The tongue of the village old dame finds as free vent as a river that
has broken its banks.
The affectionate cousin makes up his mind to sift to the very bottom
the story told by old goody Liu.
Upon seeing, the story explains, P'ing Erh arrive, they unanimously
inquired, "What is your mistress up to? How is it she hasn't come?"
"How ever could she spare the time to get as far as here?" P'ing Erh
smiled and replied. "But, she said, she hasn't anything good to eat, so
she bade me, as she couldn't possibly run over, come and find out
whether there be any more crabs or not; (if there be), she enjoined me
to ask for a few to take to her to eat at home."
"There are plenty!" Hsiang-yün rejoined; and directing, with alacrity,
a servant to fetch a present box, she put in it ten of the largest
crabs.
"I'll take a few more of the female ones," P'ing Erh remarked.
One and all then laid hands upon P'ing Erh and tried to drag her into a
seat, but P'ing Erh would not accede to their importunities.
"I insist upon your sitting down," Li Wan laughingly exclaimed, and as
she kept pulling her about, and forcing her to sit next to her, she
filled a cup of wine and put it to her lips. P'ing Erh hastily
swallowed a sip and endeavoured immediately to beat a retreat.
"I won't let you go," shouted Li Wan. "It's so evident that you've only
got that woman Feng in your thoughts as you don't listen to any of my
words!"
Saying this, she went on to bid the nurses go ahead, and take the box
over. "Tell her," she added, "that I've kept P'ing Erh here."
A matron presently returned with a box. "Lady Secunda," she reported,
"says that you, lady Chu, and our young mistresses must not make fun of
her for having asked for something to eat; and that in this box you'll
find cakes made of water-lily powder, and rolls prepared with chicken
fat, which your maternal aunt, on the other side, just sent for your
ladyship and for you, young ladies, to taste. That she bids you," (the
matron) continued, turning towards P'ing Erh, "come over on duty, but
your mind is so set upon pleasure that you loiter behind and don't go
back. She advises you, however, not to have too many cups of wine."
"Were I even to have too much," P'ing Erh smiled, "what could she do to
me?"
Uttering these words, she went on with her drink; after which she
partook of some more crab.
"What a pity it is," interposed Li Wan, caressing her, "that a girl
with such good looks as you should have so ordinary a fortune as to
simply fall into that room as a menial! But wouldn't any one, who is
not acquainted with actual facts, take you for a lady and a mistress?"
While she went on eating and drinking with Pao-ch'ai, Hsiang-yün and
the other girls, P'ing Erh turned her head round. "Don't rub me like
that!" she laughed, "It makes me feel quite ticklish."
"Ai-yo!" shouted Li Wan. "What's this hard thing?"
"It's a key," P'ing Erh answered.
"What fine things have you got that the fear lest people should take it
away, prompts you to carry this about you? I keep on, just for a laugh,
telling people the whole day long that when the bonze T'ang was
fetching the canons, a white horse came and carried him! That when Liu
Chih-yüan was attacking the empire, a melon-spirit appeared and brought
him a coat of mail, and that in the same way, where our vixen Feng is,
there you are to be found! You are your mistress' general key; and what
do you want this other key for?"
"You've primed yourself with wine, my lady," P'ing Erh smiled, "and
here you once more chaff me and make a laughing-stock of me."
"This is really quite true," Pao-ch'ai laughed. "Whenever we've got
nothing to do, and we talk matters over, (we're quite unanimous) that
not one in a hundred could be picked out to equal you girls in here.
The beauty is that each one of you possesses her own good qualities!"
"In every thing, whether large or small, a heavenly principle rules
alike," Li Wan explained. "Were there, for instance, no Yüan Yang in
our venerable senior's apartments, how would it ever do? Commencing
with Madame Wang herself, who is it who could muster sufficient courage
to expostulate with the old lady? Yet she plainly has the pluck to put
in her remonstrances with her; and, as it happens, our worthy ancestor
lends a patient ear to only what she says and no one else. None of the
others can remember what our old senior has in the way of clothes and
head-ornaments, but she can remember everything; and, were she not
there to look after things, there is no knowing how many would not be
swindled away. That child besides is so straightforward at heart, that,
despite all this, she often puts in a good word for others, and doesn't
rely upon her influence to look down disdainfully upon any one!"
"It was only yesterday," Hsi Ch'un observed with a smile, "that our
dear ancestor said that she was ever so much better than the whole lot
of us!"
"She's certainly splendid!" P'ing Erh ventured. "How could we rise up
to her standard?"
"Ts'ai Hsia," Pao-yü put in, "who is in mother's rooms, is a good sort
of girl!"
"Of course she is!" T'an Ch'un assented. "But she's good enough as far
as external appearances go, but inwardly she's a sly one! Madame Wang
is just like a joss; she does not give her mind to any sort of
business; but this girl is up to everything; and it is she who in all
manner of things reminds her mistress what there is to be done. She
even knows everything, whether large or small, connected with Mr. Chia
Cheng's staying at home or going out of doors; and when at any time
Madame Wang forgets, she, from behind the scenes, prompts her how to
act."
"Well, never mind about her!" Li Wan suggested. "But were," she
pursued, pointing at Pao-yü, "no Hsi Jen in this young gentleman's
quarters, just you imagine what a pitch things would reach! That vixen
Feng may truly resemble the prince Pa of the Ch'u kingdom; and she may
have two arms strong enough to raise a tripod weighing a thousand
catties, but had she not this maid (P'ing Erh), would she be able to
accomplish everything so thoroughly?"
"In days gone by," P'ing Erh interposed, "four servant-girls came along
with her, but what with those who've died and those who've gone, only I
remain like a solitary spirit."
"You're, after all, the fortunate one!" Li Wan retorted, "but our
hussey Feng too is lucky in having you! Had I not also once, just
remember, two girls, when your senior master Chu was alive? Am I not,
you've seen for yourselves, a person to bear with people? But in such a
surly frame of mind did I find them both day after day that, as soon as
your senior master departed this life, I availed myself of their youth
(to give them in marriage) and to pack both of them out of my place.
But had either of them been good for anything and worthy to be kept, I
would, in fact, have now had some one to give me a helping hand!"
As she spoke, the very balls of her eyes suddenly became quite red.
"Why need you again distress your mind?" they with one voice,
exclaimed.
"Isn't it better that we should break up?"
While conversing, they rinsed their hands; and, when they had agreed to
go in a company to dowager lady Chia's and Madame Wang's and inquire
after their health, the matrons and servant-maids swept the pavilion
and collected and washed the cups and saucers.
Hsi Jen proceeded on her way along with P'ing Erh. "Come into my room,"
said Hsi Jen to P'ing Erh, "and sit down and have another cup of tea."
"I won't have any tea just now," P'ing Erh answered. "I'll come some
other time."
So saying, she was about to go off when Hsi Jen called out to her and
stopped her.
"This month's allowances," she asked, "haven't yet been issued, not
even to our old mistress and Madame Wang; why is it?"
Upon catching this inquiry, P'ing Erh hastily retraced her steps and
drew near Hsi Jen. After looking about to see that no one was in the
neighbourhood, she rejoined in a low tone of voice, "Drop these
questions at once! They're sure, anyhow, to be issued in a couple of
days."
"Why is it," smiled Hsi Jen, "that this gives you such a start?"
"This month's allowances," P'ing Erh explained to her in a whisper,
"have long ago been obtained in advance by our mistress Secunda and
given to people for their own purposes; and it's when the interest has
been brought from here and there that the various sums will be lumped
together and payment be effected. I confide this to you, but, mind, you
mustn't go and tell any other person about it."
"Is it likely that she hasn't yet enough money for her own
requirements?" Hsi Jen smiled. "Or is it that she's still not
satisfied? And what's the use of her still going on bothering herself
in this way?"
"Isn't it so!" laughed P'ing Erh. "From just handling the funds for
this particular item, she has, during these few years, so manipulated
them as to turn up several hundreds of taels profit out of them. Nor
does she spend that monthly allowance of hers for public expenses. But
the moment she accumulates anything like eight or ten taels odd, she
gives them out too. Thus the interest on her own money alone comes up
to nearly a thousand taels a year."
"You and your mistress take our money," Hsi Jen observed laughingly,
"and get interest on it; fooling us as if we were no better than
idiots."
"Here you are again with your uncharitable words!" P'ing Erh
remonstrated. "Can it be that you haven't yet enough to meet your own
expenses with?"
"I am, it's true, not short of money," Hsi Jen replied, "as I have
nowhere to go and spend it; but the thing is that I'm making provision
for that fellow of ours, (Pao-yü)."
"If you ever find yourself in any great straits and need money," P'ing
Erh resumed, "you're at liberty to take first those few taels I've got
over there to suit your own convenience with, and by and bye I can
reduce them from what is due to you and we'll be square."
"I'm not in need of any just now," retorted Hsi Jen. "But should I not
have enough, when I want some, I'll send some one to fetch them, and
finish."
P'ing Erh promised that she would let her have the money at any time
she sent for it, and, and taking the shortest cut, she issued out of
the garden gate. Here she encountered a servant despatched from the
other side by lady Feng. She came in search of P'ing Erh. "Our lady,"
she said, "has something for you to do, and is waiting for you."
"What's up that it's so pressing?" P'ing Erh inquired. "Our senior
mistress detained me by force to have a chat, so I couldn't manage to
get away. But here she time after time sends people after me in this
manner!"
"Whether you go or not is your own look out," the maid replied. "It
isn't worth your while getting angry with me! If you dare, go and tell
these things to our mistress!"
P'ing Erh spat at her contemptuously, and rushed back in anxious haste.
She discovered, however, that lady Feng was not at home. But
unexpectedly she perceived that the old goody Liu, who had paid them a
visit on a previous occasion for the purpose of obtaining pecuniary
assistance, had come again with Pan Erh, and was seated in the opposite
room, along with Chang Ts'ai's wife and Chou Jui's wife, who kept her
company. But two or three servant-maids were inside as well emptying on
the floor bags containing dates, squash and various wild greens.
As soon as they saw her appear in the room, they promptly stood up in a
body. Old goody Liu had, on her last visit, learnt what P'ing Erh's
status in the establishment was, so vehemently jumping down, she
enquired, "Miss, how do you do? All at home," she pursued, "send you
their compliments. I meant to have come earlier and paid my respects to
my lady and to look you up, miss; but we've been very busy on the farm.
We managed this year to reap, after great labour, a few more piculs of
grain than usual. But melons, fruits and vegetables have also been
plentiful. These things, you see here, are what we picked during the
first crop; and as we didn't presume to sell them, we kept the best to
present to our lady and the young ladies to taste. The young ladies
must, of course, be surfeited with all the delicacies and fine things
they daily get, but by having some of our wild greens to eat, they will
show some regard for our poor attention."
"Many thanks for all the trouble you have taken!" Ping Erh eagerly
rejoined. Then pressing her to resume her place, she sat down herself;
and, urging Mrs. Chang and Mrs. Chou to take their seats, she bade a
young waiting-maid go and serve the tea.
"There's a joyous air about your face to-day, Miss, and your eye-balls
are all red," the wife of Chou Jui and the wife of Chang Ts'ai
thereupon smilingly ventured.
"Naturally!" P'ing Erh laughed. "I generally don't take any wine, but
our senior mistress, and our young ladies caught hold of me and
insisted upon pouring it down my throat. I had no alternative therefore
but to swallow two cups full; so my face at once flushed crimson."
"I have a longing for wine," Chang Ts'ai's wife smiled; "but there's no
one to offer me any. But when any one by and by invites you, Miss, do
take me along with you!"
At these words, one and all burst out laughing.
"Early this morning," Chou Jui's wife interposed, "I caught a glimpse
of those crabs. Only two or three of them would weigh a catty; so in
those two or three huge hampers, there must have been, I presume,
seventy to eighty catties!"
"If some were intended for those above as well as for those below;"
Chou Jui's wife added, "they couldn't, nevertheless, I fear, have been
enough."
"How could every one have had any?" P'ing Erh observed. "Those simply
with any name may have tasted a couple of them; but, as for the rest,
some may have touched them with the tips of their hands, but many may
even not have done as much."
"Crabs of this kind!" put in old goody Liu, "cost this year five
candareens a catty; ten catties for five mace; five times five make two
taels five, and three times five make fifteen; and adding what was
wanted for wines and eatables, the total must have come to something
over twenty taels. O-mi-to-fu! why, this heap of money is ample for us
country-people to live on through a whole year!"
"I expect you have seen our lady?" P'ing Erh then asked.
"Yes, I have seen her," assented old goody Liu. "She bade us wait." As
she spoke, she again looked out of the window to see what the time of
the day could be. "It's getting quite late," she afterwards proceeded.
"We must be going, or else we mayn't be in time to get out of the city
gates; and then we'll be in a nice fix."
"Quite right," Chou Jui's wife observed. "I'll go and see what she's up
to for you."
With these words, she straightway left the room. After a long absence,
she returned. "Good fortune has, indeed, descended upon you, old dame!"
she smiled. "Why, you've won the consideration of those two ladies!"
"What about it?" laughingly inquired P'ing Erh and the others.
"Lady Secunda," Chou Jui's wife explained with a smile, "was with our
venerable lady, so I gently whispered to her: 'old goody Liu wishes to
go home; it's getting late and she fears she mightn't be in time to go
out of the gates!' 'It's such a long way off!' Our lady Secunda
rejoined, 'and she had all the trouble and fatigue of carrying that
load of things; so if it's too late, why, let her spend the night here
and start on the morrow!' Now isn't this having enlisted our mistress'
sympathies? But not to speak of this! Our old lady also happened to
overhear what we said, and she inquired: 'who is old goody Liu?' Our
lady Secunda forthwith told her all. 'I was just longing,' her
venerable ladyship pursued, 'for some one well up in years to have a
chat with; ask her in, and let me see her!' So isn't this coming in for
consideration, when least unexpected?"
So speaking, she went on to urge old goody Liu to get down and betake
herself to the front.
"With a figure like this of mine," old goody Liu demurred, "how could I
very well appear before her? My dear sister-in-law, do tell her that
I've gone!"
"Get on! Be quick!" P'ing Erh speedily cried. "What does it matter? Our
old lady has the highest regard for old people and the greatest pity
for the needy! She's not one you could compare with those haughty and
overbearing people! But I fancy you're a little too timid, so I'll
accompany you as far as there, along with Mrs. Chou."
While tendering her services, she and Chou Jui's wife led off old goody
Liu and crossed over to dowager lady Chia's apartments on this side of
the mansion. The boy-servants on duty at the second gate stood up when
they saw P'ing Erh approach. But two of them also ran up to her, and,
keeping close to her heels: "Miss!" they shouted out. "Miss!"
"What have you again got to say?" P'ing Erh asked.
"It's pretty late just now," one of the boys smilingly remarked; "and
mother is ill and wants me to go and call the doctor, so I would, dear
Miss, like to have half a day's leave; may I?"
"Your doings are really fine!" P'ing Erh exclaimed. "You've agreed
among yourselves that each day one of you should apply for furlough;
but instead of speaking to your lady, you come and bother me! The other
day that Chu Erh went, Mr. Secundus happened not to want him, so I
assented, though I also added that I was doing it as a favour; but here
you too come to-day!"
"It's quite true that his mother is sick," Chou Jui's wife interceded;
"so, Miss, do say yes to him also, and let him go!"
"Be back as soon as it dawns to-morrow!" P'ing Erh enjoined. "Wait,
I've got something for you to do, for you'll again sleep away, and only
turn up after the sun has blazed away on your buttocks. As you go now,
give a message to Wang Erh! Tell him that our lady bade you warn him
that if he does not hand over the balance of the interest due by
to-morrow, she won't have anything to do with him. So he'd better let
her have it to meet her requirements and finish."
The servant-lad felt in high glee and exuberant spirits. Expressing his
obedience, he walked off.
P'ing Erh and her companions repaired then to old lady Chia's
apartments. Here the various young ladies from the Garden of Broad
Vista were at the time assembled paying their respects to their
grandmother. As soon as old goody Liu put her foot inside, she saw the
room thronged with girls (as seductive) as twigs of flowers waving to
and fro, and so richly dressed, as to look enveloped in pearls, and
encircled with king-fisher ornaments. But she could not make out who
they all were. Her gaze was, however, attracted by an old dame,
reclining alone on a divan. Behind her sat a girl, a regular beauty,
clothed in gauze, engaged in patting her legs. Lady Feng was on her
feet in the act of cracking some joke.
Old goody Liu readily concluded that it must be dowager lady Chia, so
promptly pressing forward, she put on a forced smile and made several
curtseys. "My obeisance to you, star of longevity!" she said.
Old lady Chia hastened, on her part, to bow and to inquire after her
health. Then she asked Chou Jui's wife to bring a chair over for her to
take a seat. But Pan Erh was still so very shy that he did not know how
to make his obeisance.
"Venerable relative," dowager lady Chia asked, "how old are you this
year?"
Old goody Liu immediately rose to her feet. "I'm seventy-five this
year," she rejoined.
"So old and yet so hardy!" Old lady Chia remarked, addressing herself
to the party. "Why she's older than myself by several years! When I
reach that age, I wonder whether I shall be able to move!"
"We people have," old goody Liu smilingly resumed, "to put up, from the
moment we come into the world, with ever so many hardships; while your
venerable ladyship enjoys, from your birth, every kind of blessing!
Were we also like this, there'd be no one to carry on that farming
work."
"Are your eyes and teeth still good?" Dowager lady Chia went on to
inquire.
"They're both still all right," old goody Liu replied. "The left
molars, however, have got rather shaky this year."
"As for me, I'm quite an old fossil," dowager lady Chia observed. "I'm
no good whatever. My eyesight is dim; my ears are deaf, my memory is
gone. I can't even recollect any of you, old family connections. When
therefore any of our relations come on a visit, I don't see them for
fear lest I should be ridiculed. All I can manage to eat are a few
mouthfuls of anything tender enough for my teeth; and I can just dose a
bit or, when I feel in low spirits, I distract myself a little with
these grandsons and grand-daughters of mine; that's all I'm good for."
"This is indeed your venerable ladyship's good fortune!" old goody Liu
smiled. "We couldn't enjoy anything of the kind, much though we may
long for it."
"What good fortune!" dowager lady Chia exclaimed. "I'm a useless old
thing, no more."
This remark made every one explode into laughter.
Dowager lady Chia also laughed. "I heard our lady Feng say a little
while back," she added, "that you had brought a lot of squash and
vegetables, and I told her to put them by at once. I had just been
craving to have newly-grown melons and vegetables; but those one buys
outside are not as luscious as those produced in your farms."
"This is the rustic notion," old goody Liu laughed, "to entirely
subsist on fresh things! Yet, we long to have fish and meat for our
fare, but we can't afford it."
"I've found a relative in you to-day," dowager lady Chia said, "so you
shouldn't go empty-handed! If you don't despise this place as too mean,
do stay a day or two before you start! We've also got a garden here;
and this garden produces fruits too; you can taste some of them
to-morrow and take a few along with you home, in order to make it look
like a visit to relatives."
When lady Feng saw how delighted old lady Chia was with the prospects
of the old dame's stay, she too lost no time in doing all she could to
induce her to remain. "Our place here," she urged, "isn't, it's true,
as spacious as your threshing-floor; but as we've got two vacant rooms,
you'd better put up in them for a couple of days, and choose some of
your village news and old stories and recount them to our worthy
senior."
"Now you, vixen Feng," smiled dowager lady Chia, "don't raise a laugh
at her expense! She's only a country woman; and will an old dame like
her stand any chaff from you?"
While remonstrating with her, she bade a servant go, before attending
to anything else, and pluck a few fruits. These she handed to Pan Erh
to eat. But Pan Erh did not venture to touch them, conscious as he was
of the presence of such a number of bystanders. So old lady Chia gave
orders that a few cash should be given him, and then directed the pages
to take him outside to play.
After sipping a cup of tea, old goody Liu began to relate, for the
benefit of dowager lady Chia, a few of the occurrences she had seen or
heard of in the country. These had the effect of putting old lady Chia
in a more exuberant frame of mind. But in the midst of her narration, a
servant, at lady Feng's instance, asked goody Liu to go and have her
evening meal. Dowager lady Chia then picked out, as well, several kinds
of eatables from her own repast, and charged some one to take them to
goody Liu to feast on.
But the consciousness that the old dame had taken her senior's fancy
induced lady Feng to send her back again as soon as she had taken some
refreshments. On her arrival, Yüan Yang hastily deputed a matron to
take goody Liu to have a bath. She herself then went and selected two
pieces of ordinary clothes, and these she entrusted to a servant to
hand to the old dame to change. Goody Liu had hitherto not set eyes
upon any such grand things, so with eagerness she effected the
necessary alterations in her costume. This over, she made her
appearance outside, and, sitting in front of the divan occupied by
dowager lady Chia, she went on to narrate as many stories as she could
recall to mind. Pao-yü and his cousins too were, at the time, assembled
in the room, and as they had never before heard anything the like of
what she said, they, of course, thought her tales more full of zest
than those related by itinerant blind story-tellers.
Old goody Liu was, albeit a rustic person, gifted by nature with a good
deal of discrimination. She was besides advanced in years; and had gone
through many experiences in her lifetime, so when she, in the first
place, saw how extremely delighted old lady Chia was with her, and, in
the second, how eager the whole crowd of young lads and lasses were to
listen to what fell from her mouth, she even invented, when she found
her own stock exhausted, a good many yarns to recount to them.
"What with all the sowing we have to do in our fields and the
vegetables we have to plant," she consequently proceeded, "have we ever
in our village any leisure to sit with lazy hands from year to year and
day to day; no matter whether it's spring, summer, autumn or winter,
whether it blows or whether it rains? Yea, day after day all that we
can do is to turn the bare road into a kind of pavilion to rest and
cool ourselves on! But what strange things don't we see! Last winter,
for instance, snow fell for several consecutive days, and it piled up
on the ground three or four feet deep. One day, I got up early, but I
hadn't as yet gone out of the door of our house when I heard outside
the noise of firewood (being moved). I fancied that some one must have
come to steal it, so I crept up to a hole in the window; but, lo, I
discovered that it was no one from our own village."
"It must have been," interposed dowager lady Chia, "some wayfarers, who
being smitten with the cold, took some of the firewood, they saw ready
at hand, to go and make a fire and warm themselves with! That's highly
probable!"
"It was no wayfarers at all," old goody Liu retorted smiling, "and
that's what makes the story so strange. Who do you think it was,
venerable star of longevity? It was really a most handsome girl of
seventeen or eighteen, whose hair was combed as smooth as if oil had
been poured over it. She was dressed in a deep red jacket, a white silk
petticoat…."
When she reached this part of her narrative, suddenly became audible
the voices of people bawling outside. "It's nothing much," they
shouted, "don't frighten our old mistress!" Dowager lady Chia and the
other inmates caught, however, their cries and hurriedly inquired what
had happened. A servant-maid explained in reply that a fire had broken
out in the stables in the southern court, but that there was no danger,
as the flames had been suppressed.
Their old grandmother was a person with very little nerve. The moment,
therefore, the report fell on her car, she jumped up with all despatch,
and leaning on one of the family, she rushed on to the verandah to
ascertain the state of things. At the sight of the still brilliant
light, shed by the flames, on the south east part of the compound, old
lady Chia was plunged in consternation, and invoking Buddha, she went
on to shout to the servants to go and burn incense before the god of
fire.
Madame Wang and the rest of the members of the household lost no time
in crossing over in a body to see how she was getting on. "The fire has
been already extinguished," they too assured her, "please, dear
ancestor, repair into your rooms!"
But it was only after old lady Chia had seen the light of the flames
entirely subside that she at length led the whole company indoors.
"What was that girl up to, taking the firewood in that heavy fall of
snow?" Pao-yü thereupon vehemently inquired of goody Liu. "What, if she
had got frostbitten and fallen ill?"
"It was the reference made recently to the firewood that was being
abstracted," his grandmother Chia said, "that brought about this fire;
and do you still go on asking more about it? Leave this story alone,
and tell us something else!"
Hearing this reminder, Pao-yü felt constrained to drop the subject,
much against his wishes, and old goody Liu forthwith thought of
something else to tell them.
"In our village," she resumed, "and on the eastern side of our
farmstead, there lives an old dame, whose age is this year, over
ninety. She goes in daily for fasting, and worshipping Buddha. Who'd
have thought it, she so moved the pity of the goddess of mercy that she
gave her this message in a dream: 'It was at one time ordained that you
should have no posterity, but as you have proved so devout, I have now
memorialised the Pearly Emperor to grant you a grandson!' The fact is,
this old dame had one son. This son had had too an only son; but he
died after they had with great difficulty managed to rear him to the
age of seventeen or eighteen. And what tears didn't they shed for him!
But, in course of time, another son was actually born to him. He is
this year just thirteen or fourteen, resembles a very ball of flower,
(so plump is he), and is clever and sharp to an exceptional degree! So
this is indeed a clear proof that those spirits and gods do exist!"
This long tirade proved to be in harmony with dowager lady Chia's and
Madame Wang's secret convictions on the subject. Even Madame Wang
therefore listened to every word with all profound attention. Pao-yü,
however, was so pre-occupied with the story about the stolen firewood
that he fell in a brown study and gave way to conjectures.
"Yesterday," T'an Ch'un at this point remarked, "We put cousin Shih to
a lot of trouble and inconvenience, so, when we get back, we must
consult about convening a meeting, and, while returning her
entertainment, we can also invite our venerable ancestor to come and
admire the chrysanthemums; what do you think of this?"
"Our worthy senior," smiled Pao-yü, "has intimated that she means to
give a banquet to return cousin Shih's hospitality, and to ask us to do
the honours. Let's wait therefore until we partake of grandmother's
collation, before we issue our own invitations; there will be ample
time then to do so."
"The later it gets, the cooler the weather becomes," T'an Ch'un
observed, "and our dear senior is not likely to enjoy herself."
"Grandmother," added Pao-yü, "is also fond of rain and snow, so
wouldn't it be as well to wait until the first fall, and then ask her
to come and look at the snow. This will be better, won't it? And were
we to recite our verses with snow about us, it will be ever so much
more fun!"
"To hum verses in the snow," Lin Tai-yü speedily demurred with a smile,
"won't, in my idea, be half as nice as building up a heap of firewood
and then stealing it, with the flakes playing about us. This will be by
far more enjoyable!"
This proposal made Pao-ch'ai and the others laugh. Pao-yü cast a glance
at her but made no reply.
But, in a short time, the company broke up. Pao-yü eventually gave old
goody Liu a tug on the sly and plied her with minute questions as to
who the girl was. The old dame was placed under the necessity of
fabricating something for his benefit. "The truth is," she said, "that
there stands on the north bank of the ditch in our village a small
ancestral hall, in which offerings are made, but not to spirits or
gods. There was in former days some official or other…"
"While speaking, she went on to try and recollect his name and surname.
"No matter about names or surnames!" Pao-yü expostulated. "There's no
need for you to recall them to memory! Just mention the facts; they'll
be enough."
"This official," old goody Liu resumed, "had no son. His offspring
consisted of one young daughter, who went under the name of Jo Yü,
(like Jade). She could read and write, and was doated upon by this
official and his consort, just as if she were a precious jewel. But,
unfortunately, when this young lady, Jo Yü, grew up to be seventeen,
she contracted some disease and died."
When these words fell on Pao-yü's ears, he stamped his foot and heaved
a sigh. "What happened after that?" he then asked.
Old goody Liu pursued her story.
"So incessantly," she continued, "did this official and his consort
think of their child that they raised this ancestral hall, erected a
clay image of their young daughter Jo Yü in it, and appointed some one
to burn incense and trim the fires. But so many days and years have now
elapsed that the people themselves are no more alive, the temple is in
decay, and the image itself is become a spirit."
"It hasn't become a spirit," remonstrated Pao-yü with vehemence. "Human
beings of this kind may, the rule is, die, yet they are not dead."
"O-mi-to-fu!" ejaculated old goody Liu; "is it really so! Had you, sir,
not enlightened us, we would have remained under the impression that
she had become a spirit! But she repeatedly transforms herself into a
human being, and there she roams about in every village, farmstead, inn
and roadside. And the one I mentioned just now as having taken the
firewood is that very girl! The villagers in our place are still
consulting with the idea of breaking this clay image and razing the
temple to the ground."
"Be quick and dissuade them!" eagerly exclaimed Pao-yü. "Were they to
raze the temple to the ground, their crime won't be small."
"It's lucky that you told me, Sir," old goody Liu added. "When I get
back to-morrow, I'll make them relinquish the idea and finish!"
"Our venerable senior and my mother," Pao-yü pursued, "are both
charitable persons. In fact, all the inmates of our family, whether old
or young, do, in like manner, delight in good deeds, and take pleasure
in distributing alms. Their greatest relish is to repair temples, and
to put up images to the spirits; so to-morrow, I'll make a subscription
and collect a few donations for you, and you can then act as
incense-burner. When sufficient money has been raised, this fane can be
repaired, and another clay image put up; and month by month I'll give
you incense and fire money to enable you to burn joss-sticks; won't
this be A good thing for you?"
"In that case," old goody Liu rejoined, "I shall, thanks to that young
lady's good fortune, have also a few cash to spend."
Pao-yü thereupon likewise wanted to know what the name of the place
was, the name of the village, how far it was there and back, and
whereabout the temple was situated.
Old goody Liu replied to his questions, by telling him every idle
thought that came first to her lips. Pao-yü, however, credited the
information she gave him and, on his return to his rooms, he exercised,
the whole night, his mind with building castles in the air.
On the morrow, as soon as daylight dawned, he speedily stepped out of
his room, and, handing Pei Ming several hundreds of cash, he bade him
proceed first in the direction and to the place specified by old goody
Liu, and clearly ascertain every detail, so as to enable him, on his
return from his errand, to arrive at a suitable decision to carry out
his purpose. After Pei Ming's departure, Pao-yü continued on pins on
needles and on the tiptoe of expectation. Into such a pitch of
excitement did he work himself, that he felt like an ant in a burning
pan. With suppressed impatience, he waited and waited until sunset. At
last then he perceived Pei Ming walk in, in high glee.
"Have you discovered the place?" hastily inquired Pao-yü.
"Master," Pei Ming laughed, "you didn't catch distinctly the directions
given you, and you made me search in a nice way! The name of the place
and the bearings can't be those you gave me, Sir; that is why I've had
to hunt about the whole day long! I prosecuted my inquiries up to the
very ditch on the north east side, before I eventually found a ruined
temple."
Upon hearing the result of his researches, Pao-yü was much gratified.
His very eyebrows distended. His eyes laughed. "Old goody Liu," he said
with eagerness, "is a person well up in years, and she may at the
moment have remembered wrong; it's very likely she did. But recount to
me what you saw."
"The door of that temple," Pei Ming explained, "really faces south, and
is all in a tumble-down condition. I searched and searched till I was
driven to utter despair. As soon, however, as I caught sight of it,
'that's right,' I shouted, and promptly walked in. But I at once
discovered a clay figure, which gave me such a fearful start, that I
scampered out again; for it looked as much alive as if it were a real
living being."
Pao-yü smiled full of joy. "It can metamorphose itself into a human
being," he observed, "so, of course, it has more or less a life-like
appearance."
"Was it ever a girl?" Pei Ming rejoined clapping his hands. "Why it
was, in fact, no more than a green-faced and red-haired god of
plagues."
Pao-yü, at this answer, spat at him contemptuously. "You are, in very
truth, a useless fool!" he cried. "Haven't you even enough gumption for
such a trifling job as this?"
"What book, I wonder, have you again been reading, master?" Pei Ming
continued. "Or you may, perhaps, have heard some one prattle a lot of
trash and believed it as true! You send me on this sort of wild goose
chase and make me go and knock my head about, and how can you ever say
that I'm good for nothing?"
Pao-yü did not fail to notice that he was in a state of exasperation so
he lost no time in trying to calm him. "Don't be impatient!" he urged.
"You can go again some other day, when you've got nothing to attend to,
and institute further inquiries! If it turns out that she has
hood-winked us, why, there will, naturally, be no such thing. But if,
verily, there is, won't you also lay up for yourself a store of good
deeds? I shall feel it my duty to reward you in a most handsome
manner."
As he spoke, he espied a servant-lad, on service at the second gate,
approach and report to him: "The young ladies in our venerable
ladyship's apartments are standing at the threshold of the second gate
and looking out for you, Mr. Secundus."
But as, reader, you are not aware what they were on the look-out to
tell him, the subsequent chapter will explain it for you.