The Crab-Flower Club

by Cao Xueqin

  ‘The Master sent for him,’ said Aroma.

  ‘Oh dear!’ said Bao-chai. ‘I wonder why he should send for him in heat like this? I hope he hasn’t thought of something to be angry about and called him over to be punished.’

  ‘No, it isn’t that,’ said Aroma. ‘I think it’s to receive a visitor.’

  ‘It must be a very tiresome visitor,’ said Bao-chai, ‘to go around bothering people on a boiling day like this instead of staying at home and trying to keep cool.’

  ‘You can say that again!’ said Aroma.

  ‘What’s young Xiang-yun been doing at your place?’ said Bao-chai, changing the subject.

  ‘We were having a chat,’ said Aroma, ‘and after that she had a look at some slipper-tops that I’ve got ready pasted and have asked her to sew for me.’

  ‘You’re an intelligent young woman,’ said Bao-chai, having first looked to right and left of her to make sure that no one else was about, ‘I should have thought you’d have sense enough to leave her a few moments in peace. I’ve been watching our Yun lately, and from what I’ve observed of her and various stray remarks I’ve heard, I get the impression that back at home she can barely call her soul her own. I know for a fact that they are too mean to pay for professional seamstresses and that nearly all the sewing has to be done by the women of the household, and I’m pretty sure that’s why, whenever she’s found herself alone with me on these last few visits, she’s told me how tired she gets at home. When I press her for details, her eyes fill with tears and she answers evasively, as though she’d like to tell me but daren’t. It must be very hard for her, losing both her parents when she was so young. It quite wrings my heart to see her so exploited.’

  Aroma smote her hands together as understanding dawned.

  ‘Yes, I see. I see now why she was so slow with those ten butterfly bows I asked her to sew for me last month. It was ages before she sent them, and even then there was a message to say that she’d only been able to do them roughly. She told me I’d better use them on something else. “If you want nice, even ones,” she said, “you’ll have to wait until next time I come to stay with you.” Now I can see why. She didn’t like to refuse when I asked her, but I suppose she had to sit up till midnight doing them, poor thing. Oh, how stupid of me! I’d never have asked her if I’d realized.’

  ‘Last time she was here, she told me that it’s quite normal for her to sit up sewing until midnight,’ said Bao-chai; ‘and if her aunt or the other women catch her doing the slightest bit of work for anyone else, they are angry with her.’

  ‘It’s all the fault of that pig-headed young master of mine,’ said Aroma. ‘He refuses to let any of his sewing be done by the seamstresses outside. Every bit of work, large or small, has to be done in his room – and I just can’t manage it all on my own.’

  Bao-chai laughed.

  ‘Why do you take any notice of him? Why not simply give it to the seamstresses without telling him?’

  ‘He’s not so easy to fool,’ said Aroma. ‘He can tell the difference. I’m afraid there’s nothing for it. I shall just have to work through it all gradually on my own.’

  ‘Now just a minute!’ said Bao-chai. ‘We’ll think of a way round this. Suppose I were to do some of it for you?’

  ‘Would you really?’ said Aroma. ‘I’d be so grateful if you would. I’ll come over with some this evening then.’

  She had barely finished saying this when an old woman came rushing up to them in a state of great agitation.

  ‘Isn’t it dreadful? Miss Golden has drowned herself in the well.’

  ‘Which Golden?’ said Aroma, startled.

  ‘Which Golden?’ said the old woman. ‘There aren’t two Goldens that I know of. Golden from Her Ladyship’s room, of course, that was dismissed the day before yesterday. She’d been crying and carrying on at home ever since, but nobody paid much attention to her. Then suddenly, when they went to look for her, she wasn’t there, and just now someone going to fetch water from the well by the south-east corner found a body in it and rushed inside for help, and when they fished it out, they found that it was Golden. They did all they could to revive her, but it was too late. She was dead.’

  ‘How strange!’ said Bao-chai.

  Aroma shook her head wonderingly and a tear or two stole down her cheek. She and Golden had been like sisters to each other.

  Bao-chai hurried off to Lady Wang’s to offer her sympathy. Aroma went back to Green Delights.

  When Bao-chai arrived at Lady Wang’s apartment she found the whole place hushed and still and Lady Wang sitting in the inner room on her own, crying. Deeming it an unsuitable moment to raise the subject of her visit, Bao-chai sat down beside her in silence.

  ‘Where have you just come from?’ Lady Wang asked her.

  ‘The Garden.’

  ‘The Garden,’ Lady Wang echoed. ‘Did you by any chance see your cousin Bao-yu there?’

  ‘I saw him going out just now wearing his outdoor clothes, but I don’t know where he was going to.’

  Lady Wang nodded and gave a sigh.

  ‘I don’t know if you’ve heard. Something very strange has happened. Golden has drowned herself in a well.’

  ‘That is strange,’ said Bao-chai. ‘Why ever did she do that?’

  ‘The day before yesterday she broke something of mine,’ said Lady Wang, ‘and in a moment of anger I struck her a couple of times and sent her back to her mother’s. I had only been meaning to leave her there a day or two to punish her. After that I would have had her back again. I never dreamed that she would be so angry with me as to drown herself. Now that she has, I feel that it is all my fault.’

  ‘It’s only natural that a kind person like you should see it in that way,’ said Bao-chai, ‘but in my opinion Golden would never have drowned herself in anger. It’s much more likely that she was playing about beside the well and slipped in accidentally. While she was in service her movements were restricted and it would be natural for her to go running around everywhere during her first day or two outside. There’s no earthly reason why she should have felt angry enough with you to drown herself. If she did, all I can say is that she was a stupid person and not worth feeling sorry for!’

  Lady Wang sighed and shook her head doubtfully.

  ‘Well, it may be as you say, but I still feel very uneasy in my mind.’

  ‘I’m sure you have no cause, Aunt,’ said Bao-chai, ‘but if you feel very much distressed, I suggest that you simply give her family a little extra for the funeral. In that way you will more than fulfil any moral obligation you may have towards her as a mistress.’

  ‘I have just given her mother fifty taels,’ said Lady Wang. ‘I wanted to give her two new outfits as well from one of the girls’ wardrobes, but it just so happens that at the moment none of them apart from your Cousin Lin has got anything new that would do. Your Cousin Lin has got two sets that we had made for her next birthday, but she is such a sensitive child and has had so much sickness and misfortune in her life that I’m afraid she would almost certainly feel superstitious about the clothes made for her birthday being used for dressing a corpse with, so I’ve had to ask the tailors to make up a couple in a hurry. Of course, if it were any other maid, I should have given the mother a few taels and that would have been the end of the matter. But though Golden was only a servant, she had been with me so long that she had become almost like a daughter to me.’

  She began to cry again as she said this.

  ‘There’s no need to hurry the tailors about this,’ said Bao-chai. ‘I’ve got two new outfits that I recently finished making for myself. Why not let her mother have them and save them the trouble? Golden once or twice wore old dresses of mine in the past, so I know they will fit her.’

  ‘That’s very kind of you, but aren’t you superstitious?’ said Lady Wang.

  Bao-chai laughed.

  ‘Don’t worry about that, Aunt. That sort of thing has never bothered me.’

  At that
she rose and went off to fetch them. Lady Wang hurriedly ordered two of the servants to go after her.

  When Bao-chai returned with the clothes, she found Bao-yu sitting beside his mother in tears. Lady Wang was evidently in the midst of rebuking him about something, but as soon as she caught sight of Bao-chai, she closed her mouth and fell silent. From the scene before her eyes and the word or two she had overheard, Bao-chai was able to form a pretty good idea of what had been happening. She handed the clothes over to Lady Wang and Lady Wang summoned Golden’s mother to come and fetch them.

  What happened after that will be told in the following chapter.

  Chapter 33

  An envious younger brother puts in a malicious word or two

  And a scapegrace elder brother receives a terrible chastisement

  OUR story last told how Golden’s mother was summoned to take away the clothing that Bao-chai had brought for Golden’s laying-out. When she arrived, Lady Wang called her inside, and after making her an additional present of some jewellery, advised her to procure the services of some Buddhist monks to recite a sūtra for the salvation of the dead girl’s soul. Golden’s mother kotowed her thanks and departed with the clothes and jewellery.

  The news that Golden’s disgrace had driven her to take her own life had reached Bao-yu as he was returning from his interview with Jia Yu-cun, and he was already in a state of shock when he went in to see his mother, only to be subjected by her to a string of accusations and reproaches, to which he was unable to reply. He availed himself of the opportunity presented by Bao-chai’s arrival to slip quietly out again, and wandered along, scarcely knowing where he was going, still in a state of shock, hands clasped behind him, head down low, and sighing as he went.

  Without realizing it he was drifting towards the main reception hall, and was in fact just emerging from behind the screen-wall that masked the gateway leading from the inner to the outer part of the mansion, when he walked head-on into someone coming from the opposite direction.

  ‘Stand where you are!’ said this person in a harsh voice.

  Bao-yu looked up with a start and saw that it was his father. He gave an involuntary gasp of fear and, dropping his hands to his sides, hastily assumed a more deferential posture.

  ‘Now,’ said Jia Zheng, ‘will you kindly explain the meaning of these sighs and of this moping, hang-dog appearance? You took your time coming when Yu-cun called for you just now, and I gather that when you did eventually vouchsafe your presence, he found you dull and listless and without a lively word to say for yourself. And look at you now – sullenness and secret depravity written all over your face! What are these sighings and groanings supposed to indicate? What have you got to be discontented or displeased about? Come, sir! What is the meaning of this?’

  Bao-yu was normally ready enough with his tongue, but on this occasion grief for Golden so occupied his mind (at that moment he would very willingly have changed places with her) that though he heard the words addressed to him by his father, he failed to take in their meaning and merely stared back at him stupidly.

  Seeing him too hypnotized by fear – or so it appeared – to answer with his usual promptness, Jia Zheng, who had not been angry to start with, was now well on the way to becoming so; but the irate comment he was about to make was checked when a servant from the outer gate announced that a representative of ‘His Highness the Prince of Zhong-shun’ had arrived.

  Jia Zheng was puzzled.

  ‘The Prince of Zhong-shun?’ he thought. ‘I have never had any dealings with the Prince of Zhong-shun. I wonder why he should suddenly send someone to see me …?’

  He told the man to invite the prince’s messenger to sit in the hall, while he himself hurried inside and changed into court dress. On entering the hall to receive his visitor, he found that it was the Prince of Zhong-shun’s chamberlain who had come to see him. After an exchange of bows and verbal salutations, the two men sat down and tea was served. The chamberlain cut short the customary civilities by coming straight to the point.

  ‘It would have been temerity on my part to have intruded on the leisure of an illustrious scholar in the privacy of his home, but in fact it is not for the purpose of paying a social call that I am here, but on orders from His Highness. His Highness has a small request to make of you. If you will be so good as to oblige him, not only will His Highness be extremely grateful himself, but I and my colleagues will also be very much beholden to you.’

  Jia Zheng was totally at a loss to imagine what the purpose of the man’s visit might be; nevertheless he rose to his feet out of respect for the prince and smiled politely.

  ‘You have orders from His Highness for me? I shall be happy to perform them if you will have the goodness to instruct me.’

  ‘I don’t think any performing will be necessary,’ said the chamberlain drily. ‘All we want from you is a few words. A young actor called Bijou – a female impersonator – has gone missing from the palace. He hasn’t been back now for four or five days; and though we have looked everywhere we can think of, we can’t make out where he can have got to. However, in the course of the very extensive inquiries we have made both inside and outside the city, eight out of ten of the people we have spoken to say that he has recently been very thick with the young gentleman who was born with the jade in his mouth. Well, obviously we couldn’t come inside here and search as we would have done if this had been anyone else’s house, so we had to go back and report the matter to His Highness; and His Highness says that though he could view the loss of a hundred ordinary actors with equanimity, this Bijou is so skilled in anticipating his wishes and so essential to his peace of mind that it would be utterly impossible for him to dispense with his services. I have therefore come here to request you to ask your son if he will be good enough to let Bijou come back again. By doing so he will not only earn the undying gratitude of the Prince, but will also save me and my colleagues a great deal of tiring and disagreeable searching.’

  The chamberlain concluded with a sweeping bow.

  Surprised and angered by what he had heard, Jia Zheng immediately sent for Bao-yu, who presently came hurrying in, ignorant of what the reason for his summons might be.

  ‘Miserable scum!’ said Jia Zheng. ‘It is not enough, apparently, that you should neglect your studies when you are at home. It seems that you must needs go perpetrating enormities outside. This Bijou I have been hearing about is under the patronage of His Royal Highness the Prince of Zhong-shun. How could you have the unspeakable effrontery to commit an act of enticement on his person – involving me, incidentally, in the consequences of your wrong-doing?’

  The question made Bao-yu start.

  ‘I honestly know nothing about this,’ he said. ‘I don’t even know who or what “Bijou” is, let alone what you mean by “enticement”.’

  Jia Zheng was about to exclaim, but the chamberlain forestalled him.

  ‘There is really no point in concealment, young gentleman,’ he said coldly. ‘Even if you are not hiding him here, we are sure that you know where he is. In either case you had much better say straight out and save us a lot of trouble. I’d be greatly obliged if you would.’

  ‘I really don’t know,’ said Bao-yu. ‘You must have been misinformed.’

  The chamberlain gave a sardonic laugh.

  ‘I have, of course, got evidence for what I am saying and I’m afraid you are doing yourself little good by forcing me to mention it in front of your father. You say you don’t know who Bijou is. Very well. Then will you kindly explain how his red cummerbund came to find its way around your waist?’

  Bao-yu stared at him open-mouthed, too stunned to reply.

  ‘If he knows even a private thing like that,’ he thought, ‘there’s little likelihood of my being able to hoodwink him about anything else. I’d better get rid of him as quickly as possible, before he can say any more.’

  ‘Since you have managed to find out so much about him,’ he said, finding his tongue at last, ‘I’
m surprised that so important a thing as buying a house should have escaped you. From what I’ve heard, he recently acquired a little villa and an acre or so of land at Fort Redwood, seven miles east of the walls. I suppose he could be there.’

  The chamberlain smiled.

  ‘If you say so, then no doubt that is where we shall find him. I shall go and look there immediately. If I do find him there, you will hear no more from me; if not, I shall be back again for further instructions.’

  So saying, he hurriedly took his leave.

  Jia Zheng, his eyes glaring and his mouth contorted with rage, went after the chamberlain to see him out. He turned briefly towards Bao-yu as he was leaving the hall.

  ‘You stay where you are. I shall deal with you when I get back.’

  As he was on his way in again after seeing the chamberlain off the premises, Jia Huan with two or three pages at his heels came stampeding across the courtyard.

  ‘Hit that boy!’ Jia Zheng shouted, outraged. But Jia Huan, reduced to a quivering jelly of fear by the sight of his father, had already jolted to a halt and was standing with bowed head in front of him.

  ‘And what is the meaning of this?’ said Jia Zheng. ‘What has become of the people who are supposed to look after you? Why do they allow you to gallop around in this extraordinary fashion?’ His voice rose to a shout: ‘Where are the people responsible for taking this boy to school?’

  Jia Huan saw in his father’s anger an opportunity of exercising his malice.

  ‘I didn’t mean to run, Father, but just as I was going by the well back there I saw the body of a maid who had drowned herself – all swollen up with water, and her head all swollen. It was horrible. I just couldn’t help myself.’

  Jia Zheng heard him with incredulous horror.

  ‘What are you saying? Who has drowned herself? Such a thing has never before happened in our family. Our family has always been lenient and considerate in its treatment of inferiors. It is one of our traditions. I suppose it is because I have been too neglectful of household matters during these last few years. Those in charge have felt encouraged to abuse their authority, until finally an appalling thing like this can happen – an innocent young life cut off by violence. What a terrible disgrace to our ancestors if this should get about!’ He turned and shouted a command.