Mrs. Ch"in, to resume our narrative, upon hearing Pao-yu call her in his dream by her infant name, was at heart very exercised, but she did not however feel at liberty to make any minute inquiry.
Pao-yu was, at this time, in such a dazed state, as if he had lost something, and the servants promptly gave him a decoction of lungngan.
After he had taken a few sips, he forthwith rose and tidied his clothes.
Hsi Jen put out her hand to fasten the band of his garment, and as soon as she did so, and it came in contact with his person, it felt so icy cold to the touch, covered as it was all over with perspiration, that she speedily withdrew her hand in utter surprise.
"What"s the matter with you?" she exclaimed.
A blush suffused Pao-yu"s face, and he took Hsi Jen"s hand in a tight grip. Hsi Jen was a girl with all her wits about her; she was besides a couple of years older than Pao-yu and had recently come to know something of the world, so that at the sight of his state, she to a great extent readily accounted for the reason in her heart. From modest shame, she unconsciously became purple in the face, and not venturing to ask another question she continued adjusting his clothes. This task accomplished, she followed him over to old lady Chia"s apartments; and after a hurry-scurry meal, they came back to this side, and Hsi Jen availed herself of the absence of the nurses and waiting-maids to hand Pao-yu another garment to change.
"Please, dear Hsi Jen, don"t tell any one," entreated Pao-yu, with concealed shame.
"What did you dream of?" inquired Hsi Jen, smiling, as she tried to stifle her blushes, "and whence comes all this perspiration?"
"It"s a long story," said Pao-yu, "which only a few words will not suffice to explain."
He accordingly recounted minutely, for her benefit, the subject of his dream. When he came to where the Fairy had explained to him the mysteries of love, Hsi Jen was overpowered with modesty and covered her face with her hands; and as she bent down, she gave way to a fit of laughter. Pao-yu had always been fond of Hsi Jen, on account of her gentleness, pretty looks and graceful and elegant manner, and he forthwith expounded to her all the mysteries he had been taught by the Fairy.
Hsi Jen was, of course, well aware that dowager lady Chia had given her over to Pao-yu, so that her present behaviour was likewise no transgression. And subsequently she secretly attempted with Pao-yu a violent flirtation, and lucky enough no one broke in upon them during their tete-a-tete. From this date, Pao-yu treated Hsi Jen with special regard, far more than he showed to the other girls, while Hsi Jen herself was still more demonstrative in her attentions to Pao-yu. But for a time we will make no further remark about them.
As regards the household of the Jung mansion, the inmates may, on adding up the total number, not have been found many; yet, counting the high as well as the low, there were three hundred persons and more. Their affairs may not have been very numerous, still there were, every day, ten and twenty matters to settle; in fact, the household resembled, in every way, ravelled hemp, devoid even of a clue-end, which could be used as an introduction.
Just as we were considering what matter and what person it would be best to begin writing of, by a lucky coincidence suddenly from a distance of a thousand li, a person small and insignificant as a grain of mustard seed happened, on account of her distant relationship with the Jung family, to come on this very day to the Jung mansion on a visit. We shall therefore readily commence by speaking of this family, as it after all affords an excellent clue for a beginning.
The surname of this mean and humble family was in point of fact w.a.n.g.
They were natives of this district. Their ancestor had filled a minor office in the capital, and had, in years gone by, been acquainted with lady Feng"s grandfather, that is madame w.a.n.g"s father. Being covetous of the influence and affluence of the w.a.n.g family, he consequently joined ancestors with them, and was recognised by them as a nephew.
At that time, there were only madame w.a.n.g"s eldest brother, that is lady Feng"s father, and madame w.a.n.g herself, who knew anything of these distant relations, from the fact of having followed their parents to the capital. The rest of the family had one and all no idea about them.
This ancestor had, at this date, been dead long ago, leaving only one son called w.a.n.g Ch"eng. As the family estate was in a state of ruin, he once more moved outside the city walls and settled down in his native village. w.a.n.g Ch"eng also died soon after his father, leaving a son, known in his infancy as Kou Erh, who married a Miss Liu, by whom he had a son called by the infant name of Pan Erh, as well as a daughter, Ch"ing Erh. His family consisted of four, and he earned a living from farming.
As Kou Erh was always busy with something or other during the day and his wife, dame Liu, on the other hand, drew the water, pounded the rice and attended to all the other domestic concerns, the brother and sister, Ch"ing Erh and Pan Erh, the two of them, had no one to look after them.
(Hence it was that) Kou Erh brought over his mother-in-law, old goody Liu, to live with them.
This goody Liu was an old widow, with a good deal of experience. She had besides no son round her knees, so that she was dependent for her maintenance on a couple of acres of poor land, with the result that when her son-in-law received her in his home, she naturally was ever willing to exert heart and mind to help her daughter and her son-in-law to earn their living.
This year, the autumn had come to an end, winter had commenced, and the weather had begun to be quite cold. No provision had been made in the household for the winter months, and Kou Erh was, inevitably, exceedingly exercised in his heart. Having had several cups of wine to dispel his distress, he sat at home and tried to seize upon every trifle to give vent to his displeasure. His wife had not the courage to force herself in his way, and hence goody Liu it was who encouraged him, as she could not bear to see the state of the domestic affairs.
"Don"t pull me up for talking too much," she said; "but who of us country people isn"t honest and open-hearted? As the size of the bowl we hold, so is the quant.i.ty of the rice we eat. In your young days, you were dependent on the support of your old father, so that eating and drinking became quite a habit with you; that"s how, at the present time, your resources are quite uncertain; when you had money, you looked ahead, and didn"t mind behind; and now that you have no money, you blindly fly into huffs. A fine fellow and a capital hero you have made!
Living though we now be away from the capital, we are after all at the feet of the Emperor; this city of Ch"ang Ngan is strewn all over with money, but the pity is that there"s no one able to go and fetch it away; and it"s no use your staying at home and kicking your feet about."
"All you old lady know," rejoined Kou Erh, after he had heard what she had to say, "is to sit on the couch and talk trash! Is it likely you would have me go and play the robber?"
"Who tells you to become a robber?" asked goody Liu. "But it would be well, after all, that we should put our heads together and devise some means; for otherwise, is the money, pray, able of itself to run into our house?"
"Had there been a way," observed Kou Erh, smiling sarcastically, "would I have waited up to this moment? I have besides no revenue collectors as relatives, or friends in official positions; and what way could we devise? "But even had I any, they wouldn"t be likely, I fear, to pay any heed to such as ourselves!"
"That, too, doesn"t follow," remarked goody Liu; "the planning of affairs rests with man, but the accomplishment of them rests with Heaven. After we have laid our plans, we may, who can say, by relying on the sustenance of the G.o.ds, find some favourable occasion. Leave it to me, I"ll try and devise some lucky chance for you people! In years gone by, you joined ancestors with the w.a.n.g family of Chin Ling, and twenty years back, they treated you with consideration; but of late, you"ve been so high and mighty, and not condescended to go and bow to them, that an estrangement has arisen. I remember how in years gone by, I and my daughter paid them a visit. The second daughter of the family was really so pleasant and knew so well how to treat people with kindness, and without in fact any high airs! She"s at present the wife of Mr.
Chia, the second son of the Jung Kuo mansion; and I hear people say that now that she"s advanced in years, she"s still more considerate to the poor, regardful of the old, and very fond of preparing vegetable food for the bonzes and performing charitable deeds. The head of the w.a.n.g mansion has, it is true, been raised to some office on the frontier, but I hope that this lady Secunda will anyhow notice us. How is it then that you don"t find your way as far as there; for she may possibly remember old times, and some good may, no one can say, come of it? I only wish that she would display some of her kind-heartedness, and pluck one hair from her person which would be, yea thicker than our waist."
"What you suggest, mother, is quite correct," interposed Mrs. Liu, Kou Erh"s wife, who stood by and took up the conversation, "but with such mouth and phiz as yours and mine, how could we present ourselves before her door? Why I fear that the man at her gate won"t also like to go and announce us! and we"d better not go and have our mouths slapped in public!"
Kou Erh, who would have thought it, prized highly both affluence and fame, so that when he heard these remarks, he forthwith began to feel at heart a little more at ease. When he furthermore heard what his wife had to say, he at once caught up the word as he smiled.
"Old mother," he rejoined; "since that be your idea, and what"s more, you have in days gone by seen this lady on one occasion, why shouldn"t you, old lady, start to-morrow on a visit to her and first ascertain how the wind blows!"
"Ai Ya!" exclaimed old Goody, "It may very well be said that the marquis" door is like the wide ocean! what sort of thing am I? why the servants of that family wouldn"t even recognise me! even were I to go, it would be on a wild goose chase."
"No matter about that," observed Kou Erh; "I"ll tell you a good way; you just take along with you, your grandson, little Pan Erh, and go first and call upon Chou Jui, who is attached to that household; and when once you"ve seen him, there will be some little chance. This Chou Jui, at one time, was connected with my father in some affair or other, and we were on excellent terms with him."
"That I too know," replied goody Liu, "but the thing is that you"ve had no dealings with him for so long, that who knows how he"s disposed towards us now? this would be hard to say. Besides, you"re a man, and with a mouth and phiz like that of yours, you couldn"t, on any account, go on this errand. My daughter is a young woman, and she too couldn"t very well go and expose herself to public gaze. But by my sacrificing this old face of mine, and by going and knocking it (against the wall) there may, after all, be some benefit and all of us might reap profit."
That very same evening, they laid their plans, and the next morning before the break of day, old goody Liu speedily got up, and having performed her toilette, she gave a few useful hints to Pan Erh; who, being a child of five or six years of age, was, when he heard that he was to be taken into the city, at once so delighted that there was nothing that he would not agree to.
Without further delay, goody Liu led off Pan Erh, and entered the city, and reaching the Ning Jung street, she came to the main entrance of the Jung mansion, where, next to the marble lions, were to be seen a crowd of chairs and horses. Goody Liu could not however muster the courage to go by, but having shaken her clothes, and said a few more seasonable words to Pan Erh, she subsequently squatted in front of the side gate, whence she could see a number of servants, swelling out their chests, pushing out their stomachs, gesticulating with their hands and kicking their feet about, while they were seated at the main entrance chattering about one thing and another.
Goody Liu felt constrained to edge herself forward. "Gentlemen," she ventured, "may happiness betide you!"
The whole company of servants scrutinised her for a time. "Where do you come from?" they at length inquired.
"I"ve come to look up Mr. Chou, an attendant of my lady"s," remarked goody Liu, as she forced a smile; "which of you, gentlemen, shall I trouble to do me the favour of asking him to come out?"
The servants, after hearing what she had to say, paid, the whole number of them, no heed to her; and it was after the lapse of a considerable time that they suggested: "Go and wait at a distance, at the foot of that wall; and in a short while, the visitors, who are in their house, will be coming out."
Among the party of attendants was an old man, who interposed,
"Don"t baffle her object," he expostulated; "why make a fool of her?"
and turning to goody Liu: "This Mr. Chou," he said, "is gone south: his house is at the back row; his wife is anyhow at home; so go round this way, until you reach the door, at the back street, where, if you will ask about her, you will be on the right track."
Goody Liu, having expressed her thanks, forthwith went, leading Pan Erh by the hand, round to the back door, where she saw several pedlars resting their burdens. There were also those who sold things to eat, and those who sold playthings and toys; and besides these, twenty or thirty boys bawled and shouted, making quite a noise.
Goody Liu readily caught hold of one of them. "I"d like to ask you just a word, my young friend," she observed; "there"s a Mrs. Chou here; is she at home?"
"Which Mrs. Chou?" inquired the boy; "we here have three Mrs. Chous; and there are also two young married ladies of the name of Chou. What are the duties of the one you want, I wonder ?"
"She"s a waiting-woman of my lady," replied goody Liu.
"It"s easy to get at her," added the boy; "just come along with me."
Leading the way for goody Liu into the backyard, they reached the wall of a court, when he pointed and said, "This is her house.--Mother Chou!"
he went on to shout with alacrity; "there"s an old lady who wants to see you."
Chou Jui"s wife was at home, and with all haste she came out to greet her visitor. "Who is it?" she asked.
Goody Liu advanced up to her. "How are you," she inquired, "Mrs. Chou?"
Mrs. Chou looked at her for some time before she at length smiled and replied, "Old goody Liu, are you well? How many years is it since we"ve seen each other; tell me, for I forget just now; but please come in and sit."