Chapter 32 · A brother is prompted by ill-feeling to wag his tongue a bit. A depraved son receives heavy blows with a rattan cane.
Ch'uan-erh's mother. On her arrival, she gave her several hair-pins and
rings, and then told her that she could invite several Buddhist priests
as well to read the prayers necessary to release the spirit from
purgatory. The mother prostrated herself and expressed her gratitude;
after which, she took her leave.
Indeed, Pao-yü, on his return from entertaining Yü-ts'un, heard the
tidings that Chin Ch'uan-erh had been instigated by a sense of shame to
take her own life and he at once fell a prey to grief. So much so,
that, when he came inside, and was again spoken to and admonished by
Madame Wang, he could not utter a single word in his justification. But
as soon as he perceived Pao-ch'ai make her appearance in the room, he
seized the opportunity to scamper out in precipitate haste. Whither he
was trudging, he himself had not the least idea. But throwing his hands
behind his back and drooping his head against his chest, he gave way to
sighs, while with slow and listless step he turned towards the hall.
Scarcely, however, had he rounded the screen-wall, which stood in front
of the door-way, when, by a strange coincidence, he ran straight into
the arms of some one, who was unawares approaching from the opposite
direction, and was just about to go towards the inner portion of the
compound.
"Hallo!" that person was heard to cry out, as he stood still.
Pao-yü sustained a dreadful start. Raising his face to see, he
discovered that it was no other than his father. At once, he
unconsciously drew a long breath and adopted the only safe course of
dropping his arms against his body and standing on one side.
"Why are you," exclaimed Chia Cheng, "drooping your head in such a
melancholy mood, and indulging in all these moans? When Yü-ts'un came
just now and he asked to see you, you only put in your appearance after
a long while. But though you did come, you were not in the least
disposed to chat with anything like cheerfulness and animation; you
behaved, as you ever do, like a regular fool. I detected then in your
countenance a certain expression of some hidden hankering and sadness;
and now again here you are groaning and sighing! Does all you have not
suffice to please you? Are you still dissatisfied? You've no reason to
be like this, so why is it that you go on in this way?"
Pao-yü had ever, it is true, shown a glib tongue, but on the present
occasion he was so deeply affected by Chin Ch'uan-erh's fate, and vexed
at not being able to die that very instant and follow in her footsteps
that although he was now fully conscious that his father was speaking
to him he could not, in fact, lend him an ear, but simply stood in a
timid and nervous mood. Chia Cheng noticed that he was in a state of
trembling and fear, not as ready with an answer as he usually was, and
his sorry plight somewhat incensed him, much though he had not at first
borne him any ill-feeling. But just as he was about to chide him, a
messenger approached and announced to him: "Some one has come from the
mansion of the imperial Prince Chung Shun, and wishes to see you, Sir."
At this announcement, surmises sprung up in Chia Cheng's mind.
"Hitherto," he secretly mused, "I've never had any dealings with the
Chung Shun mansion, and why is it that some one is despatched here
to-day?" As he gave way to these reflections. "Be quick," he shouted,
"and ask him to take a seat in the pavilion," while he himself
precipitately entered the inner room and changed his costume. When he
came out to greet the visitor, he discovered that it was the senior
officer of the Chung Shun mansion. After the exchange of the
salutations prescribed by the rites, they sat down and tea was
presented. But before (Chia Cheng) had had time to start a topic of
conversation, the senior officer anticipated him, and speedily
observed: "Your humble servant does not pay this visit to-day to your
worthy mansion on his own authority, but entirely in compliance with
instructions received, as there is a favour that I have to beg of you.
I make bold to trouble you, esteemed Sir, on behalf of his highness, to
take any steps you might deem suitable, and if you do, not only will
his highness remember your kindness, but even I, your humble servant,
and my colleagues will feel extremely grateful to you."
Chia Cheng listened to him, but he could not nevertheless get a clue of
what he was driving at. Promptly returning his smile, he rose to his
feet. "You come, Sir," he inquired, "at the instance of his royal
highness, but what, I wonder, are the commands you have to give me? I
hope you will explain them to your humble servant, worthy Sir, in order
to enable him to carry them out effectively."
The senior officer gave a sardonic smile.
"There's nothing to carry out," he said. "All you, venerable Sir, have
to do is to utter one single word and the whole thing will be effected.
There is in our mansion a certain Ch'i Kuan, who plays the part of
young ladies. He hitherto stayed quietly in the mansion; but for the
last three or five days or so no one has seen him return home. Search
has been instituted in every locality, yet his whereabouts cannot be
discovered. But throughout these various inquiries, eight out of the
ten tenths of the inhabitants of the city have, with one consent,
asserted that he has of late been on very friendly terms with that
honourable son of yours, who was born with the jade in his mouth. This
report was told your servant and his colleagues, but as your worthy
mansion is unlike such residences as we can take upon ourselves to
enter and search with impunity, we felt under the necessity of laying
the matter before our imperial master. 'Had it been any of the other
actors,' his highness also says, 'I wouldn't have minded if even one
hundred of them had disappeared; but this Ch'i Kuan has always been so
ready with pat repartee, so respectful and trustworthy that he has
thoroughly won my aged heart, and I could never do without him.' He
entreats you, therefore, worthy Sir, to, in your turn, plead with your
illustrious scion, and request him to let Ch'i Kuan go back, in order
that the feelings, which prompt the Prince to make such earnest
supplications, may, in the first place, be satisfied: and that, in the
next, your mean servant and his associates may be spared the fatigue of
toiling and searching."
At the conclusion of this appeal, he promptly made a low bow. As soon
as Chia Cheng found out the object of his errand, he felt both
astonishment and displeasure. With all promptitude, he issued
directions that Pao-yü should be told to come out of the garden. Pao-yü
had no notion whatever why he was wanted. So speedily he hurried to
appear before his father.
"What a regular scoundrel you are!" Chia Cheng exclaimed. "It is enough
that you won't read your books at home; but will you also go in for all
these lawless and wrongful acts? That Ch'i Kuan is a person whose
present honourable duties are to act as an attendant on his highness
the Prince of Chung Shun, and how extremely heedless of propriety must
you be to have enticed him, without good cause, to come away, and thus
have now brought calamity upon me?"
These reproaches plunged Pao-yü in a dreadful state of consternation.
With alacrity he said by way of reply: "I really don't know anything
about the matter! To what do, after all, the two words Ch'i Kuan refer,
I wonder! Still less, besides, am I aware what entice can imply!"
As he spoke, he started crying.
But before Chia Cheng could open his month to pass any further remarks,
"Young gentleman," he heard the senior officer interpose with a
sardonic smile: "you shouldn't conceal anything! if he be either hidden
in your home, or if you know his whereabouts, divulge the truth at
once; so that less trouble should fall to our lot than otherwise would.
And will we not then bear in mind your virtue, worthy scion!"
"I positively don't know." Pao-yü time after time maintained. "There
must, I fear, be some false rumour abroad; for I haven't so much as
seen anything of him."
The senior officer gave two loud smiles, full of derision. "There's
evidence at hand," he rejoined, "so if you compel me to speak out
before your venerable father, won't you, young man, have to suffer the
consequences? But as you assert that you don't know who this person is,
how is it that that red sash has come to be attached to your waist?"
When Pao-yü caught this allusion, he suddenly felt quite out of his
senses. He stared and gaped; while within himself, he argued: "How has
he come to hear anything about this! But since he knows all these
secret particulars, I cannot, I expect, put him off in other points; so
wouldn't it be better for me to pack him off, in order to obviate his
blubbering anything more?" "Sir," he consequently remarked aloud, "how
is it that despite your acquaintance with all these minute details, you
have no inkling of his having purchased a house? Are you ignorant of an
essential point like this? I've heard people say that he's, at present,
staying in the eastern suburbs at a distance of twenty li from the city
walls; at some place or other called Tzu T'an Pao, and that he has
bought there several acres of land and a few houses. So I presume he's
to be found in that locality; but of course there's no saying."
"According to your version," smiled the senior officer, as soon as he
heard his explanation, "he must for a certainty be there. I shall
therefore go and look for him. If he's there, well and good; but if
not, I shall come again and request you to give me further directions."
These words were still on his lips, when he took his leave and walked
off with hurried step.
Chia Cheng was by this time stirred up to such a pitch of indignation
that his eyes stared aghast, and his mouth opened in bewilderment; and
as he escorted the officer out, he turned his head and bade Pao-yü not
budge. "I have," (he said), "to ask you something on my return."
Straightway he then went to see the officer off. But just as he was
turning back, he casually came across Chia Huan and several
servant-boys running wildly about in a body. "Quick, bring him here to
me!" shouted Chia Cheng to the young boys. "I want to beat him."
Chia Huan, at the sight of his father, was so terrified that his bones
mollified and his tendons grew weak, and, promptly lowering his head,
he stood still."
"What are you running about for?" Chia Cheng asked. "These menials of
yours do not mind you, but go who knows where, and let you roam about
like a wild horse! Where are the attendants who wait on you at school?"
he cried.
When Chia Huan saw his father in such a dreadful rage, he availed
himself of the first opportunity to try and clear himself. "I wasn't
running about just now" he said. "But as I was passing by the side of
that well, I caught sight, for in that well a servant-girl was drowned,
of a human head that large, a body that swollen, floating about in
really a frightful way and I therefore hastily rushed past."
Chia Cheng was thunderstruck by this disclosure. "There's been nothing
up, so who has gone and jumped into the well?" he inquired. "Never has
there been anything of the kind in my house before! Ever since the time
of our ancestors, servants have invariably been treated with clemency
and consideration. But I expect that I must of late have become remiss
in my domestic affairs, and that the managers must have arrogated to
themselves the right of domineering and so been the cause of bringing
about such calamities as violent deaths and disregard of life. Were
these things to reach the ears of people outside, what will become of
the reputation of our seniors? Call Chia Lien and Lai Ta here!" he
shouted.
The servant-lads signified their obedience, with one voice. They were
about to go and summon them, when Chia Huan hastened to press forward.
Grasping the lapel of Chia Cheng's coat, and clinging to his knees, he
knelt down. "Father, why need you be angry?" he said. "Excluding the
people in Madame Wang's rooms, this occurrence is entirely unknown to
any of the rest; and I have heard my mother mention…." At this point,
he turned his head, and cast a glance in all four quarters.
Chia Cheng guessed his meaning, and made a sign with his eyes. The
young boys grasped his purpose and drew far back on either side.
Chia Huan resumed his confidences in a low tone of voice. "My mother,"
he resumed, "told me that when brother Pao-yü was, the other day, in
Madame Wang's apartments, he seized her servant-maid Chin Ch'uan-erh
with the intent of dishonouring her. That as he failed to carry out his
design, he gave her a thrashing, which so exasperated Chin Ch'uan-erh
that she threw herself into the well and committed suicide…."
Before however he could conclude his account, Chia Cheng had been
incensed to such a degree that his face assumed the colour of silver
paper. "Bring Pao-yü here," he cried. While uttering these orders, he
walked into the study. "If any one does again to-day come to dissuade
me," he vociferated, "I shall take this official hat, and sash, my home
and private property and surrender everything at once to him to go and
bestow them upon Pao-yü; for if I cannot escape blame (with a son like
the one I have), I mean to shave this scanty trouble-laden hair about
my temples and go in search of some unsullied place where I can spend
the rest of my days alone! I shall thus also avoid the crime of
heaping, above, insult upon my predecessors, and, below, of having
given birth to such a rebellious son."
At the sight of Chia Cheng in this exasperation, the family companions
and attendants speedily realised that Pao-yü must once more be the
cause of it, and the whole posse hastened to withdraw from the study,
biting their fingers and putting their tongues out.
Chia Cheng panted with excitement. He stretched his chest out and sat
bolt upright on a chair. His whole face was covered with the traces of
tears. "Bring Pao-yü! Bring Pao-yü!" he shouted consecutively. "Fetch a
big stick; bring a rope and tie him up; close all the doors! If any one
does communicate anything about it in the inner rooms, why, I'll
immediately beat him to death."
The servant-boys felt compelled to express their obedience with one
consent, and some of them came to look after Pao-yü.
As for Pao-yü, when he heard Chia Cheng enjoin him not to move, he
forthwith became aware that the chances of an unpropitious issue
outnumbered those of a propitious one, but how could he have had any
idea that Chia Huan as well had put in his word? There he still stood
in the pavilion, revolving in his mind how he could get some one to
speed inside and deliver a message for him. But, as it happened, not a
soul appeared. He was quite at a loss to know where even Pei Ming could
be. His longing was at its height, when he perceived an old nurse come
on the scene. The sight of her exulted Pao-yü, just as much as if he
had obtained pearls or gems; and hurriedly approaching her, he dragged
her and forced her to halt. "Go in," he urged, "at once and tell them
that my father wishes to beat me to death. Be quick, be quick, for it's
urgent, there's no time to be lost."
But, first and foremost, Pao-yü's excitement was so intense that he
spoke with indistinctness. In the second place, the old nurse was, as
luck would have it, dull of hearing, so that she did not catch the
drift of what he said, and she misconstrued the two words: "it's
urgent," for the two representing jumped into the well. Readily smiling
therefore: "If she wants to jump into the well, let her do so," she
said. "What's there to make you fear, Master Secundus?"
"Go out," pursued Pao-yü, in despair, on discovering that she was deaf,
"and tell my page to come."
"What's there left unsettled?" rejoined the old nurse. "Everything has
been finished long ago! A tip has also been given them; so how is it
things are not settled?"
Pao-yü fidgetted with his hands and feet. He was just at his wits'
ends, when he espied Chia Cheng's servant-boys come up and press him to
go out.
As soon as Chia Cheng caught sight of him, his eyes got quite red.
Without even allowing himself any time to question him about his
gadding about with actors, and the presents he gave them on the sly,
during his absence from home; or about his playing the truant from
school and lewdly importuning his mother's maid, during his stay at
home, he simply shouted: "Gag his mouth and positively beat him till he
dies!"
The servant-boys did not have the boldness to disobey him. They were
under the necessity of seizing Pao-yü, of stretching him on a bench,
and of taking a heavy rattan and giving him about ten blows.
Pao-yü knew well enough that he could not plead for mercy, and all he
could do was to whimper and cry.
Chia Cheng however found fault with the light blows they administered
to him. With one kick he shoved the castigator aside, and snatching the
rattan into his own hands, he spitefully let (Pao-yü) have ten blows
and more.
Pao-yü had not, from his very birth, experienced such anguish. From the
outset, he found the pain unbearable; yet he could shout and weep as
boisterously as ever he pleased; but so weak subsequently did his
breath, little by little, become, so hoarse his voice, and so choked
his throat that he could not bring out any sound.
The family companions noticed that he was beaten in a way that might
lead to an unpropitious end, and they drew near with all despatch and
made earnest entreaties and exhortations. But would Chia Cheng listen
to them?
"You people," he answered, "had better ask him whether the tricks he
has been up to deserve to be overlooked or not! It's you who have all
along so thoroughly spoilt him as to make him reach this degree of
depravity! And do you yet come to advise me to spare him? When by and
bye you've incited him to commit parricide or regicide, you will at
length, then, give up trying to dissuade me, eh?"
This language jarred on the ears of the whole party; and knowing only
too well that he was in an exasperated mood, they fussed about
endeavouring to find some one to go in and convey the news.
But Madame Wang did not presume to be the first to inform dowager lady
Chia about it. Seeing no other course open to her, she hastily dressed
herself and issued out of the garden. Without so much as worrying her
mind as to whether there were any male inmates about or not, she
straightway leant on a waiting-maid and hurriedly betook herself into
the library, to the intense consternation of the companions, pages and
all the men present, who could not manage to clear out of the way in
time.
Chia Cheng was on the point of further belabouring his son, when at the
sight of Madame Wang walking in, his temper flared up with such
increased violence, just as fire on which oil is poured, that the rod
fell with greater spite and celerity. The two servant-boys, who held
Pao-yü down, precipitately loosened their grip and beat a retreat.
Pao-yü had long ago lost all power of movement. Chia Cheng, however,
was again preparing to assail him, when the rattan was immediately
locked tightly by Madame Wang, in both her arms.
"Of course, of course," Chia Cheng exclaimed, "what you want to do
to-day is to make me succumb to anger!"
"Pao-yü does, I admit, merit to be beaten," sobbed Madame Wang; "but
you should also, my lord, take good care of yourself! The weather,
besides, is extremely hot, and our old lady is not feeling quite up to
the mark. Were you to knock Pao-yü about and kill him, it would not
matter much; but were perchance our venerable senior to suddenly fall
ill, wouldn't it be a grave thing?"
"Better not talk about such things!" observed Chia Cheng with a
listless smile. "By my bringing up such a degenerate child of
retribution I have myself become unfilial! Whenever I've had to call
him to account, there has always been a whole crowd of you to screen
him; so isn't it as well for me to avail myself of to-day to put an end
to his cur-like existence and thus prevent future misfortune?"
As he spoke, he asked for a rope to strangle him; but Madame Wang lost
no time in clasping him in her embrace, and reasoning with him as she
wept. "My lord and master," she said, "it is your duty, of course, to
keep your son in proper order, but you should also regard the
relationship of husband and wife. I'm already a woman of fifty and I've
only got this scapegrace. Was there any need for you to give him such a
bitter lesson? I wouldn't presume to use any strong dissuasion; but
having, on this occasion, gone so far as to harbour the design of
killing him, isn't this a fixed purpose on your part to cut short my
own existence? But as you are bent upon strangling him, be quick and
first strangle me before you strangle him! It will be as well that we,
mother and son, should die together, so that if even we go to hell, we
may be able to rely upon each other!"
At the conclusion of these words, she enfolded Pao-yü in her embrace
and raised her voice in loud sobs.
After listening to her appeal, Chia Cheng could not restrain a deep
sigh; and taking a seat on one of the chairs, the tears ran down his
cheeks like drops of rain.
But while Madame Wang held Pao-yü in her arms, she noticed that his
face was sallow and his breath faint, and that his green gauze nether
garments were all speckled with stains of blood, so she could not check
her fingers from unloosening his girdle. And realising that from the
thighs to the buttocks, his person was here green, there purple, here
whole, there broken, and that there was, in fact, not the least bit,
which had not sustained some injury, she of a sudden burst out in
bitter lamentations for her offspring's wretched lot in life. But while
bemoaning her unfortunate son, she again recalled to mind the memory of
Chia Chu, and vehemently calling out "Chia Chu," she sobbed: "if but
you were alive, I would not care if even one hundred died!"
But by this time, the inmates of the inner rooms discovered that Madame
Wang had gone out, and Li Kung-ts'ai, Wang Hsi-feng and Ting Ch'un and
her sisters promptly rushed out of the garden and came to join her.
While Madame Wang mentioned, with eyes bathed in tears, the name of
Chia Chu, every one listened with composure, with the exception of Li
Kung-ts'ai, who unable to curb her feelings also raised her voice in
sobs. As soon as Chia Cheng heard her plaints, his tears trickled down
with greater profusion, like pearls scattered about. But just as there
seemed no prospect of their being consoled, a servant-girl was unawares
heard to announce: "Our dowager lady has come!" Before this
announcement was ended, her tremulous accents reached their ears from
outside the window. "If you were to beat me to death and then despatch
him," she cried, "won't you be clear of us!"
Chia Cheng, upon seeing that his mother was coming, felt distressed and
pained. With all promptitude, he went out to meet her. He perceived his
old parent, toddling along, leaning on the arm of a servant-girl,
wagging her head and gasping for breath.
Chia Cheng drew forward and made a curtsey. "On a hot broiling day like
this," he ventured, forcing a smile, "what made you, mother, get so
angry as to rush over in person? Had you anything to enjoin me, you
could have sent for me, your son, and given me your orders."
Old lady Chia, at these words, halted and panted. "Are you really
chiding me?" she at the same time said in a stern tone. "It's I who
should call you to task! But as the son, I've brought up, isn't worth a
straw, to whom can I go and address a word?"
When Chia Cheng heard language so unlike that generally used by her, he
immediately fell on his knees. While doing all in his power to contain
his tears: "The reason why," he explained, "your son corrects his
offspring is a desire to reflect lustre on his ancestors and splendour
on his seniors; so how can I, your son, deserve the rebuke with which
you greet me, mother?"
At this reply, old lady Chia spurted contemptuously. "I made just one
remark," she added, "and you couldn't stand it, and can Pao-yü likely
put up with that death-working cane? You say that your object in
correcting your son is to reflect lustre on your ancestors and
splendour on your seniors, but in what manner did your father correct
you in days gone by?"
Saying this, tears suddenly rolled down from her eyes also.
Chia Cheng forced another smile. "Mother;" he proceeded, "you shouldn't
distress yourself! Your son did it in a sudden fit of rage, but from
this time forth I won't touch him again."
Dowager lady Chia smiled several loud sneering smiles. "But you
shouldn't get into a huff with me!" she urged. "He's your son, so if
you choose to flog him, you can naturally do so, but I cannot help
thinking that you're sick and tired of me, your mother, of your wife
and of your son, so wouldn't it be as well that we should get out of
your way, the sooner the better, as we shall then be able to enjoy
peace and quiet?"
So speaking, "Go and look after the chairs." she speedily cried to a
servant. "I and your lady as well as Pao-yü will, without delay, return
to Nanking."
The servant had no help but to assent.
Old lady Chia thereupon called Madame Wang over to her. "You needn't
indulge in sorrow!" she exhorted her. "Pao-yü is now young, and you
cherish him fondly; but does it follow that when in years to come he
becomes an official, he'll remember that you are his mother? You
mustn't therefore at present lavish too much of your affection upon
him, so that you may by and bye, spare yourself, at least, some
displeasure."
When these exhortations fell on Chia Cheng's ear, he instantly
prostrated himself before her. "Your remarks mother," he observed, "cut
the ground under your son's very feet."
"You distinctly act in a way," cynically smiled old lady Chia,
"sufficient to deprive me of any ground to stand upon, and then you, on
the contrary, go and speak about yourself! But when we shall have gone
back, your mind will be free of all trouble. We'll see then who'll
interfere and dissuade you from beating people!"
After this reply, she went on to give orders to directly get ready the
baggage, carriages, chairs and horses necessary for their return.
Chia Cheng stiffly and rigidly fell on his knees, and knocked his head
before her, and pleaded guilty. Dowager lady Chia then addressed him
some words, and as she did so, she came to have a look at Pao-yü. Upon
perceiving that the thrashing he had got this time was unlike those of
past occasions, she experienced both pain and resentment. So clasping
him in her arms, she wept and wept incessantly. It was only after
Madame Wang, lady Feng and the other ladies had reasoned with her for a
time that they at length gradually succeeded in consoling her.
But waiting-maids, married women, and other attendants soon came to
support Pao-yü and take him away. Lady Feng however at once
expostulated with them. "You stupid things," she exclaimed, won't you
open your eyes and see! How ever could he be raised and made to walk in
the state he's in! Don't you yet instantly run inside and fetch some
rattan slings and a bench to carry him out of this on?
At this suggestion, the servants rushed hurry-scurry inside and
actually brought a bench; and, lifting Pao-yü, they placed him on it.
Then following dowager lady Chia, Madame Wang and the other inmates
into the inner part of the building, they carried him into his
grandmother's apartments. But Chia Cheng did not fail to notice that
his old mother's passion had not by this time yet abated, so without
presuming to consult his own convenience, he too came inside after
them. Here he discovered how heavily he had in reality castigated
Pao-yü. Upon perceiving Madame Wang also crying, with one breath, "My
flesh;" and, with another, saying with tears: "My son, if you had died
sooner, instead of Chu Erh, and left Chu Erh behind you, you would have
saved your father these fits of anger, and even I would not have had to
fruitlessly worry and fret for half of my existence! Were anything to
happen now to make you forsake me, upon whom will you have me depend?"
And then after heaping reproaches upon herself for a time, break out
afresh in lamentations for her, unavailing offspring, Chia Cheng was
much cut up and felt conscious that he should not with his own hand
have struck his son so ruthlessly as to bring him to this state, and he
first and foremost directed his attention to consoling dowager lady
Chia.
"If your son isn't good," rejoined the old lady, repressing her tears,
"it is naturally for you to exercise control over him. But you
shouldn't beat him to such a pitch! Don't you yet bundle yourself away?
What are you dallying in here for? Is it likely, pray, that your heart
is not yet satisfied, and that you wish to feast your eyes by seeing
him die before you go?"
These taunts induced Chia Cheng to eventually withdraw out of the room.
By this time, Mrs. Hsüeh together with Pao-ch'ai, Hsiang Ling, Hsi Jen,
Shih Hsiang-yün and his other cousins had also congregated in the
apartments. Hsi Jen's heart was overflowing with grief; but she could
not very well give expression to it. When she saw that a whole company
of people shut him in, some pouring water over him, others fanning him;
and that she herself could not lend a hand in any way, she availed
herself of a favourable moment to make her exit. Proceeding then as far
as the second gate, she bade the servant-boys go and fetch Pei-Ming. On
his arrival, she submitted him to a searching inquiry. "Why is it," she
asked, "that he was beaten just now without the least provocation; and
that you didn't run over soon to tell me a word about it?"
"It happened," answered Pei Ming in great perplexity, "that I wasn't
present. It was only after he had given him half the flogging that I
heard what was going on, and lost no time in ascertaining what it was
all about. It's on account of those affairs connected with Ch'i Kuan
and that girl Chin Ch'uan."
"How did these things come to master's knowledge?" inquired Hsi Jen.
"As for that affair with Ch'i Kuan," continued Pei Ming, "it is very
likely Mr. Hsüeh P'an who has let it out; for as he has ever been
jealous, he may, in the absence of any other way of quenching his
resentment, have instigated some one or other outside, who knows, to
come and see master and add fuel to his anger. As for Chin Ch'uan-erh's
affair it has presumably been told him by Master Tertius. This I heard
from the lips of some person, who was in attendance upon master."
Hsi Jen saw how much his two versions tallied with the true
circumstances, so she readily credited the greater portion of what was
told her. Subsequently, she returned inside. Here she found a whole
crowd of people trying to do the best to benefit Pao-yü. But after they
had completed every arrangement, dowager lady Chia impressed on their
minds that it would be better were they to carefully move him into his
own quarters. With one voice they all signified their approval, and
with a good deal of bustling and fussing, they speedily transferred
Pao-yü into the I Hung court, where they stretched him out comfortably
on his own bed. Then after some further excitement, the members of the
family began gradually to disperse. Hsi Jen at last entered his room,
and waited upon him with singleness of heart.
But, reader, if you feel any curiosity to hear what follows, listen to
what you will find divulged in the next chapter.