第六十八回

第六十八回 苦尤娘赚入大观园 酸凤姐大闹宁国府

话说贾琏起身去后，偏值平安节度巡边在外，约一个月方回。贾琏未得确信，只得住在下处等候。及至回来相见，将事办妥，回程已是将两个月的限了。

谁知凤姐心下早已算定，只待贾琏前脚走了，回来便传各色匠役，收拾东厢房三间，照依自己正室一样装饰陈设。至十四日便回明贾母王夫人，说十五日一早要到姑子庙进香去。只带了平儿、丰儿、周瑞媳妇、旺儿媳妇四人，未曾上车，便将原故告诉了众人。又吩咐众男人，素衣素盖，一径前来。

兴儿引路，一直到了二姐门前扣门。鲍二家的开了。兴儿笑说：“快回二奶奶去，大奶奶来了。”鲍二家的听了这句，顶梁骨走了真魂，忙飞进报与尤二姐。尤二姐虽也一惊，但已来了，只得以礼相见，于是忙整衣迎了出来。至门前，凤姐方下车进来。尤二姐一看，只见头上皆是素白银器，身上月白缎袄，青缎披风，白绫素裙。眉弯柳叶，高吊两梢，目横丹凤，神凝三角。俏丽若三春之桃，清素若九秋之菊。周瑞旺儿二女人搀入院来。尤二姐陪笑忙迎上来万福，张口便叫：“姐姐下降，不曾远接，望恕仓促之罪。”说着便福了下来。凤姐忙陪笑还礼不迭。二人携手同入室中。

凤姐上座，尤二姐命丫鬟拿褥子来便行礼，说：“奴家年轻，一从到了这里，诸事皆系家母和家姐商议主张。今日有幸相会，若姐姐不弃奴家寒微，凡事求姐姐的指示教训。奴亦倾心吐胆，只服侍姐姐。”说着，便行下礼去。

凤姐儿忙下座以礼相还，口内忙说：“皆因奴家妇人之见，一味劝夫慎重，不可在外眠花卧柳，恐惹父母担忧。此皆是你我之痴心，怎奈二爷错会奴意。眠花宿柳之事瞒奴或可；今娶姐姐二房之大事亦人家大礼，亦不曾对奴说。奴亦曾劝二爷早行此礼，以备生育。不想二爷反以奴为那等嫉妒之妇，私自行此大事，并不说知。使奴有冤难诉，惟天地可表。前于十日之先奴已风闻，恐二爷不乐，遂不敢先说。今可巧远行在外，故奴家亲自拜见过，还求姐姐下体奴心，起动大驾，挪至家中。你我姊妹同居同处，彼此合心谏劝二爷，慎重世务，保养身体，方是大礼。若姐姐在外，奴在内，虽愚贱不堪相伴，奴心又何安。再者，使外人闻知，亦甚不雅观。二爷之名也要紧，倒是谈论奴家，奴亦不怨。所以今生今世奴之名节全在姐姐身上。那起下人小人之言，未免见我素日持家太严，背后加减些言语，自是常情。姐姐乃何等样人物，岂可信真。若我实有不好之处，上头三层公婆，中有无数姊妹妯娌，况贾府世代名家，岂容我到今日。今日二爷私娶姐姐在外，若别人则怒，我则以为幸。正是天地神佛不忍我被小人们诽谤，故生此事。我今来求姐姐进去和我一样同居同处，同分同例，同侍公婆，同谏丈夫。喜则同喜，悲则同悲；情似亲妹，和比骨肉。不但那起小人见了，自悔从前错认了我；就是二爷来家一见，他作丈夫之人，心中也未免暗悔。所以姐姐竟是我的大恩人，使我从前之名一洗无馀了。若姐姐不随奴去，奴亦情愿在此相陪。奴愿作妹子，每日服侍姐姐梳头洗面。只求姐姐在二爷跟前替我好言方便方便，容我一席之地安身，奴死也愿意。”说着，便呜呜咽咽哭将起来。尤二姐见了这般，也不免滴下泪来。

二人对见了礼，分序坐下。平儿忙也上来要见礼。尤二姐见他打扮不凡，举止品貌不俗，料定是平儿，连忙亲身挽住，只叫“妹子快休如此，你我是一样的人。”凤姐忙也起身笑说：“折死他了！妹子只管受礼，他原是咱们的丫头。以后快别如此。”说着，又命周瑞家的从包袱里取出四匹上色尺头，四对金珠簪环为拜礼。尤二姐忙拜受了。

二人吃茶，对诉已往之事。凤姐口内全是自怨自错，“怨不得别人，如今只求姐姐疼我”等语。尤二姐见了这般，便认作他是个极好的人，小人不遂心诽谤主子亦是常理，故倾心吐胆，叙了一回，竟把凤姐认为知己。又见周瑞家的等媳妇在旁边称扬凤姐素日许多善政，只是吃亏心太痴了，惹人怨；又说：“已经预备了房屋，奶奶进去一看便知。”

尤氏心中早已要进去同住方好，今又见如此，岂有不允之理，便说：“原该跟了姐姐去，只是这里怎样？”凤姐儿道：“这有何难，姐姐的箱笼细软只管着小厮搬了进去。这些粗笨货要他无用，还叫人看着。姐姐说谁妥当就叫谁在这里。”尤二姐忙说：“今日既遇见姐姐，这一进去，凡事只凭姐姐料理。我也来的日子浅，也不曾当过家，世事不明白，如何敢作主。这几件箱笼拿进去罢。我也没有什么东西，那也不过是二爷的。”凤姐听了，便命周瑞家的记清，好生看管着抬到东厢房去。

于是催着尤二姐穿戴了，二人携手上车，又同坐一处，又悄悄的告诉他：“我们家的规矩大。这事老太太一概不知，倘或知二爷孝中娶你，管把他打死了。如今且别见老太太、太太。我们有一个花园子极大，姊妹住着，容易[2]没人去的。你这一去且在园里住两天，等我设个法子回明白了，那时再见方妥。”尤二姐道：“任凭姐姐裁处。”那些跟车的小厮们皆是预先说明的，如今不去大门，只奔后门而来。

下了车，赶散众人。凤姐便带尤氏进了大观园的后门，来到李纨处相见了。彼时大观园中十停人已有九停人知道了，今忽见凤姐带了进来，引动多人来看问。尤二姐一一见过。众人见他标致和悦，无不称扬。凤姐一一的吩咐了众人：“都不许在外走了风声，若老太太、太太知道，我先叫你们死。”园中婆子丫鬟都素惧凤姐的，又系贾琏国孝家孝中所行之事，知道关系非常，都不管这事。凤姐悄悄的求李纨收养几日，“等回明了，我们自然过去的。”李纨见凤姐那边已收拾房屋，况在服中，不好倡扬，自是正理，只得收下权住。凤姐又变法将他的丫头一概退出，又将自己的一个丫头送他使唤。暗暗吩咐园中媳妇们：“好生照看着他。若有走失逃亡，一概和你们算帐。”自己又去暗中行事。合家之人都暗暗纳罕说：“看他如何这等贤惠起来了。”

那尤二姐得了这个所在，又见园中姊妹各各相好，倒也安心乐业的自为得其所矣。谁知三日之后，丫头善姐便有些不服使唤起来。尤二姐因说：“没了头油了，你去回声大奶奶拿些来。”善姐便道：“二奶奶，你怎么不知好歹没眼色。我们奶奶天天承应了老太太，又要承应这边太太那边太太。这些妯娌姊妹，上下几百〔二〕男女，天天起来，都等他的话。一日少说，大事也有一二十件，小事还有三五十件。外头的从娘娘算起，以及王公侯伯家多少人情客礼，家里又有这些亲友的调度。银子上千钱上万，一日都从他一个手一个心一个口里调度，那里为这点子小事去烦琐他。我劝你能着些儿罢。咱们又不是明媒正娶来的，这是他亘古少有一个贤良人才这样待你，若差些儿的人，听见了这话，吵嚷起来，把你丢在外，死不死，活不活，你又敢怎样呢！”一席话，说的尤氏垂了头，自为有这一说，少不得将就些罢了。

那善姐渐渐连饭也怕端来与他吃，或早一顿，或晚一顿，所拿来之物，皆是剩的。尤二姐说过两次，他反先乱叫起来。尤二姐又怕人笑他不安分，少不得忍着。隔上五日八日见凤姐一面，那凤姐却是和容悦色，满嘴里姐姐不离口。又说：“倘有下人不到之处，你降不住他们，只管告诉我，我打他们。”又骂丫头媳妇说：“我深知你们，软的欺，硬的怕，背开我的眼，还怕谁。倘或二奶奶告诉我一个不字，我要你们的命。”尤氏见他这般的好心，思想〔三〕，“既有他，何必我又多事。下人不知好歹，也是常情。我若告了，他们受了委屈，反叫人说我不贤良。”因此反替他们遮掩。

凤姐一面使旺儿在外打听细事，这尤二姐之事皆已深知。原来已有了婆家的，女婿现在才十九岁，成日在外嫖赌，不理生业，家私花尽，父亲撵他出来，现在赌钱场存身。父亲得了尤婆十两银子退了亲的，这女婿尚不知道。原来这小伙子名叫张华。凤姐都一一尽知原委，便封了二十两银子与旺儿，悄悄命他将张华勾来养活，着他写一张状子，只管往有司衙门中告去，就告琏二爷“国孝家孝之中，背旨瞒亲，仗财依势，强逼退亲，停妻再娶”等语。这张华也深知利害，先不敢造次。

旺儿回了凤姐，凤姐气的骂：“癞狗扶不上墙的种子。你细细的说给他，便告我们家谋反也没事的。不过是借他一闹，大家没脸。若告大了，我这里自然能够平息的。”旺儿领命，只得细说与张华。凤姐又吩咐旺儿：“他若告了你，你就和他对词去。”如此如此，这般这般，“我自有道理。”旺儿听了有他做主，便又命张华状子上添上自己，说：“你只告我来往过付，一应调唆二爷做的。”张华便得了主意，和旺儿商议定了，写了一纸状子，次日便往都察院喊了冤。

察院坐堂看状，见是告贾琏的事，上面有家人旺儿一人，只得遣人去贾府传旺儿来对词。青衣[5]不敢擅入，只命人带信。那旺儿正等着此事，不用人带信，早在这条街上等候。见了青衣，反迎上去笑道：“起动众位兄弟，必是兄弟的事犯了。说不得，快来套上。”众青衣不敢，只说：“你老去罢，别闹了。”于是来至堂前跪了。

察院命将状子与他看。旺儿故意看了一遍，碰头说道：“这事小的尽知，小的主人实有此事。但这张华素与小的有仇，故意攀扯小的在内。其中还有别人，求老爷再问。”张华碰头说：“虽还有人，小的不敢告他，所以只告他下人。”旺儿故意急的说：“糊涂东西，还不快说出来！这是朝廷公堂之上，凭是主子，也要说出来。”张华便说出贾蓉来。

察院听了无法，只得去传贾蓉。凤姐又差了庆儿暗中打听，告了起来，便忙将王信唤来，告诉他此事，命他托察院只虚张声势警唬而已，又拿了三百银子与他去打点。是夜王信到了察院私第，安了根子。那察院深知原委，收了赃银。次日回堂，只说张华无赖，因拖欠了贾府银两，枉捏虚词，诬赖良人。都察院又素与王子腾相好，王信也只到家说了一声，况是贾府之人，巴不得了事，便也不提此事，且都收下，只传贾蓉对词。

且说贾蓉等正忙着贾珍之事，忽有人来报信，说有人告你们如此如此，这般这般，快作道理。贾蓉慌了，忙来回贾珍。贾珍说：“我防了这一着，只亏他大胆子。”即刻封了二百银子着人去打点察院，又命家人去对词。正商议之间，人报：“西府二奶奶来了。”贾珍听了这个，倒吃了一惊，忙要同贾蓉藏躲。不想凤姐进来了，说：“好大哥哥，带着兄弟们干的好事！”贾蓉忙请安，凤姐拉了他就进来。贾珍还笑说：“好生伺候你姑娘，吩咐他们杀牲口备饭。”说了，忙命备马，躲往别处去了。

这里凤姐儿带着贾蓉走来上房，尤氏正迎了出来，见凤姐气色不善，忙笑说：“什么事情这等忙？”凤姐照脸一口唾沫啐道：“你尤家的丫头没人要了，偷着只往贾家送！难道贾家的人都是好的，普天下死绝了男人了！你就愿意给，也要三媒六证，大家说明，成个体统才是。你痰迷了心，脂油蒙了窍，国孝家孝两重在身，就把个人送来了。这会子被人家告我们，我又是个没脚蟹[6]，连官场中都知道我利害吃醋，如今指名提我，要休我。我来了你家，干错了什么不是，你这等害我？或是老太太、太太有了话在你心里，使你们做这圈套，要挤我出去。如今咱们两个一同去见官，分证明白。回来咱们公同请了合族中人，大家觌面[7]说个明白。给我休书，我就走路。”一面说，一面大哭，拉着尤氏，只要去见官。急的贾蓉跪在地下碰头，只求：“姑娘婶子息怒。”

凤姐儿一面又骂贾蓉：“天雷劈脑子五鬼分尸的没良心的种子！不知天有多高，地有多厚，成日家调三窝四，干出这些没脸面没王法败家破业的营生。你死了的娘阴灵也不容你，祖宗也不容，还敢来劝我！”哭骂着扬手就打。贾蓉忙磕头有声说：“婶子别动气，仔细手，让我自己打。婶子别生气。”说着，自己举手左右开弓自己打了一顿嘴巴子，又自己问着自己说：“以后可再顾三不顾四的混管闲事了？以后还单听叔叔的话不听婶子的话了？”众人又是劝，又要笑，又不敢笑。

凤姐儿滚到尤氏怀里，嚎天动地，大放悲声，只说：“给你兄弟娶亲我不恼。为什么使他违旨背亲，将混帐名儿给我背着？咱们只去见官，省得捕快皂隶来拿。再者咱们只过去见了老太太、太太和众族人，大家公议了，我既不贤良，又不容丈夫娶亲买妾，只给我一纸休书，我即刻就走。你妹妹我也亲身接来家，生怕老太太、太太生气，也不敢回，现在三茶六饭金奴银婢的住在园里。我这里赶着收拾房子，和我一样的道理〔四〕，只等老太太知道了。原说接过来大家安分守己的，我也不提旧事了。谁知又是有了人家的。不知你们干的什么事，我一概又不知道。如今告我，我昨日急了，纵然我出去见官，也丢的是你贾家的脸，少不得偷把太太的五百两银子去打点。如今把我的人还锁在那里。”说了又哭，哭了又骂，后来放声大哭起祖宗爹妈来，又要寻死撞头。把个尤氏揉搓成一个面团，衣服上全是眼泪鼻涕，并无别语，只骂贾蓉：“孽障种子！和你老子作的好事！我就说不好的。”

凤姐儿听说，哭着两手搬着尤氏的脸紧对相问道：“你发昏了？你的嘴里难道有茄子塞着？不然他们给你嚼子衔上了？为什么你不告诉我去？你若告诉了我，这会子平安不了〔五〕？怎得经官动府，闹到这步田地，你这会子还怨他们。自古说：‘妻贤夫祸少，表壮不如里壮。’你但凡是个好的，他们怎得闹出这些事来！你又没才干，又没口齿，锯了嘴子的葫芦，就只会一味瞎小心图贤良的名儿。总是他们也不怕你，也不听你。”说着啐了几口。尤氏也哭道：“何曾不是这样。你不信问问跟的人，我何曾不劝的，也得他们听。叫我怎么样呢，怨不得妹妹生气，我只好听着罢了。”

众姬妾丫鬟媳妇已是乌压压跪了一地，陪笑求说：“二奶奶最圣明的。虽是我们奶奶的不是，奶奶也作践的够了。当着奴才们，奶奶们素日何等的好来，如今还求奶奶给留脸。”说着，捧上茶来。凤姐也摔了，一面止了哭挽头发，又喝骂贾蓉：“出去请大哥哥来。我对面问他，亲大爷的孝才五七，侄儿娶亲，这个礼我竟不知道。我问问，也好学着日后教导子侄的。”贾蓉只跪着磕头，说：“这事原不与父母相干，都是儿子一时吃了屎，调唆叔叔作的。我父亲也并不知道。如今我父亲正要商量接太爷出殡〔六〕，婶子若闹起来，儿子也是个死。只求婶子责罚儿子，儿子谨领。这官司还求婶子料理，儿子竟不能干这大事。婶子是何等样人，岂不知俗语说的‘胳膊只折在袖子里’。儿子糊涂死了，既作了不肖的事，就同那猫儿狗儿一般。婶子既教训，就不和儿子一般见识的，少不得还要婶子费心费力将外头的事压住了才好。原是婶子有这个不肖的儿子，既惹了祸，少不得委屈，还要疼儿子。”说着，又磕头不绝。

凤姐见他母子这般，也再难往前施展了，只得又转过了一副形容言谈来，与尤氏反陪礼说：“我是年轻不知事的人，一听见有人告诉了，把我吓昏了，不知方才怎样得罪了嫂子。可是蓉儿说的‘胳膊折了往袖子里藏’，少不得嫂子要体谅我。还要嫂子转替哥哥说了，先把这官司按下去才好。”尤氏贾蓉一齐都说：“婶子放心，横竖一点儿连累不着叔叔。婶子方才说用过了五百两银子，少不得我娘儿们打点五百两银子与婶子送过去，好补上的，不然岂有反教婶子又添上亏空之名，越发我们该死了。但还有一件，老太太、太太们跟前婶子还要周全方便，别提这些话方好。”

凤姐儿又冷笑道：“你们饶压着我的头干了事，这会子反哄着我替你们周全。我虽然是个呆子，也呆不到如此。嫂子的兄弟是我的丈夫，嫂子既怕他绝后，我岂不比嫂子更怕他绝后。嫂子的令妹就是我的妹子一样。我一听见这话，连夜喜欢的连觉也睡不成，赶着传人收拾了屋子，就要接进来同住。倒是奴才小人的见识，他们倒说：‘奶奶太好性了。若是我们的主意，先回了老太太、太太看是怎样，再收拾房子去接也不迟。’我听了这话，教我要打要骂的，才不言语。谁知偏不称我的意，偏打我的嘴，半空里又跑出一个张华来告了一状。我听见了，吓的两夜没合眼儿，又不敢声张，只得求人去打听这张华是什么人，这样大胆。打听了两日，谁知是个无赖的花子。我年轻不知事，反笑了，说：‘他告什么？’倒是小子们说：‘原是二奶奶许了他的。他如今正是急了，冻死饿死也是个死；现在有这个理他抓着，纵然死了，死的倒比冻死饿死还值些。怎么怨的他告呢。这事原是爷做的太急了。国孝一层罪，家孝一层罪，背着父母私娶一层罪，停妻再娶一层罪。俗语说：“拚着一身剐，敢把皇帝拉下马。”他穷疯了的人，什么事作不出来，况且他又拿着这满理，不告等请不成。’嫂子说，我便是个韩信张良，听了这话，也把智谋吓回去了。你兄弟又不在家，又没个商议，少不得拿钱去垫补，谁知越使钱越被人拿住了刀靶，越发来讹。我是耗子尾巴上长疮——多少脓血儿？所以又急又气，少不得来找嫂子。”

尤氏贾蓉不等说完，都说：“不必操心，自然要料理的。”贾蓉又道：“那张华不过是穷急，故舍了命才告。咱们如今想了一个法儿，竟许他些银子，只叫他应了妄告不实之罪，咱们替他打点完了官司。他出来时再给他些个银子就完了。”凤姐儿笑道：“好孩子，怨不得你顾一不顾二的作这些事出来。原来你竟糊涂。若你说得这话，他暂且依了，且打出官司来又得了银子，眼前自然了事。这些人既是无赖之徒，银子到手一旦光了，他又寻事故讹诈。倘又叨登起来这事，咱们虽不怕，也终担心。搁不住他说既没毛病为什么反给他银子，终久是不了之局。”

贾蓉原是个明白人，听如此一说，便笑道：“我还有个主意，‘来是是非人，去是是非者’[11]，这事还得我了才好。如今我竟去问张华个主意，或是他定要人，或是他愿意了事〔七〕得钱再娶。他若说一定要人，少不得我去劝我二姨，叫他出来仍嫁他去；若说要钱，我们这里少不得给他。”凤姐儿忙道：“虽如此说，我断舍不得你姨娘出去，我也断不肯使他去。好侄儿，你若疼我，只能可多给他钱为是。”贾蓉深知凤姐口虽如此，心却是巴不得只要本人出来，他却做贤良人。如今怎说怎依。

凤姐儿欢喜了，又说：“外头好处了，家里终久怎么样？你也同我过去回明才是。”尤氏又慌了，拉凤姐讨主意如何撒谎才好。凤姐冷笑道：“既没这本事，谁叫你干这事了。这会子又这个腔儿，我又看不上。待要不出个主意，我又是个心慈面软的人，凭人撮弄我，我还是一片痴心。说不得让我应起来。如今你们只别露面，我只领了你妹妹去与老太太、太太们磕头，只说原系你妹妹，我看上了很好。正因我不大生长，原说买两个人放在屋里的，今既见你妹妹很好，而又是亲上做亲的，我愿意娶来做二房。皆因家中父母姊妹新近一概死了，日子又艰难，不能度日，若等百日之后〔八〕，无奈无家无业，实难等得。我的主意接了进来，已经厢房收拾了出来暂且住着，等满了服再圆房[14]。仗着我不怕臊的脸，死活赖去，有了不是，也寻不着你们了。你们母子想想，可使得？”尤氏贾蓉一齐笑说：“到底是婶子宽洪大量，足智多谋。等事妥了，少不得我们娘儿们过去拜谢。”尤氏忙命丫鬟们服侍凤姐梳妆洗脸，又摆酒饭，亲自递酒拣菜。

凤姐也不多坐，执意就走了。进园中将此事告诉与尤二姐，又说我怎么操心打听，又怎么设法子，须得如此如此方救下众人无罪，少不得我去拆开这鱼头[15]，大家才好。不知端详，且听下回分解。

〔一〕 “酸凤姐”，原作“俊凤姐”，从各本改。

[2] 容易——此处意为“轻易”。

〔二〕 “几百”，原系“几万”点改，梦稿、蒙府、戚序、甲辰本均作“几百”，从。

〔三〕 “思想”，原无，从梦稿本补。

[5] 青衣——这里指穿黑衣的衙役，即“皂隶”。

[6] 没脚蟹——比喻无所依靠，没有帮手，行动不得。

[7] 觌（dí敌）面——当面；会面。觌：见；相见。

〔四〕 “和我一样的道理”，底本及己卯、蒙府本均为“一样和我的道理”，己卯本又勾乙为“和我一样的道理”，似较顺畅，但无别本可据。梦稿、戚序、甲辰本均作“和我的一样”。今从己卯本勾乙文字。

〔五〕 “平安不了”，底本及己卯、梦稿、甲辰本均同。蒙府本作“也平安了”，戚序、戚宁本作“平安了”。

〔六〕 “我父亲正要商量接太爷出殡”，原作“我父亲正要出殡”，“出殡”又旁添为“出去送殡”。己卯、梦稿、戚序本均同底本原文，甲辰本作“我爷爷正要出殡”。此从蒙府本改。

[11] “来是是非人，去是是非者”——由谁惹起的是非，还得由谁来了结，与“解铃还须系铃人”义近。

〔七〕 “不言语”到“愿意了事”一大段文字，底本残阙，今从己卯本补，个别文字据各本校订。

〔八〕 “百日之后”，原无“百日”二字，旁添为“孝满之后”。从梦稿、蒙府、戚序、甲辰本改。

[14] 圆房——旧时嫁女有女子先到男家，虽有夫妻名分而不同房者，待适当时候方行同宿，称为“圆房”。

[15] 拆开这鱼头——也作“择鱼头”，比喻处理和排解复杂难办的事。拆，这里读作（zhái宅），分解、清理的意思。一说，把筵席上的鱼头拆开了好让大家吃，引申为与人方便，宁可自找麻烦。

CHAPTER 68. Er-jie takes up residence in Prospect Garden And Xi-feng makes a disturbance in Ning-guo House

When Jia Lian made his second expedition to Ping-an in the tenth month, he found that the Military Governor was away on a tour of inspection; and since no one seemed willing to predict when he would be back, there was obviously nothing he could do but sit in his lodgings and wait for that elusive official to turn up. It was in fact several weeks before he did, so that by the time Jia Lian had finished transacting his business and made the journey back home again, almost two months had elapsed since he set out.

But we anticipate. Let us return to the point at which we left off in the last chapter.

After hearing Joker’s revelations, Xi-feng deliberately concealed her knowledge from Jia Lian for several weeks. It was not until he had started out on his journey to Ping-an that she began putting her plan into execution.

The first thing she did was to call in the workmen – carpenters, decorators, paperers and so forth – and have the three-frame building on the east side of her and Jia Lian’s courtyard converted into a smaller replica of the main apartment. On the fourteenth of the tenth month, when the decorating and furnishing of this apartment had been completed, she went to see Grandmother Jia and Lady Wang and announced her intention of going out first thing next morning to burn incense in a certain convent-temple in the vicinity. She would take only four companions with her, she said: Patience, Felicity, Zhou Rui’s wife and Brightie’s wife. She waited until they were about to get into their carriages on the morning of the fifteenth before revealing to her companions what their actual destination was to be. They were going to Er-jie’s house. Xi-feng had previously given instructions to the manservants who were to accompany them that they were to be dressed in mourning and that the carriage she rode in was to have mourning trappings. This was because Er-jie, she had discovered, had not long since suffered a second and greater bereavement: old Mrs You, who had never quite recovered from the shock caused by her third daughter’s suicide, had, only two or three weeks previous to this date, taken a nap which turned out to be her last. Joker was told to lead the way, and it was he who, arriving at the house a little before the rest of the party, knocked on the gate to give the occupants warning of its coming. The Mattress came to the door. Joker had by this time resolved the problem of nomenclature to his own satisfaction:

‘Tell Mrs Er,’ he said blandly, ‘that Mrs Lian is here.’

The immortal parts of the late Droopy’s relict leaped through her cranium and described several somersaults in the air. She rushed inside to inform her mistress. Er-jie was no less startled than her servant when she heard the message, but even in such an extremity she could do no less than receive her visitor with the expected courtesies. Adjusting her dress, therefore, she went into the front courtyard to meet her. By this time Xi-feng’s carriage had arrived outside the gate and its occupants were in process of descending from it. Er-jie watched her visitor curiously as she entered the outer gate, supported by Zhou Rui’s wife, and Brightie’s wife, one on either side. She was dressed in half-mourning, with hair-ornaments of silver and white and a spencer of some black material with a silver thread in it over the palest of pale blue gowns. Underneath the gown she was wearing a plain white satin skirt. Er-jie was particularly struck by her eyes:

Brows a branched twig with two high-pendant leaves, And trigon phoenix-eyes, slant, hard and bright.

And she was very beautiful:

Pretty as a peach-tree in the spring, Even in austere autumn’s dress.

Er-jie advanced to meet her as she entered the courtyard and dropped her a low curtsey, adopting, in the first words she uttered, the form of address that an inferior wife uses in speaking to her chief.

‘Forgive me, sister, I had no idea that you were planning to favour me with an inspection or I should have gone outside to meet you.’

This was followed by another low curtsey, which Xi-feng, smiling graciously, returned. After curtseying had continued for some moments on either side, Xi-feng took Er-jie impulsively by the hand and the two young women walked hand in hand into the house. Inside, Er-jie made Xi-feng sit down in the place of honour and ordered one of the maids to bring a cushion and put it down in front of her on the floor.

‘I am still very young,’ she explained to Xi-feng. ‘Since I first came here, everything has been decided for me by others, either my mother, when she was still with us, or my elder sister. Now that you have come, I hope – if you do not think me too unworthy – that you will allow me to take all my instructions from you. I promise to serve you with all the devotion of which I am capable.’

Having concluded her little speech, she knelt down on the cushion and kotowed. Xi-feng rose from the chair and bowed.

‘I am as young and inexperienced as you are, sister,’ she said. ‘What I have done for Mr Lian has always been for his own good, as far as a silly, inexperienced woman like me could tell what that was. I begged him, as I am sure you would have done in my position, not to go sleeping out “under the willows” (you know what I mean) both for his health’s sake and because I knew it would worry his parents; but Mr Lian completely misunderstood the spirit in which that advice was offered. It wouldn’t have mattered so much if he’d deceived me about taking a mistress; but marrying a second wife is a very serious business. He really ought to have told me. It isn’t as if I hadn’t begged him to take a second wife. If he were to have a son, no matter by whom, I should stand to benefit as much as he would. It would be a support for me in my old age. But no. Mr Lian has got it firmly fixed in his mind that I am the sort of jealous woman who cannot tolerate a rival. And so he has to go off and do this without telling me. It’s so unfair. Who am I to explain myself to? Only Heaven above knows what a great injustice he has done me. When I first got wind of your marriage about ten days ago, I realized at once that it was this mistaken notion he has about my being so jealous that had prevented him from telling me. I have waited until he is away before visiting you because I wanted this opportunity of getting to know you properly. But that is not the only purpose of my visit. I want to ask you – to entreat you – to show your understanding of my position by leaving this place and coming back with me to the mansion, Let us live together, side by side, like sisters. Let us join forces in looking after him: seeing that he performs his duties properly and takes good care of his health. Surely that is how it ought to be? Just imagine what it will be like for me if you continue living here outside. Quite apart from my feelings, think of the effect it will have on my reputation – and on yours, too, for that matter. And even if you think our reputations are unimportant, as no doubt they are, consider what the effect will be on Mr Lian’s reputation, which is a far more serious matter. I expect the servants say all sorts of nasty things about me behind my back. It is their way of having their revenge on me for being strict. I suppose it is only natural. You know the proverb. The woman who runs a household is like a water butt: all the dirt washes off on her. In our household I have three lots of seniors above me and cousins and sisters-in-law both single and married in my own generation. If I were really hard to get on with, how do you think all those people would have managed to put up with me for so long? Would I have come to you today if I were such a terrible person? Many wives hearing that their husband had married another woman and was living outside with her in secret would be unwilling even to set eyes on her. Heaven knows I’ve tried to accommodate Mr Lian. I’ve even offered him my Patience as a chamber-wife. I think Heaven and Earth and the Lord Buddha must have taken pity on me in letting me know about this marriage. They didn’t want me to be destroyed by a pack of scandal-mongering servants. That’s why I am asking you to come and live with me. I promise that your treatment will be exactly the same as mine in every respect: accommodation, service, clothing-allowance, everything. There is so much that an intelligent person like you could do to help me if you had a mind to. Working side by side together, we shall not only give the lie to this malicious tittle-tattle of the servants which I find so wounding; we shall also be able to show Mr Lian when he gets back how wrong he has been in making me out to be jealous. The three of us will live in perfect harmony together. And all this I shall owe to you! But if you won’t come with me, I am perfectly prepared to move in here with you. Provided that you put in an occasional good word for me with Mr Lian so that I am still left some ground to stand on, I should even be willing to hold your basin and comb your hair for you and wait on you like a servant.’

She concluded this discourse by breaking into noisy weeping. Indeed, so pitiful a spectacle did she present that Er-jie herself could not help weeping with her. After further bowings and curtseyings the two women sat down together as first and second wife and Patience came forward to make Er-jie her kotow. From the superior quality of her dress and general air of refinement Er-jie could guess who she was and hurriedly rose to prevent her.

‘No, no, you mustn’t do that! You and I are equals.’

Xi-feng stood up, too.

‘Nonsense! Let her kotow to you,’ she said, laughing. ‘She is only a maid. She is your maid as much as mine now and in future you must treat her as such.’

She ordered Zhou Rui’s wife to take the First Meeting presents out of the bag she was carrying: four lengths of best quality dress material and four pairs of pearl and gold earrings with hair ornaments to match. There was more bowing and curtseying as Er-jie received them. The two wives sat down once more. Tea was served, and they began to talk things over as they sipped their tea. Xi-feng insisted that what had happened had chiefly come about through her own fault.

‘I blame no one else,’ she said. ‘All I am asking for is a little sympathy.’

Er-jie was so lacking in guile herself that she had no difficulty in believing that Xi-feng was a good woman who had been slandered.

‘After all,’ she told herself when she recollected the alarming things that Joker had said about Xi-feng’s character, ‘servants do often revenge themselves by saying nasty things about their employers.’

And so, abandoning all caution, she began pouring her heart out unreservedly, confident that in Xi-feng she had found a friend. Confirmation of this favourable view in the form of tributes to the excellence of Xi-feng’s household governance were not wanting from Mesdames Zhou and Brightie in the background.

‘She puts herself out too much for other people, that’s her trouble. She gets no thanks for it, though. People only complain about her the more.’

They told Er-jie about the apartment that Xi-feng had made ready for her.

‘Beautiful, Mrs Er! You wait till you’ve seen it!’

Er-jie longed to live with Jia Lian inside the mansion like a respectable married woman and was therefore only too willing to comply with Xi-feng’s request.

‘I ought to go back with you, sister: it is no less than my duty. But what about this place?’

‘Oh, that’s no problem!’ said Xi-feng. ‘Just get the boys to move out your boxes and bags for you. You won’t be needing the furniture, you can leave that here. All you need to do is name whoever of your people is most reliable and we will get whoever it is to stay here and look after it for you.’

‘Now that I’ve met you, I should like to leave all those sort of decisions to you,’ said Er-jie hurriedly. ‘I haven’t been here very long and have no experience of running a household. I’m not able to decide things like this for myself. Why don’t you take charge of these chests and boxes, sister? I have got hardly any things of my own. Almost everything in this place belongs to Mr Lian.’

Xi-feng told Zhou Rui’s wife to make a mental note of all the movables and have them carried over later to Er-jie’s new apartment. She then urged Er-jie to dress herself as quickly as possible for going out, and as soon as she was ready, walked hand in hand with her to the waiting carriage. Inside the carriage she insisted that Er-jie should sit beside her on the same seat.

‘This is rather a strait-laced household we are going into,’ Xi-feng confided to Er-jie when they were alone in the carriage together. ‘Neither the old lady nor Lady Wang knows a word yet about your marriage. They would probably kill Mr Lian if they found out that he had married you while he was still in mourning. There is a very large garden at the mansion which all the young people live in and which other people very seldom go into. I think when we get back it would be better if you didn’t meet Their Ladyships straight away but stayed in there for a few days while I think of some way of explaining about you to them.’

‘I leave all that to you, sister,’ said Er-jie. ‘I will do whatever you think best.’

The boys accompanying the carriage had received advance instructions not to enter the mansion by the main gate on their return journey but to go straight in at the back. Descending from the carriage on her arrival, Xi-feng, having first shooed away a knot of curious bystanders, led Er-jie through the rear entrance of Prospect Garden and took her to meet Li Wan and the girls in Sweet-rice Village.

By this time nine out of ten of the Garden’s inhabitants had heard about Jia Lian’s second marriage, and when the news spread that Xi-feng was bringing the new wife into the Garden, curiosity drew numbers of them to Li Wan’s place to meet her. All were impressed by her beauty and by her gentle, pleasing manner. After introducing them, Xi-feng warned each of them individually that she would kill anyone who mentioned Er-jie’s presence to an outsider. The nannies and maids who worked in the Garden were all terrified of Xi-feng and knew in any case that Jia Lian’s marrying a new wife in a period of family and national mourning was a very serious offence. They needed no persuading, therefore, to have as little to do with the matter as possible.

Xi-feng had a private word with Li Wan requesting her to look after Er-jie for a few days while she herself thought of some way of explaining about her to Grandmother Jia and Lady Wang. Li Wan knew that Xi-feng already had an apartment ready for Er-jie to move into at her own place and could well understand that a certain amount of secrecy had to be maintained about a marriage contracted when in mourning; she could not therefore refuse to give Er-jie temporary lodging.

Xi-feng took Er-jie’s own maids away from her and substituted a servant of her own. She also gave secret instructions to the older women to keep an eye on Er-jie, threatening them with the direst penalties if they allowed her to stray outside or deliberately run away. Having thus disposed of Er-jie for the time being, she went off to attend to the next stage of her plans. But of that, for the moment, we will say nothing.

Everyone who knew about this affair was mystified by the strange forbearance that Xi-feng had so far shown towards her rival and could not help wondering what had come over her. Er-jie for her part, observing how well all the young people in the Garden got on together, felt thoroughly reassured about her future in the bosom of so delightful a family.

But then, after a few days had gone by, there was an unpleasant incident with Mercy, the new maid whom Xi-feng had given her in place of her own. Er-jie had run out of hair-oil and told Mercy to run over to Xi-feng’s and ask her for some.

‘I think you might be a bit more considerate, Mrs Er,’ the maid said insolently. ‘Every day of her life Mrs Lian has to dance attendance on Their Ladyships and Lady Xing, she has two or three hundred servants waiting from daybreak every morning for a word from her to tell them what to do, she has at least a dozen important matters and thirty or forty little ones to deal with every day, all the family’s social contacts to attend to, from Her Grace at the Palace and princes and dukes and other high-ups down to other families like our own, thousands of taels of silver to approve the spending of – and you want to go bothering her for some hair-oil! My advice to you, madam, is to be a bit more patient. After all, your marriage to Mr Lian was rather a hole-and-corner affair, wasn’t it? It’s only because of Mrs Lian’s unheard-of generosity that you have been treated so well. A less tolerant person might have turned you out into the gutter – and not much you could have done to stop them!’

At the end of this verbal drubbing Er-jie could only hang her head in silence. If that was what other people thought about her, minor inconveniences like the lack of hair-oil would have to be endured.

But that was not the end of it. Following this outburst, Mercy began to grow more and more careless about serving Er-jie’s meals. Either they came much too early or much too late, and the food she brought consisted invariably of stale old left-overs. Er-jie once or twice tried speaking to her about it, but Mercy only glared at her and lifted her voice up in noisy self-justification. Fearing that if the others heard the shouting they would think of her as one of those vulgar, shrewish women who are always quarrelling with their servants, Er-jie felt obliged to drop the matter and put up with the hardship as best she could.

After a week or so Xi-feng came to visit her. She was all smiles and loving sympathy, ‘my dear’ this and ‘my dear’ that.

‘If the servants are not giving you satisfaction, my dear, or are being insubordinate, do let me know and I shall have them beaten.’

She turned and spoke harshly to the maids and older women who were present.

‘I know you lot. I know how you bully the gentle ones. It’s only the hard ones like me that you are afraid of. Once out of my sight you think you can get away with murder. But take care! If I hear one word of complaint from Mrs Er, I shall have you slaughtered!’

Er-jie was impressed by the concern that Xi-feng showed for her.

‘With her to stick up for me,’ she thought, ‘there is really no need for me to do anything myself. Servants often are insolent. If I speak up about this girl and get her into trouble, people will say that I lack the forbearance that a wife – especially one in my position – is always supposed to show.’

And so, far from complaining, she covered up for Mercy and the other servants and insisted that the service they gave her was satisfactory.

All this time Brightie was making inquiries on Xi-feng’s behalf into Er-jie’s background. He quickly established that Er-jie had indeed been previously betrothed. Her affianced, now a young man of nineteen, was a gambler and a wastrel. After gambling his way through all his family’s possessions, he had been turned out of doors by his father and now made the gambling-dens his home. The fact that his father had been to see Mrs You and received twenty taels from her in return for breaking off the engagement was still unknown to him. The name of this unpromising youth was, as Joker had said, Zhang Hua. When Brightie passed this information on to Xi-feng, she promptly wrapped twenty taels up in a packet and told him to go back and promise them to Zhang Hua if he would bring a written indictment against Jia Lian before the court. It should say that Jia Lian had, in a period of both national and private mourning and without the knowledge or consent of his parents, brought unlawful pressure to bear on the plaintiff’s parents, causing them to break off an existing engagement between the plaintiff and his betrothed, and had then, setting his own wife aside in an unlawful manner, taken to wife the plaintiff’s betrothed in her stead.

A strong instinct of self-preservation at first prompted Zhang Hua to refuse. When Brightie told Xi-feng this she was furious. A young idiot, she called him; a lame dog who wouldn’t allow one to help him over the stile.

‘You will have to explain it to him very carefully. Tell him he can charge this family with high treason for all I care; all I want is a pretext for making it hot for them. But tell him that if things show any sign of getting too hot, I am perfectly well able to cool them down again.’

Another idea occurred to her as Brightie was on the point of leaving.

‘He could put your name on the indictment,’ she said. ‘Then you could go along to the court and answer it yourself.’

She gave him careful instructions as to what in that event he should say and do, assuring him that she would be able to handle the consequences herself. Confident of her support, Brightie persuaded Zhang Hua to write out an indictment in which he himself would be named.

‘“Lai” is the surname,’ he said. ‘Put “Brightie Lai was principal agent of the accused.” You can say that everything Mr Lian did he was put up to doing by me.’

What Brightie was now proposing seemed to Zhang Hua much less risky than what he had suggested previously, and after some preliminary discussion about the exact form that the indictment should take, he wrote it out and went along with it next morning to the Court of Censors to ‘cry injury’ on the steps outside. An usher came out to relieve him of it and take it inside to their lordships, and in due course the court came into session and the presiding Censor found himself reading a bill of indictment in which a certain ‘Brightie Lai, servant of the above’ appeared as chief accomplice of the accused. Under the circumstances it seemed most expedient to have ‘Brightie Lai, servant of the above’ summoned before the court.

Somewhat overawed by the prospect of making an arrest in Rong-guo House, the blackcoats sent one of their number ahead of them with a message; but Brightie, who was expecting the summons, intercepted the messenger and was outside in the street waiting for them when they arrived. He stepped forward and offered himself to them with a disarming smile.

‘I’m afraid you have been troubled on my account, gentlemen, for I think I must be the person you have come for. Here you are: slip your chain on!’

He stretched his neck out in readiness; but the blackcoats declined.

‘That’s all right, brother. You just come along quietly. Nobody’s going to put any chains on you!’

When Brightie arrived in the court he knelt down facing the tribunal, side by side with Zhang Hua but at a little distance away from him. The Censor ordered him to be shown the indictment, and Brightie, although he had virtually dictated it himself, affected to study it very carefully. When he had finished doing so, he handed it back again and kotowed.

‘I know all about this, my lord. It’s true what it says there about my master, but it wasn’t really anything to do with me. Zhang Hua has only dragged me into it because he has a personal grudge against me. The person who put my master up to all this was someone else. Your Lordship ought to ask him about this other person.’

It was Zhang Hua’s turn now to kotow.

‘There is another person involved, my lord, but I didn’t dare to accuse him, so I put one of the servants’ names instead.’

Brightie pretended to be indignant.

‘Tell his lordship who it is, you fool! This is a court of law we are in and one of the Emperor’s judges you are speaking to. You’ve got to tell him the name of the person, no matter who it is.’

Zhang Hua admitted that Jia Rong was the person in question, whereupon the Censor, very much against his inclination, had to issue a summons for Jia Rong.

Xi-feng had secretly sent her page Cheerful to the court to see if the case was going forward. When he came back to her with this news, she hastily sent for a member of her father’s household called Wang Xin, explained to him what had been happening, and told him to see the Censor on her behalf. He was to persuade the Censor to give Jia Rong a good scare, but not to proceed to any damaging judgement against him. She also gave him three hundred taels with which to strengthen his persuasion.

That night Wang Xin saw the Censor in his private chambers and obligingly supplied him with a little ‘background information’ to the case. The Censor had a pretty good idea of what was expected of him. He took the proffered bribe without demur and agreed that at the next hearing it would almost certainly be discovered that Zhang Hua was a thoroughly worthless character who had brought these trumped-up charges against the Jias because he owed them money and could not pay it back.

Wang Xin also obtained a brief interview with the President of the Court of Censors at his private residence. The President was an old friend of Xi-feng’s uncle, Wang Zi-teng. He had observed that the defendants in this case were all members of the Jia family and was most anxious that it should be disposed of as expeditiously and with as little fuss as possible. He had made no recommendation for special action against the defendants as holders of commissions under the Crown, but merely confirmed what the Censor of the day had already decided: that Jia Rong should be summoned and should be required to answer the indictment.

By this time Xi-feng’s discovery and Er-jie’s removal into Prospect Garden were already known about in Ning-guo House, and Jia Rong and his father were anxiously discussing this latest development in Jia Lian’s affairs when someone arrived to give warning of the impending summons and urge them to think quickly what they would do. Jia Rong, who had gone into the front part of the mansion to receive the messenger, came rushing back in a panic to tell his father.

‘The man has an infernal nerve!’ said Cousin Zhen. ‘I thought I’d taken sufficient precautions against anything like this happening.’

He sealed two hundred taels up in a packet and sent it as a sweetener to the Censor. At the same time he ordered one of his senior domestics to go and answer the summons. He and Jia Rong were still discussing this new crisis when a cry went up that ‘Mrs Lian of Rong-guo House’ had arrived. This was a most unpleasant surprise. Father and son both attempted to make a getaway, but Xi-feng was already inside the courtyard before they could disappear.

‘Ah, the head of the family!’ she called after the elder of the two retreating backs. ‘You’ve been putting your cousin up to some nice tricks lately, haven’t you?’

Jia Rong, as a junior, was obliged to go back and greet her. She seized him by the hand and marched on, with him in tow, towards the interior of the mansion.

‘Take good care of your aunt, Rong,’ Cousin Zhen called out after them. ‘Tell them to slaughter some fresh meat for her dinner.’

He called for his horse and went off to hide himself elsewhere.

Xi-feng walked through into the main sitting-room inside. You-shi came out of the inner room to greet her.

‘What is it, Feng?’ she asked, observing Xi-feng’s ugly expression. ‘Something has upset you.’

Xi-feng spat in her face.

‘Nobody else wanted that precious sister of yours, so you had to foist her onto our family. Anyone would think all the other men in the world had died and only our Jia ones were left! But even if you’d set your heart on marrying her to a Jia, at least you might have done it properly, with go-betweens and witnesses and everything open and above-board. At least we should all have known where we were then and been able to keep up some sort of appearances. I can’t think what could have come over you. Was it some phlegm that got into your heart? Was it rouge you’d swallowed, clogging up your thinking-tubes? Just what was it that made you think you could marry her to him at a time like that – a time when he was in double mourning: state mourning and family mourning? Now, thanks to you, we’ve got someone suing us: so even the people in the law-courts know what a jealous shrew I am and I have to sit by as helpless as a crab with no legs while total strangers discuss my character and wonder why my husband doesn’t divorce me. What have I done wrong since I came to this place that you should want to treat me like this? Is it something that Grandma or Aunt Wang said that has made you set this trap for me, to get me out of the way? Let’s go to court together, the two of us, and state our cases; and after that, let’s come back here and ask for a family council so that we can have it all out into the open, face to face. You can give me a bill of divorce then if you want to, and I shall go back to my own people.’

She began to cry noisily, tugging at You-shi’s arm and insisting that she should go with her to court. Jia Rong, in a desperate attempt to dissuade her, threw himself down on his knees and knocked his head repeatedly on the floor, entreating his aunt to ‘control her rage’. Xi-feng let go of You-shi and rounded savagely on Jia Rong.

‘Black-hearted villain! May God’s lightning strike you and the devils tear your carcase! You’re as stupid as mud, and yet you are forever meddling and interfering in what doesn’t concern you, forever busybodying away at your dirty, scoundrelly little plots that in the end will ruin your family and destroy the lot of us. Nobody wants you – even the ghosts won’t want you when you die, your own mother’s ghost or the ghosts of your ancestors. Don’t you dare tell me what I ought to do!’

And she began beating him. Jia Rong redoubled the frequency of his kotows.

‘Please, auntie, please! Don’t give way to anger. Don’t think only of what has just happened: try to remember the good things as well as the bad. I may be very wicked, but surely in a thousand days there must have been one day when I was good! I know you have every reason to be angry with me, but there is no need for you to punish me yourself. I will gladly do it for you if it will help you to overcome your anger.’

He spread his arms out to left and right of him and began to deal himself hefty slaps upon both cheeks, prefacing each blow with an interrogation, thus:

‘Are you going to go on doing these stupid, meddlesome things in future?’ (slap!)

‘Are you going to go on listening to Uncle instead of doing what Auntie tells you?’ (slap!)

‘How can you bear to be so cruel and unnatural to Auntie, when Auntie has always been so good and kind to you?’ (slap!)

The others felt like telling him to stop playing the fool. They also felt like laughing, but did not dare to. Xi-feng threw herself upon You-shi’s bosom, weeping and wailing in a fine display of histrionic grief.

‘I don’t mind your finding him another wife, but why was it necessary to make him break the law? Why did you let him do it without his father knowing? And why did you have to destroy my reputation while you were about it? You and I must go to the court together before the blackcoats come here and arrest us. After that we can go next door and have it all out in front of Grandmother Jia and Lady Wang and all the rest of the clan. If it’s found that I am an undutiful wife who refuses to let her husband take a concubine, you can give me a bill of divorce and I shall leave without a murmur. As a matter of fact I have invited your sister here myself. I haven’t dared tell Grandmother and Lady Wang about her yet because I was afraid they would be angry. At the moment she is living in the Garden, like a princess, with nothing but the best to eat and servants to wait on her hand and foot every minute of the day. Meanwhile I’ve been getting an apartment ready for her at home which will be exactly the same as my own. I’d been meaning to move her in there as soon as Grandmother had been told about her. I was prepared to live in peace and harmony with her and Lian and to let bygones be bygones. But now it turns out that all the time she was betrothed to somebody else! What a mess you’ve made of things! Of course, I knew nothing about this before. When they told me yesterday that I was being sued, I was panic-stricken. I knew that even if I appeared in court to answer the charge myself, it was the Jia family that would be disgraced. So I’m afraid I took five hundred taels of Lady Wang’s money without telling her, to bribe the Censor with. And even after that, he still has my servant there in custody.’

All this was spoken not as continuous discourse but punctuated by fits of weeping. In her final outburst the weeping turned almost into a scream as she began invoking her parents and her ancestors and threatening to hang or drown herself or batter her brains out against a wall. You-shi, whom all this time she had not let go of, was so mauled and crumpled that she was beginning to take on some of the aspects of a piece of well-kneaded dough and various parts of her clothing had become damp and discoloured with the moisture from Xi-feng’s eyes and nose. As there was nothing much she could say in answer to Xi-feng, she shouted at Jia Rong instead.

‘Stupid little fool! A fine mess you and your father have made of things between you! I said at the time that no good would come of this.’

Xi-feng took You-shi’s head in both her hands and, drawing her face close to her own, pretended to inspect the inside of her mouth.

‘Who’s stupid? There isn’t an aubergine in here. I see no sign of a gag. Why couldn’t you have come and told me? If you had told me about it at the time, none of this would ever have happened. But no, you have to wait until it has got into the law-courts and the whole household is in an uproar, and now you start blaming them! There’s a very old saying: “A good lining gives a garment strength and a husband with a good wife has few calamities.” If you’d been a good wife to Zhen, he and the others would never have got up to this mischief. You haven’t the wit to do anything useful; and as for saying – for all the good sense that ever comes out of your mouth you might as well be a bottle! You seem to think that you have only got to sit tight and do nothing and people will praise you for your virtue!’

She spat two or three times in quick succession.

‘I did try,’ said You-shi tearfully. ‘The others here will tell you, if you don’t believe me. I tried very hard to dissuade them. It’s not my fault that they wouldn’t listen. What was I supposed to do? But I don’t blame you for being angry. It’s just one more thing that I shall have to bear.’

All the Ning-guo concubines, maids and womenservants were by now silently entreating for their mistress, so that the room seemed suddenly to have filled with row upon row of kneeling figures. The most senior of the servants now smilingly addressed Xi-feng on her mistress’s behalf.

‘You’re generally such a wise, understanding person, Mrs Lian: even though our mistress is at fault, you ought not to be too hard on her – leastways, not in front of us servants. You and our mistress have always been such good friends. Leave her a bit of face now, please!’

She handed her a cup of tea, but Xi-feng dashed it to the floor. After a bit she did, however, stop crying and rolled up her hair, which had come undone. But the tone in which she addressed Jia Rong was still an angry one.

‘Go and fetch your father. There’s something I want to ask him to his face. I want to ask him about this new rule which says that a man may marry when he is in mourning, barely thirty-five days after his uncle’s death. It’s something I’ve never heard of before. I should like him to tell me about it so that I shall be able to teach it to the younger generation.’

Jia Rong kotowed and remained upon his knees.

‘This business had nothing to do with either of my parents,’ he said. ‘I was the one who put Uncle up to it. I don’t know what came over me; I must have been out of my mind. My father knows nothing about it. If you insist on having it out with him, he will undoubtedly kill me. I’d rather you punished me yourself – in fact, I should welcome it. As for the lawsuit, I’m quite incapable of handling a big thing like that myself. One “hides a broken arm inside one’s sleeve”: surely you, of all people, know that, Auntie? You’ve got a very silly nephew, I’m afraid, and he has done a very silly thing. There’s nothing for it, you will just have to deal with the matter for us, as you would if your cat or your dog had done something naughty and you had to clear up after it. Imagine you had a good-for-nothing son like me who had got himself into terrible trouble: wouldn’t you still go on caring for him, in spite of all the suffering he had caused you?’

He concluded by kotowing again and looked as if he might go on doing so indefinitely. His pathetic abjectness soon melted Xi-feng; but she could not change her tune too abruptly when there were so many pairs of eyes watching her. She did not answer him, therefore, but merely raised him up with a sigh and, wiping her eyes, addressed herself once more to You-shi.

‘You must forgive me, kinswoman. It’s because I am so young and inexperienced. When I heard that there was someone suing us, I simply lost my head. That’s why I have been behaving so badly. As Rong says, “One hides a broken arm inside one’s sleeve”: I must ask you to forget all those nasty things I was saying just now and have a word with Zhen on my behalf to see if he can’t get this lawsuit settled out of court.’

‘Certainly.’

‘Of course.’

In their eagerness to reassure her, You-shi and Jia Rong answered her simultaneously.

‘Whatever happens, Auntie,’ said Jia Rong, ‘I promise you that Uncle Lian won’t be involved. You mentioned just now that you had already had to spend five hundred taels on this case. Mother and I will certainly find some way of making that good. We can’t possibly allow you to be out of pocket because of this. That would be unthinkable. We must ask one thing of you, though. Do, please, cover up for us at the other house. Please don’t let Grandma and Lady Wang get to know about this!’

Xi-feng answered him scornfully.

‘You were willing enough to go over my head when you planned this thing in the first place. Now that it’s gone wrong and you need someone to cover up for you, you’ve decided that you need me after all. I may be stupid, but I’m not that stupid!’ Again she ignored him and addressed herself to Youshi. ‘Your Cousin Lian is my husband, don’t forget. You all say that you acted as you did out of your concern that he should have an heir. Well, don’t you think I share in that concern myself? I look on your sister as if she were my own. I was so happy when I first heard about her and Lian that I couldn’t sleep all night. I wanted the servants to start decorating a room for her immediately, so that I could have her to come and live with us. But you know what servants are. They told me I was too hasty and that I ought to tell Grandmother and Lady Wang first. I certainly wasn’t going to take that advice, and I threatened them with all sorts of pains and penalties if they said anything about it to anyone themselves. Unfortunately my threatening was of no avail. Just as I thought I’d succeeded in hushing the matter up, the very worst thing happened: a person called Zhang Hua suddenly popped up out of nowhere and brought a lawsuit against us. I was so scared that for two nights I didn’t sleep a wink. I didn’t dare tell anyone else about it. All I could do was to get the servants to try to find out who this Zhang Hua was and what it was that had made him so bold. After two days investigating they came back and told me. It seems that he is a thoroughly worthless character – a down-and-out. “Mrs Er is this man’s betrothed,” they said. “At the present moment he is so hard up that sooner than the of hunger and cold, he is prepared to do almost anything. This lawsuit is simply a last desperate attempt to make some money. He reckons that even if he dies in the attempt it will be a better death than starving. Anyway,” they said, “you can hardly blame him for trying. The master really has been a bit hasty: marrying during a period of national mourning is one offence; marrying in a period of family mourning is another; marrying without parental consent is a third; and marrying bigamously is a fourth. They say that the man sentenced to death by a thousand cuts will dare to pull the Emperor off his horse. A man like this Zhang Hua who is crazed by poverty will do anything. With such good arguments in his favour, he’d be a fool not to sue!” Well now, I ask you! Even if I’d been a forensic genius, which I’m not, hearing them say that would have been enough to shut me up. What could I do? Lian was away. There was no one at hand to advise me. All I could think of was to try and buy him off. But the trouble is, the more you give to people like that, the more they twist the knife in you and think up more and more pretexts for getting money out of you. And I am like a boil on a mouse’s tail: there’s a limit to what can be squeezed out of me. It was because I was feeling so desperate that I –’

‘Don’t worry about the money,’ You-shi and Jia Rong both chimed in, not waiting for her to finish. ‘That’s something we can certainly take care of for you.’

‘If Zhang Hua is only suing because he wants money,’ said Jia Rong, ‘I think I can now see what to do. We must promise him money on condition that he will admit that the charges he brought against us were false ones. Of course, we shall have to spend a bit of money to see that he isn’t too heavily proceeded against; but once the case has been dismissed and he has been released, all we have to do is give him the money we promised, and that should be the end of it.’

Xi-feng tutted and looked amused.

‘Brilliant! No wonder you made such a mess of your match-making if this is the way you go about things! I always thought that you were intelligent, but I see now that I was wrong. If we do as you suggest, he will pretend to agree, the case will be called off, and that will appear to be the end of it. But don’t you see, if you put money into the hand of a fellow like that, he will get through it in about four or five days and then think up some other villainy as a means of getting more? Even though we have nothing to fear from him, he will still be a constant source of worry. What you propose in any case plays straight into his hands, because it enables him to say that we must have something to be ashamed of or we wouldn’t be offering him money.’

Jia Rong was a sharp young man and quickly saw what his aunt was driving at.

‘I’ve got another idea,’ he said. ‘Perhaps I should be the one to clear this mess up after all, since I am the one who got us into it. I shall ask Zhang Hua straight out what his intentions are. Is it definitely Aunt Er he wants, or is he willing to make do with someone else if we will give him the money? If it is definitely Aunt Er and no one else will do, I shall simply have to break it to her that she must go and join him.’

‘That’s all very well, but I don’t want to part with your Aunt Er,’ said Xi-feng hurriedly. ‘In fact, I refuse to hear of it. Even suppose she were willing, what would people think of us if we allowed her to go? No, I think we must keep her, even if it means giving him more money.’

Jia Rong knew perfectly well that although Xi-feng said this, she was secretly longing to get rid of Er-jie and was merely anxious that if she did so it should be with her reputation for womanly virtue untarnished. He deemed it safest not to dispute with her, however, but merely to agree with everything she said.

‘This outside part of the business should not be too hard to settle,’ said Xi-feng. ‘In the long run it’s here at home that we are going to have the difficulty. Hadn’t you better come with me to explain all about this to Grandmother and Lady Wang?’

This threw You-shi into another panic. She seized Xi-feng by the hand and earnestly entreated her to think of some lie which would obviate this necessity.

‘If you are not capable of dealing with the consequences, you ought not to do these things in the first place,’ said Xi-feng coldly. ‘Really! It quite disgusts me to hear you bleat like this! Oh well. I wasn’t going to help you out of this fix, but I am such a weak, soft-hearted creature. I suppose I shall have to. You’d better stay out of this, then. I’ll take your sister on my own to make her kotow to Grandmother and the ladies. I shall say that this is your sister and that I have taken a great fancy to her. I shall tell them that because I haven’t so far managed to give Lian a son, I had been thinking of buying two girls to serve him as chamber-wives, but that since seeing your sister I had thought how much nicer it would be to have her instead as his Number Two and keep it all inside the family. Then I shall say that since her mother and sister died she has been living in very reduced circumstances and would have found it impossible to hold out on her own until the end of the hundred days mourning, so I have taken it upon myself to invite her here to live with us. I shall tell them that I’ve already had a room made ready for her and would like her to move in there as a temporary measure until the mourning period is over and she is allowed to sleep with Lian. All lies, of course, but I am sufficiently brazen to get away with them. Even if there is any trouble, I promise that it shan’t come near you. Well, what about it? Do you think that will do?’

You-shi and Jia Rong were all smiles.

‘Very handsome of you, and very resourceful, too. But then you always were both of those things. When this affair is safely out of the way, we shall come round and make you a kotow.’

‘Fiddlestick! I don’t want your kotows,’ said Xi-feng. ‘She pointed her finger at Jia Rong. ‘I know you now for what you are.’

Her face reddened as she said this, and for a moment she seemed on the point of tears. Jia Rong put on his most winning smile.

‘Come on now, forgive and forget, won’t you, just this once?’

He knelt once more, but she turned her head away and ignored him. He got to his feet again, still smiling.

You-shi made the servants bring a basin of water and a vanity-box, so that Xi-feng could wash her face and hands and comb her hair, and gave orders to hurry on the dinner. Xi-feng insisted that she must go back, but You-shi was equally insistent that she should stay and eat with them.

‘If you go off now like this, how shall we ever have the face to visit you at your place in the future?’

Jia Rong added his own smiling persuasion.

‘Come on, Auntie! I promise that in future I shall serve you as a truly devoted nephew, strike me dead if I don’t!’

Xi-feng gave him a look.

‘Pshaw! Who believes –?’

But she did not finish.

The maids and old women had been busy meanwhile laying the table. You-shi made a selection from the dishes with her own chopsticks to put on Xi-feng’s plate and Jia Rong knelt down beside her and offered her a cupful of wine. When Xi-feng and You-shi had eaten, a maid served them with tea to rinse their mouths with and then with a better tea to drink. After a couple of sips of the latter, Xi-feng rose to go. Jia Rong saw her all the way back to her own place.

As soon as she was back, Xi-feng went into the Garden to tell Er-jie about these latest developments. She told her how worried she had been when she heard about the lawsuit, and what she had found out as a result of her inquiries. Then she explained what had to be done now in order to ensure that none of the others got into trouble.

But if you want to know how Xi-feng’s plan turned out in the event, you will have to read the following chapter.