by Cao Xueqin
“If that’s all that’s worrying you, you’re in luck! I’ve palled up with some men from the coast, who are on the look-out here for some opening. If we get the loot, there’s no point in staying here—we’d better go to sea to have a good time, eh? If you don’t want to ditch your godmother, we can take her along as well to share the fun. How about it?”
“You must be drunk, old man, to talk such rubbish!” With that He San pulled him to a quiet spot to discuss the matter further. Then they went their different ways, and there we will leave them.
Let us now revert to Bao Yong, who had been berated by Jia Zheng and sent to keep watch in the Garden. After the Lady Dowager’s death, although the whole household was busy while he was assigned no job that did not disturb him. He cooked his own meals, went to sleep when bored, and in his waking hours would exercise with a sword or staff in the Garden, left to his own devices. That morning he knew that the funeral cortege had left, but as no assignment had been given him he rambled round as his custom was till he saw a nun with an old deaconess go up to the side-gate and start knocking on it.
Bao Yong went over and asked, “Where are you going, reverend sister?”
The deaconess said, “We heard today that the services for the old lady have ended, but didn’t see Miss Xichun with the cortege, so we think she must be at home minding the house. For fear she may feel lonely, my mistress has come to call on her.”
“The family are all away and I’m the gateman here,” was Bao Yong’s reply. “I must ask you to go back. If you want to call, wait till the masters are back.”
“What upstart scavenger are you,” she asked, “that you try to interfere with our coming or going?”
“I’ve no use for the likes of you,” was his retort. “I won’t let you in, so you’ll just have to lump it.”
“The impertinence!” she screeched. “Even when the old lady was alive, no one ever stopped us from coming. Who are you, you lawless brigand? We’re going this way, so there!” With that she beat a tattoo with the door-rapper.
Miaoyu, speechless with anger, was about to turn back when the woman in charge of the inner gate heard them quarrelling and hastily opened the gate. Seeing Miaoyu turning away, she guessed that Bao Yong must have offended her. As all the women-servants knew how fond their mistresses and Xichun were of Miaoyu, she feared that if they came to learn that she had been refused admittance there would be trouble.
She hurried over calling, “We didn’t know you were here, sister, and were late in opening the gate. Miss Xichun is at home, longing to see you. Please come back. This caretaker is new here and doesn’t know our ways. We’ll report him later to Her Ladyship and see that he’s given a whipping and thrown out.”
When Miaoyu pretended not to hear, the woman chased after her and pleaded with her. Finally she voiced her own fear of punishment, all but going down on her knees, she was so frantic. So Miaoyu had to follow her through the gate. Bao Yong glared but, unable to bar the way, went off fuming.
Miaoyu, attended by the old deaconess, called on Xichun and after expressing her condolences they started chatting.
Xichun told her, “I’m to stay and look after the house, and shall have to manage as best I can for a few nights; but Madam Lian is ill and I find it boring and scaring all on my own. If I had company I’d feel easier, for there isn’t a single man in the house now. As you’ve done me the honour of calling today, won’t you spend the night with me? We can play draughts and chat.”
Miaoyu had no wish to stay but gave her consent because Xichun looked so pathetic, and a game of draughts appealed to her too. When she had sent back the deaconess to get her maid to bring over her tea things, night-clothes and bedding, they settled down for a good talk; and Xichun in her delight told Caiping to fetch some rain water kept from the previous year to brew some choice tea. Miaoyu would not drink out of any cups but her own; however, before long her maid brought over her things and Xichun herself made the tea. They chatted happily until the first watch, when Caiping got out the draughts board and they played draughts. Xichun lost twice in succession, then managed to win the third game by half a point only because Miaoyu ceded her four pieces.
In no time it was the fourth watch. The night was still, with not a sound outside.
“I must meditate at the fifth watch,” Miaoyu remarked. “My maid will look after me. You’d better rest.”
Xichun felt reluctant to part with her, but could hardly interfere with her devotions. She was about to go to bed when the women keeping watch in the Lady Dowager’s quarters on the east side set up a sudden commotion. At once the matrons attending Xichun joined in.
“Help!” they screamed. “Men have broken in!”
In a panic, Xichun and Caiping heard the night-watch outside shouting too.
“Mercy!” gasped Miaoyu. “They must be robbers!”
She promptly locked the door, shrouded the lamp and peeped out through the window. There were men standing in the yard. Too terrified to utter a sound, she turned, signalling for silence, then crept back and whispered, “What shall we do? There are some rough fellows outside.”
That same instant they heard a great clattering on the roof, and watchmen came running to their compound to catch the thieves.
One called, “The old lady’s room has been ransacked, but there’s nobody there. We have men at the east side; let’s search the west ourselves.”
When Xichun’s serving-women heard that these were their own family retainers, they called out, “There are lots of them on our roof!”
The watchmen yelled, “Look! There they are!” and raised a clamour; but as tiles were raining down from the roof they dared not clamber up. Just as they were at a loss, the side-gate of the Garden banged and through it rushed a hefty fellow wielding a staff. At sight of him they took cover in alarm.
“Don’t let one of them get away!” the newcomer yelled. “All follow me!”
The servants were too consternated to move—their bones seemed turned to water. They stared at that fellow standing there bellowing till the most keen-sighted among them identified him as Bao Yong, recommended to their house by the Zhen family. That reassured them.
“One has gone,” they faltered. “Some others are up on the roof.”
Bao Yong ran and vaulted on to the roof to give chase.
The thieves had known that there were no men in the house. While in Xichun’s courtyard they had peeped through the window and been inflamed by the sight of a ravishing nun. As there were only terrified women inside, they were about to kick down the door when they heard the night-watch rushing in after them and promptly climbed up the roof. When they saw that their pursuers were few they thought of putting up a fight, but just then someone leapt on to the roof and charged them. As he was alone the thieves were not alarmed and went for him with knives; but when Bao Yong with his staff knocked one of them off the roof, the rest fled over the Garden wall with him in hot pursuit. Accomplices hidden in the Garden to receive the loot had already carried most of it off. When they saw the thieves fleeing they drew weapons to defend them, and as Bao Yong was one against many they swarmed round him.
“You bandits!” he swore. “Dare you take me on?”
One thief reminded the rest, “He knocked down one of our mates whom, dead or alive, we’d better carry off.”
Bao Yong hit out and four or five of the ruffians, all armed, surrounded him and fought back wildly. But now the nightwatchmen plucked up courage to join in, and seeing that they could not get the upper hand the thieves had to run for it. Bao Yong, pursuing them, tripped over a case. When he regained his balance he thought: If the things are still here and the thieves have got away, there’s no point in chasing them. He told the other servants to search with their lanterns, but all they found on the ground were a few empty cases which he asked them to put away while he himself went to the mistresses’ quarters. As he did not know the way, he arrived first at Xifeng’s house which was lit up.
“Do you have thieves here?
” he asked.
Pinger inside quavered, “We haven’t opened the gate. We only heard them shouting that there were thieves in the old lady’s rooms. You’d better go there.”
Bao Yong was wondering what path to take when some watchmen turned up and led the way. They found all the doors open and the women on night duty weeping and wailing.
Presently Jia Yun and Lin Zhixiao arrived, frantic at having learned of the robbery. They went in to investigate. The door to the old lady’s room was wide open, and they saw by their lanterns that the lock was broken. Going in, they found all the chests and cases empty.
They swore at the women who had been on duty, “Are you all dead? Didn’t you know when thieves broke in?”
The women sobbed, “We took turns keeping watch, and our shifts were before midnight. We never stopped making our rounds from front to back. Those thieves came well after midnight when we’d gone, so we just heard shouting but didn’t see anybody. You must ask the women in charge of the later shifts, sir.”
“You all deserve to die!” fumed Lin Zhixiao. “We’ll deal with you later. Let’s go first to the different quarters to have a look.”
The watchmen took them to where Madam You lived. The gate was locked, but some women inside called out, “Oh, what a fright we had!”
“Did you lose anything here?” asked Lin Zhixiao.
They opened the door saying, “Nothing.”
Next Lin Zhixiao led the way to Xichun’s quarters.
“Mercy on us!” they heard a woman inside exclaiming. “Our young lady’s fainted for fright. Quick, bring her round!”
He told them to open the door and asked what had happened.
The woman who admitted them reported, “Thieves were fighting here, and our young lady passed out for terror. Luckily Sister Miaoyu was here, and she and Caiping revived her. We haven’t lost anything.”
“What were the thieves fighting over?”
A watchman told him, “We have to thank Bao Yong for jumping on the roof to chase them away. We heard that he knocked down one of the thieves too.”
“He’s by the Garden gate,” volunteered Bao Yong. “You’d better go quickly to have a look at him.”
Jia Yun and the others did so. They found a man lying there dead. Looking at him closely, to their surprise they recognized Zhou Rui’s godson. They assigned one man to guard the corpse and two others to watch the front and back gates, both still locked. Lin Zhixiao told men to open the gate and report this robbery to the police. At once an investigation was made, and it was discovered that the thieves had climbed up to the roof from the back passage. Following their tracks to the roof of the west courtyard, they found many broken tiles and other tracks leading to the back and the Garden.
The watchmen insisted, “They were brigands, not thieves.” The constable protested, “If they didn’t break in openly with torches and clubs, how can you call them brigands?”
“When we gave chase, they pelted us with tiles from the roof so that we couldn’t get near them. Then one of our household, a man called Bao, managed to get on the roof and beat them off. When he chased them to the Garden, a whole bunch of them attacked him. They only ran away after they started getting the worst of it.”
“That proves it,” the constable said. “If they’d been brigands, couldn’t they have beaten you people? Never mind that now. Quickly check on what has been stolen and send in a list so that we can report it to our superiors.”
Jia Yun and the others went back to the main apartments, where Xifeng had come, ill as she was, and Xichun. Jia Yun paid his respects to Xifeng and greeted Xichun, then together they tried to find out what was missing. But as Yuanyang was dead and Hupo and the old lady’s other maids had gone to the funeral, no one knew exactly how many things she had had, since they had been kept locked up. So how could they make a check?
They said, “There were many things in these cases and chests, and now they’re all empty. It must have taken quite a time to ransack them. What were those women on night duty doing? And the thief killed was Zhou Rui’s godson. So it must have been partly an inside job.”
“Have all those women locked up,” ordered Xifeng, glaring at them furiously. “Then take them to the police to be cross-examined!”
The women fell on their knees, wailing, to beg for mercy. How they were dealt with and whether or not the lost property was recovered is recorded in the next chapter.
Chapter 112
A Terrible Disaster Befalls Miaoyu
Nursing Enmity Concubine Zhao Is Haled Off to Hell
When Xifeng ordered the women on night duty to be bound and sent to the police for interrogation, they threw themselves on their knees to beg for mercy.
“It’s no use pleading,” said Lin Zhixiao and Jia Yun. “The master left us in charge here. If nothing had happened, well and good; as it is, high and low alike we’re all in trouble so who can get you off? If the dead man is Zhou Rui’s godson, then from Her Ladyship down the whole household is involved.”
“This is our fate,” gasped Xifeng. “Why talk to them? Just turn them in. As for what was stolen, assure the police that it was the old lady’s property and we must find out from the masters just what she had. After this is reported to them and they come back, we shall certainly send in the list of stolen goods and notify the civil authorities too.” Jia Yun and the steward assented and withdrew. Xichun, who had given no orders simply lamented, “I’ve never heard of such a thing before! Why did this have to happen to us of all people? How can I face the master and mistress when they come back? They’ll say: We entrusted the house to you, and you let this dreadful thing happen. How can I live on?”
“We didn’t wish it on ourselves, did we?” said Xifeng. “Anyway, it’s the night-watchers who are responsible.”
“You have some justification because you’re ill; but I have no excuse. It’s my elder sister-in-law who did for me by getting the mistress to make me mind the house! How can I look anyone in the face again?” She broke down anew and wept.
“Don’t take it so hard,” said Xifeng. “We’ve all lost face equally. If you take this silly attitude I shall feel worse.”
Just then someone in the yard started bellowing, “I’ve always said those nuns, bawds, go-betweens and the like are no good! Our Zhen family never let such creatures cross our threshold. Who would have thought this house would put up with them? Yesterday, the moment the old lady’s cortege left, that nun from some small temple was dead set on coming over here. When I refused to admit her, the old woman at the side-gate bawled me out and fairly grovelled to invite her in. The side-gate kept opening and shutting—heaven knows what they were up to! I was too worried to sleep, and at the fourth watch bedlam broke loose inside. They wouldn’t let me in when I saw a fellow standing in the west courtyard I charged over and killed him. Today I’ve discovered that this is where Miss Xichun lives, and where that nun came. She sneaked off this morning before it was light. Stands to reason it was the nun who led the thieves in!”
“Who is this mannerless wretch?” demanded Pinger. “How dare he shout so wildly outside when there are ladies in here?”
“Didn’t you hear him talk of the Zhen family?” Xifeng said. “He must be that pesky creature they recommended.” She asked Xichun, now even more upset by Bao Yong’s diatribe, “What nun was he ranting about? Did you have some nun staying with you?”
Xichun explained how Miaoyu had called and how she had kept her for the night to play draughts.
“So that’s who it was. And she was willing? Well, wonders will never cease! But if this tiresome wretch keeps yelling about it and the master hears, there may be trouble.”
Nervous about the possible consequences, Xichun stood up to leave. Xifeng urged her to stay for, although she could hardly bear up, she was afraid that Xichun in her alarm might do something desperate.
“Wait till we’ve seen them put away the things left by the thieves and assigned people to keep an eye on the place,” she s
aid. “Then we can go.”
Pinger interposed, “How can we put anything away till officers have come to investigate? We’ll just have to stay and keep watch here. But has anyone gone to report this to the master?”
Xifeng told her to send a matron to find out, and the latter came back to announce, “Lin Zhixiao can’t get away, and some servants will have to stay to wait on the officers while the others can’t take a clear message. So young Master Yun has gone.”
Xifeng nodded and, with Xichun, went on sitting there anxiously.
To return to the gang of thieves roped in by He San, after they had carried off the old lady’s gold, silver and other valuables and seen how feeble their pursuers were, they decided to rob the houses on the west side. Looking through a lighted window there they saw two beauties: a young lady and a nun. Then these wicked desperadoes would have broken in had not Bao Yong’s arrival made them run off with their loot, although He San was missing. They hid for the time being with their fence, and the next day learned that He San had been killed and the theft reported to the authorities—which meant they could not stay in the capital. They decided to make haste to join some pirates at sea, for if they delayed until warrants were out against them they would be unable to pass the customs stations.
“Of course we must clear out,” said the boldest among them. “But I can’t bear to leave that nun behind. She’s certainly a beauty! I wonder from which nunnery this chick comes.”
“I know!” exclaimed another. “She must be from that Green Lattice Nunnery in the Jia Mansion. Wasn’t there talk some years ago of an affair between her and their Master Bao? She was said to be so lovesick that a doctor was called in to give her some potion.”
Thereupon the other proposed, “Let’s lie low for one more day while our chief buys what we need for the journey. Tomorrow when the dawn bell strikes, you can leave the city gate separately and wait for me at Twenty-li Slope outside.”
Having agreed to this, the thieves divided out the loot and dispersed.
