第六十六回

第六十六回 情小妹耻情归地府 冷二郎一冷入空门

话说鲍二家的打他一下子，笑道：“原有些真的，叫你又编了这混话，越发没了捆儿[1]。你倒不像跟二爷的人，这些混话倒像是宝玉那边的了。”尤二姐才要又问，忽见尤三姐笑问道：“可是你们家那宝玉，除了上学，他作些什么？”兴儿笑道：“姨娘别问他，说起来姨娘也未必信。他长了这么大，独他没有上过正经学堂。我们家从祖宗直到二爷，谁不是寒窗十载，偏他不喜读书。老太太的宝贝，老爷先还管，如今也不敢管了。成天家疯疯癫癫的，说的话人也不懂，干的事人也不知。外头人人看着好清俊模样儿，心里自然是聪明的，谁知是外清而内浊，见了人，一句话也没有。所有的好处，虽没上过学，倒难为他认得几个字。每日也不习文，也不学武，又怕见人，只爱在丫头群里闹。再者也没刚柔，有时见了我们，喜欢时没上没下，大家乱顽一阵；不喜欢各自走了，他也不理人。我们坐着卧着，见了他也不理，他也不责备。因此没人怕他，只管随便，都过的去。”

尤三姐笑道：“主子宽了，你们又这样；严了，又报怨。可知难缠。”尤二姐道：“我们看他倒好，原来这样。可惜了一个好胎子。”尤三姐道：“姐姐信他胡说，咱们也不是见过一面两面的，行事言谈吃喝，原有些女儿气，那是只在里头惯了的。若说糊涂，那些儿糊涂？姐姐记得，穿孝时咱们同在一处，那日正是和尚们进来绕棺[2]，咱们都在那里站着，他只站在头里挡着人。人说他不知礼，又没眼色。过后他即悄悄的告诉咱们说：‘姐姐不知道，我并不是没眼色。想和尚们脏，恐怕气味熏了姐姐们。’接着他吃茶，姐姐又要茶，那个老婆子就拿了他的碗倒。他赶忙说：‘我吃脏了的，另洗了再拿来。’这两件上，我冷眼看去，原来他在女孩子们前不管怎样都过的去，只不大合外人的式，所以他们不知道。”尤二姐听说，笑道：“依你说，你两个已是情投意合了。竟把你许了他，岂不好？”三姐见有兴儿，不便说话，只低头磕瓜子。

兴儿笑道：“若论模样儿行事为人，倒是一对好的。只是他已有了，只未露形。将来准是林姑娘定了的。因林姑娘多病，二则都还小，故尚未及此。再过三二年，老太太便一开言，那是再无不准的了。”大家正说话，只见隆儿又来了，说：“老爷有事，是件机密大事，要遣二爷往平安州去。不过三五日就起身，来回也得半月工夫。今日不能来了。请老奶奶早和二姨定了那事，明日爷来，好作定夺。”说着，带了兴儿回去了。

这里尤二姐命掩了门早睡，盘问他妹子一夜。至次日午后，贾琏方来了。尤二姐因劝他说：“既有正事，何必忙忙又来，千万别为我误事。”贾琏道：“也没甚事，只是偏偏的又出来了一件远差。出了月就起身，得半月工夫才来。”尤二姐道：“既如此，你只管放心前去，这里一应不用你记挂。三妹子他从不会朝更暮改的。他已说了改悔，必是改悔的。他已择定了人，你只要依他就是了。”贾琏问是谁，尤二姐笑道：“这人此刻不在这里，不知多早才来，也难为他眼力不错。自己说了，这人一年不来，他等一年；十年不来，等十年；若这人死了再不来了，他情愿剃了头当姑子去，吃长斋念佛，以了今生。”

贾琏问：“到底是谁，这样动他的心？”二姐笑道：“说来话长。五年前我们老娘家里做生日，妈和我们到那里与老娘拜寿。他家请了一起串客[3]，里头有个作小生的叫作柳湘莲〔一〕，他看上了，如今要是他才嫁。旧年我们闻得柳湘莲惹了一个祸逃走了，不知可又回来了不曾？”贾琏听了道：“怪道呢！我说是个什么样人，原来是他！果然眼力不错。你不知道这柳二郎，那样一个标致人，最是冷面冷心的，差不多的人，他都无情无义。他最和宝玉合的来。去年因打了薛呆子，他不好意思见我们的，不知那里去了一向。后来听见有人说来了，不知是真是假。一问宝玉的小子们就知道了。倘或没来，他萍踪浪迹，知道几年才来，岂不白耽搁了？”尤二姐道：“我们这三丫头说的出来，干的出来，他怎样说，只依他便了。”

二人正说之间，只见尤三姐走来说道：“姐夫，你只放心。我们不是那心口两样的人，说什么是什么。若有了姓柳的来，我便嫁他。从今日起，我吃斋念佛，只服侍母亲，等他来了，嫁了他去，若一百年不来，我自己修行去了。”说着，将一根玉簪击作两段，“一句不真，就如这簪子！”说着，回房去了，真个竟非礼不动，非礼不言起来。贾琏无了法，只得和二姐商议了一回家务，复回家与凤姐商议起身之事。一面着人问茗烟，茗烟说：“竟不知道。大约未来；若来了，必是我知道的。”一面又问他的街坊，也说未来。贾琏只得回复了二姐。至起身之日已近，前两天便说起身，却先往二姐这边来住两夜，从这里再悄悄长行。果见小妹竟又换了一个人，又见二姐持家勤慎，自是不消记挂。

是日一早出城，就奔平安州大道，晓行夜住，渴饮饥餐。方走了三日，那日正走之间，顶头来了一群驮子，内中一伙，主仆十来骑马，走的近来一看，不是别人，竟是薛蟠和柳湘莲来了。贾琏深为奇怪，忙伸马迎了上来，大家一齐相见，说些别后寒温，大家便入酒店歇下，叙谈叙谈。

贾琏因笑说：“闹过之后，我们忙着请你两个和解，谁知柳兄踪迹全无。怎么你两个今日倒在一处了？”薛蟠笑道：“天下竟有这样奇事。我同伙计贩了货物，自春天起身，往回里走，一路平安。谁知前日到了平安州界，遇一伙强盗，已将东西劫去。不想柳二弟从那边来了，方把贼人赶散，夺回货物，还救了我们的性命。我谢他又不受，所以我们结拜了生死弟兄，如今一路进京。从此后我们是亲弟亲兄一般。到前面岔口上分路，他就分路往南二百里有他一个姑妈，他去望候望候。我先进京去安置了我的事，然后给他寻一所宅子，寻一门好亲事，大家过起来。”贾琏听了道：“原来如此，倒教我们悬了几日心。”因又听道寻亲，又忙说道：“我正有一门好亲事堪配二弟。”说着，便将自己娶尤氏，如今又要发嫁小姨一节说了出来，只不说尤三姐自择之语。又嘱薛蟠且不可告诉家里，等生了儿子，自然是知道的。

薛蟠听了大喜，说：“早该如此，这都是舍表妹之过。”湘莲忙笑说：“你又忘情了，还不住口。”薛蟠忙止住不语，便说：“既是这等，这门亲事定要做的。”湘莲道：“我本有愿，定要一个绝色的女子。如今既是贵昆仲[5]高谊，顾不得许多了，任凭裁夺，我无不从命。”贾琏笑道：“如今口说无凭，等柳兄一见，便知我这内娣的品貌是古今有一无二的了。”

湘莲听了大喜，说：“既如此说，等弟探过姑娘，不过月中就进京的，那时再定如何？”贾琏笑道：“你我一言为定，只是我信不过柳兄。你乃是萍踪浪迹，倘然淹滞不归，岂不误了人家。须得留一定礼。”湘莲道：“大丈夫岂有失信之理。小弟素系寒贫，况且客中，何能有定礼。”薛蟠道：“我这里现成，就备一分二哥带去。”贾琏笑道：“也不用金帛之礼，须是柳兄亲身自有之物，不论物之贵贱，不过我带去取信耳。”湘莲道：“既如此说，弟无别物，此剑防身，不能解下。囊中尚有一把鸳鸯剑，乃吾家传代之宝，弟也不敢擅用，只随身收藏而已。贾兄请拿去为定。弟纵系水流花落之性，然亦断不舍此剑者。”说毕，解囊出剑，捧与贾琏。贾琏命人收了。〔二〕大家又饮了几杯，方各自上马，作别起程。正是：

将军不下马，各自奔前程。

且说贾琏一日到了平安州，见了节度，完了公事。因又嘱他十月前后务要还来一次，贾琏领命。次日连忙取路回家，先到尤二姐处探望。谁知贾琏出门之后，尤二姐操持家务十分谨肃，每日关门户，一点外事不闻。他小妹子果是个斩钉截铁之人，每日侍奉母姊之馀，只安分守己，随分过活。虽是夜晚间孤衾独枕，不惯寂寞，奈一心丢了众人，只念柳湘莲早早回来完了终身大事。这日贾琏进门，见了这般景况，喜之不尽，深念二姐之德。大家叙些寒温之后，贾琏便将路上相遇湘莲一事说了出来，又将鸳鸯剑取出，递与三姐。

三姐看时，上面龙吞夔护[7]，珠宝晶荧，将靶一掣，里面却是两把合体的。一把上面錾着一“鸳”字，一把上面錾着一“鸯”字，冷飕飕，明亮亮，如两痕秋水一般。三姐喜出望外，连忙收了，挂在自己绣房床上，每日望着剑，自笑终身有靠。贾琏住了两天，回去复了父命，回家合宅相见。那时凤姐已大愈，出来理事行走了。贾琏又将此事告诉了贾珍。贾珍因近日又遇了新友，将这事丢过，不在心上，任凭贾琏裁夺，只怕贾琏独力不加，少不得又给了他三十两银子。贾琏拿来交与二姐预备妆奁。

谁知八月内湘莲方进了京，先来拜见薛姨妈，又遇见薛蝌，方知薛蟠不惯风霜，不服水土，一进京时便病倒，在家请医调治。听见湘莲来了，请入卧室相见。薛姨妈也不念旧事，只感救命之恩，母子们十分称谢。又说起亲事一节，凡一应东西皆已妥当，只等择日。柳湘莲也感激不尽。

次日又来见宝玉，二人相会，如鱼得水。湘莲因问贾琏偷娶二房之事，宝玉笑道：“我听见茗烟〔三〕一干人说，我却未见，我也不敢多管。我又听见茗烟说，琏二哥哥着实问你，不知有何话说？”湘莲就将路上所有之事一概告诉宝玉，宝玉笑道：“大喜，大喜！难得这个标致人，果然是个古今绝色，堪配你之为人。”湘莲道：“既是这样，他那里少了人物，如何只想到我。况且我又素日不甚和他厚，也关切不至此。路上工夫忙忙的就那样再三要来定，难道女家反赶着男家不成。我自己疑惑起来，后悔不该留下这剑作定。所以后来想起你来，可以细细问个底里才好。”宝玉道：“你原是个精细人，如何既许了定礼又疑惑起来？你原说只要一个绝色的，如今既得了个〔四〕绝色便罢了，何必再疑？”

湘莲道：“你既不知他娶，如何又知是绝色？”宝玉道：“他是珍大嫂子的继母带来的两位小姨。我在那里和他们混了一个月，怎么不知？真真一对尤物[10]，他又姓尤。”湘莲听了，跌足道：“这事不好，断乎做不得了。你们东府里除了那两个石头狮子干净，只怕连猫儿狗儿都不干净。我不做这剩忘八。”宝玉听说，红了脸。

湘莲自惭失言，连忙作揖说：“我该死胡说。你好歹告诉我，他品行如何？”宝玉笑道：“你既深知，又来问我作甚么？连我也未必干净了。”湘莲笑道：“原是我自己一时忘情，好歹别多心。”宝玉笑道：“何必再提，这倒似有心了。”湘莲作揖告辞出来，心中想着若去找薛蟠，一则他现卧病，二则他又浮躁，不如去索回定礼。主意已定，便一径来找贾琏。

贾琏正在新房中，闻得湘莲来了，喜之不禁，忙迎了出来，让到内室与尤老相见。湘莲只作揖称老伯母，自称晚生，贾琏听了诧异。吃茶之间，湘莲便说：“客中偶然忙促，谁知家姑母于四月间订了弟妇，使弟无言可回。若从了老兄背了姑母，似非合理。若系金帛之订，弟不敢索取，但此剑系祖父所遗，请仍赐回为幸。”贾琏听了，便不自在，回说：“定者，定也。原怕反悔所以为定。岂有婚姻之事，出入随意的？还要斟酌。”湘莲笑道：“虽如此说，弟愿领责领罚，然此事断不敢从命。”贾琏还要饶舌，湘莲便起身说：“请兄外坐一叙，此处不便。”

那尤三姐在房明明听见。好容易等了他来，今忽见反悔，便知他在贾府中得了消息，自然是嫌自己淫奔无耻之流，不屑为妻。今若容他出去和贾琏说退亲，料那贾琏必无法可处，自己岂不无趣。一听贾琏要同他出去，连忙摘下剑来，将一股雌锋隐在肘内，出来便说：“你们不必出去再议，还你的定礼。”一面泪如雨下，左手将剑并鞘送与湘莲，右手回肘只往项上一横。可怜：

揉碎桃花红满地，玉山倾倒[11]再难扶。

芳灵蕙性，渺渺冥冥，不知那边去了。当下唬得众人急救不迭。尤老一面嚎哭，一面又骂湘莲。贾琏忙揪住湘莲，命人捆了送官。

尤二姐忙止泪反劝贾琏：“你太多事，人家并没威逼他死，是他自寻短见。你便送他到官，又有何益，反觉生事出丑。不如放他去罢，岂不省事。”贾琏此时也没了主意，便放了手命湘莲快去。湘莲反不动身，泣道：“我并不知是这等刚烈贤妻，可敬，可敬。”湘莲反伏尸大哭一场。等买了棺木，眼见入殓，又抚棺大哭一场，方告辞而去。

出门无所之，昏昏默默，自想方才之事。原来尤三姐这样标致，又这等刚烈，自悔不及。正走之间，只见薛蟠的小厮寻他家去，那湘莲只管出神。那小厮带他到新房之中，十分齐整。忽听环珮叮当，尤三姐从外而入，一手捧着鸳鸯剑，一手捧着一卷册子，向柳湘莲泣道：“妾痴情待君五年矣。不期君果冷心冷面，妾以死报此痴情。妾今奉警幻之命，前往太虚幻境修注案中所有一干情鬼。妾不忍一别，故来一会，从此再不能相见矣。”说着便走。湘莲不舍，忙欲上来拉住问时，那尤三姐便说：“来自情天，去由情地。前生误被情惑，今既耻情而觉，与君两无干涉。”说毕，一阵香风，无踪无影去了。

湘莲警觉，似梦非梦，睁眼看时，那里有薛家小童，也非新室，竟是一座破庙，旁边坐着一个跏腿道士捕虱。湘莲便起身稽首相问：“此系何方？仙师仙名法号？”道士笑道：“连我也不知道此系何方，我系何人，不过暂来歇足而已。”柳湘莲听了，不觉冷然如寒冰侵骨，掣出那股雄剑，将万根烦恼丝一挥而尽，便随那道士，不知往那里去了。后回便见——

[1] 没了捆儿——没有拘束，信口乱说。

[2] 绕棺——迷信习俗，人死后请和尚或道士绕着棺材念经以超度亡魂。

[3] 串客——也叫“票友”。旧时戏曲、曲艺的业馀演员、乐师等的通称。串：表演。

〔一〕 “柳湘莲”，底本、己卯、梦稿本“莲”作“琏”，从蒙府、戚序、甲辰本改。下文数处“柳湘莲”之名，底本、己卯本也有作“柳湘琏”的，从改。

[5] 昆仲——对他人兄弟的敬称。昆：兄。仲：弟；第二。

〔二〕 “解囊”至“收了”十四字，原无。从俄藏本增。

[7] 龙吞夔（kuí葵）护——夔龙环抱的花纹。这里用以形容剑柄和剑鞘上图案的古雅。夔：传说中像龙而只有一足的神兽，古代器物常雕其形状作文饰。

〔三〕 “见茗烟”，原无，从各本补。

〔四〕 “绝色的，如今既得了个”，底本及己卯本均无。各本均有，文字稍异，此从梦稿、甲辰本补。

[10] 尤物——特异的人物，多指美女。《左传》昭公二十八年：“夫有尤物，足以移人。”

[11] 玉山倾倒——语本《世说新语·容止》：“嵇叔夜之为人也，岩岩若孤松之独立；其醉也，傀俄若玉山之将崩。”这里用作身死倒地的婉辞。玉山：形容仪容之美好。

CHAPTER 66. Shame drives a warm-hearted young woman to take her life And shock leads a cold-hearted young gentleman to renounce the world

Our last chapter concluded with Joker’s female audience laughing at the notion of Miss Wood’s being blown down and Miss Snow melted by the breathing-out of the pages. The Mattress dealt him a playful box on the ear.

‘There may be some truth in what you say; but your way of telling things turns even good sense into nonsense,’ she said. ‘You are more like one of Bao-yu’s boys than one of the Master’s.’

Er-jie was about to ask another question, but San-jie got in first.

‘Yes now, about Bao-yu: what does he do – apart from going to school?’

Joker laughed.

‘Don’t ask about him, Miss! You’d never believe half of it if I told you. To begin with, although he’s such a big fellow now, he’s never had what you might call a proper schooling. Everyone in the family since his great-grandfather’s time, including the Master, had to do their ten years in the family school; but not him. Bao-yu doesn’t like study; so because he is Her Old Ladyship’s darling, that’s that. Sir Zheng used to try and do something with him, but that was soon put a stop to by Her Old Ladyship. Nowadays he spends the whole of his time just fooling around. You can’t understand what he’s talking about half the time, and you can’t make any sense of what he does. He looks bright enough, and people always assume from his looks that he must be clever; but underneath it he’s stupid. You can tell he must be stupid from the fact that he never has a word to say for himself when he meets anyone. I’ll give him this, though: although he doesn’t go to school, he can write a bit. That’s about the only thing he’s any good at. He doesn’t study, he doesn’t care for physical training, and he doesn’t like meeting people. He just spends all his time playing around with a pack of maids. He’s soft, too. Sometimes when he sees us, if he’s in the mood, he’ll play with us as if he were an equal. Other times he ignores us and we ignore him. If we’re sitting down or lying down when he comes by, we don’t get up for him; we just take no notice. He doesn’t care. Nobody’s afraid of him. We do just what we like when he’s around. He never stops us.’

‘You talk like this about someone who is easy-going with you,’ said San-jie, ‘yet you complain just as much about someone who is strict. One can see that you are difficult people to employ!’

‘I always thought Bao-yu looked so nice,’ said Er-jie. ‘How disappointing to learn that there is really nothing in him after all!’

‘You surely don’t believe the rubbish this boy has been talking, sister?’ said San-jie impatiently. ‘We have, after all, seen Bao-yu several times ourselves. I suppose you could call him effeminate. Whether he is eating or talking or moving about, there is certainly something rather girlish about his manner. That comes from spending nearly all his time in the women’s quarters with no other males around. But stupid? I hardly think he can be called that. Don’t you remember when we were still in mourning, that time we were standing watching the monks as they went round the coffin and he stood right in front of us? Everyone said how ill-mannered it was of him and how inconsiderate. But then afterwards he quietly came up to us and explained: “I hope you didn’t think it very inconsiderate of me to stand in front of you like that,” he said, “but I noticed how dirty some of those monks were and I was afraid that the smell of them might distress you.” Then shortly after that, when he was drinking some tea and you said you’d like some too, he stopped one of the old women from emptying the slops out of his cup and filling it up again for you. “No, no,” he said, “that’s dirty! You must wash it first before you pour her any.” Just on the strength of those two incidents I think you ought in fairness to agree that, when he is with girls at any rate, he is perfectly capable. People fail to find out what he is really like because they are put off by his manner.’

‘To hear you speak, it sounds as if the two of you would get on very well together,’ said Er-jie. ‘I think we ought to betroth you to him. Why not?’

San-jie was prevented from answering by Joker’s presence. She merely looked down and occupied herself by cracking a melon-seed between her teeth.

‘They’d make a fine pair,’ said Joker, ‘whether from the point of view of looks or of character. The only thing is, he’s got someone else already. Although it hasn’t been made official yet, it’s as good as certain that he’s going to marry Miss Lin. The reason they haven’t been properly engaged yet is because Miss Lin is so often ill, and also because they are still a bit on the young side; but two or three years from now, as soon as Her Old Ladyship gives the word, they are sure to be.’

They were still discussing this when Rich arrived with a message from Jia Lian.

‘Sir She is sending the Master to Ping-an in a few days’ time on important secret business. He’ll probably be away for fifteen or sixteen days. He can’t come back here tonight, but he says, Mrs You, will you and the Mistress get that business you know about settled, so that when he comes tomorrow, he’ll know what he has to do?’

Having delivered this message, he went back again, taking Joker with him. Er-jie had the gate closed after them and retired early for the night, a good part of which she spent in extracting the required information from her sister.

Jia Lian did not arrive until after noon next day. Er-jie expressed concern that he had come at all.

‘If you have something important to do, you don’t need to put yourself in a rush by coming here. I should hate to be the cause of your starting late.’

‘It isn’t anything really important,’ said Jia Lian, ‘just a job that needs doing which happens to be rather far away. I shall have to leave by the beginning of next month and it will be about half a month before I get back.’

‘Well, while you are away, just concentrate on the job,’ said Er-jie. ‘You don’t have to worry about anything here. We shall be perfectly all right. San-jie isn’t the sort of girl to change her mind overnight and she has definitely chosen her man now. I think you will have to go along with her choice.’

‘Ah yes,’ said Jia Lian. ‘Who is it?’

‘Someone who may not be available at present, in which case it’s anyone’s guess when he will be back,’ she smiled. ‘I must admit, she has a very good eye. And she says that she is prepared to wait as long as it will take – ten years if necessary. If by any chance he’s dead or for some reason or other can’t ever come, she says she will cut her hair off and become a nun. She would rather spend the rest of her life in prayer and fasting than marry anyone else.’

‘Well, come on!’ said Jia Lian. ‘Who is this person who has made such a powerful impression on her?’

‘It’s a long story,’ said Er-jie. ‘Five years ago my mother took us both with her to her old home for my grandmother’s birthday. The family had invited a troupe of amateur actors for the occasion, all young men of good family. The one who played the junior male lead was called Liu Xiang-lian. He is the only man my sister is prepared to marry. Last year he got himself into some sort of trouble and had to go into hiding, and we don’t know whether he’s out of it yet or not.’

‘So that’s who it is!’ said Jia Lian. ‘No wonder she is so keen. Yes, she certainly has a good eye. There’s something you probably don’t know about him, though. Young Liu is a very handsome young man, but he’s an awfully cold fish. He has very few real friends. Bao-yu is probably the person he gets on best with. He took himself off somewhere or other last year after beating up that oaf Xue Pan – I suppose because he wanted to avoid meeting us. I haven’t seen him since then. Someone did tell me that they’d heard he was back, but it may have been only a rumour. I can easily find out by asking one of Bao-yu’s pages. – But suppose it is only a rumour. He’s such a rolling stone, it may be years before he comes back again. Won’t it be rather a waste for her to put off marrying for so long?’

‘When our San-jie says she’s going to do something, she does it,’ said Er-jie. ‘I think you will have to go along with her.’

They were interrupted at this point by San-jie herself, who had evidently been listening to their conversation and chose this moment to come into the room.

‘Set your mind at rest, brother-in-law. I am not one of those people who say one thing and mean another; I really do mean what I say. If Liu turns up, I shall marry him. From now on and until he does I shall spend all my time praying, fasting and looking after Mamma. If he has still not turned up when Mamma is no longer here to look after, I shall go into a convent.’

She drew a jade hairpin from her hair and deliberately broke it in two.

‘So be it with me if I do not do exactly as I have sworn!’

She went straight back to her room then; and from that day onwards her conduct was indeed exemplary.

Jia Lian could see that he had no choice but to fall in with her wishes, and after a brief discussion of domestic matters with Er-jie, went home for further discussions with Xi-feng about the preparations for his journey. While at home he sent someone to ask Tealeaf about Liu Xiang-lian.

‘I’m afraid I don’t know,’ said Tealeaf. ‘I should think he probably hasn’t come back yet. If he had, I should almost certainly have got to hear about it.’

Inquiries made among Xiang-lian’s neighbours confirmed that he had not returned. Jia Lian was obliged to report back to Er-jie that he had drawn a blank.

A little before he was due to begin his journey, Jia Lian took leave of Xi-feng and the family, but only in order to spend his last two nights with Er-jie. He found San-jie so altered on this visit as to seem almost a different person. Er-jie, too, showed herself so careful and competent in her management of the little household that he could see there would be no need to worry about either of them while he was away.

Jia Lian left the city early on the day of his departure and thereafter followed the main road to Ping-an, putting up at some staging-post or hostelry each night and making shorter stops for meals and refreshments during the day. After two days of uneventful travelling he came, on the third day, upon a little caravan moving towards him along the road ahead consisting of a number of pack-animals and some ten or so horsemen, of whom the leading two appeared to be masters and the rest servants. As they drew near enough for him to make out their faces, Jia Lian saw with astonishment that the two leading horsemen were Xue Pan and Liu Xiang-lian and urged his horse forwards to meet them. After greetings and the customary generalities had been exchanged, the three of them went into a near-by inn to sit down together and talk. Jia Lian asked the question that had been puzzling him.

‘After your little incident last year, the rest of us were anxious to make it up between you, but young Liu seemed to have disappeared without a trace. How do you come to be together now?’

‘It’s a very strange story,’ said Xue Pan. ‘My boys and I finished selling our stuff off in the spring and we’ve been on our homeward journey ever since. Everything was going quite smoothly until a couple of days ago. Then just as we were approaching Ping-an, we ran into a gang of robbers who took away all our things. But just at that very moment up pops young Xiang-lian out of nowhere, drives off the robbers, gets all our stuff back for us, and saves our lives. He refused to let me thank him, but in the end he agreed that we should become blood-brothers. We’ve been travelling together ever since. From now on we’re going to be just like real brothers to each other. He’s leaving me at the next crossroads and going off sixty or seventy miles south of here to look up an aunt of his, while I go on ahead to the capital. When I’ve settled my own affairs, I’m going to find a new house for him and fix him up with a nice little wife, and we’re both going to settle down and be family men.’

‘I see,’ said Jia Lian. ‘Well, I’m glad to hear it. It’s a pity we had all that worry for nothing.’

He paused a moment before continuing.

‘You said something a moment ago about finding young Liu a wife. I happen to know of someone who would suit him perfectly.’

He proceeded to tell the other two about his own marriage to Er-jie and how they were anxious to find a husband for her younger sister, omitting to mention, of course, that San-jie had chosen Liu Xiang-lian herself.

‘Don’t say anything about this to the others when you get home,’ he told Xue Pan. ‘I’m waiting until we have a son. I shall tell them about it then.’

Xue Pan seemed delighted.

‘High time, too!’ he said. ‘Cousin Feng is to blame for not giving you one.’

“There you go again!’ said Xiang-lian, laughing. ‘You mustn’t say things like that to people. Better keep your big mouth shut!’

Xue Pan obediently fell silent, merely observing, before he did so:

‘We ought to take Lian up on his suggestion, though.’

‘I’d always set my heart on marrying a stunningly beautiful girl,’ said Xiang-lian. ‘However, since you both recommend this one, I’m prepared to lower my expectations a bit. Yes, all right, Mr Jia. I leave it to you to arrange this, then. I put myself in your hands.’

‘I don’t ask you to believe this now,’ said Jia Lian, smiling. ‘You’ll be able to judge for yourself when you see her: but this sister-in-law of mine is a stunningly beautiful girl. I should go so far as to say she must be one of the most beautiful women who have ever lived.’

Xiang-lian brightened.

‘All right, then. Shall we fix it up when I get back to the capital in about a month’s time, when I have finished seeing my aunt?’

‘If you and I were the only ones involved, I would gladly leave it at that,’ said Jia Lian, ‘but knowing how unpredictable your movements are, I can’t help feeling a little nervous on the girl’s behalf. Suppose you failed to turn up? It could mean a whole lifetime wasted. I think you ought to give me some sort of pledge.’

‘A gentleman’s word ought to be pledge enough,’ said Xiang-lian. ‘In any case, I’m always hard up; I’m not in a position to give you a betrothal gift – particularly when I am on the road like this, away from home.’

‘There’s all my stuff at your disposal,’ said Xue Pan. ‘Help yourself. Give him a share of that.’

‘It isn’t money or jewellery I’m after,’ said Jia Lian. ‘It doesn’t have to be anything valuable. Just give me something you carry about with you that I can take back with me as a token.’

‘At all events, I can’t give you this sword,’ said Xiang-lian. ‘I need it for self-defence. I have got another sword in my luggage I could let you have – well, two swords, really: it’s a pair of swords in one scabbard, what they call a “Duck and Drake” sword. It’s a family heirloom. I never use it, but I always carry it around with me. I could never bear to be parted from it for long, so however much I may wander, if you take that as my pledge, you can be sure of my eventually coming back to get it.’

He handed Jia Lian the heirloom when he had got it out of his bundle, and after a few more drinks the three men remounted, took leave of each other, and went their separate ways.

In due course Jia Lian arrived at Ping-an and saw the Military Governor, only to be told that the business he had come about could not be dealt with satisfactorily until some time in the tenth month. As there was no point in staying, he started back the very next day for the capital, calling in first at Er-jie’s place on his arrival.

Er-jie had run the little household during his absence with exemplary circumspection. The courtyard gate had been kept shut and bolted all day and she had received no outside visitors. San-jie, too – a young woman who never did anything by halves – had continued as good as her word. When not actually keeping to her own room, she had spent the whole of the time either ministering to the wants of her mother or sitting and sewing with Er-jie. Jia Lian was gratified to find all these signs of prudent housekeeping on his return and his respect for Er-jie’s wifely virtues increased.

When the greetings and routine questionings were over, he told the sisters about his encounter with Liu Xiang-lian, and getting the Duck and Drake swords out of his luggage, he handed them to San-jie to take care of. San-jie first examined the scabbard. It was embossed with a design of interlacing dragons and sea-monsters and encrusted all over with jewels. Then she took out the swords, identical except that one had the character ‘Duck’ and the other the character ‘Drake’ engraved on its blade. And what blades! Cold, cruel; glittering with the cold brightness of autumn waters. San-jie was enraptured by them. She put them both back into their scabbard and carried them off to her own room, where she hung them up over her bed. Thereafter she would look up at them from time to time and smile, happy in the knowledge that now her future was assured.

After a couple of nights with Er-jie, Jia Lian went back to Rong-guo House to report to his father and to rejoin the other members of the family. He found Xi-feng with the rest. She had by now recovered sufficiently to get about and had resumed her duties as household manager. As soon as he could, he went to see Cousin Zhen and tell him about San-jie and Liu Xiang-lian. Cousin Zhen was lately much taken up with a new acquaintance and had lost his former interest in the You sisters. He therefore received Jia Lian’s news with equanimity and seemed perfectly content to leave the matter in his hands, merely insisting on himself contributing thirty taels towards the expenses, since he feared that Jia Lian’s resources might be inadequate. Jia Lian accepted the money and handed it to Er-jie to spend on San-jie’s trousseau.

Round about the middle of the eighth month Xiang-lian arrived back in the capital and at once went to pay his respects to Aunt Xue and make the acquaintance of Xue Ke. He was told that Xue Pan had been ill in bed almost since the day he got back (some sickness brought on by change of water or the effects of travel) and was still under doctor’s treatment. However, on hearing that Xiang-lian had come, Xue Pan insisted on having him brought into his bedroom. He and his mother, whose earlier resentment against Xiang-lian had been completely banished by her gratitude to him for saving her son’s life, spoke eloquently of their indebtedness, and when the conversation turned to the subject of Xiang-lian’s marriage, they insisted that all the material things required for it should be supplied by them, so that he should have nothing to do himself except name the day. It was now Xiang-lian’s turn to be grateful.

Next day Xiang-lian went to see Bao-yu. The two of them were always wonderfully at ease in each other’s company and Xiang-lian felt sufficiently intimate to ask him confidentially about the circumstances of Jia Lian’s second marriage.

‘I really don’t know – beyond what Tealeaf has told me,’ said Bao-yu. ‘I haven’t been to see them. I don’t really think it’s my business. Tealeaf mentioned that Cousin Lian was very anxious to see you about something, but I don’t know what it was.’

Xiang-lian told him about the various things that had happened to him on his travels, ending up with an account of his encounter with Jia Lian.

‘Congratulations!’ said Bao-yu. ‘You are a lucky man. She’s a ravishingly beautiful girl. The perfect match for a good-looking chap like you!’

‘If she is so beautiful,’ said Xiang-lian, ‘there can be no shortage of suitors wanting to marry her. Why should your cousin pick on me? I’ve never been particularly friendly with him in the past – certainly not to that extent – yet when I met him on this journey, he was so pressing, so insistent that I should give him a definite undertaking to marry her. What am I to make of it? It’s almost as if the girl’s family was doing the pursuing. I can’t help feeling very dubious about the whole affair. I wish I hadn’t given him those swords. I thought of you as the person most likely to be able to help me get to the bottom of this business.’

‘For a person so intelligent you have left it a bit late to start feeling dubious now that you have promised to marry the girl and already given them your pledge,’ said Bao-yu. ‘You started off by saying that you wanted to marry a beauty. Now that you’ve got one, why not leave it at that? Why these suspicions?’

‘You said just now you didn’t even know about her sister’s marriage,’ said Xiang-lian. ‘How do you know she is so beautiful?’

‘I saw her practically every day for a month at Ning-guo House when she and her sister were brought there by Cousin Zhen’s mother-in-law,’ said Bao-yu. ‘How could I fail to know? Ravishingly beautiful. Obviously made for you. You San-jie, you see: even the name makes her yours!’

Xiang-lian stamped impatiently.

‘And everyone else’s, no doubt.’ Bao-yu’s execrable pun had not amused him. ‘It won’t do. This is a thoroughly bad business. The only clean things about that Ning-guo House are the stone lions that stand outside the gate. The very cats and dogs there are corrupted!’

Bao-yu reddened, and Xiang-lian, realizing that he had gone too far, began pumping his hands apologetically.

‘I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that. – But surely you can tell me something about her character?’

‘Since you appear to know already, I don’t quite see the point,’ said Bao-yu wryly. ‘In any case, perhaps I’m none too clean myself.’

‘What I said was spoken in the heat of the moment,’ said Xiang-lian. ‘You mustn’t take it to heart.’

‘I’ve already forgotten it,’ said Bao-yu. ‘If you go on talking about it, you will make it seem that the one who has taken it to heart is you.’

Xiang-lian pumped his hands again and took his leave. He was still thoroughly unhappy about the whole affair. At first he thought of going back to Xue Pan and talking it over with him; then he changed his mind, partly because Xue Pan was ill but mainly because in any case he had little confidence in his judgement. In the end he decided that perhaps the best thing would be simply to ask for his pledge back. Once he had made up his mind, he decided to tackle Jia Lian about it immediately. He found him at Er-jie’s place.

Jia Lian, delighted to hear that Xiang-lian had already come to call, came hurrying out to meet him and conducted him to the inside sitting-room to introduce him to his future mother-in-law. He was somewhat surprised when Xiang-lian merely bowed to the old lady instead of making her a kotow and addressed her formally as ‘Mrs You’. The significance of this became apparent presently when tea was served and Xiang-lian came at once to the point.

‘I am afraid that when I met you recently on my travels I acted far too hastily. I didn’t know at the time, but it seems that my aunt had already in the fourth month chosen another girl to be my wife. When she told me about it, there was obviously nothing I could say. To hold to my agreement with you would have meant disobeying my aunt, and that of course is out of the question. Now, if the pledge I gave you had been gold or silk or something of that sort, I should simply have forgotten about it; but those swords I gave you were a family heirloom left me by my grandfather, so I’m afraid I shall very regretfully have to ask you for them back.’

Jia Lian was unable to take this calmly.

‘Now look here, young Liu, this won’t do, you know! A pledge is a pledge. The whole idea of it is to guard against people having second thoughts like this. An engagement to marry isn’t something you can just jump into and out of at will. I’m afraid what you are proposing is quite impossible.’

Xiang-lian smiled patiently.

‘No doubt you are in the right, and I am perfectly prepared for you to reproach me; but I’m afraid I cannot go through with this marriage under any circumstances.’

Jia Lian seemed about to argue, but Xiang-lian frustrated him by rising to his feet.

‘Could we go and discuss this somewhere else, please? It isn’t very convenient, talking about it in here.’

You San-jie had been able to hear the whole of this conversation quite clearly from her room. She had waited so long for Xiang-lian, and now that at last he had come, he was rejecting her. It must be because of something he had heard about her in the Jia mansion. He probably thought of her as a shameless wanton, the sort of woman who throws herself at men, unworthy to be his wife. If she allowed the two men to go off together, there was little likelihood that Jia Lian could do anything to stop him breaking off the engagement; and even if he tried arguing with him, the probable outcome would only be further damage to her reputation. As soon, therefore, as she heard Jia Lian agreeing to go outside with him, she snatched the swords down from the wall, and having first drawn out the Duck and hidden it behind her back, she hurried into the sitting-room to see them.

‘There is no need for you to go out and discuss anything,’ she said. ‘Here is your pledge back.’

The tears were pouring down her cheeks like rain. She held out the scabbard with the single sword in it in her left hand. As Xiang-lian took it, she whipped the other sword out with her right hand and slashed it across her throat. It was all over in a moment.

Red scatter of broken blossoms, and the jade column fallen, Never to rise again…

The terrified servants made futile attempts to resuscitate her, but she was already dead. Old Mrs You wept and screamed, breaking off from time to time to inveigh against Xiang-lian as a murderer. Jia Lian seized hold of Xiang-lian and called for someone to bring a rope, intending to tie him up and take him to the yamen; but Er-jie checked her weeping and did her best to dissuade him.

‘He didn’t force her to do it, it was her own decision. What good will taking him to the yamen do? We don’t want a public scandal on top of everything else. Much better let him go.’

Jia Lian, whose resolution seemed temporarily to have deserted him, let go of Xiang-lian automatically: but Xiang-lian made no attempt to escape.

‘I didn’t know she was like this,’ he said, weeping. ‘She had a noble heart. It wasn’t my luck to have her.’

He lifted up his own voice then and wept, as if he had been weeping for his bride. He stayed with the family until the coffin had been bought and San-jie laid inside it; and when the lid was closed over her, he threw himself on it and clung to it for a long time weeping. Only then did he take leave of them, walking alone out of the gate, blinded by his tears and scarcely knowing where he was going.

As he walked along in a daze, his thoughts full of San-jie’s rare combination of beauty and resoluteness which he had so wantonly rejected, one of Xue Pan’s little pages came looking for him to take him to his new house. Xiang-lian was too distracted to pay the boy much attention and allowed himself to be led there by the hand. It was a pleasant, well-appointed little house. While he and the page stood waiting in the sitting-room, he heard a little tinkling noise – the sound made by the girdle-gems of a hurrying woman – and San-jie came into it from outside. She had the Duck cradled in her right arm. Her left hand was holding some sort of album or ledger.

‘I loved you for five years,’ she said. (The tears were still running down her cheeks.) ‘I did not know that your heart was as cold as your face. It was a foolish love, and I have paid for it with my life. Now I am ordered to go to the Fairy Disenchantment’s tribunal in the Land of Illusion to keep the records of the other lovers who are under her jurisdiction. But I could not bear to leave without seeing you just once more before I go. After this I shall never see you again.’

She began to go, but Xiang-lian wanted to question her and tried to stop her going. She spoke again, but this time it sounded more like an incantation.

‘From love I came; from love I now depart. I wasted my life for love, and now that I have woken up, I am ashamed of my folly. From now on we are nothing to each other, you and I – nothing.’

A little gust of wind with a faint fragrance on it seemed to blow past him as she uttered these last words, and the very next moment she had vanished.

Xiang-lian came to himself with a start, uncertain whether or not he had been dreaming. He could see no sign of Xue Pan’s little page when he looked about him, and the new house had turned into a dilapidated temple. Not far from him a Taoist with a crippled leg sat catching and killing his lice. Xiang-lian got up and went over to him.

‘What is this place, holy one?’ he asked, having first clasped his hands and knocked them against his forehead in the appropriate salutation. ‘And may I know whom I have the honour of addressing?’

The Taoist chuckled.

‘I don’t know where this place is any more than you do. Nor who I am. It is a place where I am resting a little while before going on elsewhere.’

It felt to Xiang-lian as if a douche of icy water had penetrated him to the bone with its coldness. He understood. Without a moment’s hesitation he drew the companionless Drake out of its scabbard, stretched out his queue, slashed through

… the unnumbered strands That bind us to the world and its annoys,

and as soon as the Taoist was ready, followed him out into the world. But where the two of them went to, I have no idea. Other information apart from that will be available in the following chapter.