Chapter 6 · Chia Pao-yü reaps his first experience in licentious love. Old Goody Liu pays a visit to the Jung Kuo Mansion.
dream by her infant name, was at heart very exercised, but she did not
however feel at liberty to make any minute inquiry.
Pao-yü was, at this time, in such a dazed state, as if he had lost
something, and the servants promptly gave him a decoction of lungngan.
After he had taken a few sips, he forthwith rose and tidied his clothes.
Hsi Jen put out her hand to fasten the band of his garment, and as soon
as she did so, and it came in contact with his person, it felt so icy
cold to the touch, covered as it was all over with perspiration, that
she speedily withdrew her hand in utter surprise.
"What's the matter with you?" she exclaimed.
A blush suffused Pao-yü's face, and he took Hsi Jen's hand in a tight
grip. Hsi Jen was a girl with all her wits about her; she was besides a
couple of years older than Pao-yü and had recently come to know
something of the world, so that at the sight of his state, she to a
great extent readily accounted for the reason in her heart. From modest
shame, she unconsciously became purple in the face, and not venturing to
ask another question she continued adjusting his clothes. This task
accomplished, she followed him over to old lady Chia's apartments; and
after a hurry-scurry meal, they came back to this side, and Hsi Jen
availed herself of the absence of the nurses and waiting-maids to hand
Pao-yü another garment to change.
"Please, dear Hsi Jen, don't tell any one," entreated Pao-yü, with
concealed shame.
"What did you dream of?" inquired Hsi Jen, smiling, as she tried to
stifle her blushes, "and whence comes all this perspiration?"
"It's a long story," said Pao-yü, "which only a few words will not
suffice to explain."
He accordingly recounted minutely, for her benefit, the subject of his
dream. When he came to where the Fairy had explained to him the
mysteries of love, Hsi Jen was overpowered with modesty and covered her
face with her hands; and as she bent down, she gave way to a fit of
laughter. Pao-yü had always been fond of Hsi Jen, on account of her
gentleness, pretty looks and graceful and elegant manner, and he
forthwith expounded to her all the mysteries he had been taught by the
Fairy.
Hsi Jen was, of course, well aware that dowager lady Chia had given her
over to Pao-yü, so that her present behaviour was likewise no
transgression. And subsequently she secretly attempted with Pao-yü a
violent flirtation, and lucky enough no one broke in upon them during
their tête-à-tête. From this date, Pao-yü treated Hsi Jen with special
regard, far more than he showed to the other girls, while Hsi Jen
herself was still more demonstrative in her attentions to Pao-yü. But
for a time we will make no further remark about them.
As regards the household of the Jung mansion, the inmates may, on adding
up the total number, not have been found many; yet, counting the high as
well as the low, there were three hundred persons and more. Their
affairs may not have been very numerous, still there were, every day,
ten and twenty matters to settle; in fact, the household resembled, in
every way, ravelled hemp, devoid even of a clue-end, which could be used
as an introduction.
Just as we were considering what matter and what person it would be best
to begin writing of, by a lucky coincidence suddenly from a distance of
a thousand li, a person small and insignificant as a grain of mustard
seed happened, on account of her distant relationship with the Jung
family, to come on this very day to the Jung mansion on a visit. We
shall therefore readily commence by speaking of this family, as it after
all affords an excellent clue for a beginning.
The surname of this mean and humble family was in point of fact Wang.
They were natives of this district. Their ancestor had filled a minor
office in the capital, and had, in years gone by, been acquainted with
lady Feng's grandfather, that is madame Wang's father. Being covetous of
the influence and affluence of the Wang family, he consequently joined
ancestors with them, and was recognised by them as a nephew.
At that time, there were only madame Wang's eldest brother, that is lady
Feng's father, and madame Wang herself, who knew anything of these
distant relations, from the fact of having followed their parents to the
capital. The rest of the family had one and all no idea about them.
This ancestor had, at this date, been dead long ago, leaving only one
son called Wang Ch'eng. As the family estate was in a state of ruin, he
once more moved outside the city walls and settled down in his native
village. Wang Ch'eng also died soon after his father, leaving a son,
known in his infancy as Kou Erh, who married a Miss Liu, by whom he had
a son called by the infant name of Pan Erh, as well as a daughter,
Ch'ing Erh. His family consisted of four, and he earned a living from
farming.
As Kou Erh was always busy with something or other during the day and
his wife, dame Liu, on the other hand, drew the water, pounded the rice
and attended to all the other domestic concerns, the brother and sister,
Ch'ing Erh and Pan Erh, the two of them, had no one to look after them.
(Hence it was that) Kou Erh brought over his mother-in-law, old goody
Liu, to live with them.
This goody Liu was an old widow, with a good deal of experience. She had
besides no son round her knees, so that she was dependent for her
maintenance on a couple of acres of poor land, with the result that when
her son-in-law received her in his home, she naturally was ever willing
to exert heart and mind to help her daughter and her son-in-law to earn
their living.
This year, the autumn had come to an end, winter had commenced, and the
weather had begun to be quite cold. No provision had been made in the
household for the winter months, and Kou Erh was, inevitably,
exceedingly exercised in his heart. Having had several cups of wine to
dispel his distress, he sat at home and tried to seize upon every trifle
to give vent to his displeasure. His wife had not the courage to force
herself in his way, and hence goody Liu it was who encouraged him, as
she could not bear to see the state of the domestic affairs.
"Don't pull me up for talking too much," she said; "but who of us
country people isn't honest and open-hearted? As the size of the bowl we
hold, so is the quantity of the rice we eat. In your young days, you
were dependent on the support of your old father, so that eating and
drinking became quite a habit with you; that's how, at the present time,
your resources are quite uncertain; when you had money, you looked
ahead, and didn't mind behind; and now that you have no money, you
blindly fly into huffs. A fine fellow and a capital hero you have made!
Living though we now be away from the capital, we are after all at the
feet of the Emperor; this city of Ch'ang Ngan is strewn all over with
money, but the pity is that there's no one able to go and fetch it away;
and it's no use your staying at home and kicking your feet about."
"All you old lady know," rejoined Kou Erh, after he had heard what she
had to say, "is to sit on the couch and talk trash! Is it likely you
would have me go and play the robber?"
"Who tells you to become a robber?" asked goody Liu. "But it would be
well, after all, that we should put our heads together and devise some
means; for otherwise, is the money, pray, able of itself to run into our
house?"
"Had there been a way," observed Kou Erh, smiling sarcastically, "would
I have waited up to this moment? I have besides no revenue collectors as
relatives, or friends in official positions; and what way could we
devise? 'But even had I any, they wouldn't be likely, I fear, to pay any
heed to such as ourselves!"
"That, too, doesn't follow," remarked goody Liu; "the planning of
affairs rests with man, but the accomplishment of them rests with
Heaven. After we have laid our plans, we may, who can say, by relying on
the sustenance of the gods, find some favourable occasion. Leave it to
me, I'll try and devise some lucky chance for you people! In years gone
by, you joined ancestors with the Wang family of Chin Ling, and twenty
years back, they treated you with consideration; but of late, you've
been so high and mighty, and not condescended to go and bow to them,
that an estrangement has arisen. I remember how in years gone by, I and
my daughter paid them a visit. The second daughter of the family was
really so pleasant and knew so well how to treat people with kindness,
and without in fact any high airs! She's at present the wife of Mr.
Chia, the second son of the Jung Kuo mansion; and I hear people say that
now that she's advanced in years, she's still more considerate to the
poor, regardful of the old, and very fond of preparing vegetable food
for the bonzes and performing charitable deeds. The head of the Wang
mansion has, it is true, been raised to some office on the frontier, but
I hope that this lady Secunda will anyhow notice us. How is it then that
you don't find your way as far as there; for she may possibly remember
old times, and some good may, no one can say, come of it? I only wish
that she would display some of her kind-heartedness, and pluck one hair
from her person which would be, yea thicker than our waist."
"What you suggest, mother, is quite correct," interposed Mrs. Liu, Kou
Erh's wife, who stood by and took up the conversation, "but with such
mouth and phiz as yours and mine, how could we present ourselves before
her door? Why I fear that the man at her gate won't also like to go and
announce us! and we'd better not go and have our mouths slapped in
public!"
Kou Erh, who would have thought it, prized highly both affluence and
fame, so that when he heard these remarks, he forthwith began to feel at
heart a little more at ease. When he furthermore heard what his wife had
to say, he at once caught up the word as he smiled.
"Old mother," he rejoined; "since that be your idea, and what's more,
you have in days gone by seen this lady on one occasion, why shouldn't
you, old lady, start to-morrow on a visit to her and first ascertain how
the wind blows!"
"Ai Ya!" exclaimed old Goody, "It may very well be said that the
marquis' door is like the wide ocean! what sort of thing am I? why the
servants of that family wouldn't even recognise me! even were I to go,
it would be on a wild goose chase."
"No matter about that," observed Kou Erh; "I'll tell you a good way; you
just take along with you, your grandson, little Pan Erh, and go first
and call upon Chou Jui, who is attached to that household; and when once
you've seen him, there will be some little chance. This Chou Jui, at one
time, was connected with my father in some affair or other, and we were
on excellent terms with him."
"That I too know," replied goody Liu, "but the thing is that you've had
no dealings with him for so long, that who knows how he's disposed
towards us now? this would be hard to say. Besides, you're a man, and
with a mouth and phiz like that of yours, you couldn't, on any account,
go on this errand. My daughter is a young woman, and she too couldn't
very well go and expose herself to public gaze. But by my sacrificing
this old face of mine, and by going and knocking it (against the wall)
there may, after all, be some benefit and all of us might reap profit."
That very same evening, they laid their plans, and the next morning
before the break of day, old goody Liu speedily got up, and having
performed her toilette, she gave a few useful hints to Pan Erh; who,
being a child of five or six years of age, was, when he heard that he
was to be taken into the city, at once so delighted that there was
nothing that he would not agree to.
Without further delay, goody Liu led off Pan Erh, and entered the city,
and reaching the Ning Jung street, she came to the main entrance of the
Jung mansion, where, next to the marble lions, were to be seen a crowd
of chairs and horses. Goody Liu could not however muster the courage to
go by, but having shaken her clothes, and said a few more seasonable
words to Pan Erh, she subsequently squatted in front of the side gate,
whence she could see a number of servants, swelling out their chests,
pushing out their stomachs, gesticulating with their hands and kicking
their feet about, while they were seated at the main entrance chattering
about one thing and another.
Goody Liu felt constrained to edge herself forward. "Gentlemen," she
ventured, "may happiness betide you!"
The whole company of servants scrutinised her for a time. "Where do you
come from?" they at length inquired.
"I've come to look up Mr. Chou, an attendant of my lady's," remarked
goody Liu, as she forced a smile; "which of you, gentlemen, shall I
trouble to do me the favour of asking him to come out?"
The servants, after hearing what she had to say, paid, the whole number
of them, no heed to her; and it was after the lapse of a considerable
time that they suggested: "Go and wait at a distance, at the foot of
that wall; and in a short while, the visitors, who are in their house,
will be coming out."
Among the party of attendants was an old man, who interposed,
"Don't baffle her object," he expostulated; "why make a fool of her?"
and turning to goody Liu: "This Mr. Chou," he said, "is gone south: his
house is at the back row; his wife is anyhow at home; so go round this
way, until you reach the door, at the back street, where, if you will
ask about her, you will be on the right track."
Goody Liu, having expressed her thanks, forthwith went, leading Pan Erh
by the hand, round to the back door, where she saw several pedlars
resting their burdens. There were also those who sold things to eat, and
those who sold playthings and toys; and besides these, twenty or thirty
boys bawled and shouted, making quite a noise.
Goody Liu readily caught hold of one of them. "I'd like to ask you just
a word, my young friend," she observed; "there's a Mrs. Chou here; is
she at home?"
"Which Mrs. Chou?" inquired the boy; "we here have three Mrs. Chous; and
there are also two young married ladies of the name of Chou. What are
the duties of the one you want, I wonder ?"
"She's a waiting-woman of my lady," replied goody Liu.
"It's easy to get at her," added the boy; "just come along with me."
Leading the way for goody Liu into the backyard, they reached the wall
of a court, when he pointed and said, "This is her house.--Mother Chou!"
he went on to shout with alacrity; "there's an old lady who wants to see
you."
Chou Jui's wife was at home, and with all haste she came out to greet
her visitor. "Who is it?" she asked.
Goody Liu advanced up to her. "How are you," she inquired, "Mrs. Chou?"
Mrs. Chou looked at her for some time before she at length smiled and
replied, "Old goody Liu, are you well? How many years is it since we've
seen each other; tell me, for I forget just now; but please come in and
sit."
"You're a lady of rank," answered goody Liu smiling, as she walked
along, "and do forget many things. How could you remember such as
ourselves?"
With these words still in her mouth, they had entered the house,
whereupon Mrs. Chou ordered a hired waiting-maid to pour the tea. While
they were having their tea she remarked, "How Pan Erh has managed to
grow!" and then went on to make inquiries on the subject of various
matters, which had occurred after their separation.
"To-day," she also asked of goody Liu, "were you simply passing by? or
did you come with any express object?"
"I've come, the fact is, with an object!" promptly replied goody Liu;
"(first of all) to see you, my dear sister-in-law; and, in the second
place also, to inquire after my lady's health. If you could introduce me
to see her for a while, it would be better; but if you can't, I must
readily borrow your good offices, my sister-in-law, to convey my
message."
Mr. Chou Jui's wife, after listening to these words, at once became to a
great extent aware of the object of her visit. Her husband had, however,
in years gone by in his attempt to purchase some land, obtained
considerably the support of Kou Erh, so that when she, on this occasion,
saw goody Liu in such a dilemma, she could not make up her mind to
refuse her wish. Being in the second place keen upon making a display of
her own respectability, she therefore said smilingly:
"Old goody Liu, pray compose your mind! You've come from far off with a
pure heart and honest purpose, and how can I ever not show you the way
how to see this living Buddha? Properly speaking, when people come and
guests arrive, and verbal messages have to be given, these matters are
not any of my business, as we all here have each one kind of duties to
carry out. My husband has the special charge of the rents of land coming
in, during the two seasons of spring and autumn, and when at leisure, he
takes the young gentlemen out of doors, and then his business is done.
As for myself, I have to accompany my lady and young married ladies on
anything connected with out-of-doors; but as you are a relative of my
lady and have besides treated me as a high person and come to me for
help, I'll, after all, break this custom and deliver your message.
There's only one thing, however, and which you, old lady, don't know. We
here are not what we were five years before. My lady now doesn't much
worry herself about anything; and it's entirely lady Secunda who looks
after the menage. But who do you presume is this lady Secunda? She's the
niece of my lady, and the daughter of my master, the eldest maternal
uncle of by-gone days. Her infant name was Feng Ko."
"Is it really she?" inquired promptly goody Liu, after this explanation.
"Isn't it strange? what I said about her years back has come out quite
correct; but from all you say, shall I to-day be able to see her?"
"That goes without saying," replied Chou Jui's wife; "when any visitors
come now-a-days, it's always lady Feng who does the honours and
entertains them, and it's better to-day that you should see her for a
while, for then you will not have walked all this way to no purpose."
"O mi to fu!" exclaimed old goody Liu; "I leave it entirely to your
convenience, sister-in-law."
"What's that you're saying?" observed Chou Jui's wife. "The proverb
says: 'Our convenience is the convenience of others.' All I have to do
is to just utter one word, and what trouble will that be to me."
Saying this, she bade the young waiting maid go to the side pavilion,
and quietly ascertain whether, in her old ladyship's apartment, table
had been laid.
The young waiting-maid went on this errand, and during this while, the
two of them continued a conversation on certain irrelevant matters.
"This lady Feng," observed goody Liu, "can this year be no older than
twenty, and yet so talented as to manage such a household as this! the
like of her is not easy to find!"
"Hai! my dear old goody," said Chou Jui's wife, after listening to her,
"it's not easy to explain; but this lady Feng, though young in years, is
nevertheless, in the management of affairs, superior to any man. She has
now excelled the others and developed the very features of a beautiful
young woman. To say the least, she has ten thousand eyes in her heart,
and were they willing to wager their mouths, why ten men gifted with
eloquence couldn't even outdo her! But by and bye, when you've seen her,
you'll know all about her! There's only this thing, she can't help being
rather too severe in her treatment of those below her."
While yet she spake, the young waiting-maid returned. "In her venerable
lady's apartment," she reported, "repast has been spread, and already
finished; lady Secunda is in madame Wang's chamber."
As soon as Chou Jui's wife heard this news, she speedily got up and
pressed goody Liu to be off at once. "This is," she urged, "just the
hour for her meal, and as she is free we had better first go and wait
for her; for were we to be even one step too late, a crowd of servants
will come with their reports, and it will then be difficult to speak to
her; and after her siesta, she'll have still less time to herself."
As she passed these remarks, they all descended the couch together.
Goody Liu adjusted their dresses, and, having impressed a few more words
of advice on Pan Erh, they followed Chou Jui's wife through winding
passages to Chia Lien's house. They came in the first instance into the
side pavilion, where Chou Jui's wife placed old goody Liu to wait a
little, while she herself went ahead, past the screen-wall and into the
entrance of the court.
Hearing that lady Feng had not come out, she went in search of an
elderly waiting-maid of lady Feng, P'ing Erh by name, who enjoyed her
confidence, to whom Chou Jui's wife first recounted from beginning to
end the history of old goody Liu.
"She has come to-day," she went on to explain, "from a distance to pay
her obeisance. In days gone by, our lady used often to meet her, so
that, on this occasion, she can't but receive her; and this is why I've
brought her in! I'll wait here for lady Feng to come down, and explain
everything to her; and I trust she'll not call me to task for officious
rudeness."
P'ing Erh, after hearing what she had to say, speedily devised the plan
of asking them to walk in, and to sit there pending (lady Feng's
arrival), when all would be right.
Chou Jui's wife thereupon went out and led them in. When they ascended
the steps of the main apartment, a young waiting-maid raised a red
woollen portière, and as soon as they entered the hall, they smelt a
whiff of perfume as it came wafted into their faces: what the scent was
they could not discriminate; but their persons felt as if they were
among the clouds.
The articles of furniture and ornaments in the whole room were all so
brilliant to the sight, and so vying in splendour that they made the
head to swim and the eyes to blink, and old goody Liu did nothing else
the while than nod her head, smack her lips and invoke Buddha. Forthwith
she was led to the eastern side into the suite of apartments, where was
the bedroom of Chia Lien's eldest daughter. P'ing Erh, who was standing
by the edge of the stove-couch, cast a couple of glances at old goody
Liu, and felt constrained to inquire how she was, and to press her to
have a seat.
Goody Liu, noticing that P'ing Erh was entirely robed in silks, that she
had gold pins fixed in her hair, and silver ornaments in her coiffure,
and that her countenance resembled a flower or the moon (in beauty),
readily imagined her to be lady Feng, and was about to address her as my
lady; but when she heard Mrs. Chou speak to her as Miss P'ing, and P'ing
Erh promptly address Chou Jui's wife as Mrs. Chou, she eventually became
aware that she could be no more than a waiting-maid of a certain
respectability.
She at once pressed old goody Liu and Pan Erh to take a seat on the
stove-couch. P'ing Erh and Chou Jui's wife sat face to face, on the
edges of the couch. The waiting-maids brought the tea. After they had
partaken of it, old goody Liu could hear nothing but a "lo tang, lo
tang" noise, resembling very much the sound of a bolting frame winnowing
flour, and she could not resist looking now to the East, and now to the
West. Suddenly in the great Hall, she espied, suspended on a pillar, a
box at the bottom of which hung something like the weight of a balance,
which incessantly wagged to and fro.
"What can this thing be?" communed goody Liu in her heart, "What can be
its use?" While she was aghast, she unexpectedly heard a sound of "tang"
like the sound of a golden bell or copper cymbal, which gave her quite a
start. In a twinkle of the eyes followed eight or nine consecutive
strokes; and she was bent upon inquiring what it was, when she caught
sight of several waiting-maids enter in a confused crowd. "Our lady has
come down!" they announced.
P'ìng Erh, together with Chou Jui's wife, rose with all haste. "Old
goody Liu," they urged, "do sit down and wait till it's time, when we'll
come and ask you in."
Saying this, they went out to meet lady Feng.
Old goody Liu, with suppressed voice and ear intent, waited in perfect
silence. She heard at a distance the voices of some people laughing,
whereupon about ten or twenty women, with rustling clothes and
petticoats, made their entrance, one by one, into the hall, and thence
into the room on the other quarter. She also detected two or three
women, with red-lacquered boxes in their hands, come over on this part
and remain in waiting.
"Get the repast ready!" she heard some one from the offside say.
The servants gradually dispersed and went out; and there only remained
in attendance a few of them to bring in the courses. For a long time,
not so much as the caw of a crow could be heard, when she unexpectedly
perceived two servants carry in a couch-table, and lay it on this side
of the divan. Upon this table were placed bowls and plates, in proper
order replete, as usual, with fish and meats; but of these only a few
kinds were slightly touched.
As soon as Pan Erh perceived (all these delicacies), he set up such a
noise, and would have some meat to eat, but goody Liu administered to
him such a slap, that he had to keep away.
Suddenly, she saw Mrs. Chou approach, full of smiles, and as she waved
her hand, she called her. Goody Liu understood her meaning, and at once
pulling Pan Erh off the couch, she proceeded to the centre of the Hall;
and after Mrs. Chou had whispered to her again for a while, they came at
length with slow step into the room on this side, where they saw on the
outside of the door, suspended by brass hooks, a deep red flowered soft
portière. Below the window, on the southern side, was a stove-couch, and
on this couch was spread a crimson carpet. Leaning against the wooden
partition wall, on the east side, stood a chain-embroidered back-cushion
and a reclining pillow. There was also spread a large watered satin
sitting cushion with a gold embroidered centre, and on the side stood
cuspidores made of silver.
Lady Feng, when at home, usually wore on her head a front-piece of dark
martin à la Chao Chün, surrounded with tassels of strung pearls. She had
on a robe of peach-red flowered satin, a short pelisse of slate-blue
stiff silk, lined with squirrel, and a jupe of deep red foreign crepe,
lined with ermine. Resplendent with pearl-powder and with cosmetics, she
sat in there, stately and majestic, with a small brass poker in her
hands, with which she was stirring the ashes of the hand-stove. P'ing
Erh stood by the side of the couch, holding a very small lacquered
tea-tray. In this tray was a small tea-cup with a cover. Lady Feng
neither took any tea, nor did she raise her head, but was intent upon
stirring the ashes of the hand-stove.
"How is it you haven't yet asked her to come in?" she slowly inquired;
and as she spake, she turned herself round and was about to ask for some
tea, when she perceived that Mrs. Chou had already introduced the two
persons and that they were standing in front of her.
She forthwith pretended to rise, but did not actually get up, and with a
face radiant with smiles, she ascertained about their health, after
which she went in to chide Chou Jui's wife. "Why didn't you tell me they
had come before?" she said.
Old goody Liu was already by this time prostrated on the ground, and
after making several obeisances, "How are you, my lady?" she inquired.
"Dear Mrs. Chou," lady Feng immediately observed, "do pull her up, and
don't let her prostrate herself! I'm yet young in years and don't know
her much; what's more, I've no idea what's the degree of the
relationship between us, and I daren't speak directly to her."
"This is the old lady about whom I spoke a short while back," speedily
explained Mrs. Chou.
Lady Feng nodded her head assentingly.
By this time old goody Liu had taken a seat on the edge of the
stove-couch. As for Pan Erh, he had gone further, and taken refuge
behind her back; and though she tried, by every means, to coax him to
come forward and make a bow, he would not, for the life of him, consent.
"Relatives though we be," remarked lady Feng, as she smiled, "we haven't
seen much of each other, so that our relations have been quite distant.
But those who know how matters stand will assert that you all despise
us, and won't often come to look us up; while those mean people, who
don't know the truth, will imagine that we have no eyes to look at any
one."
Old goody Liu promptly invoked Buddha. "We are at home in great
straits," she pleaded, "and that's why it wasn't easy for us to manage
to get away and come! Even supposing we had come as far as this, had we
not given your ladyship a slap on the mouth, those gentlemen would also,
in point of fact, have looked down upon us as a mean lot."
"Why, language such as this," exclaimed lady Feng smilingly, "cannot
help making one's heart full of displeasure! We simply rely upon the
reputation of our grandfather to maintain the status of a penniless
official; that's all! Why, in whose household is there anything
substantial? we are merely the denuded skeleton of what we were in days
of old, and no more! As the proverb has it: The Emperor himself has
three families of poverty-stricken relatives; and how much more such as
you and I?"
Having passed these remarks, she inquired of Mrs. Chou, "Have you let
madame know, yes or no?"
"We are now waiting," replied Mrs. Chou, "for my lady's orders."
"Go and have a look," said lady Feng; "but, should there be any one
there, or should she be busy, then don't make any mention; but wait
until she's free, when you can tell her about it and see what she says."
Chou Jui's wife, having expressed her compliance, went off on this
errand. During her absence, lady Feng gave orders to some servants to
take a few fruits and hand them to Pan Erh to eat; and she was inquiring
about one thing and another, when there came a large number of married
women, who had the direction of affairs in the household, to make their
several reports.
P'ing Erh announced their arrival to lady Feng, who said: "I'm now
engaged in entertaining some guests, so let them come back again in the
evening; but should there be anything pressing then bring it in and I'll
settle it at once."
P'ing Erh left the room, but she returned in a short while. "I've asked
them," she observed, "but as there's nothing of any urgency, I told them
to disperse." Lady Feng nodded her head in token of approval, when she
perceived Chou Jui's wife come back. "Our lady," she reported, as she
addressed lady Feng, "says that she has no leisure to-day, that if you,
lady Secunda, will entertain them, it will come to the same thing; that
she's much obliged for their kind attention in going to the trouble of
coming; that if they have come simply on a stroll, then well and good,
but that if they have aught to say, they should tell you, lady Secunda,
which will be tantamount to their telling her."
"I've nothing to say," interposed old goody Liu. "I simply come to see
our elder and our younger lady, which is a duty on my part, a relative
as I am."
"Well, if there's nothing particular that you've got to say, all right,"
Mrs. Chou forthwith added, "but if you do have anything, don't hesitate
telling lady Secunda, and it will be just as if you had told our lady."
As she uttered these words, she winked at goody Liu. Goody Liu
understood what she meant, but before she could give vent to a word, her
face got scarlet, and though she would have liked not to make any
mention of the object of her visit, she felt constrained to suppress her
shame and to speak out.
"Properly speaking," she observed, "this being the first time I see you,
my lady, I shouldn't mention what I've to say, but as I come here from
far off to seek your assistance, my old friend, I have no help but to
mention it."
She had barely spoken as much as this, when she heard the youths at the
inner-door cry out: "The young gentleman from the Eastern Mansion has
come."
Lady Feng promptly interrupted her. "Old goody Liu," she remarked, "you
needn't add anything more." She, at the same time, inquired, "Where's
your master, Mr. Jung?" when became audible the sound of footsteps along
the way, and in walked a young man of seventeen or eighteen. His
appearance was handsome, his person slender and graceful. He had on
light furs, a girdle of value, costly clothes and a beautiful cap.
At this stage, goody Liu did not know whether it was best to sit down or
to stand up, neither could she find anywhere to hide herself.
"Pray sit down," urged lady Feng, with a laugh; "this is my nephew!' Old
goody Liu then wriggled herself, now one way, and then another, on to
the edge of the couch, where she took a seat.
"My father," Chia Jung smilingly ventured, "has sent me to ask a favour
of you, aunt. On some previous occasion, our grand aunt gave you, dear
aunt, a stove-couch glass screen, and as to-morrow father has invited
some guests of high standing, he wishes to borrow it to lay it out for a
little show; after which he purposes sending it back again."
"You're late by a day," replied lady Feng. "It was only yesterday that I
gave it to some one."
Chia Jung, upon hearing this, forthwith, with giggles and smiles, made,
near the edge of the couch, a sort of genuflexion. "Aunt," he went on,
"if you don't lend it, father will again say that I don't know how to
speak, and I shall get another sound thrashing. You must have pity upon
your nephew, aunt."
"I've never seen anything like this," observed lady Feng sneeringly;
"the things belonging to the Wang family are all good, but where have
you put all those things of yours? the only good way is that you
shouldn't see anything of ours, for as soon as you catch sight of
anything, you at once entertain a wish to carry it off."
"Pray, aunt," entreated Chia Jung with a smile, "do show me some
compassion."
"Mind your skin!" lady Feng warned him, "if you do chip or spoil it in
the least."
She then bade P'ing Erh take the keys of the door of the upstairs room
and send for several trustworthy persons to carry it away.
Chia Jung was so elated that his eyebrows dilated and his eyes smiled.
"I've brought myself," he added, with vehemence, "some men to take it
away; I won't let them recklessly bump it about."
Saying this, he speedily got up and left the room.
Lady Feng suddenly bethought herself of something, and turning towards
the window, she called out, "Jung Erh, come back." Several servants who
stood outside caught up her words: "Mr. Jung," they cried, "you're
requested to go back;" whereupon Chia Jung turned round and retraced his
steps; and with hands drooping respectfully against his sides, he stood
ready to listen to his aunt's wishes.
Lady Feng was however intent upon gently sipping her tea, and after a
good long while of abstraction, she at last smiled: "Never mind," she
remarked; "you can go. But come after you've had your evening meal, and
I'll then tell you about it. Just now there are visitors here; and
besides, I don't feel in the humour."
Chia Jung thereupon retired with gentle step.
Old goody Liu, by this time, felt more composed in body and heart. "I've
to-day brought your nephew," she then explained, "not for anything else,
but because his father and mother haven't at home so much as anything to
eat; the weather besides is already cold, so that I had no help but to
take your nephew along and come to you, old friend, for assistance!"
As she uttered these words, she again pushed Pan Erh forward. "What did
your father at home tell you to say?" she asked of him; "and what did he
send us over here to do? Was it only to give our minds to eating fruit?"
Lady Feng had long ago understood what she meant to convey, and finding
that she had no idea how to express herself in a decent manner, she
readily interrupted her with a smile. "You needn't mention anything,"
she observed, "I'm well aware of how things stand;" and addressing
herself to Mrs. Chou, she inquired, "Has this old lady had breakfast,
yes or no?"
Old goody Liu hurried to explain. "As soon as it was daylight," she
proceeded, "we started with all speed on our way here, and had we even
so much as time to have any breakfast?"
Lady Feng promptly gave orders to send for something to eat. In a short
while Chou Jui's wife had called for a table of viands for the guests,
which was laid in the room on the eastern side, and then came to take
goody Liu and Pan Erh over to have their repast.
"My dear Mrs. Chou," enjoined lady Feng, "give them all they want, as I
can't attend to them myself;" which said, they hastily passed over into
the room on the eastern side.
Lady Feng having again called Mrs. Chou, asked her: "When you first
informed madame about them, what did she say?" "Our Lady observed,"
replied Chou Jui's wife, "that they don't really belong to the same
family; that, in former years, their grandfather was an official at the
same place as our old master; that hence it came that they joined
ancestors; that these few years there hasn't been much intercourse
(between their family and ours); that some years back, whenever they
came on a visit, they were never permitted to go empty-handed, and that
as their coming on this occasion to see us is also a kind attention on
their part, they shouldn't be slighted. If they've anything to say,"
(our lady continued), "tell lady Secunda to do the necessary, and that
will be right."
"Isn't it strange!" exclaimed lady Feng, as soon as she had heard the
message; "since we are all one family, how is it I'm not familiar even
with so much as their shadow?"
While she was uttering these words, old goody Liu had had her repast and
come over, dragging Pan Erh; and, licking her lips and smacking her
mouth, she expressed her thanks.
Lady Feng smiled. "Do pray sit down," she said, "and listen to what I'm
going to tell you. What you, old lady, meant a little while back to
convey, I'm already as much as yourself well acquainted with! Relatives,
as we are, we shouldn't in fact have waited until you came to the
threshold of our doors, but ought, as is but right, to have attended to
your needs. But the thing is that, of late, the household affairs are
exceedingly numerous, and our lady, advanced in years as she is,
couldn't at a moment, it may possibly be, bethink herself of you all!
What's more, when I took over charge of the management of the menage, I
myself didn't know of all these family connections! Besides, though to
look at us from outside everything has a grand and splendid aspect,
people aren't aware that large establishments have such great hardships,
which, were we to recount to others, they would hardly like to credit as
true. But since you've now come from a great distance, and this is the
first occasion that you open your mouth to address me, how can I very
well allow you to return to your home with empty hands! By a lucky
coincidence our lady gave, yesterday, to the waiting-maids, twenty taels
to make clothes with, a sum which they haven't as yet touched, and if
you don't despise it as too little, you may take it home as a first
instalment, and employ it for your wants."
When old goody Liu heard the mention made by lady Feng of their
hardships, she imagined that there was no hope; but upon hearing her
again speak of giving her twenty taels, she was exceedingly delighted,
so much so that her eyebrows dilated and her eyes gleamed with smiles.
"We too know," she smilingly remarked, "all about difficulties! but the
proverb says, 'A camel dying of leanness is even bigger by much than a
horse!' No matter what those distresses may be, were you yet to pluck
one single hair from your body, my old friend, it would be stouter than
our own waist."
Chou Jui's wife stood by, and on hearing her make these coarse
utterances, she did all she could to give her a hint by winking, and
make her desist. Lady Feng laughed and paid no heed; but calling P'ing
Erh, she bade her fetch the parcel of money, which had been given to
them the previous day, and to also bring a string of cash; and when
these had been placed before goody Liu's eyes: "This is," said lady
Feng, "silver to the amount of twenty taels, which was for the time
given to these young girls to make winter clothes with; but some other
day, when you've nothing to do, come again on a stroll, in evidence of
the good feeling which should exist between relatives. It's besides
already late, and I don't wish to detain you longer and all for no
purpose; but, on your return home, present my compliments to all those
of yours to whom I should send them."
As she spake, she stood up. Old goody Liu gave utterance to a thousand
and ten thousand expressions of gratitude, and taking the silver and
cash, she followed Chou Jui's wife on her way to the out-houses. "Well,
mother dear," inquired Mrs. Chou, "what did you think of my lady that
you couldn't speak; and that whenever you opened your mouth it was all
'your nephew.' I'll make just one remark, and I don't mind if you do get
angry. Had he even been your kindred nephew, you should in fact have
been somewhat milder in your language; for that gentleman, Mr. Jung, is
her kith and kin nephew, and whence has appeared such another nephew of
hers (as Pan Erh)?"
Old goody Liu smiled. "My dear sister-in-law," she replied, "as I gazed
upon her, were my heart and eyes, pray, full of admiration or not? and
how then could I speak as I should?"
As they were chatting, they reached Chou Jui's house. They had been
sitting for a while, when old goody Liu produced a piece of silver,
which she was purposing to leave behind, to be given to the young
servants in Chou Jui's house to purchase fruit to eat; but how could
Mrs. Chou satiate her eye with such a small piece of silver? She was
determined in her refusal to accept it, so that old goody Liu, after
assuring her of her boundless gratitude, took her departure out of the
back gate she had come in from.
Reader, you do not know what happened after old goody Liu left, but
listen to the explanation which will be given in the next chapter.