the girl’s own uncle is the guarantor, we have nothing to fear.”
When they agreed to this arrangement, he sent word to Lady Xing and reported the proposal to Lady Wang. Li Wan, Baochai and the others who were ignorant of the real facts thought it a good match and were all delighted.
On the appointed day, two ladies in magnificent costumes called. Lady Xing welcomed them in and civilities were exchanged, the visitors treating her with due respect as she was a lady of rank. Since the matter was not yet decided, Lady Xing instead of telling Qiaojie about it sent for her to come and meet some relatives who had called, Qiaojie, too young to suspect anything, came over with her nurse. And Pinger accompanied them as she had certain misgivings. She saw these two visitors dressed like ladies-in-waiting looked Qiaojie over from head to foot, after which they got up and took her hand to examine her once more; then after sitting a little longer they left. Qiaojie, most embarrassed by this scrutiny, went back to her room very puzzled and, not having heard of these relatives before, asked Pinger who they were.
Pinger had more or less guessed from their behaviour that they were looking over a prospective bride; but in Jia Lian’s absence, with Lady Xing in charge, she could not find out which family they came from. Their close scrutiny was uncalled for if it was a match between families of equal status; and the two visitors had not behaved like members of any of the royal households with which the Jias were connected, but rather like provincials. She decided not to tell Qiaojie this but to make certain inquiries, which she did by discreetly questioning the maids and serving-women under her, who told her everything they had heard outside. Pinger was consternated. Though she kept this from Qiaojie, she hurried over to tell Li Wan and Baochai, begging them to inform Lady Wang.
Lady Wang knew that this was a bad business and warned Lady Xing against it; but the latter, taken in by her brother and Wang Ren, suspected Lady Wang’s motives.
“My grand-daughter has reached marriageable age,” she said. “With Lian away the decision is up to me. Besides, her own grand-uncle and maternal uncle have made inquiries, and they must surely know the facts of the case better than other people. So I’m quite willing. If things turn out badly, Lian and I won’t hold anyone else to blame.”
Lady Wang, secretly angered by such talk, forced herself to chat for a while on other matters before going off to confide tearfully to Baochai what had happened.
“Don’t let this upset you, madam,” said Baoyu. “I don’t think it will go through. If it does, it’s Qiaojie’s fate, so you needn’t intervene.”
“You can’t ope
n your mouth without raving!” his mother retorted. “Once the matter is fixed they’ll come and take her away. And then, as Pinger says, won’t your cousin Lian hold me to blame? Not to say that she’s my own grand-niece, even if she were some distant relative we’d want something better for her. We arranged that match between Miss Xing and your cousin Xue Ke, and isn’t it good the way they’re living happily together? Then there’s Baoqin who’s made an excellent marriage into the Mei family, which by all accounts is very comfortably off. As for Xiangyun’s marriage, that was her uncle’s idea and all went well to start with, but now her husband’s died of consumption and she’s made up her mind never to marry again, poor thing. How can I have the heart to let Qiaojie marry into the wrong family?”
As she was talking, Pinger called on Baochai to find out Lady Xing’s intentions, and Lady Wang told her what the latter had said. Pinger, speechless at first, fell on her knees then implored, “Qiaojie’s whole future is in your hands, madam! If we trust them, not only will the girl have a wretched life, but how are we to account for it to Master Lian when he comes home?”
“You’re a sensible girl,” Lady Wang replied. “Get up and listen to me. The Elder Mistress, after all, is Qiaojie’s grandmother. If she decides on this, how am I to stop her?”
Baoyu insisted, “It doesn’t matter, if only you’re clear-headed.”
For fear that in his madness he might disclose her appeal to Lady Wang, Pinger did not remonstrate with him but left soon afterwards.
Lady Wang’s anxiety made her heart palpitate. She told maids to help her to her room to lie down but would not let Baoyu and Baochai attend her, saying, “A little rest will set me right.” However, she was so troubled in her mind that when word was brought that Li Wan’s aunt had called she did not feel up to entertaining her.