by Cao Xueqin
Baochai responded, “Pairs of swallows chirp merrily.”
“Another ‘double three’ upon the right.”
“The wind-trailed weeds seem belts of malachite.”
“In the middle, ‘three and six’ make nine.”
“Three hills across the azure sky incline.”
“Together: A lonely boat moored by a chain.”
“The wind and waves bring sorrow in their train.”
In conclusion Baochai drank her wine.
Yuanyang resumed, “The sign of ‘heaven’ on the left.”
Daiyu answered, “A fair season, a season bereft.”
Baochai turned to dart her a glance, but for fear of a penalty Daiyu ignored her.
Yuanyang continued, “In the middle a ‘screen’ finely wrought.”
“No maid a message to the gauze window has brought.”
“That leaves only eight, by ‘two and six’ shown.”
“Together they pay homage at the jade throne.”
“Combined: A basket in which to gather posies.”
“On her fairy wand she carries peonies.”
Having finished her turn Daiyu took a sip of wine.
Yuanyang went on, “On the left, ‘four and five’ make nine.”
Yingchun responded, “The peach blossom is heavy with rain.”
“Fine her! Fine her!” cried the others. “That doesn’t rhyme. Besides, why peach blossom?”
Yingchun smiled and took a sip. The fact is that Xifeng and Yuanyang were so eager to hear Granny Liu make a fool of herself that they had urged the others to give wrong answers, so that all were fined. When it came to Lady Wang’s turn, Yuanyang answered for her. Then it was Granny Liu’s turn.
“We country folk sometimes get together and play this when we’ve nothing better to do,” said the old woman, “Mind you, our answers aren’t so fine-sounding as yours. Still, I suppose I must try.”
“It’s easy,” they assured her. “Just go ahead, it doesn’t matter.”
Smiling, Yuanyang announced, “On the left, ‘four and four’ make a man.”
Granny Liu thought this over, then suggested, “A farmer?” The company roared with laughter.
“Good,” the Lady Dowager encouraged her. “That’s the style.”
“We country people can only talk about the things we know,” said Granny Liu, laughing herself. “You mustn’t make fun of me.”
Yuanyang continued, “‘Three and four,’ green and red, in the centre.”
“A big fire burns the hairy caterpillar.”
The others chortled, “That’s right. Go on in your own way.”
Yuanyang said, “On the right a really fine ‘double ace.’“
“A turnip and head of garlic in one place.”
Giggles broke out again.
Yuanyang went on, “They make up ‘flowers’ in all.”
Gesturing with both hands Granny Liu responded, “And a huge pumpkin forms when the flower fall.”
The others were shaking with laughter when they heard a commotion outside. What had happened will be told in the next chapter.
Chapter 41
Baoyu Sips Tea in Green Lattice Nunnery
Granny Liu Succumbs to Wine in Happy Red Court
Granny Liu’s gestures and response, “A huge pumpkin forms when the flowers fall,” caused a fresh gale of mirth. After tossing off the cup of wine, in the hope of wine, in the hope of raising another laugh she observed:
“To tell the truth, I’m clumsy. And now that I’m tipsy, unless I’m very careful, I may smash this porcelain cup. If you’d given me a wooden one it wouldn’t matter even if I dropped it.”
Once more everybody laughed.
“If you really prefer wooden cups I’ll fetch some,” offered Xifeng. “But first I must warn you that the wooden cups aren’t like porcelain ones; they come in a set, and you must drink from every cup in the set.”
The old woman thought: I was only trying to raise a laugh, but it seems they really do have them. When I’ve dined with the village gentry I’ve seen plenty of gold and silver cups, never any made of wood. I know! These must be wooden bowls that the children use. She just wants to fool me into drinking more. Never mind, this wine’s no stronger than mead anyway, so I needn’t be afraid of drinking a bit extra.
So she said, “Fetch them, and we’ll see.”
Xifeng told Fenger: “Bring that set of ten cups carved out of bamboo root on the bookshelf in the inner room.”
The maid assented, but as she was about to go on this errand Yuanyang put in with a smile:
“I know that set, it’s too small. Besides, you just said wood and it won’t look right if now you produce bamboo. Better fetch from our place that large set of ten cups made out of boxwood roots. Let her drink from those.”
Xifeng thought this a better idea, so Yuanyang sent someone to fetch them. These cups when brought filled Granny Liu with amazement and admiration. Amazement because all ten fitted into each other, the largest being the size of a small basin and even the smallest as big as the cup in her hand. Admiration at the fine landscapes, trees and figures carved on them, as well as the seals and inscriptions.
“Just give me that small one,” she said hastily. “I can’t use so many.”
“No, you can’t just have one,” chuckled Xifeng. “None of our family has ever ventured to use this set, not having a big enough capacity for it. As you asked for it, granny, and we went to all the trouble of fetching it, you must drink from each cup in turn.”
“I daren’t!” exclaimed Granny Liu in consternation. “Dear madam, do let me off.”
The Lady Dowager, Aunt Xue and Lady Wang, knowing that she was too old to stand this, made haste to intervene.
“She mustn’t drink too much,” they said. “It’ll do if she just empties the biggest cup.”
“Amida Buddha!” cried the old woman. “Let me use the small one, and put that big one aside. I’ll take it home to drink up little by little.”
All Yuanyang could do was to have one large cup filled, and Granny Liu raised this in both hands to her lips.
“Go easy,” warned both the Lady Dowager and Aunt Xue. “Mind you don’t chock.”
Aunt Xue urged Xifeng to give her some food with the wine.
“What would you like, granny?” Xifeng asked. “Just name it and I’ll feed you some.”
“How can I tell what these dishes are?” said Granny Liu. “They all look good to me.”
“Give her some fried egg-plant,” proposed the Lady Dowager with a smile.
Xifeng did so, picking up the food with her chopsticks and putting it into Granny Liu’s mouth.
“You must eat egg-plant every day,” she remarked. “Taste this of ours and see how you like it.”
“Don’t try to fool me,” cackled Granny Liu. “If egg-plant tasted like this, we’d stop growing other crops—just stick to egg-plant.”
“It really is egg-plant,” they assured her. “We’re not fooling you.”
“Really egg-plant, is it?” marvelled the old woman. “All this time I’d no idea. Give me some more, madam, to chew more carefully.”
Xifeng accordingly fed her another mouthful.
After savouring it slowly Granny Liu said, “It does taste a little like egg-plant, but still it’s quite different. Tell me how you prepared this, so that I can cook some for myself.”
“It’s quite simple,” replied Xifeng, twinkling. “Pick some early eggplant and peel it, keeping only the best part, which must be cut into small pieces and fried with chicken fat. Then get some chicken breast, fresh mushrooms, bamboo shoots, dried mushrooms, spiced dried beancurd and various kinds of preserved fruit. Dice these too and boil them with the egg-plant in chicken soup, then add sesame oil and pickles and store it in a tightly-sealed porcelain jar. That’s all.”
Granny Liu shook her head and stuck out her tongue in amazement.
“Gracious Buddha! No wonder it tastes so good, cooked with a dozen chickens.”
/> While talking she had slowly finished the wine and now she started examining the cup.
“You haven’t drunk enough yet,” said Xifeng. “Have another cupful.”
“Not on your life! It would kill me. It’s just that I admire pretty things like this. What workmanship!”
“Now that you’ve finished drinking from it,” put in Yuanyang, “tell us what wood it’s made of.”
“I’m not surprised you don’t know, miss.” Granny Liu smiled. “Living behind golden gates and embroidered screens, what should you know about wood? But we hobnob with wood all day long, sleep on wooden pillows, rest on wooden stools and even eat the bark of trees in time of a famine. Seeing it and hearing and talking about it all the time, I can naturally tell good wood from bad and true from false. Well now, let me see what this is.” She was scrutinizing the cup carefully as she spoke. “Such a family as yours would certainly have nothing cheap, nor would you use any wood that’s easily come by. Judging by the weight of this, it can’t be fir, it must be pine wood.”
The whole party had exploded in fits of mirth when a serving-woman came in to tell the old lady:
“The young actresses have all gone to Lotus Fragrance Anchorage and are waiting for Your Ladyship’s instructions. Should they start their performance now or wait a while?”
“Yes, we’d forgotten them,” chuckled the Lady Dowager. “Tell them to start.”
Soon after the serving-woman left on this errand they heard the lilting strains of flutes and pipes. The breeze was light, the air clear, and this music coming through the trees and across the water refreshed and gladdened their hearts. Baoyu could not resist filling his cup with wine, which he tossed straight off. He had just poured himself another cup when he saw his mother, who also wanted a drink, send for freshly-heated wine. He promptly took his cup over and held it to her lips. She took two sips.
When presently the heated wine arrived, Baoyu returned to his place while Lady Wang rose from her seat, holding the wine-pot. At this all the rest, including Aunt Xue, stood up. At once the Lady Dowager told Li Wan and Xifeng to take the pot.
“Make your aunt sit down,” she said. “Let’s not be so formal.”
Lady Wang relinquished the pot then to Xifeng and resumed her seat.
“How pleasant it is today,” remarked the Lady Dowager cheerfully. “Let’s all have a couple of drinks.” Having urged Aunt Xue to drink she said to Xiangyun and Baochai, “You two must drink a cup too. And even though your cousin Daiyu can’t take much, we won’t let her off either.”
With that she drained her own cup so that Xiangyun, Baochai and Daiyu had to follow suit.
Now the music, on top of the wine, set Granny Liu waving her arms and beating time with her feet for sheer delight. Baoyu slipped across to whisper in Daiyu’s ear:
“Look at Granny Liu!”
“When the sage king of old played music, all the hundred beasts started dancing,” quipped Daiyu. “Today we’ve just this one cow.” The others tittered.
Presently the music stopped and Aunt Xue rising from her seat suggested, “We’ve all had enough to drink, haven’t we? Let’s go for a stroll before sitting down again.
As this suited the Lady Dowager, they all got up and she led the way outside. In the hope of some fresh diversion, she took Granny Liu to a grove at the foot of a hill and led her to and fro, telling her the names of the different trees, flowers and rocks.
After digesting all this information the old woman remarked, “Fancy, in town it’s not only the people who have class, the birds are high-class too. Why, when they come to this place of yours, they grow so clever they can even talk.”
Baffled by this the others asked, “What birds have grown so clever they can talk?”
“I know that green bird with the red beak on the golden perch in the corridor,” she said. “He’s a parrot. But how come that black crow in the cage has grown a phoenix-like crest and learned to talk too?”
This provoked a fresh burst of laughter.
Soon some maids came to ask if they would take some refreshments.
“After all that wine, we’re not hungry,” replied the Lady Dowager. “Still, bring the things here and those who want to can help themselves.”
The maids fetched two teapoys and also two small hampers. These when opened were seen to contain two different confections each. In one were cakes made of ground lotus-foot flavoured with fragrant osmanthus, and pine-kernel and goose-fat rolls. In the other were tiny fried dumplings no more than one inch long.
“What’s the stuffing in these?” asked the Lady Dowager.
Some servants told her, “Crab-meat.”
The old lady frowned. “Who wants anything so greasy?”
The other confection, small coloured pastries fried with cream, did not appeal to her either. Aunt Xue took a roll when she was pressed, but after one bite she handed it to a maid.
Granny Liu was struck by the daintiness and variety of the small pastries. Selecting one shaped like a peony she said:
“The cleverest girls in our village couldn’t make scissor-cuts as good as this. I’m longing to try one, but it seems a shame to eat them. It would be nice to take some back as patterns for the folk at home.” Everyone laughed.
“When you go,” promised the Lady Dowager, “I’ll give you a jarful to take back with you. First try some while they’re hot.”
The others simply picked out one or two tidbits which took their fancy, but Granny Liu had never tasted anything of the sort before. It hardly seemed possible that these small dainty objects could be very filling, and so she and Baner sampled some of each until presently half were gone. Xifeng had the remainder put on two plates and sent in a hamper to the actresses.
Now Dajie’s nurse brought her along and they played with her for a while. The child was amusing herself with a pomelo when she noticed Baner’s Buddha’s-hand and wanted it. Although the maids promised to fetch her one too, she was unwilling to wait and burst into tears. At once they gave the pomelo to Baner and induced him to part with his Buddha’s-hand. He had played with it long enough by then and now had both hands full with the cakes he was eating; besides, this fragrant round pomelo seemed more amusing; so, kicking it about like a ball, he cheerfully relinquished the Buddha’s-hand.
As soon as they had finished this collation the Lady Dowager took Granny Liu to Green Lattice Nunnery. Miaoyu promptly ushered them into the courtyard, luxuriant with trees and flowers.
“It’s those who live the ascetic life, after all, who have time to improve their grounds,” observed the Lady Dowager. “These look better-kept than other places.”
As she spoke, they were walking towards the hall for meditation on the east side, and Miaoyu invited them to go in.
“We’ve just been having wine and meat,” said the old lady. “As you’ve an image of Buddha inside, it would be sacrilege. We’ll just sit in the outside room for a while and have a cup of your good tea.”
Miaoyu at once went to make tea.
Baoyu watched the proceedings carefully. He saw Miaoyu bring out in her own hands a carved lacquer tea-tray in the shape of crab-apple blossom, inlaid with a golden design of the “cloud dragon offering longevity.” On this was a covered gilded polychrome bowl made in the Cheng Hua period, which she offered to the Lady Dowager.
“I don’t drink Liuan tea,” said the old lady.
“I know,” replied Miaoyu smiling. “This is Patriarch’s Eyebrows.”
“What water have you used?”
“Rain-water saved from last year.”
The Lady Dowager drank half the bowl and passed the rest with a twinkle to Granny Liu, urging her to taste the tea. The old woman drank it straight off.
“Quite good, but a bit on the weak side,” was her verdict, which made everyone laugh. “It should have been left to draw a little longer.”
All the others had melon-green covered bowls with golden designs of new Imperial kiln porcelain.
Having served
tea, Miaoyu plucked at the lapels of Baochai’s and Daiyu’s clothes and they went out with her, followed surreptitiously by Baoyu. She invited the two girls into a side room, where Baochai sat on a couch and Daiyu on Miaoyu’s hassock, while the nun herself fanned the stove and when the water boiled brewed some fresh tea. Baoyu slipped in then and accused them teasingly:
“So you’re having a treat here in secret!”
The three girls laughed.
“What are you doing here? There’s nothing here for you.” Miaoyu was just looking for cups when an old nun came in bringing the used bowls.
“Don’t put away that Cheng Hua bowl,” cried Miaoyu hastily. “Leave it outside.”
Baoyu knew that because Granny Liu had used it, she thought it too dirty to keep. Then he saw Miaoyu produce two cups, one with a handle and the name in uncial characters: Calabash Cup. In smaller characters it bore the inscriptions “Treasured by Wang Kai of the Jin Dynasty” and “In the fourth month of the fifth year of the Yuan Feng period of the Song Dynasty, Su Shi of Meishan saw this cup in the Imperial Secretariat.” Miaoyu filled this cup and handed it to Baochai. The other, shaped like a small alms-bowl, bore the name in the curly seal script: “Rhinoceros Cup.” Having filled this for Daiyu, she offered Baoyu the green jade beaker that she normally drank from herself.
“I thought that according to Buddhist law all men should be treated alike,” said Baoyu with a grin. “Why give me this vulgar object when they get such priceless antiques?”
“Vulgar object!” retorted Miaoyu. “I doubt if your family could produce anything half as good, and that’s not boasting either.”
“As people say, ‘Other countries, other ways.’ Here with a person like you, gold, pearls, jade and jewels must all count as vulgar.”
Very gratified by this remark, Miaoyu produced a huge goblet carved out of a whole bamboo root which was covered with knots and whorls.
“Here’s the only other one I have,” she said. “Can you manage such a large one?”
“Of course I can!” declared Baoyu delightedly.
“Even if you can, I’ve not so much tea to waste on you. Have you never heard the saying: ‘First cup to taste, second to quench a fool’s thirst, third to water an ox or donkey’? What would you be if you swallowed such an amount?”
