第二十一回
第二十一回 贤袭人娇嗔箴宝玉 俏平儿软语救贾琏
话说史湘云跑了出来，怕林黛玉赶上，宝玉在后忙说：“仔细绊跌了！那里就赶上了？”林黛玉赶到门前，被宝玉叉手在门框上拦住，笑劝道：“饶他这一遭罢。”林黛玉扳着手说道：“我若饶过云儿，再不活着！”湘云见宝玉拦住门，料黛玉不能出来，便立住脚笑道：“好姐姐，饶我这一遭罢。”恰值宝钗来在湘云身后，也笑道：“我劝你两个看宝兄弟分上，都丢开手罢。”黛玉道：“我不依。你们是一气的，都戏弄我不成！”宝玉劝道：“谁敢戏弄你！你不打趣他，他焉敢说你。”四人正难分解，有人来请吃饭，方往前边来。那天早又掌灯时分，王夫人、李纨、凤姐、迎、探、惜等都往贾母这边来，大家闲话了一回，各自归寝。湘云仍往黛玉房中安歇。
宝玉送他二人到房，那天已二更多时，袭人来催了几次，方回自己房中来睡。次日天明时，便披衣靸[1]鞋往黛玉房中来时，不见紫鹃、翠缕二人，只见他姊妹两个尚卧在衾内。那林黛玉严严密密[2]〔一〕裹着一幅杏子红绫被，安稳合目而睡。那史湘云却一把青丝拖于枕畔，被只齐胸，一弯雪白的膀子撂于被外，又带着两个金镯子。宝玉见了，叹道：“睡觉还是不老实！回来风吹了，又嚷肩窝疼了。”一面说，一面轻轻的替他盖上。林黛玉早已醒了，觉得有人，就猜着定是宝玉，因翻身一看，果中其料。因说道：“这早晚就跑过来作什么？”宝玉笑道：“这天还早呢！你起来瞧瞧。”黛玉道：“你先出去，让我们起来。”宝玉听了，转身出至外边。
黛玉起来叫醒湘云，二人都穿了衣服。宝玉复又进来，坐在镜台旁边，只见紫鹃、雪雁进来服侍梳洗。湘云洗了面，翠缕便拿残水要泼，宝玉道：“站着，我趁势洗了就完了，省得又过去费事。”说着便走过来，弯腰洗了两把。紫鹃递过香皂去，宝玉道：“这盆里的就不少，不用搓了。”再洗了两把，便要手巾。翠缕道：“还是这个毛病儿，多早晚才改。”
宝玉也不理，忙忙的要过青盐擦了牙，嗽了口，完毕，见湘云已梳完了头，便走过来笑道：“好妹妹，替我梳上头罢。”湘云道：“这可不能了。”宝玉笑道：“好妹妹，你先时怎么替我梳了呢？”湘云道：“如今我忘了，怎么梳呢？”宝玉道：“横竖我不出门，又不带冠子勒子，不过打几根散辫子就完了。”说着，又千妹妹万妹妹的央告。湘云只得扶过他的头来[3]〔二〕，一一梳篦。在家不戴冠，并不总角，只将四围短发编成小辫，往顶心发上归了总，编一根大辫，红绦结住。自发顶至辫梢，一路四颗珍珠，下面有金坠脚。湘云一面编着，一面说道：“这珠子只三颗了，这一颗不是的。我记得是一样的，怎么少了一颗？”宝玉道：“丢了一颗。”湘云道：“必定是外头去掉下来，不防被人拣了去，倒便宜他。”
黛玉一旁盥手，冷笑道：“也不知是真丢了，也不知是给了人镶什么戴去了！”宝玉不答，因镜台两边俱是妆奁等物，顺手拿起来赏玩，不觉又顺手拈了胭脂，意欲要往口边送，因又怕史湘云说。正犹豫间，湘云果在身后看见，一手掠着辫子，便伸手来“拍”的一下，从手中将胭脂打落，说道：“这不长进的毛病儿，多早晚才改过！”
一语未了，只见袭人进来，看见这般光景，知是梳洗过了，只得回来自己梳洗。忽见宝钗走来，因问：“宝兄弟那去了？”袭人含笑道：“宝兄弟那里还有在家里的工夫！”宝钗听说，心中明白。又听袭人叹道：“姊妹们和气，也有个分寸礼节，也没个黑家白日闹的！凭人怎么劝，都是耳旁风。”宝钗听了，心中暗忖道：“倒别看错了这个丫头，听他说话，倒有些识见。”宝钗便在炕上坐了，慢慢的闲言中套问他年纪家乡等语，留神窥察，其言语志量深可敬爱。
一时宝玉来了，宝钗方出去。宝玉便问袭人道：“怎么宝姐姐和你说的这么热闹，见我进来就跑了？”问一声不答，再问时，袭人方道：“你问我么？我那里知道你们的原故。”宝玉听了这话，见他脸上气色非往日可比，便笑道：“怎么动了真气？”袭人冷笑道：“我那里敢动气！只是从今以后别进这屋子了。横竖有人服侍你，再别来支使我。我仍旧还服侍老太太去。”一面说，一面便在炕上合眼倒下。宝玉见了这般景况，深为骇异，禁不住赶来劝慰。那袭人只管合了眼不理。宝玉无了主意，因见麝月进来，便问道：“你姐姐怎么了？”麝月道：“我知道么？问你自己便明白了。”宝玉听说，呆了一回，自觉无趣，便起身叹道：“不理我罢，我也睡去。”说着，便起身下炕，到自己床上歪下。
袭人听他半日无动静，微微的打鼾，料他睡着，便起身拿一领斗篷来，替他刚压上，只听“忽”的一声，宝玉便掀过去，也仍合目装睡。袭人明知其意，便点头冷笑道：“你也不用生气，从此后我只当哑子，再不说你一声儿，如何？”宝玉禁不住起身问道：“我又怎么了？你又劝我。你劝我也罢了，才刚又没见你劝我，一进来你就不理我，赌气睡了。我还摸不着是为什么，这会子你又说我恼了。我何尝听见你劝我什么话了。”袭人道：“你心里还不明白，还等我说呢！”
正闹着，贾母遣人来叫他吃饭，方往前边来，胡乱吃了半碗，仍回自己房中。只见袭人睡在外头炕上，麝月在旁边抹骨牌。宝玉素知麝月与袭人亲厚，一并连麝月也不理，揭起软帘自往里间来。麝月只得跟进来。宝玉便推他出去，说：“不敢惊动你们。”麝月只得笑着出来，唤了两个小丫头进来。宝玉拿一本书，歪着看了半天，因要茶，抬头只见两个小丫头在地下站着。一个大些儿的生得十分水秀，宝玉便问：“你叫什么名字？”那丫头便说：“叫蕙香。”宝玉便问：“是谁起的？”蕙香道：“我原叫芸香的，是花大姐姐改了蕙香。”宝玉道：“正经该叫‘晦气’罢了，什么蕙香呢！”又问：“你姊妹几个？”蕙香道：“四个。”宝玉道：“你第几？”蕙香道：“第四。”宝玉道：“明儿就叫‘四儿’，不必什么‘蕙香’‘兰气’的。那一个配比这些花，没的玷辱了好名好姓。”一面说，一面命他倒了茶来吃。袭人和麝月在外间听了抿嘴而笑。
这一日，宝玉也不大出房，也不和姊妹丫头等厮闹，自己闷闷的，只不过拿着书解闷，或弄笔墨；也不使唤众人，只叫四儿答应。谁知四儿是个聪敏乖巧不过的丫头，见宝玉用他，他变尽方法笼络宝玉。至晚饭后，宝玉因吃了两杯酒，眼饧耳热之际，若往日则有袭人等大家喜笑有兴，今日却冷清清的一人对灯，好没兴趣。待要赶了他们去，又怕他们得了意，以后越发来劝；若拿出做上的规矩来镇唬，似乎无情太甚。说不得横心只当他们死了，横竖自然也要过的。便权当他们死了，毫无牵挂，反能怡然自悦。因命四儿剪灯烹茶，自己看了一回《南华经》〔三〕。正看至《外篇·胠箧》[5]一则，其文曰：
故绝圣弃知[6]，大盗乃止；擿[7]玉毁珠〔四〕，小盗不起；焚符破玺[9]，而民朴鄙；掊斗折衡〔五〕[11]，而民不争；殚残[12]天下之圣法，而民始可与论议。擢乱六律[13]，铄绝竽瑟〔六〕[15]，塞瞽旷[16]之耳，而天下始人含其聪[17]矣；灭文章，散五采，胶离朱[18]之目，而天下始人含其明矣；毁绝钩绳而弃规矩[19]，工倕之指[20]，而天下始人有其巧矣。
看至此，意趣洋洋，趁着酒兴，不禁提笔续曰：
焚花散麝，而闺阁始人含其劝[21]矣〔七〕；戕宝钗之仙姿，灰黛玉之灵窍，丧减情意，而闺阁之美恶始相类矣。彼含其劝，则无参商之虞矣；戕其仙姿，无恋爱之心矣；灰其灵窍，无才思之情矣。彼钗、玉、花、麝者，皆张其罗而穴其隧〔八〕[24]，所以迷眩缠陷[25]天下者也。
续毕，掷笔就寝。头刚着枕便酣然睡去〔九〕，一夜竟不知所之，直至天明方醒。翻身看时，只见袭人和衣睡在衾上。宝玉将昨日的事已付与度外，便推他说道：“起来好生睡，看冻着了。”
原来袭人见他无晓夜和姊妹们厮闹，若直劝他，料不能改，故用柔情以警之，料他不过半日片刻仍复好了。不想宝玉一日一夜〔一〇〕竟不回转，自己反不得主意，直一夜没好生睡得。今忽见宝玉如此，料他心意回转，便越性不睬他。宝玉见他不应，便伸手替他解衣，刚解开了钮子，被袭人将手推开，又自扣了。宝玉无法，只得拉他的手笑道：“你到底怎么了？”连问几声，袭人睁眼说道：“我也不怎么。你睡醒了，你自过那边房里去梳洗，再迟了就赶不上。”宝玉道：“我过那里去？”袭人冷笑道：“你问我，我知道？你爱往那里去，就往那里去。从今咱们两个丢开手，省得鸡声鹅斗，叫别人笑。横竖那边腻了过来，这边又有个什么‘四儿’‘五儿’服侍。我们这起东西，可是[28]白‘玷辱了好名好姓’的。”宝玉笑道：“你今儿还记着呢！”袭人道：“一百年还记着呢！比不得你，拿着我的话当耳旁风，夜里说了，早起就忘了。”宝玉见他娇嗔满面，情不可禁，便向枕边拿起一根玉簪来，一跌两段，说道：“我再不听你说，就同这个一样。”袭人忙的拾了簪子，说道：“大清早起，这是何苦来！听不听什么要紧，也值得这种样子。”宝玉道：“你那里知道〔一一〕我心里急！”袭人笑道：“你也知道着急么！可知我心里怎么样？快起来洗脸去罢。”说着，二人方起来梳洗。
宝玉往上房去后，谁知黛玉走来，见宝玉不在房中，因翻弄案上书看，可巧翻出昨儿的《庄子》来。看至所续之处，不觉又气又笑，不禁也提笔续书一绝云：
无端弄笔是何人？作践南华庄子因[30]。
不悔自己无见识，却将丑语怪他人！
写毕，也往上房来见贾母，后往王夫人处来。
谁知凤姐之女大姐病了，正乱着请大夫来诊脉。大夫便说：“替夫人奶奶们道喜，姐儿发热是见喜[31]了，并非别病。”王夫人凤姐听了，忙遣人问：“可好不好？”医生回道：“病虽险，却顺，倒还不妨。预备桑虫猪尾要紧。”凤姐听了，登时忙将起来：一面打扫房屋供奉痘疹娘娘，一面传与家人忌煎炒等物，一面命平儿打点铺盖衣服与贾琏隔房，一面又拿大红尺头与奶子丫头亲近人等裁衣。外面又打扫净室，款留两个医生，轮流斟酌诊脉下药，十二日不放家去。贾琏只得搬出外书房来斋戒，凤姐与平儿都随着王夫人日日供奉娘娘。
那个贾琏，只离了凤姐便要寻事，独寝了两夜，便十分难熬，便暂将小厮们内有清俊的选来出火。不想荣国府内有一个极不成器破烂酒头厨子，名唤多官，人见他懦弱无能，都唤他作“多浑虫”。因他自小父母替他在外娶了一个媳妇，今年方二十来往年纪，生得有几分人才，见者无不羡爱。他生性轻浮，最喜拈花惹草，多浑虫又不理论，只是有酒有肉有钱，便诸事不管了，所以荣宁二府之人都得入手。因这个媳妇美貌异常，轻浮无比，众人都呼他作“多姑娘儿”。
如今贾琏在外熬煎，往日也曾见过这媳妇，失过魂魄，只是内惧娇妻，外惧娈宠[32]，不曾下得手。那多姑娘儿也曾有意于贾琏〔一二〕，只恨没空。今闻贾琏挪在外书房来，他便没事也要走两趟去招惹。惹的贾琏似饥鼠一般，少不得和心腹的小厮们计议，合同遮掩谋求，多以金帛相许。小厮们焉有不允之理，况都和这媳妇是好友，一说便成。是夜二鼓人定，多浑虫醉昏在炕，贾琏便溜了来相会。进门一见其态，早已魄飞魂散，也不用情谈款叙，便宽衣动作起来。
谁知这媳妇有天生的奇趣，一经男子挨身，便觉遍身筋骨瘫软，使男子如卧棉上；更兼淫态浪言，压倒娼妓，诸男子到此岂有惜命者哉。那贾琏恨不得连身子化在他身上。那媳妇故作浪语，在下说道：“你家女儿出花儿，供着娘娘，你也该忌两日，倒为我脏了身子。快离了我这里罢。”贾琏一面大动，一面喘吁吁答道：“你就是娘娘！我那里管什么娘娘！”那媳妇越浪，贾琏越丑态毕露。一时事毕，两个又海誓山盟，难分难舍，此后遂成相契。
一日大姐毒尽癍回，十二日后送了娘娘，合家祭天祀祖，还愿焚香，庆贺放赏已毕，贾琏仍复搬进卧室。见了凤姐，正是俗语云“新婚不如远别”，更有无限恩爱，自不必烦絮。
次日早起，凤姐往上屋去后，平儿收拾贾琏在外的衣服铺盖，不承望枕套中抖出一绺青丝来。平儿会意，忙拽在袖内，便走至这边房内来，拿出头发来，向贾琏笑道：“这是什么？”贾琏看见着了忙，抢上来要夺。平儿便跑，被贾琏一把揪住，按在炕上，掰手要夺，口内笑道：“小蹄子，你不趁早拿出来，我把你膀子撅折了。”平儿笑道：“你就是没良心的。我好意瞒着他来问，你倒赌狠！你只赌狠，等他回来我告诉他，看你怎么着。”贾琏听说，忙陪笑央求〔一三〕道：“好人，赏我罢，我再不赌狠了。”
一语未了，只听凤姐声音进来。贾琏听见松了手〔一四〕，平儿刚起身，凤姐已走进来，命平儿快开匣子，替太太找样子。平儿忙答应了找时，凤姐见了贾琏，忽然想起来，便问平儿：“拿出去的东西都收进来了么？”平儿道：“收进来了。”凤姐道：“可少什么没有？”平儿道：“我也怕丢下一两件，细细的查了查，也不少。”凤姐道：“不少就好，只是别多出来罢？”平儿笑道：“不丢万幸，谁还添出来呢？”凤姐冷笑道：“这半个月难保干净，或者有相厚的丢下的东西：戒指、汗巾[36]、香袋儿，再至于头发、指甲，都是东西。”一席话，说的贾琏脸都黄了。
贾琏在凤姐身后，只望着平儿杀鸡抹脖[37]使眼色儿。平儿只装着看不见，因笑道：“怎么我的心就和奶奶的心一样！我就怕有这些个，留神搜了一搜，竟一点破绽也没有。奶奶不信时，那些东西我还没收呢，奶奶亲自翻寻一遍去。”凤姐笑道：“傻丫头，他便有这些东西，那里就叫咱们翻着了！”说着，寻了样子又上去了。
平儿指着鼻子，晃着头笑道：“这件事怎么回谢我呢？”喜的个贾琏身痒难挠，跑上来搂着，“心肝肠肉”乱叫乱谢。平儿仍拿了头发笑道：“这是我一生的把柄了。好就好，不好就抖露出这事来。”贾琏笑道：“你只好生收着罢，千万别叫他知道。”口里说着，瞅他不防，便抢了过来，笑道：“你拿着终是祸患，不如我烧了他完事了。”一面说着，一面便塞于靴掖内。平儿咬牙道：“没良心的东西，过了河就拆桥，明儿还想我替你撒谎！”
贾琏见他娇俏动情，便搂着求欢，被平儿夺手跑了，急的贾琏弯着腰恨道：“死促狭[38]小淫妇！一定浪上人的火来，他又跑了。”平儿在窗外笑道：“我浪我的，谁叫你动火了？难道图你受用一回，叫他知道了，又不待见[39]我。”贾琏道：“你不用怕他，等我性子上来，把这醋罐打个稀烂，他才认得我呢！他防我像防贼似的，只许他同男人说话，不许我和女人说话；我和女人略近些，他就疑惑，他不论小叔子侄儿，大的小的，说说笑笑，就不怕我吃醋了。以后我也不许他见人！”平儿道：“他醋你使得，你醋他使不得。他原行的正走的正；你行动便有个坏心，连我也不放心，别说他了。”贾琏道：“你两个一口贼气。都是你们行的是，我凡行动都存坏心。多早晚都死在我手里！”
一句未了，凤姐走进院来，因见平儿在窗外，就问道：“要说话两个人不在屋里说，怎么跑出一个来，隔着窗子，是什么意思？”贾琏在窗内接道：“你可问他，倒像屋里有老虎吃他呢。”平儿道：“屋里一个人没有，我在他跟前作什么？”凤姐儿笑道：“正是没人才好呢。”平儿听说，便说道：“这话是说我呢？”凤姐笑道：“不说你说谁？”平儿道：“别叫我说出好话来了。”说着，也不打帘子让凤姐，自己先摔帘子进来，往那边去了。
凤姐自掀帘子进来，说道：“平儿疯魔了。这蹄子认真要降伏我，仔细你的皮要紧！”贾琏听了，已绝倒[40]在炕上〔一五〕，拍手笑道：“我竟不知平儿这么利害，从此倒伏他了。”凤姐道：“都是你惯的他，我只和你说！”贾琏听说忙道：“你两个不卯[42]，又拿我来作人[43]。我躲开你们。”凤姐道：“我看你躲到那里去。”贾琏道：“我就来。”凤姐道：“我有话和你商量。”不知商量何事，且听下回分解。正是：
淑女从来多抱怨，娇妻自古便含酸。
[1] 靸（sǎ洒）——通作“趿”（tā他），穿鞋时把鞋后帮踩在脚后跟下。
〔一〕 “严严密密”，原抄作双行小字墨批，今从各本改作正文。
〔二〕 “扶过他的头来”，原无“过”字，从梦稿本补。
〔三〕 “因命四儿剪灯烹茶，自己看了一回《南华经》”，原无，梦稿、舒序、甲辰本均有，文字略异，今从舒序本增补。
[5] 《南华经·外篇·胠箧（qū qiè区怯）》——《南华经》即《庄子》，《新唐书·艺文志》载：“天宝元年，诏号《庄子》为《南华真经》。”《庄子》现存三十三篇，分内篇、外篇和杂篇，通常认为内篇系战国时庄周所作，外篇、杂篇出于他门人后学之手。《胠箧》属于外篇。胠：从旁开启；箧：藏物的小箱。
[6] 绝圣弃知——抛弃聪明智巧的意思。语出《老子》第十九章：“绝圣弃知，民利百倍。”“圣”在这里是睿智、于事无所不通的意思，《书·洪范》：“睿作圣。”
[7] 擿（zhì至）——同“掷”，扔掉。
〔四〕 “擿玉毁珠”，“擿”原作“摘”，从舒序、甲辰本改。
[9] 焚符破玺（xǐ喜）——烧毁信符，砸碎印玺。符：古时用竹、木、金、玉等制成，上刻文字，剖成两半，以相契合为凭证。玺：印章。
〔五〕 “掊斗折衡”，“掊”原作“刻”，从梦稿、舒序、甲辰本改。
[11] 掊（pǒu）斗折衡——把斗击破，把秤折断。掊：击。衡：秤。
[12] 殚（dān单）残——毁灭。殚：尽。
[13] 擢（zhuó浊）乱六律——擢乱：搅乱。六律：音乐术语，我国古代律制将一个八度分为十二个音阶，从低到高逢奇数的合称“六律”，逢偶数的合称“六吕”。在这里“六律”泛指音律。
〔六〕 “铄绝竽瑟”，“竽”原作“筝”，从梦稿、甲辰本改。
[15] 铄（shuò硕）绝竽瑟——销毁乐器。铄：销熔。竽：笙类。笙是古代簧管乐器，大的名竽，有三十六簧。瑟：琴类。瑟身为长方形木质音箱，一般是二十五弦，每根弦都有一活动支柱，用以调弦，确定音高。这里竽瑟泛指乐器。
[16] 瞽（ɡǔ古）旷——即师旷，春秋时代晋国乐师，目盲。相传他善于审音辨律。瞽：瞎眼。先秦时以盲人为乐官，故“瞽”又为乐官的代称。
[17] 聪——灵敏的听觉。
[18] 离朱——亦作“离娄”，古代传说中视力最强的人。《孟子·离娄上》赵歧注：“离娄者，古之明目者，……能视于百步之外，见秋毫之末。”
[19] 钩绳规矩——钩：定曲线的工具。绳：定直线的工具。规：画圆形的工具。矩：画方形的工具。
[20] （lì立）工倕（chuí垂）之指——：折断。工倕：相传为尧时巧匠。
[21] 劝——劝勉，箴规。在这里作名词用。
〔七〕 “含其劝矣”，“劝”原作“动”，从梦稿、戚序本改。
〔八〕 “穴其隧”，“隧”原作“队”，从蒙府、戚序、舒序、甲辰本改。
[24] 穴其隧——挖好了陷阱。穴：洞。此处用作动词，义同挖。隧：地道。此处引申作陷阱。
[25] 迷眩（xuàn绚）缠陷——迷眩：指用声色迷惑人。缠陷：指用罗网陷阱捕捉人。眩：昏花惑乱。
〔九〕 “便酣然睡去”，原“忽”旁改为“就”，蒙府、戚序、甲辰本均作“忽”。俄藏本作“安然”。从舒序本改。
〔一〇〕 “一日一夜”，原作“一旦夜”。可能为“一日一夜”抄写之误。
[28] 可是——实在是。
〔一一〕 “你那里知道”，原作“你心里那里知道”，后一“里”字为旁添。从各本改。
[30] 《庄子因》——一部阐释《庄子》的书，清代康熙时林云铭著。
[31] 见喜——旧时以小儿出痘疹（天花）为险症，忌讳直说，又因痘疹发出后可望平安，所以称为“见喜”。下文“痘疹娘娘”是迷信传说中专管小儿痘疹的神。
[32] 娈（luán峦）宠——即男宠。
〔一二〕 “有意于贾琏”，原“于”为旁添，无“贾”字。从梦稿、蒙府、甲辰本改。
〔一三〕 “央求”，原无，从各本增。
〔一四〕 “贾琏听见松了手”，原作“都怕他知道”，“都怕”二字为楔添，从蒙府、戚序本改。
[36] 汗巾——系腰用的长巾。
[37] 杀鸡抹脖——伸长了脖子，情急难耐状。
[38] 促狭——刁钻机灵，爱捉弄人。
[39] 不待见——不喜欢、讨厌的意思。俗有“人嫌狗不待见”的话。
[40] 绝倒——大笑不能自持。
〔一五〕 “已绝倒在炕上”，原作“已绝到炕上”，“绝”又改作“跑”，后又点去另加一“跑”字。今依底本原文，并从蒙府、戚序本增“在”字。
[42] 不卯——不投合的意思。卯：即卯眼，器物上安榫头的孔眼。
[43] 作人——这里是作践人、拿人出气的意思。
CHAPTER 21. Righteous Aroma discovers how to rebuke her master by saying nothing And artful Patience is able to rescue hers by being somewhat less than truthful
As Shi Xiang-yun, fearful that Dai-yu would pursue her, turned and fled, Bao-yu shouted after her:
‘She’s tripped: you needn’t worry! She’ll never catch up with you now!’
And when Dai-yu reached the doorway where he was standing, he spread his arms across it to stop her getting by and laughingly begged an amnesty for Xiang-yun.
‘Never!’ said Dai-yu, endeavouring to tug one of his hands away from the door-jamb. ‘I’ll get that Yun if it’s the last thing I do!’
With Bao-yu blocking the doorway and Dai-yu evidently unable to get past him, Xiang-yun deemed it safe to stop running, and turned to plead with her pursuer:
‘Pleathe cousin, just this once – spare me!’
Just then Bao-chai appeared from behind her shoulder – the smiling peacemaker:
‘I advise you two to make it up, for Cousin Bao’s sake.’
‘I won’t!’ said Dai-yu. ‘You’re all in league against me. You have all come here to make fun of me.’
‘Oh, really!’ said Bao-yu. ‘Who would ever have the nerve to make fun of you? Yun only said what she said because you mimicked her in the first place. She’d never have dared to otherwise.’
It is hard to say how long the four of them might have remained there in this impasse had not a servant arrived at that moment and summoned them to dinner in Grandmother Jia’s room. It was already lighting-up time and Lady Wang, Li Wan, Xi-feng, Ying-chun, Tan-chun and Xi-chun had also forgathered for the meal. When dinner was over, the company conversed for a while and then retired to their various rooms for the night – Xiang-yun to sleep with Dai-yu in what had once, in the days when she lived with Grandmother Jia, been her own bedroom. Bao-yu saw the two of them back to their room and stayed there talking until well after ten, in spite of frequent summonses by Aroma.
As soon as it was light next morning, Bao-yu was off again to the girls’ room, shuffling along in his slippers and with a gown thrown loosely round his shoulders. The maids Nightingale and Kingfisher were not yet about, and their two young mistresses still lay fast asleep under the covers. Dai-yu was tightly cocooned in a quilt of apricot-coloured damask, the picture of tranquil repose. Xiang-yun, by contrast, lay with her hank of jet-black hair tumbled untidily beside the pillow, a white arm with its two gold bracelets thrown carelessly outside the bedding and two white shoulders exposed above the peach-pink coverlet, which barely reached her armpits.
‘A tomboy, even in her sleep!’ Bao-yu muttered ruefully as he gently drew the bedding up to cover her. ‘She’ll get a draught on those shoulders, and next thing she’ll be complaining of a stiff neck!’
Dai-yu had by now awakened. She sensed that there was someone else in the room, and guessing that it must be Bao-yu, lifted her head up to look. Sure enough, it was he.
‘What are you doing here at this early hour?’
‘Early? Get up and have a look and then tell me if you think it’s early!’
‘You’d better go outside a minute if you want us to get up,’ said Dai-yu.
Bao-yu went into the outer room. Dai-yu got up as soon as he had gone out and roused Xiang-yun. When the two girls had slipped into some clothes, Bao-yu came inside again and sat himself down beside the dressing-table. Presently Nightingale and Kingfisher came in to help the girls with their toilet. Xiang-yun finished washing first. Kingfisher was on her way out to empty the basin, when Bao-yu called her back:
‘Just a moment! While you are about it I may as well wash too and save myself the trouble of going back to my own room.’
He came over to where she stood, and bending his head down over the basin, scooped up two handfuls of water and began washing his face. Nightingale handed him some scented soap.
‘It’s all right,’ he said, ‘there’s lots in here already.’
Then he asked for a towel.
Kingfisher pursed her lips up derisively:
‘You haven’t changed much, have you?’
Ignoring the sarcasm, he demanded crude salt to clean his teeth with, and after rubbing it all round them vigorously with a finger, he rinsed his mouth out with water. That part of his toilet completed, he observed that Xiang-yun had just finished doing her hair and wandered over to where she was sitting.
‘Coz dear, do my hair for me, will you?’
‘I’m afraid I can’t,’ said Xiang-yun.
Bao-yu smiled coaxingly:
‘Go on, be a dear! You used to do it for me once.’
‘Well, I can’t any longer,’ said Xiang-yun. ‘I’ve forgotten how to.’
‘It doesn’t need very much doing to it,’ said Bao-yu. ‘I’m not going out anywhere today. Just a few plaits.’
He continued to coax and wheedle until at last she gave in, and taking his head in her hands, sat him down in her place at the dressing-table and proceeded to comb and dress his hair.
Bao-yu never wore any head-covering when he was at home. Instead he had his side-hair done up in a number of little plaits which were looped round over his ears and brought together by means of red silk thread into a single large queue at the back. It was fastened by a golden clasp at the end and by four pearl clips at regular intervals between the clasp and the crown of his head. As Xiang-yun plaited, she noticed that a pearl appeared to be missing.
‘What’s happened to this clip?’ she said. ‘I’m sure it used to be the same as the other three. Where has its pearl gone?’
‘I lost it,’ said Bao-yu.
‘I expect it fell off somewhere outside and somebody picked it up,’ said Xiang-yun. ‘Lucky old somebody!’
‘Who knows whether or not he really lost it?’ said Dai-yu scoffingly. ‘For all we know he may have given it to someone to have remounted as a keepsake!’
Bao-yu made no comment, but sat fiddling with the toilet articles that crowded the dressing-table on either side of the mirror. He picked up a pot of rouge, almost without realizing what he was doing, and sat with it poised in his hand, wanting to put it to his lips for a little taste, but afraid Xiang-yun would rebuke him. While he hesitated, Xiang-yun leaned forward from where she was sitting and administered a sharp slap to his hand, causing the rouge-pot to fall from it on to the dressing-table.
‘Nathty habit!’ she said. ‘It’s time you gave it up!’
The words were scarcely out of her mouth when Aroma entered. She concluded from the scene that met her eyes that Bao-yu had already completed his toilet, and went back again to attend to her own. Soon after this Bao-chai dropped in.
‘Where’s Cousin Bao?’ she asked.
‘“Cousin Bao” has no time to spend in here nowadays,’ said Aroma bitterly.
Bao-chai immediately understood.
Aroma sighed.
‘I say nothing against being friendly,’ she said. ‘But this hanging around there morning, noon and night is another matter. However, nothing I say makes any difference. It’s just a waste of breath.’
Bao-chai was impressed.
‘One mustn’t underestimate this maid,’ she thought to herself. ‘She is obviously a girl of some intelligence.’
And she sat down on the kang with her for a chat. In the course of conversation she inquired casually about her age, family, and various other personal matters, paying careful attention to her answers and gaining from them and from the tone in which they were uttered an increasing respect for this uneducated maid.
Presently Bao-yu came in, whereupon Bao-chai got up and left. Bao-yu commented on her departure:
‘Cousin Bao-chai seemed to be very thick with you just now. Why should she suddenly rush off when I come into the room?’
There was no reply, so he repeated his question.
‘Are you asking me?’ said Aroma. ‘I don’t know what reasons you all have for your comings and goings.’
The expression on her face as she uttered these words was angrier than he had ever seen her look before.
He laughed.
‘Oh dear! Are you in a rage again?’
Aroma laughed mirthlessly.
‘It’s not for the likes of me to get into rages. But I wish that from now on you would stop coming into this room. After all, you have got people to wait on you elsewhere. You don’t really need my services. I shall go back to serving Her Old Ladyship, like I used to before.’
With that she closed her eyes and lay back upon the kang.
Bao-yu was alarmed to see her in such a state and impulsively rushed over to the kang to soothe her. But Aroma kept her eyes tightly shut and would take no notice. Bao-yu did not know what to do. Just then Musk chanced to enter and he turned to her for help:
‘What’s up with Aroma?’
‘How should I know?’ said Musk. ‘You’d do better to ask yourself that question.’
Bao-yu was so taken aback that for a while he said nothing. Then, finding their combined hostility too much for him, he got up with a sigh from his suppliant position on the kang.
‘All right, ignore me then! I’m going off to sleep, too.’
And he slid from the kang and went off to his own bed to lie down.
For a long time there was no sound from him except for a gentle snoring. Judging that he must be really asleep, Aroma rose from the kang and took a large travelling-cloak to cover him with. A moment later she heard a gentle thud. He had whipped it from him and thrown it to the floor as soon as her back was turned. But when she looked, his eyes were closed as before and he was still pretending to be asleep. The significance of the gesture did not escape her. She nodded slowly and regarded the feigned sleeper sarcastically:
‘All right, then! There’s no need for you to get angry. From now on I’ll just pretend I’m dumb. I won’t say another word of criticism. Will that satisfy you?’
This was too much for Bao-yu. He sat bolt upright on his bed.
‘What am I supposed to have done this time? And what’s all this “criticism” you’re talking about? If you had been criticizing me it wouldn’t be so bad; but when I came in just now, you didn’t say anything: you simply ignored me. You went and lay down in a huff without my having the faintest idea what it was all about, and now you accuse me of behaving unreasonably! I haven’t heard a single peep out of you yet to explain what it is that you are angry about!’
‘Your own conscience ought to tell you that,’ said Aroma. ‘You don’t need me to tell you.’
They were still arguing when Grandmother Jia sent a servant round to summon him to lunch. He went off to the front apartment, but returned almost immediately after bolting a single bowlful of rice. He found Aroma asleep on the kang and Musk sitting beside her playing Patience with some dominoes. He had long known that Musk was a close ally of Aroma’s, so ignoring them both, he marched past them into the inner room, raising the door-curtain for himself as he passed through. Musk followed him automatically, but he pushed her out:
‘No, no, I wouldn’t presume to trouble you!’
She laughed and went back to her Patience, having first ordered a couple of the younger maids to wait on him in her stead.
In the inner room Bao-yu took up a book and reclined on the kang to read. For a considerable while he remained engrossed in his reading. When eventually he did look up, intending to ask someone for some tea, he saw two little maids waiting there in silence, one of whom – evidently the older by a year or two – was an attractive, intelligent-looking girl. He addressed himself to her:
‘Isn’t your name “Nella” something or other?’
‘Citronella.’
‘Citronella? Who on earth gave you that name?’
‘Aroma, sir. My real name is “Soldanella”, but Miss Aroma altered it to “Citronella”.’
‘I don’t know why she didn’t call you “Citric Acid” and have done with it,’ said Bao-yu. ‘Citronella! – How many girls are there in your family, Citronella?’
‘Four,’ said Citronella.
‘And which of the four are you?’
‘I’m the youngest.’
‘Right!’ said Bao-yu. ‘In future you will be called “Number Four”. We’re not going to have any more of these floral fragrances around here. It’s an insult to decent scents and flowers to give their names to you lot!’
Then he asked her to pour him some tea.
Listening attentively in the outer room, ‘Flowers’ Aroma and her Musky ally – for whose ears this gibe was intended – were nearly bursting themselves in their efforts not to laugh.
All that day Bao-yu stayed in his own room, seeing no one. It was gloomy on his own, with nothing but reading and a little writing for amusement, but he refused to make use of any of his usual attendants and would have only “Number Four” to wait on him. Though he did not realize it, she was a designing little minx and endeavoured by every artifice at her command to get her hooks into him while she had the chance.
After dinner Bao-yu came back flushed and slightly tipsy, having taken a few cups of wine with his meal. Normally this would have been the occasion for an evening of hilarity with Aroma and the rest, but today he would have to sit by his lamp alone in cheerless isolation. The prospect was a depressing one. Yet if he were to go running after her, it would seem too much like a capitulation, and her nagging would thenceforth become insufferable. On the other hand, to frighten her into some sort of compliance by asserting his mastery over her would be heartless. There was nothing else for it: he would just have to grin and bear it.
‘Suppose they were all dead,’ he said to himself. ‘I should have to make do on my own somehow or other!’
The thought was strangely comforting. He was able to stop worrying. He even began to feel quite cheerful. Having instructed Number Four to trim up the lamp and brew him a pot of tea, he settled down to a volume of Zhuang-zi. Presently he came to the following passage in the chapter called ‘Rifling Trunks’:
Away then with saints and wise men, and the big thieves will cease from despoiling. Discard your jades, destroy your pearls, and the little thieves will cease from pilfering. Burn your tallies, smash your seals, and the common people will revert to their natural integrity. Break all the bushels and snap all the steelyards, and they will have no further grounds for dispute. Obliterate those ‘sacred laws’ by which the world is governed, and you will find yourself at last able to reason with them. If you confuse the pitch-pipes, break up the organs, unstring the zithers and stop up Shi Kuang’s ears, people will begin to make proper use of their own hearing. If you abolish all intricacy of design and brilliancy of colouring and glue up Li Zhu’s eyes, people will begin to make proper use of their own eyesight. And if you destroy your arcs and lines, throw away your compasses and set-squares and break the fingers of Chui the Cunning, people will begin to make proper use of their own skill…
The words wonderfully suited his present mood. He read no further. Impulsively picking up a writing-brush, and with the inspiration lent him by his tipsiness, he added the following lines in the margin:
Away then with Musk and Aroma, and the female tongue will cease from nagging. Discard Bao-chai’s heavenly beauty, destroy Dai-yu’s divine intelligence, utterly abolish all tender feelings, and the female heart will cease from envy. If the female tongue ceases from nagging there will be no further fear of quarrels and estrangements; if Bao-chai’s heavenly beauty is discarded there will be no further grounds for tender admiration; and if Dai-yu’s divine intelligence is destroyed there will be no further cause for romantic imaginings. These Bao-chais, Dai-yus, Aromas and Musks spread their nets and dig their pits, and all the world are bewitched and ensnared by them.
Having written these lines, he threw down the brush and went straight to bed.
He was asleep almost as soon as his head touched the pillow and remained dead to the world throughout the whole of that night. Waking with the first light next morning, he sat up in bed to find Aroma lying fully clothed beside him outside the covers. He roused her with a gentle shake, all yesterday’s unpleasantness now quite forgotten:
‘Go to bed properly! You’ll get cold, sleeping like that!’
Aroma had not, on the day previous to this, openly criticized Bao-yu for disporting himself at all hours of the day and night with his girl cousins because she knew from experience that criticism was powerless to change him. To alert him to the error of his ways she had instead adopted a more passive approach. She had confidently expected this new method to produce a speedy repentance, followed by a swift return to normal relations; so that when, contrary to her expectation, a whole day went by without his having manifested the looked-for change of heart, she was left with no further resources, and as a consequence had been too worried to sleep properly for the greater part of that night.
But now here he was addressing her normally once more. He must have undergone a change of heart during the night. She forced herself to ignore him still, in order to drive the lesson home.
Meeting with no response, Bao-yu reached out his hand to help her get undressed; but he had got no further than undoing the first button when she pushed his hand away and did it up again. He was at a loss to know what to do with her. With a gentle smile he took her by the hand:
‘Now – what’s the matter?’
He had to repeat the question several times. She fixed her eyes on him angrily:
‘Nothing’s the matter. But now you’re awake, hadn’t you better hurry over to the other place to get washed? If you delay much longer, you might not be in time.’
‘What other place?’ said Bao-yu.
Aroma smiled coldly.
‘Why ask me? How should I know? Go wherever you like for your toilet! Let’s make a clean break from now on, you and I, and perhaps we’ll have a bit less of all this bickering and making ourselves ridiculous in front of the others. I mean to say, even if you get tired of going there, you’ve always got your Number Fours and Number Fives back here to wait on you. But as for the rest of us: even our names are “an insult to decent scents and flowers”!’
Bao-yu laughed:
‘Do you still remember that?’
‘I’ll remember that if I live to be a hundred!’ said Aroma. ‘I’m not like you: treating everything I say like so much wind and forgetting in the morning what you said yourself the night before!’
There was something about her pretty face suffused with anger that Bao-yu found infinitely touching. He snatched up a jade hairpin that was lying beside the pillow and snapped it in two.
‘So be it with me if I ever fail to listen to you again!’ he said.
‘What a way to carry on at this hour of the morning!’ said Aroma, hurriedly picking up the pieces. ‘Whether you listen to me or not is up to you. There’s no need to get into such a state about it!’
‘You don’t know how worried you make me,’ said Bao-yu.
‘So you feel worried, do you?’ said Aroma smiling. ‘Now perhaps you’ll have some idea what I feel like most of the time! – Come on, let’s get washed!’
With that the two of them got up and began their toilet.
Later, after Bao-yu had gone off to the front apartment, Dai-yu looked in unexpectedly, and not finding Bao-yu in, began idly turning over the books that were lying on his desk. Chancing to light on the volume of Zhuang-zi that he had been reading the night before, her eye was drawn to the lines he had written in the margin. They both vexed and amused her, and she could not resist picking up a writing-brush and adding the following quatrain on the remaining blank space:
What wretch would here, with scurrile pen,
The text of Zhuang-zi plagiarize,
And, heedless of his own great faults,
Fright others with his wicked lies?
That done, she went to the front apartment to see Grandmother Jia, and from there on to Lady Wang’s.
She found everyone at Lady Wang’s in a great to-do. Xi-feng’s baby daughter was ill. The doctor had been called and had just finished taking her pulses.
‘Convey my congratulations to Her Ladyship and Mrs Lian’ – the doctor’s diagnosis was couched in the strange language which custom decrees in such cases – ‘I am happy to inform them that the little girl’s sickness is the smallpox!’
Lady Wang and Xi-feng at once sent back to inquire whether the child was in any danger. The doctor made the following reply:
‘Variola is, of course, a dangerous disease, but provided there are no complications, most cases of it are recuperable. Let the ladies lay in a plentiful supply of sanguis caudae, or pig’s tail blood, and plenty of essence of mulberry-worm. Applied externally these will ensure a satisfactory development of the pustules.’
Xi-feng immediately became very busy. A room had to be swept out and prepared for the worship of the Smallpox Goddess. Orders had to be given to the servants to avoid the use of all fried and sautéed cookery. Patience had to be told to move Jia Lian’s clothes and bedding to a room outside – for sexual abstinence, too, was enjoined on the parents of the sufferer. A length of dark-red cloth had to be procured and made up into a dress for the child by the combined labours of the nurses, maids and female relations most closely associated with it. Finally, a ritually purified room had to be made ready for the two doctors who would take it in turns to examine the little patient and make up her medicines, and who would not be permitted to return to their own homes until the customary period of twelve days had elapsed. These arrangements having been completed, Jia Lian went off to the outer study which was from now on to be his bedroom, while Xi-feng and Patience joined Lady Wang in the daily worship and propitiation of the Smallpox Goddess.
Jia Lian was the sort of man who will begin getting up to mischief the moment he takes leave of his wife. After only a couple of nights sleeping on his own he began to find abstinence extremely irksome and was reduced to slaking his fires on the more presentable of his pages. But other relief was at hand.
Among the domestic staff at the Rong-guo mansion was a certain drunken, dilapidated cook, by surname Duo, who, because of his weakness of character and general uselessness, had acquired the nickname of ‘Droopy Duo’. Two years previous to this date Droopy’s father had provided him with a wife. She was now just turned twenty, a fine, good-looking young wanton, always eager to throw herself at whatever partners opportunity might place in her way. Droopy Duo raised no objection to her infidelities. As long as he had meat to eat and wine to drink and money in his pocket he saw no reason to concern himself about anything else. Consequently there was scarcely an able-bodied male in the Ning-guo and Rong-guo mansions who had not at one time or another sampled her wares. Because of her pneumatic charms and omnivorous promiscuity this voluptuous young limmer was referred to by all and sundry as ‘the Mattress’.
Jia Lian, now separated from the wife of his bosom and fairly frying with unsatisfied desires, had for some time past been aware of the Mattress’s charms; but though his mouth had long watered to enjoy them, what with fear of his jealous young wife on the one hand and fear of his fancy boys on the other, he had so far found no opportunity of approaching her.
The Mattress, too, had for some time past had her eye on Jia Lian, and it was a source of regret to her that he had so far proved unapproachable. Learning that he had now moved to his study outside, she managed to find excuses for passing by that way three or four times in a day, provoking Jia Lian to a pitch of frantic eagerness only to be compared with that of a starving rat confronted by some food. He was obliged to seek the advice of his pages and to promise them rich rewards if they could procure her for his pleasure. The pages were ready enough to oblige – the more so as they were themselves old customers of hers – and the request for an assignation was no sooner made than granted.
At about ten o’clock that night, when all were abed and Droopy Duo lay collapsed on the kang in drunken slumbers, Jia Lian slipped noiselessly into the room for his pre-arranged meeting with the Mattress. The mere sight of her proved so potent a stimulant that without wasting any time on tender preliminaries, he took down his trousers and set to work at once.
Now this wife of Duo’s had a physical peculiarity which was that as soon as the man’s body came into contact with her own she felt a delicious melting sensation invading her limbs, rendering her body soft and yielding to that of her partner, so that he had the impression of lying on a heap of down; and in addition to this natural endowment she knew more tricks of posture and more ways of exciting a man with murmured lewdnesses and amorous cries than a professional prostitute.
As Jia Lian lay on top of her, wishing he could melt into her body from sheer excess of pleasure, she began to exercise this last accomplishment.
‘Your little girl’s got the smallpox,’ she murmured. ‘While they’re worshipping the Goddess, you are supposed to keep yourself pure. Naughty man! You’re making yourself unclean because of me. You must leave me! Go away!’
Jia Lian’s movements became more violent.
‘You are my only goddess!’ he said, panting heavily. ‘I care for no other goddess but you!’
At this the Mattress began to grow even more reckless in her incitements and Jia Lian to reveal the more disgusting of his sexual accomplishments.
They lay a long time together when it was over, exchanging oaths and promises, unable to break apart. From that day onwards there was a secret understanding between them.
A day arrived when the smallpox poison had spent itself and Baby’s pustules showed signs of drying up. After the twelfth day the Smallpox Goddess was ceremoniously ushered off the premises, the entire family joined in a service of thanksgiving to Heaven and the ancestors, and there was much burning of incense in discharge of vows made on the child’s behalf by various of its members, and much exchanging of congratulations and paying out of rewards. When all this was over, Jia Lian returned once more to the matrimonial couch. ‘A night after absence is better than a wedding night’ as the proverb crudely puts it, and certainly the affection shown that night by Jia Lian for his lady was of more than usual intensity.
Early next morning, when Xi-feng had gone off to Grandmother Jia’s, Patience began putting away the clothes and bedding that had been brought in from the outer study. To her surprise she felt something strange in the cover of Jia Lian’s head-rest, and after groping inside it, fished out a black, silky tress of woman’s hair. Quick to understand its significance, she hid it in her sleeve and going across to the other room, showed it to Jia Lian and asked him what it was.
As soon as he saw the hair, Jia Lian rushed forward to snatch it from her. She darted away, but he seized hold of her, and forcing her on to the kang, attempted to wrest it from her grasp.
‘Mean thing!’ said Patience. ‘After I’ve gone to the trouble of asking you about it behind her back, you have to start being rough!’
Just at that moment they heard Xi-feng coming. Jia Lian didn’t know whether to let go of Patience or make a final effort to obtain the hair. Finally, with a muttered entreaty, he released her:
‘Angel! Don’t let her know!’
Patience managed to get up just as Xi-feng was entering.
‘Quick!’ said Xi-feng. ‘Open up the chest and find that pattern for Her Ladyship!’
‘Yes madam,’ said Patience.
While Patience was looking for the pattern, Xi-feng caught sight of Jia Lian and suddenly thought of something else.
‘Have we got the things back from the outer study yet?’
‘Yes,’ said Patience.
‘Was there anything missing?’
‘No,’ said Patience. ‘I went through them very carefully, but there was nothing missing.’
‘Was there anything there that shouldn’t have been?’
Patience laughed.
‘Isn’t it enough that there was nothing missing? Why should there be anything extra?’
Xi-feng laughed, too.
‘He was nearly a fortnight outside. I wouldn’t bank on his having kept himself clean all that time. There might have been something left behind by one of his little friends: a ring or a sash or something.’
Jia Lian turned pale with fright. He grimaced piteously at Patience from behind Xi-feng’s back, and drawing a finger across his throat, silently entreated her to keep her discovery hidden.
Patience affected not to notice him.
‘It’s funny you should say that, Mrs Lian. Exactly the same thought occurred to me; but though I went through his things very carefully, I didn’t find anything suspicious. If you don’t believe me, you can have a look yourself.’
‘Silly girl!’ said Xi-feng. ‘Do you imagine that if there were really anything there he would let us look?’
And taking the pattern from her she went out again.
Patience pointed a finger at her own nose and wagged her head from side to side.
‘How are you going to thank me for that?’
‘You’re a sweet little darling!’
He beamed delightedly and lunged forward to embrace her. Patience dangled the hair in front of him:
‘You’ll have to watch your step from now on,’ she said. ‘Now I’ve got something to keep you in order with. If you misbehave…!’
‘All right, you look after it, then. But’ – his tone became entreating – ‘don’t, whatever you do, let her find out!’
He said this to put her off her guard. As soon as her defences were relaxed he made a quick grab and snatched it from her.
‘Perhaps you’d better not have it, after all,’ he said with a grin of triumph. ‘If I have it I can burn it, and then it’s all over and done with.’
He stowed the hair in the side of his boot as he said this. Patience clenched her teeth in anger.
‘You’re mean! Burn the bridge when you’re safely over the river – that’s your way, isn’t it? All right then, you needn’t expect me to tell lies for you in future!’
In Jia Lian’s lascivious eyes her anger made her adorable. He felt himself becoming excited, and throwing his arms around her, he asked her to let him take her. But Patience struggled free and ran from the room, leaving him doubled up in a fury of frustrated desire.
‘Little cock-teaser!’ he shouted after her. ‘You deliberately provoked me, and now you run away!’
‘Who provoked you?’ Patience giggled from outside the window. ‘You shouldn’t be so randy! Do you expect me to make the Mistress hate me just for the sake of making you feel comfortable?’
‘You needn’t worry about her,’ said Jia Lian. ‘One of these days when I get my temper up I’m going to lay into that jealous bitch and break every bone in her body. Then perhaps she’ll know who’s master round here. She watches me like a bloody thief. She can talk to men when she likes, but I’m not supposed to talk to women, oh no! If I’m talking to a woman and just happen to get a bit close, she immediately starts suspecting something. But if she wants to go chattering and larking around with Bao or Rong or any other bloody male on the premises, that’s supposed to be all right! You wait! One of these days I’ll stop her seeing anyone at all!’
‘She’s every right to watch you,’ said Patience, ‘and you’ve no right at all to be jealous of her. She’s always been perfectly straight and above board where men are concerned; but you – whatever you do you’ve got something nasty in mind! You make even me worried, never mind about her!’
‘Oh, shut up!’ said Jia Lian. ‘You’re all perfect, aren’t you? It’s just me that’s always up to something nasty! One of these days I’ll make a clean sweep of the lot of you!’
Just at that moment Xi-feng stepped into the courtyard and saw Patience standing outside the window.
‘If you want to talk,’ she said, ‘why not talk inside the room? What’s the idea of running outside and bawling through the window?’
‘Don’t ask her!’ said Jia Lian’s voice from inside. ‘She thinks there’s a tiger in the room and she’s afraid of being eaten!’
‘He’s in there on his own,’ said Patience. ‘What should I be doing in there with him?’
‘All the more reason for being in there, I should have thought, if he’s on his own,’ said Xi-feng, smiling rather spitefully.
‘Is that remark intended for me?’ said Patience.
‘Who else?’ said Xi-feng.
‘You’ll make me say something I shall feel sorry for in a minute,’ said Patience; and instead of standing aside and raising the door-blind for her mistress, she entered ahead of her, dropped it rudely in her face, and marched angrily through the sitting-room to one of the rooms at the back.
‘What’s the matter with Patience? The girl’s gone mad!’ said Xi-feng when she had raised the blind again and let herself in. ‘I really do believe she is trying to displace me. You’d better look out, my friend: I’ll have the hide off you!’
‘Bravo! Good for Patience!’ said Jia Lian, who had retreated on to the kang and was applauding the comedy from that safer eminence. ‘I didn’t know she had it in her. In future I shall take that girl more seriously.’
‘It’s you who’ve let her get above herself,’ said Xi-feng. ‘I hold you directly responsible for this!’
‘Oh no!’ said Jia Lian. ‘If you two want to quarrel, I’m not going to stand between you and take all the knocks. I’m getting out of here!’
‘I’m sure I don’t know where you think you’ll go to,’ said Xi-feng.
‘Don’t you worry, I’ve got somewhere to go to,’ said Jia Lian, and he began to go; but Xi-feng stopped him.
‘No, don’t go! There’s something else I want to talk to you about.’
But if you want to know what it was, you will have to wait for the next chapter.