第七十九回

第七十九回 薛文龙悔娶河东狮 贾迎春误嫁中山狼

话说宝玉才祭完了晴雯，只听花影中有人声，倒唬了一跳。走出来细看，不是别人，却是林黛玉，满面含笑，口内说道：“好新〔一〕奇的祭文！可与曹娥碑[3]并传的了。”宝玉听了，不觉红了脸，笑答道：“我想着世上这些祭文都蹈于熟滥了，所以改个新样，原不过是我一时的顽意，谁知又被你听见了。有什么大使不得的，何不改削改削。”

黛玉道：“原稿在那里？倒要细细一读。长篇大论，不知说的是些什么，只听见中间两句，什么‘红绡帐里，公子多情；黄土垄中，女儿薄命。’这一联意思却好，只是‘红绡帐里’未免熟滥些。放着现成真事，为什么不用？”宝玉忙问：“什么现成的真事？”黛玉笑道：“咱们如今都系霞影纱糊的窗槅，何不说‘茜纱窗下，公子多情’呢？”宝玉听了，不禁跌足笑道：“好极，是极〔二〕！到底是你想的出，说的出。可知天下古今现成的好景妙事尽多，只是愚人蠢子说不出想不出罢了。但只一件：虽然这一改新妙之极，但你居此则可，在我实不敢当。”说着，又接连说了一二百句〔三〕“不敢”。

黛玉笑道：“何妨。我的窗即可为你之窗，何必分晰得如此生疏。古人异姓陌路，尚然同肥马，衣轻裘，敝之而无憾，何况咱们。”宝玉〔四〕笑道：“论交之道，[7]不在肥马轻裘，即黄金白璧，亦不当锱铢较量。倒是这唐突闺阁，万万使不得的。如今我越性将‘公子’‘女儿’改去，竟算是你诔他的倒妙。况且素日你又待他甚厚，故今宁可弃此一篇大文，万不可弃此‘茜纱’新句。竟莫若改作‘茜纱窗下，小姐多情；黄土垄中，丫鬟薄命。’如此一改，虽于我无涉，我也是惬怀的。”黛玉笑道：“他又不是我的丫头，何用作此语。况且小姐丫鬟亦不典雅，等我的紫鹃死了，我再如此说，还不算迟。”宝玉听了，忙笑道：“这是何苦又咒他。”黛玉笑道：“是你要咒的，并不是我说的。”宝玉道：“我〔五〕又有了，这一改可极妥当了。莫若说‘茜纱窗下，我本无缘；黄土垄中，卿何薄命’。”

黛玉听了，忡然变色，心中虽有无限的狐疑乱拟，外面却不肯露出，反连忙含笑点头称妙，说：“果然改的好。再不必乱改了，快去干正经事罢。才刚太太打发人叫你明儿一早快过大舅母那边去。你二姐姐已有人家求准了，想是明儿那家人来拜允，所以叫你们过去呢。”宝玉拍手道：“何必如此忙？我身上也不大好，明儿还未必能去呢。”黛玉道：“又来了，我劝你把脾气改改罢。一年大二年小，……”一面说话，一面咳嗽起来。宝玉忙道：“这里风冷，咱们只顾呆站在这里，快回去罢。”黛玉道：“我也家去歇息了，明儿再见罢。”说着，便自取路去了。

宝玉只得闷闷的转步，又忽想起来黛玉无人随伴，忙命小丫头子跟了送回去。自己到了怡红院中，果有王夫人打发老嬷嬷来，吩咐他明日一早过贾赦那边去，与方才黛玉之言相对。

原来贾赦已将迎春许与孙家了。这孙家乃是大同府人氏，祖上系军官出身，乃当日宁荣府中之门生，算来亦系世交。如今孙家只有一人在京，现袭指挥[9]之职，此人名唤孙绍祖，生得相貌魁梧，体格健壮，弓马娴熟，应酬权变，年纪未满三十，且又家资饶富，现在兵部候缺题升。因未有室，贾赦见是世交之孙，且人品家当都相称合，遂青目择为东床娇婿。亦曾回明贾母。

贾母心中却不十分称意，想来拦阻亦恐不听，儿女之事自有天意前因，况且他是亲父主张，何必出头多事，为此只说“知道了”三字，馀不多及。

贾政又深恶孙家，虽是世交，当年不过是彼祖希慕荣宁之势，有不能了结之事才拜在门下的，并非诗礼名族之裔，因此倒劝谏过两次，无奈贾赦不听，也只得罢了。

宝玉却从未会过这孙绍祖一面的，次日只得过去聊以塞责。只听见说娶亲的日子甚急，不过今年就要过门的，又见邢夫人等回了贾母将迎春接出大观园去等事，越发扫去了兴头，每日痴痴呆呆的，不知作何消遣。又听得说陪四个丫头过去，更又跌足自叹道：“从今后这世上又少了五个清洁人了。”因此天天到紫菱洲一带地方徘徊瞻顾，见其轩窗寂寞，屏帐翛然[10]，不过有几个该班上夜的老妪。再看那岸上的蓼花苇叶，池内的翠荇香菱，也都觉摇摇落落，似有追忆故人之态，迥非素常逞妍斗色之可比。既领略得如此寥落凄惨之景，是以情不自禁，乃信口吟成一歌曰：

池塘一夜秋风冷，吹散芰荷红玉影。[11]

蓼花菱叶不胜愁，重露繁霜压纤梗〔六〕。

不闻永昼敲棋声，燕泥点点污棋枰。

古人惜别怜朋友，况我今当手足情！

宝玉方才吟罢，忽闻背后有人笑道：“你又发什么呆呢？”宝玉回头忙看是谁，原来是香菱。宝玉便转身笑问道：“我的姐姐，你这会子跑到这里来做什么？许多日子也不进来逛逛。”香菱拍手笑嘻嘻的说道：“我何曾不要来。如今你哥哥回来了，那里比先时自由自在的了。才刚我们奶奶使人找你凤姐姐的，竟没找着，说往园子里来了。我听见了这话，我就讨了这件差进来找他。遇见他的丫头，说在稻香村呢。如今我往稻香村去，谁知又遇见了你。我且问你，袭人姐姐这几日可好？怎么忽然把个晴雯姐姐也没了，到底是什么病？二姑娘搬出去的好快，你瞧瞧这地方好空落落的。”

宝玉应之不迭，又让他同到怡红院去吃茶。香菱道：“此刻竟不能，等找着琏二奶奶，说完了正经事再来。”宝玉道：“什么正经事这么忙？”香菱道：“为你哥哥娶嫂子的事，所以要紧。”宝玉道：“正是。说的到底是那一家的？只听见吵嚷了这半年，今儿又说张家的好，明儿又要李家的，后儿又议论王家的。这些人家的女儿他也不知道造了什么罪了，叫人家好端端议论。”香菱道：“这如今定了，可以不用搬扯别家了。”

宝玉忙问：“定了谁家的？”香菱道：“因你哥哥上次出门贸易时，在顺路到了个亲戚家去。这门亲原是老亲，且又和我们是同在户部挂名行商，也是数一数二的大门户。前日说起来，你们两府都也知道的。合长安城中，上至王侯，下至买卖人，都称他家是‘桂花夏家’。”宝玉笑问道：“如何又称为‘桂花夏家’？”香菱道：“他家本姓夏，非常的富贵。其馀田地不用说，单有几十顷地独种桂花，凡这长安城里城外桂花局俱是他家的，连宫里一应陈设盆景亦是他家贡奉，因此才有这个浑号。如今太爷也没了，只有老奶奶带着一个亲生的姑娘过活，也并没有哥儿兄弟，可惜他竟一门尽绝了后。”

宝玉忙道：“咱们也别管他绝后不绝后，只是这姑娘可好？你们大爷怎么就中意了？”香菱笑道：“一则是天缘，二则是‘情人眼里出西施’。当年又是通家来往，从小儿都一处厮混过。叙起亲是姑舅兄妹，又没嫌疑。虽离开了这几年，前儿一到他家，夏奶奶又是没儿子的，一见了你哥哥出落的这样，又是哭，又是笑，竟比见了儿子的还胜。又令他兄妹相见，谁知这姑娘出落得花朵似的了，在家里也读书写字，所以你哥哥当时就一心看准了〔七〕。连当铺里老朝奉[14]伙计们一群人蹧扰了人家三四日，他们还留多住几日，好容易苦辞才放回家。你哥哥一进门，就咕咕唧唧求我们奶奶去求亲〔八〕。我们奶奶原也是见过这姑娘的，且又门当户对，也就依了。和这里姨太太凤姑娘商议了，打发人去一说就成了。只是娶的日子太急，所以我们忙乱的很。我也巴不得早些过来，又添一个作诗的人了。”宝玉冷笑道：“虽如此〔九〕说，但只我听这话不知怎么倒替你耽心虑后呢。”香菱听了，不觉红了脸，正色道：“这是什么话！素日咱们都是厮抬厮敬的，今日忽然提起这些事来，是什么意思！怪不得人人都说你是个亲近不得的人。”一面说，一面转身走了。

宝玉见他这样，便怅然如有所失，呆呆的站了半天，思前想后，不觉滴下泪来，只得没精打彩，还入怡红院来。一夜不曾安稳，睡梦之中犹唤晴雯，或魇魔惊怖，种种不宁。次日便懒进饮食，身体作热。此皆近日抄检大观园、逐司棋、别迎春、悲晴雯等羞辱惊恐悲凄之所致，兼以风寒外感，故酿成一疾，卧床不起。贾母听得如此，天天亲来看视。王夫人心中自悔不合因晴雯过于逼责了他。心中虽如此，脸上却不露出。只吩咐众奶娘等好生服侍看守，一日两次带进医生来诊脉下药。一月之后，方才渐渐的痊愈。

贾母命〔一〇〕好生保养，过百日方许动荤腥油面等物，方可出门行走。这一百日内，连院门前皆不许到，只在房中顽笑。四五十日后，就把他拘约的火星乱迸，那里忍耐得住。虽百般设法，无奈贾母王夫人执意不从，也只得罢了。因此和那些丫鬟们无所不至，恣意耍笑作戏。又听得薛蟠摆酒唱戏，热闹非常，已娶亲入门，闻得这夏家小姐十分俊俏，也略通文翰，宝玉〔一一〕恨不得就过去一见才好。

再过些时，又闻得迎春出了阁。宝玉思及当时姊妹们一处，耳鬓厮磨，从今一别，纵得相逢，也必不似先前那等亲密了。眼前又不能去一望，真令人凄惶迫切之至。少不得潜心忍耐，暂同这些丫鬟们厮闹释闷，幸免贾政责备逼迫读书之难。这百日内，只不曾拆毁了怡红院，和这些丫头们无法无天，凡世上所无之事，都顽耍出来。如今且不消细说。

且说香菱自那日抢白了宝玉之后，心中自为宝玉有意唐突他，“怨不得我们宝姑娘不敢亲近，可见我不如宝姑娘远矣；怨不得林姑娘时常和他角口气的痛哭，自然唐突他也是有的了。从此倒要远避他才好。”因此，以后连大观园也不轻易进来。日日忙乱着，薛蟠娶过亲，自为得了护身符，自己身上分去责任，到底比这样安宁些；二则又闻得是个有才有貌的佳人，自然是典雅和平的：因此他心中盼过门的日子比薛蟠还急十倍。好容易盼得一日娶过了门，他便十分殷勤小心服侍〔一二〕。

原来这夏家小姐今年方十七岁，生得亦颇有姿色，亦颇识得几个字。若论心中的邱壑经纬，颇步熙凤之后尘。只吃亏了一件，从小时父亲去世的早，又无同胞弟兄，寡母独守此女，娇养溺爱，不啻珍宝，凡女儿一举一动，彼母皆百依百随，因此未免娇养太过，竟酿成个盗跖[20]的性气。爱自己尊若菩萨，窥他人秽如粪土；外具花柳之姿，内秉风雷之性。在家中时常就和丫鬟们使性弄气，轻骂重打的。今日出了阁，自为要作当家的奶奶，比不得作女儿时腼腆温柔，须要拿出这威风来，才钤压得住人；况且见薛蟠气质刚硬，举止骄奢，若不趁热灶一气炮制熟烂，将来必不能自竖旗帜矣；又见有香菱这等一个才貌俱全的爱妾在室，越发添了“宋太祖灭南唐”[21]之意，“卧榻之侧岂容他人酣睡”之心。

因他家多桂花，他小名就唤做金桂。他在家时不许人口中带出金桂二字来，凡有不留心误道一字者，他便定要苦打重罚才罢。他因想桂花二字是禁止不住的，须另换一名，因想桂花曾有广寒嫦娥之说，便将桂花改为嫦娥花，又寓自己身分如此。

薛蟠本是个怜新弃旧的人，且是有酒胆无饭力的，如今得了这样〔一三〕一个妻子，正在新鲜兴头上，凡事未免尽让他些。那夏金桂见了这般形景，便也试着一步紧似一步。一月之中，二人气概还都相平；至两月之后，便觉薛蟠的气概渐次低矮了下去。一日薛蟠酒后，不知要行何事，先与金桂商议，金桂执意不从。薛蟠忍不住便发了几句话，赌气自行了，这金桂便气的哭如醉人一般，茶汤不进，装起病来。请医疗治，医生又说：“气血相逆，当进宽胸顺气之剂。”

薛姨娘恨的骂了薛蟠一顿，说：“如今娶了亲，眼前抱儿子了，还是这样胡闹。人家凤凰蛋似的，好容易养了一个女儿，比花朵儿还轻巧，原看的你是个人物，才给你作老婆。你不说收了心安分守己，一心一计和和气气的过日子，还是这样胡闹，嗓[23]了黄汤，折磨人家。这会子花钱吃药白遭心。”一席话说的薛蟠后悔不迭，反来安慰金桂。金桂见婆婆如此说丈夫，越发得了意，便装出些张致[24]来，总不理薛蟠。薛蟠没了主意，惟自怨而已〔一四〕，好容易十天半月之后，才渐渐的哄转过金桂的心来，自此便加一倍小心，不免气概又矮了半截下来。

那金桂见丈夫旗纛渐倒，婆婆良善，也就渐渐的持戈试马起来。先时不过挟制薛蟠，后来倚娇作媚，将及薛姨妈，后又将至薛宝钗。宝钗〔一五〕久察其不轨之心，每随机应变，暗以言语弹压其志。金桂知其不可犯，每欲寻隙，又无隙可乘，只得曲意俯就。一日金桂无事，因和香菱闲谈，问香菱家乡父母。香菱皆答忘记，金桂便不悦，说有意欺瞒了他。因问他“香菱”二字是谁起的名字，香菱便答：“姑娘起的。”金桂冷笑道：“人人都说姑娘通，只这一个名字就不通。”香菱忙笑道：“嗳哟，奶奶不知道，我们姑娘的学问连我们姨老爷时常还夸呢。”欲明后事，且见下回。

[1] 河东狮——比喻妒悍的妇人。见宋代洪迈《容斋三笔》卷三。河东为柳姓郡望（柳姓望族世居于河东地方），暗指陈妻柳氏。狮子吼：佛家以喻威严。《传灯录》：“释迦佛生时，一手指天，一手指地，作狮子吼，云，天上地下，惟我独尊。”陈慥好谈佛，故以此相讥。

〔一〕 “新”字原无，从各本补。

[3] 曹娥碑——曹娥，东汉时孝女，会稽上虞人，父溺于江而死，曹娥寻父尸不得，沿江号哭，最后亦投江而死。上虞县长官度尚悲悯其义，为之立碑，并命其弟子作诔辞刻于碑上。见《世说新语·捷悟》刘峻注及《后汉书·曹娥传》李贤注所引东晋虞预《会稽典录》。相传东汉文学家蔡邕曾称赞碑文为“绝妙好辞”，从此曹娥碑几乎成了祭文的典范。其实碑文为后人杜撰，同赞语并不相符。

〔二〕 “好极是极”，原作“好极事好极”，“事”字点去。梦稿本无此句，蒙府、戚序本均作“好是极”，甲辰本作“好极好极”。今参照各本酌定。

〔三〕 “一二百句”，底本及蒙府、戚序、甲辰本均作“一二百句”。梦稿本作“一二十句”。

〔四〕 “宝玉”，原无，从各本补。

[7] “论交之道”一段——这里意谓论交友的道理，即使比“肥马轻裘”更贵重的“黄金白璧”，也应毫不计较。《论语·公冶长》：“子路曰：‘愿车马衣裘与朋友共，敝之而无憾。’”锱铢：古代很小的重量单位。锱，四分之一两；铢，二十四分之一两。

〔五〕 “我”字原无，从蒙府、戚序本补。

[9] 指挥——官名，历代职掌品级不同，清代京师兵马司指挥约在六七品之间。

[10] 屏帐翛（xiāo消）然——人去屋空的景况。翛然：无拘无束，此指无人过问。

[11] “池塘”二句——以一夜秋风吹落了红玉般的荷花花瓣，喻宝玉同迎春的即将分离。芰（jì记）荷：这里指出水的荷花。红玉影：代指红色的荷花。

〔六〕 “重露繁霜压纤梗”，底本原作“吹散芰荷红玉影”，与上面第二句全同，后又用括号括上，批上“此句遗失”四字。梦稿、蒙府、戚序、甲辰、程甲本均存，从补。

〔七〕 “看准了”，原作“一准了”，“一”点改为“相”。各本均作“看准了”，从。

[14] 朝奉——原为宋代官名，后用作对富豪或店铺中高级雇员的称呼。

〔八〕 “求亲”，原作“就亲”，从各本改。

〔九〕 “虽如此”，原无“虽”字，从蒙府、戚序、甲辰本补。

〔一〇〕 “贾母命”，原无，从梦稿本补。

〔一一〕 “宝玉”，原无，另有“思及当时姊妹们”七字，系传抄衍文。从各本删改。

〔一二〕 “好容易盼得一日娶过了门，他便十分殷勤，小心服侍。原来这夏家”，原仅“好容”二字，又点去。各本均有，文字略异，此从甲辰本增补。

[20] 盗跖——人名，传说中的大盗。见《史记·伯夷列传》张守节《正义》及《庄子·盗跖》。

[21] “宋太祖灭南唐”之意——这里是妒嫉、不能容人之意，参见第1061页注①。

〔一三〕 “这样”，原无，从梦稿、蒙府、戚序本补。

[23] 嗓（chuánɡ　sānɡ床桑）——犹言“狂吃滥饮”。

[24] 张致——姿态、模样。

〔一四〕 “惟自怨而已”，原作“惟是然而已”，“惟是然”点去，旁改为“诸事唯唯”。戚序、蒙府本作“惟自怨恨”，甲辰、程甲本作“惟有自软而已”。今据各本酌定。

〔一五〕 “宝钗”，原无，从各本补。

CHAPTER 79. Xue Pan finds to his sorrow that he is married to a termagant And Ying-ebun’s parents betroth her to a Zbong-shan wolf

At the end of the last chapter our story had reached a point at which, just as Bao-yu and the little maid were beginning to walk away after completing the sacrifice to Skybright, they were startled by the sound of a human voice coming from the direction of the flowering hibiscus bushes. When Bao-yu looked, he saw that the person who had called out was Dai-yu. She advanced towards him smiling.

‘A highly original elegy! It deserves to have a permanent place in literature alongside the Elegy for the Shaman’s Daughter by Han-dan Chun!’

Bao-yu blushed and laughed sheepishly.

‘Most elegies one sees are so stale and derivative, I thought I’d try my hand at writing something a bit different. It was only for my own amusement; I hadn’t intended that anyone else should hear it. Perhaps now that you have heard it, you will let me know of any glaring errors you may have noticed and help me to correct them.’

‘Where is the original text?’ said Dai-yu. ‘I should need to have a careful look at the text first before venturing on any criticism. It was such a long piece, I could barely make out what most of it was about. There were a couple of lines somewhere near the middle that caught my attention:

The young, man in his crimson-curtained bed must seem most cruelly afflicted;

And the maiden beneath the yellow earth must seem most cruelly ill-fated.

The general sentiment is all right, but I thought “crimson-curtained bed" a trifle shop-worn. I don’t see why you used that image when there is a much better one to hand.’

‘Oh, what’s that?’ said Bao-yu.

‘We’ve all got this rose-coloured haze diaphene in our windows,’ said Dai-yu. ‘Instead of “the young man in his crimson-curtained bed”, why not say “the young man at his rosy-misted casement”?’

Bao-yu stamped his foot and laughed delightedly.

‘Excellent! How clever of you to have thought of it! It only goes to show that there is always something to hand if only one will take the trouble to look. Stupid people like me fail to think of the obvious. Actually though, I haven’t got that sort of gauze in my windows; so though “rosy-misted casement" is a great improvement, I don’t think I had better use it. It would be fine for you to use it, but I think if I did it would be a bit presumptuous.’

‘But why?’ said Dai-yu, smiling. ‘My window is your window. It is unfriendly to be so punctilious. Look at the ancients who used to “lend furs and horses and feel no resentment when they came back the worse for wear". And that was to mere acquaintances: we two are members of the same family.’

‘I agree with you that one ought to share with one’s friends,’ said Bao-yu, ‘and not only furs and horses, but even more precious things if one has them. But for a mere male to arrogate to himself what properly belongs to you girls would be quite a different matter. It would be better to alter “young man" and “maiden" and let it be Your elegy. After all, you were always very well-disposed towards Skybright. I’d rather give the elegy to someone else than throw away your “rosy-misted casement". Let’s make it:

The mistress by her rosy-misted casement must seem most cruelly afflicted;

And the maid beneath the yellow earth must seem most cruelly ill-fated.

I should be very happy to alter it in that way, even though it would mean that the elegy would cease to have anything to do with me.’

‘She wasn’t my maid,’ said Dai-yu. ‘It doesn’t make sense. Besides, “mistress” and “maid” are such an unpoetical combination. I might want to use this version when Nightingale is dead, but that won’t be for a long while yet, I imagine.’

‘Come now, it’s not very nice to talk about Nightingale dying,’ said Bao-yu, laughing.

‘You started it,’ said Dai-yu.

‘I know what,’ said Bao-yu. ‘I’ve got a still better solution.

Why don’t we just say:

I by my rosy-misted casement seem most cruelly afflicted;

And you beneath the yellow earth seem most cruelly ill-fated?’

Dai-yu momentarily changed colour; yet though the words filled her with an almost unbearable feeling of premonitory dread, she masked it with a smile and nodded approvingly at his suggestion.

‘Yes, that’s a great improvement. Better not tamper with the words any more or you will spoil them. You ought in any case to be getting back now. I’m sure you must have more important things to attend to. When I saw your mother just now, she was briefing someone to tell you that you are to go to your Aunt Xing’s place first thing tomorrow morning. It seems that your Cousin Ying’s betrothal has been decided on. I expect they want you there for the ceremony.’

‘What’s the hurry?’ said Bao-yu, a trifle pettishly. ‘I’ve not been feeling particularly well lately. I may not be well enough to go there tomorrow.’

‘How typical!’ said Dai-yu. ‘I should try to grow out of these childish ways if I were you. You are getting too old –’

She broke off in a fit of coughing. Bao-yu at once became concerned about her.

‘There’s a nasty wind here. I don’t know why we are standing around in the cold like this. We’d better be getting back now. There’s no sense in making ourselves ill.’

‘I ought to be going back now in any case,’ said Dai-yu. ‘It’s time I went to bed. We’ll see each other again tomorrow.’

She began to walk away. Bao-yu began gloomily walking off in the opposite direction. Suddenly it occurred to him that Dai-yu was unaccompanied and he told the little maid to run after her and see her back to her apartment.

Back at Green Delights he found some old women with a message from his mother. It was as Dai-yu had said. He was to go over first thing next morning to his Uncle She’s house.

The family that Jia She was proposing to marry his daughter into was called Sun. They were a Da-tong family whose menfolk had all, for several generations, been Army officers. A former head of the family had placed himself under the patronage of the Ning and Rong brothers, so their claim to a special relationship with the Jia family was a strong one. Only one member of the family was at present living in the capital, a young man called Sun Shao-zu who had been given the post of Military Provost in the metropolitan garrison as an hereditary entitlement. He was a tall, powerfully-built, impressive-looking young man; he drew a good bow, had a good seat on a horse, and knew how to bear himself well in company and please those whom it was important to please. Still under thirty and with his family’s not inconsiderable wealth behind him, he had excellent prospects. Already the War Department had marked him out for promotion. And he was unmarried. From every point of view – the special relationship between their two houses, the Sun family’s wealth, and the personality of the young man himself – Jia She regarded this as being the almost perfect match and informed Grandmother Jia of his choice. Grandmother Jia by no means shared his enthusiasm; however, after reflecting that the couplings of young people are to a large extent fated and that, as Jia She was after all the girl’s father, it was not really for her to interfere, she made some neutral response such as ‘I see’ or ‘Oh, are you?’ and left it at that.

Jia Zheng felt a much more positive antipathy to the match. He detested the Suns. Though the connection between the two families was a long-standing one, it had come about because Sun Shao-zu’s grandfather, who had been the worst possible sort of social climber, had wormed his way into the patronage of Jia Zheng’s grandfather and great-uncle for the sole purpose of concluding some dubious business that he could not have brought off on his own. In Jia Zheng’s view they lacked both education and breeding. He spoke to Jia She on two separate occasions advising him very strongly against the match; but as Jia She refused to take the slightest bit of notice, there was nothing much he could do.

Bao-yu had never met Sun Shao-zu before. Obliged to do so at his uncle’s place next day and to make such small-talk as he was capable of, he was appalled, in the course of conversation, to discover just how soon the marriage was to be: it seemed that Ying-chun would be going to her husband’s house before the end of that year. When-some time later Lady Ying came over to tell Grandmother Jia that she now wanted to move Ying-chun out of the Garden for good, he became even more depressed. That strange apathy they had observed in him on previous occasions again came over him. The news that Ying-chun would be taking four maids with her to the Sun household provoked some stamping and groans and the remark that ‘five more decent people were now lost to the world’; but it was only a momentary outburst.

He took to wandering about for hours on end in the neighbourhood of Amaryllis Eyot, now shuttered and forlorn and with only one or two women of the night-watch on duty in it. The very reeds and knotgrass along its banks and the caltrops and pondweed in the water seemed to have taken on a wilting, dejected look, as if they too were missing the presence of their former tenant. All the charm and colour which had once endeared the spot to him seemed now to have abandoned it. So strong was this feeling, that it eventually began forming itself into a poem, the words of which came almost unbidden to his lips.

The pool’s pink-petalled lotus crowns have gone, By one night’s nipping wind of autumn blown; Like stricken mourners, knotgrass and caltrop-heads Under the weight of frost and dew bow down; And the board whose Go-stones clicked the long day through With mud of sluttish swallows is blotched brown. Old poets for parted friends made such a din: What grief must mine be then for closest kin?

Just as he had finished reciting this poem, Bao-yu heard a laugh behind him.

‘What are you mooning about for this time?’

Bao-yu glanced back and saw that it was Caltrop. He turned to greet her.

‘My dear Caltrop! What brings you here today? You are becoming quite a stranger in this Garden.’

Caltrop clapped her hands as if she found his question a great joke.

‘I am always longing to come here,’ she said, ‘but now that your Cousin Pan is home again, I am no longer a free agent. Just now Mrs Xue was trying to get hold of Mrs Lian and they told her that she was in the Garden. I asked for the job of going to look for her simply as an excuse for coming here. I have just seen Mrs Lian’s maid and she told me that her mistress is with Mrs Zhu in Sweet-rice Village. I’m on my way there now. Tell me, how is Aroma these days? And how was it that Skybright died so suddenly? What was wrong with her? And Miss Ying – she moved out very suddenly, didn’t she? Just look at this place, it already looks deserted!’

Bao-yu did his best to answer her. He also invited her to accompany him back to Green Delights and have some tea there.

‘I can’t at the moment,’ said Caltrop. ‘Wait till I’ve seen Mrs Lian and given her my message and I’ll come and see you then.’

‘What’s this important message that you are in such a hurry to give her?’ said Bao-yu.

‘It has to do with your Cousin Pan getting married.’

‘I see,’ said Bao-yu. ‘Who did they finally settle on? They seemed to be wrangling about it for months. It seemed to be Miss Zhang one day, Miss Li the next, and the day after that Miss Wang. One wondered what the unfortunate girls had done to deserve being considered for such a fate.’

‘Well you can forget about them now,’ said Caltrop, ‘because it’s all been settled.’

‘What family does the one they’ve chosen belong to?’ said Bao-yu.

‘A family that was related to our family by marriage once before,’ said Caltrop. ‘Your Cousin Pan called in on them last year during his travels. They are Imperial Purveyors like us, registered with the Ministry of Finance, and one of the wealthiest families in the capital. All your folk here seemed to have heard of them when we told them. In fact everyone in the city, from Imperial Princes to shopkeepers, has heard of the Cassia Xias.’

‘Oh,’ said Bao-yu. ‘Why do they call them that?’

‘They are, as I say, very, very rich,’ said Caltrop, ‘and they own a great deal of land. Several hundred acres of their land are devoted just to growing cassia alone. All the cassia sold in shops in the city is supplied by them, and all the cassia, both cut flowers and potted plants, on display in the Palace. That’s how they got the nickname. Old Mr Xia that used to be head of the business is dead now. There’s only his widow left and a young Miss Xia. No son. It’s sad to think that the family may die out.’

‘Spare your sorrow,’ said Bao-yu. ‘What about this young lady? Why did Mr Xue take a fancy to her?’

‘Partly I suppose it was because they were destined for each other and partly it was a case of “beauty in the eye of the beholder”,’ said Caltrop smiling. ‘Years ago when they were little and their two families were often visiting each other, your cousin and Miss Xia used to play together and call each other’s parents “Auntie” and “Uncle”. When your cousin went to call on them last year, Mrs Xia, having no son of her own and seeing him now for the first time as a grown-up man, felt more as if she was welcoming a long-lost son. She was quite overcome, laughing and crying by turns; and of course she insisted that he and her daughter should see each other. Well it seems that the daughter has grown into a great beauty, and is educated, too, having been taught by a private tutor. Your cousin was quite bowled over. Mrs Xia even had the older men from the shop who were travelling with your cousin to stay with her. They must have spent three or four days in her house. She’d like to have kept them even longer and they had quite a job persuading her that they needed to be getting back. When they did get back, your cousin could speak of nothing else. Almost as soon as he’d set foot in the door he was telling Mrs Xue that she must get him the young lady for his wife. Mrs Xue was quite agreeable. She’d seen Miss Xia when she was a little girl, and she knew the families were well-matched. So after talking it over with Her Ladyship and Mrs Lian, she sent someone to see Mrs Xia about the betrothal and it was settled almost immediately. The only snag is, they’ve fixed the date for the wedding a bit on the early side, which means a terrible rush to get ready. Still, I’m longing for her to be here. Think of it: another person to write poetry with!’

‘Hmn, maybe,’ said Bao-yu. ‘All the same, I am a bit worried for you.’

‘What do you mean?’ said Caltrop. ‘I’m afraid I don’t understand you.’

‘I should have thought it was obvious enough,’ said Bao-yu. ‘Isn’t there a fear that if somebody else appears on the scene Cousin Pan will lose interest in you?’

Caltrop’s face reddened and she stared back at him coldly.

‘What sort of talk is that? I used to think that we respected each other, you and I. Now I am beginning to understand what people mean when they say that you are the kind of person with whom it is impossible to be friendly.’

She turned on her heel and walked away, giving him no chance to reply.

A sense of desolation came over Bao-yu. It was as if a part of him had been irretrievably lost. For some minutes he stood vacantly staring after her, like an idiot. Returning at last in great dejection to Green Delights, he shortly afterwards went to bed. But he did not sleep well that night. Several times in the course of it he called out Skybright’s name in his sleep or woke up in terror from some frightful dream. His body next morning was feverish and he seemed to have lost all appetite for food and drink.

The events of the past few weeks – the raid on the Garden, Chess’s dismissal, Ying-chun’s departure, Skybright’s death – and all the attendant humiliation, shock and grief had been too much for him. They now combined with the effects of the chill he had taken in his recent loiterings in the autumnal Garden to lay him on his back for several weeks. Grandmother Jia came over daily to Green Delights to visit him and Lady Wang began to regret that her concern about Sky-bright had caused her to deal with him so harshly. However, she gave no outward indication of this change of heart beyond renewing her orders to the womenservants to take special care of him. Twice every day the doctor called to take his pulses and supervise his dosing. It was a whole month before he began to show signs of improvement, and even then the doctor insisted that he would require a hundred days of convalescence before he could return to a normal diet or be allowed to set foot outside his courtyard.

The restraints of this period of convalescence, during which all his amusements had to be taken inside his own room, soon, proved extremely irksome. By the time forty or fifty of the hundred days had gone by, he was already fairly exploding with impatience; but all his pleading and all the ruses he adopted to get the sentence altered were in vain. Both Grandmother Jia and Lady Wang were adamant. Resigned at last to another fifty days of confinement, he concentrated his energies on thinking up ever more ingenious and outrageous ways in which he and his maids could pass the time.

News reached him in his confinement of the superb plays and banquets with which Xue Pan celebrated the arrival of his new bride. Everyone said she was good-looking, and not only that, but literate and able to write a tolerable hand. Bao-yu would have given anything to go over and meet her; but of course he could not.

Not long after that came news of Ying-chun’s wedding, and Bao-yu realized with a pang that the affectionate, brother-and-sister-like relationship of their childhood years was now at an end: from now on, even if they ever met, they would have to be formal and distant with each other. It made him doubly despondent when he reflected that he had not even been able to see her before she left. However, he decided to keep his troubles to himself. For the time being he continued to concentrate on thinking up new ways of passing the time. At least there was one good thing about his confinement: he no longer had Jia Zheng urging him and threatening him about his studies. During those hundred days of convalescence he and the maids all but took Green Delights apart. No form of diversion was too wild or hare-brained for him to try, and things were done then that cannot have been thought of before or since. We will not tax the reader’s credulity by attempting to describe them.

After delivering her snub for what she mistakenly believed to be a deliberate rudeness, Caltrop decided that in future it would be best to keep away from Bao-yu as much as possible, even to the extent of avoiding visits to the Garden altogether. This was not difficult, since she was at the time fully occupied with preparations for Xue Pan’s wedding.

Caltrop had persuaded herself that when there was another woman in the house – someone who would take a share of the responsibilities and whose authority she herself could fall back on – life would be somehow easier for her than it was at present. The young lady Xue Pan was marrying was said to be not only beautiful but educated; it followed, in Caltrop’s reasoning, that she must be gentle and ladylike as well. Caltrop awaited her arrival even more impatiently than Xue Pan, and resolved to serve her, when she came, with all the devotion and care of which she was capable.

The young lady of whom Caltrop entertained such high expectations was still only seventeen. It is true that she was not at all bad-looking; she could even read quite a number of words; and if subtle deviousness of character had been an examinable qualification, she might have come out a good second to Xi-feng. Her chief drawback sprang from the fact that she had lost her father at a very early age; and as her widowed mother had no other child of her own and doted on her excessively, she had been thoroughly spoiled. By treating her every whim as law and gainsaying her nothing, her mother had turned her into a monster. In her own estimation Miss Xia was a bodhisattva; all other creatures were as dust beneath her feet. The exterior she presented to the world made one think of the flowers in spring; underneath it there were lightnings and tornadoes. At home, in the bosom of the family, her maids learned to gauge the severity of her tantrums: if she was only slightly vexed, she would curse them; if she was gravely displeased, they would be beaten. As for her views on matrimony: Miss Xia – or Xia Jin-gui to give her her full name – considered that if she wanted to be mistress in her own house, it behoved her to put her maidenly modesty and the gentleness that was habitual with her aside and show a little authority. It would be necessary to keep the others in their place. Xue Pan in particular, because of his wilfulness and intransigence, must be broken in as quickly as possible, or she would never be able to establish her dominion and plant her flag in this new territory. The discovery that there was a beautiful and intelligent young concubine in this household she was entering aroused feelings in her akin to those expressed by the founder of the Song dynasty when he likened the world to a bedroom and declared that none but he should snore in it.

Because of her name ‘Jin-gui’, which means ‘cassia’ and the abundance of cassia-trees cultivated by her family, Xia Jin-gui had always insisted on strict avoidance of the syllables ‘jin’ and ‘gui’ and the word ‘cassia’ by her maids and any other inferiors who had to do with her. Of course, cassia-flowers had from time-to time to be referred to somehow or other, so, bearing in mind the myth about the cassia-tree that grows beside the palace of Chang E in the moon, she decreed that cassia should always be referred to in her presence as ‘Chang E’s flower’. The notion that in doing this she was in some way conferring on herself the status of a moon-goddess was perhaps not entirely absent from her mind. At all events, the luckless maid who carelessly let out a ‘jin’ or a ‘gui’ in her presence or who was incautious enough to utter the dread word ‘cassia’ was in for a savage beating and would probably lose her pay for a month or two as well.

Now Xue Pan was one of those fickle natures always ready to be ‘off with the old love and on with the new’; and in spite of all his bluster, he was only pot-valiant, having little stamina, or stomach either, for a long-drawn-out trial of strength. While the novelty of his marriage still lasted, he was, in any case, only too willing to defer in everything to his beautiful young bride. Jin-gui quickly grasped what sort of person she had to deal with and exploited her advantage to the utmost. During the first month of their marriage things stood about equally between them, but by the end of the second month Jin-gui’s star was definitely in the ascendant.

One day, after drinking rather more than was good for him, Xue Pan went to see Jin-gui about something he wanted them both to do. On meeting with determined opposition to his proposal, he finally lost patience with her and, after some angry shouting, walked out on her in a temper. Jin-gui wept abandonedly, refused to eat or drink, and eventually succeeded in persuading everyone that she was ill. A doctor was summoned who pronounced her to be suffering from a ‘collision of blood and air’ and prescribed a lenitive medicine to ease the clogged passages of the breath.

Aunt Xue gave Xue Pan a furious dressing-down.

‘You’re a married man now and soon you’ll be a father. I don’t know how you can carry on like this. Here’s a girl as rare as a phoenix chick, a beautiful, delicate creature, reared up with I don’t know how much loving care by her family – they only let her marry you because they thought you had enough human decency to look after her properly – and what do you do? Instead of making an effort to control yourself and settling down to live in peace and harmony with her as a husband ought to do, you carry on just as you always did, drinking too much and treating the girl like a barbarian. So now we have to spend money on expensive doctor’s bills and put up with this quite unnecessary anxiety, all because of you.’

Xue Pan felt thoroughly remorseful after this lecture and went back to Jin-gui to try and make it up with her. But Jin-gui had heard the lecture too and was encouraged by it to behave even more outrageously than before. Xue Pan’s pacific overtures were ignored. He had to humble himself still further. It took a fortnight of patient wheedling to talk his wife into a more satisfactory frame of mind. By that time the self-assurance that had once been characteristic of him was very much in abeyance.

Having already, in this first encounter, caused her husband to lower his colours and at the same time discovered that her mother-in-law was harmless, Jin-gui began pressing forwards in quest of yet further victories. At first she would do no more than consolidate her ascendancy over Xue Pan; then, using her feminine charms to make him her instrument, she would extend her dominion over Aunt Xue; and finally Bao-chai too should be brought under her control. But Bao-chai saw through her sister-in-law’s little game very quickly and was able to meet ruse with ruse – even, by means of an occasional quiet but well-placed remark, to give her ambitions some check. Finding that she was not to be taken with cunning, Jin-gui began looking for occasions for a direct confrontation with her; but as Bao-chai was equally careful not to give her any, she was for the time being obliged, albeit reluctantly, to treat her with respect.

One day, having nothing better to do, Jin-gui engaged Caltrop in conversation. When, in answer to her questions, Caltrop told her that she had no recollection of her home and parents, Jin-gui was displeased. She felt sure that Caltrop knew really but was withholding the information out of malice.

‘Who gave you the name “Caltrop"?’ she asked her.

‘Miss Bao,’ said Caltrop.

Jin-gui sneered.

‘People are always saying how clever your Miss Bao is. I can’t see that she showed much cleverness in choosing you that name.’

‘If you say that of Miss Bao,’ said Caltrop warmly, ‘it must be because you have never had occasion to test her knowledge. Even Sir Zheng has often spoken admiringly of Miss Bao’s learning.’

Jin-gui’s reaction to that remark will be related in the chapter which follows.