The Dream of the Red Chamber (Selection)

by Cao Xueqin

  "Whether willing or not," interposed Hsiao Hung smiling, "such as we couldn't really presume to raise our voices and object. We should feel it our privilege to serve such a one as your ladyship, and learn a little how to discriminate when people raise or drop their eyebrows and eyes (with pleasure or displeasure), and reap as well some experience in such matters as go out or come in, whether high or low, great and small."

  But during her reply, she perceived Madame Wang's waiting-maid come and invite lady Feng to go over. Lady Feng bade good-bye at once to Li Kung-ts'ai and took her departure.

  Hsiao Hung then returned into the I Hung court, where we will leave her and devote our attention for the present to Lin Tai-yü.

  As she had had but little sleep in the night, she got up the next day at a late hour. When she heard that all her cousins were collected in the park, giving a farewell entertainment for the god of flowers, she hastened, for fear people should laugh at her for being lazy, to comb her hair, perform her ablutions, and go out and join them. As soon as she reached the interior of the court, she caught sight of Pao-yü, entering the door, who speedily greeted her with a smile. "My dear cousin," he said, "did you lodge a complaint against me yesterday? I've been on pins and needles the whole night long."

  Tai-yü forthwith turned her head away. "Put the room in order," she shouted to Tzu Chüan, "and lower one of the gauze window-frames. And when you've seen the swallows come back, drop the curtain; keep it down then by placing the lion on it, and after you have burnt the incense, mind you cover the censer."

  So saying she stepped outside.

  Pao-yü perceiving her manner, concluded again that it must be on account of the incident of the previous noon, but how could he have had any idea about what had happened in the evening? He kept on still bowing and curtseying; but Lin Tai-yü did not even so much as look at him straight in the face, but egressing alone out of the door of the court, she proceeded there and then in search of the other girls.

  Pao-yü fell into a despondent mood and gave way to conjectures.

  "Judging," he reflected, "from this behaviour of hers, it would seem as if it could not be for what transpired yesterday. Yesterday too I came back late in the evening, and, what's more, I didn't see her, so that there was no occasion on which I could have given her offence."

  As he indulged in these reflections, he involuntarily followed in her footsteps to try and catch her up, when he descried Pao-ch'ai and T'an-ch'un on the opposite side watching the frolics of the storks.

  As soon as they saw Tai-yü approach, the trio stood together and started a friendly chat. But noticing Pao-yü also come up, T'an Ch'un smiled. "Brother Pao," she said, "are you all right. It's just three days that I haven't seen anything of you?"

  "Are you sister quite well?" Pao-yü rejoined, a smile on his lips. "The other day, I asked news of you of our senior sister-in-law."

  "Brother Pao," T'an Ch'un remarked, "come over here; I want to tell you something."

  The moment Pao-yü heard this, he quickly went with her. Distancing Pao-ch'ai and Tai-yü, the two of them came under a pomegranate tree. "Has father sent for you these last few days?" T'an Ch'un then asked.

  "He hasn't," Pao-yü answered laughingly by way of reply.

  "Yesterday," proceeded T'an Ch'un, "I heard vaguely something or other about father sending for you to go out."

  "I presume," Pao-yü smiled, "that some one must have heard wrong, for he never sent for me."

  "I've again managed to save during the last few months," added T'an Ch'un with another smile, "fully ten tiaos, so take them and bring me, when at any time you stroll out of doors, either some fine writings or some ingenious knicknack."

  "Much as I have roamed inside and outside the city walls," answered Pao-yü, "and seen grand establishments and large temples, I've never come across anything novel or pretty. One simply sees articles made of gold, jade, copper and porcelain, as well as such curios for which we could find no place here. Besides these, there are satins, eatables, and wearing apparel."

  "Who cares for such baubles!" exclaimed T'an Ch'un. "How could they come up to what you purchased the last time; that wee basket, made of willow twigs, that scent-box, scooped out of a root of real bamboo, that portable stove fashioned of glutinous clay; these things were, oh, so very nice! I was as fond of them as I don't know what; but, who'd have thought it, they fell in love with them and bundled them all off, just as if they were precious things."

  "Is it things of this kind that you really want?" laughed Pao-yü. "Why, these are worth nothing! Were you to take a hundred cash and give them to the servant-boys, they could, I'm sure, bring two cart-loads of them."

  "What do the servant-boys know?" T'an Ch'un replied. "Those you chose for me were plain yet not commonplace. Neither were they of coarse make. So were you to procure me as many as you can get of them, I'll work you a pair of slippers like those I gave you last time, and spend twice as much trouble over them as I did over that pair you have. Now, what do you say to this bargain?"

  "Your reference to this," smiled Pao-yü, "reminds me of an old incident. One day I had them on, and by a strange coincidence, I met father, whose fancy they did not take, and he inquired who had worked them. But how could I muster up courage to allude to the three words: my sister Tertia, so I answered that my maternal aunt had given them to me on the recent occasion of my birthday. When father heard that they had been given to me by my aunt, he could not very well say anything. But after a while, 'why uselessly waste,' he observed, 'human labour, and throw away silks to make things of this sort!' On my return, I told Hsi Jen about it. 'Never mind,' said Hsi Jen; but Mrs. Chao got angry. 'Her own brother,' she murmured indignantly, 'wears slipshod shoes and socks in holes, and there's no one to look after him, and does she go and work all these things!'"

  T'an Ch'un, hearing this, immediately lowered her face. "Now tell me, aren't these words utter rot!" she shouted. "What am I that I have to make shoes? And is it likely that Huan Erh hasn't his own share of things! Clothes are clothes, and shoes and socks are shoes and socks; and how is it that any grudges arise in the room of a mere servant-girl and old matron? For whose benefit does she come out with all these things! I simply work a pair or part of a pair when I am at leisure, with time on my hands. And I can give them to any brother, elder or younger, I fancy; and who has a right to interfere with me? This is just another bit of blind anger!"

  After listening to her, Pao-yü nodded his head and smiled. "Yet," he said, "you don't know what her motives may be. It's but natural that she should also cherish some expectations."

  This apology incensed T'an Ch'un more than ever, and twisting her head round, "Even you have grown dull!" she cried. "She does, of course, indulge in expectations, but they are actuated by some underhand and paltry notion! She may go on giving way to these ideas, but I, for my part, will only care for Mr. Chia Cheng and Madame Wang. I won't care a rap for any one else. In fact, I'll be nice with such of my sisters and brothers, as are nice to me; and won't even draw any distinction between those born of primary wives and those of secondary ones. Properly speaking, I shouldn't say these things about her, but she's narrow-minded to a degree, and unlike what she should be. There's besides another ridiculous thing. This took place the last time I gave you the money to get me those trifles. Well, two days after that, she saw me, and she began again to represent that she had no money and that she was hard up. Nevertheless, I did not worry my brain with her goings on. But as it happened, the servant-girls subsequently quitted the room, and she at once started finding fault with me. 'Why,' she asked, 'do I give you my savings to spend and don't, after all, let Huan Erh have them and enjoy them?' When I heard these reproaches, I felt both inclined to laugh, and also disposed to lose my temper; but I there and then skedaddled out of her quarters, and went over to our Madame Wang."

  As she was recounting this incident, "Well," she overheard Pao-ch'ai sarcastically observe from the opposite direction, "have you done spinning your yarn
s? If you have, come along! It's quite evident that you are brother and sister, for here you leave every one else and go and discuss your own private matters. Couldn't we too listen to a single sentence of what you have to say?"

  While she taunted them, T'an Ch'un and Pao-yü eventually drew near her with smiling faces.

  Pao-yü, however, failed to see Lin Tai-yü and he concluded that she had dodged out of the way and gone elsewhere. "It would be better," he muttered, after some thought, "that I should let two days elapse, and give her temper time to evaporate before I go to her." But as he drooped his head, his eye was attracted by a heap of touch-me-nots, pomegranate blossom and various kinds of fallen flowers, which covered the ground thick as tapestry, and he heaved a sigh. "It's because," he pondered, "she's angry that she did not remove these flowers; but I'll take them over to the place, and by and bye ask her about them."

  As he argued to himself, he heard Pao-ch'ai bid them go out. "I'll join you in a moment," Pao-yü replied; and waiting till his two cousins had gone some distance, he bundled the flowers into his coat, and ascending the hill, he crossed the stream, penetrated into the arbour, passed through the avenues with flowers and wended his way straight for the spot, where he had, on a previous occasion, interred the peach-blossoms with the assistance of Lin Tai-yü. But scarcely had he reached the mound containing the flowers, and before he had, as yet, rounded the brow of the hill, than he caught, emanating from the off side, the sound of some one sobbing, who while giving way to invective, wept in a most heart-rending way.

  "I wonder," soliloquised Pao-yü, "whose servant-girl this is, who has been so aggrieved as to run over here to have a good cry!"

  While speculating within himself, he halted. He then heard, mingled with wails:—

  Flowers wither and decay; and flowers do fleet; they fly all o'er the skies;

  Their bloom wanes; their smell dies; but who is there with them to sympathise?

  While vagrant gossamer soft doth on fluttering spring-bowers bind its coils,

  And drooping catkins lightly strike and cling on the embroidered screens,

  A maiden in the inner rooms, I sore deplore the close of spring.

  Such ceaseless sorrow fills my breast, that solace nowhere can I find.

  Past the embroidered screen I issue forth, taking with me a hoe,

  And on the faded flowers to tread I needs must, as I come and go.

  The willow fibres and elm seeds have each a fragrance of their own.

  What care I, peach blossoms may fall, pear flowers away be blown;

  Yet peach and pear will, when next year returns, burst out again in bloom,

  But can it e'er be told who will next year dwell in the inner room?

  What time the third moon comes, the scented nests have been already built.

  And on the beams the swallows perch, excessive spiritless and staid;

  Next year, when the flowers bud, they may, it's true, have ample to feed on:

  But they know not that when I'm gone beams will be vacant and nests fall!

  In a whole year, which doth consist of three hundred and sixty days,

  Winds sharp as swords and frost like unto spears each other rigorous press,

  So that how long can last their beauty bright; their fresh charm how long stays?

  Sudden they droop and fly; and whither they have flown, 'tis hard to guess.

  Flowers, while in bloom, easy the eye attract; but, when they wither, hard they are to find.

  Now by the footsteps, I bury the flowers, but sorrow will slay me.

  Alone I stand, and as I clutch the hoe, silent tears trickle down,

  And drip on the bare twigs, leaving behind them the traces of blood.

  The goatsucker hath sung his song, the shades lower of eventide,

  So with the lotus hoe I return home and shut the double doors.

  Upon the wall the green lamp sheds its rays just as I go to sleep.

  The cover is yet cold; against the window patters the bleak rain.

  How strange! Why can it ever be that I feel so wounded at heart!

  Partly, because spring I regret; partly, because with spring I'm vexed!

  Regret for spring, because it sudden comes; vexed, for it sudden goes.

  For without warning, lo! it comes; and without asking it doth fleet.

  Yesterday night, outside the hall sorrowful songs burst from my mouth,

  For I found out that flowers decay, and that birds also pass away.

  The soul of flowers, and the spirit of birds are both hard to restrain.

  Birds, to themselves when left, in silence plunge; and flowers, alone, they blush.

  Oh! would that on my sides a pair of wings could grow,

  That to the end of heaven I may fly in the wake of flowers!

  Yea to the very end of heaven,

  Where I could find a fragrant grave!

  For better, is it not, that an embroidered bag should hold my well-shaped bones,

  And that a heap of stainless earth should in its folds my winsome charms enshroud.

  For spotless once my frame did come, and spotless again it will go!

  Far better than that I, like filthy mire, should sink into some drain!

  Ye flowers are now faded and gone, and, lo, I come to bury you.

  But as for me, what day I shall see death is not as yet divined!

  Here I am fain these flowers to inter; but humankind will laugh me as a fool.

  Who knows, who will, in years to come, commit me to my grave!

  Mark, and you'll find the close of spring, and the gradual decay of flowers,

  Resemble faithfully the time of death of maidens ripe in years!

  In a twinkle, spring time draws to a close, and maidens wax in age.

  Flowers fade and maidens die; and of either nought any more is known.

  After listening to these effusions, Pao-yü unconsciously threw himself down in a wandering frame of mind.

  But, reader, do you feel any interest in him? If you do, the subsequent chapter contains further details about him.

  Chapter XXVIII

  *

  Chiang Yü-han lovingly presents a rubia-scented silk sash. Hsüeh Pao-ch'ai blushingly covers her musk-perfumed string of red beads.

  Lin Tai-yü, the story goes, dwelt, after Ch'ing Wen's refusal, the previous night, to open the door, under the impression that the blame lay with Pao-yü. The following day, which by another remarkable coincidence, happened to correspond with the season, when the god of flowers had to be feasted, her total ignorance of the true circumstances, and her resentment, as yet unspent, aroused again in her despondent thoughts, suggested by the decline of spring time. She consequently gathered a quantity of faded flowers and fallen petals, and went and interred them. Unable to check the emotion, caused by the decay of the flowers, she spontaneously recited, after giving way to several loud lamentations, those verses which Pao-yü, she little thought, overheard from his position on the mound. At first, he did no more than nod his head and heave sighs, full of feeling. But when subsequently his ear caught:

  "Here I am fain these flowers to inter, but humankind will laugh me as a fool;

  Who knows who will, in years to come, commit me to my grave!

  In a twinkle springtime draws to an end, and maidens wax in age.

  Flowers fade and maidens die; and of either naught any more is known."

  he unconsciously was so overpowered with grief that he threw himself on the mound, bestrewing the whole ground with the fallen flowers he carried in his coat, close to his chest. "When Tai-yü's flowerlike charms and moon-like beauty," he reflected, "by and bye likewise reach a time when they will vanish beyond any hope of recovery, won't my heart be lacerated and my feelings be mangled! And extending, since Tai-yü must at length some day revert to a state when it will be difficult to find her, this reasoning to other persons, like Pao-ch'ai, Hsiang Ling, Hsi Jen and the other girls, they too are equally liable to attain a state beyond the reach of
human search. But when Pao-ch'ai and all the rest have ultimately reached that stage when no trace will be visible of them, where shall I myself be then? And when my own human form will have vanished and gone, whither I know not yet, to what person, I wonder, will this place, this garden and these plants, revert?"

  From one to a second, and from a second to a third, he thus pursued his reflections, backwards and forwards, until he really did not know how he could best, at this time and at such a juncture, dispel his fit of anguish. His state is adequately described by:

  The shadow of a flower cannot err from the flower itself to the left or the right.

  The song of birds can only penetrate into the ear from the east or the west.

  Lin Tai-yü was herself a prey to emotion and agitation, when unawares sorrowful accents also struck her ear, from the direction of the mound. "Every one," she cogitated, "laughs at me for labouring under a foolish mania, but is there likely another fool besides myself?" She then raised her head, and, casting a glance about her, she discovered that it was Pao-yü. "Ts'ui!" eagerly cried Tai-yü, "I was wondering who it was; but is it truly this ruthless-hearted and short-lived fellow!"

  But the moment the two words "short-lived" dropped from her mouth, she sealed her lips; and, heaving a deep sigh, she turned herself round and hurriedly walked off.

  Pao-yü, meanwhile, remained for a time a prey to melancholy. But perceiving that Tai-yü had retired, he at once realised that she must have caught sight of him and got out of his way; and, as his own company afforded him no pleasure, he shook the dust off his clothes, rose to his feet and descending the hill, he started for the I Hung court by the path by which he had come. But he espied Tai-yü walking in advance of him, and with rapid stride, he overtook her. "Stop a little!" he cried. "I know you don't care a rap for me; but I'll just make one single remark, and from this day forward we'll part company."

  Tai-yü looked round. Observing that it was Pao-yü, she was about to ignore him; hearing him however mention that he had only one thing to say, "Please tell me what it is," she forthwith rejoined.