by Cao Xueqin
Skybright, who had listened to all this in silence, could contain herself no longer and sat up immediately in bed.
‘Come on, let me have a look. If you weren’t meant to wear it, you won’t wear it. No good making all this fuss about it now.’
‘There’s something in that,’ said Bao-yu laughing, and handed it to her. He brought the lamp over so that she could examine it more closely.
‘This is made of “peacock gold”,’ said Skybright. ‘If we could get hold of some of the thread and make a little darn with it, I think it would probably pass.’
‘We’ve got peacock gold thread,’ said Musk. ‘The trouble is that apart from you there’s no one else here who could do the darning.’
‘I shall just have to make the effort and do it then, shan’t I?’ said Skybright.
‘No, that’s out of the question,’ said Bao-yu. ‘You’ve only just started getting better. You’re not in a fit state to do sewing yet.’
‘Oh, don’t be such an old woman!’ said Skybright. ‘I know what I’m capable of.’
So saying, she sat up again in bed, knotted up her loosely flowing hair, and drew a jacket on over her shoulders. Her body felt abnormally light and she was almost overcome with dizziness. It really did seem as if the effort would be too much for her; but knowing what a state Bao-yu would be in if the snow-cape was not repaired, she gritted her teeth, and fighting back the weakness that threatened to engulf her, told Musk to pinch the yarn and thread a needle for her while she herself took a length of it and held it against the material.
‘It’s not really a very good match,’ she said, ‘but I don’t suppose it will show very much when it’s been darned.’
‘I’m sure it will do very nicely,’ said Bao-yu. ‘At all events, we’re not going to be able to find a Russian tailor to do it for us!’
Skybright began by opening up the seam of the lining underneath the burnt patch so that she could insert a cup-sized darning mushroom from inside. Having stretched the material out over the mushroom, she scraped away the charred parts and the surrounding nap with a razor until the threads were clearly exposed, then, with her needle and thread, she worked first across in one direction and then at right-angles in the other until she had filled the hole with a criss-cross darn. Using this as a foundation, she now began to weave the thread in and out with her needle so as to imitate the surrounding pattern. This was the most difficult and exhausting part of the work. After each couple of stitches she had to stop and examine what she had done, and after every four or five she had to lean back on the pillow and rest. Meanwhile Bao-yu fussed around her unceasingly, one moment asking her if she would like a ‘nice hot drink’, another moment suggesting that she should rest, one moment fetching a squirrel-skin cloak to put over her shoulders, the next moment a pillow for her back, until she became quite frantic and had to entreat him to leave her alone.
‘My dear little grandfather – please just go to bed! If you stay up any longer, you’ll have rings under your eyes in the morning, and that will never do!’
Bao-yu could see that he was exasperating her and made a pretence of settling down in his bed; but he could not get to sleep. After he had been lying awake for some time, he heard the chiming clock strike four. Skybright had just completed the mending and was finishing off the job by carefully teasing the nap out with a little toothbrush.
‘That’s wonderful,’ said Musk. ‘If you didn’t look at it carefully, you could never tell it was a darn.’
Bao-yu asked to see.
‘It’s perfect,’ he said. ‘It looks exactly the same as the rest.’
Skybright had been coughing a good deal during the final stages of her task and it had been all she could do to conclude it.
‘Anyway, it’s done,’ she said. ‘It doesn’t really look right, but I can’t do any more – Aiyo!’
With a cry of weariness she sank back, utterly exhausted, upon the bed.
If you wish to know the outcome, please read the chapter which follows.
Chapter 53
Ning-guo House sacrifices to the ancestors on New Year’s Eve
And Rong-guo House entertains the whole family on Fifteenth Night
SEEING that Skybright’s repair of the peacock gold snow-cape had so utterly exhausted her, Bao-yu called in a junior maid to help massage her and for a while they pummelled her between them. After that they all went to bed; but in less than no time it seemed to be broad daylight and they had to get up again. Instead of going straight off to his uncle’s, however, Bao-yu first sent someone to summon Dr Wang. The doctor arrived promptly and proceeded to take Skybright’s pulses. He appeared to be disconcerted by what he found.
‘Yesterday she seemed to be a little better,’ he said, ‘but this pulse today takes us right back to where we started from – empty, superficial, faint, constricted. Now why should that be? She must have been eating or drinking too much. Either that, or she has been worrying about something. The original attack was not a serious one; but failure to take care of oneself after perspiration has been induced can be very serious.’
He went outside and wrote another prescription, which was presently brought in to Bao-yu. Bao-yu noticed that the sudorifics and decongestants of the earlier prescription had been omitted and restorative drugs to increase the vitality and nourish the blood, such as lycoperdon, nipplewort and angelica, had been substituted. He gave instructions for the medicine to be made up immediately. He seemed distressed.
‘This is dreadful. If anything should happen to you after this, I shall never forgive myself.’
Skybright, lying back on her pillow, hooted derisively at his concern:
‘My dear young Master, just get on with your own affairs and don’t worry about me. I’m not about to go into a decline, I assure you!’
Bao-yu was in any case obliged to go now; but having held out at his uncle’s place until the afternoon, he managed to get back to her by pretending that he was feeling unwell.
Skybright was certainly quite ill. Fortunately she was normally an active, lively sort of girl, not given to moping and vapours; she had always been sensible – even abstemious – in her diet; and her constitution was a sound one. The Jias were great believers in the virtues of fasting. Masters and servants alike were put on a starvation diet at the slightest hint of a cough or cold, the physic and nursing they received being considered of only secondary importance to this, and Skybright had been fasting now for two or three days, ever since the influenza began. In addition to this, she had taken her medicine regularly and, except for the one night’s lapse, had looked after herself reasonably well. Although the overexertion set her back a few days, she was soon on the mend again. And as the new catering arrangements whereby the cousins now ate in their own apartments made ordering things much easier, Bao-yu was able to get all sorts of soups and broths made up to aid her recovery.
Omitting details of this convalescence, our story passes on to the return of Aroma, which occurred shortly after her mother’s funeral. As soon as she got back, Musk told her all about Trinket and how Skybright had dismissed her first and reported the dismissal afterwards to Bao-yu. Aroma merely remarked that Skybright had been ‘too hasty’, but made no further comment.
Li Wan had herself now fallen a victim to the season’s cold; Lady Xing was suffering from an inflammation of the eyes which necessitated Ying-chun’s and Xiu-yan’s attendance on her both mornings and evenings to dress them for her; Mrs Li had been invited to spend some days with a younger brother and gone off taking Li Wen and Li Qi with her; and Bao-yu was preoccupied with Aroma, who was still thinking constantly of her mother and liable at any moment to break down, as well as with Skybright, who had still not entirely recovered. So what with one thing and another, no one felt much in the mood for writing poetry and one or two of the club’s fixture-days went by without a meeting.
It was now well into the twelfth month and Lady Wang and Xi-feng were busily preparing for the New Year. The season of appoin
tments brought news that Wang Zi-teng had been promoted to the post of Inspector-General of Armies in the Nine Provinces and that Jia Yu-cun was to become Under Secretary to the President of the Board of War with occasional duties at Court. Over in the Ning mansion Cousin Zhen had opened up the Hall of the Ancestors and set his people to work sweeping it, setting the vessels out in readiness for the New Year sacrifices, and welcoming the spirits back into the ancestral tablets. He also had the main hall of the Ning-guo mansion swept in readiness for the annual ceremonial hanging of the ancestral portraits. Everyone in both mansions, both high and low, was in a fever of activity.
One morning in the course of these preparations, as You-shi, who had not long since risen, was, with the assistance of Jia Rong’s new wife, getting the presents of newly made clothes ready for sending to Grandmother Jia, a maid came in bearing a trayful of New Year medallions.
‘It’s from Merry, ma’am. He says that loose silver you gave him the other day was of several different marks but the total weight was one hundred and fifty-three taels and thirteen pennyweights and he says they’ve managed to make two hundred and twenty medallions from it.’
She held out the tray for You-shi to inspect. On it there were medallions shaped like plum-flowers, crabflower-shaped medallions, medallions with ‘heart’s desire’ rebus patterns of ingot, brush and sceptre, and others with patterns of auspicious flowers.
‘Yes,’ said You-shi, ‘they seem to be all right. Tell him to take them inside immediately.’
The maid went off to do her bidding. Shortly after that Cousin Zhen came in to have his lunch and Jia Rong’s wife hurried out to avoid him.
‘Have we received the bounty money for the New Year sacrifices yet?’ Cousin Zhen asked You-shi when they were alone together.
‘I sent Rong to draw it this morning,’ said You-shi.
‘It’s not that we rely on the money exactly,’ said Cousin Zhen, ‘but it is after all the gift of the Emperor and I think we ought to draw it as soon as possible and get it across to Lady Jia so that it can be used to pay for the offerings. It’s a double blessing when the gracious favour shown us by His Majesty can be passed on to the ancestors. However many thousands of our own we were to spend on them, it wouldn’t do them nearly as much honour as these offerings subsidized by the Imperial bounty – not to mention the advantages that we enjoy as recipients of Imperial favour. And we have to remember that apart from the one or two great families like ours who don’t really need this money, there are many, many families of poor hereditary officials who do actually depend on it for their ancestral sacrifices and who wouldn’t be able to celebrate New Year properly without it. So you see it really was extraordinarily benevolent and far-seeing of the dynasty to institute this annual bounty.’
‘Yes, indeed,’ said You-shi.
‘Master Rong is back,’ a servant came in to report while the two of them were still talking.
‘Tell him to come in,’ said Cousin Zhen.
Jia Rong entered carrying a little yellow bag, not as one would normally carry a bag, but holding it in both hands at shoulder height.
‘You’ve been a long time, haven’t you?’ said Cousin Zhen. Jia Rong smiled nervously.
‘This year they’re not paying it at the Board of Rites any longer but at the treasury of the Imperial Victuallers; so having first gone to the Board of Rites, I had to go from there all the way to the Imperial Victuallers to draw the money. The people at the Imperial Victuallers’ office all asked after you, by the way. They say they haven’t seen you for a long time, but they often think about you.’
‘It’s not me they think about but my things,’ said Cousin Zhen with a dry smile. ‘Either that, or they are hoping for an invitation to come round over the New Year.’
He was inspecting the yellow bag as he said this. It had a sealing-slip with the words
PERPETUAL BOUNTY
written on it in large characters. On the other side was the chop of the Department of Sacrifices of the Board of Rites and some columns of smaller characters:
Annual grant awarded in perpetuity to Jia Yan, Duke of Ning-guo, and Jia Yuan, Duke of Rong-guo, for New Year Sacrifices: goods to the value of —— taels net Cash received by: Jia Rong, Captain, Imperial Bodyguard, Inner Palace, on (date)
Issuing officer for the year: (name)
This was followed by a cipher in red ink.
After inspecting the yellow bag, Cousin Zhen had his lunch; then, when he had washed his hands and rinsed his mouth out, he changed into formal hat and boots and, ordering Jia Rong to follow him with the bag, set off for the other mansion to report the arrival of the bounty-money, first to Grandmother Jia and Lady Wang and then to Jia She and Lady Xing next door. When they got back he took out the money and ordered the bag to be carried into the Hall of the Ancestors and burnt there in the great incense-burner in front of the ancestral tablets.
There were further orders now for Jia Rong:
‘I want you to go and ask your Aunt Lian whether she’s decided yet on which days she’ll be entertaining in the New Year. If she has, get the office to make out a good, clear list of the dates, so that we don’t have any duplicating this year. Last year several families got invitations from both of us for the same day, and of course, people being what they are, instead of realizing that it was a mistake, they assumed that we had deliberately worked it out between us as an economy.’
Jia Rong hurried off to see Xi-feng, returning presently with the list of dates that his father had asked for. After running his eye over it, Cousin Zhen handed it to a servant.
‘Give this to Lai Sheng. Tell him to avoid these dates when he sends out our New Year invitations.’
He and Jia Rong went on to inspect operations in the hall, where a number of pages were carrying in and arranging the large screens on which the portraits of the ancestors were to be hung, and cleaning and polishing the tables and the ritual vessels of gold and silver which were to be set up in front of them. While they were thus engaged, a page came in holding a red greetings-card and a schedule containing some sort of list.
‘Bailiff Wu from Black Mountain village, sir. He’s just arrived.’
‘That old rascal?’ said Cousin Zhen. ‘He’s been long enough getting here!’
Jia Rong took the greetings-card and schedule from the servant, and opening up the card, held it out for his father to read. Cousin Zhen folded his hands behind his back and bent over to read the inscription:
Wu Jin-xiao, Bailiff, presents his Humble Compliments
to the Master and Mistress
and compliments to
The Young Gentlemen and Ladies
wishing you Wealth, Health and Prosperity
Increase of Pay and Promotion
and all your Heart’s Desire in the
Coming Year
Cousin Zhen laughed.
‘These country people have an original sense of style.’
‘Never mind the style,’ said Jia Rong, echoing his father’s laughter with obsequious laughter of his own, ‘just think of all the good luck he is wishing us!’
He opened up the schedule and held it out while Cousin Zhen ran his eye down the list:
tufted deer
30
water deer
50
spotted deer
50
Siamese pigs
20
scalded pigs
20
wild boar
20
wild pigs
20
salted pigs
20
wild sheep
20
goats
20
scalded sheep
20
sheep, salted in fell
20
sturgeons
200
fish, various
200 catties
live chickens, ducks and geese
(each)
200
dried ditto
(each
)
200
pheasants & hares
(each)
200 brace
bear’s paws
20 pairs
deer’s sinews
20 catties
sea-slugs
50 catties
deer’s tongues
50
ox-tongues
10
dried mussels
20 catties
filberts, pine-nuts, peach-kernels, almonds
(each)
2 bags
crayfish
50 pairs
dried shrimps
200 catties
high quality selected Silver Frost charcoal
1000 catties
medium grade ditto
2000 catties
red charcoal
30,000 catties
red Emperor rice
5 bushels
green glutinous rice
60 bushels
white ditto
60 bushels
powder rice
60 bushels
millet, sorghum & other grains
(each)
60 bushels
general purpose rice
2500 bushels
dried vegetables
1 cartload
Item, total realized from sales of livestock and cereals
2500 taels silver
Item, Present for the young ladies and gentlemen (Pets)
1
2 deer
4 pair white rabbits
4 pair black rabbits
2 pair golden pheasants
2 pair Foreign ducks
‘Bring him in,’ said Cousin Zhen when he had finished perusing the schedule.
