The Crab-Flower Club

by Cao Xueqin

  Aroma looked too, and felt the grip of fear on her heart.

  The outcome will be told in the following chapter.

  Chapter 31

  A torn fan is the price of silver laughter

  And a lost kylin is the clue to a happy marriage

  A cold fear came over Aroma when she saw the fresh blood on the floor. She had often heard people say that if you spat blood when you were young, you would die early, or at the very least be an invalid all your life; and remembering this now, she felt all her bright, ambitious hopes for the future turn into dust and ashes. Tears of misery ran down her cheeks. The sight of them made Bao-yu, too, distressed.

  ‘What is it?’ he asked her.

  ‘It’s nothing.’ She forced herself to smile. ‘I’m all right.’

  Bao-yu was all for calling one of the maids and getting her to heat some rice wine, so that Aroma could be given hot wine and Hainan kid’s-blood pills; but Aroma, smiling through her tears, caught at his hand to restrain him.

  ‘It’s all right for you to make a fuss,’ she said; ‘but if you go involving the others, they are sure to accuse me of putting on airs. And besides, it will do neither of us any good to draw attention to ourselves – especially when so far no one seems to have noticed anything. The sensible thing would be for you to send one of the boys round tomorrow to Dr Wang’s and get me some medicine to take. I shall probably be all right again after a few doses, without a single soul knowing anything about it. Surely that’s best, isn’t it?’

  Bao-yu knew that she was right and abandoned his intention of rousing the others. Instead he poured her a cup of tea from a pot on the table and gave it to her to rinse her mouth with. Aroma was uneasy about being waited on by her master; but fearing that if she refused his services he would insist on disturbing everybody, she lay back and allowed him to fuss over her.

  As soon as it was daylight, Bao-yu threw on his clothes and, without even waiting to wash or comb, went out of the Garden to his study in the front part of the mansion, whither he summoned the doctor Wang Ji-ren for detailed questioning. When this worthy had elicited the information that the hae-morrhage inquired about had been caused by a blow, he seemed less disposed to take a serious view of the case, merely naming some pills and giving perfunctory instructions for taking them internally and for applying them in solution as a poultice. Bao-yu made a note of these instructions and went back into the Garden to carry them out.

  But that is no part of our story.

  It was now the festival of the Double Fifth. Sprays of calamus and artemisia crowned the doorways and everyone wore tiger amulets fastened on their clothing at the back. At noon Lady Wang gave a little party at which Aunt Xue and Bao-chai were the guests.

  Bao-yu, finding Bao-chai somewhat glacial in her manner and evidently unwilling to talk to him, knew that it must be because of his rudeness to her of the day before.

  Lady Wang, observing Bao-yu’s dejected appearance, attributed it to embarrassment about yesterday’s episode with Golden and ignored him even more pointedly than Bao-chai.

  Dai-yu, seeing how morose Bao-yu looked assumed that it was because Bao-chai was offended with him and, feeling resentful that he should care, at once became as morose as he was.

  Xi-feng, having been told all about Bao-yu and Golden the night before by Lady Wang, could scarcely be her usual laughing and joking self when she knew of her aunt’s displeasure and, taking her cue from the latter, was if anything even more glacial than the others.

  And Ying-chun, Tan-chun and Xi-chun, seeing everyone else so uncomfortable, soon began to feel just as uncomfortable themselves.

  The result was that after sitting for only a very short time, the party broke up.

  Dai-yu had a natural aversion to gatherings, which she rationalized by saying that since the inevitable consequence of getting together was parting, and since parting made people feel lonely and feeling lonely made them unhappy, ergo it was better for them not to get together in the first place. In the same way she argued that since the flowers, which give us so much pleasure when they open, only cause us a lot of extra sadness when they die, it would be better if they didn’t come out at all.

  Bao-yu was just the opposite. He always wanted the party to go on for ever and flowers to be in perpetual bloom; and when at last the party did end and the flowers did wither – well, it was infinitely sad and distressing, but it couldn’t be helped.

  And so today, while everyone else left the party with feelings of gloom, Dai-yu alone was completely unaffected. Bao-yu, on the other hand, returned to his room in a mood of black despondency, sighing and muttering as he went.

  Unfortunately it was the sharp-tongued Skybright who came forward to help him change his clothes. With provoking carelessness she dropped a fan while she was doing so and snapped the bone fan-sticks by accidentally treading on it.

  ‘Clumsy!’ said Bao-yu reproachfully. ‘You won’t be so careless with things when you have a household of your own.’

  Skybright gave a sardonic sniff.

  ‘You’re getting quite a temper lately, Master Bao. Almost every time we move nowadays we get a nasty look from you. Yesterday even Aroma caught it. Today you’re finding fault with me, so I suppose I can expect a few kicks too. Well, kick away. But I must say, I shouldn’t have thought treading on a fan was such a very terrible thing to do. In the past any number of glass bowls and agate cups have got broken without your turning a hair. Why this fuss about a fan, then? If you’re not satisfied with my service, you ought to dismiss me and get someone better. Easy come, easy go. No need for beating about the bush.’

  By the time she had finished, Bao-yu was so angry that he was shaking all over.

  ‘You’ll go soon enough, don’t you worry!’ he said.

  Aroma had heard all this from the adjoining room and now came hurrying in.

  ‘Now what’s all this about?’ she said, addressing herself to Bao-yu. ‘Didn’t I tell you? As soon as I turn my back there’s trouble.’

  ‘If you knew that already,’ said Skybright, ‘it’s a pity you couldn’t have come in a bit sooner and saved me from provoking him. Of course, we all know that you’re the only one who knows how to serve him properly. None of the rest of us knows how it’s done. I suppose it’s because you serve him so well that he gave you a kick in the ribs yesterday. Heaven knows what he’s got in store for me for having served him so badly!’

  Angry, and at the same time ashamed, Aroma was about to retort; but the sight of Bao-yu’s face, now white with anger, made her restrain herself.

  ‘Be a good girl – just go away and play for a bit. It’s we who are in the wrong.’

  Skybright naturally assumed that ‘we’ meant Aroma and Bao-yu. Her jealousy was further inflamed.

  ‘What do you mean, “we”?’ she said. ‘You two make me feel ashamed for you, you really do – because you needn’t think you deceive me. I know what goes on between you when you think no one is looking. But when all’s said and done, in actual fact, when you come down to it, you’re not even a “Miss” by rights. By rights you’re no better than any of the rest of us. I don’t know where you get this “we” from.’

  Aroma blushed and blushed with shame, until her face had become a dusky red colour. Too late she realized her slip. By ‘we’ she had meant no more than ‘you and I’; not ‘Bao-yu and I’ as Skybright imagined. But the pronoun had invited misunderstanding.

  It was Bao-yu who retorted, however.

  ‘I’ll make her a “Miss” then; I’ll make her my chamber-wife tomorrow, if that’s all that’s worrying you. You can spare your jealousy on that account.’

  Aroma seized his hand impulsively.

  ‘Don’t argue with her, she’s only a silly girl. In any case, you’ve put up with much worse than this in the past; why be so touchy today?’

  Skybright gave a harsh little laugh.

  ‘Oh, yes. I’m too stupid to talk to. I’m only a slave.’

  ‘Are you arguing with
me, Miss, or with Master Bao?’ said Aroma. ‘If it’s me you’ve got it in for, you’d better address your remarks to me elsewhere. There’s no cause to go quarrelling with me in front of Master Bao. But if it’s Master Bao you want to quarrel with, then at least you might do it a bit more quietly and not let everyone else know about it. When I came in just now, it was for everyone’s sake, so that we could have a bit of peace and quiet. I don’t know why you had to turn on me and start picking on my shortcomings. It seems as if you can’t make up your mind whether you’re angry with me or with Master Bao. Slipping in a dig here and a dig there. I don’t know what you think you’re up to. Anyway, I shan’t say any more; I’ll just leave you here to get on with it.’

  She walked out.

  ‘There’s no need for you to be so angry,’ Bao-yu said to Skybright. ‘I can guess what it is that’s bothering you. I shall go and tell Her Ladyship that you’re old enough to leave us now and ask her to send you away. That’s what you really want, isn’t it?’

  ‘I don’t want to go away. Why should I want to go away?’ said Skybright with tears in her eyes – now more upset than ever. ‘You’re inventing this as a means of getting rid of me, aren’t you, because I’m in your way? But you won’t get away with it.’

  ‘Look, I’ve never had to put up with scenes like this before,’ said Bao-yu. ‘What other reason can there be but that you want to leave? I really think I had better go and see Her Ladyship about this.’

  He got up and began to go; but Aroma came in again and barred his way.

  ‘Where are you off to?’ she asked him smilingly.

  ‘To see Her Ladyship.’

  ‘Oh, that’s silly,’ said Aroma. ‘I wonder you’re not ashamed to. Even if Skybright really does want to leave, there will be plenty of time to tell Her Ladyship about it when everyone has cooled down a bit and you are feeling calm and collected. If you go rushing off in your present state, Her Ladyship will suspect something.’

  ‘Her Ladyship won’t suspect anything,’ said Bao-yu. ‘I shall tell her quite openly that Skybright has been agitating to leave.’

  ‘When have I ever agitated to leave?’ said Skybright, weeping now in earnest. ‘Even if you’re angry with me, you ought not to twist things round in order to get the better of me. But you go and tell her! I don’t care if I have to beat my own brains out, I’m not going out of that door.’

  ‘Now that’s really strange,’ said Bao-yu. ‘You don’t want to go, yet at the same time you won’t keep quiet. It’s no good; I really can’t stand this quarrelling. I shall really have to see Her Ladyship about this and get it over with.’

  This time he seemed quite determined to go.

  Seeing that she was unable to hold him back, Aroma went down on her knees. Emerald, Ripple, Musk and the other maids, aware that a quarrel of more than usual magnitude was going on inside, were waiting together outside in breathless silence. When word reached them that Aroma was now on her knees interceding for Skybright, they came silently trooping in to kneel down behind her. Bao-yu raised Aroma to her feet, sighed, sat down on the edge of the bed, and told the other maids to get up.

  ‘What do you want me to do?’ he asked Aroma. ‘My heart is destroyed inside me, but none of you knows or cares.’

  Tears started from his eyes and rolled down his cheeks unheeded. Seeing his tears, Aroma too began to cry. Skybright, who stood crying beside them, was about to say something; but just at that moment Dai-yu walked in and she slipped outside.

  Dai-yu beamed at the weeping pair:

  ‘Crying on a holiday? What’s all this about? Have you been quarrelling over the rice-cakes?’

  Bao-yu and Aroma both burst out laughing.

  ‘Well, if Cousin Bao won’t tell me,’ she went on, ‘I’m sure that you will. Come!’ she said, slapping Aroma familiarly on the shoulder. ‘Tell sis all about it. It’s obvious that the two of you have been having an argument. Tell me what it’s all about and I’ll make it up between you.’

  ‘Oh, Miss!’ Aroma gave her a push. ‘Don’t carry on so! I’m only a maid; you shouldn’t say such things to me.’

  ‘Only a maid?’ said Dai-yu. ‘I always think of you as my sister-in-law.’

  ‘Don’t you see that you’re simply encouraging people to be nasty to her?’ Bao-yu protested. ‘Even as it is, people already gossip about her. How can she stand up to them if you come along and lend your weight to what they are saying?’

  ‘You don’t know what I feel, Miss,’ said Aroma. ‘If I only knew how to stop breathing, I’d gladly die.’

  Dai-yu smiled.

  ‘If you were to die, I don’t know about anyone else, but I know that I should die of grief.’

  ‘I should become a monk,’ said Bao-yu.

  ‘Try to be a bit more serious,’ said Aroma. ‘You and Miss Lin are both laughing at me.’

  Dai-yu held up two fingers and looked at Bao-yu with a quizzical expression.

  ‘That’s twice you’re going to become a monk. From now on I’m keeping the score.’

  Bao-yu recognized the allusion to what he had said to her the day before. Fortunately he was able to pass it off with a laugh. Shortly after that, Dai-yu left them.

  No sooner had Dai-yu gone than someone arrived with an invitation from Xue Pan. Bao-yu thought that this time he had better go. It turned out to be only a drinking-party, but Xue Pan refused to release him and kept him there until it was over. He returned home in the evening more than a little drunk.

  As he came lurching into his courtyard, he saw that someone in quest of coolness had taken a bed outside and was lying down on it asleep. Assuming that it must be Aroma, he sat down on the edge of it and gave her a push.

  ‘Is the pain any better?’

  ‘Can’t you leave me alone?’ she said, rising up wrathfully.

  He looked again and saw that it was not Aroma after all but Skybright. Taking her by the hand, he drew her down on the bed beside him.

  ‘You’re getting so self-willed,’ he said laughingly. ‘When you trod on that fan this morning, I only made a harmless little remark, but look how you flew up in the air about it! And then when Aroma, out of the kindness of her heart, tried to reason with you, look how you pitched into her! Seriously, now, don’t you think it was all a bit uncalled-for?’

  ‘I’m so hot,’ said Skybright. ‘Do you have to maul me about like this? Suppose someone were to see us? Anyway, it’s not right for me to be sitting here.’

  ‘If you know it’s not right to be sitting here,’ he said teasingly, ‘what were you doing lying down?’

  ‘Che-e-e!’ Unable at once to reply, she gave a little laugh. Then she said:

  ‘When you are not here it doesn’t matter. It’s your being here that makes it wrong. Anyway, let me get up now, because I want to have a bath. Aroma and Musk have had theirs already. I’ll send them out to you.’

  ‘I’ve just had rather a lot to drink and I could do with a bath myself,’ said Bao-yu ‘As you haven’t had yours yet, bring the water out here and we’ll have a bath together.’

  Skybright laughed and declined with a vigorous gesture of her hand.

  ‘Oh no! I daren’t start you off on that caper. I still remember that time you got Emerald to help you bath. You must have been two or three hours in there, so that we began to get quite worried. We didn’t like to go in while you were there, but when we did go in to have a look afterwards, we found water all over the floor, pools of water round the legs of the bed, and even the mat on the bed had water splashed all over it. Heaven only knows what you’d been up to. We laughed about it for days afterwards. I haven’t got time to fetch that amount of water. And in any case, you don’t want to go taking baths with me. As a matter of fact it’s cooler now, so I don’t think I shall have a bath after all. Why don’t you let me fetch you a bowl of water so that you can have a nice wash and comb your hair? Faithful just sent a lot of fruit round and we’ve got it soaking in iced water in the big glass bowl. I’ll tell them to br
ing some out to you, shall I?’

  ‘All right,’ said Bao-yu. ‘If you’re not having a bath yourself, I’ll just wash my hands; and you can get me some of that fruit to eat.’

  Skybright smiled.

  ‘You’ve already told me once today how clumsy I am. I can’t even drop a fan without treading on it. So I’m much too clumsy to get your fruit for you. Suppose I were to break a plate. That would be terrible!’

  ‘If you want to break it, by all means break it,’ said Bao-yu. ‘These things are there for our use. What we use them for is a matter of individual taste. For example, fans are made for fanning with; but if you prefer to tear them up because it gives you pleasure, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t. What you mustn’t do is to use them as objects to vent your anger on. It’s the same with plates and cups. Plates and cups are made to put food and drink in. But if you want to smash them on purpose because you like the noise, it’s perfectly all right to do so. As long as you don’t get into a passion and start taking it out on things – that is the golden rule.’

  ‘All right then,’ said Skybright with a mischievous smile. ‘Give me your fan to tear. I love the sound of a fan being torn.’

  Bao-yu held it out to her. She took it eagerly and – chah! – promptly tore it in half. And again – chah! chah! chah! – she tore it several more times. Bao-yu, an appreciative onlooker, laughed and encouraged her.

  ‘Well torn! Well torn! Now again – a really loud one!’

  Just then Musk appeared. She stared at them indignantly.

  ‘Don’t do that!’ she said. ‘It’s wicked to waste things like that.’

  But Bao-yu leaped up to her, snatched the fan from her hand, and passed it to Skybright, who at once tore it into several pieces. The two of them, Bao-yu and Skybright, then burst into uproarious laughter.

  ‘What do you think you’re doing?’ said Musk. ‘That’s my fan you’ve just ruined.’

  ‘What’s an old fan?’ said Bao-yu. ‘Open up the fan box and get yourself another.’

  ‘If that’s your attitude,’ said Musk, ‘we might as well carry out the whole boxful and let her tear away to her heart’s content.’