第六十三回

第六十三回 寿怡红群芳开夜宴 死金丹独艳理亲丧

话说宝玉回至房中洗手，因与袭人商议：“晚间吃酒，大家取乐，不可拘泥。如今吃什么，好早说给他们备办去。”袭人笑道：“你放心，我和晴雯、麝月、秋纹四个人，每人五钱银子，共是二两。芳官、碧痕、小燕、四儿四个人，每人三钱银子，他们有假的不算，共是三两二钱银子，早已交给了柳嫂子，预备四十碟果子。我和平儿说了，已经抬了一坛好绍兴酒藏在那边了。我们八个人单替你过生日。”宝玉听了，喜的忙说：“他们是那里的钱，不该叫他们出才是。”晴雯道：“他们没钱，难道我们是有钱的！这原是各人的心。那怕他偷的呢，只管领他们的情就是。”宝玉听了，笑说：“你说的是。”袭人笑道：“你一天不挨他两句硬话村[1]你，你再过不去。”晴雯笑道：“你如今也学坏了，专会架桥拨火儿[2]。”说着，大家都笑了。

宝玉说：“关院门罢。”袭人笑道：“怪不得人说你是‘无事忙’，这会子关了门，人倒疑惑，越性再等一等。”宝玉点头，因说：“我出去走走，四儿舀水去，小燕一个跟我来罢。”说着，走至外边，因见无人，便问五儿之事。小燕道：“我才告诉了柳嫂子，他倒喜欢的很。只是五儿那夜受了委屈烦恼，回家去又气病了，那里来得。只等好了罢。”宝玉听了，不免后悔长叹，因又问：“这事袭人知道不知道？”小燕道：“我没告诉，不知芳官可说了不曾。”宝玉道：“我却没告诉过他，也罢，等我告诉他就是了。”说毕，复走进来，故意洗手。

已是掌灯时分，听得院门前有一群人进来。大家隔窗悄视，果见林之孝家的和几个管事的女人走来，前头一人提着大灯笼。晴雯悄笑道：“他们查上夜的人来了。这一出去，咱们好关门了。”只见怡红院凡上夜的人都迎了出去，林之孝家的看了不少。林之孝家的吩咐：“别耍钱吃酒，放倒头睡到大天亮。我听见是不依的。”众人都笑说：“那里有那样大胆子的人。”林之孝家的又问：“宝二爷睡下了没有？”众人都回不知道。

袭人忙推宝玉。宝玉靸了鞋，便迎出来，笑道：“我还没睡呢。妈妈进来歇歇。”又叫：“袭人倒茶来。”林之孝家的忙进来，笑说：“还没睡？如今天长夜短了，该早些睡，明儿起的方早。不然到了明日起迟了，人笑话说不是个读书上学的公子了，倒像那起挑脚汉了。”说毕，又笑。宝玉忙笑道：“妈妈说的是。我每日都睡的早，妈妈每日进来可都是我不知道的，已经睡了。今儿因吃了面，怕停住食，所以多顽一会子。”林之孝家的又向袭人等笑说：“该沏些个普洱茶[3]吃。”袭人晴雯二人忙笑说：“沏了一盄子女儿茶[4]，已经吃过两碗了。大娘也尝一碗，都是现成的。”说着，晴雯便倒了一碗来。

林之孝家的又笑道：“这些时我听见二爷嘴里都换了字眼，赶着这几位大姑娘们竟叫起名字来。虽然在这屋里，到底是老太太、太太的人，还该嘴里尊重些才是。若一时半刻偶然叫一声使得，若只管叫起来，怕以后兄弟侄儿照样，便惹人笑话，说这家子的人眼里没有长辈。”宝玉笑道：“妈妈说的是。我原不过是一时半刻的。”袭人晴雯都笑说：“这可别委屈了他。直到如今，他可姐姐没离了口。不过顽的时候叫一声半声名字，若当着人却是和先一样。”林之孝家的笑道：“这才好呢，这才是读书知礼的。越自己谦越尊重，别说是三五代的陈人，现从老太太、太太屋里拨过来的，便是老太太、太太屋里的猫儿狗儿，轻易也伤他不的。这才是受过调教的公子行事。”说毕，吃了茶，便说：“请安歇罢，我们走了。”宝玉还说：“再歇歇。”那林之孝家的已带了众人，又查别处去了。

这里晴雯等忙命关了门，进来笑说：“这位奶奶那里吃了一杯来了，唠三叨四的，又排场了我们一顿去了。”麝月笑道：“他也不是好意的，少不得也要常提着些儿。也堤防着怕走了大褶儿的意思。”说着，一面摆上酒果。

袭人道：“不用高桌，咱们把那张花梨圆炕桌子放在炕上坐，又宽绰，又便宜[5]。”说着，大家果然抬来。麝月和四儿那边去搬果子，用两个大茶盘做四五次方搬运了来。两个老婆子蹲在外面火盆上筛酒。宝玉说：“天热，咱们都脱了大衣裳才好。”众人笑道：“你要脱你脱，我们还要轮流安席[6]呢。”宝玉笑道：“这一安就安到五更天了。知道我最怕这些俗套子，在外人跟前不得已的，这会子还怄我就不好了。”众人听了，都说：“依你。”于是先不上坐，且忙着卸妆宽衣。

一时将正装卸去，头上只随便挽着纂儿，身上皆是长裙短袄。宝玉只穿着大红棉纱小袄子，下面绿绫弹墨袷裤，散着裤脚，倚着一个各色玫瑰芍药花瓣装的玉色夹纱新枕头，和芳官两个先划拳。当时芳官满口嚷热，只穿着一件玉色红青酡三色缎子斗的水田小夹袄[7]，束着一条柳绿汗巾，底下是水红撒花夹裤，也散着裤腿。头上眉额编着一圈小辫，总归至顶心，结一根鹅卵粗细的总辫，拖在脑后。右耳眼内只塞着米粒大小的一个小玉塞子，左耳上单带着一个白果大小的硬红镶金大坠子，越显的面如满月犹白，眼如秋水还清。引的众人笑说：“他两个倒像是双生的弟兄两个。”

袭人等一一的斟了酒来，说：“且等等再划拳，虽不安席，每人在手里吃我们一口罢了。”于是袭人为先，端在唇上吃了一口，馀依次下去，一一吃过，大家方团圆坐定。小燕四儿因炕沿坐不下，便端了两张椅子，近炕放下。那四十个碟子，皆是一色白粉定窑的，不过只有小茶碟大，里面不过是山南海北，中原外国，或干或鲜，或水或陆，天下所有的酒馔果菜。

宝玉因说：“咱们也该行个令才好。”袭人道：“斯文些的才好，别大呼小叫，惹人听见。二则我们不识字，可不要那些文的。”麝月笑道：“拿骰子咱们抢红[8]罢。”宝玉道：“没趣，不好。咱们占花名儿好。”晴雯笑道：“正是早已想弄这个顽意儿。”袭人道：“这个顽意虽好，人少了没趣。”小燕笑道：“依我说，咱们竟悄悄的把宝姑娘林姑娘请了来顽一回子，到二更天再睡不迟。”袭人道：“又开门喝户〔一〕的闹，倘或遇见巡夜的问呢？”宝玉道：“怕什么，咱们三姑娘也吃酒，再请他一声才好。还有琴姑娘。”众人都道：“琴姑娘罢了，他在大奶奶屋里，叨登的大发了。”宝玉道：“怕什么，你们就快请去。”小燕四儿都得不得[10]一声，二人忙命开了门，分头去请。

晴雯、麝月、袭人三人又说：“他两个去请，只怕宝林两个不肯来，须得我们请去，死活拉他来。”于是袭人晴雯忙又命老婆子打个灯笼，二人又去。果然宝钗说夜深了，黛玉说身上不好，他二人再三央求说：“好歹给我们一点体面，略坐坐再来。”探春听了却也欢喜。因想：“不请李纨，倘或被他知道了倒不好。”便命翠墨同了小燕也再三的请了李纨和宝琴二人，会齐，先后都到了怡红院中。袭人又死活拉了香菱来。炕上又并了一张桌子，方坐开了。

宝玉忙说：“林妹妹怕冷，过这边靠板壁坐。”又拿个靠背垫着些。袭人等都端了椅子在炕沿下一陪。黛玉却离桌远远的靠着靠背，因笑向宝钗、李纨、探春等道：“你们日日说人夜聚饮博，今儿我们自己也如此，以后怎么说人。”李纨笑道：“这有何妨。一年之中不过生日节间如此，并无夜夜如此，这倒也不怕。”

说着，晴雯拿了一个竹雕的签筒来，里面装着象牙花名签子，摇了一摇，放在当中。又取过骰子来，盛在盒内，摇了一摇，揭开一看，里面是五点，数至宝钗。宝钗便笑道：“我先抓，不知抓出个什么来。”说着，将筒摇了一摇，伸手掣出一根。大家一看，只见签上画着一支牡丹，题着“艳冠群芳”四字，下面又有镌的小字一句唐诗，道是：

任是无情也动人。[11]

又注着：“在席共贺一杯，此为群芳之冠，随意命人，不拘诗词雅谑，道一则以侑酒[12]。”众人看了，都笑说：“巧的很，你也原配牡丹花。”说着，大家共贺了一杯。宝钗吃过，便笑说：“芳官唱一支我们听罢。”芳官道：“既这样，大家吃门杯好听的。”于是大家吃酒。芳官便唱：

寿筵开处风光好。[13]

众人都道：“快打回去。这会子很不用你来上寿，拣你极好的唱来。”芳官只得细细的唱了一支《赏花时》[14]：

翠凤毛翎扎帚叉，闲踏天门扫落花。您看那风起玉尘沙。猛可的那一层云下，抵多少门外即天涯。您再休要剑斩黄龙一线儿差[15]，再休向东老贫穷卖酒家。[16]您与俺高眼向云霞。洞宾呵，您得了人可便早些儿回话；若迟呵，错教人留恨碧桃花[17]。〔二〕

才罢。宝玉却只管拿着那签，口内颠来倒去念“任是无情也动人”，听了这曲子，眼看着芳官不语。湘云忙一手夺了，掷与宝钗。宝钗又掷了一个十六点，数到探春。

探春〔三〕笑道：“我还不知得个什么呢。”伸手掣了一根出来，自己一瞧，便掷在地下，红了脸，笑道：“这东西不好，不该行这令。这原是外头男人们行的令，许多混话在上头。”众人不解，袭人等忙拾了起来，众人看上面是一枝杏花，那红字写着“瑶池仙品”四字，诗云：

日边红杏倚云栽。

注云：“得此签者，必得贵婿，大家恭贺一杯，共同饮一杯。”众人笑道：“我说是什么呢。这签原是闺阁中取戏的，除了这两三根有这话的，并无杂话，这有何妨。我们家已有了个王妃，难道你也是王妃不成。大喜，大喜。”说着，大家来敬。探春那里肯饮，却被史湘云、香菱、李纨等三四个人强死强活灌了下去。探春只命蠲了这个，再行别的，众人断不肯依。湘云拿着他的手强掷了个十九点〔四〕出来，便该李氏掣。

李氏摇了一摇，掣出一根来一看，笑道：“好极。你们瞧瞧，这劳什子竟有些意思。”众人瞧那签上，画着一枝老梅，是写着“霜晓寒姿”四字，那一面旧诗是：

竹篱茅舍自甘心。[21]

注云：“自饮一杯，下家掷骰。”李纨笑道：“真有趣，你们掷去罢。我只自吃一杯，不问你们的废与兴。”说着，便吃酒，将骰过与黛玉。黛玉一掷，是个十八点，便该湘云掣。

湘云笑着，揎拳掳袖的伸手掣了一根出来。大家看时，一面画着一枝海棠，题着“香梦沉酣”四字，那面诗道是：

只恐夜深花睡去。[22]

黛玉笑道：“‘夜深’两个字，改‘石凉’两个字。”众人便知他趣白日间湘云醉卧的事，都笑了。湘云笑指那自行船与黛玉看，又说“快坐上那船家去罢，别多话了。”众人都笑了。因看注云：“既云‘香梦沉酣’，掣此签者不便饮酒，只令上下二家各饮一杯。”湘云拍手笑道：“阿弥陀佛，真真好签！”恰好黛玉是上家，宝玉是下家。二人斟了两杯只得要饮。宝玉先饮了半杯，瞅人不见，递与芳官，端起来便一扬脖。黛玉只管和人说话，将酒全折在漱盂内了。湘云便绰起骰子来一掷个九点，数去该麝月。

麝月便掣了一根出来。大家看时，这面上一枝荼花，题着“韶华胜极”四字，那边写着一句旧诗，道是：

开到荼花事了。[23]

注云：“在席各饮三杯送春。”麝月问怎么讲，宝玉愁眉，忙将签藏了，说：“咱们且喝酒。”说着，大家吃了三口，以充三杯之数。麝月一掷个十九点，该香菱。

香菱便掣了一根并蒂花，题着“联春绕瑞”，那面写着一句诗，道是：

连理枝头花正开。[24]

注云：“共贺掣者三杯，大家陪饮一杯。”香菱便又掷了个六点，该黛玉掣。

黛玉默默的想道：“不知还有什么好的被我掣着方好。”一面伸手取了一根，只见上面画着一枝芙蓉，题着“风露清愁”四字，那面一句旧诗，道是：

莫怨东风当自嗟。[25]

注云：“自饮一杯，牡丹陪饮一杯。”众人笑说：“这个好极。除了他，别人不配作芙蓉。”黛玉也自笑了。于是饮了酒，便掷了个二十点，该着袭人。

袭人便伸手取了一支出来，却是一枝桃花，题着“武陵别景”四字，那一面旧诗写着道是：

桃红又是一年春。[26]

注云：“杏花陪一盏，坐中同庚者陪一盏，同辰者陪一盏，同姓者陪一盏。”众人笑道：“这一回热闹有趣。”大家算来，香菱、晴雯、宝钗三人皆与他同庚，黛玉与他同辰，只无同姓者。芳官忙道：“我也姓花，我也陪他一钟。”于是大家斟了酒，黛玉因向探春笑道：“命中该着招贵婿的，你是杏花，快喝了，我们好喝。”探春笑道：“这是个什么，大嫂子顺手给他一下子。”李纨笑道：“人家不得贵婿反挨打，我也不忍的。”说的众人都笑了。

袭人才要掷，只听有人叫门。老婆子忙出去问时，原来是薛姨妈打发人来了接黛玉的。众人因问几更了，人回：“二更以后了，钟打过十一下了。”宝玉犹不信，要过表来瞧了一瞧，已是子初初刻十分了。黛玉便起身说：“我可撑不住了，回去还要吃药呢。”众人说：“也都该散了。”袭人宝玉等还要留着众人。李纨宝钗等都说：“夜太深了不像，这已是破格了。”袭人道：“既如此，每位再吃一杯再走。”说着，晴雯等已都斟满了酒，每人吃了，都命点灯。袭人等直送过沁芳亭河那边方回来。

关了门，大家复又行起令来。袭人等又用大钟斟了几钟，用盘攒了各样果菜与地下的老嬷嬷们吃。彼此有了三分酒，便猜拳赢唱小曲儿。那天已四更时分，老嬷嬷们一面明吃，一面暗偷，酒坛已罄，众人听了纳罕，方收拾盥漱睡觉。

芳官吃的两腮胭脂一般，眉梢眼角越添了许多丰韵，身子图不得[27]，便睡在袭人身上，道：“好姐姐，心跳的很。”袭人笑道：“谁许你尽力灌起来。”小燕四儿也图不得，早睡了。晴雯还只管叫。宝玉道：“不用叫了，咱们且胡乱歇一歇罢。”自己便枕了那红香枕，身子一歪，便也睡着了。袭人见芳官醉的很，恐闹他唾酒，只得轻轻起来，就将芳官扶在宝玉之侧，由他睡了。自己却在对面榻上倒下。

大家黑甜一觉，不知所之。及至天明，袭人睁眼一看，只见天色晶明，忙说：“可迟了。”向对面床上瞧了一瞧，只见芳官头枕着炕沿上，睡犹未醒，连忙起来叫他。宝玉已翻身醒了，笑道：“可迟了！”因又推芳官起身。那芳官坐起来，犹发怔揉眼睛。袭人笑道：“不害羞，你吃醉了，怎么也不拣地方儿乱挺下了。”芳官听了，瞧了一瞧，方知道和宝玉同榻，忙笑的下地来，说：“我怎么吃的不知道了。”宝玉笑道：“我竟也不知道了。若知道，给你脸上抹些黑墨。”说着，丫头进来伺候梳洗。

宝玉笑道：“昨儿有扰，今儿晚上我还席。”袭人笑道：“罢罢罢，今儿可别闹了，再闹就有人说话了。”宝玉道：“怕什么，不过才两次罢了。咱们也算是会吃酒了，那一坛子酒，怎么就吃光了。正是有趣，偏又没了。”袭人笑道：“原要这样才有趣。必至兴尽了，反无后味了。昨儿都好上来[28]了，晴雯连臊也忘了，我记得他还唱了一个。”四儿笑道：“姐姐忘了，连姐姐还唱了一个呢。在席的谁没唱过！”众人听了，俱红了脸，用两手握着笑个不住。

忽见平儿笑嘻嘻的走来，说亲自来请昨日在席的人：“今儿我还东，短一个也使不得。”众人忙让坐吃茶。晴雯笑道：“可惜昨夜没他。”平儿忙问：“你们夜里做什么来？”袭人便说：“告诉不得你。昨儿夜里热闹非常，连往日老太太、太太带着众人顽也不及昨儿这一顽。一坛酒我们都鼓捣光了，一个个吃的把臊都丢了，三不知的又都唱起来。四更多天才横三竖四的打了一个盹儿。”平儿笑道：“好，白和我要了酒来，也不请我，还说着给我听，气我。”晴雯道：“今儿他还席，必来请你的，等着罢。”平儿笑问道：“他是谁，谁是他？”晴雯听了，赶着笑打，说道：“偏你这耳朵尖，听得真。”平儿笑道：“这会子有事不和你说，我干事去了。一回再打发人来请，一个不到，我是打上门来的。”宝玉等忙留，他已经去了。

这里宝玉梳洗了正吃茶，忽然一眼看见砚台底下压着一张纸，因说道：“你们这随便混压东西也不好。”袭人晴雯等忙问：“又怎么了，谁又有了不是了？”宝玉指道：“砚台下是什么？一定又是那位的样子忘记了收的。”晴雯忙启砚拿了出来，却是一张字帖儿，递与宝玉看时，原来是一张粉笺子，上面写着“槛外人妙玉恭肃遥叩芳辰”。

宝玉看毕，直跳了起来，忙问：“这是谁接了来的？也不告诉。”袭人晴雯等见了这般，不知当是那个要紧的人来的帖子，忙一齐问：“昨儿谁接下了一个帖子？”四儿忙飞跑进来，笑说：“昨儿妙玉并没亲来，只打发个妈妈送来。我就搁在那里，谁知一顿酒就忘了。”众人听了，道：“我当谁的，这样大惊小怪。这也不值的。”宝玉忙命：“快拿纸来。”当时拿了纸，研了墨，看他下着“槛外人”三字，自己竟不知回帖上回个什么字样才相敌。只管提笔出神，半天仍没主意。因又想：“若问宝钗去，他必又批评怪诞，不如问黛玉去。”

想罢，袖了帖儿，径来寻黛玉。刚过了沁芳亭，忽见岫烟颤颤巍巍的迎面走来。宝玉忙问：“姐姐那里去？”岫烟笑道：“我找妙玉说话。”宝玉听了诧异，说道：“他为人孤癖，不合时宜，万人不入他目。原来他推重姐姐，竟知姐姐不是我们一流的俗人。”岫烟笑道：“他也未必真心重我，但我和他做过十年的邻居，只一墙之隔。他在蟠香寺修炼，我家原寒素，赁房居住，就赁的是他庙里的房子，住了十年，无事到他庙里去作伴。我所认的字都是承他所授。我和他又是贫贱之交，又有半师之分。因我们投亲去了，闻得他因不合时宜，权势不容，竟投到这里来。如今又天缘凑合，我们得遇，旧情竟未易。承他青目，更胜当日。”

宝玉听了，恍如听了焦雷一般，喜的笑道：“怪道姐姐举止言谈，超然如野鹤闲云，原来有本而来。正因他的一件事我为难，要请教别人去。如今遇见姐姐，真是天缘巧合，求姐姐指教。”说着，便将拜帖取与岫烟看。岫烟笑道：“他这脾气竟不能改，竟是生成这等放诞诡僻了。从来没见拜帖上下别号的，这可是俗语说的‘僧不僧，俗不俗，女不女，男不男’[29]，成个什么道理。”宝玉听说，忙笑道：“姐姐不知道，他原不在这些人中，算他原是世人意外之人。因取我是个些微有知识[30]的，方给我这帖子。我因不知回什么字样才好，竟没了主意，正要去问林妹妹，可巧遇见了姐姐。”

岫烟听了宝玉这话，且只顾用眼上下细细打量了半日，方笑道：“怪道俗语说的‘闻名不如见面’，又怪不得妙玉竟下这帖子给你，又怪不得上年竟给你那些梅花。既连他这样，少不得我告诉你原故。他常说：‘古人中自汉晋五代唐宋以来皆无好诗，只有两句好，说道：“纵有千年铁门槛，终须一个土馒头。”’所以他自称‘槛外之人’。又常赞文是庄子的好，故又或称为‘畸人’[31]。他若帖子上是自称‘畸人’的，你就还他个‘世人’。畸人者，他自称是畸零之人；你谦自己乃世中扰扰之人，他便喜了。如今他自称‘槛外之人’，是自谓蹈于铁槛之外了；故你如今只下‘槛内人’，便合了他的心了。”宝玉听了，如醍醐灌顶[32]，嗳哟了一声，方笑道：“怪道我们家庙说是‘铁槛寺’呢，原来有这一说。姐姐就请，让我去写回帖。”岫烟听了，便自往栊翠庵来。宝玉回房写了帖子，上面只写“槛内人宝玉熏沐谨拜”几字，亲自拿了到栊翠庵，只隔门缝儿投进去便回来了。

因又见芳官梳了头，挽起纂来，带了些花翠，忙命他改妆，又命将周围的短发剃了去，露出碧青头皮来，当中分大顶，又说：“冬天作大貂鼠卧兔儿[33]带，脚上穿虎头盘云五彩小战靴，或散着裤腿，只用净袜厚底镶鞋。”又说：“芳官之名不好，竟改了男名才别致。”因又改作“雄奴”。芳官十分称心，又说：“既如此，你出门也带我出去。有人问，只说我和茗烟一样的小厮就是了。”宝玉笑道：“到底人看的出来。”芳官笑道：“我说你是无才的。咱家现有几家土番[34]，你就说我是个小土番儿。况且人人说我打联垂好看，你想这话可妙？”

宝玉听了，喜出意外，忙笑道：“这却很好。我亦常见官员人等多有跟从外国献俘之种，图其不畏风霜，鞍马便捷。既这等，再起个番名，叫作‘耶律雄奴’。‘雄奴’二音，又与匈奴相通，都是犬戎[35]名姓。况且这两种人自尧舜时便为中华之患，晋唐诸朝，深受其害。幸得咱们有福，生在当今之世，大舜之正裔，圣虞之功德仁孝，赫赫格天，同天地日月亿兆不朽，所以凡历朝中跳梁猖獗之小丑，到了如今竟不用一干一戈，皆天使其拱手俛头缘远来降。我们正该作践他们，为君父生色。”芳官笑道：“既这样着，你该去操习弓马，学些武艺，挺身出去拿几个反叛来，岂不尽忠效力了。何必借我们，你鼓唇摇舌的，自己开心作戏，却说是称功颂德呢。”宝玉笑道：“所以你不明白。如今四海宾服，八方宁静，千载百载不用武备。咱们虽一戏一笑，也该称颂，方不负坐享升平了。”芳官听了有理，二人自为妥帖甚宜。宝玉便叫他“耶律雄奴”。

究竟贾府二宅皆有先人当年所获之囚赐为奴隶，只不过令其饲养马匹，皆不堪大用。湘云素习憨戏异常，他也最喜武扮的，每每自己束銮带，穿折袖[36]。近见宝玉将芳官扮成男子，他便将葵官也扮了个小子。那葵官本是常刮剔短发，好便于面上粉墨油彩，手脚又伶便，打扮了又省一层手。李纨探春见了也爱，便将宝琴的荳官也就命他打扮了一个小童，头上两个丫髻，短袄红鞋，只差了涂脸，便俨是戏上的一个琴童。湘云将葵官改了，换作“大英”。因他姓韦，便叫他作韦大英，方合自己的意思，暗有“惟大英雄能本色”之语，何必涂朱抹粉，才是男子。荳官身量年纪皆极小，又极鬼灵，故曰荳官。园中人也有唤他作“阿荳”的，也有唤作“炒豆子”的。宝琴反说琴童书童等名太熟了，竟是荳字别致，便换作“荳童”。

因饭后平儿还席，说红香圃太热，便在榆荫堂中摆了几席新酒佳肴。可喜尤氏又带了佩凤偕鸳二妾过来游玩。这二妾亦是青年姣憨女子，不常过来的，今既入了这园，再遇见湘云、香菱、芳蕊一干女子，所谓“方以类聚，物以群分”二语不错，只见他们说笑不了，也不管尤氏在那里，只凭丫鬟们去服侍，且同众人一一的〔五〕游玩。一时到了怡红院，忽听宝玉叫“耶律雄奴”，把佩凤、偕鸳、香菱三个人笑在一处，问是什么话，大家也学着叫这名字，又叫错了音韵，或忘了字眼，甚至于叫出“野驴子”来，引的合园中人凡听见者无不笑倒。宝玉又见人人取笑，恐作践了他，忙又说：“海西福朗思牙[38]，闻有金星玻璃宝石，他本国番语以金星玻璃名为‘温都里纳’[39]。如今将你比作他，就改名唤叫‘温都里纳’可好？”芳官听了更喜，说：“就是这样罢。”因此又唤了这名。众人嫌拗口，仍翻汉名，就唤“玻璃”。

闲言少述，且说当下众人都在榆荫堂中以酒为名，大家顽笑，命女先儿击鼓。平儿采了一枝芍药，大家约二十来人传花为令，热闹了一回。因人回说：“甄家有两个女人送东西来了。”探春和李纨尤氏三人出去议事厅相见，这里众人且出来散一散。佩凤偕鸳两个去打秋千顽耍，宝玉便说：“你两个上去，让我送。”慌的佩凤说：“罢了，别替我们闹乱子，倒是叫‘野驴子’来送送使得。”宝玉忙笑说：“好姐姐们别顽了，没的叫人跟着你们学着骂他。”偕鸳又说：“笑软了，怎么打呢。掉下来栽出你的黄子来。”佩凤便赶着他打。

正玩笑不绝，忽见东府中几个人慌慌张张跑来说：“老爷宾天[40]了。”众人听了，唬了一大跳，忙都说：“好好的并无疾病，怎么就没了？”家下人说：“老爷天天修炼，定是功行圆满，升仙去了。”尤氏一闻此言，又见贾珍父子并贾琏等皆不在家，一时竟没个着己的男子来，未免忙了。只得忙卸了妆饰，命人先到玄真观将所有的道士都锁了起来，等大爷来家审问。一面忙忙坐车带了赖升一干老家人〔六〕媳妇出城。又请太医看视到底系何病。大夫们见人已死，何处诊脉来，素知贾敬导气之术[42]总属虚诞，更至参星礼斗，守庚申[43]，服灵砂，妄作虚为，过于劳神费力，反因此伤了性命的。如今虽死，肚中坚硬似铁，面皮嘴唇烧的紫绛皱裂。便向媳妇回说：“系玄教中吞金服砂，烧胀而殁。”众道士慌的回说：“原是老爷秘法新制的丹砂吃坏事，小道们也曾劝说‘功行未到且服不得’，不承望老爷于今夜守庚申时悄悄的服了下去，便升仙了。这恐是虔心得道，已出苦海，脱去皮囊，自了去也。”

尤氏也不听，只命锁着，等贾珍来发放，且命人去飞马报信。一面看视这里窄狭，不能停放，横竖也不能进城的，忙装裹好了，用软轿抬至铁槛寺来停放，掐指算来，至早也得半月的工夫，贾珍方能来到。目今天气炎热，实不得相待，遂自行主持，命天文生[44]择了日期入殓。寿木已系早年备下寄在此庙的，甚是便易。三日后便开丧破孝。一面且做起道场来等贾珍。

荣府中凤姐儿出不来，李纨又照顾姊妹，宝玉不识事体，只得将外头之事暂托了几个家中二等管事人。贾、贾珖、贾珩、贾璎、贾菖、贾菱等各有执事。尤氏不能回家，便将他继母接来在宁府看家。他这继母只得将两个未出嫁的小女带来，一并起居才放心。

且说贾珍闻了此信，即忙告假。礼部因贾珍并贾蓉是有职之员〔七〕。而且当今隆敦孝弟，不敢自专，具本请旨。原来天子极是仁孝过天的，且更隆重功臣之裔，一见此本，便诏问贾敬何职。礼部代奏：“系进士出身，祖职已荫其子贾珍。贾敬因年迈多疾，常养静于都城之外玄真观。今因疾殁于寺中，其子珍，其孙蓉，现因国丧随驾在此，故乞假归殓。”天子听了，忙下额外恩旨曰：“贾敬虽白衣[46]无功于国，念彼祖父之功，追赐五品之职。令其子孙扶柩由北下之门进都，入彼私第殡殓。任子孙尽丧礼毕扶柩回籍外，着光禄寺按上例赐祭。朝中由王公以下准其祭吊。钦此。”此旨一下，不但贾府中人谢恩，连朝中所有大臣皆嵩呼[47]称颂不绝。

贾珍父子星夜驰回，半路中又见贾贾珖二人领家丁飞骑而来，看见贾珍，一齐滚鞍下马请安。贾珍忙问：“作什么？”贾回说：“嫂子恐哥哥和侄儿来了，老太太路上无人，叫我们两个来护送老太太的。”贾珍听了，赞称不绝，又问家中如何料理。贾等便将如何拿了道士，如何挪至家庙，怕家内无人接了亲家母和两个姨娘在上房住着。贾蓉当下也下了马，听见两个姨娘来了，便和贾珍一笑。贾珍忙说了几声“妥当”，加鞭便走，店也不投，连夜换马飞驰。一日到了都门，先奔入铁槛寺。那天已是四更天气，坐更的闻知，忙喝起众人来。贾珍下了马，和贾蓉放声大哭，从大门外便跪爬进来，至棺前稽颡泣血[48]，直哭到天亮喉咙都哑了方住。尤氏等都一齐见过。贾珍父子忙按礼换了凶服，在棺前俯伏，无奈自要理事，竟不能目不视物，耳不闻声，少不得减些悲戚，好指挥众人。因将恩旨备述与众亲友听了。一面先打发贾蓉家中料理停灵之事。

贾蓉得不得一声儿，先骑马飞来至家，忙命前厅收桌椅，下槅扇，挂孝幔子，门前起鼓手棚牌楼等事。又忙着进来看外祖母两个姨娘。原来尤老安人年高喜睡，常歪着，他二姨娘三姨娘都和丫头们作活计，见他来了，都道烦恼。贾蓉且嘻嘻的望他二姨娘笑说：“二姨娘，你又来了，我们父亲正想你呢。”尤二姐便红了脸，骂道：“蓉小子，我过两日不骂你几句，你就过不得了。越发连个体统都没了。还亏你是大家公子哥儿，每日念书学礼的，越发连那小家子瓢坎的也跟不上。”说着顺手拿起一个熨斗来，搂头就打，吓的贾蓉抱着头滚到怀里告饶。尤三姐〔八〕便上来撕嘴，又说：“等姐姐来家，咱们告诉他。”贾蓉忙笑着跪在炕上求饶，他两个又笑了。贾蓉又和二姨〔九〕抢砂仁吃，尤二姐嚼了一嘴渣子，吐了他一脸。贾蓉用舌头都舔着吃了。

众丫头看不过，都笑说：“热孝在身上，老娘才睡了觉，他两个虽小，到底是姨娘家，你太眼里没有奶奶了。回来告诉爷，你吃不了兜着走。”贾蓉撇下他姨娘，便抱着丫头们亲嘴：“我的心肝，你说的是，咱们馋他两个。”丫头们忙推他，恨的骂：“短命鬼儿，你一般有老婆丫头，只和我们闹。知道的说是顽；不知道的人，再遇见那脏心烂肺的爱多管闲事嚼舌头的人，吵嚷的那府里谁不知道，谁不背地里嚼舌说咱们这边乱帐。”贾蓉笑道：“各门另户，谁管谁的事。都够使的了。从古至今，连汉朝和唐朝，人还说脏唐臭汉，何况咱们这宗人家。谁家没风流事，别讨我说出来。连那边大老爷这么利害，琏叔〔一〇〕还和那小姨娘不干净呢。凤姑娘那样刚强，瑞叔〔一一〕还想他的帐。那一件瞒了我！”

贾蓉只管信口开合胡言乱道之间，只见他老娘醒了，请安问好，又说：“难为老祖宗劳心，又难为两位姨娘受委屈，我们爷儿们感戴不尽。惟有等事完了，我们合家大小，登门去磕头。”尤老安人点头道：“我的儿，倒是你们会说话。亲戚们原是该的。”又问：“你父亲好？几时得了信赶到的？”贾蓉笑道：“才刚赶到的，先打发我瞧你老人家来了。好歹求你老人家事完了再去。”说着，又和他二姨挤眼，那尤二姐便悄悄咬牙含笑骂：“很会嚼舌头的猴儿崽子，留下我们给你爹作娘不成！”贾蓉又戏他老娘道：“放心罢，我父亲每日为两位姨娘操心，要寻两个又有根基又富贵又年轻又俏皮的两位姨爹，好聘嫁这二位姨娘的。这几年总没拣得，可巧前日路上才相准了一个。”尤老只当真话，忙问是谁家的，二姊妹丢了活计，一头笑，一头赶着打。说：“妈别信这雷打的。”连丫头们都说：“天老爷有眼，仔细雷要紧！”又值人来回话：“事已完了，请哥儿出去看了，回爷的话去。”那贾蓉方笑嘻嘻的去了。不知如何，且听下回分解。

[1] 村——粗俗。这里作动词，顶撞之意。

[2] 架桥拨火儿——从旁怂恿挑拨促成别人吵嘴打架。架桥：比喻勾起双方矛盾。拨火：比喻拨人心火，使之动气。

[3] 普洱茶——产于云南普洱一带的名茶，多压制成团状。《本草纲目拾遗·木部》：“普洱茶膏黑如漆，醒酒第一；绿色者更佳，消食化痰，清胃生津，功力尤大也。”

[4] 女儿茶——普洱茶之一种。一说泰山附近采青桐芽当饮料，号女儿茶。见明代李日华《紫桃轩杂缀》。

[5] 便宜——此处意为“方便”。

[6] 安席——旧时宴席入座时主人对宾客的一套礼节，叫安席。

[7] 玉色红青酡（tuó驼）三色缎子斗的水田小夹袄——意谓用玉色、红青、酡三种颜色的缎子小块拼到一起做成的小夹袄。玉色：介乎淡青和绿色之间的颜色。红青：略泛微红的黑色。酡：微带赭色的淡红。酡，酒后脸上出现的红晕。：经而未纬者曰机。斗：亦作“逗”，这里指两种以上的色彩或衣料拼接一起组成图案。水田：即“水田衣”，是用多种颜色的零碎衣料剪成小方块，或用两块不同颜色的三角形拼成方形，缝到一起做成的衣服，形似块块水田，故名。

[8] 抢红——掷骰为戏，以得红点多少定输赢，叫抢红。

〔一〕 “喝户”，底本点改为“合户”，己卯本作“喝户”，俄藏本原作“喝户”，点改为“阖户”。从底本原文。

[10] 得不得——意为“巴不得”。

[11] “任是”句——见唐代罗隐《牡丹花》诗。此回花签上的诗句，都引唐宋诗作，作者借此巧妙地把抽签人的性格、命运隐寓其中。

[12] 侑（yòu又）酒——劝酒。

[13] “寿筵”句——见明代戏曲《牧羊记·庆寿》的第三支曲《山花子》。

[14] 《赏花时》一曲——《赏花时》，曲牌名。明代汤显祖《邯郸记·度世》中何仙姑来蓬莱山门外扫花时所唱的第一支曲，底本的曲文与影印明朱墨刊本《邯郸梦记》及清代叶堂《纳书楹曲谱》所收《邯郸记》的曲文小有出入。此处即以天启元年本校改。

[15] “斩黄龙”句——意思是嘱咐吕洞宾再也不要像斩黄龙那样冒冒失失地差一点丢了性命。吕洞宾因曾与黄龙禅师顶撞，被禅师打了一戒尺，一怒间，半夜祭起“降魔太阿神光宝剑”去斩黄龙，结果剑被收去，他亲身去取剑，也被押入魔岩，多亏他师父钟离权说情才得救。见明代冯梦龙《醒世恒言·吕洞宾飞剑斩黄龙》。

[16] “再休向”句——意思是劝吕洞宾在路上不要贪酒误事。东老：宋代湖州东林沈氏自称东老，家贫而好客，善酿酒，留饮时常使客醉。见苏东坡《次韵回先生三首序》。

[17] 留恨碧桃花——因何仙姑此时已入仙班，吕洞宾入尘世度人来代她扫花。这句的意思是若代替扫花的人来迟，耽误了参加蟠桃宴的时间，那只好怨恨碧桃花了。

〔二〕 《赏花时》曲，梦稿、甲辰本仅首二句，作“唱了一支《赏花时》‘翠凤毛翎扎帚叉，闲踏天门扫落花’才罢”，从行文看，这样似较紧凑。其馀各本，均同底本引《赏花时》（及“幺篇”）全文。但各本与汤显祖原著有异；“您再休”以下，均未标出“幺篇”；又其中衬字，或别以小字，或无分别，可能系当时的演出本，故仍其旧。唯文字差异据现有脂本并参照汤著校改。

〔三〕 “探春”，原无，从梦稿、甲辰本补。

〔四〕 “十九点”，原作“九点”，从甲辰本改。

[21] “竹篱”句——见宋代王琪《梅》诗。

[22] “只恐”句——见宋代苏轼《海棠》诗。

[23] “开到”句——见宋代王琪《春暮游小园》诗。

[24] “连理”句——见宋代朱淑贞《惜春》（一作《落花》）诗。

[25] “莫怨”句——见宋代欧阳修《明妃曲·再和王介甫》诗。

[26] “桃红”句——见宋代谢枋得《庆全庵桃花》诗。

[27] 图不得——此处意为“撑持不住”。

[28] 好上来——好，读作hào，音耗。此处意为放任、偏好。

[29] “僧不僧”句——见《西厢记》（暖红室本）第二本楔子。

[30] 知识——佛教称了悟一切知识、高明出众的人为“善知识”。《景德传灯录》卷五：“一日，师谓众曰：‘诸善知识，汝等各各净心，听吾说法。’”

[31] 畸（jī基）人——行事乖僻，与世俗礼仪悖谬的人。子贡问于孔子，孔子曰：“畸人者，畸于人而侔于天。”是说畸人虽与世俗不合，但率性而为，与自然之理相通。侔（móu谋）：同，等；求，取。

[32] 醍醐（tí hú提胡）灌顶——佛家用语。比喻向人灌输智慧佛性。这里引申为经人指点顿然领悟的意思。醍醐：从牛乳中提炼出来的最精华成分，佛家用以比喻佛性和智慧。

[33] 大貂鼠卧兔儿——貂皮做的一种帽子，样式如卧兔。

[34] 土番——古时称边境少数民族为番，俗呼为土番。

[35] 犬戎——又称畎夷、昆夷、串夷。中国古代西戎种族的别名，殷周时在泾渭流域游牧。

[36] 折袖——俗称“马蹄袖”，袍褂袖口上接出一个半圆形袖头的服式，本为骑射时覆手御寒，后用作礼服，平时挽起，行礼时撢下。

〔五〕 “一一的”，原作“二妾”，从梦稿、甲辰本改。

[38] 福朗思牙——即法兰西。

[39] 温都里纳——法文音译，意为内涵金星的棕黄色宝石，或仿照这种宝石所制的玻璃或陶瓷。

[40] 宾天——古时专称帝王之死，后世泛称尊者的死亡。

〔六〕 “家人”，原作“老人”，从蒙府、戚序本改。

[42] 导气之术——亦作导引之术，是“导气令和，引体令柔”的意思。原为我国古代锻炼身体和医疗疾病的一种方法，近似今之气功疗法。后被道教披上神秘外衣，利用作“修仙”、“长生”的方术之一。

[43] 守庚申——道教认为人腹中有一种怪物叫“三尸”（也叫“三彭”、“三虫”），专门伺察人的隐私过恶，每到庚申日就到天帝面前告发，减人禄命。若人在庚申日不眠，“三尸”便不能上天告状，就可以长生不死。见宋代张君房辑《云笈七签》。

[44] 天文生——本为明、清时代钦天监官员的职称之一，主要掌管对星辰、晴雨、风雷、云霓等天象气候的观测与推算（见《明史》、《清史稿》“钦天监”条）。这里是指旧时以择日、占卜、看风水、选阴阳宅等为职业的人，也称“阴阳先生”、“风水先生”或“堪舆先生”。

〔七〕 “之员”，原作“之品”，己卯本同。甲辰本作“人员”。梦稿、蒙府、戚序本作“之人”。

[46] 白衣——古时平民穿白衣，故后为老百姓的代称。

[47] 嵩（sōnɡ松）呼——也叫“山呼”。封建时代臣子颂祝皇帝，高呼万岁，叫“嵩呼”。《汉书·武帝纪》载：汉武帝登嵩山，随从吏卒“咸闻呼万岁者三”。

[48] 稽颡（qǐ　sǎnɡ起嗓）泣血——以头叩地，哀痛号泣。稽颡：古时礼节，跪拜时，拱手至地，以额触地。颡：额，脑门。泣血：眼泪流尽继之以血，极言悲痛。

〔八〕 “尤三姐”，原作“尤二姐”。各本中，唯己卯本作“尤三姐”，且“三”似为“二”字改。“尤三姐”为是，从。

〔九〕 “二姨”及下句“二姐”，底本“二”均添一笔为“三”字。各本均作“二”。从底本原文。

〔一〇〕 “琏叔”，底本旁添为“琏二叔”，各本均作“琏叔”，从底本原文。

〔一一〕 “瑞叔”，底本旁添为“瑞大叔”，各本均作“瑞叔”，从底本原文。

CHAPTER 63. Flower-maidens combine for nocturnal birthday revels And a grass widow copes with funeral arrangements single-handed

The first thing Bao-yu did when he got back to Green Delights was to wash his hands. While doing so, he discussed with Aroma the drinking-party that they were planning to have that evening.

‘I want everyone to enjoy themselves,’ he said. ‘I want you to let yourselves go for once. Let’s decide now what we are going to eat, so that they have plenty of time to get it ready.’

‘You don’t have to worry about that,’ said Aroma, smiling. ‘I’ve already made a collection for tonight and given the money to Mrs Liu: ten pennyweights of silver each from Skybright, Musk, Ripple and me – that’s two taels – and six each from Parfumée, Emerald, Swallow and Number Four (I didn’t collect anything from the ones who are taking the evening off) making three taels four pennyweights altogether. With that money she’s going to do us forty little dishes of different things to eat. I’ve also had a word with Patience about the drink and she’s had a two-gallon jar of Shaoxing wine carried over for us. It’s hidden away over there, ready for the evening. The party will be our birthday present to you from the eight of us.’

‘How did the younger ones manage to give so much?’ said Bao-yu, pleased but a little concerned. ‘I think it would have been better if you hadn’t taken contributions from them.’

‘What about us then?’ said Skybright. ‘We’re not exactly rich. This is something they wanted to do for you. I think you ought to accept it in the spirit in which it was offered and not bother too much about where the money came from. Suppose they stole it: what does that matter to you?’

‘You’re right,’ said Bao-yu, laughing.

‘If you were to go for one single day without feeling the rough side of her tongue,’ said Aroma, ‘I think you would feel deprived!’

‘Aroma is getting quite expert in the art of stirring up trouble between other people,’ said Skybright. ‘I wonder who she picked it up from.’

While the others were still laughing at these exchanges, Bao-yu gave orders for them to close the courtyard gate.

‘I don’t wonder the young ladies call you “Busybody”,’ said Aroma. ‘If we shut the gate now, we shall be simply inviting suspicion. Much better wait a bit.’

Bao-yu nodded.

‘I have to go outside now for a moment. Have some water ready when I get back, will you, Number Four? Swallow, you can come with me.’

When they were outside and he had first made sure that no one else was about, he asked Swallow what Cook Liu had said about Fivey.

‘Mrs Liu was very pleased when I told her,’ said Swallow, ‘but she said that because of all the worry and the harsh treatment she suffered the other night Fivey has had a relapse; so it’s out of the question for her to begin working with us now. She said it will just have to wait until she’s better.’

Judging from the long sigh he gave when he heard this, Bao-yu appeared to be very much distressed.

‘Tell me,’ he asked, ‘does Aroma know about this?’

‘I haven’t told her myself,’ said Swallow. ‘I suppose Parfumée might have done.’

‘Anyway, I haven’t told her yet,’ he said. ‘Hmn. Perhaps I’d better.’

Going back inside, he was careful to wash his hands to avert suspicion.

It was already lighting-up time. A party of women could be heard entering the courtyard gate. The inmates of Green Delights crowded to the windows to peep out. It was Lin Zhi-xiao’s wife, accompanied by a number of the stewardesses. A woman holding a big lantern in her hand was leading the way.

‘They’ve come to inspect the watch,’ said Skybright. ‘When they go out again we shall be able to shut the gate.’

Sure enough, the women on night-duty at Green Delights now trooped out into the courtyard to be inspected.

‘Now, no gambling and no drinking!’ said Lin Zhi-xiao’s wife, when she had ascertained that they were all there. ‘And no lying down and going to sleep until daylight, or I shall be after you!’

‘None of us is that stupid,’ said the women, laughing. ‘We wouldn’t dare.’

‘Is Master Bao in bed yet?’ Lin Zhi-xiao’s wife asked them.

The women said they didn’t know. Aroma gave Bao-yu a prod and he shuffled to the doorway in his slippers and smiled amiably at the assembled matrons outside.

‘I haven’t gone to bed yet. Come inside and sit down.’ He turned to Aroma inside. ‘Aroma, some tea for Mrs Lin!’

Lin Zhi-xiao’s wife required no pressing.

‘Not in bed yet?’ she exclaimed, stepping nimbly into the room. ‘Now that the days are so long, you need to go to bed early so that you can get up early in the morning. If you get up late, people will laugh at you. “That’s no way for an educated, well-brought-up young gentleman to behave,” they’ll say. “More like an ignorant, uneducated coolie.”’

The comparison seemed to please her, for she laughed very complacently after making it. Bao-yu laughed too.

‘You’re quite right, Mrs Lin. As a matter of fact, I do go to bed early most nights. Generally when you make your rounds I don’t know you’ve been here because I’m already in bed when you come. The reason I’ve stayed up today is because I’ve had such a lot of noodles to eat. I was afraid that if I went to bed now I’d get indigestion.’

Lin Zhi-xiao’s wife transferred her smiling attention to Aroma.

‘You want to give him some good, strong Pu-er tea to drink.’

Aroma and Skybright answered her together.

‘We made him a big pot of herbal tea – wutong-tips. He’s already had two cupfuls of it. It’s still quite fresh. Would you like to try some?’

Lin Zhi-xiao’s wife rose to receive the cup that Skybright poured for her.

‘I hear that Master Bao has taken to calling you senior girls by your names,’ she said. ‘Now that’s not very respectful. Though you work here, you are still Their Ladyships’ girls, don’t forget. I don’t say but what he mightn’t sometimes, just once in a while, let one of your names drop out by accident, and no harm done. But if he makes a habit of it, the other young gentlemen will soon be copying him, and we shall get ourselves laughed at as a family in which the young folk have no respect for their elders.’

‘You are quite right,’ said Bao-yu. ‘But in fact it is only once in a while and quite unintentionally.’

Aroma and Skybright hastened to corroborate this.

‘Oh yes, Mrs Lin. It would be quite unfair to say that he makes a habit of it. Normally he is most respectful. It’s only once or twice in this apartment when we’ve been joking together and never in front of other people.’

Lin Zhi-xiao’s wife was all smiles.

‘Well, that’s all right then. Respectable is what an educated young gentleman ought to be. The more you respect others, I say, the more others will respect you. And I don’t only mean older people who have served three or four generations of the family, I mean anyone who comes to you from Their. Ladyships. Even Their Ladyships’ cat and Their Ladyships’ dog is to be respected, if you want people to think of you as an educated, well-brought-up young gentleman.’

She finished her tea.

‘Well, good night young master, I must be going.’

‘Won’t you stay a little longer?’ said Bao-yu.

But Lin Zhi-xiao’s wife was already on her way and leading her troops off to inspect another apartment. Skybright barred the gate after her as soon as she was gone. She was laughing as she came in afterwards.

‘I think the old girl’s had a bit too much to drink. That’s why we were treated to the lecture.’

‘She means well,’ said Musk. ‘We need someone to remind us once in a while, just to keep us on the straight and narrow.’

She began laying the table while she said this; but Aroma stopped her.

‘Let’s not sit up at the big table. We can put the round pearwood table on the kang. It will be much more relaxed and comfortable on the kang.’

While other maids lifted the pear-wood table onto the kang, Musk and Number Four went off to collect the dishes that Cook Liu had been preparing for them. Though each carried the largest tea-tray she could find, it took four or five trips to carry them all over. Meanwhile two old nannies squatted on the verandah outside, tending the stove on which the wine was heating.

‘It’s so hot,’ Bao-yu said to the maids. ‘Let’s take our outer clothes off.’

‘You can take yours off if you like,’ said the girls, ‘but we want to drink a health with you before we start, so we shall have to stay respectable a bit longer.’

‘If you’re going to begin that sort of nonsense, we shan’t get started until morning!’ said Bao-yu. ‘You know how I hate that kind of thing. It’s bad enough at parties outside when I have to do it; but to make me do it here in my own room – it’s as though you were deliberately trying to annoy me.’

‘All right, all right!’ they said. ‘Anything you say!’

And so, before taking their places on the kang, they went off to remove their hair-ornaments and make themselves more comfortable. They returned wearing only tunics and trousers, with their unadorned hair loosely knotted or coiled. Bao-yu himself was wearing a dark-red cotton tunic tied at the waist with a sash, and trousers in a black-and-green-patterned lined silk gauze, unconfined at the ankles. The girls found him already ensconced on the kang. He was leaning back, one elbow resting on a newly-made turquoise-coloured pouffe stuffed with rose and peony petals, playing guess-fingers with Parfumée. Parfumée was shouting excitedly as she played. She was wearing a very short, close-fitting tunic with a harlequin pattern of turquoise, deep purple and reddish-brown lozenges, a willow-green sash, and flower-sprigged pale red trousers, which, like Bao-yu’s, were unconfined at the ankles. Her hair was done up in a number of little plaits which had been drawn back to join one great plait, as thick as a goose’s egg at the nape of her neck. She had a tiny jade stud no bigger than a grain of rice in her right ear; from her left ear hung a pendant made of ruby-glass and gold, the size of a ginkgo-fruit. Never had the moonlike pallor of her face, the limpid brightness of her eyes shown to greater advantage.

‘Look at that now!’ said the maids admiringly. ‘Wouldn’t you take the two of them for a pair of twins?’

‘Wait a bit,’ said Aroma, who had begun pouring wine. ‘You can play that later. Even though you won’t let us drink healths with you, at least do us the honour of drinking from our hands.’

She held her wine-cup to his lips and he took a sip from it. After that each of the seven others came up to him in turn, holding their full cups out to him, and he took a sip from each one. This little ceremony over, they proceeded to arrange themselves round the table. As there was insufficient room for Swallow and Number Four on the side nearest the edge of the kang, they brought a couple of felt-covered porcelain ‘tabouret’ stools up and sat at it on the floor below. The forty dishes, all of white Ding-ware and each no larger than a tea-saucer, contained every conceivable kind of sweet, savoury, fresh, dried, pickled, salted, smoked, baked, fried or sautéed delicacy designed to assist the absorption of rice-wine by the human frame.

‘Let’s play a drinking game,’ said Bao-yu.

‘Yes, but let it be a nice, quiet game this time,’ said Aroma. ‘We don’t want too much shouting, or people will hear us. Something not too learned, though. Don’t forget that some of us here can’t read or write.’

‘Get out the dice and let’s play Fours then,’ said Musk.

‘No, that’s a boring game,’ said Bao-yu. ‘Let’s play Choosing the Flower.’

‘Oh yes, do let’s!’ said Skybright. ‘I’ve been wanting to play that for ages.’

‘It’s a good game,’ said Aroma, ‘but you really need more people playing it to make it interesting.’

‘If you ask me, I think we should slip over and ask Miss Bao and Miss Yun and Miss Lin to come and join us,’ said Swallow. ‘There’d be no harm in their staying here till about ten o’clock, surely?’

‘But think of all the opening and closing of gates,’ said Aroma. ‘And suppose you ran into the watch and they started asking –’

‘It’ll be all right,’ said Bao-yu. ‘Ask Miss Tan too; she’s fond of drinking. And if she’s one of the party, they won’t be able to say anything even if they do find out. And what about Miss Qin?’

‘No, not Miss Qin,’ said the girls. ‘She’s staying in Mrs Zhu’s room. Routing her out from there would be simply asking for trouble.’

‘It’ll be all right,’ said Bao-yu, ‘you see. Just ask her.’

Swallow and Number Four needed no second bidding. Choosing a few of the junior maids to go with them, they ordered the old women to open the gate for them and set off, one in the direction of Dai-yu’s place and one in the direction of Bao-chai’s.

The senior maids, Aroma, Musk and Skybright, doubted whether, particularly in the case of Dai-yu and Bao-chai, such insubstantial deputies would be successful and decided that they had better go themselves and add their own weight to the invitation. Ordering a couple of the older women with lanterns to accompany them, they went off in the wake of the other two to see what they could achieve.

It Was as they had suspected. Bao-chai ‘thought it was rather late’; Dai-yu ‘didn’t feel quite up to it’. It was only when Aroma and Skybright had appealed to them by pointing out that the maids were the hosts and would very much appreciate the honour that they changed their minds and finally consented to come.

Swallow and Number Four had had no such difficulty with Tan-chun. She had seemed delighted by the invitation, even suggesting that they should invite Li Wan as well – since it would be embarrassing if she were not invited and were to find out about the party afterwards – and sending her own maid Ebony to help Swallow persuade Li Wan that she and Bao-qin should come.

One by one the new guests started to arrive. Caltrop came, too, in addition to the ones already mentioned. Refusing to take ‘no’ for an answer, Aroma had taken her firmly by the hand and dragged her off forcibly from All-spice Court. To accommodate the greater numbers, Aroma and the other girls put another table alongside the one already on the kang and a row of chairs facing them on the floor below. Bao-yu and the other guests arranged themselves on the kang, while the seven maids and Parfumée, as hosts, sat on the row of chairs below, within reach of one or other of the tables.

‘Cousin Lin can sit there, against the partition,’ said Bao-yu, while the guests were still arranging themselves on the kang. ‘She’ll be better able to keep warm there.’

He made her a little nest of pillows there, into which, though it was somewhat inconveniently distant from the table, she settled herself very comfortably. From this cosy vantagepoint she looked across at Li Wan, Bao-chai and Tan-chun with a teasing smile.

‘You are always grumbling about the gambling and drinking of the servants, yet here are we proposing to do precisely the same thing ourselves. How will you have the face to tell them off for this sort of thing in future?’

‘This doesn’t count,’ said Li Wan, smiling back at her. ‘There’s all the difference in the world between doing this once in a while on a birthday or a holiday and doing it every night of one’s life.’

Skybright now produced a cylindrical bamboo box containing a set of ivory drinking-cards, each with a different kind of flower painted on it. After giving it a good shake, she put it down in the middle of one of the tables. Then she took four dice, put them inside a dice-box, shook it, opened it, and looked inside. The pips on the faces uppermost made a total of five. Counting herself as ‘one’, the fifth along in an anticlockwise direction was Bao-chai.

‘I draw first then,’ said Bao-chai, smiling. ‘I wonder what it will be.’

She gave the cylinder another shake and pulled out a card. The others craned over to look. It had a picture of a peony on it with the caption ‘Empress of the Garden’ in large red characters. This was followed by a line of smaller black characters from a poem by the Tang poet Luo Yin:

Yourself lack passion, yet can others move.

On the other side of the picture were directions for the person drawing the card and for the other drinkers:

All present are to drink a cup in your honour. Also, because you have preeminence over all the other flowers, you are entitled to ask anyone present to recite a poem or tell a joke or sing a song for your entertainment.

The others laughed delightedly.

‘The peony suits you perfectly. What a splendid choice!’

When they had all drunk the cupful, Bao-chai drank a little wine herself and said that she would like Patfumée to sing her a song. Parfumée began:

‘The sumptuous birthday feast begins –’

‘Stop! Stop!’ said the others. ‘We don’t want birthday odes at this time of night. Sing us something nice.’

Parfumée began again, this time putting all she had into the performance:

‘With my little phoenix-feather broom I stand at heaven’s door To sweep away the fallen flowers That lie on heaven’s floor; And when, by yonder cloud-bank, The wind begins to rise, It stirs the pearly dust up: Round and round it flies. O, sweeping heaven’s floor Is like any earthly chore!…’

Meanwhile Bao-yu, who had taken temporary possession of the card, continued to turn it this way and that between his fingers, muttering to himself the line of verse that was inscribed on it:

Yourself lack passion, yet can others move.

When Parfumée had finished, he gazed at her fixedly, saying nothing. Xiang-yun snatched the card from him rather impatiently and handed it back to Bao-chai. Bao-chai threw the dice. Sixteen. This time the count went right round both tables, ending at Tan-chun, who was sitting next to her.

‘I wonder what I shall be,’ said Tan-chun, and reached out to draw a card. But she blushed when she had looked at it and threw it on the table with an embarrassed laugh.

‘I don’t think we ought to play this game,’ she said. ‘It’s really a game for men to play, outside. There are all sorts of objectionable things in the directions.’

The others were puzzled, until Aroma picked the card up and held it out for them to see. The picture was of a spray of almond blossom with the caption ‘Spirit of the Afterglow’. The line of verse which followed it was by Gao Chan:

Apricot-trees make the sun’s red-petalled floor.

Then came the part which had made Tan-chun feel embarrassed:

You are destined to make a noble marriage. Congratulations! Those present must offer you a cup of wine and drink a cup in your honour.

The reading of these words was greeted with general laughter.

‘So that’s what upset you? Well, it’s true there are a few like this which are amusing at the expense of us girls, but there’s no real harm in them. Anyway, what’s wrong with the prognostication? We’ve already got one royal consort in the family, why shouldn’t we have another? Congratulations!’

They raised their cups and drank a toast to the marriage. Tan-chun herself refused to drink, but Xiang-yun, Caltrop and Li Wan seized hold of her and forced the wine down her throat. Even then she continued to insist that they ought to abandon the game and play something else. Xiang-yun had to take hold of her hand, clamp her fingers to the dice-box, and force her to throw the dice. The number thrown in this way was nineteen. This time the count was more than the number of players and ended, the second time round, at Li Wan. Li Wan shook the cylinder and drew out a card. She smiled when she saw what she had got.

‘Very good! Look at this, all of you! This is rather a nice one.’

The picture was of a winter-flowering plum with the rubric ‘Beauty of the Snow’. The verse that followed was by Wang Qi:

Content by cottage fence to bloom unseen.

The instructions given on this card were:

You are to drink a cup of wine. The next player after you is to throw the dice.

‘There, isn’t that nice!’ said Li Wan. ‘You have to throw the dice for me and I just sit back enjoying myself and let the world go by!’

She sipped her wine and passed the dice-box to Dai-yu. The eighteen which Dai-yu threw brought the count round to Xiang-yun.

‘Ha ha!’ said Xiang-yun, rolling up her sleeves. She stretched her arm out and drew a card. The others looked at what she had drawn. It was a picture of crab-apple blossom with the caption ‘Sweet Drunken Dreamer’. The quotation following was a line from Su Dong-po:

Fear that the flowers at dead of night should sleep.

‘For “at dead of night” read “on a stone bench”,’ said Dai-yu.

The others laughed, remembering Xiang-yun’s inebriation earlier in the day; but Xiang-yun smiled unconcernedly and pointed to the self-propelling toy boat on Bao-yu’s shelf.

‘Just get on that boat and go home, will you? You have too much to say for yourself, my girl!’

Amidst further laughter they looked at the instructions:

In view of the sweet drunken dreaming you are not to drink anything yourself, but the players sitting to right and left of you are each to drink a cupful.

‘Holy Name!’ said Xiang-yun, clapping her hands delightedly. ‘What a kind, thoughtful card!’

Xiang-yun’s neighbours, it so happened, were Dai-yu and Bao-yu. Others filled their cups for them in readiness. Bao-yu drank half of his and gave the rest to Parfumée, who threw her head back and emptied it at a gulp; Dai-yu, under cover of talking to someone, emptied the whole of hers into a spittoon. Xiang-yun picked up the dice. The total this time was nine, which meant that Musk was to draw. The card she drew portrayed a rose under the caption ‘Summer’s Crowning Glory’. The black-letter verse was another line from Wang Qi:

After sweet Rose there is no more blooming.

And the instructions:

All present drink three cups to commemorate the passing of the flowers.

‘What does it say?’ Musk asked.

Bao-yu frowned and quickly hid the card.

‘We are all to drink something,’ he said.

As a compromise they drank three sips each instead of the three cupfuls prescribed.

Musk threw nineteen with the dice, which made it Caltrop’s turn to draw. The flower she drew was a purple skullcap with the caption ‘Three Springs’ Harbinger’. The line of verse was by Zhu Shu-zhen:

Even as the twy-stemmed blossoms break in bloom.

And the comment:

This flower is a luck-bringer. Congratulations! Those present are to offer you three cups of wine and are each to drink a cup of wine to your health.

Caltrop threw six. Dai-yu to draw.

‘I wonder if there are any nice ones left,’ Dai-yu thought as she reached out to draw a card. ‘I hope I shall pick one of them if there are.’

She looked at the card she had taken. It was a hibiscus flower. ‘Mourner of the Autumn Mere’ the caption said, and the line of verse was by Ou-yang Xiu:

Your own self, not the East Wind, is your undoing.

The instructions said:

You are to drink a cup of wine yourself, and Peony is to take a cup with you.

The others laughed.

‘Isn’t that good! It’s exactly the right flower for her.’

Dai-yu too seemed pleased. When she and Bao-chai had drunk, she threw the dice. Twenty. That meant that Aroma was to draw. Aroma reached out and took a card. The picture on it was of a spray of peach-blossom with the caption ‘Fisherman’s Lost Paradise’ and the verse, from Xie Fang-de:

Peach-trees in pink and another spring is here.

The instructions said:

Almond is to drink a cup of wine with you, so is anyone who is the same age as you, anyone whose birthday is on the same day, and anyone who has the same surname.

‘This one sounds interesting,’ said the others, laughing, and at once began working out which of them belonged to these categories. Caltrop, Skybright and Bao-chai were all the same age as Aroma; Dai-yu’s birthday was on the same day; but there appeared to be no one present with the same surname – until Parfumée pointed out that her surname, like Aroma’s, was ‘Hua’ and claimed the right to drink a cup as well.

While the others were pouring out the wine, Dai-yu looked mischievously at Tan-chun:

‘As both Almond and someone who is destined to marry royalty, you had better begin.’

‘What’s that?’ said Tan-chun. She turned to Li Wan. ‘Oblige me by leaning over and giving that girl a back-hander, would you?’

‘Oh, that seems rather hard!’ said Li Wan. she’s not getting a royal husband and now she is to be beaten as well!’

Aroma was about to throw the dice when they heard someone calling outside the gate. One of the old women hurried out to see who it was and came back to tell them that it was some people from Aunt Xue’s come to collect Dai-yu.

‘What time is it?’ they asked the old woman.

‘Long past second watch,’ she said. ‘It struck eleven some time ago.’

Bao-yu, refusing to believe that it could be so late, asked to see his watch. He found on inspecting it, however, that it was in fact five and twenty minutes past eleven. Dai-yu rose to her feet.

‘I can’t, in any case, keep going much longer,’ she said. ‘And I have to take my medicine when I get back.’

‘Perhaps we’d all better break off now,’ said the others.

Aroma and Bao-yu tried to dissuade them, but Li Wan and Tan-chun were insistent.

‘It’s terribly late. We’ve already broken enough rules for one day.’

‘Very well,’ said Aroma. ‘All of you just drink one more cup of wine then, and we’ll let you go.’

Skybright, assisted by one of the junior maids, was already filling their cups. The others drank up and called for their lanterns to be lit. When they were ready, Aroma and the rest of the maids accompanied them all the way to the far side of Drenched Blossoms Bridge before returning to Green Delights. There, having once more barred the gate, they continued for a while with the game. Aroma filled some extra large cups with wine and put a selection of the delicacies on the little dishes on to a large plate to give to the old women who had been all this time on duty.

Everyone was by now beginning to be a little drunk. Soon they were playing guess-fingers and singing solos. By two o’clock the old women, who had been supplementing what the maids, in their kindness, had given them by surreptitiously helping themselves, had made such formidable inroads into the wine-supply that the two-gallon jar was suddenly found to be empty. On hearing that there was no more wine, the maids began to clear the things away and to wash and prepare themselves for bed.

Parfumée, who had drunk so much that her cheeks were flushed and her eyes glittered with an unnatural brightness, was incapable of moving. She leaned inertly against Aroma’s shoulder, murmuring plaintively in her ear.

‘Oh, Aroma! My heart is beating so!’

Aroma laughed.

‘You shouldn’t have drunk so much!’

Swallow and Number Four had long since succumbed and were lying asleep on the kang. Skybright tried unsuccessfully to wake them; but Bao-yu stopped her:

‘Leave them alone. It doesn’t matter if we all sleep here for once.’

He followed their example by pillowing his head on the petal-stuffed damask cushion, turning over on his side, and promptly dropping off to sleep.

Aroma could see that Parfumée was extremely drunk. Fearing that any but the slightest movement might make her sick, she lifted her up, very, very gently, and laid her down beside Bao-yu on the kang. She herself lay down on the couch opposite. A gentle oblivion then descended upon all of them and they slept like tops until morning.

It was already broad daylight when Aroma opened her eyes.

‘Oh, it’s late!’ she said.

She raised her head up to look at the kang opposite. Parfumée was still fast asleep, her head resting on the raised edge of the kang. Aroma hurriedly got up and went across to wake her. Her calling aroused Bao-yu, who sat up, looked around him cheerfully, commented ‘It’s late I’, and gave Parfumée a prod. Then Parfumée, too, sat up, rubbing her eyes and still only half awake.

‘Shame on you!’ said Aroma, laughing at her. ‘Look where you spent last night! You must have been very drunk, not to have chosen your place more carefully!’

Parfumée looked around her and saw that she had spent the night at Bao-yu’s side. She slipped off the kang hurriedly, with an embarrassed laugh.

‘How did I…?’

‘I don’t know either,’ said Bao-yu, laughing. ‘If I had known, I should have rubbed some ink on your face!’

Maids now came in carrying the basin and other things for his toilet.

‘Thank you all very much for last night’s party,’ said Bao-yu. ‘We’ll have another one tonight and this time you shall all be my guests.’

‘Oh no!’ said Aroma. ‘Not again! If we make another rumpus tonight, people will start complaining.’

‘That’s all right,’ said Bao-yu. ‘It’s only twice. Anyway, we’re all seasoned drinkers. Just think, we got through a whole two-gallon jar of wine last night! Just as it was beginning to get interesting, we found that we’d run out.’

‘That’s how it should be,’ said Aroma. ‘It’s much better to end a party when the fun is at its height than to go on until everyone is exhausted. I must say, everyone was in very good form last night. Skybright was being quite abandoned. She even sang a song, if I remember rightly!’

‘But don’t you remember?’ said Number Four. ‘You sang one too. We all did.’

A fit of uncontrollable giggles possessed the maids as they remembered, and they hid their blushing faces in their hands. While they were still giggling, a smiling Patience arrived. She had come to invite her hosts of the previous day to a return party.

‘No excuses!’ she said.’ I shall expect every one of you to be there.’

They made her sit down and somebody fetched her some tea.

‘What a pity we didn’t have her with us last night!’ Skybright commented.

Patience pricked up her ears.

‘Why, what were you doing last night?’

‘I don’t know whether I ought to tell you,’ said Aroma. ‘We had a high old time, I can tell you that. Even the high jinks Her Old Ladyship gets up to with the young ladies and Master Bao are nothing compared to last night. We got through a whole two-gallon jar of wine. We drank so much that we forgot our shame, singing songs until after two o’clock, then lying around with our clothes on and sleeping where we lay until morning.’

‘Charming!’said Patience with pretended indignation. ‘You come and ask me for wine, you don’t invite me to your party, and now you have the nerve to tell me what a wonderful time you had. I feel really angry!’

‘He’s giving a return party tonight,’ said Skybright. ‘He’s sure to ask you to that. I expect he’ll be going over himself shortly to invite you.’

‘“He” is who? Who is “he”?’ said Patience.

‘Oh, sharp-ears!’ Skybright coloured and pretended to strike her. ‘Trust you to pick on a little thing like that!’

‘Well, I can’t stay here talking, I’ve got something to attend to,’ said Patience. ‘I’ll be sending someone over later to tell you when it’s ready. Mind you all come now, or I’ll have the troops out to come and get you!’

Bao-yu and the maids tried to detain her, but she was already on her way.

Bao-yu now completed his interrupted toilet and took his early morning tea. While he sat sipping it, his eye chanced to light on a sheet of paper underneath the inkstone.

‘I wish you girls wouldn’t use my inkstone as a paperweight,’ he said.

Aroma and Skybright were immediately on the defensive.

‘Oh dear! Who’s at fault this time?’

Bao-yu pointed towards the offending paper.

‘Look. Under the inkstone. Someone’s pattern, I expect, that she forgot to put away.’

Skybright lifted the inkstone and picked up the paper from underneath. It was not an embroidery-pattern but some kind of writing. She handed it to Bao-yu. It was a sheet of pink, patterned letter-paper. A single column of characters ran down the centre of it:

From Adamantina, the Dweller Beyond the Threshold: Respectful Anniversary Greetings.

‘Who took delivery of this note?’ he asked, jumping up excitedly.

Assuming, from the degree of agitation, that the note must be from a person of some consequence, Aroma and Skybright took up the question. In response to their shouted inquiry, a smiling Number Four came running into the room.

‘I did. From Adamantina. She didn’t bring it herself, she sent one of the old women with it. I put it down somewhere in here. I meant to tell you about it, but with all that drinking last night I forgot.’

‘So that’s who it’s from,’ said the other maids. ‘What a fuss about nothing!’

But Bao-yu evidently did not think so.

‘Fetch me some paper,’ he said, still in some agitation, and himself began grinding the ink. But when the ink was ground and he sat with moistened brush poised in readiness over the virgin paper, he found that he did not know how to begin. What was the correct response to ‘Dweller Beyond the Threshold’? For a long time he sat thinking, but no inspiration was forthcoming.

‘It’s no good asking Bao-chai,’ he thought. ‘She’d only say something critical about Adamantina being too “fanciful”. I’d better ask Dai-yu.’

Slipping Adamantina’s note into his sleeve, he set off in the direction of the Naiad’s House. He was just stepping off the Drenched Blossoms bridge when he caught sight of Xing Xiu-yan bustling along in a very purposeful manner from the opposite direction.

‘Where are you going?’ he asked her.

‘I want to have a talk with Adamantina.’

Bao-yu was surprised.

‘Adamantina is such a strange, contrary person. There are very few people she can get on with. If she thinks highly of you, it proves that you must be made of finer stuff than the rest of us.’

‘I don’t know whether she thinks particularly highly of me,’ said Xiu-yan, ‘but we were neighbours for ten years. When she was serving her novitiate at the Coiled Incense Temple, there was only a party wall separating her from the place where my family lived. My family was too poor to own a house and for ten years lived in rented accommodation in her temple. Whenever I had nothing else to do, I used to go inside the nuns’ courtyard and spend my time with Adamantina. It was she who taught me to read and write. In fact, everything I know, practically, I owe to her. So you see, she’s not only my “hard times friend’; she is also in a sense my teacher. When my parents finally came here to throw themselves on the generosity of your family, we learned that Adamantina, too, had found a home here. She had evidently found this a place where her eccentricities would be tolerated and where she would be safe from molestation by those having the power to persecute her. It seemed as if our destinies must be linked. And I was glad to find, when I went to look her up here, that her friendship for me was unaltered. In fact, I think that if anything she is even nicer to me now than she was before.’

As if by a flash of lightning, the mystery of Xiu-yan’s utter alienness from her appalling parents was revealed.

‘I see’! he said. ‘That ethereal, crane-in-the-clouds quality one notices in everything you do or say – I see now where you get it from. As a matter of fact it’s something to do with Adamantina that has brought me out. Something she wrote has been puzzling me and I was on my way to ask someone else’s advice about it when I ran into you. It’s an extraordinary bit of luck that I did, because you are obviously much better qualified to advise me than the person I had been intending to ask.’

He took the piece of paper from his sleeve and showed it to her. Xiu-yan ran her eye over it and laughed.

‘She’ll never change. The same whimsical, preposterous Adamantina as always! Who but Adamantina would use her nom-de-plume in a birthday greeting? Talk about “a monk no monk and a maid no maid”! What sort of etiquette is that?’

‘I don’t agree,’ said Bao-yu, smiling. ‘Adamantina is above etiquette. She doesn’t subscribe to the conventions of our mundane world. Her writing to me in this way shows that she must credit me with some intelligence. Unfortunately I haven’t the faintest idea in what terms I ought to reply. I was on my way to ask Cousin Lin’s advice when I was fortunate enough to bump into you.’

For some moments Xiu-yan ran her eyes up and down Bao-yu appraisingly. Finally she broke into a laugh.

‘“The sight of it exceedeth the report thereof.” I see now what they mean. I’m not surprised she sent you this. And I’m not surprised she gave you all that plum-blossom last year. Well, if even Adamantina has succumbed, I suppose I shall have to do my little bit by explaining what this means.

‘Adamantina is fond of saying that out of all the poems by all the poets of the Han, Jin, North-and-South, Tang and Song dynasties, a couple of lines in Fan Cheng-da’s “Walk in the Cemetery” are the only decent verses ever written:

Though you hide behind a threshold of indestructible iron,

The mound shaped like a wheat-cake will claim you for its own.

That’s why she calls herself “The Dweller Beyond the Threshold”. Her favourite prose-writer is Zhuang-zi, so sometimes she calls herself “The Outsider”, after Zhuang-zi’s “outsider… wandering beyond the realm”. The way to please her is to refer to yourself modestly as someone still trapped in the toils of the wicked world while she is floating freely somewhere above them. If she’d called herself “The Outsider” in this note she’s sent you, the right response would have been to call yourself “The Worldling” in your reply. As she’s called herself “The Dweller Beyond the Threshold”, you should refer to yourself in answering as” The Dweller Behind the Threshold”, to indicate that you have understood the reference to Fan Cheng-da.’

The scriptures tell us that the revelation of the Buddhatruth comes ‘like ghee poured upon the head’. Bao-yu must have had some such feeling as he listened to Xiu-yan, for he first of all gave a gasp of discovery and then laughed out loud.

‘I see! That’s why our family temple is called the “Temple of the Iron Threshold” I Thank you very much. Now I can go and write my reply.’

Xiu-yan continued on her way to Green Bower Hermitage and Bao-yu went back to write his note. He wrote:

From Bao-yu, Dweller Behind the Threshold, Devout and Humble Thanks.

He carried the note to the Hermitage himself and posted it through the crack between the double doors.

By the time he got back to Green Delights, Parfumée had just completed her toilet. She had gone back to the elaborate feminine coiffure which she normally favoured, complete with kingfisher-feather hair-ornaments; but Bao-yu said he would prefer to see her permanently got up like a boy. He had her fringe and side-pieces cut off and the remaining short bits shaved away from her forehead round to the back of her neck, so that only the long hair growing from the crown of her head remained.

‘We’ll get you a big fur cap with ear-flaps to wear in the winter,’ he said, ‘and big tiger-boots for your feet, or white socks and thick-soled, stitch-patterned padded shoes, to go with loose-bottomed trousers. And we’d better change your name. “Parfumée” won’t do for a boy. What about “Honey Boy”? We can call you “Honey” for short.’

Parfumée was delighted.

‘Now you’ll be able to take me with you when you go outside,’ she said. ‘If anyone asks about me, you can tell them that I’m one of your pages, like Tealeaf.’

Bao-yu smiled at the idea, but seemed rather doubtful.

‘I think sooner or later they’d be able to tell that you weren’t.’

‘You have no imagination!’ said Parfumée. ‘Tell them I’m a foreign page. Your family’s got several foreign pages.* Anyway a pigtail suits me; everyone says it does. What about it? Don’t you think it’s a brilliant idea?’

Bao-yu was quite won over.

* Stone’s Note to Reader:

Both the Rong and Ning branches of the Jia family did in fact employ a number of foreign captives taken by previous members of the family in their various military campaigns and later graciously bestowed on them as bond-slaves by His Imperial Majesty. They were invariably employed as grooms, being useless for any other kind of work. Parfumée’s transvestism was by no means a novelty in the household. The tomboyish Shi Xiang-yun had long since shown a passion for dressing up in military uniform and was frequently to be seen wearing a cavalryman’s belt and tight-sleeved riding habit. When Bao-yu put Parfumée into boy’s clothing, she was quick to follow suit by dressing her own Althée in a page’s costume. As a ‘painted face’ Althée was already in the habit of shaving off the short hair above her forehead and round her ears to facilitate making-up and had acquired a certain masculinity of movement and gesture from the roles she played, so the transformation was in her case a less drastic one. Li Wan and Tan-chun were so taken with the result that they decided to dress Bao-qin’s Cardamome up as a little page as well. Her hair was done up in two knots like horns, one on each side of her head. Dressed in trousers and a short smock and with a pair of red shoes on her feet she looked – except for the make-up – exactly like the scholar’ page, Lute Boy, in the play. Xiang-yun changed Althée’s name to ‘Valiant’ because she thought it suited her. Cardamome was the youngest, liveliest and most mischievous of the little ex-actresses and the majority of the Garden’s inhabitants had already taken to calling her by less flattering sobriquets long before her transformation into a page. After the transformation had been made, Bao-qin rejected ‘Lute Boy’ as too obvious; and since she liked ‘Cardamome’ and thought it a pretty name, she resolved to retain at any rate the middle part of it by calling the new page ‘Damon’.

Stone

‘It’s a very good idea. I’ve often seen officials with little foreign servants – mostly Tartars or Tibetans captured in the wars. People like to have them as grooms because they are good at handling horses and don’t mind waiting about in the cold. We’ll have to give you a foreign name then. What about “Yelü Hunni”? “Yelü” is an old Kitansurnameand” Hunni” is what the Xiong-nu used to call themselves.’

Parfumée was very satisfied with this, so it was agreed that in future she would always be referred to as Yelü Hunni.

After lunch Patience’s messenger arrived to say that, as the summerhouse in the Peony Garden was thought to be too hot, her return party had been laid out in the Shady Elm rooms. You-shi came over well in advance, bringing two of Cousin Zhen’s little concubines, Lovey and Dove, with her from Ning-guo House. They were very young and wild and had seldom been taken to the neighbouring mansion before. Today, meeting such lively members of the Garden’s society as Caltrop, Xiang-yun, Parfumée and tamine for the first time, they were in their element, quickly proving the truth of the old saying about ‘birds of a feather’ by chattering nineteen to the dozen with their new-found friends and dashing off with them on an exploratory tour of the Garden. You-shi was left to the company of her own maids.

Presently, when they were visiting Green Delights, Caltrop, Lovey and Dove were very much amused to hear Bao-yu addressing Parfumée as ‘Yelü Hunni’. Having elicited from her how she came to have acquired so extraordinary a name, they began to try using it themselves; but in their unpractised mouths the foreign sounds soon degenerated into ‘Yellow Honey’; and even this was soon abandoned in favour of ‘Yellow Belly’. The maids, hearing them call her this, were all in stitches. Bao-yu feared that Parfumée would be wounded by their hilarity and proposed yet another change of name.

‘There is a land in the West called “Fran-see-ya” where they make a kind of golden glitter-glass called “aventurin”. You are such a bright and glittering person yourself: I think the name Aventurin would suit you very well.’

Parfumée was delighted with it. But it was still no good: the others found ‘Aventurin’ too difficult; and having estab lished that it was the name of some kind of foreign glass, soon took to calling her ‘Glassy’ or ‘Glass-eyes’ instead.

But we digress.

The party in the Shady Elm rooms had now begun. Once more wine was made an excuse for much unrestrained hilarity. The blind ballad-singers were asked to drum for them and Patience broke off a spray of peonies to play ‘passing the branch’ with. There must have been near enough twenty people taking part in the game. Just as the fun was at its height, it was announced that two women had arrived delivering things from the Zhen family in Nanking and Tan-chun, Li Wan and You-shi had to go off to the jobs room to receive them. The others decided to make a little break in the party while they did so, in which those who wanted to could take some exercise outside. Lovey and Dove decided to have a swing.

‘You get up as well,’ Bao-yu said to Lovey, who was pushing. ‘I’ll push you both.’

‘Oh no you don’t!’ said Lovey. ‘I know your kind of pushing! Yellow-belly can push us.’

‘Please,’ said Bao-yu exasperatedly, ‘don’t call her by that horrible name! You’ll have all the others calling her by it as well.’

Dove was giggling helplessly on the swing.

‘Stop it, you two! I can’t work this thing properly if you make me laugh. I shall fall off, if you’re not careful, and knock all the gravy out of you!’

While they were in the midst of their diversions, a group of servants from the Ning-guo mansion came rushing up in a state of great agitation.

‘Sir Jing is dead!’

‘Dead?’ Everyone hearing them was incredulous. ‘But he hadn’t been ill. How can he have died so suddenly?’

‘He spent all his time looking for the secret of immortality.’ said one of the servants. ‘Perhaps he found it and went off to heaven.’

You-shi heard the news with dismay. There would be so much to do, and with Cousin Zhen, Jia Rong and Jia Lian all three away, no dependable male around to help her. The first thing she did, of course, was to remove all her jewellery and the ornaments from her hair. Then, having ordered some of the household to go on ahead and put all the Taoists there under lock and key pending her husband’s return, she got into her carriage and drove with all speed to the Dark Truth Monastery outside the city, accompanied by the Chief Steward Lai Sheng’s wife and several of the senior stewardesses. Meanwhile other servants were dispatched to various members of the faculty requesting their attendance at the monastery.

The physicians duly arrived. As the patient was already dead, there was little scope for their customary methods of diagnosis; but they knew that Sir Jing had gone in for breath-control and various other kinds of Taoist hocus-pocus, some of which, like the worship of the Seven Stars, the keeping of ‘ghostworm’ vigils and the swallowing of mercuric ‘elixirs’, must have gravely weakened his constitution and may well have hastened his death; and when they saw the purple face and cracked and shrivelled lips of the corpse and felt the iron-hard abdomen, they had little difficulty in forming their collective opinion, which their spokesman delivered forthwith to the waiting women: ‘That death was due to edema and corrosion following ingestion by the deceased of some toxic metallic substance in pursuance of his Taoist researches.’

‘It wasn’t toxic,’ protested the Taoists, alarmed for their own safety. ‘It was an infallible secret formula, but it needed to be taken in the right conditions. We told him he wasn’t ready for it, but he wouldn’t believe us. He must have taken it during the vigil last night, when he was meditating on his own and there was nobody around to stop him. He will have gone straight to heaven, of course: such faith is sure to be rewarded. We must rejoice that he has cast off the corrupt garment of flesh and left this sea of misery behind him.’

But You-shi had no intention of getting drawn into an argument. Her only reply was to give orders that they should all be locked up again and remain so until Cousin Zhen could deal with them when he got back. Riders were dispatched post-haste to inform him of his father’s death.

You-shi could see at a glance that the monastery’s accommodation was far too cramped for the lying-in-state; on the other hand there could be no question of her taking the corpse back with her into the city. She therefore had it wrapped up and carried in a curtained chair to the Temple of the Iron Threshold. And as she calculated that it would probably be at least half a month before Cousin Zhen got back, by which time, as this was the hottest part of the year, the process of decomposition would already be well advanced, she decided, acting on her own initiative, to consult an astrologer and find out the earliest date on which the body could be encoffined. The coffin was conveniently to hand, having been deposited in the Temple of the Iron Threshold when it was purchased some years previously. The formal going into mourning and its attendant ceremonies were scheduled to take place three days later. Staging was put up in readiness for the Taoists and Buddhists, but their requiems were to be deferred until Cousin Zhen should have returned.

While You-shi and the already depleted staff were attending to these matters outside the city, no one with authority was left in the two mansions able to deal with callers from outside. On the Rong-guo side Xi-feng was still unable to see people because of her illness, Li Wan was fully occupied in looking after the young people, and Bao-yu was too lacking in savoir-faire to be trusted. It was necessary to call in a number of obscure junior clansmen who had done occasional odd-jobs for the family in the past: Jia Bin, Jia Guang, Jia Heng(I), Jia Chang and Jia Ling. On the Ning-guo side even the internal running of the household was a problem, since You-shi was for the time being unable to get back at all. She had to call on her step-mother, old Mrs You, to keep an eye on things for her. As Mrs You had two young unmarried daughters by a previous marriage, the most sensible arrangement seemed to be to bring the girls with her and install herself in temporary residence at Ning-guo House.

At this point our story moves elsewhere. As soon as the news reached him of his father’s death, Cousin Zhen made an urgent application for leave of absence to the Board of Rites. He included Jia Rong’s name in the petition, since Jia Rong was, nominally at any rate, the holder of a commission. The officials of the Board of Rites, bearing in mind His Imperial Majesty’s devotion to the Late Emperor and determination to give fullest expression to it in these obsequies of the Late Emperor’s favourite Consort, dared not grant leave of absence on their own initiative and referred the matter to the Emperor himself in a memorial. But the Son of Heaven, with that godlike compassion that is so typical of him, far from making his own bereavement an objection, saw it as all the more reason for sympathizing with the bereavement of a subject – particularly one whose ancestor had performed such great and signal services for the Crown. His immediate reaction on reading the memorial was to ask for particulars of Jia Jing’s official rank. The Board of Rites memorialized back as follows:

Jia Jing: Palace Graduate, Second Class. His hereditary office and emoluments were passed on during his lifetime to his son Jia Zhen. Owing to age and ill-health, he had for some years past been living in religious seclusion at the Dark Truth Monastery, where he was resident at the time of his death. Jia Zhen and his son Jia Rong are in attendance here at the mausoleum for the obsequies of Her Late Highness and are Your Imperial Majesty’s petitioners for leave to absent themselves in order to attend to the funeral arrangements.

On receipt of this memorial His Imperial Majesty was graciously pleased to issue the following Rescript:

Although Jia Jing’s own life appears to have been undistinguished by service to the state, nevertheless in recognition of the distinguished record of loyal service to the Crown of his grandfather the Duke of Ning-guo it is Our pleasure that a Court appointment carrying the honours and entitlements of an officer of the Fifth Rank should be bestowed upon him posthumously, and that his son and grandson should be authorized to convey his remains into the Capital, entering by way of the Lower North Gate, and to display them there in their private residence in the customary manner; and there after, having duly carried out all rites and ceremonies that are lawful to be performed, to convey them thence to the deceased’s registered place of origin for interment. And further more it is Our pleasure that Our treasury at the Imperial Victuallers should disburse to the said son and grandson a sum being the equivalent of one portion of funeral offerings of the First Grade towards the defrayment of the said Jia Jing’s funeral expenses; and that it should be lawful and permitted for holders of Court appointments up to and including the rank of Prince and Duke to make offerings and condolences.

When the contents of this Rescript were made known, it was not only the members of the Jia family who expressed their gratitude: all the great officers of the Court were loud in their praises of this extraordinary example of Imperial magnanimity.

Cousin Zhen and Jia Rong at once set off on horseback, determined to ride both night and day until they reached their destination. About half way along their road they came upon a group of horsemen riding hell-for-leather towards them who turned out to be Jia Bin and Jia Guang at the head of a party of Jia family domestics. They threw themselves from their saddles as soon as they recognized Cousin Zhen and touched knee and hand to the ground in the Manchu salute.

‘Why have you come?’ Cousin Zhen asked them.

‘Mrs Zhen was worried that when you and Rong left there would be no one to escort Her Old Ladyship,’ Jia Bin replied, ‘so she sent us to take your place.’

Cousin Zhen expressed his approval of his wife’s thought-fulness.

‘And what about things at home?’ he asked. ‘How have you been managing?’

Jia Bin told him how You-shi had had the Taoists put under arrest, how she had Jia Jing’s body moved to the family temple, and how, in order that there might be someone at home to keep an eye on things during her absence, she had persuaded her step-mother and two step-sisters to move into temporary residence at Ning-guo House. At mention of the two step-sisters the face of Jia Rong, who had dismounted when the others did, was observed to break into a grin. For his part Cousin Zhen merely nodded, observed several times over that these arrangements were ‘very sensible’, and, touching the riding-whip to his horse’s flanks, was on his way once more.

Cousin Zhen and Jia Rong rode on then through daylight and darkness, stopping at post-houses along the way only long enough to obtain a change of mount. It was night-time when they approached the outskirts of the Capital and well after two in the morning when they reached the Temple of the Iron Threshold. Those keeping watch had to rouse the others up to meet them. Cousin Zhen and Jia Rong dismounted and lifted up their voices in loud wailing. Still wailing, they crawled on their knees all the way from the outer gate of the temple to the lying-in-state room inside. There, at the foot of the coffin, they knocked their heads repeatedly on the floor and wept with abandon until daylight, by which time they had all but lost their voices.

After a brief intermission during which Cousin Zhen was greeted by You-shi and the rest (for he had not, till that moment, had an opportunity of speaking to them) he and Jia Rong changed into the appropriate hempen mourning-garments before returning to bow once more at the foot of the coffin.

Cousin Zhen found it impossible to achieve quite that state of self-absorbed grief – ‘oblivious to all around’ – which books of etiquette require of the bereaved son: there were too many things that needed attending to. For example, friends and relations had to be informed about the Gracious Rescript permitting a lying-in-state at the mansion and the receiving of offerings and condolences there. Jia Rong was ordered back home to make all preparations necessary for receiving the coffin.

Jia Rong was pleased with his commission. Hurrying to horse, he rode briskly into the city. As soon as he got back, he ordered the servants to begin clearing the furniture from the front reception hall at Ning-guo House and making a shrine for the coffin there out of screens and hangings. He also told them to put up awnings for the funeral bands outside the doorway, and a cloth and cane archway which should later be covered with funerary inscriptions. When he was satisfied that all this work was well in hand, he hurried into the inner apartments to meet his grandmother and two young aunts.

The Hon. Mrs You (the late Mr You – You-shi’s father – had been a mandarin of the sixth rank) was an elderly lady much given to taking naps. She was in fact recumbent upon the kang and refreshing herself with sleep at the moment when Jia Rong entered. It was the two daughters, sewing amidst their maids, who welcomed him.

‘I’m glad you’ve come, Auntie,’ said Jia Rong, grinning broadly at the elder of them. (Her name was Er-jie.) ‘Father has been longing to see you.’

Er-jie turned red.

‘Now look here, young Rong,’ she said, ‘you behave yourself! I suppose you are one of those people who, if they don’t get a good telling-off every once in a while, don’t feel comfortable. You are supposed to be a well-bred, educated young gentleman, yet a coolie would have better manners.’

She picked up the nearest object to hand, which happened to be a flat-iron, and made as if to aim it at his head. Jia Rong ducked in alarm, clasping his head in his arms; he ducked not away from her, however, but towards her, and ended up on her bosom, laughing and begging for mercy. At this the younger sister, San-jie, came over and tried to fasten her nails upon his mouth.

‘We’ll tell our sister about you when she gets back.’

Jia Rong knelt between them on the kang, entreating them not to, whereupon the two sisters collapsed in laughter.

He noticed that Er-jie was eating cardamums and made a grab at them intending to take some for himself. As he did so, Er-jie spat a chewed-up mouthful of them in his face. Quite unperturbedly, he began licking off the particles that he could reach with his tongue and nibbling them. This was more than even the maids could stomach.

‘Look at you, freshly in mourning and your old grannie lying there right under your nose!’ they said. ‘These are your aunts, after all, even though they are so young: you ought to have more respect for your mother than to treat her family like this. Wait till we tell the Master when he gets back: he’ll give you what for!’

Temporarily abandoning his aunts, Jia Rong went over to the maids, put his arms around two of them and began kissing them.

‘My darlings, you are so right! I shan’t interfere with them any more.’

The maids pushed him off indignantly.

‘Pig!’ The maid who said this spoke with feeling. ‘You have a wife and maids of your own; what do you need to come bothering us for? An understanding person would realize that this was only fun, but what about someone who didn’t know? There are plenty of dirty-minded, gossiping busy-bodies who would be only too pleased to go tattling about this sort of thing to the other mansion, and before you know where you are the gossips there will be passing round the most terrible stories about us.’

‘Their household is completely separate from ours,’ said Jia Rong, ‘why should they bother about what we do here? Anyway, they’ve got scandal enough of their own to keep them busy! Every family history has got a few scandals in it Look. at the stories they tell about the rules of the Han, and Tang dynasties: “Filthy Tang and stinking Han” they say, don’t they? If even the families of emperors were like that, you can hardly expect ours to be any different. As for the household next door: look how strict Great-uncle She is, yet Uncle Lian still manages to get up to a few tricks with that little chamber-wife; and look what a tough nut Aung Feng is, yet that didn’t stop Uncle Rui thinking he could settle her business. Do you imagine I don’t know what they get up to over there – ?’

He seemed to be warming to the subject and would doubtless have treated them to other even less edifying examples of Rong-guo depravity, had not the old lady suddenly woken up at that point, necessitating an abrupt change of manner. At once he dropped down on his knee and began inquiring solicitously about her health.

‘It is so good of you to have gone to all this trouble for us, Grandma,’ he said, ‘and for Auntie Er and Auntie San to put up with so much inconvenience on our behalf. Father and I don’t know how to thank you. I expect after this business is over we shall all be coming round to your place and making you a kotow.’

‘Bless the boy, what eloquence!’ said the old lady, nodding appreciatively. ‘For our own kin, though: it’s the least we could do. And how is your father?’ she asked him. ‘When did he hear the news? When did you get back?’

‘We’ve only just got back,’ said Jia Rong. ‘Father sent me on to see you immediately. He was particularly anxious that I should persuade you to stay here until everything is over.’

He winked at the two young aunts while he was saying this. Er-jie pretended to grind her teeth angrily, though she was trying not to laugh.

‘Glib-tongued little ape!’ she said.’ We’re to be kept around here as second strings for your father, I suppose?’

‘Don’t you worry!’ said Jia Rong, his eye on the old lady. ‘My father has your interests very much at heart. He’s been looking for years now for a couple of well-placed, rich, handsome young husbands for my two aunties. Now he’s found one at last – someone he met the other day on the journey.’

He was only joking, but the old lady took it all as gospel truth and asked him what the name was of this prospective son-in-law. Er-jie, laughing, laid down her sewing and ran across to strike him.

‘Don’t believe a word he says, Ma! He’s a wicked liar!’

Even the maids were outraged.

‘If the Lord in Heaven can hear you, you’d better watch out for the lightning!’ said one of them.

Just then a servant entered:

‘We’ve finished all the things you told us to do, Master Rong. Will you go back now and tell the Master it’s all ready?’

Off went Jia Rong then, smiling all over his face.

But what happened after that will be told in the following chapter.