A Dream of Red Mansion

by Cao Xueqin

  Jia Rong went off to do as he was told, returning some time later with the list of dates for the feasts and the names of those invited. After running his eye over it Jia Zhen said:

  “Give it to Lai Sheng. Tell them to avoid asking the same people on those days.”

  He proceeded then to the hall and was watching the pages shift screens, clean tables and polish the gold and silver sacrificial vessels, when a boy brought him a card and list.

  “Bailiff Wu of the manor in Black Mountain Village has arrived, sir,”

  he reported.

  “The old scoundrel, coming so late!” swore Jia Zhen. Jia Rong took the card and list and held them out while Jia Zhen, his hands behind his back, read them. On the red card was written:

  “Your servant, Bailiff Wu Jinxiao, kowtows to wish the master and mistress boundless happiness and good health, and good health to the young master and young mistress too. May the New Year bring you great happiness and good fortune, wealth, nobility and peace. May you be promoted with increased emoluments and have all your wishes come true.”

  Jia Zhen chuckled. “They have some sense, these country folk, eh?”

  “Yes, it’s not the style,” said his son, “but the good wishes that count.”

  Next they read the list, which was as follows:

  thirty stags fifty deer fifty roebuck

  twenty each of three breeds of hogs and pigs twenty boars twenty wild goats

  twenty each of three breeds of goats and sheep two sturgeon

  two hundred catties of other fish

  two hundred each of live chicken, ducks and geese

  two hundred each of salted chicken, ducks and geese

  two hundred brace of pheasants

  two hundred brace of rabbits

  twenty pairs of bear’s-paws

  twenty catties of deer-sinews

  fifty catties of sea-slugs

  fifty deer-tongues

  fifty ox-tongues

  twenty catties of dried oysters

  two bags each of hazel-nuts, pine-kernels, peach and apricot-kernels

  fifty pairs of giant lobsters

  two hundred catties of dried prawns

  one thousand catties of first-grade silver-frost charcoal

  two thousand catties of second-grade silver-frost charcoal

  thirty thousand catties of ordinary charcoal

  two piculs of rose-rice from the Imperial Farm

  five hundred pecks each of three varieties of fine rice

  five hundred pecks each of other kinds of grain

  one thousand piculs of ordinary rice

  one cartload of sun-dried vegetables

  two thousand five hundred taels raised by the sale of grain and cattle.

  In addition, some trifles to amuse the young gentlemen and young ladies:

  two brace of live deer

  four brace of white rabbits

  four brace of black rabbits

  two brace of live pheasants

  two brace of foreign ducks.

  Having read this list Jia Zhen ordered, “Bring him in.” Soon Wu Jinxiao entered the courtyard, kowtowed and offered greetings.

  Jia Zhen told the servants to help him up. “So you’re still hale and hearty,” he remarked. “Thanks to Your Lordship’s good fortune, I can still get about,” was the reply.

  “Your sons have grown up. You should have sent them instead.”

  “I’m used to the trip, Your Lordship, and that’s a fact. Besides, I was sick and tired of staying at home. Of course they all wanted to come, to see what it’s like living at the feet of the Son of Heaven; but they’re still young and I was afraid they might get into trouble on the way. A few years from now I shan’t worry.”

  “How long did you spend on the road?”

  “There’s been heavy snow this year, Your Lordship. The snow’s lying four or five feet deep in the country; and a sudden thaw recently made the going so difficult that I was held up for several days. The whole journey took me one month and two days, not that I didn’t make the best speed I could, knowing time was running short and Your Lordship might be worried.”

  “I was wondering why you were so late,” replied Jia Zhen. “I’ve just looked at your list, you old scoundrel. So this year you’re trying to defraud us again.”

  Wu hastily took two steps forward.

  “May it please Your Lordship, we had a wretched harvest this year,” he declared. “It rained steadily from the third month to the eighth without letting up for five days at a stretch. In the ninth month, hailstones as large as bowls fell for one thousand three hundred li around, injuring thousands of men and countless houses, to say nothing of cattle and grain. That’s why this is all there is. I wouldn’t dare lie to Your Lordship.”

  Frowning, Jia Zhen answered, “I counted on your bringing at least five thousand taels. What use is this paltry sum? In all, we’ve only eight or nine manors left now, already two of them claim to have suffered from flood or drought. How are we to get through this New Year I’d like to know? And now you default like this.”

  “Your Lordship’s farms haven’t done so badly,” said Wu. “My brother just a hundred li away is much worse off. Those eight farms which he manages for the other mansion are several times bigger than yours, sir; yet he’s produced no more than I have this year, apart from just two or three thousand taels extra. They’re hard hit too.”

  “No doubt,” replied Jia Zhen. “We can just about manage here, with no extra large outlay beyond the normal annual expenditure. If I want to enjoy myself, I spend more; but I can economize if necessary. As for New-Year gifts and entertaining, by not caring about appearances and cutting down I shall get by. It’s different for the other house. In recent years they’ve had so many unavoidable extra expenses, without acquiring any additional income or property, that in the last year or two they’ve made great inroads into their capital. And whom can they ask for money if not you?”

  Wu Jinxiao smiled.

  “Their expenditure may have increased, but surely it works bout ways. Don’t they get presents from Her Imperial Highness and His Majesty?”

  Jia Zhen turned to his son and the rest.

  “Did you hear that?” he asked laughingly. “What a joke!”

  Jia Rong made haste to explain to Wu, “You people from the back of beyond don’t understand. Can Her Highness make over the Imperial Treasury to us? Even if she wanted to, it’s not in her power. Of course she sends gifts at the different festivals, but they’re simply brocade, curios and other trifles. As for money gifts, those only amount to a hundred or so gold taels a year-worth little more than a thousand taels of silver. What use is that? The last couple of years, they’ve had to spend several thousand taels extra each year. Just reckon for yourself how much it cost to build the Garden the first year for the Imperial Visit. A second visit in another couple of years would bankrupt them!”

  “These simple country folk don’t realize that not all is gold that glitters,” chuckled Jia Zhen. “Wormwood carved into a drumstick may look imposing, but it’s bitter inside!”

  “The other house does seem to be in difficulties, sir,” remarked his son. “The other day I heard Second Aunt asking Yuanyang in confidence to smuggle out some of the old lady’s things to pawn.”

  “That’s just your Aunt Xifeng’s trick.” Jia Zhen laughed. “They’re not as poor as all that. You may be sure she does it to make a show of poverty, because she knows they’re spending too much and making inroads into their capital, and she wants to cut down on expenditure. I’ve my own means of reckoning, though. They’re not as badly off as they make out.”

  With that he told the servants to take Wu Jinxiao away and entertain him well.

  Jia Zhen now disposed of this rent in kind as follows: part was kept for the ancestral sacrifice; part delivered by Jia Rong to the other mansion; part kept for family use; and the rest divided into different shares and placed on the terrace of the main hall, where the younger men of the clan were s
ummoned to collect them.

  At this juncture the Rong Mansion sent over a variety of sacrificial offerings and gifts for Jia Zhen. When he had inspected these and supervised the arrangement of the sacrificial vessels, he changed into his slippers, draped a big raccoon cloak over his shoulders, and made the servants spread a large wolfskin rug at the top of the steps by the pillars so that he could sit in the sun watching his junior clansmen collect their gifts. When he saw Jia Qin come to take a portion too, he called him over. “What are you doing here?” he asked. “Who told you to come?” Standing at attention Jia Qin replied, “I heard you had sent for us to take things, sir. So I came without Waiting to be called.”

  “These things are for your uncles and cousins who have no jobs and no income,” Jia Zhen told him. “Those two years when you had no job, I gave you a share. But now you’re in charge of the monks and Taoist priests in the family temple. Apart from the stipend you receive each month, the allowance for all the monks and priests passes through your hands as well—yet you still show up to take this. You’re too miserly. Just look at yourself. Are you dressed like a gentleman of means with a responsible post? You used to complain because you had no income; but now that you have one, you look even shabbier than before.”

  “I have such a large household, my expenses are heavy.”

  “Don’t hand me that line!” Jia Zhen laughed scornfully. “Do you think I don’t know what goes on in the family temple? Out there, of course, you’re the master and no one dares disobey you. With money in your hands and us at a safe distance you lord it over everyone, night after night assembling a pack of scoundrels-gamblers, debauchees or queers. And now that your money’s squandered you have the effrontery to come here for things. Well, you won’t get anything except a good beating. After New Year I shall tell your Second Uncle Lian to dismiss you.” Jia Qin flushed scarlet and dared not reply.

  Just then a servant announced that the Prince of Beijing had sent a gift of scrolls and pouches. Jia Zhen ordered his son to entertain the messenger and explain that he was out, and Jia Rong, assenting, went off. Jia Zhen watched till the distribution of goods was finished, then returned to his rooms to dine with his wife, and the night passed without further incident. The next day there was even more to do, but we need not go into the details.

  By the twenty-ninth of the twelfth month all was ready. Both mansions were resplendent with new door-gods, couplets, tablets and New-Year charms. The Ning Mansion’s main gate was thrown open, as were the ceremonial gate, the doors of the great hall, the lobby and the inner hall, the three inner gates, the inner central gate and the inner secondary gate-all the gates leading to the main hall. And on both sides below the steps, tall vermilion candles blazed like golden dragons.

  The next day all the tided members of the family from the Lady Dowager downwards put on the court costume appropriate to their rank and, led by the old lady in a large sedan-chair carried by eight bearers, went to the Imperial Palace to pay homage and attend a banquet. On their return, they alighted from their chairs by the lobby of the Ning Mansion. All their younger kinsmen who had not gone to court had lined up to wait in front of the main gate, and now ushered them into the Ancestral Temple.

  Now as this was Xue Baoqin’s first visit here, she took pains to observe the whole place carefully. The temple, a five-frame structure enclosed by a black palisade, stood in a separate courtyard to the west of the Ning Mansion. In large characters on the placard over the gate was the imposing four-characters inscription “Jia Family Ancestral Temple.” In small characters beside this she read “Written by Kong Jizong, Hereditary Duke Descended from Confucius.” The couplet flanking this read:

  The grateful recipients of Imperial Favour will gladly dash their brains out on the ground;

  Generations to come will make solemn sacrifice for deeds whose fame resounds to Heaven.

  This too had been written by the duke descended from Confucius.

  Entering this courtyard, the party proceeded along a way paved with white marble and bordered by green pines and cypresses to a terrace on which were displayed ancient bronze tripods and libation cups green with patina. Before the porch hung a placard gilded with the nine-dragon design, and the inscription “Stars Shine on the Assistant,” which had been written by the late Emperor himself. The couplet on either side, also in the Imperial calligraphy, read:

  Their achievements outshine the sun and moon,

  Their fame will extend to all their posterity.

  The tablet over the entrance to the main hall was engraved with frolicking dragons, and bore the intagliated motto in blue: “Venerate the Departed, Continue Their Sacrifices.” The couplet flanking this, also written by the Emperor, read:

  Their descendants succeed to their good fortune and virtue;

  Ning and Rong live in the memory of the black-haired people.

  The hall itself, ablaze with candles and lamps, was so brilliant with silk hangings and embroidered curtains that the ancestral tablets, ranged in their places, were hard to make out distinctly.

  The members of the Jia family disposed themselves now according to the generations to which they belonged, on the left and right-hand sides. Jia Jing the Master of Sacrifice was assisted by Jia She, with Jia Zhen as libationer, Jia Lian and Jia Cong to present silk, Baoyu to offer incense, and Jia Chang and Jia Ling to spread a rug for kneeling and tend the incinerator. Black-robed musicians played music while the libation-cup was presented three times and obeisance made. Then the silk was burnt and wine poured.

  At the end of this ceremony the music stopped and all withdrew, following the Lady Dowager to the main hall, in front of the portraits. In the middle of the shrine hung with long silk curtains, surrounded by brilliant screens and blazing censers, were portraits of the Duke of Rongguo and the Duke of Ningguo in dragon robes with jade belts. On both sides were portraits of other ancestors.

  Jia Xing, Jia Zhi and some others had ranged themselves in due order all the way from the inner ceremonial gate to the terrace by the verandah of the main hall, where stood Jia Jing and Jia She outside the palisade, while the ladies stood inside. The family servants and pages remained outside the ceremonial gate. Each time they brought a plate of offerings to this gate, it was taken by Jia Xing or Jia Zhi and passed from hand to hand until it reached Jia Jing on the terrace. Jia Rong, as the eldest grandson of the senior branch, was the only one to accompany the ladies inside. When Jia Jing passed him an offering he handed it to his wife, who passed it on to Xifeng and Madam You until it reached Lady Wang in front of the altar. She in turn passed it to the Lady Dowager, who set it on the altar. Lady Xing, posted west of the altar facing east, helped the Lady Dowager.

  When all the dishes, rice, soup, cakes, wine and tea had been presented, Jia Rong withdrew to join Jia Jing’s group below the steps. Places were assigned according to generations, Jia Jing heading the senior group, Jia Zhen the second, and Jia Rong the third; and now they ranged themselves on the two sides, the men on the east and the women on the west. When the Lady Dowager offered incense and bowed, the whole clan knelt down together. Every square foot of the five sections of the hall, the three annexes, the inner and outer corridors, terrace and courtyard, was a mass of rich silks and brocades. And the only sounds to break the solemn silence were the tinkling of gold bells and jade pendants, the rustling of silks and the shuffling of boots and slippers as the worshippers rose or knelt down.

  After this ceremony, Jia Jing, Jia She and the other men hurried to the Rong Mansion, where they waited to pay their respects to the Lady Dowager. She, however, now went to Madam You’s sitting-room, the floor of which was covered with a red carpet where stood a large gilded cloisonné brazier, its three legs in the form of elephant trunks. On the kang by the north wall were a new crimson rug and red silk back-rests and bolsters embroidered with “Dragons in the Clouds” designs and the character “Longevity.” On it, too, were spread a black fox-skin and a big white fox-skin mattress. When the Lady Dowager had been
ensconced here, more furs were spread on both sides and the few other ladies of her generation were invited to sit down.

  Then fur rugs were spread on the smaller kang behind the partition for Lady Xing’s generation, and twelve carved lacquer chairs covered with grey squirrel-skins and with a large bronze foot-warmer under each were placed in a row on either side for Baoqin and the other girls.

  Madam You ceremoniously presented tea to the Lady Dowager while Jia Rong’s wife served the other elderly ladies, after which Madam You served Lady Xing’s group and Jia Rong’s wife the girls. Xifeng and Li Wan stood by all this time in attendance.

  After sipping some tea, Lady Xing and the rest rose to wait upon the Lady Dowager, and after a few words to the other old ladies she asked for her sedan-chair. At once Xifeng stepped up to her and took her arm.

  “We’ve prepared dinner for you, madam,” demurred Madam You with a smile. “Why will you never honour us with your company at dinner on this day of the year before you leave? Aren’t we as good as Xifeng?”

  Xifeng, supporting the old lady, urged her, “Come on, Old Ancestress. Pay no attention to her. Let’s go home to eat.”

  “You have your hands full here with the ancestral sacrifice,” said the Lady Dowager. “How could you put up with more trouble from me? Besides, even though I don’t dine here, you send dishes over every year. It’s better that way. If there’s more than I can eat today, I can save it for tomorrow. That way, don’t I get more of your food than by eating here?” Everyone laughed.

  Then the old lady reminded Madam You, “Make sure to post reliable people tonight, to see that no fires break out owing to carelessness.”