by Cao Xueqin
“She can take human form, so naturally she looks lifelike,” replied Baoyu cheerfully.
“But it isn’t a girl.” Mingyan clapped his hands together. “It’s blue-faced and red-haired—the God of Plague!”
“You useless fool,” swore Baoyu in disgust. “You can’t handle the least little job.”
“I don’t know what books you’ve been reading, Master Bao, or what nonsensical talk you’ve been swallowing, to send me on a wild-goose chase of this sort. And now you say I’m useless.”
“Don’t get so worked up,” rejoined Baoyu soothingly. “You must try again some other day when you’ve time. If she was having me on, of course there’s no such place; but if there is, you’ll be doing a good deed and you can be sure I’ll reward you handsomely.”
Just then a page from the inner gate announced, “Some girls from the old lady’s apartments are waiting for you, Master Bao, at the inner gate.”
If you want to know what this meant, read the next chapter.
Chapter 40
The Lady Dowager Feasts Again in Grand View Garden
Yuanyang Presides over a Drinking Game
Baoyu hurried over at this summons and found Hupo by the screen.
“Come quickly,” she urged him. “The old lady’s waiting for you.”
He went to the Lady Dowager’s apartments, where she was discussing with Lady Wang and the girls how to repay Xiangyun’s hospitality.
“I’ve a suggestion,” said Baoyu. “As we’re not inviting outsiders, there’s no need for too many dishes; let’s just have a few we like. There’s no need for tables either; each of us can have a teapoy with a couple of dishes we fancy, as well as a ten-compartment box of tidbits and a winepot apiece. Wouldn’t that be more original?”
The Lady Dowager approved. She sent instructions to the kitchen to prepare their favourite dainties the next day and put them in separate boxes, and to serve breakfast in the Garden too. By the time this was settled the lamps were lit, and they retired for the night.
The next morning, as luck would have it, the weather was fine. Li Wan rose at daybreak to supervise the matrons and maids as they swept up fallen leaves, dusted tables and chairs, and prepared the tea-services and wine vessels. While she was doing this, Fenger arrived with Granny Liu and Baner.
“How busy you are, madam!” remarked Granny Liu.
“I knew you wouldn’t be able to leave yesterday,” replied Li Wan with a smile. “Yet you were in such a hurry to get away.”
“The old lady made me stay to enjoy myself for a day,” chuckled Granny Liu.
Fenger produced a bunch of keys and announced, “Madam Lian says there may not be enough teapoys out: we’d better unlock the attic in the tower and fetch some down to use for a day. She wanted to see to it herself, but she’s talking with Lady Wang. So do you mind opening the attic, madam, and having the things brought out?”
Li Wan made Suyun take the keys, and sent one of the matrons to fetch a few page boys from the inner gate. Standing with raised head at the foot of Grand View Pavilion, she ordered them to go up and open the Tower of Variegated Splendour and carry down the teapoys one by one. Pages, matrons and maids set to work then to bring down more than twenty, while Li Wan warned:
“Careful! Steady on! You’re not being chased by ghosts. Mind you don’t bump them.”
Then she turned to ask Granny Liu, “Would you care to go up too and have a look?”
The old woman needed no pressing but promptly pulled Baner up the stairs with her. She found the attic chock-a-block with screens, tables, chairs, ornamental lanterns large and small, and other similar objects. Although ignorant of the function of most of them, she was dazzled by their gay colours and fine workmanship.
“Gracious Buddha!” she exclaimed.
When she withdrew the door was locked and everyone came down.
Then it occurred to Li Wan that the old Lady might feel disposed to go boating. So on her instructions they unlocked the door once more and brought down oars, punt-poles and awnings. Pages were also sent to the boatwomen to order two barges from the boathouse.
In the middle of this bustle, along came the Lady Dowager with a whole company of people.
“How bright and early you are, madam!” cried Li Wan hurrying to meet her. “I didn’t think you’d have finished your toilet yet. I’d just picked some chrysanthemums to send you.”
Biyue held out a large emerald plate in the form of a lotus leaf, on which were chrysanthemums of different kinds. The Lady Dowager selected a red one and pinned it in her hair. Then, turning, she caught sight of Granny Liu.
“Come here and take a few flowers to wear!” she called with a smile.
While the words were still on her lips, Xifeng pulled Granny Liu for ward.
“Let me make you beautiful, granny!” she cried.
Seizing all the flowers on the plate, she stuck them this way and that in the old woman’s hair, reducing everyone present to helpless laughter.
“I don’t know what meritorious deed my head’s done to deserve this good fortune,” cackled Granny Liu. “What a dash I’m cutting today!”
“Why don’t you pull them out and throw them in her face?” gasped the others. “She’s got you up to look a real old vampire.”
“I’m old now, but when I was young I was flighty too and fond of flowers,” chuckled Granny Liu. “So it’s right I should be an old flibbertigibbet today.”
While laughing and chatting they had come to Seeping Fragrance Pavilion. Maids spread a large brocade cushion they had brought on the railing of the balcony. The Lady Dowager, seating herself there with her back against a pillar, made Granny Liu sit beside her.
“Well, what do you think of this garden?” she inquired.
“Gracious Buddha!” ejaculated Granny Liu. “We country folk come to town before New Year to buy pictures to stick up; and when we’re at a loose end we often say, ‘If only we could take a stroll in these pictures!’ We always reckoned the places shown were too good to be true, but coming to this garden today I can see it’s ten times better than any painting. I wish someone would paint me a picture of it to show the folk at home. Then I’d die content.”
The Lady Dowager pointed to Xichun. “See this young grand-daughter of mine?” she asked. “She can paint. Shall I get her to do a painting for you tomorrow?”
This offer so delighted Granny Liu that she hurried over to take Xichun’s
hand.
“Why, miss! So young and pretty, yet so clever too—you must be a goddess come down to the earth.”
After a short rest the Lady Dowager started showing Granny Liu round, going first to Bamboo Lodge. Inside its gate, a narrow pebbled path flanked with bamboos met their gaze. The ground on either side of it was carpeted with dark moss. Granny Liu left the path for the others, walking on the verge herself.
“Come up here, granny,” urged Hupo taking her arm. “That moss is slippery.”
“That’s all right, I’m used to it,” said the old woman. “Just go ahead, young ladies. Take care not to get your embroidered slippers dirty.”
Intent on talking, she slipped and fell with a thud, at which the whole company clapped their hands and laughed.
“You wretches!” scolded the Lady Dowager. “Help her up. Don’t just stand there laughing.”
“That was to punish me for boasting,” chuckled Granny Liu as she scrambled to her feet.
“Did you strain your back?” asked the Lady Dowager. “Let one of the maids pummel it.”
“I’m not so finicky. Hardly a day goes by without my falling. How could I get someone to pummel my back each time?”
Zijuan had the bamboo portiere raised ready for them. The Lady Dowager and others went in and took seats, after which Daiyu with her own hands brought her grandmother a covered bowl of tea on a small tray.
“No tea for us” said Lady Wang. “Don’t trouble to pour any more.”
Then Daiyu told a maid to fetch her favourite
chair from the window for Lady Wang. Granny Liu, meanwhile, was struck by the brushes and inkstones on the desk by the window and the bookcase piled with books.
“This must be the young master’s study,” she said.
The Lady Dowager smiled and pointed at Daiyu.
“This is my grand-daughter’s room.”
Granny Liu looked intently at Daiyu.
“This isn’t like a young lady’s chamber,” she remarked. “But it’s far better than the best study.”
“Where is Baoyu?” asked the Lady Dowager. “Boating on the lake,” the maids told her. “Who ordered boats?”
“I did,” replied Li Wan hastily. “As we were fetching things from the attic just now, it occurred to me you might feel inclined for a turn on the lake, madam.”
Before the old lady could answer, Aunt Xue was announced. And even as they rose to their feet she came in. When they had resumed their seats she remarked:
“You must be in good spirits, madam, to have come here so early.”
“Only a minute ago I was saying all late-comers must be fined,” the Lady Dowager chuckled. “I’d no idea the offender would be you.”
They chatted for a while. Then the Lady Dowager noticed that the gauze on the window had faded.
“This gauze is pretty when new,” she remarked to Lady Wang, “but it soon loses its vivid emerald colour. Anyway, as there are no peach or apricot trees in this courtyard and the bamboos are green themselves, green gauze is out of place here. We used to have window gauze in four or five colours, I remember. Tomorrow we shall have to change this for her.”
“When I opened the storeroom yesterday,” put in Xifeng, “I saw several rolls of pink cicada wing gauze in one of the chests. There are several different designs—sprays of blossom, floating clouds and bats, butterflies and flowers—the colours so vivid and the gauze so soft, I’ve never seen anything like it. I took out two rolls, thinking they’d make good coverlets.”
“Bah!” the Lady Dowager snorted. “Everybody says there’s nothing you haven’t seen or done, but you don’t even know what this gauze is. You must stop bragging in future.”
“However knowledgeable she may be, she can’t compare with you, madam,” said Aunt Xue. “Do enlighten her and let us hear as well.”
“Yes, good Ancestress, do enlighten me,” begged Xifeng smiling.
Then the Lady Dowager told them all, “That gauze is older than any of you. No wonder she mistook it for cicada-wing gauze. As a matter off act, the two are so alike that those not in the know always mix them up. Its proper name is soft-mist silk.”
“What a charming name,” cried Xifeng. “I’ve seen hundreds of kinds of silk, but never heard of this one.”
“How long have you lived?” retorted the old lady. “How many rarities have you seen? What have you to brag about? This soft-mist silk comes in four colours only: light blue, russet, pine-green and pink. Used for bed-curtains or window gauze, from a distance it looks like smoke or mist—that’s how it got its name. The pink’s also called rosy-cloud gauze. Even the imperial gauze used in the Palace today isn’t so soft and fine.”
“I’m not surprised Xifeng hadn’t seen it before,” interposed Aunt Xue. “I’d never even heard of it either.”
By now a roll had been fetched on Xifeng’s instructions. “That’s it!” exclaimed the Lady Dowager. “We used it first just for windows, then found it was good for quilts and bed-curtains too. You must get some more out tomorrow and screen the windows here with some of the pink.”
Xifeng promised to attend to this while the whole party admired the material. As for Granny Liu, her eyes were nearly popping out of her head.
“Gracious Buddha!” she gasped. “We couldn’t afford to make clothes of this. It seems a shame to use it for windows.”
“Clothes of this don’t look well,” said the Lady Dowager.
Xifeng promptly showed them the lapel of the red gauze tunic she was wearing, saying, “Look at this tunic of mine.”
“Very nice too,” said the Lady Dowager and Aunt Xue. “This is made nowadays for the Palace. Still, it can’t compare with the other.”
“You mean to say this shoddy stuff is made for the Imperial use?” exclaimed Xifeng. “Why, it’s not even up to the gauze made for officials.”
“We must see if there’s any more of the blue,” said the Lady Dowager. “If there is, give a couple of rolls to Granny Liu to make a bed-curtain. What’s left can be matched with some lining and made into lined sleeveless jackets for the maids. Don’t leave it there to be spoiled by the damp.”
Xifeng agreed, and had the stuff put away. Then the Lady Dowager rose to her feet.
“Let’s stroll on,” she suggested. “Why should we stay cooped up here?”
Invoking Buddha again, Granny Liu remarked: “Everyone says ‘The great live in great houses.’ When I saw your room yesterday, madam, it was a grand sight with all those big cases, big wardrobes, big tables and big bed. The wardrobes alone are bigger and higher than one of our whole rooms. No wonder you keep that ladder in the back yard. I couldn’t think at first what it was for, as you don’t sun things on the roof. Then I saw it must be for opening the tops of wardrobes to take things out or put them in, for without a ladder how could you get up? But this small room is even better furnished than that big one, with all these fine things—whatever they’re called—in it. The more I see of it, the less I want to leave.”
“I’ll show you better places than this,” promised Xifeng. Upon leaving Bamboo Lodge they saw a punting party out on the lake.
“Since they’ve got the boats ready, we may as well go aboard,” suggested the Lady Dowager.
They were on their way to Purple Caltrop Isle and Smart weed Bank when they met several matrons carrying multicoloured lacquered hampers inlaid with gilt designs. Xifeng at once asked Lady Wang where they should breakfast.
“Wherever the old lady chooses,” was the reply.
The Lady Dowager, hearing this, called over her shoulder to Xifeng, “Your third cousin’s place is pleasant. Take some people there to get it ready while we go by boat.”
Then Xifeng turned back with Li Wan, Tanchun, Yuanyang and Hupo, accompanied by the attendants with the food. Having taken a short cut to the Studio of Autumn Freshness, they arranged the tables in Morning Emerald Hall.
Yuanyang remarked with a chuckle, “We often say that when the gentlemen feast outside they’ve someone who can raise a laugh to entertain them. Today we’ve a female entertainer too.”
Li Wan was too good-natured to catch on, but Xifeng knew that Granny Liu was meant.
“Yes, she should be good for some laughs today,” she agreed. Then the two of them began to lay their plans. “You’re up to no good,” protested Li Wan, smiling. “As bad as children. Mind the old lady doesn’t scold you!”
“You won’t be involved. Just leave the old lady to me,” Yuanyang giggled.
As they were talking the rest of the party arrived. They sat where they pleased and were first served tea by the maids. Then Xifeng placed before each the ebony chopsticks inlaid with silver which she had brought wrapped in a cambric napkin.
“Bring that small cedar table over here,” directed the Lady Dowager. “I want our kinswoman to sit next to me.”
As her order was carried out Xifeng cast Yuanyang a meaning glance, and the maid led Granny Liu aside to give her some whispered instructions.
“This is the custom of our house,” she concluded. “If you disregard it people will laugh at you.”
When all was ready they took seats at the tables. All but Aunt Xue who, having breakfasted already, did not eat anything but sat on one side sipping tea. The old lady had Baoyu, Xiangyun, Daiyu and Baochai at her table; Lady Wang had Yingchun, Tanchun and Xichun; while Granny Liu sat at the table next to the Lady Dowager’s.
Usually Yuanyang left the younger maids to wait on the old lady during meals, holding ready her rinse bowl, whisk and handkerchief. Today, however, she hel
d the whisk herself and the other maids kept out of the way, realizing that she meant to bait Granny Liu.
Yuanyang, standing there, now whispered to the old woman, “Don’t forget!”
“Don’t worry, miss,” was the answer.
Having taken her seat Granny Liu picked up the chopsticks, but found them too awkward to manage. For Xifeng and Yuanyang had decided to give her an old-fashioned pair of square-edged ivory chopsticks inlaid with gold.
“Why, these prongs are heavier than our iron shovels,” the old woman complained. “How can I handle them?”
As everyone laughed, a matron brought in a box and stood holding it while a maid removed the cover, revealing two bowls. Li Wan put one on the Lady Dowager’s table and Xifeng set the other, containing pigeon’s eggs, before Granny Liu. The Lady Dowager urged her to make a start.
Granny Liu stood up then and declaimed at the top of her voice:
“Old woman Liu, I vow,
Eats more than any cow,
And down she settles now
To gobble an enormous sow.”
Then she dried up abruptly, puffing out her cheeks and staring down at her bowl.
The others had been staggered at first but now everyone, high and low, started roaring with laughter. Xiangyun shook so uncontrollably that she sputtered out the rice she had in her mouth, while Daiyu nearly choked and collapsed over the table gasping, “Mercy!” Baoyu fell convulsively into his grand mother’s arms and she chuckled as she hugged him to her crying, “My precious!” Lady Wang wagged one finger at Xifeng but was laughing too much to speak. Aunt Xue, too exploded in such mirth that she sprayed tea all over Tanchun’s skirt, making her upset her bowl over Yingchun, while Xichun left her seat and begged her nurse to rub her stomach for her.
As for the maids, some doubled up in hysterics, others sneaked outside to squat down in a fit of giggles, yet others controlled themselves sufficiently to fetch clean clothes for their young mistresses.
Xifeng and Yuanyang, the only ones with straight faces, urged Granny Liu to eat. But when she picked up the chopsticks she still found them unwieldy.
