第二十七回
第二十七回 滴翠亭杨妃戏彩蝶 埋香冢飞燕泣残红
话说林黛玉正自悲泣，忽听院门响处，只见宝钗出来了，宝玉袭人一群人送了出来。待要上去问着宝玉，又恐当着众人问羞了宝玉不便，因而闪过一旁，让宝钗去了，宝玉等进去关了门，方转过来，犹望着门洒了几点泪。自觉无味，方转身回来，无精打采的卸了残妆。
紫鹃雪雁素日知道林黛玉的情性：无事闷坐，不是愁眉，便是长叹，且好端端的不知为了什么，常常的便自泪道不干的。先时还有人解劝，怕他思父母，想家乡，受了委曲，只得用话宽慰解劝。谁知后来一年一月的竟常常的如此，把这个样儿看惯了，也都不理论了。所以也没人理，由他去闷坐，只管睡觉去了。那林黛玉倚着床栏杆，两手抱着膝，眼睛含着泪，好似木雕泥塑的一般，直坐到二更多天方才睡了。一宿无话。
至次日乃是四月二十六日，原来这日未时交芒种节。尚古风俗：凡交芒种节的这日，都要设摆各色礼物，祭饯花神，言芒种一过，便是夏日了，众花皆卸，花神退位，须要饯行。然闺中更兴这件风俗，所以大观园中之人都早起来了。那些女孩子们，或用花瓣柳枝编成轿马的，或用绫锦纱罗叠成干旄旌幢[2]的，都用彩线系了。每一颗树上，每一枝花上，都系了这些物事。满园里绣带飘，花枝招展，更兼这些人打扮得桃羞柳让，燕妒莺惭，一时也道不尽。
且说宝钗、迎春、探春、惜春、李纨、凤姐等并巧姐、大姐〔一〕、香菱与众丫鬟们在园内玩耍，独不见林黛玉。迎春因说道：“林妹妹怎么不见？好个懒丫头！这会子还睡觉不成？”宝钗道：“你们等着，我去闹了他来。”说着便丢下了众人，一直往潇湘馆来。正走着，只见文官等十二个女孩子也来了，上来问了好，说了一回闲话。宝钗回身指道：“他们都在那里呢，你们找他们去罢。我叫林姑娘去就来。”说着便逶迤往潇湘馆来。
忽然抬头，见宝玉进去了，宝钗便站住低头想了想：宝玉和林黛玉是从小儿一处长大，他兄妹间多有不避嫌疑之处，嘲笑喜怒无常；况且林黛玉素习猜忌，好弄小性儿的。此刻自己也跟了进去，一则宝玉不便，二则黛玉嫌疑。罢了，倒是回来的妙。想毕抽身回来。
刚要寻别的姊妹去，忽见前面一双玉色蝴蝶，大如团扇，一上一下迎风翩跹，十分有趣。宝钗意欲扑了来玩耍，遂向袖中取出扇子来，向草地下来扑。只见那一双蝴蝶忽起忽落，来来往往，穿花度柳，将欲过河去了。倒引的宝钗蹑手蹑脚的，一直跟到池中滴翠亭上，香汗淋漓，娇喘细细。宝钗也无心扑了，刚欲回来，只听滴翠亭里边嘁嘁喳喳有人说话。原来这亭子四面俱是游廊曲桥，盖造在池中水上，四面雕镂槅子糊着纸。
宝钗在亭外听见说话，便煞住脚往里细听，只听说道：“你瞧瞧这手帕子，果然是你丢的那块，你就拿着；要不是，就还芸二爷去。”又有一人说话：“可不是我那块！拿来给我罢。”又听道：“你拿什么谢我呢？难道白寻了来不成。”又答道：“我既许了谢你，自然不哄你。”又听说道：“我寻了来给你，自然谢我；但只是拣的人，你就不拿什么谢他？”又回道：“你别胡说。他是个爷们家，拣了我的东西，自然该还的。我拿什么谢他呢？”又听说道：“你不谢他，我怎么回他呢？况且他再三再四的和我说了，若没谢的，不许我给你呢。”半晌，又听答道：“也罢，拿我这个给他，算谢他的罢。——你要告诉别人呢？须说个誓来。”又听说道：“我要告诉一个人，就长一个疔，日后不得好死！”又听说道：“嗳呀！咱们只顾说话，看有人来悄悄在外头听见。不如把这槅子都推开了，便是有人见咱们在这里，他们只当我们说顽话呢。若走到跟前，咱们也看的见，就别说了。”
宝钗在外面听见这话，心中吃惊，想道：“怪道从古至今那些奸淫狗盗的人，心机都不错。这一开了，见我在这里，他们岂不臊了。况才说话的语音，大似宝玉房里的红儿的言语。他素昔眼空心大，是个头等刁钻古怪东西。今儿我听了他的短儿，一时人急造反，狗急跳墙，不但生事，而且我还没趣。如今便赶着躲了，料也躲不及，少不得要使个‘金蝉脱壳’[4]的法子。”犹未想完，只听“咯吱”一声，宝钗便故意放重了脚步，笑着叫道：“颦儿，我看你往那里藏！”一面说，一面故意往前赶。
那亭内的红玉坠儿刚一推窗，只听宝钗如此说着往前赶，两个人都唬怔了。宝钗反向他二人笑道：“你们把林姑娘藏在那里了？”坠儿道：“何曾见林姑娘了。”宝钗道：“我才在河那边看着林姑娘在这里蹲着弄水儿的。我要悄悄的唬他一跳，还没有走到跟前，他倒看见我了，朝东一绕就不见了。别是藏在这里头了。”一面说，一面故意进去寻了一寻，抽身就走，口内说道：“一定是又钻在山子洞里去了。遇见蛇，咬一口也罢了。”一面说一面走，心中又好笑：这件事算遮过去了，不知他二人是怎样。
谁知红玉听了宝钗的话，便信以为真，让宝钗去远，便拉坠儿道：“了不得了！林姑娘蹲在这里，一定听了话去了！”坠儿听说，也半日不言语。红玉又道：“这可怎么样呢？”坠儿道：“便是听了，管谁筋疼，各人干各人的就完了。”红玉道：“若是宝姑娘听见，还倒罢了。林姑娘嘴里又爱刻薄人，心里又细，他一听见了，倘或走露了风声，怎么样呢？”二人正说着，只见文官、香菱、司棋、待书等上亭子来了。二人只得掩住这话，且和他们顽笑。
只见凤姐儿站在山坡上招手叫，红玉连忙弃了众人，跑至凤姐跟前，堆着笑问：“奶奶使唤作什么事？”凤姐打谅了一打谅，见他生的干净俏丽，说话知趣，因笑道：“我的丫头今儿没跟进我来。我这会子想起一件事来，要使唤个人出去，不知你能干不能干，说的齐全不齐全？”红玉笑道：“奶奶有什么话，只管吩咐我说去。若说的不齐全，误了奶奶的事，凭奶奶责罚就是了。”凤姐笑道：“你是那位小姐房里的？我使你出去，他回来找你，我好替你说的。”红玉道：“我是宝二爷房里的。”凤姐听了笑道：“嗳哟！你原来是宝玉房里的，怪道呢。也罢了，等他问，我替你说。你到我们家，告诉你平姐姐：外头屋里桌子上汝窑盘子架儿底下放着一卷银子，那是一百六十两，给绣匠的工价，等张材家的来要，当面称给他瞧了，再给他拿去。再里头床头间有一个小荷包拿了来。”
红玉听说撤身去了，回来只见凤姐不在这山坡子上了。因见司棋从山洞里出来，站着系裙子，便赶上来问道：“姐姐，不知道二奶奶往那里去了？”司棋道：“没理论。”红玉听了，抽身又往四下里一看，只见那边探春宝钗在池边看鱼。红玉上来陪笑问道：“姑娘们可知道二奶奶那去了？”探春道：“往你大奶奶院里找去。”红玉听了，才往稻香村来，顶头只见晴雯、绮霰、碧痕、紫绡〔二〕、麝月、待书、入画、莺儿等一群人来了。
晴雯一见了红玉，便说道：“你只是疯罢！院子里花儿也不浇，雀儿也不喂，茶炉子也不[6]，就在外头逛。”红玉道：“昨儿二爷说了，今儿不用浇花，过一日浇一回罢。我喂雀儿的时候，姐姐还睡觉呢。”碧痕道：“茶炉子呢？”红玉道：“今儿不该我的班儿，有茶没茶别问我。”绮霰道：“你听听他的嘴！你们别说了，让他逛去罢。”红玉道：“你们再问问我逛了没有。二奶奶使唤我说话取东西的。”说着将荷包举给他们看，方没言语了。
大家分路走开。晴雯冷笑道：“怪道呢！原来爬上高枝儿去了，把我们不放在眼里。不知说了一句话半句话，名儿姓儿知道了不曾呢，就把他兴的这样！这一遭半遭儿的算不得什么，过了后儿还得听呵！有本事从今儿出了这园子，长长远远的在高枝儿上才算得。”一面说着去了。
这里红玉听说，不便分证，只得忍着气来找凤姐儿。到了李氏房中，果见凤姐儿在这里和李氏说话儿呢。红玉上来回道：“平姐姐说，奶奶刚出来了，他就把银子收了起来，才张材家的来讨，当面称了给他拿去了。”说着将荷包递了上去，又道：“平姐姐教我回奶奶：才旺儿进来讨奶奶的示下，好往那家子去。平姐姐就把那话按着奶奶的主意打发他去了。”凤姐笑道：“他怎么按我的主意打发去了？”红玉道：“平姐姐说：我们奶奶问这里奶奶好。原是我们二爷不在家，虽然迟了两天，只管请奶奶放心。等五奶奶好些，我们奶奶还会了五奶奶来瞧奶奶呢。五奶奶前儿打发了人来说，舅奶奶带了信来了，问奶奶好，还要和这里的姑奶奶寻两丸延年神验万全丹。若有了，奶奶打发人来，只管送在我们奶奶这里。明儿有人去，就顺路给那边舅奶奶带去的。”
话未说完，李氏道：“嗳哟哟！这些话我就不懂了。什么‘奶奶’‘爷爷’的一大堆。”凤姐笑道：“怨不得你不懂，这是四五门子的话呢。”说着，又向红玉笑道：“好孩子，难为你说的齐全。别像他们扭扭捏捏的蚊子似的。嫂子你不知道，如今除了我随手使的几个丫头老婆之外，我就怕和他们说话。他们必定把一句话拉长了作两三截儿，咬文咬字，拿着腔儿，哼哼唧唧的，急的我冒火，他们那里知道！先时我们平儿也是这么着，我就问着他：难道必定装蚊子哼哼就是美人了？说了几遭，才好些儿了。”李宫裁笑道：“都像你泼皮破落户〔三〕才好。”凤姐又道：“这一个丫头就好。方才两遭，说话虽不多，听那口声就简断。”说着又向红玉笑道：“你明儿服侍我去罢。我认你作女儿，我一调理，你就出息了。”
红玉听了，扑哧一笑。凤姐道：“你怎么笑？你说我年轻，比你能大几岁，就作你的妈了？你还作春梦呢！你打听打听，这些人头比你大的大的，赶着我叫妈，我还不理。今儿抬举了你呢！”红玉笑道：“我不是笑这个，我笑奶奶认错了辈数了。我妈是奶奶的女儿，这会子又认我作女儿。”凤姐道：“谁是你妈？”李宫裁笑道：“你原来不认得他？他是林之孝之女。”凤姐听了十分诧异，说道：“哦！原来是他的丫头。”又笑道：“林之孝两口子都是锥子扎不出一声儿来的。我成日家说，他们倒是配就了的一对夫妻，一个天聋，一个地哑。那里承望养出这么个伶俐丫头来！你十几岁了？”红玉道：“十七岁了。”又问名字，红玉道：“原叫红玉的，因为重了宝二爷，如今只叫红儿了。”
凤姐听说将眉一皱，把头一回，说道：“讨人嫌的很！得了玉的益似的，你也玉，我也玉。”因说道：“既这么着，肯跟，我还和他妈说，‘赖大家的如今事多，也不知这府里谁是谁，你替我好好的挑两个丫头我使’，他一般答应着。他饶不挑，倒把这女孩子送了别处去。难道跟我必定不好？”李氏笑道：“你可是又多心了。他进来在先，你说话在后，怎么怨的他妈！”凤姐道：“既这么着，明儿我和宝玉说，叫他再要人，叫这丫头跟我去。可不知本人愿意不愿意？”红玉笑道：“愿意不愿意，我们也不敢说。只是跟着奶奶，我们也学些眉眼高低，出入上下，大小的事也得见识见识。”刚说着，只见王夫人的丫头来请，凤姐便辞了李宫裁去了。红玉回怡红院去，不在话下。
如今且说林黛玉因夜间失寐，次日起来迟了，闻得众姊妹都在园中作饯花会，恐人笑他痴懒，连忙梳洗了出来。刚到了院中，只见宝玉进门来了，笑道：“好妹妹，你昨儿可告我了不曾？教我悬了一夜心。”林黛玉便回头叫紫鹃道：“把屋子收拾了，撂下一扇纱屉；看那大燕子回来，把帘子放下来，拿狮子[8]倚住；烧了香就把炉罩上。”一面说一面又往外走。宝玉见他这样，还认作是昨日中晌的事，那知晚间的这段公案，还打恭作揖的。林黛玉正眼也不看，各自出了院门，一直找别的姊妹去了。宝玉心中纳闷，自己猜疑：看起这个光景来，不像是为昨日的事；但只昨日我回来的晚了，又没有见他，再没有冲撞了他的去处了。一面想，一面由不得随后追了来。
只见宝钗探春正在那边看鹤舞，见黛玉去了，三个一同站着说话儿。又见宝玉来了，探春便笑道：“宝哥哥，身上好？我整整的三天没见你了。”宝玉笑道：“妹妹身上好？我前儿还在大嫂子跟前问你呢。”探春道：“宝哥哥，你往这里来，我和你说话。”宝玉听说，便跟了他，离了钗、玉两个，到了一棵石榴树下。
探春因说道：“这几天老爷可曾叫你？”宝玉笑道：“没有叫。”探春说：“昨儿我恍惚听见说老爷叫你出去的。”宝玉笑道：“那想是别人听错了，并没叫的。”探春又笑道：“这几个月，我又攒下有十来吊钱了。你还拿了去，明儿出门逛去的时候，或是好字画，好轻巧顽意儿，替我带些来。”宝玉道：“我这么城里城外、大廊小庙的逛，也没见个新奇精致东西，左不过是那些金、玉、铜、磁，没处撂的古董，再就是绸缎吃食衣服了。”探春道：“谁要这些。怎么像你上回买的那柳枝儿编的小篮子，整竹子根抠的香盒儿，胶泥垛的风炉儿，这就好了。我喜欢的什么似的，谁知他们都爱上了，都当宝贝似的抢了去了。”宝玉笑道：“原来要这个。这不值什么，拿五百钱出去给小子们，管拉一车来。”探春道：“小厮们知道什么。你拣那朴而不俗、直而不拙者，这些东西，你多多的替我带了来。我还像上回的鞋作一双你穿，比那一双还加工夫，如何呢？”
宝玉笑道：“你提起鞋来，我想起个故事：那一回我穿着，可巧遇见了老爷，老爷就不受用，问是谁作的。我那里敢提‘三妹妹’三个字，我就回说是前儿我生日，是舅母给的。老爷听了是舅母给的，才不好说什么，半日还说：‘何苦来！虚耗人力，作践绫罗，作这样的东西。’我回来告诉了袭人，袭人说这还罢了，赵姨娘气的抱怨的了不得：‘正经兄弟，鞋搭拉袜搭拉的没人看的见，且作这些东西！’”探春听说，登时沉下脸来，道：“这话糊涂到什么田地！怎么我是该作鞋的人么？环儿难道没有分例的？一般的衣裳是衣裳，鞋袜是鞋袜，丫头老婆一屋子，怎么抱怨这些话！给谁听呢！我不过是闲着没事儿，作一双半双，爱给那个哥哥兄弟，随我的心。谁敢管我不成！这也是白气。”宝玉听了，点头笑道：“你不知道，他心里自然又有个想头了。”探春听说，益发动了气，将头一扭，说道：“连你也糊涂了！他那想头自然是有的，不过是那阴微鄙贱的见识。他只管这么想，我只管认得老爷、太太两个人，别人我一概不管。就是姊妹弟兄跟前，谁和我好，我就和谁好，什么偏的庶的，我也不知道。论理我不该说他，但忒昏愦的不像了！还有笑话呢：就是上回我给你那钱，替我带那顽的东西。过了两天，他见了我，也是说没钱使，怎么难，我也不理论。谁知后来丫头们出去了，他就抱怨起来，说我攒的钱为什么给你使，倒不给环儿使呢。我听见这话，又好笑又好气，我就出来往太太跟前去了。”正说着，只见宝钗那边笑道：“说完了，来罢。显见的是哥哥妹妹了，丢下别人，且说梯己去。我们听一句儿就使不得了！”说着，探春宝玉二人方笑着来了。
宝玉因不见了林黛玉，便知他躲了别处去了，想了一想，索性迟两日，等他的气消一消再去也罢了。因低头看见许多凤仙石榴等各色落花，锦重重的落了一地，因叹道：“这是他心里生了气，也不收拾这花儿来了。待我送了去，明儿再问着他。”说着，只见宝钗约着他们往外头去。宝玉道：“我就来。”说毕，等他二人去远了，便把那花兜了起来，登山渡水，过树穿花，一直奔了那日同林黛玉葬桃花的去处来。
将已到了花冢，犹未转过山坡，只听山坡那边有呜咽之声，一行数落着，哭的好不伤感。宝玉心下想道：“这不知是那房里的丫头，受了委曲，跑到这个地方来哭。”一面想，一面煞住脚步，听他哭道是：
花谢花飞花满天，红消香断有谁怜？
游丝软系飘春榭，落絮轻沾扑绣帘。
闺中女儿惜春暮，愁绪满怀无释处，
手把花锄出绣闺〔四〕，忍踏落花来复去。
柳丝榆荚自芳菲，不管桃飘与李飞。
桃李明年能再发，明年闺中知有谁？
三月香巢已垒成，梁间燕子太无情！
明年花发虽可啄，却不道人去梁空巢也倾。
一年三百六十日，风刀霜剑严相逼，
明媚鲜妍能几时，一朝飘泊难寻觅。
花开易见落难寻，阶前闷杀葬花人，
独倚花锄〔五〕泪暗洒，洒上空枝见血痕。
杜鹃无语正黄昏，荷锄归去掩重门。
青灯照壁人初睡，冷雨敲窗被未温。
怪奴底事[11]倍伤神，半为怜春半恼春：
怜春忽至恼忽去，至又无言去不闻〔六〕。
昨宵庭外悲歌发，知是花魂与鸟魂？
花魂鸟魂总难留，鸟自无言花自羞。
愿奴胁下生双翼，随花飞到天尽头。
天尽头，何处有香丘？
未若锦囊收艳骨，一抔净土〔七〕[14]掩风流。
质本洁来还洁去，强于污淖陷渠沟。
尔今死去侬[15]收葬，未卜侬身何日丧？
侬今葬花人笑痴，他年葬侬知是谁？
试看春残花渐落，便是红颜老死时。
一朝春尽红颜老，花落人亡两不知！
宝玉听了不觉痴倒。要知端详，且听下回分解。
[1] 杨妃、飞燕——即唐玄宗妃杨玉环和汉成帝妃赵飞燕，均为古代著名美人。环肥燕瘦，可堪对举，在此分别喻宝钗、黛玉。
[2] 干旄（máo毛）旌（jīn京）幢——干通“竿”；旄，牦牛尾。干旄，古代饰牦牛尾于旗竿，以示威仪。旌，与旄相似，另有五彩鸟羽装饰。幢，形状像伞。
〔一〕 “凤姐等并巧姐、大姐”，蒙府本无“巧姐”二字，戚序、戚宁本将“巧姐”二字改为“同了”，其他各抄本皆同底本。程高本改为“凤姐等并大姐儿”。按：凤姐只有一个女儿，小名叫“大姐”，“巧姐”乃刘姥姥给他取的名字。此处从底本原文，供研究。
[4] 金蝉脱壳——蝉由幼虫变为成虫时，要脱掉外壳（蝉蜕）。喻以假象作掩蔽暗中溜走。“金蝉脱壳计”是古代“三十六计”第二十一计，属于《混战计》中的一计。见《三十六计》。
〔二〕 “紫绡”，甲戌、戚序、甲辰本并同。原作“紫绡”，“绡”点改为“鹃”。
[6] （lón龙）——即火；生火。
〔三〕 “泼皮破落户”，原作“泼落户”，从梦稿本增。
[8] 狮子——这里是一种压帘用的带座的小石狮子。
〔四〕 “绣闺”，原作“绣帘”，从梦稿、蒙府、戚序本改。
〔五〕 “独倚花锄”，原作“独把花锄”，从甲戌、甲辰本改。
[11] 底事——甚么事。底：何。
〔六〕 “去不闻”，原作“去未闻”，从甲戌、梦稿、舒序、甲辰本改。
〔七〕 “一抔净土”，原作“一堆净土”，从程甲本改。
[14] 一抔（póu）净土——抔：掬。一抔：一捧，双手捧物。《史记·张释之列传》：“取长陵一抔土”，比喻盗开坟墓。后人就以“一抔土”代指坟墓。这里“一抔净土”指花冢。
[15] 侬——我。
CHAPTER 27. Beauty Perspiring sports with butterflies by the Raindrop Pavilion And Beauty Suspiring weeps for fallen blossoms by the Flowers’ Grave
TO CONTINUE OUR STORY,
As Dai-yu stood there weeping, there was a sudden creak of the courtyard gate and Bao-chai walked out, accompanied by Bao-yu with Aroma and a bevy of other maids who had come out to see her off. Dai-yu was on the point of stepping forward to question Bao-yu, but shrank from embarrassing him in front of so many people. Instead she slipped back into the shadows to let Bao-chai pass, emerging only when Bao-yu and the rest were back inside and the gate was once more barred. She stood for a while facing it, and shed a few silent tears; then, realizing that it was pointless to remain standing there, she turned and went back to her room and began, in a listless, mechanical manner, to take off her ornaments and prepare herself for the night.
Nightingale and Snowgoose had long since become habituated to Dai-yu’s moody temperament; they were used to her unaccountable fits of depression, when she would sit, the picture of misery, in gloomy silence broken only by an occasional gusty sigh, and to her mysterious, perpetual weeping, that was occasioned by no observable cause. At first they had tried to reason with her, or, imagining that she must be grieving for her parents or that she was feeling homesick or had been upset by some unkindness, they would do their best to comfort her. But as the months lengthened into years and she still continued exactly the same as before, they gradually became accustomed and no longer sought reasons for her behaviour. That was why they ignored her on this occasion and left her alone to her misery, remaining where they were in the outer room and continuing to occupy themselves with their own affairs.
She sat, motionless as a statue, leaning against the back of the bed, her hands clasped about her knees, her eyes full of tears. It had already been dark for some hours when she finally lay down to sleep.
Our story passes over the rest of that night in silence.
Next day was the twenty-sixth of the fourth month, the day on which, this year, the festival of Grain in Ear was due to fall. To be precise, the festival’s official commencement was on the twenty-sixth day of the fourth month at two o’clock in the afternoon. It has been the custom from time immemorial to make offerings to the flower fairies on this day. For Grain in Ear marks the beginning of summer; it is about this time that the blossom begins to fall; and tradition has it that the flower-spirits, their work now completed, go away on this day and do not return until the following year. The offerings are therefore thought of as a sort of farewell party for the flowers.
This charming custom of ‘speeding the fairies’ is a special favourite with the fair sex, and in Prospect Garden all the girls were up betimes on this day making little coaches and palanquins out of willow-twigs and flowers and little banners and pennants from scraps of brocade and any other pretty material they could find, which they fastened with threads of coloured silk to the tops of flowering trees and shrubs. Soon every plant and tree was decorated and the whole garden had become a shimmering sea of nodding blossoms and fluttering coloured streamers. Moving about in the midst of it all, the girls in their brilliant summer dresses, beside which the most vivid hues of plant and plumage became faint with envy, added the final touch of brightness to a scene of indescribable gaiety and colour.
All the young people – Bao-chai, Ying-chun, Tan-chun, Xi-chun, Li Wan, Xi-feng and her little girl and Caltrop, and all the maids from all the different apartments – were outside in the Garden enjoying themselves – all, that is, except Dai-yu, whose absence, beginning to be noticed, was first commented on by Ying-chun:
‘What’s happened to Cousin Lin ? Lazy girl! Surely she can’t still be in bed at this hour?’
Bao-chai volunteered to go and fetch her:
‘The rest of you wait here; I’ll go and rout her out for you,’ she said; and breaking away from the others, she made off in the direction of the Naiad’s House.
While she was on her way, she caught sight of Élégante and the eleven other little actresses, evidently on their way to join in the fun. They came up and greeted her, and for a while she stood and chatted with them. As she was leaving them, she turned back and pointed in the direction from which she had just come:
‘You’ll find the others somewhere over there,’ she said. ‘I’m on my way to get Miss Lin. I’ll join the rest of you presently.’
She continued, by the circuitous route that the garden’s contours obliged her to take, on her way to the Naiad’s House. Raising her eyes as she approached it, she suddenly became aware that the figure ahead of her just disappearing inside it was Bao-yu. She stopped and lowered her eyes pensively again to the ground.
‘Bao-yu and Dai-yu have known each other since they were little,’ she reflected. ‘They are used to behaving uninhibitedly when they are alone together. They don’t seem to care what they say to one another; and one is never quite sure what sort of mood one is going to find them in. And Dai-yu, at the best of times, is always so touchy and suspicious. If I go in now after him, he is sure to feel embarrassed and she is sure to start imagining things. It would be better to go back without seeing her.’
Her mind made up, she turned round and began to retrace her steps, intending to go back to the other girls; but just at that moment she noticed two enormous turquoise-coloured butterflies a little way ahead of her, each as large as a child’s fan, fluttering and dancing on the breeze. She watched them fascinated and thought she would like to play a game with them. Taking a fan from inside her sleeve and holding it outspread in front of her, she followed them off the path and into the grass.
To and fro fluttered the pair of butterflies, sometimes alighting for a moment, but always flying off again before she could reach them. Once they seemed on the point of flying across the little river that flowed through the midst of the garden and Bao-chai had to stalk them with bated breath for fear of startling them out on to the water. By the time she had reached the Raindrop Pavilion she was perspiring freely and her interest in the butterflies was beginning to evaporate. She was about to turn back when she became aware of a low murmur of voices coming from inside the pavilion.
Raindrop Pavilion was built in such a way that it projected into the middle of the pool into which the little watercourse widened out at this point, so that on three of its sides it looked out on to the water. It was surrounded by a verandah, whose railing followed the many angles formed by the bays and projections of the base. In each of its wooden walls there was a large paper-covered casement of elegantly patterned latticework.
Hearing voices inside the pavilion, Bao-chai halted and inclined her ear to listen.
‘Are you sure this is your handkerchief?’ one of the voices was saying. ‘If it is, take it; but if it isn’t, I must return it to Mr Yun.’
‘Of course it’s mine,’ said the second voice. ‘Come on, let me have it!’
‘Are you going to give me a reward? I hope I haven’t taken all this trouble for nothing.’
‘I promised you I would give you a reward, and so I shall. Surely you don’t think I was deceiving you?’
‘All right, I get a reward for bringing it to you. But what about the person who picked it up? Doesn’t he get anything?’
‘Don’t talk nonsense,’ said the second voice. ‘He’s one of the masters. A master picking up something belonging to one of us should give it back as a matter of course. How can there be any question of rewarding him?’
‘If you don’t intend to reward him, what am I supposed to tell him when I see him? He was most insistent that I wasn’t to give you the handkerchief unless you gave him a reward.’
There was a long pause, after which the second voice replied:
‘Oh, all right. Let him have this other handkerchief of mine then. That will have to do as his reward – But you must swear a solemn oath not to tell anyone else about this.’
‘May my mouth rot and may I die a horrible death if I ever tell anyone else about this, amen!’ said the first voice.
‘Goodness!’ said the second voice again. ‘Here we are talking away, and all the time someone could be creeping up outside and listening to every word we say. We had better open these casements; then even if anyone outside sees us, they’ll think we are having an ordinary conversation; and we shall be able to see them and know in time when to stop.’
Bao-chai, listening outside, gave a start.
‘No wonder they say “venery and thievery sharpen the wits”,’ she thought. ‘If they open those windows and see me here, they are going to feel terribly embarrassed. And one of those voices sounds like that proud, peculiar girl Crimson who works in Bao-yu’s room. If a girl like that knows that I have overheard her doing something she shouldn’t be doing, it will be a case of the desperate dog will jump a wall, the desperate man will hazard all”: there’ll be a great deal of trouble and I shall be involved in it. There isn’t time to hide. I shall have to do as the cicada does when he jumps out of his skin: give them something to put them off the scent –’
There was a loud creak as the casement yielded. Bao-chai advanced with deliberately noisy tread.
‘Frowner!’ she called out gaily. ‘I know where you’re hiding.’
Inside the pavilion Crimson and Trinket, who heard her say this and saw her advancing towards them just as they were opening the casement, were speechless with amazement; but Bao-chai ignored their confusion and addressed them genially:
‘Have you two got Miss Lin hidden away in there?’
‘I haven’t seen Miss Lin,’ said Trinket.
‘I saw her just now from the river-bank,’ said Bao-chai. ‘She was squatting down over here playing with something in the water. I was going to creep up and surprise her, but she spotted me before I could get up to her and disappeared round this corner. Are you sure she’s not hiding in there?’
She made a point of going inside the pavilion and searching; then, coming out again, she said in a voice loud enough for them to hear:
‘If she’s not in the pavilion, she must have crept into that grotto. Oh well, if she’s not afraid of being bitten by a snake – !’
As she walked away she laughed inwardly at the ease with which she had extricated herself from a difficult situation.
‘I think I’m fairly safely out of that one,’ she thought. ‘I wonder what those two will make of it.’
What indeed! Crimson believed every word that Bao-chai had said, and as soon as the latter was at a distance, she seized hold of Trinket in alarm:
‘Oh, how terrible! If Miss Lin was squatting there, she must have heard what we said before she went away.’
Her companion was silent.
‘Oh dear! What do you think she’ll do?’ said Crimson.
‘Well, suppose she did hear,’ said Trinket, ‘it’s not her backache. If we mind our business and she minds hers, there’s no reason why anything should come of it.’
‘If it were Miss Bao that had heard us, I don’t suppose anything would,’ said Crimson; ‘but Miss Lin is so critical and so intolerant. If she heard it and it gets about – oh dear!’
But just at that moment Caltrop, Advent, Chess and Scribe were seen approaching the pavilion, and Crimson and Trinket had to drop the subject in a hurry and join in a general conversation. Crimson noticed Xi-feng standing half-way up the rockery above the little grotto, beckoning. Breaking away from the others, she bounded up to her with a smiling face:
‘What can I do for you, madam?’
Xi-feng ran an appraising eye over her. A neat, pretty, pleasantly-spoken girl, she decided, and smiled at her graciously:
‘I have come here without my maids and need someone to take a message back to my apartment. I wonder if you are clever enough to get it right.’
‘Tell me the message, madam. If I don’t get it right and make a mess of it, it will be up to you to punish me.’
‘Which of the young ladies do you work for?’ said Xi-feng. ‘I’d better know, so that I can explain to her if she asks for you while you are doing my errand.’
‘I work for Master Bao,’ said Crimson.
Xi-feng laughed.
‘Ah ha! You work for Master Bao. No wonder. Very well, then, if he asks for you while you are away, I shall explain. I want you to go to my apartment and tell Patience that there is a roll of money under the stand of the Ru-ware dish on the table in the outside room. There are a hundred and twenty taels of silver in it to pay the embroiderers with. Tell her that when Zhang Cai’s wife comes for it, she is to weigh it out in front of her before handing it over. And there’s one other thing. There’s a little purse at the head of the bed in my inside room. I want you to bring it to me.’
‘Yes madam,’ said Crimson, and hurried off.
Returning shortly afterwards, she found that Xi-feng was no longer on the rockery; but Chess had just emerged from the little grotto beneath it and was standing there doing up her sash. Crimson ran down to speak to her:
‘Excuse me, did you see where Mrs Lian went to?’
‘’Fraid I didn’t notice,’ said Chess.
Crimson looked around her. Bao-chai and Tan-chun were standing at the edge of the pool looking at the fish. She went up to them:
‘Excuse me, does either of you young ladies happen to know where Mrs Lian went to just now, please?’
‘Try Mrs Zhu’s place,’ said Tan-chun.
Crimson hurried off in the direction of Sweet-rice Village. On her way she ran head-on into a party of maids consisting of Skybright, Mackerel, Emerald, Ripple, Musk, Scribe, Picture and Oriole.
‘Here, what are you gadding about like this for?’ said Skybright as soon as she saw who it was. ‘The flowers want watering; the birds need feeding; the stove for the tea-water needs seeing to. You’ve no business to go wandering around outside!’
‘Master Bao gave orders yesterday that the flowers were only to be watered every other day,’ said Crimson. ‘I fed the birds when you were still fast asleep in bed.’
‘What about the stove?’ said Emerald.
‘It isn’t my day for the stove,’ said Crimson. ‘The tea-water today has nothing to do with me.’
‘Listen to Miss Pert!’ said Mackerel. ‘I wouldn’t bother about her, if I were you – just leave her to wander about as she pleases.’
‘I’m not “wandering about”, if you really want to know,’ said Crimson. ‘If you really want to know, Mrs Lian sent me outside to take a message and to fetch something for her.’
She held up the purse for them to see; at which they were silent. But when they had passed each other, Skybright laughed sneeringly:
‘You can see why she’s so uppity. She’s on the climb again. Look at her – all cock-a-hoop because someone’s given her a little message to carry! And she probably doesn’t even know who it’s about. Well, one little message isn’t going to get her very far. It’s what happens in the long run that counts. Now if she were clever enough to climb her way right out of this Garden and stay there, that would be really something!’
These words were spoken for Crimson to hear, but in such a way that she was unable to answer them. She had to swallow her anger and hurry on to look for Xi-feng.
Xi-feng was in Li Wan’s room, as Tan-chun had predicted, and Crimson found the two of them in conversation. She went up to Xi-feng and delivered her message:
‘Patience says that she found the silver just after you had gone and took care of it; and she says that when Zhang Cai’s wife came for it she did weigh it out in front of her before giving it to her to take away.’
Crimson now produced the purse and handed it to Xi-feng.
Then she added:
‘Patience told me to tell you that Brightie has just been in to inquire what your instructions were for his visit, and she said that she gave him a message to take based on the things she thought you would want him to say.’
‘Oh?’ said Xi-feng, amused. ‘And what was this message “based on the things she thought I would want him to say”?’
‘She said he was to tell them: “Our lady hopes your lady is well and she says that the Master is away at present and may not be back for another day or two, but your lady is not to worry; and when the lady from West Lane is better, our lady will come with their lady to see your lady. And our lady says that the lady from West Lane sent someone the other day with a message from the elder Lady Wang saying that she hopes our lady is well and will she please see if our Lady Wang can let her have a few of her Golden Myriad Macrobiotic Pills; and if she can, will our lady please send someone with them to her, because someone will be going from there to the elder Lady Wang’s in a few days’ time and they will be able to take them for her –” ’
Crimson was still in full spate when Li Wan interrupted her with a laugh:
‘What an extraordinary number of “ladies”! I hope you can understand what it’s all about, Feng. I’m sure I can’t! ’
‘I’m not surprised,’ said Xi-feng. ‘There are four or five different households involved in that message.’ She smiled graciously at Crimson. ‘You’re a clever girl, my dear, to have got it all right – not like the simpering little ninnies I usually have to put up with. You have no idea, cousin,’ she said, turning to Li Wan again. ‘Apart from the one or two girls and one or two older women that I always keep about me, I just dread talking to servants nowadays. They take such an interminable time to tell you anything – so long-winded! And the airs and graces they give themselves! and the simpering! and the um-ing and ah-ing! If they only knew how it makes me fume! Our Patience used to be like that when she first came to me. I used to say to her, “Do you think it makes you seem glamorous, all that affected humming? – like a little gnat!” I had to talk to her several times about it before she would mend her ways.’
Li Wan laughed.
‘I suppose if they were all peppercorns like you, it would be all right.’
‘This girl’s all right,’ said Xi-feng. ‘Those two messages she gave me just now may not have been very long ones, but you could see how clear-cut her delivery of them was.’
She smiled at Crimson again.
‘How would you like to come and work for me and be my god-daughter? With a little grooming from me you could go far.’
Crimson suppressed a giggle.
‘Why do you laugh?’ said Xi-feng. ‘I suppose you think I’m too young to be your god-mother. You’re very silly if you think that. You just ask around a bit: there are plenty much older than you who’d give their ears to be my god-daughter. What I’m offering you is a very special favour.’
Crimson smiled.
‘I wasn’t laughing because of that, madam. I was laughing because you had got the generation wrong. My mother is your god-daughter already. If you made me your god-daughter too, I should be my own mother’s sister!’
‘Who is your mother?’ said Xi-feng.
‘Do you mean to say that you don’t know who this girl is that you’ve been talking to all this time?’ said Li Wan. ‘This is Lin Zhi-xiao’s daughter.’
Xi-feng registered surprise:
‘You mean to tell me that this is the Lins’ daughter?’ She laughed. ‘That couple of old sticks? I can never get a peep out of either of them. I’ve always maintained that Lin Zhi-xiao and his wife were the perfect match: one hears nothing and the other says nothing. Well! To think they should have produced a bright little thing like this between them! – How old are you?’ she asked Crimson.
‘Sixteen.’
‘And what’s your name?’
‘ “Crimson”, madam. I used to be called “Jade”, but they made me change it on account of Master Bao.’
Xi-feng looked away with a frown of displeasure.
‘I should think so too,’ she muttered. ‘Odious people! One can hear them saying it: “We’ve got a ‘Jade’ in our family the same as you”, or some such impertinence.’
She turning to Li Wan again:
‘I don’t think you know, Wan, but I told this girl’s mother that as Lai Da’s wife is so busy nowadays that she doesn’t even know who half the girls in the household are any longer, I wanted her to pick out a couple of likely-looking girls to work under me. Now she promised that she would do this; but you see, not only has she not done so, but she’s actually gone and sent her own daughter to work for someone else. Do you suppose she really thinks her girl would have had such a terrible time with me?’
‘Don’t be so touchy,’ said Li Wan. ‘Her mother is not to blame. The girl had already started service in the Garden before you ever spoke to her about it.’
‘Oh well, in that case,’ said Xi-feng, recovering her good humour, ‘I’ll have a word with Bao-yu about it tomorrow. I’ll tell him to find someone else and let me have this girl to work under me. Still –’ she turned to Crimson, ‘perhaps we ought to ask the party most concerned if she is willing.’
Crimson smiled.
‘As to being willing or not, madam, I don’t think it’s my place to say. But I do know this: that if I was to work for you, I should get to know what’s what and all the inside and outside of household management. I’m sure it would be wonderful experience.’
Just then a maid arrived from Lady Wang’s asking for Xi-feng, who promptly excused herself to Li Wan and left. Crimson returned to Green Delights – where our story now leaves her.
We now return to Dai-yu, who, having slept so little the night before, was very late getting up on the morning of the festival. Hearing that the other girls were all out in the garden ‘speeding the fairies’ and fearing to be teased by them for her lazy habits, she hurried over her toilet and went out as soon as it was completed. A smiling Bao-yu appeared in the gateway as she was stepping down into the courtyard.
‘Well, coz,’ he said, ‘I hope you didn’t tell on me yesterday. You had me worrying about it all last night.’
Dai-yu turned back, ignoring him, to address Nightingale inside:
‘When you do the room, leave one of the casements open so that the parent swallows can get in. And put the lion doorstop on the bottom of the blind to stop it flapping. And don’t forget to put the cover back on the burner after you’ve lighted the incense.’
She made her way across the courtyard, still ignoring him.
Bao-yu, who knew nothing of the little drama that had taken place outside his gate the night before, assumed that she was still angry about his unfortunate lapse earlier on that same day, when he had offended her susceptibilities with a somewhat risqué quotation from The Western Chamber. He offered her now, with energetic bowing and hand-pumping, the apologies that the previous day’s emergency had caused him to neglect. But Dai-yu walked straight past him and out of the gate, not deigning so much as a glance in his direction, and stalked off in search of the others.
Bao-yu was nonplussed. He began to suspect that something more than he had first imagined must be wrong.
‘Surely it can’t only be because of yesterday lunchtime that she’s carrying on in this fashion? There must be something else. On the other hand, I didn’t get back until late and I didn’t see her again last night, so how could I have offended her?’
Preoccupied with these reflections, he followed her at some distance behind.
Not far ahead Bao-chai and Tan-chun were watching the ungainly courtship dance of some storks. When they saw Dai-yu coming, they invited her to join them, and the three girls stood together and chatted. Then Bao-yu arrived. Tan-chun greeted him with sisterly concern:
‘How have you been keeping, Bao? It’s three whole days since I saw you last.’
Bao-yu smiled back at her.
‘How have you been keeping, sis? I was asking Cousin Wan about you the day before yesterday.’
‘Come over here a minute,’ said Tan-chun. ‘I want to talk to you.’
He followed her into the shade of a pomegranate tree a little way apart from the other two.
‘Has Father asked to see you at all during this last day or two?’ Tan-chun began.
‘No.’
‘I thought I heard someone say yesterday that he had been asking for you.’
‘No,’ said Bao-yu, smiling at her concern. ‘Whoever it was was mistaken. He certainly hasn’t asked for me.’
Tan-chun smiled and changed the subject.
‘During the past few months,’ she said, ‘I’ve managed to save up another ten strings or so of cash. I’d like you to take it again like you did last time, and next time you go out, if you see a nice painting or calligraphic scroll or some amusing little thing that would do for my room, I’d like you to buy it for me.’
‘Well, I don’t know,’ said Bao-yu. ‘In the trips I make to bazaars and temple fairs, whether it’s inside the city or round about, I can’t say that I ever see anything really nice or out of the ordinary. It’s all bronzes and jades and porcelain and that sort of stuff. Apart from that it’s mostly dress-making materials and clothes and things to eat.’
‘Now what would I want things like that for?’ said Tan-chun. ‘No, I mean something like that little wickerwork basket you bought me last time, or the little box carved out of bamboo root, or the little clay burner. I thought they were sweet. Unfortunately the others took such a fancy to them that they carried them off as loot and wouldn’t give them back to me again.’
‘Oh, if those are the sort of things you want,’ said Bao-yu laughing, ‘it’s very simple. Just give a few strings of cash to one of the boys and he’ll bring you back a whole cartload of them.’
‘What do the boys know about it?’ said Tan-chun. ‘I need someone who can pick out the interesting things and the ones that are in good taste. You get me lots of nice little things, and I’ll embroider a pair of slippers for you like the ones I made for you last time – only this time I’ll do them more carefully.’
‘Talking of those slippers reminds me,’ said Bao-yu. ‘I happened to run into Father once when I was wearing them. He was Most Displeased. When he asked me who made them, I naturally didn’t dare to tell him that you had, so I said that Aunt Wang had given them to me as a birthday present a few days before. There wasn’t much he could do about it when he heard that they came from Aunt Wang; so after a very long pause he just said, “What a pointless waste of human effort and valuable material, to produce things like that!” I told this to Aroma when I got back, and she said, “Oh, that’s nothing! You should have heard your Aunt Zhao complaining about those slippers. She was furious when she heard about them: ‘Her own natural brother so down at heel he scarcely dares show his face to people, and she spends her time making things like that!’ ” ’
Tan-chun’s smile had vanished:
‘How can she talk such nonsense? Why should I be the one to make shoes for him? Huan gets a clothing allowance, doesn’t he? He gets his clothing and footwear provided for the same as all the rest of us. And fancy saying a thing like that in front of a roomful of servants! For whose benefit was this remark made, I wonder? I make an occasional pair of slippers just for something to do in my spare time; and if I give a pair to someone I particularly like, that’s my own affair. Surely no one else has any business to start telling me who I should give them to? Oh, she’s so petty!’
Bao-yu shook his head:
‘Perhaps you’re being a bit hard on her. She’s probably got her reasons.’
This made Tan-chun really angry. Her chin went up defiantly:
‘Now you’re being as stupid as her. Of course she’s got her reasons; but they are ignorant, stupid reasons. But she can think what she likes: as far as I am concerned, Sir Jia is my father and Lady Wang is my mother, and who was born in whose room doesn’t interest me – the way I choose my friends inside the family has nothing to do with that. Oh, I know I shouldn’t talk about her like this; but she is so idiotic about these things. As a matter of fact I can give you an even better example than your story of the slippers. That last time I gave you my savings to get something for me, she saw me a few days afterwards and started telling me how short of money she was and how difficult things were for her. I took no notice, of course. But later, when the maids were out of the room, she began attacking me for giving the money I’d saved to other people instead of giving it to Huan. Really! I didn’t know whether to laugh or get angry with her. In the end I just walked out of the room and went round to see Mother.’
There was an amused interruption at this point from Bao-chai, who was still standing where they had left her a few minutes before:
‘Do finish your talking and come back soon! It’s easy to see that you two are brother and sister. As soon as you see each other, you get into a huddle and start talking about family secrets. Would it really be such a disaster if anything you are saying were to be overheard?’
Tan-chun and Bao-yu rejoined her, laughing.
Not seeing Dai-yu, Bao-yu realized that she must have slipped off elsewhere while he was talking.
‘Better leave it a day or two,’ he told himself on reflection. ‘Wait until her anger has calmed down a bit.’
While he was looking downwards and meditating, he noticed that the ground where they were standing was carpeted with a bright profusion of wind-blown flowers – pomegranate and balsam for the most part.
‘You can see she’s upset,’ he thought ruefully. ‘She’s neglecting her flowers. I’ll bury this lot for her and remind her about it next time I see her.’
He became aware that Bao-chai was arranging for him and Tan-chun to go with her outside.
‘I’ll join you two presently,’ he said, and waited until they were a little way off before stooping down to gather the fallen blossoms into the skirt of his gown. It was quite a way from where he was to the place where Dai-yu had buried the peach-blossom on that previous occasion, but he made his way towards it, over rocks and bridges and through plantations of trees and flowers. When he had almost reached his destination and there was only the spur of a miniature ‘mountain’ between him and the burial-place of the flowers, he heard the sound of a voice, coming from the other side of the rock, whose continuous, gentle chiding was occasionally broken by the most pitiable and heart-rending sobs.
‘It must be a maid from one of the apartments,’ thought Bao-yu. ‘Someone has been ill-treating her, and she has run here to cry on her own.’
He stood still and endeavoured to catch what the weeping girl was saying. She appeared to be reciting something:
The blossoms fade and falling fill the air, Of fragrance and bright hues bereft and bare. Floss drifts and flutters round the Maiden’s bower, Or softly strikes against her curtained door.
The Maid, grieved by these signs of spring’s decease, Seeking some means her sorrow to express, Has rake in hand into the garden gone, Before the fallen flowers are trampled on.
Elm-pods and willow-floss are fragrant too; Why care, Maid, where the fallen flowers blew? Next year, when peach and plum-tree bloom again, Which of your sweet companions will remain?
This spring the heartless swallow built his nest Beneath the eaves of mud with flowers compressed. Next year the flowers will blossom as before, But swallow, nest, and Maid will be no more.
Three hundred and three-score the year’s full tale: From swords of frost and from the slaughtering gale How can the lovely flowers long stay intact, Or, once loosed, from their drifting fate draw back?
Blooming so steadfast, fallen so hard to find! Beside the flowers’ grave, with sorrowing mind, The solitary Maid sheds many a tear, Which on the boughs as bloody drops appear.
At twilight, when the cuckoo sings no more, The Maiden with her rake goes in at door And lays her down between the lamplit walls, While a chill rain against the window falls.
I know not why my heart’s so strangely sad, Half grieving for the spring and yet half glad: Glad that it came, grieved it so soon was spent. So soft it came, so silently it went!
Last night, outside, a mournful sound was heard: The spirits of the flowers and of the bird. But neither bird nor flowers would long delay, Bird lacking speech, and flowers too shy to stay.
And then I wished that I had wings to fly After the drifting flowers across the sky: Across the sky to the world’s farthest end, The flowers’ last fragrant resting-place to find.
But better their remains in silk to lay And bury underneath the wholesome clay, Pure substances the pure earth to enrich, Than leave to soak and stink in some foul ditch.
Can I, that these flowers’ obsequies attend, Divine how soon or late my life will end? Let others laugh flower-burial to see: Another year who will be burying me?
As petals drop and spring begins to fail, The bloom of youth, too, sickens and turns pale. One day, when spring has gone and youth has fled. The Maiden and the flowers will both be dead.
All this was uttered in a voice half-choked with sobs; for the words recited seemed only to inflame the grief of the reciter – indeed, Bao-yu, listening on the other side of the rock, was so overcome by them that he had already flung himself weeping upon the ground.
But the sequel to this painful scene will be told in the following chapter.