第六十二回

第六十二回 憨湘云醉眠芍药裀 呆香菱情解石榴裙

话说平儿出来吩咐林之孝家的道：“大事化为小事，小事化为没事，方是兴旺之家。若得不了[3]一点子小事，便扬铃打鼓的乱折腾起来，不成道理。如今将他母女带回，照旧去当差。将秦显家的仍旧退回。再不必提此事。只是每日小心巡察要紧。”说毕，起身走了。柳家的母女忙向上磕头，林家的带回园中，回了李纨探春，二人皆说：“知道了，宁可无事，很好。”

司棋等人空兴头[4]了一阵。那秦显家的好容易等了这个空子钻了来，只兴头上半天。在厨房内正乱着接收家伙米粮煤炭等物，又查出许多亏空来，说：“粳米短了两石，常用米又多支了一个月的，炭也欠着额数。”一面又打点送林之孝家的〔二〕礼，悄悄的备了一篓炭，五百斤木柴，一担粳米，在外边就遣了子侄送入林家去了；又打点送帐房的礼；又预备几样菜蔬请几位同事的人，说：“我来了，全仗列位扶持。自今以后都是一家人了。我有照顾不到的，好歹大家照顾些。”

正乱着，忽有人来说与他：“看过〔三〕这早饭就出去罢。柳嫂儿原无事，如今还交与他管了。”秦显家的听了，轰去魂魄，垂头丧气，登时掩旗息鼓，卷包而出。送人之物白丢了许多，自己倒要折变了赔补亏空。连司棋都气了个倒仰，无计挽回，只得罢了。

赵姨娘正因彩云私赠了许多东西，被玉钏儿吵出，生恐查诘出来，每日捏一把汗打听信儿。忽见彩云来告诉说：“都是宝玉应了，从此无事。”赵姨娘方把心放下来。谁知贾环听如此说，便起了疑心，将彩云凡私赠之物都拿了出来，照着彩云的脸摔了去，说：“这两面三刀的东西！我不稀罕。你不和宝玉好，他如何肯替你应。你既有担当给了我，原该不与一个人知道。如今你既然告诉他，我再要这个，也没趣儿。”

彩云见如此，急的发身赌誓，至于哭了。百般解说，贾环执意不信，说：“不看你素日之情，去告诉二嫂子，就说你偷来给我，我不敢要。你细想去。”说毕，摔手出去了。急的赵姨娘骂：“没造化的种子，蛆心孽障。”气的彩云哭个泪干肠断。赵姨娘百般的安慰他：“好孩子，他辜负了你的心，我看的真。让我收起来，过两日他自然回转过来了。”说着，便要收东西。彩云赌气一顿包起来，乘人不见时，来至园中，都撇在河内，顺水沉的沉漂的漂了。自己气的夜间在被内暗哭。

当下又值宝玉生日已到，原来宝琴也是这日，二人相同。因王夫人不在家，也不曾像往年闹热。只有张道士送了四样礼，换的寄名符儿；还有几处僧尼庙的和尚姑子送了供尖儿[7]，并寿星纸马疏头，并本命星官值年太岁周年换的锁儿。家中常走的女先儿〔四〕来上寿。王子腾那边，仍是一套衣服，一双鞋袜，一百寿桃，一百束上用银丝挂面。薛姨娘处减一等。其馀家中人，尤氏仍是一双鞋袜；凤姐儿是一个宫制四面和合荷包，里面装一个金寿星，一件波斯国[9]所制玩器。各庙中遣人去放堂[10]舍钱。又另有宝琴之礼，不能备述。姐妹中皆随便，或有一扇的，或有一字的，或有一画的，或有一诗的，聊复应景而已。

这日宝玉清晨起来，梳洗已毕，冠带出来。至前厅院中，已有李贵等四五个人在那里设下天地香烛，宝玉炷了香。行毕礼，奠茶焚纸后，便至宁府中宗祠祖先堂两处行毕礼，出至月台上，又朝上遥拜过贾母、贾政、王夫人等。一顺到尤氏上房，行过礼，坐了一回，方回荣府。先至薛姨妈处，薛姨妈再三拉着，然后又遇见薛蝌，让一回，方进园来。晴雯、麝月二人跟随，小丫头夹着毡子，从李氏起，一一挨着比他长的房中到过。复出二门，至李、赵、张、王四个奶妈家让了一回，方进来。虽众人要行礼，也不曾受。回至房中，袭人等只都来说一声就是了。王夫人有言，不令年轻人受礼，恐折了福寿，故皆不磕头。

歇一时，贾环、贾兰等来了，袭人连忙拉住，坐了一坐，便去了。宝玉笑说走乏了，便歪在床上。方吃了半盏茶，只听外面咭咭呱呱，一群丫头笑进来，原来是翠墨、小螺、翠缕、入画，邢岫烟的丫头篆儿，并奶子抱着巧姐儿，彩鸾、绣鸾八九个人，都抱着红毡笑着走来，说：“拜寿的挤破了门了，快拿面来我们吃。”刚进来时，探春、湘云、宝琴、岫烟、惜春也都来了。宝玉忙迎出来，笑说：“不敢起动，快预备好茶。”进入房中，不免推让一回，大家归坐。袭人等捧过茶来，才吃了一口，平儿也打扮的花枝招展的来了。

宝玉忙迎出来，笑说：“我方才到凤姐姐门上，回了进去，不能见，我又打发人进去让姐姐的。”平儿笑道：“我正打发你姐姐梳头，不得出来回你。后来听见又说让我，我那里禁当的起，所以特赶来磕头。”宝玉笑道：“我也禁当不起。”袭人早在外间安了座，让他坐。平儿便福下去，宝玉作揖不迭。平儿便跪下去，宝玉也忙还跪下，袭人连忙搀起来。又下了一福，宝玉又还了一揖。袭人笑推宝玉：“你再作揖。”宝玉道：“已经完了，怎么又作揖？”袭人笑道：“这是他来给你拜寿。今儿也是他的生日，你也该给他拜寿。”宝玉听了，喜的忙作下揖去，说〔五〕：“原来今儿也是姐姐的芳诞。”平儿还万福不迭。

湘云拉宝琴、岫烟说：“你们四个人对拜寿，直拜一天才是。”探春忙问：“原来邢妹妹也是今儿？我怎么就忘了。”忙命丫头：“去告诉二奶奶，赶着补了一分礼，与琴姑娘的一样，送到二姑娘屋里去。”丫头答应着去了。岫烟见湘云直口说出来，少不得要到各房去让让。

探春笑道：“倒有些意思，一年十二个月，月月有几个生日。人多了，便这等巧，也有三个一日、两个一日的。大年初一日也不白过，大姐姐占了去。怨不得他福大，生日比别人就占先。又是太祖太爷的生日。过了灯节，就是姨太太和宝姐姐，他们娘儿两个遇的巧。三月初一日是太太，初九日是琏二哥哥。二月没人。”袭人道：“二月十二是林姑娘，怎么没人？就只不是咱家的人。”探春笑道：“我这个记性是怎么了！”宝玉笑指袭人道：“他和林妹妹是一日，所以他记的。”

探春笑道：“原来你两个倒是一日。每年连头也不给我们磕一个。平儿的生日我们也不知道，这也是才知道。”平儿笑道：“我们是那牌儿名上的人，生日也没拜寿的福，又没受礼职分，可吵闹什么，可不悄悄的过去。今儿他又偏吵出来了，等姑娘们回房，我再行礼去罢。”探春笑道：“也不敢惊动。只是今儿倒要替你过个生日，我心才过得去。”宝玉、湘云等一齐都说：“很是。”探春便吩咐了丫头：“去告诉他奶奶，就说我们大家说了，今儿一日不放平儿出去，我们也大家凑了分子过生日呢。”丫头笑着去了，半日，回来说：“二奶奶说了，多谢姑娘们给他脸。不知过生日给他些什么吃，只别忘了二奶奶，就不来絮聒他了。”众人都笑了。

探春因说道：“可巧今儿里头厨房不预备饭，一应下面弄菜都是外头收拾。咱们就凑了钱叫柳家的来揽了去，只在咱们里头收拾倒好。”众人都说是极。探春一面遣人去问李纨、宝钗、黛玉，一面遣人去传柳家的进来，吩咐他内厨房中快收拾两桌酒席。

柳家的不知何意，因说外厨房都预备了。探春笑道：“你原来不知道，今儿是平姑娘的华诞。外头预备的是上头的，这如今我们私下又凑了分子，单为平姑娘预备两桌请他。你只管拣新巧的菜蔬预备了来，开了帐和我那里领钱。”柳家的笑道：“原来今日也是平姑娘的千秋，我竟不知道。”说着，便向平儿磕下头去，慌的平儿拉起他来。柳家的忙去预备酒席。

这里探春又邀了宝玉，同到厅上去吃面，等到李纨宝钗一齐来全，又遣人去请薛姨妈与黛玉。因天气和暖，黛玉之疾渐愈，故也来了。花团锦簇，挤了一厅的人。

谁知薛蝌又送了巾扇香帛四色寿礼与宝玉，宝玉于是过去陪他吃面。两家皆治了寿酒，互相酬送，彼此同领。至午间，宝玉又陪薛蝌吃了两杯酒。宝钗带了宝琴过来与薛蝌行礼，把盏毕，宝钗因嘱薛蝌：“家里的酒也不用送过那边去，这虚套竟可收了。你只请伙计们吃罢。我们和宝兄弟进去还要待人去呢，也不能陪你了。”薛蝌忙说：“姐姐兄弟只管请，只怕伙计们也就好来了。”宝玉忙又告过罪，方同他姊妹回来。

一进角门，宝钗便命婆子将门锁上，把钥匙要了自己拿着。宝玉忙说：“这一道门何必关，又没多的人走。况且姨娘、姐姐、妹妹都在里头，倘或家去取什么，岂不费事。”宝钗笑道：“小心没过逾的。你瞧你们那边，这几日七事八事，竟没有我们这边的人，可知是这门关的有功效了。若是开着，保不住那起人图顺脚，抄近路从这里走，拦谁的是？不如锁了，连妈和我也禁着些，大家别走。纵有了事，就赖不着这边的人了。”

宝玉笑道：“原来姐姐也知道我们那边近日丢了东西〔六〕？”宝钗笑道：“你只知道玫瑰露和茯苓霜两件，乃因人而及物。若非因人，你连这两件还不知道呢。殊不知还有几件比这两件大的呢。若以后叨登不出来，是大家的造化；若叨登出来，不知里头连累多少人呢。你也是不管事的人，我才告诉你。平儿是个明白人，我前儿也告诉了他，皆因他奶奶不在外头，所以使他明白了。若不出来，大家乐得丢开手。若犯出来，他心里已有稿子，自有头绪，就冤屈不着平人了。你只听我说，以后留神小心就是了，这话也不可对第二个人讲。”

说着，来到沁芳亭边，只见袭人、香菱、待书、素云、晴雯、麝月、芳官、蕊官、藕官等十来个人都在那里看鱼作耍。见他们来了，都说：“芍药栏里预备下了，快去上席罢。”宝钗等随携了他们同到了芍药栏中红香圃三间小敞厅内。连尤氏已请过来了，诸人都在那里，只没平儿。

原来平儿出去，有赖林诸家送了礼来，连三接四，上中下三等家人来拜寿送礼的不少，平儿忙着打发赏钱道谢，一面又色色的回明凤姐儿，不过留下几样，也有不收的，也有收下即刻赏与人的。忙了一回，又直待凤姐儿吃过面，方换了衣裳往园里来。

刚进了园，就有几个丫鬟来找他，一同到了红香圃中。只见筵开玳瑁，褥设芙蓉[13]。众人都笑：“寿星全了。”上面四座定要让他们四个人坐，四人皆不肯。薛姨妈说：“我老天拔地，又不合你们的群儿，我倒觉拘的慌，不如我到厅上随便躺躺去倒好。我又吃不下什么去，又不大吃酒，这里让他们倒便宜。”尤氏等执意不从。宝钗道：“这也罢了，倒是让妈在厅上歪着自如些，有爱吃的送些过去，倒自在了。且前头没人在那里，又可照看了。”探春等笑道：“既这样，恭敬不如从命。”因大家送了他到议事厅上，眼看着命丫头们铺了一个锦褥并靠背引枕之类，又嘱咐：“好生给姨妈捶腿，要茶要水别推三扯四的。回来送了东西来，姨妈吃了就赏你们吃。只别离了这里出去。”小丫头们都答应了。

探春等方回来。终久让宝琴、岫烟二人在上，平儿面西坐，宝玉面东坐。探春又接了鸳鸯来，二人并肩对面相陪。西边一桌，宝钗、黛玉、湘云、迎春、惜春，一面又拉了香菱、玉钏儿二人打横。三桌上，尤氏李纨又拉了袭人、彩云陪坐。四桌上便是紫鹃、莺儿、晴雯、小螺、司棋等人围坐。当下探春等还要把盏，宝琴等四人都说：“这一闹，一日都坐不成了。”方才罢了。两个女先儿要弹词上寿，众人都说：“我们没人要听那些野话，你厅上去说给姨太太解闷儿去罢。”一面又将各色吃食拣了，命人送与薛姨妈去。

宝玉便说：“雅坐无趣，须要行令才好。”众人有的说行这个令好，那个又说行那个令好。黛玉道：“依我说，拿了笔砚将各色全都写了，拈成阄儿，咱们抓出那个来，就是那个。”众人都道妙。即拿了一副笔砚花笺。香菱近日学了诗，又天天学写字，见了笔砚便图不得，连忙起座说：“我写。”

大家想了一回，共得了十来个，念着，香菱一一的写了，搓成阄儿，掷在一个瓶中间。探春便命平儿拣，平儿向内搅了一搅，用箸拈了一个出来，打开看，上写着“射覆”[14]二字。宝钗笑道：“把个酒令的祖宗拈出来。‘射覆’从古有的，如今失了传，这是后人纂的，比一切的令都难。这里头倒有一半是不会的，不如毁了，另拈一个雅俗共赏的。”探春笑道：“既拈了出来，如何又毁。如今再拈一个，若是雅俗共赏的，便叫他们行去。咱们行这个。”说着又着袭人拈了一个，却是“拇战”[15]。史湘云笑着说：“这个简断爽利，合了我的脾气。我不行这个‘射覆’，没的垂头丧气闷人，我只划拳去了。”探春道：“惟有他乱令，宝姐姐快罚他一钟。”宝钗不容分说，便灌湘云一杯。

探春道：“我吃一杯，我是令官，也不用宣，只听我分派。”命取了令骰令盆来，“从琴妹掷起，挨下掷去，对了点的二人射覆。”宝琴一掷，是个三，岫烟宝玉等皆掷的不对，直到香菱方掷了个三。宝琴笑道：“只好室内生春[16]，若说到外头去，可太没头绪了。”探春道：“自然。三次不中者罚一杯。你覆，他射。”宝琴想了一想，说了个“老”字。香菱原生于这令，一时想不到，满室满席都不见有与“老”字相连的成语。湘云先听了，便也乱看，忽见门斗上贴着“红香圃”三个字，便知宝琴覆的是“吾不如老圃”[17]的“圃”字。见香菱射不着，众人击鼓又催，便悄悄的拉香菱，教他说“药”字[18]。黛玉偏看见了，说：“快罚他，又在那里私相传递呢。”哄的众人都知道了，忙又罚了一杯，恨的湘云拿筷子敲黛玉的手。于是罚了香菱一杯。

下则宝钗和探春对了点子。探春便覆了〔七〕一个“人”字。宝钗笑道：“这个‘人’字泛的很。”探春笑道：“添一字，两覆一射也不泛了。”说着，便又说了一个“窗”字。宝钗一想，因见席上有鸡，便射着他是用“鸡窗”[20]“鸡人”二典了，因射了一个“埘”字。探春知他射着，用了“鸡栖于埘”[21]的典，二人一笑，各饮一口门杯。

湘云等不得，早和宝玉“三”“五”乱叫，划起拳来。那边尤氏和鸳鸯隔着席也“七”“八”乱叫划起来。平儿袭人也作了一对划拳，叮叮当当只听得腕上的镯子响。一时湘云赢了宝玉，袭人赢了平儿，尤氏赢了鸳鸯，三个人限酒底酒面，湘云便说：“酒面要一句古文，一句旧诗，一句骨牌名，一句曲牌名，还要一句时宪书[22]上的话，共总凑成一句话。酒底要关人事的果菜名。”众人听了，都笑说：“惟有他的令也比人唠叨，倒也有意思。”便催宝玉快说。宝玉笑道：“谁说过这个，也等想一想儿。”黛玉便道：“你多喝一钟，我替你说。”宝玉真个喝了酒，听黛玉说道：

落霞与孤鹜齐飞，风急江天过雁哀，却是一只折足雁，叫的人九回肠，这是鸿雁来宾。[23]

说的大家笑了，说：“这一串子倒有些意思。”黛玉又拈了一个榛穰，说酒底道：

榛子非关隔院砧，何来万户捣衣声。[24]

令完，鸳鸯、袭人等皆说的是一句俗语，都带一个“寿”字的，不能多赘。

大家轮流乱划了一阵，这上面湘云又和宝琴对了手，李纨和岫烟对了点子。李纨便覆了一个“瓢”字，岫烟便射了一个“绿”字[25]，二人会意，各饮一口。湘云的拳却输了，请酒面酒底。宝琴笑道：“请君入瓮。”[26]大家笑起来，说：“这个典用的当。”湘云便说道：

奔腾而砰湃，江间波浪兼天涌，须要铁锁缆孤舟，既遇着一江风，不宜出行。[27]

说的众人都笑了，说：“好个诌断了肠子的。怪道他出这个令，故意惹人笑。”又听他说酒底。湘云吃了酒，拣了一块鸭肉呷口，忽见碗内有半个鸭头，遂拣了出来吃脑子。众人催他，“别只顾吃，到底快说了。”湘云便用箸子举着说道：

这鸭头不是那丫头，头上那讨桂花油。

众人越发笑起来，引的晴雯、小螺、莺儿等一干人都走过来说：“云姑娘会开心儿，拿着我们取笑儿，快罚一杯才罢。怎见得我们就该擦桂花油的？倒得每人给一瓶子桂花油擦擦。”黛玉笑道：“他倒有心给你们一瓶子油，又怕挂误着打盗窃的官司。”众人不理论，宝玉却明白，忙低了头。彩云有心病，不觉的红了脸。宝钗忙暗暗的瞅了黛玉一眼。黛玉自悔失言，原是趣宝玉的，就忘了趣着彩云。自悔不及，忙一顿行令划拳岔开了。

底下宝玉可巧和宝钗对了点子。宝钗覆了一个“宝”字，宝玉想了一想，便知是宝钗作戏指自己所佩通灵玉而言，便笑道：“姐姐拿我作雅谑，我却射着了。说出来姐姐别恼，就是姐姐的讳‘钗’字就是了。”众人道：“怎么解？”宝玉道：“他说‘宝’，底下自然是‘玉’了。我射‘钗’字，旧诗曾有‘敲断玉钗红烛冷’[28]，岂不射着了。”湘云说道：“这用时事却使不得，两个人都该罚。”香菱忙道：“不止时事，这也有出处。”湘云道：“‘宝玉’二字并无出处，不过是春联上或有之，诗书纪载并无，算不得。”香菱道：“前日我读岑嘉州[29]五言律，现有一句说‘此乡多宝玉’，怎么你倒忘了？后来又读李义山七言绝句，又有一句‘宝钗无日不生尘’[30]，我还笑说他两个名字都原来在唐诗上呢。”众人笑说：“这可问住了，快罚一杯。”湘云无语，只得饮了。

大家又该对点的对点，划拳的划拳。这些人因贾母王夫人不在家，没了管束，便任意取乐，呼三喝四，喊七叫八。满厅中红飞翠舞，玉动珠摇，真是十分热闹。顽了一回，大家方起席散了一散，倏然不见了湘云，只当他外头自便就来，谁知越等越没了影响，使人各处去找，那里找得着。

接着林之孝家的同着几个老婆子来，生恐有正事呼唤，二者恐丫鬟们年轻，乘王夫人不在家不服探春等约束，恣意痛饮，失了体统，故来请问有事无事。探春见他们来了，便知其意，忙笑道：“你们又不放心，来查我们来了。我们没有多吃酒，不过是大家顽笑，将酒作个引子，妈妈们别耽心。”李纨尤氏都也笑说：“你们歇着去罢，我们也不敢叫他们多吃了。”林之孝家的等人笑说：“我们知道，连老太太叫姑娘吃酒姑娘们还不肯吃，何况太太们不在家，自然顽罢了。我们怕有事，来打听打听。二则天长了，姑娘们顽一回子还该点补些小食儿。素日又不大吃杂东西，如今吃一两杯酒，若不多吃些东西，怕受伤。”探春笑道：“妈妈们说的是，我们也正要吃呢。”因回头命取点心来。

两旁丫鬟们答应了，忙去传点心。探春又笑让：“你们歇着去罢，或是姨妈那里说话儿去。我们即刻打发人送酒你们吃去。”林之孝家的等人笑回：“不敢领了。”又站了一回，方退了出来。平儿摸着脸笑道：“我的脸都热了，也不好意思见他们。依我说竟收了罢，别惹他们再来，倒没意思了。”探春笑道：“不相干，横竖咱们不认真喝酒就罢了。”

正说着，只见一个小丫头笑嘻嘻的走来：“姑娘们快瞧云姑娘去，吃醉了图凉快，在山子后头一块青板石凳上睡着了。”众人听说，都笑道：“快别吵嚷。”说着，都走来看时，果见湘云卧于山石僻处一个石凳子上，业经香梦沉酣，四面芍药花飞了一身，满头脸衣襟上皆是红香散乱，手中的扇子在地下，也半被落花埋了，一群蜂蝶闹穰穰的围着他，又用鲛帕包了一包芍药花瓣枕着。众人看了，又是爱，又是笑，忙上来推唤挽扶。湘云口内犹作睡语说酒令，唧唧嘟嘟说：

泉香而酒冽，玉碗盛来琥珀光，直饮到梅梢月上，醉扶归，却为宜会亲友。[31]

众人笑推他，说道：“快醒醒儿吃饭去，这潮凳上还睡出病来呢。”湘云慢启秋波，见了众人，低头看了一看自己，方知是醉了。原是来纳凉避静的，不觉的因多罚了两杯酒，娇嫋不胜，便睡着了，心中反觉自愧。连忙起身扎挣着同人来至红香圃中，用过水，又吃了两盏酽茶。探春忙命将醒酒石[32]拿来给他衔在口内，一时又命他喝了一些酸汤，方才觉得好了些。

当下又选了几样果菜与凤姐送去，凤姐儿也送了几样来。宝钗等吃过点心，大家也有坐的，也有立的，也有在外观花的，也有扶栏观鱼的，各自取便说笑不一。探春便和宝琴下棋，宝钗岫烟观局。林黛玉和宝玉在一簇花下唧唧哝哝不知说些什么。

只见林之孝家的和一群女人带了一个媳妇进来。那媳妇愁眉苦脸，也不敢进厅，只到了阶下，便朝上跪下了，碰头有声。探春因一块棋受了敌，算来算去纵得了两个眼，便折了官着[33]，两眼只瞅着棋枰，一只手却伸在盒内，只管抓弄棋子作想，林之孝家的站了半天，因回头要茶时才看见，问：“什么事？”林之孝家的便指那媳妇说：“这是四姑娘屋里的小丫头彩儿的娘，现是园内伺候的人。嘴很不好，才是我听见了问着他，他说的话也不敢回姑娘，竟要撵出去才是。”探春道：“怎么不回大奶奶？”林之孝家的道：“方才大奶奶都往厅上姨太太处去了，顶头看见，我已回明白了，叫回姑娘来。”探春道：“怎么不回二奶奶？”平儿道：“不回去也罢，我回去说一声就是了。”探春点点头，道〔八〕：“既这么着，就撵出他去，等太太来了，再回定夺。”说毕仍又下棋。这林之孝家的带了那人去。不提。

黛玉和宝玉二人站在花下，遥遥知意。黛玉便说道：“你家三丫头倒是个乖人。虽然叫他管些事，倒也一步儿不肯多走。差不多的人就早作起威福来了。”宝玉道：“你不知道呢。你病着时，他干了好几件事。这园子也分了人管，如今多掐一草也不能了。又蠲了几件事，单拿我和凤姐姐作筏子禁别人。最是心里有算计的人，岂只乖而已。”黛玉道：“要这样才好，咱们家里也太花费了。我虽不管事，心里每常闲了，替你们一算计，出的多进的少，如今若不省俭，必致后手不接。”宝玉笑道：“凭他怎么后手不接，也短不了咱们两个人的。”黛玉听了，转身就往厅上寻宝钗说笑去了。

宝玉正欲走时，只见袭人走来，手内捧着一个小连环洋漆茶盘，里面可式放着两钟新茶，因问：“他往那去了？我见你两个半日没吃茶，巴巴的倒了两钟来，他又走了。”宝玉道：“那不是他，你给他送去。”说着自拿了一钟。袭人便送了那钟去，偏和宝钗在一处，只得一钟茶，便说：“那位渴了那位先接了，我再倒去。”宝钗笑道：“我却不渴，只要一口漱一漱就够了。”说着先拿起来喝了一口，剩下半杯递在黛玉手内。袭人笑说：“我再倒去。”黛玉笑道：“你知道我这病，大夫不许我多吃茶，这半钟尽够了，难为你想的到。”说毕，饮干，将杯放下。袭人又来接宝玉的。宝玉因问：“这半日没见芳官，他在那里呢？”袭人四顾一瞧说：“才在这里几个人斗草的，这会子不见了。”

宝玉听说，便忙回至房中，果见芳官面向里睡在床上。宝玉推他说道：“快别睡觉，咱们外头顽去，一回儿好吃饭的。”芳官道：“你们吃酒不理我，教我闷了半日，可不来睡觉罢了。”宝玉拉了他起来，笑道：“咱们晚上家里再吃，回来我叫袭人姐姐带了你桌上吃饭，何如？”芳官道：“藕官蕊官都不上去，单我在那里也不好。我也不惯吃那个面条子，早起也没好生吃。才刚饿了，我已告诉了柳嫂子，先给我做一碗汤盛半碗粳米饭送来，我这里吃了就完事。若是晚上吃酒，不许教人管着我，我要尽力吃够了才罢。我先在家里，吃二三斤好惠泉酒呢。如今学了这劳什子，他们说怕坏嗓子，这几年也没闻见。乘今儿我是要开斋了。”宝玉道：“这个容易。”

说着，只见柳家的果遣了人送了一个盒子来。小燕接着揭开，里面是一碗虾丸鸡皮汤，又是一碗酒酿清蒸鸭子，一碟腌的胭脂鹅脯，还有一碟四个奶油松瓤卷酥，并一大碗热腾腾碧荧荧蒸的绿畦香稻粳米饭。小燕放在案上，走去拿了小菜并碗箸过来，拨了一碗饭。芳官便说：“油腻腻的，谁吃这些东西。”只将汤泡饭吃了一碗，拣了两块腌鹅就不吃了。宝玉闻着，倒觉比往常之味又胜些似的，遂吃了一个卷酥，又命小燕也拨了半碗饭，泡汤一吃，十分香甜可口。小燕和芳官都笑了。吃毕，小燕便将剩的要交回。宝玉道：“你吃了罢，若不够再要些来。”小燕道：“不用要，这就够了。方才麝月姐姐拿了两盘子点心给我们吃了，我再吃了这个，尽不用再吃了。”

说着，便站在桌旁一顿吃了，又留下两个卷酥，说：“这个留着给我妈吃。晚上要吃酒，给我两碗酒吃就是了。”宝玉笑道：“你也爱吃酒？等着咱们晚上痛喝一阵。你袭人姐姐和晴雯姐姐量也好，也要喝，只是每日不好意思。今儿大家开斋。还有一件事，想着嘱咐你，我竟忘了，此刻才想起来。以后芳官全要你照看他，他或有不到的去处，你提他，袭人照顾不过这些人来。”小燕道：“我都知道，都不用操心。但只这五儿怎么样？”宝玉道：“你和柳家的说去，明儿直叫他进来罢，等我告诉他们一声就完了。”芳官听了，笑道：“这倒是正经。”小燕又叫两个小丫头进来，服侍洗手倒茶，自己收了家伙，交与婆子，也洗了手，便去找柳家的。不在话下。

宝玉便出来，仍往红香圃寻众姐妹，芳官在后拿着巾扇。刚出了院门，只见袭人晴雯二人携手回来。宝玉问：“你们做什么？”袭人道：“摆下饭了，等你吃饭呢。”宝玉便笑着将方才吃的饭一节告诉了他两个。袭人笑道：“我说你是猫儿食，闻见了香就好。隔锅饭儿香。虽然如此，也该上去陪他们多少应个景儿。”晴雯用手指戳在芳官额上，说道：“你就是个狐媚子，什么空儿跑了去吃饭，两个人怎么就约下了，也不告诉我们一声儿。”袭人笑道：“不过是误打误撞的遇见了，说约下了，可是没有的事。”

晴雯道：“既这么着，要我们无用。明儿我们都走了，让芳官一个人就够使了。”袭人笑道：“我们都去了使得，你却去不得。”晴雯道：“惟有我是第一个要去，又懒又笨，性子又不好，又没用。”袭人笑道：“倘或那孔雀褂子再烧个窟窿，你去了谁可会补呢。你倒别和我拿三撇四的，我烦你做个什么，把你懒的横针不拈，竖线不动。一般也不是我的私活烦你，横竖都是他的，你就都不肯做。怎么我去了几天，你病的七死八活，一夜连命也不顾给他做了出来，这又是什么原故？你到底说话，别只佯憨，和我笑，也当不了什么。”大家说着，来至厅上。薛姨妈也来了。大家依序坐下吃饭。宝玉只用茶泡了半碗饭，应景而已。一时吃毕，大家吃茶闲话，又随便顽笑。

外面小螺和香菱、芳官、蕊官、藕官、荳官等四五个人，都满园中顽了一回，大家采了些花草来兜着，坐在花草堆中斗草。这一个说：“我有观音柳。”那一个说：“我有罗汉松。”那一个又说：“我有君子竹。”这一个又说：“我有美人蕉。”这个又说：“我有星星翠。”那个又说：“我有月月红。”这个又说：“我有《牡丹亭》上的牡丹花。”那个又说：“我有《琵琶记》里的枇杷果。”荳官便说：“我有姐妹花。”众人没了，香菱便说：“我有夫妻蕙。”荳官说：“从没听见有个夫妻蕙。”香菱道：“一箭一花为兰，一箭数花为蕙。凡蕙有两枝，上下结花者为兄弟蕙，有并头结花者为夫妻蕙。我这枝并头的，怎么不是夫妻蕙。”荳官没的说了，便起身笑道：“依你说，若是这两枝一大一小，就是老子儿子蕙了。若两枝背面开的，就是仇人蕙了。你汉子去了大半年，你想夫妻了？便扯上蕙也有夫妻，好不害羞！”香菱听了，红了脸，忙要起身拧他，笑骂道：“我把你这个烂了嘴的小蹄子！满嘴里汗[35]的胡说了。等我起来打不死你这小蹄子〔九〕！”

荳官见他要勾来，怎容他起来，便忙连身将他压倒。回头笑着央告蕊官等：“你们来，帮着我拧他这诌嘴。”两个人滚在草地下。众人拍手〔一〇〕笑说：“了不得了，那是一洼子水，可惜污了他的新裙子了。”荳官回头看了一看，果见旁边有一汪积雨，香菱的半扇裙子都污湿了，自己不好意思，忙夺了手跑了。众人笑个不住，怕香菱拿他们出气，笑着一哄而散。

香菱起身低头一瞧，那裙上犹滴滴点点流下绿水来。正恨骂不绝，可巧宝玉见他们斗草，也寻了些花草来凑戏，忽见众人跑了，只剩了香菱一个低头弄裙，因问：“怎么散了？”香菱便说：“我有一枝夫妻蕙，他们不知道，反说我诌，因此闹起来，把我的新裙子也脏了。”宝玉笑道：“你有夫妻蕙，我这里倒有一枝并蒂菱。”口内说，手内却真个拈着一枝并蒂菱花，又拈了那枝夫妻蕙在手内。香菱道：“什么夫妻不夫妻，并蒂不并蒂，你瞧瞧这裙子。”

宝玉方低头一瞧，便嗳呀了一声，说：“怎么就拖在泥里了？可惜这石榴红绫最不经染[38]。”香菱道：“这是前儿琴姑娘带了来的。姑娘做了一条，我做了一条，今儿才上身。”宝玉跌脚叹道：“若你们家，一日遭踏这一百件也不值什么。只是头一件既系琴姑娘带来的，你和宝姐姐每人才一件，他的尚好，你的先脏了，岂不辜负他的心。二则姨妈老人家嘴碎，饶这么样，我还听见常说你们不知过日子，只会遭踏东西，不知惜福呢。这叫姨妈看见了，又说一个不清。”

香菱听了这话，却碰在心坎儿上，反倒喜欢起来了，因笑道：“就是这话了。我虽有几条新裙子，都不和这一样，若有一样的〔一一〕，赶着换了，也就好了。过后再说。”宝玉道：“你快休动，只站着方好，不然连小衣儿膝裤鞋面都要拖脏。我有个主意：袭人上月做了一条和这个一模一样的，他因有孝，如今也不穿。竟送了你换下这个来，如何？”香菱笑着摇头说：“不好。他们倘或听见了倒不好。”宝玉道：“这怕什么。等他们孝满了，他爱什么难道不许你送他别的不成。你若这样，还是你素日为人了！况且不是瞒人的事，只管告诉宝姐姐也可，只不过怕姨妈老人家生气罢了。”香菱想了一想有理，便点头笑道：“就是这样罢了，别辜负了你的心。我等着，你千万叫他亲自送来才好。”

宝玉听了，喜欢非常，答应了忙忙的回来。一壁里低头心下暗算：“可惜这么一个人，没父母，连自己本姓都忘了，被人拐出来〔一二〕，偏又卖与了这个霸王。”因又想起上日平儿也是意外想不到的，今日更是意外之意外的事了。一壁胡思乱想，来至房中，拉了袭人，细细告诉了他原故。

香菱之为人，无人不怜爱的。袭人又本是个手中撒漫[41]的，况与香菱素相交好，一闻此信，忙就开箱取了出来折好，随了宝玉来寻着香菱，他还站在那里等呢。袭人笑道：“我说你太淘气了，足的淘出个故事来才罢。”香菱红了脸，笑说：“多谢姐姐了，谁知那起促狭鬼使黑心。”说着，接了裙子，展开一看，果然同自己的一样。又命宝玉背过脸去，自己叉手向内解下来，将这条系上。袭人道：“把这脏了的交与我拿回去，收拾了再给你送来。你若拿回去，看见了也是要问的。”香菱道：“好姐姐，你拿去不拘给那个妹妹罢。我有了这个，不要他了。”袭人道：“你倒大方的好。”香菱忙又万福道谢，袭人拿了脏裙便走。

香菱见宝玉蹲在地下，将方才的夫妻蕙与并蒂菱用树枝儿抠了一个坑，先抓些落花来铺垫了，将这菱蕙安放好，又将些落花来掩了，方撮土掩埋平服。香菱拉他的手，笑道：“这又叫做什么？怪道人人说你惯会鬼鬼祟祟使人肉麻的事。你瞧瞧，你这手弄的泥乌苔滑的，还不快洗去。”宝玉笑着，方起身走了去洗手，香菱也自走开。二人已走远了数步，香菱复转身回来叫住宝玉。宝玉不知有何话，扎着两只泥手，笑嘻嘻的转来问：“什么？”香菱只顾笑。因那边他的小丫头臻儿走来说：“二姑娘等你说话呢。”香菱方向宝玉道：“裙子的事可别向你哥哥说才好。”说毕，即转身走了。宝玉笑道：“可不我疯了，往虎口里探头儿去呢。”说着，也回去洗手去了。不知端详，且听下回分解。

〔一〕 “石榴裙”，原作“柘榴裙”，从戚序、甲辰本改。正文中“石榴裙”同。

[2] 芍药裀、石榴裙——芍药裀：用芍药的落花当褥子。聚落花为裀，是旧时的名士作风。见《开元天宝遗事》。石榴裙：大红裙。《玉台新咏》卷六南朝·梁·何思澄《南苑逢美人》：“风卷葡萄带，日照石榴裙。”

[3] 得不了——恨不得。

[4] 兴头——得意、高兴。

〔二〕 “家的”，原“家”为旁添。己卯、梦稿、甲辰本均无“家”字。戚序本作“家的”，从。

〔三〕 “看过”，原作“伺候过”（“伺候”二字旁添）。甲辰本作“看顾完了”。从己卯、梦稿、戚序本改。

[7] 供尖儿——指供品的顶端部分。以其馈人，以示祝福。

〔四〕 “女先儿”，原作“男女先儿”，己卯、梦稿、甲辰本同。从戚序本改。

[9] 波斯国——古国名，即今伊朗。

[10] 放堂——旧时施主在寺庙中布施僧众以期消灾得福，叫放堂。

〔五〕 “喜的忙作下揖去，说”，原作“忙作下揖去就”，点改为“忙又作下揖去，说”。从己卯、梦稿、戚序本增改。

〔六〕 “大家别走。纵有了事……丢了东西”一段，原缺二十九字，成为“大家别去，总有了东西”，下文隔一行又多“大家别走，……我”一行二十九字，系传抄错简，今从各本还原。

[13] 筵开玳瑁、褥设芙蓉——犹言开玳瑁之筵，设芙蓉之褥。形容筵席的珍贵和铺设的华丽。玳瑁：无足类海洋动物，甲壳入中药可作酒器或装饰品，甚名贵。

[14] 射覆——射：猜。覆：遮盖；隐藏。射覆：原为古时的一种猜谜游戏，用碗盆等把某物遮盖起来，猜中者胜。后来也作为酒令的一种，如这里覆者先用诗文、成语、典故等隐寓某一事物，射者猜度，用也隐寓该事物的另一诗文、成语、典故等揭谜底，若射者猜不出或猜错以及覆者误判射者的猜度时，都要罚酒。

[15] 拇战——行酒令的一种，也叫豁拳，划拳。

[16] 室内生春——这里指所射覆的谜底只限于本室的事物。生春：喻想得新巧，妙趣横生，又含有吉利的意思。

[17] 吾不如老圃（pǔ普）——见《论语·子路》。圃：种植菜蔬花果的园地。老圃：老菜农。

[18] “药”字——可能是指包括“红香圃”三间小敞厅在内的“芍药栏”。

〔七〕 “覆了”，原作“射了”。以下数处，“射”“覆”二字各脂本均颠倒，与上文二字用法有异，今从上文与程本改。

[20] 鸡窗——指书室。传说晋代兖州刺史宋处宗得一长鸣鸡，经常放在窗边，鸡忽然会说人话，同处宗终日交谈，处宗因而学问大进，后人遂用鸡窗代称书室。

[21] 鸡栖于埘（shí时）——见《诗·王风·君子于役》。埘：凿在墙壁上的鸡窝。

[22] 时宪书——即历书。

[23] “落霞……鸿雁来宾”一段——“落霞”句：见唐代王勃《滕王阁序》。鹜（wù务）：野鸭。“风急”句：或系对宋代陆游《寒夕》诗中的“风急江天无过雁”句的误记。“折足雁”：骨牌副儿名。这副牌由“长三”、“一二”、“长三”组成。九回肠：曲牌名。“鸿雁来宾”：《礼记·月令》：“季秋之月……鸿雁来宾。”旧时历书引此语作为秋季的标志。

[24] “榛（zhēn真）子”二句——榛子：榛树的果实，瓤可食用或榨油。砧（zhēn真）：捣衣石。隔院砧：邻家的捣衣石。梁代何逊《赠族人秣陵兄弟》诗：“砧杵鸣四邻。”“万户捣衣声”：见唐代李白《子夜吴歌·秋歌》。这两句话利用“榛”与“砧”同音异义的特点，既巧妙地符合了酒令的规定，也说明了榛子与捣衣声无关的事实。

[25] 李纨同岫烟射覆一段——李纨覆“瓢”字，是看到席上有樽（酒杯），故用既有“瓢”字又有“樽”字的诗句“瓢樽空挂壁”。见宋代苏辙《九日三首》之一。隐寓“樽”字。岫烟射“绿”字，是用既有“绿”字又有“樽”字的诗句“愁向绿樽生”。见唐代刘希夷《送友人之新丰》，来猜李纨所覆的“樽”字。

[26] 请君入瓮——以其人之法还治其人之身的意思。唐天授二年，武则天命来俊臣审周兴。来先问周：怎样才能使犯人招供？周答：把犯人放进四面围火的大瓮中，他就不会不招。来即如法置瓮，并对周讲：奉命审你，请你入瓮。周当即伏罪。见《资治通鉴·唐纪》。

[27] “奔腾……不宜出行”一段——“奔腾”句：见宋代欧阳修《秋声赋》。“江间”句：见唐代杜甫《秋兴八首》之一。兼天：连天。“铁锁”句：骨牌副儿名。这副牌由“长三”、“三六”、“长三”组成。一江风：曲牌名。“不宜出行”：旧时历书上每个日子的下面都载“宜”什么或“忌”什么的迷信话。造历者按干支五行推算，如认为某日外出不吉利就写上“不宜出行”，如认为某日会亲友吉利就写上“宜会亲友”，等等。

[28] “敲断玉钗红烛冷”——见南宋郑会《题邸间壁》诗。玉钗：代指灯花。王相《千家诗》注：“玉钗，烛花也。……烛花敲断，夜静而更深。”郑会著《亦文集》已佚。该诗出《诗家鼎脔》中，见《全宋诗》第五十六册。

[29] 岑（cén）嘉州——即唐代岑参，因曾任嘉州刺史，故称。“此乡多宝玉”，见其《送杨瑗（一作“张子”）尉南海》诗。

[30] “宝钗无日不生尘”——见唐代李义山（商隐）《残花》诗。“无”原诗作“何”。宝钗生尘：形容女子懒于梳妆。

[31] “泉香……宜会亲友”一段——“泉香”句：见宋代欧阳修《醉翁亭记》。冽（liè列）：清凉。“玉碗”句：见唐代李白《客中行》诗。“梅梢月上”：骨牌副儿名。这副牌由“长五”、“幺五”、“长五”组成。醉扶归：曲牌名。

[32] 醒酒石——相传是一种能够解酒的石头。《唐馀录》：李德裕平泉别墅有醒酒石，醉踞其上，可以醒酒。这里是指放在口中的一种醒酒石。

[33] 眼、官着——皆围棋术语。走棋时一方棋域中所留的空隙，叫“眼”。有两个眼，相连的一片子才能活。围棋下到最后阶段，双方争夺之地已毕，尚馀周围及边角空白，可以轮次填子，填满为止，叫收官着或收官子。

〔八〕 “探春点点头道”，底本并己卯、甲辰本均无，从梦稿、戚序本补。

[35] 汗（biē憋）——生热病者，汗多难出，心中烦躁，神志不清，往往胡言乱语，称为“汗”。这里借以骂人家“胡说”。

〔九〕 “等我起来打不死你这小蹄子”，原无，从梦稿本补。

〔一〇〕 “笑着……拍手”三十字，原无（因上下文不连贯，故又于上文“回头”前旁添“众人”二字），各本均存，文字略异，此从己卯本增补。

[38] 不经染——经不起沾染、污染。染，或谓“黵”（zhǎn展）的借音。织物易落色，形成水渍污点称“不禁黵”。

〔一一〕 “若有一样的”，底本和己卯本并无，馀各本均有，文字略异，此从梦稿、甲辰本补。

〔一二〕 “一壁里……拐出来”，底本抄写重复，另笔点去一段，另一段“自己”后旁添“的”，“忘了”点改为“不知道”。各本文字略异。此从己卯、梦稿本。

[41] 撒漫——这里是出手大方、不吝惜财物的意思。

CHAPTER 62. A tipsy Xiang-yun sleeps on a peony-petal pillow And a grateful Caltrop unfastens ber pomegranate skirt

‘It’s the sign of a really thriving household,’ said Patience, ‘that their big troubles turn into little ones and their little ones into nothing at all. To make a great song and dance over a trifle like this would be plain ridiculous. You can take them both back to the kitchen. The mother is to keep her job. Qin Xian’s wife will have to go back where she came from. There is to be no further mention of this matter. Let there be no slackening in the daily inspection of the Garden, though. That’s most important.’

As she turned to go, Cook Liu and her daughter stepped quickly forwards and kotowed their thanks. Lin Zhi-xiao’s wife then conducted them back to the Garden, after which she reported to Li Wan and Tan-chun on what had been decided. Both expressed satisfaction that the matter had resolved itself without further trouble.

The victory that had been gained by Chess and her faction was thus an empty one, and Qin Xian’s wife, that aunt of Chess’s whose installation in the kitchen had been the result of long and patient scheming, enjoyed only the briefest moment of triumph in her new position. Beginning in a great bustle with a general stock-taking of the kitchen’s equipment and stores, she detected – or claimed to detect – various shortages in the latter. Two piculs of best rice were missing, she said; a month’s supply of general purpose rice had been overdrawn; and the amount of charcoal was not what it was supposed to be. While so engaged, she was at the same time making discreet arrangements for the conveyance of various ‘presents’ (they included, by a strange coincidence, a pannier of charcoal and a load of rice) to Lin Zhi-xiao’s quarters outside; and there were to be presents for the clerks who worked in Accounts. She also prepared several dishes for a little repast to which she invited her new colleagues.

‘Now that I’ve got this job, I rely entirely on your support to run things here,’ she told them. ‘So if there are any little matters that I fall down in, I shall look to you all to help me out.’

Suddenly, in the midst of this activity, new orders arrived:

‘As soon as you have finished serving this lunch, you must leave. Liu has been cleared. They’re putting her back in charge here.’

Stunned though she was by this news, the wretched woman had at once to begin packing her things, and soon, with drums muffled and colours furled, beat a hasty retreat from the kitchen. The things she had given away to others – pointlessly, it now appeared – had to be made good, in some cases by selling her own possessions. Even Chess, for all her fury, was powerless to help her.

Ever since the fuss made by Silver about the missing objects, Aunt Zhao, the secret recipient of many of the things which Sunset had stolen, had been living in fear of discovery. Each day, as she made her surreptitious inquiries about the current progress of investigations, she perspired afresh. When Sunset herself suddenly came in and announced that Bao-yu had owned up and that there was nothing more to fear, she was naturally very much relieved. The effect on Jia Huan, however, was somewhat different. He immediately became suspicious, and taking out all the things that Sunset had been at such pains to get for him, he threw them in her face.

‘Two-faced thing!’ he shouted. ‘You must be thick with Bao-yu or he wouldn’t have covered up for you. If you were prepared to take those things in the first place, you ought to have kept quiet about it and not told anyone. Now that you’ve told him, I don’t want them any more. They would only remind me of your treachery.’

Sunset swore by the most desperate oaths that she had been faithful to him; she even wept; but Jia Huan was adamant.

‘If it weren’t that we used to be friends,’ he said, ‘I’d go straight along now to Aunt Lian and tell her that you stole those things. I’d tell her that you offered them to me, but I wouldn’t take them. Think about that then, and consider yourself lucky to have got away with it!’

With those words he flounced out of the room, to the great indignation of his mother, who shouted after him angrily.

‘Ungrateful little blackguard! What do you mean by it?’

Sunset meanwhile was weeping as if her heart would break.

‘Poor child!’ said Aunt Zhao, trying to comfort her. ‘He doesn’t appreciate you. But at least I know you are faithful to him. Let me look after these things for you. He’s sure to come round to a more sensible way of thinking in a day or two.’

She would have taken them, but Sunset forestalled her, sweeping them angrily into a bundle, which, when no one was looking, she carried into the Garden and emptied out over the lake. Some of the things sank straight to the bottom, the rest floated about on the surface of the water. She was still angry when she went to bed, and cried all night long under the bedclothes.

The day of Bao-yu’s birthday arrived – the same day, it had been discovered, as that on which Bao-qin had hers. Because Lady Wang was away, rather less fuss was made of it than in previous years. There were the customary four kinds of birthday present from Abbot Zhang together with a new amulet to replace the one he had worn during the previous year, and from the monks and nuns of various temples a token share of the day’s offerings accompanied by such other little gifts as the religious are wont to give on these occasions: little figures of Old Longevity, sacred colour-prints, offertory scrolls, talismans inscribed with his personal star guardian, and annually renewable lockets inscribed with the current year-star. A number of the blind ballad-singers both male and female regularly patronized by the household called in to offer their colourful felicitations. His uncle Wang Zi-teng’s family sent him the usual suit of clothes and two pairs of shoes and socks, together with a hundred little peach-shaped birthday cakes and a hundred little bundles of the finest ‘silver thread’ vermicelli. From his Aunt Xue he received exactly the same presents as from his uncle but in appropriately reduced amounts. The only other presents from senior members of the family were a pair of shoes from You-shi and a heavily-embroidered ‘propitious encounter’ purse with a tiny gold image of Old Longevity in it and a piece of Persian ware from Xi-feng. As in previous years, a distribution of alms was made on his behalf to the monks of various temples.

And then of course there were Bao-qin’s presents; but to enumerate them as well would be tedious.

The presents which Bao-yu received from the girls were of a less formal nature and chosen more to mark the occasion than for their intrinsic value: a fan from one, a specimen of calligraphy from another, a painting or a poem.

On the morning of his birthday Bao-yu rose at dawn, and after completing his toilet, put on his most formal clothes and went out to the main front courtyard of the mansion, where Li Gui and three other of his grooms were waiting for him by a table they had made ready with an incense burner and candlesticks and offerings as an altar to Heaven and Earth. Bao-yu lit some sticks of incense and made his prostrations, poured out a libation of tea, and burned the paper offerings and offertory scrolls. Then he went round to the Ning-guo mansion and kotowed his respects to the ancestors, first in the shrine and then in the hall. Emerging from the latter, he knelt down on the terrace outside and ‘kotowed upwards’ to his absent dear ones – Grandmother Jia, Jia Zheng and Lady Wang – rising on his knees after each prostration and lifting his clasped hands up in front of him. He called in at the main apartment on his way out and made his kotow to You-shi, after which he sat and talked to her for a bit before returning to Rong-guo House. His first visit there was to Aunt Xue, who made vigorous – though, of course, unsuccessful attempts to prevent his kotowing to her. After that he called on Xue Ke, who was slightly senior to Bao-yu but not enough to warrant an obeisance and whose efforts to prevent a kotow, therefore, were more successful. After exchanging a few words with Xue Ke, he went back into the Garden. There he found Skybright and Musk waiting for him. They were accompanied by two junior maids holding a red carpet which was intended for kneeling on. Attended by these four, he now proceeded to visit all those in the Garden beginning with Li Wan who were senior to himself. Then back to the mansion again and out through the inner gate to call on Nannie Li and three other of his former nannies, with each of whom he was expected to spend some time in conversation. On his way back the servants inside the Garden gate would have liked to kotow to him, but he would not let them; and when he was once more back in his room, Aroma and the other maids offered him only verbal greetings and did not attempt to kneel. Lady Wang had forbidden the maids to kotow to younger members of the family for fear it might shorten their lives.

Soon after this Jia Huan and Jia Lan arrived. Aroma prevented them from kneeling and made them sit down for a while. As soon as they had gone, Bao-yu declared himself tired out by all the walking he had done and put his feet up on the bed. But not for long. He had barely had time to drink half a cupful of tea when there was a confused sound of chattering and giggling outside and eight or nine maids burst laughing into the room. There was Ebony and Periwinkle and Kingfisher and Picture, Xing Xiu-yan’s maid Signet, the nursemaid carrying Xi-feng’s little girl Qiao-jie, and two of the maids from Lady Wang’s room, Avis and Avocet. He noticed that they were carrying a red carpet between them.

‘Where are the birthday noodles?’ they said. ‘See how your doorway is crowded with people who have come to wish you happy returns!’

No sooner were the maids inside than Tan-chun, Xiang-yun, Bao-qin, Xiu-yan and Xi-chun appeared behind them. Bao-yu hurried out to greet them. ‘How kind of you all to come!’ he said, and as he ushered them inside, he called out to Aroma to get them all some tea. A great deal of polite tussling ensued before his guests could finally be persuaded to sit down. Aroma now brought in tea for them all on a tray; but they had taken no more than a sip of it when Patience arrived, dressed to the nines in all her finery, and Bao-yu had to get up once more and hurry out to greet her.

‘When I went to Feng’s place just now,’ he said, ‘the person who announced me told me that she couldn’t see me, so I asked if I might see you instead. Why wouldn’t you let me?’

’The first time you sent in I couldn’t come out because I was doing your Cousin Feng’s hair,’ said Patience. ‘When you sent in the second time and said that you wanted me to receive you in her place, I naturally couldn’t let you because it would have been too great an honour. It is I who should kotow to you – which is what I have come to do now.’

‘But that’s too great an honour for me!’ said Bao-yu, laughing.

Aroma nevertheless brought a chair over and made Bao-yu sit in it. Patience made him a curtsey. Bao-yu, already on his feet again, answered it with a bow and pumped his hands. Patience went down on her knees. Bao-yu knelt down too. At once Aroma raised Patience to her feet, whereupon she curtseyed to Bao-yu once more and Bao-yu, who had got up when she did, answered her with another bow and another pumping of the hands.

‘Now another one,’ said Aroma smiling and giving him a nudge.

‘Why?’ said Bao-yu. ‘We’ve finished.’

‘She’s finished making her birthday reverence to you,’ said Aroma; ‘but it’s her birthday today too, so you still have to make yours to her.’

Bao-yu bowed again, delightedly.

‘So it’s your birthday too, Patience?’

Patience returned his bow with another curtsey.

Xiang-yun took hold of Bao-qin with one hand and Xiu-yan with the other.

‘At this rate the four of you are going to be making reverences to each other all day long!’

‘Oh, of course!’ said Tan-chun. ‘It’s Cousin Xing’s birthday as well. I’d quite forgotten.’

She turned to one of the maids:

‘Go and tell Mrs Lian about this; and get them to send another lot of presents like the ones they did for Miss Qin to Miss Ying’s apartment.’

The maid went off to do her bidding. Now that the fact that today was her birthday had become public knowledge, Xiu-yan was obliged to make a round of the apartments, bowing and kotowing to everybody, as Bao-yu had had to do before her.

‘Interesting, all these coincidences,’ said Tan-chun. ‘You expect a few birthdays every month; but it’s only when you get a lot of people living together like us that you begin getting two or three of them on the same day. We even have a birthday on New Year’s Day in this family: Yuan-chun’s. She comes first in that as in everything else. I suppose that’s what makes her so lucky. It was great-grandfather’s birthday as well, New Year’s Day. The fifteenth of the first month is Aunt Xing’s birthday and also Cousin Chai’s – another coincidence. The first of the third month is Mother’s birthday. The ninth of the third is Cousin Lian’s. We haven’t got anyone with a birthday in the second month.’

‘Yes you have,’ said Aroma. ‘Miss Lin’s is in the second month, on the twenty-second. It’s true there’s no one of your surname, though.’

‘My memory is hopeless!’ said Tan-chun.

‘Not at all,’ said Bao-yu. He pointed smilingly at Aroma: ‘She only remembers it because her own birthday is on that day.’

‘Oh, you’re on the same day as her, are you? I don’t recollect your ever having come round and kotowed to me on that day,’ said Tan-chun teasingly. ‘And Patience: this is the first time I’ve heard that your birthday was today.’

‘What sort of great ladies do you think we are to be bothering with birthdays?’ said Patience. ‘Kotows and birthday presents are not for the likes of us. My birthday is just another day, to be got through with as little fuss as possible. I don’t suppose you’d ever have known about it at all if she hadn’t let on. Now that you do know, I’ll gladly come round and kotow to you when you get back later to your room.’

‘I don’t in the least want you to do that,’ said Tan-chun. ‘On the other hand, I should very much like us to celebrate your birthday for once. In fact, I shan’t be content unless we do.’

‘Hear, hear!’ said Bao-yu and Xiang-yun.

Tan-chun gave instructions to one of the maids:

‘Go to Mrs Lian and tell her, from us all, that we want to keep Patience with us for the day. Tell her we are going to pool together and celebrate her birthday.’

The maid went off, laughing excitedly. It was some time before she returned with Xi-feng’s answer.

‘Mrs Lian says thank you very much for the honour you are doing her. She says she doesn’t know what you will be giving Patience to eat, but provided you let her have some of it, she will agree to leave her here in peace.’

The cousins and maids all laughed when they heard this message.

‘It so happens that, as the birthday noodles and all the other things needed for today’s meals are being seen to by the big kitchen outside, the Garden kitchen has got nothing to do today,’ said Tan-chun. ‘So when we’ve made our collection, we can give it to Cook Liu and get her to prepare this private party for us in the Garden kitchen.’

The others having readily agreed that this would be best, Tan-chun sent someone to tell Li Wan, Bao-chai and Dai-yu what had been decided and invite them to contribute. She also sent for Cook Liu and asked her to prepare a two-table banquet in the Garden kitchen. Somewhat puzzled by this request, Cook Liu pointed out that on this particular occasion the catering was all being done in the outside kitchen.

‘Yes,’ said Tan-chun, ‘but this is only for us. Today is Patience’s birthday and we want to pool together and have a special little party for her. So do something nice for us, will you? You can bring the bill to my place afterwards and I will give you the money.’

‘Miss Patience’s birthday today?’ said Cook Liu. ‘Well I never!’ And she stepped briskly forward and made her a kotow. Patience bent over in confusion and raised her to her feet.

The cook hurried off to begin preparations.

Tan-chun now invited Bao-yu to accompany her to the ‘jobs room’ and break his fast there with some noodles. Having first waited for Li Wan and Bao-chai to arrive, she sent someone to ask if Aunt Xue and Dai-yu would care to join them. Now that the weather was warmer, Dai-yu’s illness was very much better than it had been and she was able to come. With so many people in party dresses the crowded office was beginning to take on an unusually gay and festive appearance. Unfortunately a formal present for Bao-yu – a handkerchief, a fan, some sticks of incense and a length of silk – arrived at that moment from Xue Ke, and Bao-yu had to abandon the female company of the office and go to take noodles with Xue Ke.

Since the Xue and Jia families each had a birthday on this same day, each was supposed to entertain the other with birthday wine. Accordingly, at about noon that day, Bao-qin was brought over by Bao-chai to make a birthday reverence to her elder brother and to wait on him and Bao-yu while they drank the wine. But Bao-chai was impatient of punctilio.

‘There is no need for you to send our wine over there,’ she told Xue Ke. ‘This year at least we can dispense with those empty formalities. You can invite our employees from the shop in to help you finish it. Cousin Bao and I must go back to the Garden now. Excuse us for leaving you like this, but we have other people there waiting for us to entertain them.’

‘I won’t try to detain you then,’ said Xue Ke politely. ‘To tell the truth, our people from the shop will feel freer to call here when you are gone.’

Having apologized to Xue Ke on his own account, Bao-yu accompanied the two girls back into the Garden. As they passed into it through the corner gate, Bao-chai made the women there lock it up after them and hand her the key.

‘Why is it necessary to lock this gate?’ Bao-yu asked her. ‘There are only a few people using it, and now that you and Aunt and Qin are all three living in the Garden, it must be an awful nuisance if you have to lock and unlock it every time you need to go and fetch something from your place outside.’

‘One can’t be too careful,’ said Bao-chai. ‘Look at all the incidents you people have been having during the past few days; yet not once have any of our people been implicated. I put that down entirely to the fact that this gate is kept constantly locked. If it were left open, other people besides us would want to use it for the convenience of taking short cuts; and as it would be too invidious to begin distinguishing between who might use the gate and who might not, it is better to keep it permanently locked and stop everyone using it, even though it means a certain amount of inconvenience for Mamma and me, because at least it ensures that when there is any trouble none of our people will be under suspicion.’

‘You heard about the missing objects, then?’ Bao-yu asked her.

‘You mean the Essence of Roses and Lycoperdon Snow?’ said Bao-chai. ‘I don’t suppose you would have known even about them if your own protegés had not been involved. No, I was thinking about something rather more serious than that – something which, for all our sakes, I hope will never come to light. If it does, a great many people will be implicated. I can tell you this, because you have nothing to do with the management of the household. I told Patience the other day too. Patience is an intelligent girl, and as her mistress cannot get about now, I thought she ought to know about it. As I say, I hope nothing will come of it; but if it does blow up, Patience will have been warned and will know how to safeguard herself against being wrongfully accused again. Bear in mind what I am saying so that you are warned, too, if anything should happen. But don’t let anyone else know that I told you this.’

They had been approaching Drenched Blossoms while she was speaking. In the pavilion at the centre of the bridge a group of ten or so girls – Aroma, Caltrop, Scribe, Skybright, Musk, Parfumée, Étamine, Nénuphar and one or two others they could not identify – were leaning over the railings looking at the fish in the water below. As Bao-yu and his two cousins approached, they chorused out to them:

‘The party’s all ready in the Peony Garden. Hurry up and take your places!’

Taking the maids with them, the cousins made their way to the lakeside Peony Garden in the midst of which was the large, open summerhouse where the tables for the party had been laid. Even You-shi had been invited and was already sitting there waiting for them. In fact, by now almost everyone had arrived except Patience herself.

Patience had intended to drop in only briefly at Xi-feng’s house in order to change into something more suitable for the party; but no sooner had she reached it than presents began arriving from the Lin and Lai households. The bearers of these proved to be only the forerunners of a stream of callers from every level of the domestic staff, who arrived in twos and threes, bringing her gifts or offering their congratulations. Patience was kept continuously busy dealing with these callers, rewarding the deliverers of gifts, thanking those who had come in person to felicitate her, and running in and out to show her presents to Xi-feng. She kept only a few of these for herself; the rest she either courteously returned or immediately gave away. Even when she had finished with her visitors she had to serve Xi-feng her lunch of noodles and wait until she had finished it before she was at last able to get changed and hurry back into the Garden.

A number of maids who had been sent out by the others to look for her took charge of her as she entered it and carried her off to the summerhouse. It was a dazzling sight there that met her eyes: not perhaps the

chelonian tables, lotus-cushioned chairs

of the poet; but no effort had been spared to make it an eyecatching and appetizing spread.

A friendly laugh greeted her arrival.

‘Now all the birthday folk are here!’

They wanted to make her and the other three – Bao-yu, Bao-qin and Xiu-yan – sit at the head of the feast, but as Aunt Xue was present, all four of them naturally refused.

‘A slow old buffer like me is no fit company for you young people,’ said Aunt Xue. ‘I should only feel uncomfortable if I stayed. Let me go and lie down in the jobs room. I don’t feel like eating anything and I’m not much of a drinker. You will be much better able to look after your guests if I am not here.’

You-shi and the others loudly insisted that she should stay. Only Bao-chai dissented.

‘Whether or not we should get on better without Mamma,’ she said, ‘I’m sure Mamma herself would be happier lying down in the jobs room than sitting here with us. If there is anything here she fancies, we can have it sent over to her and she will be able to eat it there on her own in comfort. Besides, there is no one in charge there at the moment. If Mamma is there, she will be able to keep an eye on things.’

‘Oh well, in that case we’ll let her go,’ said Tan-chun smiling. ‘Obedience is the best obeisance, as they say.’

She went with the others to escort her aunt to the jobs room and personally supervised the arrangement of various pillows and cushions by the junior maids.

‘Now,’ she said to these junior maids when Aunt Xue had been comfortably settled, ‘if you will stay here and massage Mrs Xue’s legs for her and fetch her tea or anything when she asks you without making up all sorts of wonderful excuses, I shouldn’t be surprised if later on, when we send some nice things for her to eat, she doesn’t give some of them to you. So mind you don’t go away!’

The girls all promised that they would stay.

When they got back, Tan-chun made Bao-qin and Xiu-yan sit at the head of the top table and Patience and Bao-yu at right-angles to them on the left and right ends. She and Faithful sat shoulder to shoulder on the fourth side, facing Bao-qin and Xiu-yan. At the table parallel to the west wall Bao-chai, Dai-yu, Xiang-yun, Ying-chun and Xi-chun sat in order of seniority on the two longer sides and Caltrop and Silver on the shorter sides, one at either end. You-shi and Li Wan sat at the longer sides of the table parallel to the east wall, with Aroma and Sunset to left and right of them on the shorter sides. The fourth table was occupied by the remaining maids, Nightingale, Oriole, Skybright, Periwinkle and Chess, sitting around it in no particular order.

No sooner were they all seated than Tan-chun rose to her feet again, wine-kettle in hand, intending to drink toasts with each of the four ‘birthday people’; but the birthday four, realizing that if they allowed one of their hosts to do this, a dozen or more would follow, objected strenuously.

‘If you are going to start this nonsense,’ said Bao-qin, ‘we shall none of us get settled until evening.’

The point was taken and Tan-chun sat down again, whereupon the blind ballad-singers, who had tagged along with the others, began tuning their instruments for a birthday ode. This time everyone objected.

‘None of us like that old stuff. Why don’t you go to the jobs room and entertain Mrs Xue?’

While they were about it, they made a selection from the various dishes on the table for the people conducting the blind women to take with them to Aunt Xue.

‘Just sitting here making polite conversation is not going to be much fun,’ said Bao-yu when the singers had been disposed of. ‘We ought to play a drinking game.’

Various suggestions were made, but none met with everyone’s approval.

‘I’ll tell you what,’ said Dai-yu. ‘Why not write the names of different games down on slips of paper and put it to the draw?’

‘Good idea!’ said the others, and sent for an inkstone and writing-brush and some slips of fancy paper.

To Caltrop, who in addition to writing poetry had lately been learning some calligraphy, the opportunity of exercising her new skill proved irresistible and she jumped up and insisted on doing the writing. After thinking for a bit, the company managed to produce some ten or more names of drinking games which Tan-chun dictated one by one to Caltrop to write down on the slips. The slips were then folded up small, doubled over, and thrown into a jar. Tan-chun asked Patience to draw. She did so with a pair of chopsticks, stirring the slips around with them before fishing one out for her inspection. Tan-chun unrolled it and read it out.

‘Cover-ups.’

‘Cover-ups?’ said Bao-chai, laughing. ‘Why, that’s the grandfather of them all! They played “cover-ups” in ancient times. Admittedly, we don’t know exactly how they played it then and our modern “cover-ups” is a comparatively recent invention; but it’s still very, very difficult. I should think at least half the people here wouldn’t know how to play it. We’d much better set that one aside and pick something a little less literary that everyone can understand.’

‘We can’t set it aside now that it’s been drawn,’ said Tan-chun. ‘I suggest that we draw again, and if it’s the sort of game that everyone can enjoy, those who want to can play that game while the rest of us are playing cover-ups.’

This time she got Aroma to draw. The name on the slip she picked out was ‘guess-fingers’. Xiang-yun greeted it with approval.

‘Now there’s a nice, simple, lively game! There’s a game that suits me down to the ground! None of your stuffy old cover-ups for me! The very thought of it gives me a headache! I’m for guess-fingers!’

‘Isn’t it just like her to reduce the entire party to anarchy before we have even begun!’ said Tan-chun. ‘Cousin Chai, you must sconce her for me.’

Bao-chai forthwith obliged by forcing a whole cupful of wine down Xiang-yun’s throat.

‘Now,’ said Tan-chun, herself gulping down a little wine, ‘I’m your M.C. I take it you don’t need me to read the rules out. You just have to do as I tell you. We’ll get someone to fetch dice and a cup and each of us will throw in turn, beginning with Cousin Qin. Anyone who throws the same number as someone else will pair with that person for cover-ups.’

Bao-qin threw a three. The others on the top table each threw a different number. Caltrop on the second table was the first to throw another three.

‘We’d better confine ourselves to objects inside this room, don’t you think?’ Bao-qin suggested. ‘Otherwise the range of possibilities will be too large.’

‘Certainly,’ said Tan-chun. ‘And whoever hasn’t given the right answer after three guesses must drink a cup of wine as a penalty. You begin.’

Bao-qin thought for a bit.

‘Market.’

Caltrop, who was new to this game, could see nothing in the room which could combine with ‘market’ to make a quotation; but Xiang-yun, whose eyes had been darting busily around from the moment the clue was announced, happened suddenly to catch sight of the inscription that hung up over the door:

PEONY GARDEN

She guessed at once that Bao-qin must be thinking of the passage in the thirteenth book of the Analects where Confucius tells a person who wanted to study horticulture that he would ‘much better go to some old fellow who kept a market garden and learn about it from him’. As Caltrop could still not guess what the ‘market’ indicated and the others were beginning to drum her for an answer, Xiang-yun, who had already thought of a matching quotation from a line in one of Wang Wei’s poems

Sometimes I to my herb garden repair

leaned over and whispered to Caltrop to give ‘herb’ as her reply. But Dai-yu had spotted her and was quick to tell the others.

‘You’ll have to sconce her again. She’s been telling her how to answer.’

Xiang-yun was obliged to down another cupful of wine. She was so vexed that she rapped Dai-yu on the knuckles with a chopstick. Caltrop, too had to drink a sconce.

The next pairing occurred when Bao-chai threw the same number as Tan-chun. Tan-chun’s clue was ‘man’.

‘Isn’t that a bit wide?’ said Bao-chai.

‘All right,’ said Tan-chun. ‘I’ll give you another clue. That should narrow it down a bit. “Shut”.’

Bao-chai thought for some moments. There was certainly plenty of chicken-meat on the table. Tan-chun must be referring to ‘cock-man’ from Wang Wei’s

The red-capped cock-man has proclaimed the dawn

and ‘cock-shut’ from Luo Yin’s

At cock-shut still upon my book to pore.

She therefore countered with ‘niche’, basing herself on a line from the sixty-third poem in the Poetry Classic:

The cock roosts in his niche.

The two girls smiled at each other and each took a sip of wine in celebration of a successful turn.

Xiang-yun, unwilling to wait longer, was already in the midst of a game of guess-fingers with Bao-yu. The two of them were both shouting at the tops of their voices. At the other side of the room You-shi and Faithful were also shouting at each other ‘Five-a, five-a!’ ‘Seven-a, seven-a!’ ‘Eight-a, eight-a!’ from their separate tables, while Patience and Aroma, sitting at adjacent ends of the same two tables, made up another pair and contributed to the noise. To the racket made by their shouting was added, in the case of the five female players, the clashing of bracelets every time they gestured. Soon Xiang-yun had beaten Bao-yu and Aroma had beaten Patience. It was agreed that the losers should drink a cup of wine each and do something before and something after drinking it: the question was, what? Xiang-yun had plenty of suggestions for Bao-yu.

‘Before drinking you must give a well-known quotation in prose, a well-known quotation in verse, a dominoes threesome, a song-title, and the day’s forecast from an almanac, all five to hang together so that they make continuous sense. After drinking you must give the name of some food you see here on the table which can be used in more than one sense.’

The others laughed.

‘No one but her could think up such a rigmarole,’ they said. ‘Still, it should be interesting.’

They began urging Bao-yu to start.

‘Have a heart!’ said Bao-yu. ‘I need a bit of time to think if I’m to get through that lot.’

‘Drink the wine,’ said Dai-yu. ‘I’ll do the rest for you.’

Bao-yu drank his cup obediently and listened.

‘One. “Scudding clouds race the startled mallard across the water”,’ said Dai-yu. ‘Two. “A wild goose passes, lamenting, across the wind-swept sky.” Three. It must be “The wild goose with a broken wing”. Four. So sad a sound makes “The Heart Tormented”. Five. “The cry of the wild goose is heard in the land.”’

The others laughed:

‘It certainly makes good sense!’

Dai-yu picked up a hazel-nut.

‘This cob I take up from the table Came from a tree, not from a stable.’

The other losers, Faithful and Aroma, were let off more lightly, being required to produce only a single well-known saying which had some bearing on birthdays. In the interest of economy their answers are omitted from this narrative.

A brief interlude of confusion followed while the next round of pairings was being decided. It was resolved that Xiang-yun should play Bao-qin now at guess-fingers and Li Wan, who had just thrown the same number as Xiu-yan, should play Xiu-yan at cover-ups. Li Wan was to begin.

‘Gourd,’ said Li Wan.

‘Green,’ said Xiu-yan.

‘Green’ was evidently correct, since Li Wan appeared to be satisfied and the two young women simultaneously sipped their wine.

Meanwhile Xiang-yun had lost to Bao-qin at guess-fingers and was asking what she should do for a forfeit.

‘You know what Lai Jun-chen said when he showed Zhou Xing the fiery furnace that Zhou Xing himself had designed,’ said Bao-qin:’ “Please step inside!” I think that’s what I should say to you now. Why don’t you do the forfeit that you designed for Bao-yu?’

The others apart from Xiang-yun appreciated the aptness of the historical allusion. Xiang-yun began answering without delay.

‘One. “A swift-rushing swirl and shock”. Two. “The sky rocks and heaves in the river’s swelling waters”. Three. Better have “The lone boat tied with an iron chain”. Four. And since there is a “Storm on the River”. Five. “This will be a bad day for travelling.”’

By the time she had finished, the rest of the company were all laughing.

‘That sounded a bit contrived!’ they said. ‘She must have thought the forfeit up for the express purpose of getting in her joke. – Come on!’ they said to Xiang-yun. ‘Let’s have the second half.’

From the dish in front of her Xiang-yun picked out a duck’s head with her chopsticks and pointed it at the maids who were sitting round the fourth table at the other end of the room.

‘This little duck can’t with those little ducks compare: This one is quite bald, but they all have a fine head of hair.’

There was even more laughter at this, but the maids pretended to take offence and Skybright and Periwinkle came over to her table to protest.

‘It’s all very well for Miss Yun to have her joke, but she ought to leave us out of it. You ought to make her drink another sconce now, as a punishment. And while she’s about it, she might give us a nice bottle of hair-oil each by way of compensation.’

‘I dare say she would be glad to,’ said Dai-yu drily. ‘The trouble is that if she starts giving bottles of hair-oil away, she will probably find herself on the carpet for stealing them.’

The remark passed unnoticed, with two exceptions. The exceptions were Bao-yu, who, assuming that it must refer to his supposed theft of the Essence of Roses, held his head down and said nothing, and Sunset, the real thief, whose face turned red with embarrassment. Bao-chai stared at Dai-yu reprovingly, whereupon Dai-yu, who had intended no more than a mild joke at Bao-yu’s expense, realized too late that Sunset must inevitably have construed it as a spiteful reminder of her guilt. She attempted to distract attention from it by applying herself, with somewhat unnatural vigour, to the game of guess-fingers.

The next pairing to be determined by the dice was that of Bao-chai and Bao-yu. The clue Bao-chai gave Bao-yu for her cover-up was ‘precious’. After puzzling over it for some moments, Bao-yu felt sure that it was a leg-pull. His own name meant ‘Precious Jade’. No doubt the object she had in mind was the jade he always wore round his neck and she was using his own name for her clue. Very well, he would answer her in kind.

‘I take it that you are making free with my name,’ he said. ‘I hope that you won’t be offended then if I make just as free with yours. “Bao-chai” means “Precious Hairpin”, so I shall borrow your “hairpin” for my answer. “Jade hairpin” comes in a line by some Tang poet:

The candle burnt out and the jade hairpin broken.

It is “jade”, isn’t it, in your cover-up?’

‘I protest,’ said Xiang-yun.’ “Precious jade” isn’t a quotation. You’re supposed to use only quotations in this game. We ought to sconce them both.’

‘“Precious jade” does come from a quotation,’ said Caltrop.

‘Surely not?’ said Xiang-yun. ‘I’m prepared to admit you might find it on a New Year scroll or something of that sort, but not in any work of literature, surely?’

‘I came across “precious jade” only the other day in a poem by Cen Shen,’ said Caltrop:

‘Since in that land much precious jade is found.

I’m surprised you don’t remember it. And not long afterwards I came across “precious hairpin” in a poem too – a poem by Li Shang-yin:

The precious hairpin gathers dust.

I remember being very much amused at the time to think that Master Bao’s and Miss Bao’s names are both to be found in poems of the Tang dynasty.’

‘So much for your objection!’ said the others to Xiang-yun, laughing. ‘It’s you who must drink the sconce.’

It was useless to argue: Xiang-yun had to drink another cupful.

The whole company now paired off for guess-fingers. With Grandmother Jia and Lady Wang away, the girls felt free to make as much noise as they liked. Coloured sleeves flashed, bracelets jangled, earrings shook, hair ornaments nodded in time to the shrieked-out numbers. In such a bedlam almost anything would have passed unnoticed; and it was only when they had tired of playing and broken off for a rest that they suddenly became aware that Xiang-yun was no longer with them. At first they assumed that she must have slipped out to answer a call of nature; but when, after they had waited for quite some time, she had still not reappeared, they sent some of the maids out to look for her. The search proved fruitless. Xiang-yun had vanished without a trace.

At this point Lin Zhi-xiao’s wife arrived, accompanied by several of the old women under her command. She had come partly out of a genuine desire to be useful but much more because she regarded the maids as young and giddy creatures who would take advantage of Lady Wang’s absence to play their young mistresses up by drinking more than was good for them and behaving riotously. Tan-chun was fully aware of this and let her know that she was.

‘I see you still don’t trust us, Mrs Lin. I assure you, though, that we haven’t been drinking very much. We’re only enjoying ourselves: the wine has been a very small part of it. You really have no cause to be worried.’

Li Wan and You-shi added their reassurances.

‘Go and rest, Lin. We wouldn’t let them drink too much, I promise you.’

The women laughed.

‘I know you wouldn’t,’ said Lin Zhi-xiao’s wife. ‘Even when Her Old Ladyship encourages them to, the young ladies don’t drink very much, so I know they’d be even less inclined to overdo it when Their Ladyships are away. It wasn’t because of that I came; it was just that I thought there might be something you needed me for. Also, as it’s a long way yet to dinner-time and you’ve been at it quite a long while now, I thought it was time you had a bite of something. I know you don’t normally go in much for snacks between meals, but when you’ve been drinking, you really need to get a bit of food inside you so that it does you no harm.’

‘You are quite right,’ said Tan-chun. ‘In fact, we were just thinking of having something when you came.’

She turned to the maids behind her and told them to fetch some light refreshments from the kitchen. There was an answering cry from all sides and a few of them went off to do her bidding.

Tan-chun smiled courteously at the women.

‘Do please go and rest now. Or perhaps you would like to go and keep Mrs Xue company? We’ll send some wine there presently for you to drink.’

‘Oh no, miss, we wouldn’t presume!’

She and the women stood talking a little longer before finally taking themselves off.

Patience put her hand to her cheek and laughed.

‘My face is so hot, it must be terribly red. I wish they hadn’t seen me like this. I think we ought to stop now. If we give them an excuse for coming back again it will be really embarrassing.’

‘Nonsense!’ said Tan-chun. ‘As long as we don’t do any serious drinking, it’s perfectly all right.’

‘Come and look, everyone!’ – They were interrupted by a giggling young maid – ‘Miss Yun must have been feeling drunk and gone out for some air. She’s lying on the granite bench behind the rockery, fast asleep.’

‘Let’s be quiet and not waken her,’ the others said amidst laughter, and followed her outside to have a look.

They found Xiang-yun where the maid had said, on a large stone bench in a hidden corner of the rockery, dead to the world. She was covered all over from head to foot with crimson petals from the peony bushes which grew round about; the fan which had slipped from her hand and lay on the ground beside her was half buried in petals; and heaped-up peony petals wrapped in a white silk handkerchief made an improvised pillow for her head. Over and around this petalled monstrosity a convocation of bees and butterflies was hovering distractedly. It was a sight that the cousins found both touching and comical. They made haste to rouse her and lifted her up into a half-sitting position on the bench. But Xiang-yun was still playing drinking games in her sleep and proceeded to recite the words of an imaginary forfeit, though her eyes were tightly closed.

‘One. “The spring water being sweet, the wine is good.” Two. “Pour me its liquid amber in a jade cup.” Three. We’ll drink till we see “The moon above the plum-tree bough”. Four. Then, as we’re “Rolling Home”. Five. It will be “A good time to meet a friend.”’

They shook her, laughing.

‘Wake up! Wake up! Come and have something to eat. Lying on the damp stone like this you’ll make yourself ill.’

Xiang-yun…

uplifted slowly then those orbs serene

and saw the faces of the cousins bending over her. Then she looked downwards and saw her own body and the place where she had been lying. She could remember escaping from the noise to rest for a few moments somewhere where it was cool and quiet. Evidently the wine from all those sconces she had been made to drink must have got the better of her and caused her to drop off. Ashamed to have been discovered in such a predicament, she struggled hastily to her feet and accompanied the others back to the summerhouse, where she rinsed her mouth out with water and drank two very strong cups of tea. Tan-chun made one of the girls fetch a piece of ‘hangover rock’ for her to suck. By the time she had sucked the rock for a bit and taken a few mouthfuls of hot, sour soup, she was feeling almost herself again.

A selection was now made of the various comestibles on the tables and sent over to Xi-feng, who reciprocated by sending them some delicacies of her own. Bao-yu and the girls then took some sustenance themselves, after which they broke up into little groups, standing or sitting where they pleased and amusing themselves as the fancy took them. Some went outside to admire the peonies or to lean on the balustrade at the edge of the lake and look at the fish swimming in the water below. Tan-chun and Bao-qin stayed indoors to play Go. Bao-chai and Xiang-yun stayed indoors to watch them. Dai-yu and Bao-yu went outside and, having found themselves a little flowering arbour that they could stand and talk in, appeared to be completely engrossed in their conversation.

While everyone was thus engaged, Lin Zhi-xiao’s wife and her party appeared once more, bringing with them a tearful, woebegone woman, who, as they reached the steps that led up to the summer-house, threw herself down on her knees, not daring to go further, and began knocking her head upon the ground. Meanwhile Tan-chun continued to stare concentratedly at the Go-board, one outstretched hand feeling for the spare pieces in the box while she contemplated her next move. One of her pieces had been threatened, and though she could see how to get the two ‘eyes’ easily enough, she could not, however hard she tried, think of a way of doing so which did not break the development she had planned. It was some minutes before she looked up and, in turning to ask for some tea, caught sight of Lin Zhi-xiao’s wife, who had all this time been standing there beside her, and asked her what she had come for.

Lin Zhi-xiao’s wife pointed to the kneeling woman.

‘This is the mother of Miss Xi-chun’s maid, Landscape. She works in the Garden. She’s been using some very bad language. I heard her just now and asked her what she meant by it, but what she said to me, miss – well, I wouldn’t like to soil your ears by repeating it. I think she ought to be dismissed.’

‘Why didn’t you see Mrs Zhu about this?’ said Tan-chun.

‘I did, miss. I ran into her just now on her way to the jobs room to join Mrs Xue. She said I was to tell you.’

‘Shouldn’t you tell Mrs Lian?’

‘No need,’ said Patience. ‘I can tell her about it when I get back.’

Tan-chun nodded.

‘All right, dismiss her then. We’ll tell Lady Wang about it when she comes back and get her to confirm it.’

She turned once more to her game. Lin Zhi-xiao’s wife and her party moved off, taking the offender with them.

All of this scene was clearly observed by Bao-yu and Dai-yu from their flowering covert, though they were too far away to hear what was said.

‘What a curiously detached person your sister is!’ said Dai-yu. ‘She has been actually invited to take charge of things, yet she still won’t go a step beyond what is absolutely necessary. Most people in her position would have been throwing their weight about long ago.’

‘Ah, you don’t know what’s been going on while you were away,’ said Bao-yu. ‘While you were ill in bed, she did in fact do a great deal of managing. For example, she divided this Garden into sections and put each section under someone’s supervision. Nowadays you can’t even pick a flower in it without permission. And she cut down on a lot of things too – mostly things that Feng or I had asked for, as an awful example to the others. Oh no, Tan has got very strong views on domestic economy. I certainly wouldn’t call her “detached”.’

‘I’m very glad to hear it,’ said Dai-yu. ‘We are all much too extravagant. Although the management of the household is not my business, I have frequently, just out of curiosity, made a few calculations, and I can see that our expenditure is vastly in excess of our income. If we go on in this way without economizing, the time will surely come when our credit is exhausted.’

‘Even if it does,’ said Bao-yu gaily, ‘I don’t suppose you and I will have to go short.’

Dai-yu turned away from him somewhat impatiently and began walking towards the summerhouse, intending to seek Bao-chai’s company inside. Bao-yu would have gone too, but just at that moment Aroma came up carrying a little varnished wooden ‘tea for two’ tray, in each of whose rounds nestled a cup of freshly made tea.

‘Well, where’s she gone?’ said Aroma. ‘I brought this out specially, because I could see the two of you standing here all this time without anything to drink; but now she’s not here.’

‘That’s her, over there,’ said Bao-yu, removing one of the cups for himself. ‘You can take it to her inside.’

Aroma did so, but by the time she had reached her, Dai-yu was already standing talking to Bao-chai.

‘Here you are,’ said Aroma, ‘whichever of you is the thirstier had better take this while I go and fetch another.’

‘I’m not thirsty,’ said Bao-chai. ‘I only want enough to wash out my mouth with.’

She lifted the cup to her lips, drank a mouthful of tea from it, and handed the remainder to Dai-yu.

‘Let me get you another cup,’ said Aroma.

‘Oh, you know me,’ said Dai-yu smilingly. ‘I can’t drink much tea because of my illness. The doctor says it’s bad for me. This half cup will be quite enough for me. Thank you very much, though. It’s very kind of you.’

Having drained the cup, she put it back on the tray, whereupon Aroma went off to collect the other cup from Bao-yu.

‘Where’s Parfumée?’ Bao-yu asked her when she got back to him. ‘I haven’t seen her for a long time.’

Aroma looked around.

‘She was here a moment ago. I saw her playing match-my-flower with some of the others. Now she seems to have disappeared.’

Bao-yu hurried back to his room to look for her. He found her asleep on the bed with her face turned inwards to the wall.

‘Come on, you mustn’t sleep!’ he said. ‘Come out and get some exercise. We’ll be eating soon. You want to get an appetite for your food.’

‘Why shouldn’t I sleep?’ said Parfumée. ‘There’s nothing else for me to do. I got so bored when you all went off drinking and left me on my own.’

Bao-yu laughed.

‘We’ll be having a party of our own here in the evening,’ he said, pulling her to her feet. ‘I’ll ask Aroma to let you sit at table with the rest of us, shall I?’

‘Not on my own,’ said Parfumée. ‘I shouldn’t enjoy it unless Nénuphar and Étamine could be with me as well. Besides, I don’t like noodles. I didn’t have a proper lunch today because I couldn’t eat the noodles. I got so hungry that just now I asked Liu to do a bowl of soup and some rice for me to eat here now; so I shan’t want anything again tonight. I could just drink, I suppose; but if you want me to, you’ll have to let me drink as much as I like and not let the others fuss over me. When I was still at home I used to drink two or three catties of rice wine at a sitting, but once I started learning beastly opera, they wouldn’t let me drink any more in case it spoiled my voice. During this last year or two I haven’t had so much as a smell of it. Tonight I should like to celebrate the end of all that.’

‘So you shall,’ said Bao-yu.

At that point a woman arrived from Cook Liu with a food-box containing Parfumeés order. Swallow relieved her of it and brought it inside. It contained a bowl of shrimp-balls in chicken-skin soup, a bowl of duck steamed in wine, a plate of red salted goose-slices, another plate on which were four cream-cheese rolls stuffed with pine-kernels, and a large bowl of delicious, steaming-hot, fragrant green rice. Swallow put these all on the table in front of Parfumée and fetched her a spoon, chopsticks and some bowls, one of which she filled for her with the fragrant rice.

‘Ugh!’ said Parfumée. ‘How can I eat this horrible greasy stuff?’

She spooned some of the soup onto her rice and picked up a couple of goose-slices with her chopsticks to put on top of it. The rest she left untouched. Bao-yu sniffed the rejected dishes. They smelt delicious – much nicer than the things be generally had to eat. He helped himself to one of the pinekernel rolls and told Swallow to fill him another bowl with some rice and pour on some of the soup. The combination – soup, rice, and pine-roll – was quite delectable. Parfumée and Swallow both laughed as they watched him eat.

When he and Parfumée had both finished, Swallow would have sent the remainder back to the kitchen, but Bao-yu told her that she should eat it herself.

‘If it’s not enough, we’ll ask them to bring you some more.’

‘No, no, this will be plenty,’ said Swallow. ‘It’s not long since Musk brought me some cakes and things from the party. If I eat this now, I shall have had quite enough.’

She proceeded to tuck in there and then, standing where she was beside the table. Soon all had been demolished except for two pine-kernel rolls.

‘I’ll save these for my Ma,’ she said. ‘Oh, and if you’re drinking this evening, will you let me have a drop too?’

‘Are you another drinker then?’ said Bao-yu. ‘Good! We’ll have a real celebration tonight. Aroma and Skybright are both fond of drinking, but they won’t take much as a rule because they feel it isn’t quite proper. Tonight my birthday shall be the excuse for everyone to let themselves go! By the way, there’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you for some time but keep forgetting. Would you make yourself responsible for Parfumée in future? Just keep an eye on her and see that she doesn’t get up to mischief. Aroma would like to if she could, but she has her hands full already.’

‘I can look after Parfumée, don’t worry about that,’ said Swallow. ‘What I want to know is, what are you going to do about Fivey?’

‘You can tell Mrs Liu that Fivey definitely will be coming to work here. After I’ve had a word with the others, she can move in as soon as she likes.’

‘Now you’re talking!’ said Swallow. She called the two little maids in to wait on him while he washed his hands and pour out tea for him while she herself got the dirty things together and handed them to the woman outside. After that she washed her own hands and went off to tell Cook Liu the good news. But that is no part of our story.

Bao-yu left to rejoin the others as soon as he was ready, and Parfumée, holding a silk handkerchief in one hand and a fan in the other, trailed along behind him. As he came out of the courtyard gate he saw Aroma and Skybright walking hand in hand towards him and asked them what they had come for.

‘You!’ they said. ‘Dinner’s been laid now and the others are waiting for you to begin.’

Bao-yu explained that he had just eaten.

Aroma laughed:

‘You’re like a cat: always eating except when you ought to be. You’d better come and sit with them all the same, for appearance’s sake.’

Skybright poked Parfumée playfully on the forehead with her finger.

‘You’re getting to be quite a little man-eater, aren’t you? Going back to have some food, indeed! You’d arranged to meet him there, more like. Why didn’t you tell anyone else that you were going?’

Aroma laughed.

‘Oh nonsense, Skybright! Of course she didn’t arrange to meet him. It was a pure accident, their being there at the same time together.’

‘All right,’ said Skybright, ‘but what does he need us for then? Why don’t we all go away and leave Parfumée to look after him on her own?’

‘He may not need the rest of us,’ said Aroma, ‘but he certainly couldn’t do without you.’

‘On the contrary,’ said Skybright. ‘I’m the one person he could do without. I’m lazy, I’m clumsy, I’m bad-tempered – in short, I’m just no good for the job.’

‘If he burns another hole in his peacock gold snow-cape, who’s going to mend it for him if you aren’t there?’ said Aroma mischievously. ‘Yes, my girl: all the excuses I used to hear from you in the past when I tried to get you to do something for me. You were no good at sewing, oh no! You didn’t even know how to hold a needle! And it isn’t as if it was my own sewing I’ve asked you about: it’s only ever been his things that I’ve asked you to help me with. No, you wouldn’t touch them. Yet I only have to be out of the house for a few days and there you are, sitting up all night sewing for him, even though you are half dead with the flu! What can the explanation of that be, I wonder? No, come on: I want to hear your answer.’

But Skybright only ‘pshaw’-ed and went on smiling.

They had been walking back to the summerhouse throughout these exchanges and were now re-entering it. Aunt Xue had come back again for the meal, so they reseated themselves in order of seniority with Aunt Xue at the head. Bao-yu poured a little tea onto some rice and merely pretended to share the meal with them. When they had finished eating, they sat talking over their tea or playing games.

Outside, meanwhile, Periwinkle, Caltrop, Parfumée,Éitam-ine, Nénuphar and Cardamome, having been all over the Garden collecting flowers, sat down, with their laps full of them, in a little semicircle of lawn enclosed by high banks of flowering shrubbery and began playing ‘match-my-flower’.

‘I’ve got some Guanyin willow,’ said one.

‘I’ve got some Lohan pine,’ said another.

‘I’ve got gentleman’s bamboo.’

‘I’ve got lady’s plantain.’

‘I’ve got green starwort.’

‘I’ve got red moon-flower.’

‘I’ve got a peony from The Peony Pavilion’

‘I’ve got a lute-flower from The Story of the Lute.’

‘I’ve got “brothers and sisters”,’ said Cardamome.

‘I’ve got “husbands and wives”,’ said Caltrop.

‘There’s no such flower,’ said Cardamome.

‘Yes there is,’ said Caltrop. ‘There are two main kinds of orchid, the spring orchid, which has only one flower on each stem, and the summer orchid, which has several; but there’s more than one kind of summer orchid. There’s the kind that you’ve got, which has the flowers growing one above the other on the stem: that’s called “brothers and sisters” and there’s another kind like mine here, which has two flowers growing side by side at the top: that’s called a “husband and wife” orchid.’

Cardamome rose to her feet. Unable to counter with botanical arguments, she resorted to jeering instead.

‘And I suppose it’s a “father and son” orchid if one flower’s bigger than the other and an “enemies” orchid if they’re growing back to back! It’s because your own husband’s been away so long: you can’t even look at an orchid now without thinking of him. You ought to be ashamed of yourself, dragging him into it like this!’

Caltrop laughed, though her face had turned bright red.

‘You horrible little creature! What rubbish you talk!’

She had begun getting up, intending to give Cardamome’s mouth a good pinch; but before she could do so, Cardamome had thrown herself upon her, forcing her backwards and pinning her to the ground, while at the same time she looked round and called to the other girls to help her.

‘Étamine! Nénuphar! Come and pinch her mouth for me!’

Caltrop struggled to get free and the two of them rolled over and over on the ground. The others laughed and clapped their hands.

‘Careful! Mind the puddle!’ they shouted. ‘Mind she doesn’t spoil her skirt!’

Cardamome looked round and saw that they had rolled towards a hollow in which rain-water had collected and that Caltrop’s skirt was half in it. Feeling somewhat scared, she let go of Caltrop, jumped up, and ran away. The others thought Caltrop’s plight a great joke, but fearing that, with Cardamome gone, she might vent her anger upon them, they ran off also, amidst peals of laughter.

Caltrop got up and inspected her skirt. It was completely soaked, and the foul, stagnant water was dripping off it in half-a-dozen places. She was still exclaiming bitterly over it when Bao-yu appeared. Observing that the girls were playing match-my-flower, he had gone off to collect some flowers himself and had now come back to join them. Surprised to find the other girls all gone and Caltrop standing on her own there contemplating her skirt, he asked her what had happened to the game.

‘I had a “husbands and wives” flower,’ said Caltrop, ‘but the others had never heard of it and said I’d made it up; so there was a quarrel and they spoilt my nice new skirt.’

Bao-yu seemed pleased.

‘I can match your “husbands and wives”,’ he said, taking a purple skullcap from his bunch. ‘Look, here’s a” two heads are better than one”.’ He picked up Caltrop’s orchid and laid it beside the purple skullcap.

‘Bother your “two heads are better than one”!’ said Caltrop, ‘and bother my “husbands and wives”! Look at my skirt!’

Bao-yu bent down and examined it.

‘Aiya! How did you manage to do that? It’s grenadine, isn’t it, that red material? They call it that because it’s the red of pomegranate-flowers. I’m afraid it’s a material that stains very badly. What a pity!’

‘It was material that Miss Bao-qin brought with her from Nanking,’ said Caltrop. ‘Miss Bao-chai and I each made ourselves a skirt out of it. This is the first time I’ve put mine on.’

Bao-yu stamped and sighed sympathetically.

‘I’m sure the Xues could afford to spoil a hundred skirts like this one every day,’ he said; ‘but that’s not the point. In the first place, if this is material that Bao-qin gave you, it’s going to look rather bad if your skirt’s worn out before Bao-chai’s has even been worn. And in the second place, Aunt Xue is a bit inclined to nag – I’ve often heard her complaining that you are extravagant and a bad manager and don’t know how to look after things properly and so forth – and though this may not be your fault, I’m afraid if she gets to see it, you are going to have rather a lot of that sort of thing to listen to.’

What Bao-yu had just said so exactly accorded with what Caltrop herself had been thinking, that she began, in spite of everything, to feel almost pleased.

‘I know. If only I’d got another skirt like this one, I could change into it straight away and she wouldn’t notice. But the trouble is, though I’ve got several new skirts, they all look quite different.’

‘Stop moving!’ said Bao-yu. ‘If you don’t keep still, you’ll get the dirty water on your trousers and pantaloons and the tops of your shoes. I’ve got an idea. Last month Aroma made herself a skirt which is practically identical with this one, but she won’t be able to wear it for a while yet because she’s still in mourning for her mother. Why don’t we get her to send it over for you to change into?’

Caltrop smiled gratefully but shook her head.

‘No, I can’t do that. I’m sure they wouldn’t like it if they found out.’

‘They won’t mind,’ said Bao-yu. ‘As soon as her mourning’s over you can ask her what she’d like to have in return and I’m sure they’d be only too pleased to let you give it to her. Come now, it’s not like you to be so coy! It’s not as if you’ll be doing anything deceitful. You can tell Bao-chai about it. All we shall be doing is making sure that my aunt doesn’t get to hear of it, because we know it would only make her angry.’

Caltrop thought for a bit. What he said seemed reasonable. She smiled and nodded.

‘All right – since you are so kind. I’ll wait for you here, then. Only please, I beg of you, ask her to bring it here herself.’

Bao-yu agreed, delighted that she had accepted, and hurried back to find Aroma, head low and eyes to the ground, thinking about Caltrop all the way.

‘What a pity – nice girl like that – hasn’t any parents – doesn’t even remember her own name – kidnapped when she was a child – and to be sold to a brute like Pan!’

But not all his thoughts about her were so melancholy.

‘What a delightful surprise, though, to be able to do this for her! – That time with Patience was a surprise, too. But this! – never, never would have expected it!’

Still engrossed in these thoughts, he regained his room. There, going up to Aroma, he took her impulsively by the hand and told her what he had come for.

Everyone loved Caltrop. There was something endearing about her that one could not help responding to. Aroma was no exception and was in any case somewhat given to acts of impulsive generosity. As soon as Bao-yu told her what had happened, she opened her clothes-chest, and getting the scarlet skirt out, folded it up carefully and hurried off after him to look for her.

They found her still standing patiently on the spot where Bao-yu had left her. Aroma pretended to scold.

‘You’re too wild, Caltrop. It always ends in trouble.’

Caltrop coloured.

‘Oh, thank you, Aroma. It’s those horrible little beasts I was playing with. I didn’t realize they could be so nasty.’

She unfolded the skirt that Aroma had brought her. It was, as Bao-yu had said, exactly like the one she was wearing. She made him turn his back and look away while she crossed her arms and inserted her hands under her dress in order to undo the fastenings of the dirty skirt. Having carefully removed it, she wrapped herself in the clean one and did up the sides.

‘Let me take that dirty one,’ said Aroma. ‘I’ll send it back to you later when I’ve cleaned it up a bit. If they were to see you going back with it, they’d be sure to ask questions.’

‘Yes, you take it,’ said Caltrop. ‘But my dear Aroma, I don’t want it back if I’ve got this one of yours to wear. Give it to one of the younger maids. I don’t mind which one: you can decide that for me.’

‘That’s very generous of you,’ said Aroma.

Caltrop bowed twice to her in formal expression of her thanks. Aroma then went off, carrying the dirty skirt.

Looking round for Bao-yu, Caltrop found him still with his back towards her, squatting down on the ground and just completing the burial of the ‘husband and wife’ orchid and the purple skullcap. He had dug a little grave for them with a piece of stick, lined it with fallen petals, laid the two flowers on the petals, covered them with more petals, and was now smoothing earth over the top. Caltrop tugged at his arm, laughing.

‘What on earth do you think you’re doing? I’ve heard people talking about the creepy sort of things you get up to, but I only now realize what they mean. Look at your hands! They’re absolutely filthy. You’d better go and wash them straight away.’

Bao-yu got up and began to go. Caltrop started walking off, too, in the opposite direction. She had gone no more than a few steps, however, when she turned and called to him to stop. Bao-yu, supposing that she had something more to say to him, turned smilingly towards her, holding up his muddy hands.

‘What is it?’

But Caltrop merely stood there, smiling and saying nothing. Just then her little maid Advent came up to tell her that Bao-qin wanted to talk to her. After that, finally, she spoke.

‘You won’t ever tell your Cousin Pan about this, will you?’

‘What, put my head inside the mouth of a tiger?’ said Bao-yu, laughing. ‘You must think I’m crazy!’

He turned once more and went back to Green Delights.

What happened there will be related in the next chapter.