A Dream of Red Mansion

by Cao Xueqin

  Granny Liu felt easy enough at last to say, “The reason I brought your nephew here today is that his parents haven’t a bite to eat. And winter’s coming on, making things worse. So I brought your nephew here to ask for your help.” She nudged Baner. “Well, what did your dad tell you? What did he send us here for? Was it just to eat sweets?”

  Xifeng smiled at this blunt way of talking. “Don’t say any more. I understand.” She asked Mrs. Zhou, “Has granny eaten yet?”

  “We set out first thing in such a rush, we’d no time to eat anything,” said Granny Liu.

  At once Xifeng ordered a meal for the visitors. Mrs. Zhou passed on the order and a table was set for them in the east room.

  “Sister Zhou, see that they have all they want,” said Xifeng. “I can’t keep them company.”

  When Mrs. Zhou had taken them to the east room, Xifeng called her back to hear what Lady Wang had said.

  “Her ladyship says they don’t really belong to our family,” Mrs. Zhou told her. “They joined families because they have the same surname and their grandfather was an official in the same place as our old master. We haven’t seen much of them these last few years, but whenever they came we didn’t let them go away empty-handed. Since they mean well, coming to see us, we shouldn’t slight them. If they need help, madam should use her own discretion.”

  “I was thinking, if we were really relatives it was funny I didn’t know the first thing about them.”

  As Xifeng was speaking Granny Liu came back from her meal with Baner, loud in her thanks.

  “Sit down now and listen to me, dear old lady,” said Xifeng cheerfully. “I know what you were hinting at just now. We shouldn’t wait for relatives to come to our door before we take care of them. But we’ve plenty of troublesome business here, and now that Her Ladyship’s growing old she sometimes forgets things. Besides, when I took charge recently I didn’t really know all our family connections. Then again, although we look prosperous you must realize that a big household has big difficulties of its own, though few may believe it. But since you’ve come so far today and this is the first time you’ve asked me for help, I can’t send you away empty-handed. Luckily Her Ladyship gave me twenty taels of silver yesterday to make clothes for the maids, and I haven’t yet touched it. If you don’t think it too little, take that to be going on with.”

  Talk of difficulties had dashed all Granny Liu’s hopes and set her heart palpitating. The promise of twenty taels put her in a flutter of joy.

  “Ah,” she cried, “I know what difficulties are. But ‘A starved camel is bigger than a horse.’ No matter how, ‘A hair from your body is thicker than our waist.’“

  Mrs. Zhou kept signalling to her not to talk in the crude way, but Xifeng merely laughed and seemed not to mind. She sent Pinger for the package of silver and a string of cash and presented these to the old woman.

  “Here’s twenty taels to make the child some winter clothes. If you refuse it, I shall think you’re offended. With the cash you can hire a cart. When you’ve time, drop in again as relatives should. It’s growing late, I won’t keep you for no purpose. Give my compliments to everyone at home to whom I should be remembered.”

  She stood up and Granny Liu, having thanked her profusely, took the silver and cash and followed Mrs. Zhou towards the servants’ quarters.

  “Gracious me!” exclaimed Mrs. Zhou. “What possessed you when you saw her to keep on about ‘your nephew’? At the risk of offending you I must say this: Even if he were a real nephew you should have glossed it over. Master Rong, now, he’s her honest-to-goodness nephew—where would she get a nephew like Baner?”

  “My dear sister!” Granny Liu beamed. “I was struck all of a heap at sight of her and didn’t know what I was saying.”

  Chatting together they reached Zhou Rui’s house and sat down for a few moments. Granny Liu wanted to leave a piece of silver to buy sweets for Mrs. Zhou’s children, but this Mrs. Zhou most resolutely declined —such small sums meant nothing to her. Then with boundless thanks Granny Liu left by the back gate.

  To know what followed, you must read the next chapter.

  Truly:

  In affluence, charity is freely dispensed,

  One deeply grateful is better than kinsmen or friends.

  Chapter 7

  Madam You Invites Xifeng Alone At a Feast in the Ning Mansion

  Baoyu First Meets Qin Zhong

  The theme:

  Twelve maids pretty as flowers,

  But who is it that loves them?

  Do you ask the name of the one he meets?

  It is Qin whose home is south of the Yangzi River.

  After seeing off Granny Liu, Mrs. Zhou went to report to Lady Wang. On being told by her maids that their mistress had gone to chat with Aunt Xue, she made her way through the east side gate and the east courtyard to Pear Fragrance Court. On the verandah steps there, Lady Wang’s maid Jinchuan was playing with a girl who had just let her hair grow. Realizing that Mrs. Zhou had come on business, Jinchuan nodded towards the door.

  Mrs. Zhou softly raised the portiere and went in. Lady Wang and her sister were having a good long gossip on domestic matters, and not wanting to disturb them she went into the inner room where Baochai in a house dress, her hair pinned into a loose knot, was copying an embroidery pattern with her maid Yinger at the low table on the kang. She put down her brush and turned with a smile to offer the visitor a seat.

  “How are you, miss?” asked Mrs. Zhou, sitting on the edge of the kang, “I haven’t seen you over on our side for several days. Did Baoyu do something to annoy you?”

  “What an idea! I’ve been staying in for a couple of days because an old ailment’s been troubling me again.”

  “Why, miss, what is it? better send for a doctor at once to make out a prescription. A few doses should set you right once and for all. It’s no joke being an invalid at your age.”

  “Don’t talk to me about medicine!” Baochai laughed. “Goodness knows how much silver we’ve squandered on doctors and medicines to cure this illness of mine. The most famous physicians and the most fabulous drugs were of no use at all. In the end, luckily, there came a tonsured monk who claimed to specialize in mysterious diseases. We called him in and he diagnosed my trouble as a choleric humour I’d brought from the womb, but which thanks to my good constitution wasn’t too serious. No ordinary pills bring any relief, but he gave us an exotic prescription from across the seas, together with a packet of aromatic powder he’d procured as adjuvant goodness knows where. He prescribed one pill each time an attack comes on. And strange to say that’s done me good.”

  “What is this prescription from across the seas? If you’ll tell me, miss, we’ll keep it in mind and recommend it to others with the same trouble. That would be a good deed.”

  “Well, better not ask. But if you must know, it’s the most troublesome prescription.” Baochai laughed. “There aren’t too many ingredients and they’re easily obtainable, but each has to be gathered at just the right time. You have to take twelve ounces of the stamens of white peonies that bloom in the spring, twelve ounces of the stamens of white lotus that blooms in the summer, twelve ounces of the stamens of white hibiscus that blooms in the autumn, and twelve ounces of the stamens of white plum that blooms in the winter. These four kinds of stamens must be dried in the sun on the following vernal equinox, then mixed well with the powder. Then you must take twelve drams of rain that fell on the day Rain Begins...’“

  “Aiya!” broke in Mrs. Zhou. “That would take three years. And what if it doesn’t rain on the day Rain Begins?”

  “Exactly. You can’t always count on it. If it doesn’t, you just have to wait. You also have to collect twelve drams of dew on the day White Dew, twelve drams of frost on the day Frost Falls, and twelve drams of snow on the day Slight Snow. These liquids are mixed with the other ingredients, then twelve drams of honey and twelve of white sugar are added to make pills the size of longans. These must be kept in an old p
orcelain jar and buried beneath the roots of flowers. When the illness comes on, this jar can be dug up and one pill taken with twelve candareens of a phellodendron concoction.”

  “Gracious Buddha!” Mrs. Zhou chuckled. “How terribly chancy! You might wait ten years without such a run of luck.”

  “Well, we were lucky enough to collect all the ingredients and have them carefully made up within two years of the monk’s telling us. We brought the pills up from the south. They’re buried under one of the pear trees now.”

  “Has this medicine any name?”

  “Yes, the scabby monk told us they’re called Cold Fragrance Pills.” Mrs. Zhou nodded. “What are the symptoms of this illness of yours, miss?”

  “Nothing serious. Slight fits of coughing and shortness of breath. But one pill clears it up.”

  Before they could say more, Lady Wang asked who was there. Mrs. Zhou hurried out and seized this chance to tell her about Granny Liu. It seemed Lady Wang had no further instructions for her, and she was on the point of leaving when Aunt Xue stopped her.

  “Wait a minute,” she said with a smile. “I’ve something for you to take back.”

  She called for Xiangling and the portiere clacked as in came the girl who had been playing with Jinchuan.

  “Did you call, madam?” she asked.

  “Bring me that box of flowers,” ordered Aunt Xue.

  Xiangling accordingly fetched a brocade box.

  “These are twelve sprays of gauze flowers of the new sort made in the Palace,” explained Aunt Xue. “I remembered them yesterday, and thought it a pity to leave them tucked away when the girls might like to wear them. I meant to send them over yesterday, but forgot. You may as well take them now that you’re here. Give two each to your three young ladies. Of the Six left, give a couple to Miss Lin and the other four to Master Feng.”

  “It’s kind of you to think of them,” remarked Lady Wang. “But why not keep them for Baochai?”

  “You don’t know what an odd girl she is, sister. She dislikes wearing flowers of make-up.”

  Going out with the box, Mrs. Zhou found Jinchuan still sunning herself on the steps. “Tell me,” she said, “isn’t Xiangling the girl there was all that talk about? The one bought just before they came to the capital, who was at the bottom of that manslaughter case?”

  “That’s right,” said Jinchuan.

  Just then Xiangling came over, smiling. Mrs. Zhou took her hand and studied her intently, then turned to Jinchuan again:

  “She’s a handsome girl. Reminds me of Master Rong’s wife in our East Mansion.”

  “That’s what I say,” agreed Jinchuan.

  Mrs. Zhou asked Xiangling how old she had been when sold, where her parents were, her age now and her native place. But the girl simply shook her head and said she could not remember, so that their hearts bled for her.

  Then Mrs. Zhou took the Bowers to the back of Lady Wang’s principal apartment. Recently the Lady Dowager had found it inconvenient to have all her grand-daughters crowded together in her compound. Keeping just Baoyu and Daiyu for company, she had sent Yingchun, Tanchun and Xichun to live in three small suites behind Lady Wang’s quarters, under the care of Li Wan. Hence Mrs. Zhou stopped here first as it was on her way, and found a few maids waiting in the hall for when they should be wanted.

  Yingchun’s maid Siqi and Tanchun’s maid Shishu raised the portiere at that moment and stepped out, each carrying a cup and saucer. This meant that their young mistresses must be together, so Mrs. Zhou went in and discovered Yingchun and Tanchun playing draughts by the window. She presented the flowers, explaining where they came from. The two girls stopped their game to bow their thanks, then ordered their maids to put the gifts away.

  As Mrs. Zhou handed over the flowers she remarked, “The fourth young lady isn’t here. Is she with the old lady, I wonder?”

  “Isn’t she there in the next room?” the maids said.

  Mrs. Zhou walked into the adjoining room and found Xichun laughing and chatting with Zhineng, a young nun from the Water Moon Convent. Xichun asked Mrs. Zhou her business. The box was opened and the gift explained.

  “I was just telling Zhineng that I’d shave my head some day and become a nun too, and now you turn up with flowers.” Xichun smiled. “Where shall I wear them if my head is shaved?”

  Amid the banter that followed, Xichun told her maid Ruhua to put the present away.

  The Mrs. Zhou asked Zhineng, “When did you arrive? And where’s that bald-headed, crotchety abbess of yours?”

  “We came here first thing this morning. After calling on Lady Wang the abbess went to Mr. Yu’s mansion, telling me to wait for her here.”

  “Have you received the monthly allowance and donation for incense due on the fifteenth?”

  Zhineng shook her head. “I don’t know.”

  Xichun asked who was in charge of the monthly donations for different temples.

  “Yu Xin,” was Mrs. Zhou’s answer.

  “So that’s it.” Xichun giggled. “As soon as the abbess arrived, Yu Xin’s wife hurried over and whispered with her for a while. That must be why.”

  After chatting for a time with the nun, Mrs. Zhou went on to Xifeng’s quarters. She walked through the passage, past Li Wan’s back window, and skirting the west wall entered Xifeng’s compound by the west side-gate. In the main hall outside the bedroom door sat Fenger, who hastily motioned her to the east room. Taking the hint, Mrs. Zhou tiptoed in and found a nurse patting Xifeng’s daughter to sleep.

  “Is your mistress having a nap?” whispered Mrs. Zhou. “It’s time somebody woke her.”

  As the nurse shook her head, from Xifeng’s room came the sound of laughter and Jia Lian’s voice. The door opened and out stepped Pinger with a large copper basin which she told Fenger to fill with water and take in. Then Pinger came over and asked Mrs. Zhou, “What brings you here again, auntie?”

  Mrs. Zhou stood up and explained her errand, handing over the box. Pinger took out four sprays and went off with them, returning presently with two which she ordered Caiming to take to Master Rong’s wife in the Ning Mansion. After this she asked Mrs. Zhou to convey Xifeng’s thanks to Aunt Xue.

  Only then did Mrs. Zhou make her way to the Lady Dowager’s compound. In the entrance hall she ran into her own daughter, dressed in her best, come from her mother-in-law’s house.

  “What are you doing here?” asked Mrs. Zhou.

  “Have you been keeping well, ma?” Her daughter beamed. “I waited and wafted at home but you didn’t come. What’s been keeping you all this time? When I got tired of waiting I went on my own to pay my respects to the old lady, and I was just going to see Lady Wang. Aren’t you through yet with your business? What’s that in your hand?”

  “Ai! Granny Liu would choose today to call, and I put myself out running here and there for her. Then Madam Xue spotted me and asked me to deliver these flowers to the young ladies. I’m not through with it yet. But you must want something of me, coming at this time.”

  “You’ve guessed right, ma. The fact is, your son-in-law had a cup too much the other day and a row started. Someone, I don’t know why, has spread ugly rumours and says he’s got a shady past. A charge has been lodged against him at the yamen to have him sent back to his native place. I came to ask your advice. Who can we get to help us out?”

  “I thought as much,” said her mother. “A fuss about nothing. You go home while I deliver these flowers to Miss Lin. Her Ladyship and Madam Lian aren’t free just now, so go back and wait for me. Why get so excited?”

  “Well, be as quick as you can, ma,” urged her daughter walking off. “Of course. You young people lack experience, that’s why you’re so worked up.”

  Daiyu was not in her room but Mrs. Zhou found her in Baoyu’s, trying to unravel the nine-ring puzzle with him.

  Mrs. Zhou greeted her with a smile as she entered and said, “Madam Xue asked me to bring you these flowers to wear.”

  “What flowers?” de
manded Baoyu. “Let me see them.”

  He reached for the box and, opening it, saw the two sprigs of gauze flowers from the Palace.

  Daiyu glanced briefly at them in Baoyu’s hand. “Am I the only one getting these?’ she asked. “Or have the other girls been given some too?’

  “Each of the young ladies has some. These two are for you, miss.”

  “I might have known.” Daiyu smiled bitterly. “I wouldn’t get mine till the others had taken their pick.”

  Mrs. Zhou had nothing to say to this, but Baoyu put in, “What were you doing over there, Sister Zhou?”

  “I had a message for Her Ladyship, who’s there. And Madam Xue asked me to bring back these flowers.”

  “What’s Baochai doing at home? Why hasn’t she been here for the last few days?”

  “She’s not very well.”

  At once Baoyu told his maids, “One of you go and see her. Tell her Miss Lin and I sent you to ask how our aunt and cousin are. Find out what’s wrong with her and what medicine she’s taking. I ought to go myself, but say I’m just back from school and have caught a chill as well. I’ll call some other time.”

  As Qianxue offered to go, Mrs. Zhou left.

  Now Mrs. Zhou’s son-in-law was none other than Jia Yucun’s good friend Leng Zixing. Finding himself involved in a lawsuit arising from the sale of some curios, he had sent his wife to ask for help. With full confidence in her master’s power, Mrs. Zhou did not take this to heart. In fact she settled the matter that same evening by applying to Xifeng.

  When the lamps were lit and Xifeng had disrobed, she went to see Lady Wang.

  “I’ve taken charge of those things the Zhens sent today,” she announced. “As for out presents to them, I have sent them back by their boats which have come for the New Year provisions.”

  When Lady Wang nodded, Xifeng went on, “I’ve prepared our birthday presents for the Earl of Linan’s mother. Who should deliver them, madam?”

  “Any four women you see are free. Why consult me about such trifles?”