by Cao Xueqin
Li Wan reminded the girls again, “Don’t forget, today is the day for our club meeting. I suppose Baoyu’s not here because he’s forgotten this refined gathering in his eagerness to join in the fun.” She sent a maid to see what he was doing and ask him over.
The maid returned after some time to report, “Sister Xiren says he went out first thing this morning.
“Surely not!” they exclaimed in surprise. “This girl’s muddled up the message.”
So Cuimo was sent to ask again, but on her return she confirmed that Baoyu had gone out, saying that a friend of his had died and he must go to offer condolences.
“Impossible,” cried Tanchun. “Nothing could have induced him to go out today. Fetch Xiren and let me ask her.”
But even as she was speaking, Xiren walked in.
“Whatever business he had, he shouldn’t have gone out today,” said Li Wan and the others. “In the first place, how could he run off on Madam Lian’s birthday, when the old lady’s in such good spirits and high and low in both mansions are going to join in the fun? In the second, this is the day for our first club meeting, yet he sneaks off alone without even asking leave.”
Xiren explained, “Last night he told me he’d important business first thing this morning and must go to the mansion of the Prince of Beijing, but he’d hurry back. I tried to dissuade him, but he wouldn’t listen. When he got up today he asked for a suit of mourning. It looks as if some lady of consequence in the prince’s household has died.”
“If that’s so, he did right to go,” observed Li Wan. “Still, he should be back by now.”
They discussed what to do.
“Let’s just go ahead with our poems,” said some. “We can punish him when he comes back.”
But just then the Lady Dowager sent for them, and they all went to her apartments. The old lady was displeased when Xiren reported Baoyu’s absence. She ordered him to be fetched back.
Baoyu, with something preying on his mind, the previous day had given Mingyan some instructions. “I’m going out first thing tomorrow, so have two horses waiting at the back gate. I don’t want anyone else to come with us. Tell Li Gui that I’m going to call on the Prince of Beijing, and that he must stop anyone going out to look for me. He can say I’ve been kept by the prince and will soon be back anyway.”
Mingyan had no idea what was afoot but had to carry out his orders. The next morning, sure enough, he had two horses ready saddled outside the back gate of the Garden.
At dawn Baoyu, in full mourning, came out of the side gate, mounted his horse without a word and, bending low in the saddle, cantered off down the street. Mingyan could only mount the other horse and whip it on to catch up, shouting after him:
“Where are we going?”
“Where does this road lead?”
“It’s the main road to the North Gate. There’s nothing amusing outside, it’s quiet and deserted.”
Baoyu nodded. “A quiet spot is what I want to find.”
He whipped his horse on and after a couple of turns it sped through the city gate. More puzzled than ever, Mingyan followed close behind. They rode straight on for seven or eight li until the houses were few and far between. Then Baoyu reined to a halt and turned to ask:
“Can I buy some incense here?”
“I suppose so,” said Mingyan. “What kind do you want?”
Baoyu replied thoughtfully, “Other kinds are no good; it must be made of sandalwood, rue or laka-wood.”
“Those are difficult to get,” Mingyan told him, grinning. When Baoyu looked worried he asked, “What do you need incense for, sir? I’ve noticed that you often carry bits of incense in your pouch. Why don’t you use that?”
Thus reminded, Baoyu reached for the pouch inside his lapel and was pleased to discover two bits of eaglewood in it. He thought, “This seems a bit lacking in respect. Still, something I have on me should be better anyway than anything I can buy.” He asked then where he could get hold of an incense-burner.
“An incense-burner!” exclaimed Mingyan. “Where would we find one out in the open country? If you wanted these things why didn’t you tell me before? I could easily have brought them.”
“Don’t be a fool,” retorted Baoyu. “I wouldn’t have been riding so hard if it was so simple.”
Mingyan thought for a while then suggested, “I have an idea you might consider, sir. I imagine you’ll be needing other things too, so why not go on another couple of li to River Goddess Convent?”
“Is River Goddess Convent near here? So much the better. Come on, then.”
With a crack of his whip Baoyu set off again, calling over his shoulder to Mingyan, “The nuns in that convent often come to our house. If we ask them for the loan of an incense-burner, they’re bound to let us have one.”
“Of course, we’re patrons of theirs. Even in a temple we didn’t know they could hardly refuse. Only I don’t understand why you’re so pleased to go there today, sir. I always thought you had a special dislike for this River Goddess Convent.”
“It’s those vulgar fools who worship gods and build temples for no reason that I hate. Those rich eunuchs and ignorant women who have too much money to spend hear of some god and build a temple to him without knowing the least thing about him, on the strength of some legend or romance they’ve heard, which they take as the truth. In this River Goddess Convent, for example, they worship the Goddess of the River Luo. That’s how the convent got its name. But of course in ancient times no such goddess existed. She’s Cao Zijian’s invention.’ Yet some fools had to make an image and worship her. Still, this happens to suit my purpose today, so I’ll make use of it.”
They had now reached the convent gate. The old abbess was as astonished by this visit as if a live dragon had swooped down from the sky. She made haste to welcome them and told an old serving-man to see to their horses. Baoyu, going in, did not bow to the image of the goddess but simply stared at it in admiration. For though made of clay it really had the grace of “a startled swan of drifting dragon” and the charm of “a lotus rising from green water or sun shining through morning mist.” Unwittingly, he shed tears.
When the old abbess offered him tea he asked if he might borrow an incense-burner. She went to fetch one, finally returning with incense and sacrificial paper to burn as well, but these Baoyu declined. He told Mingyan to find a clean spot at the back of the garden for the incense-burner. Failing to find one, his page asked:
“How about the coping of the well?”
Baoyu nodded and went with him to the well. Having put down the incense-burner, Mingyan stepped aside. Baoyu produced and lit his eaglewood, bowed to it with tears in his eyes, then turned and ordered Mingyan to return the incense-burner. The page assented, but instead of doing as he was told he fell on his knees, kowtowed several times and then prayed:
“I, Mingyan, have served our second master for several years now and known all his affairs; but he didn’t tell me about today’s sacrifice, and I dared not ask. Though your name, oh spirit to whom he is sacrificing, is unknown to me, I am sure you must be a girl with no peer on earth or in heaven, of incomparable intelligence and beauty. As my master can’t tell you what it is he wants, let me pray to you in his place.
“If your fragrant spirit has feeling and compassion, although separated from the world of men do come and visit our young master from time to time, since he longs for you so much. And do help him in the nether world too, so that in his next life he may be reborn as a girl and enjoy himself with the rest of you, never again becoming a filthy man with a beard and shaggy eyebrows.”
This prayer ended, he gave several more kowtows before scrambling to his feet. While he was still holding forth, Baoyu could not help bursting out laughing. Now he kicked him over and swore:
“Shut up, or people will laugh.”
Mingyan rose then and picked up the incense-burner. As they walked away he said, “I told the abbess you’d come out without any breakfast, sir, and asked her to pr
epare a simple meal. So do try to eat something. I know you’ve come out to avoid the big feast and the racket at home today. Spending a quiet day here you’ll have anyway observed the proprieties; but it would never do if you eat nothing.”
“If we cut the feast, I don’t mind if we have a vegetarian snack here.”
“Good. But there’s another thing: people are bound to be worried by our absence. If not for that, it wouldn’t matter going back late. But since they’ll be worrying, you ought to start back to town soon, sir, and go home. For one thing, that will relieve the minds of the old lady and Lady Wang; for another, you’ve already paid sufficient respect to the dead. That’s all there is to it. If you go home to drink and watch the shows, it won’t be because you want to but simply out of respect for your parents, sir. If you’re so set on staying here, regardless of how upset the old lady and Lady Wang are, even the spirit you’ve just sacrificed to will feel uncomfortable. What do you think, sir?”
“I know what’s on your mind.” Baoyu grinned. “You’re the only one to have come out with me, and you’re afraid of a dressing-down when we get home—hence all this high-sounding advice. But I’ve not been here long, and I only came to make a sacrifice before going to the feast and watching the show. I never said I’d stay out here all day. Now that I’ve done what I came for, we can hurry back and stop them worrying. That’s best both ways, isn’t it?”
“That’s more like it,” said Mingyan.
They entered the hall where the abbess had indeed prepared a vegetarian meal for them. Baoyu ate a little and so did Mingyan, after which they mounted their horses and rode back the way they had come.
Mingyan behind kept warning, “Steady on, sir. That horse hasn’t been ridden much. Keep a good grip on the reins.”
In no time they re-entered the city and returned home through the back gate, then Baoyu hurried over to Happy Red Court. Xiren and the other girls had gone, leaving only a few old women there in charge. They beamed with joy at sight of Baoyu and exclaimed:
“Amida Buddha! Here you are at last. You had Miss Xiren worried frantic. The feast is just starting. Do hurry, Master Bao.”
Baoyu hastily changed his mourning for splendid robes and asked where the feasters were.
The old women told him, “In the new hall in the small garden.”
He headed straight for the place, hearing in the distance the faint sound of singing and fluting. When he reached the entrance hall he saw Yuchuan sitting alone on the porch, in tears. She stopped crying at sight of him.
“Here comes the phoenix!” she cried. “Go in, quick. If you’d been any later, I can’t think what would have happened.”
“Guess where I’ve been,” he said with a sheepish smile.
But she did not answer, simply wiping her eyes. He hurried into the hall and paid his respects to his grand-mother and mother. Everyone was as delighted as if they had indeed got hold of a phoenix. Then Baoyu greeted Xifeng and offered his congratulations.
“You must have taken leave of your senses,” scolded the Lady Dowager and his mother. “How could you run off without telling anybody? Disgraceful! If you ever do such a thing again, we shall tell your father when he comes home and he’ll give you another beating.”
Then the Lady Dowager rounded on the servants. “Why do you all do as he says?” she stormed. “You let him go wherever he pleases without reporting it. And just where did you go?” she asked Baoyu. “Have you had a meal? Did anything frighten you?”
“Yesterday one of the Prince of Beijing’s favourite concubines died,” said Baoyu. “I went to offer condolences. He was weeping so bitterly, I hadn’t the heart to leave him. So I stayed for a while.”
“If you go out again without letting me know,” she warned, “I really shall tell your father to beat you.”
Baoyu promised to do as she said. She threatened, then, to have his servants beaten; but the others pleaded:
“Don’t take it to heart, madam. Now that he’s back we should stop worrying and have some fun.”
As the old lady’s fit of temper had been caused by anxiety, her delight at his return now restored her good humour. She stopped reproaching Baoyu and started making much of him instead, afraid he had had a bad time, missed his breakfast or been frightened on the road. Xiren had come to wait on him too, and they all went on watching the opera.
The opera performed that day was The Tale of the Thorn Pin, which so moved the old lady and Aunt Xue that they shed tears. The others laughed at or cursed the characters.
If you want to know what followed, read the next chapter.
Chapter 44
Xifeng, Taken by Surprise, Gives Way to Jealousy
Pinger, Unexpectedly Gratified, Makes Her Toilet
Baoyu was sitting with the girls as everybody watched The Tale of the Thorn Pin. When it came to the scene in which the hero sacrifices to his drowned wife, Daiyu remarked to Baochai:
“What a fool this Wang Shipeng is! Surely he could offer a sacrifice anywhere. Why must he rush off to kneel beside the river? The proverb says: Things have their associations. But water the whole world over in the last analysis comes from the same source. He could have ladled out a bowl of water anywhere and wept over it to work off his feelings.”
Baochai refrained from answering, while Baoyu turned away to ask for some heated wine to toast Xifeng.
As this was a special occasion, the Lady Dowager was determined that Xifeng should have a whole day of unalloyed pleasure. Feeling unequal to joining the feasters herself, she reclined on a couch in the inner room to watch the opera from there with Aunt Xue, from time to time nibbling some of her favourite tidbits set out on the teapoy beside her as they chatted. The two tables of food prepared for her she made over to the maids and serving-women who had no share in the feast; with instructions not to stand on ceremony but to sit in the verandah outside and eat and drink as much as they pleased.
Lady Wang and Lady Xing sat at the high table in the old lady’s room, the girls at tables in the outer room.
The Lady Dowager reiterated to Madam You, “Xifeng must take the seat of honour. And mind you play hostess well for me to show our appreciation of her hard work all the year round.”
“I’ll do my best, madam,” promised Madam You. “But she says she’s not used to sitting in the seat of honour. She feels out of place there and won’t drink anything.”
“If you can’t make her drink,” chuckled the old lady, “I’ll go out presently and toast her myself.”
Xifeng hurried in to protest, “Don’t believe her, Old Ancestress. I’ve had quite a few cups already.”
The old lady jokingly ordered Madam You, “Drag her out quick, and force her on to her seat, then take it in turns to toast her. If she still refuses to drink, I shall really come out.”
Madam You gaily carried out these instructions and ordered a mug to be filled.
“From one end of the year to the other you’ve been dutifully filial to the old lady, Lady Wang and me,” she told Xifeng. “I’ve no gift for you today, so I’ll offer you a mug of wine with my own hands. Drink up now like a good girl.”
“If you really want to show appreciation you must kneel down, then I’ll drink,” was Xifeng’s laughing retort.
“Don’t be carried away by all the compliments paid you. I can tell you, such good luck is very rare. Who knows if a day like this will ever come again? So make the most of it, and now drink two cups.”
Xifeng had no choice but to do as she was told. Next, all the girls presented cups and she had to sip from each. Then Lai Da’s mother, seeing the Lady Dowager in such high spirits, decided to join in the fun and led some old serving-women in to toast Xifeng, who again could not refuse them. By the time Yuanyang and the younger maids came to drink her health, she had really had all she could take.
“Good sisters, let me off,” she begged. “I’ll drink with you some other time.”
“So we have no face, is that it?” protested Yuanyang. “Why, even
the mistress condescends to drink with us. You usually show us more consideration, but now in front of all these people you’re putting on the airs of a mistress. Well, it’s my fault for coming. If you won’t drink, we’ll leave you.” She turned to go.
Xifeng hastily stopped her, crying. “All right, good sister, I’ll drink.”
She picked up the winepot, filled her cup to the brim, and tossed it off. Then Yuanyang withdrew with a smile.
After seating herself again, Xifeng felt the effects of the wine. Her heart was beating so fast that she decided to go home for a rest. As the jugglers has just come in, she asked Madam You to see about tipping them while she went and had a wash.
Madam You nodded and, since no one else detained her, Xifeng left the table and slipped out the back way. Watchful Pinger quickly followed her and took her arm. They were just approaching the covered walk when they noticed one of their young maids standing there, but at sight of them she turned and ran. This made Xifeng suspicious. She called to her to stop. At first the girl pretended not to hear, but when Pinger called to her too she had to come back.
Xifeng, more suspicious than ever now, stepped with Pinger into the entrance hall and told the maid to join them and close the partitions. Seating herself on the steps leading to the small courtyard, she made the girl kneel down.
“Get two boys from the inner gate to bring ropes and whips,” she sharply ordered Pinger. “We’ll give this impudent little bitch a good flogging.”
The girl, frightened out of her wits, burst into tears and knocked her head on the ground as she begged for mercy.
“I’m not a ghost,” snapped Xifeng. “Why didn’t you stand to attention when you saw me? Why run away?”
“I didn’t see you, madam,” sobbed the maid. “I ran because I remembered there was no one in our apartments.”
“If so, why did you come here in the first place? Even if you didn’t see me, we called you at the top of our voices a dozen times, but that only made you run the faster. We weren’t far off and you’re not deaf. How dare you answer back?”
