by Cao Xueqin
“Of course,” agreed Madam You. “If there’s any blame we’ll let you take it.”
They went first to the Lady Dowager’s room where she was chatting and laughing with the girls from the Garden. At sight of the pretty young woman Xifeng had brought in, the old lady looked at her searchingly. “Whose child is this?” she asked. “So charming!”
Xifeng stepped forward and said with a smile, “Take a good look, Old Ancestress. Isn’t she sweet?” Pulling Second Sister forward too, she told her, “This is grandmother-in-law. Hurry up and kowtow to her.”
At once Second Sister prostrated herself to pay her respects. Then Xifeng introduced the girls to her one by one.
“Now you know them,” she said. “After the old lady’s through with inspecting you, you can pay your respects to each other.”
Second Sister pretended that this was the first time she had met them, then stood there with lowered head while the Lady Dowager looked her up and down.
“What is your name?” she inquired. “How old are you?”
“Never mind about that, Old Ancestress,” Xifeng chuckled. “Just say, is she prettier than me?”
The old lady put on her spectacles, telling Yuanyang and Hupo, “Bring the child closer. I want to look at her skin.”
Amid suppressed laughter, Second Sister was pushed forward and subjected to a carefully scrutiny. Then the Lady Dowager made Hupo hold out her hands for inspection. Yuanyang lifted Second Sister’s skirt as well to show her feet. Her examination at an end, the old lady took off her spectacles.
“Perfect!” she pronounced. “She’s even prettier than you.”
Smiling, Xifeng promptly knelt down to relate in detail the story she had made up in Madam You’s room. “Do take pity on her, Old Ancestress,” she pleaded. “Let her move in now, and after a year they can be formally married.”
“That’s quite in order,” the old lady conceded. “I’m glad you’re so understanding and tolerant. But she mustn’t live with Lian for a year.”
Xifeng kowtowed, then got up and requested that two maids be sent to present Second Sister to Lady Xing and Lady Wang and tell them this was the old lady’s decision. The Lady Dowager agreed and this was done. Lady Wang had been worried because of Xifeng’s bad name. Now that she was taking in a second wife for her husband, she was naturally pleased. So from now on Second Sister could come into the open, and she moved to Xifeng’s side rooms.
Xifeng meanwhile sent a messenger in secret to urge Zhang Hua to insist on claiming his bride, promising that in addition to a generous dowry he would be given money to set up house. For Zhang Hua himself was too spineless to dare sue the Jia family.
Then Jia Rong sent a man to court to contend, “It was Zhang Hua who first gave up the engagement. Being related to the You family we did, it is true, invite her to stay in our house; but there was no talk of marriage. Because Zhang Hua owed us money and could not pay it, he trumped up this charge against our master.”
As the judges were all connected with the Jia and Wang families and had in addition accepted bribes from them, they condemned Zhang Hua as a rascal whom poverty had driven to blackmail. His plea rejected, he was beaten and thrown out of court. But Qinger outside had fixed it with the runners not to beat him severely.
And now Qinger told Zhang Hua, “As you were engaged to the girl first, if you demand her the court will have to give her to you.”
Thereupon Zhang Hua brought a new suit; but again Wang Xin took a message to the judge, and the court’s verdict was: “Zhang Hua’s debt to the Jia family must be repaid in full by a specified date. As for his betrothed, he can marry her when he has the means.”
Zhang Hua’s father, summoned to court to hear this verdict after having been told the situation by Qinger; exulted that now he would get both the money and the girl. He went to the Jia mansion to fetch Second Sister.
Xifeng with a great show of alarm reported this to the Lady Dowager.
“This muddle is all my sister-in-law Zhen’s fault!” she complained. “Apparently the engagement was never really cancelled. That’s why the Zhangs took the case to court, and now this decision’s been made.”
The old lady sent at once for Madam You.
“Because your sister was promised from childhood to the Zhang family, and they never broke the engagement, they’ve brought this charge against us now,” she scolded.
“But they took the money,” protested Madam You. “How can they still claim her?”
Xifeng put in, “According to Zhang Hua, he never saw any money, and no one contacted him. According to his father, Second Sister’s mother did make such an offer but they turned it down; and after her mother died you took her in as a secondary wife. As we’ve no proof to the contrary, he can talk any nonsense he pleases. It’s lucky Second Master Lian isn’t at home and they haven’t been formally married. Still, as she’s already here, how can we send her back? Wouldn’t that make us lose face?”
The old lady said, “They’re not married yet, and it wouldn’t look good to seize someone promised to another man. That would damage our reputation. We’d better send her back. It’ll be easy enough to find some other nice girl.”
When Second Sister heard this she exclaimed, “My mother really did give them ten taels of silver to cancel the engagement. Now in desperation because he’s poor, he denies it. My sister did nothing wrong.”
“That shows how troublesome such rascals are,” said the Lady Dowager. “Well, I leave it to you, Xifeng to sort this out.”
Xifeng had to comply. On her return she sent for Jia Rong, who knew perfectly what she was aiming at. He realized what a great loss of face it would be if Second Sister were to be reclaimed by the Zhangs, so he reported this to Jia Zhen and secretly sent Zhang Hua the message: Now that you’ve got so much money, why must you have the girl back? If you insist, the gentlemen may get angry and find a way to kill you where no one will bury you. With money, you can go home and find a good bride. If you do that, we’ll help with your travelling expenses.
Zhang Hua on reflection thought this a good idea. He discussed it with his father, and they reckoned they were now the richer by about a hundred taels. So the next day at dawn, father and son started home.
When Jia Rong heard this he told the Lady Dowager and Xifeng, “Zhang Hua and his father have fled for fear of being punished for bringing a false charge. The court knows of this but has decided to let the matter drop. The whole business is over!”
Xifeng reflected, “If I make Zhang Hua reclaim Second Sister, Lian on his return will most likely offer more money to get her back, and Zhang Hua’s bound to agree. So I’d better keep her here with me until I’ve made other plans. The only snag is we don’t know where Zhang Hua will go, and whether he’ll spread this story or come back later to reopen this case. If he does, I’ll have cut my own throat! I should never have given other people this handle against me.” She bitterly regretted what she had done.
Then she hit on another plan. She quietly ordered Lai Wang to send men to find Zhang Hua, then either hale him to court on a charge of theft and have him done to death, or send assassins to kill him secretly. In this way the root of the trouble would be removed and her reputation assured.
Lai Wang went home and thought over these instructions.
“Since the man’s gone and the matter’s dropped, why do anything so drastic?” he asked himself. “Taking someone’s life is a serious crime, no joke. I’ll fool her into thinking it’s done instead.”
He lay low outside for a few days, then returned to report that Zhang Hua, traveling with a fair amount of silver had been beaten and killed at dawn one day by some highwaymen in the Jingkou district, and his father had died of fright in the inn. A post-mortem had been held there and the bodies buried.
Xifeng did not believe him.
“If I find you’ve been lying, I’ll knock out your teeth!” she threatened. But there the matter rested.
Meanwhile Xifeng and Second Sister were
on the best of terms, to all appearances closer even than sisters.
When Jia Lian finally came home after completing his business, he went straight to the new house. But it was locked up and deserted, with only an old caretaker there who told him all that had happened. Jia Lian stamped his foot in the stirrup, then went to report on his mission to his parents. Jia She, very pleased, praised his competence and rewarded him with a hundred taels of silver as well as a new concubine—a seventeen-year-old maid of his named Qiutong. Jia Lian kowtowed his thanks and left in high spirits. Having paid his respects to the Lady Dowager and other members of the family he went home somewhat sheepishly to see Xifeng, but found her less stern than usual. She came out with Second Sister to welcome him and ask after his health. Then Jia Lian, telling her of his father’s gift, could not help looking pleased and proud. Xifeng immediately sent two serving-women to fetch Qiutong by carriage. Before she had rid herself of one thorn in her side, here—out of the blue—was another! However, she had to watch her tongue and hide her anger by a show of complaisance, ordering a feast of welcome, then taking Qiutong to present her to the Lady Dowager and Lady Wang, much to her husband’s amazement.
On the Double Twelfth, Jia Zhen rose early to sacrifice to the ancestors, then took his leave of the Lady Dowager and other ladies of the family. Most of the men saw him off to the Pavilion of Tearful Parting, only Jia Lian and Jia Rong accompanying him all the way to the temple and back, a trip taking three days and three nights. On the road, Jia Zhen admonished them on the need to run their households well, and they gave him the appropriate assurances—there is no need to dwell on their conversation.
To return to Xifeng at home. Outwardly, it goes without saying, she treated Second Sister well; but inwardly she plotted to destroy her.
When the two of them were alone she told Second Sister, “You have such a bad name, sister, even the old lady and the mistresses have heard about it. They say that while still a girl you were unchaste and intimate with your brother-in-law. ‘You’ve picked someone nobody else wanted,’ they scold me. ‘Why not get rid of her and choose someone better.’ Talk like that makes me furious. I’ve tried to find out who started this, but I can’t. If this goes on, how are we to hold up our heads in front of these slaves? I seem to have landed myself in a foul mess.” Having said this a couple of times, she pretended to fall ill with anger, refusing to eat or drink.
All the maids and servants, with the exception of Pinger, kept gossiping, making sarcastic remarks, and casting aspersions at Second Sister. As for Qiutong, having been given to Jia Lian by his father, she felt superior to everyone else including even Xifeng and Pinger, not to say a discarded wanton who had been Jia Lian’s mistress before she became his wife. “How can she take precedence of me!” she thought. So she treated her with contempt. Xifeng was secretly pleased at this, and Second Sister had to swallow her indignation.
As Xifeng was shamming sickness she stopped having her meals with Second Sister, just ordering the servants to take food to her room every day *—and the rice and dishes were always of the worst. Pinger took pity on her. She would spend her own money on extra dishes for her, or take her sometimes for a stroll in the Garden, getting special soups made for her in the kitchen there. No one else dared report this to Xifeng; but Qiutong, happening to find out, went to tell her.
“Pinger’s spoiling your reputation, madam,” she said. “The good dishes we have here are wasted on her—she won’t eat them. Instead, she scrounges food in the Garden.”
Xifeng swore at Pinger, “Other people’s cats catch mice for them, but mine just steals my chickens!”
Pinger did not venture to talk back. After that she had to keep at a distance from Second Sister, and she bore Qiutong a grudge but could not speak out.
Li Wan, Yingchun and Xichun in the Garden thought Xifeng was uncommonly good to Second Sister. Others like Baoyu and Daiyu were worried for her, but did not like to meddle in their affairs. Second Sister looked so pathetic when she called that they sympathized with her, and when they were talking alone she would shed tears, but she never breathed a word against Xifeng who had shown her nothing of her vicious side.
When Jia Lian came home and observed Xifeng’s irreproachable behaviour to Second Sister, he did not give the matter a second thought. Besides, he had long had designs on many of his father’s concubines and young maids, including Qiutong, who for their part were disgusted because their senile old master, still lecherous, was virtually impotent. Why, then, should he keep them all there? So apart from a few with some sense of propriety, the rest played about with the pages at the inner gate or even made eyes at Jia Lian, who was only too ready to flirt with them but for fear of his father dared go no further than that.
Although Qiutong had been interested in Jia Lian, they had never had an affair. Now that as luck would have it she had being given to him, it was truly like throwing a dry faggot on a blazing fire. They clung to each other like glue, Jia Lian so enamoured of his new concubine that he never left her side. Little by little his affection for Second Sister lessened. Qiutong was the only one he cared for.
Xifeng, though hating Qiutong, was eager to use her first to rid herself of Second Sister by “Killing with a borrowed sword” and “Watching from a hilltop while two tigers fought.” For once Qiutong had killed Second Sister, she could do this new concubine in. Her mind made up, when they were alone she often advised Qiutong:
“You’re young and inexperienced. She’s now the second mistress, your master’s favourite. Even I have to yield to her to some extent, yet you keep provoking her. You’re just looking for trouble.”
Inflamed by such talk, Qiutong took to cursing and storming every day, “The mistress is too soft and weak; I haven’t that kind of forbearance. What’s happened to her? She used to be such a terror. Well, the mistress may be broad-minded, but I’m not going to put up with a mote in my eye. Just let me have it out with that bitch—then she’ll see!” Xifeng in her room pretended to be too frightened to say a word. Second Sister in her room wept for rage and could not eat, but she dared not tell Jia Lian. And the next day when the Lady Dowager asked why her eyes were so red and swollen. She dared not explain.
Qiutong seized every chance to score off her. She secretly told the old lady and Lady Wang, “She keeps making trouble, complaining and whining all day for no reason at all, besides cursing madam and me behind our backs. She hopes we’ll both die early, so that she can live with Second Master and do just as she pleases.”
“Imagine!” exclaimed the old lady. “When a girl’s too pretty, she is bound to be jealous. Xifeng’s been kind to her all along, yet she repays her by treating her like a rival! This shows she’s a worthless creature.”
Little by little she took a dislike to Second Sister. And when the others saw that she had lost favour with the old lady, they naturally bullied her too. Second Sister was in such a miserable dilemma, she could neither die nor live. Pinger was the only one who tried, behind Xifeng’s back, to help her and divert her mind from her troubles.
How could Second Sister, fragile as snow, delicate as a flower, stand up to such cruel treatment? After suppressing her anger for just a month, she fall ill and lost her appetite. Too listless to move, she grew daily thinner and paler. One night when she closed her eyes, she saw her younger sister approaching, the duck-and-drake swords in her hands.
“You’ve always been too naive and soft-hearted,” Third Sister told her, “That’s why you’re in trouble now. Don’t trust that shrew’s honeyed talk or her show of being such a virtuous wife—at heart she’s crafty and cruel. She’s made up her mind to kill you. If I’d been alive, I’d never have let you move into their house; even if you had, I’d not let her treat you like this. Still, we brought this on ourselves by our worthless lives and wanton ways, corrupting men and upsetting family relations. So this is just retribution. Now take my advice and kill that shrew with this sword, then go together to the Goddess of Disenchantment for her to decide
the case. Otherwise you will die in vain and no one will pity you.”
Second Sister sobbed, “I’ve already got a bad name, sister. As I deserve my present fate, why should I add to my crimes by killing her? Let me just put up with it. If Heaven takes pity on me, I may recover. Wouldn’t that be better?”
“Still so naive, sister?” the other scoffed. “No one, since time immemorial, has escaped Heaven’s far-flung net. The Way of Providence is retribution. Although you’ve repented and mended your ways, you’ve already made father, son and cousins guilty of incest; so how can Providence allow you to live at peace?”
“If I can’t live at peace, that’s only just,” said Second Sister tearfully. “I bear no resentment.”
Hearing this, Third Sister heaved a long sigh and withdrew. Second Sister woke with a start to find it was only a dream.
When Jia Lian came to see her, as no one else was about she told him with tears, “I shan’t get over this illness. I’ve been with you for half a year and I’m with child, but don’t know whether it will be a boy or a girl. If Heaven has pity and the child is born, well and good. Otherwise, I shan’t be able to save myself, let alone the child.”
“Don’t you worry,” Jia Lian, in tears himself, reassured her. “I’ll get a good doctor for you.”
He immediately went out to send for the doctor. However, Doctor Wang was busy manoeuvring to get a post in the army in order to acquire a noble title for his offspring. In his absence the servants fetched Doctor Hu Junrong. His diagnosis was that her menstruation was irregular and some tonic would set her right. When Jia Lian told him that she had missed three periods and was often sick, so it looked like a pregnancy, Hu Junrong asked the serving-women to show him the lady’s hand, and Second Sister stretched our her hand from behind the curtains. After feeling the pulse for some time he declared:
“If it were a pregnancy, the liver humour should be strong. But the wood is in the ascendant, and that engenders the fire element which causes irregular menstruation. May I make so bold as to ask to have a glimpse of the lady’s face, so that I can see how she looks before venturing to make out a prescription.”
