第四回
第四回 薄命女偏逢薄命郎 葫芦僧乱判葫芦案
却说黛玉同姊妹们至王夫人处，见王夫人〔二〕与兄嫂处的来使〔三〕计议家务，又说姨母家遭人命官司等语。因见王夫人事情冗杂，姊妹们遂出来，至寡嫂李氏房中来了。
原来这李氏即贾珠之妻。珠虽夭亡，幸存一子，取名贾兰，今方五岁，已入学攻书。这李氏亦系金陵名宦之女，父名李守中，曾为国子监祭酒[5]，族中男女无有不诵诗读书者。至李守中承继以来，便说“女子无才便有德”[6]，故生了李氏时，便不十分令其读书，只不过将些《女四书》《列女传》《贤媛集》[7]等三四种书，使他认得几个字，记得前朝这几个贤女便罢了，却只以纺绩井臼[8]为要，因取名为李纨，字宫裁。因此这李纨虽青春丧偶，居家处膏粱锦绣之中，竟如槁木死灰[9]一般，一概无见无闻，惟知侍亲养子，外则陪侍小姑等针黹[10]诵读而已。今黛玉虽客寄于斯，日有这般姐妹相伴，除老父外，馀者也都无庸虑及了。
如今且说雨村，因补授了应天府，一下马就有一件人命官司详[11]至案下，乃是两家争买一婢，各不相让，以至殴伤人命。彼时雨村即拘原告之人来审。那原告道：“被殴死者乃小人之主人。因那日买了一个丫头，不想是拐子拐来卖的。这拐子先已得了我家的银子，我家小爷原说第三日方是好日子，再接入门。这拐子便又悄悄的卖与薛家，被我们知道了，去找拿卖主，夺取丫头。无奈薛家原系金陵一霸，倚财仗势，众豪奴将我小主人竟打死了。凶身主仆已皆逃走，无影无踪，只剩了几个局外之人。小人告了一年的状，竟无人作主。望大老爷拘拿凶犯，剪恶除凶〔四〕，以救孤寡，死者感戴天恩不尽！”
雨村听了大怒道：“岂有这样放屁的事！打死人命就白白的走了，再拿不来的！”因发签[13]差公人立刻将凶犯族中人拿来拷问，令他们实供藏在何处；一面再动海捕文书[14]。正要〔五〕发签时，只见案边立的一个门子[16]使眼色儿，——不令他发签之意。雨村心下甚为疑怪，只得停了手，即时退堂，至密室，侍从皆退去，只留门子服侍。
这门子忙上来请安，笑问：“老爷一向加官进禄，八九年来就忘了我了？”雨村道：“却十分面善得紧，只是一时想不起来。”那门子笑道：“老爷真是贵人多忘事，把出身之地竟忘了。不记当年葫芦庙里之事？”雨村听了，如雷震一惊，方想起往事。原来这门子本是葫芦庙内一个小沙弥[17]，因被火之后，无处安身，欲投别庙去修行，又耐不得清凉景况，因想这件生意倒还轻省热闹，遂趁年纪小蓄了发，充了门子。雨村那里料得是他，便忙携手笑道：“原来是故人。”又让坐了好谈。这门子不敢坐。雨村笑道：“贫贱之交不可忘。你我故人也；二则此系私室，既欲长谈，岂有不坐之理？”这门子听说，方告了座，斜签着坐[18]了。
雨村因问方才何故有不令发签之意。这门子道：“老爷既荣任到这一省，难道就没抄一张本省‘护官符’来不成？”雨村忙问：“何为‘护官符’？我竟不知。”门子道：“这还了得！连这个不知，怎能作得长远！如今凡作地方官者，皆有一个私单，上面写的是本省最有权有势、极富极贵的大乡绅名姓，各省皆然；倘若不知，一时触犯了这样的人家，不但官爵不保，只怕连性命还保不成呢！所以绰号叫作‘护官符’。方才所说的这薛家，老爷如何惹得他！他这件官司并无难断之处，皆因都碍着情分面上，所以如此。”一面说，一面从顺袋[19]中取出一张抄写的“护官符”来，递与雨村，看时，上面皆是本地大族名宦之家的谚俗口碑[20]。其口碑排写得明白，下面所注的皆是自始祖官爵并房次。石头亦曾抄写了一张，今据石上所抄云〔六〕：
贾不假，白玉为堂金作马。
宁国荣国二公之后，共二十房分，除宁荣亲派八房在都外，现原籍住者十二房。[22]
阿房宫，三百里，住不下金陵一个史。
保龄侯尚书令史公之后，房分共十八，都中现住者十房，原籍现居八房。[23]
东海缺少白玉床，龙王来请金陵王。
都太尉统制县伯王公之后，共十二房，都中二房，馀在籍。[24]
丰年好大雪，珍珠如土金如铁。
紫薇舍人薛公之后，现领内府帑银行商，共八房分。[25]
雨村犹未看完，忽听传点[26]，人报：“王老爷来拜。”雨村忙具衣冠出去迎接。有顿饭工夫，方回来细问。这门子道：“这四家皆连络有亲，一损皆损，一荣皆荣，扶持遮饰，俱有照应的。今告打死人之薛，就系丰年大雪之‘雪’。也不单靠这三家，他的世交亲友在都在外者，本亦不少。老爷如今拿谁去？”雨村听如此说，便笑问门子道：“如你这样说来，却怎么了结此案？你大约也深知这凶犯躲的方向了？”
门子笑道：“不瞒老爷说，不但这凶犯躲的方向我知道，一并这拐卖之人我也知道，死鬼买主也深知道。待我细说与老爷听：这个被打之死鬼，乃是本地一个小乡绅之子，名唤冯渊〔七〕，自幼父母早亡，又无兄弟，只他一个人守着些薄产过日子。长到十八九岁上，酷爱男风[28]，最厌女子。这也是前生冤孽，可巧遇见这拐子卖丫头，他便一眼看上了这丫头，立意买来作妾，立誓再不交结男子，也不再娶第二个了，所以郑重其事，必待三日后方过门。谁晓这拐子又偷卖与薛家，他意欲卷了两家的银子，再逃往他省。谁知又不曾走脱，两家拿住，打了个臭死，都不肯收银，只要领人。那薛家公子岂是让人的，便喝着手下人一打，将冯公子打了个稀烂，抬回家去三日死了。这薛公子原是早已择定日子上京去的，头起身两日前，就偶然遇见这丫头，意欲买了就进京的，谁知闹出这事来。既打了冯公子，夺了丫头，他便没事人一般，只管带了家眷走他的路。他这里自有弟兄奴仆在此料理，也并非为此些些小事值得他一逃走的。这且别说，老爷你当被卖之丫头是谁？”雨村道：“我如何得知。”门子冷笑道：“这人算来还是老爷的大恩人呢！他就是葫芦庙旁住的甄老爷的小姐，名唤英莲的。”雨村罕然道：“原来就是他！闻得养至五岁被人拐去，却如今才来卖呢？”
门子道：“这一种拐子单管偷拐五六岁的儿女，养在一个僻静之处，到十一二岁，度其容貌，带至他乡转卖。当日这英莲，我们天天哄他顽耍；虽隔了七八年，如今十二三岁的光景，其模样虽然出脱得齐整好些，然大概相貌，自是不改，熟人易认。况且他眉心中原有米粒大小的一点胭脂[29]，从胎里带来的，所以我却认得。偏生这拐子又租了我的房舍居住，那日拐子不在家，我也曾问他。他是被拐子打怕了的，万不敢说，只说拐子系他亲爹，因无钱偿债，故卖他。我又哄之再四，他又哭了，只说‘我不记得小时之事！’这可无疑了。那日冯公子相看了，兑了银子，拐子醉了，他自叹道：‘我今日罪孽可满了！’后又听见冯公子令三日之后过门，他又转有忧愁之态。我又不忍其形景，等拐子出去，又命内人去解释他：‘这冯公子必待好日期来接，可知必不以丫鬟相看。况他是个绝风流人品，家里颇过得，素习又最厌恶堂客[30]，今竟破价买你，后事不言可知。只耐得三两日，何必忧闷！’他听如此说，方才略解忧闷，自为从此得所。谁料天下竟有这等不如意事，第二日，他偏又卖与薛家。若卖与第二个人还好，这薛公子的混名人称‘呆霸王’，最是天下第一个弄性尚气的人，而且使钱如土，遂打了个落花流水，生拖死拽，把个英莲拖去，如今也不知死活。这冯公子空喜一场，一念未遂，反花了钱，送了命，岂不可叹！”
雨村听了，亦叹道：“这也是他们的孽障[31]遭遇，亦非偶然。不然这冯渊如何偏只看准了这英莲？这英莲受〔八〕了拐子这几年折磨，才得了个头路，且又是个多情的，若能聚合了，倒是件美事，偏又生出这段事来。这薛家纵比冯家富贵，想其为人，自然姬妾众多，淫佚无度，未必及冯渊定情于一人者。这正是梦幻情缘，恰遇一对薄命儿女。且不要议论他，只目今这官司，如何剖断才好？”门子笑道：“老爷当年何其明决，今日何反成了个没主意的人了！小的闻得老爷补升此任，亦系贾府王府之力；此薛蟠即贾府之亲，老爷何不顺水行舟，作个整人情，将此案了结，日后也好去见贾府王府。”雨村道：“你说的何尝不是。但事关人命，蒙皇上隆恩，起复委用，实是重生再造，正当殚心竭力图报之时，岂可因私而废法？是我实不能忍为者。”门子听了，冷笑道：“老爷说的何尝不是大道理，但只是如今世上是行不去的。岂不闻古人有云：‘大丈夫相时而动[33]’，又曰：‘趋吉避凶者为君子’。依老爷这一说，不但不能报效朝廷，亦且自身不保，还要三思为妥。”
雨村低了半日头，方说道：“依你怎么样？”门子道：“小人已想了一个极好的主意在此：老爷明日坐堂，只管虚张声势，动文书发签拿人。原凶自然是拿不来的，原告固是定要将薛家族中及奴仆人等拿几个来拷问。小的在暗中调停，令他们报个暴病身亡，令族中及地方上共递一张保呈，老爷只说善能扶鸾[34]请仙，堂上设下乩坛，令军民人等只管来看。老爷就说〔九〕：‘乩仙批了，死者冯渊与薛蟠原因夙孽相逢，今狭路既遇，原应了结。薛蟠今已得了无名之病，被冯魂追索已死。其祸皆因拐子某人而起，拐之人原系某乡某姓人氏，按法处治，馀不略及’等语。小人暗中嘱托拐子，令其实招。众人见乩仙批语与拐子相符，馀者自然也都不虚了。薛家有的是钱，老爷断一千也可，五百也可，与冯家作烧埋之费。那冯家也无甚要紧的人，不过为的是钱，见有了这个银子，想来也就无话了。老爷细想此计如何？”雨村笑道：“不妥，不妥。等我再斟酌斟酌，或可压服口声[36]。”二人计议，天色已晚，别无话说。
至次日坐堂，勾取一应有名人犯，雨村详加审问，果见冯家人口稀疏，不过赖此欲多得些烧埋之费；薛家仗势倚情，偏不相让，故致颠倒未决。雨村便徇情枉法，胡乱判断了此案。冯家得了许多烧埋银子，也就无甚话说了。
雨村断了此案，急忙作书信二封，与贾政并京营节度使[37]王子腾，不过说“令甥之事已完，不必过虑”等语。此事皆由葫芦庙内之沙弥新门子所出，雨村又恐他对人说出当日贫贱时的事来，因此心中大不乐意，后来到底寻了个不是，远远的充发[38]了他才罢〔一○〕。
当下言不着雨村。且说那买了英莲打死冯渊的薛公子，亦系金陵人氏，本是书香继世之家。只是如今这薛公子幼年丧父，寡母又怜他是个独根孤种，未免溺爱纵容，遂至老大无成；且家中有百万之富，现领着内帑钱粮，采办杂料。
这薛公子学名薛蟠，字表文起〔一一〕，今年方十有五岁，〔一二〕性情奢侈，言语傲慢。虽也上过学，不过〔一三〕略识几字，终日惟有斗鸡走马[43]，游山玩水而已。虽是皇商[44]，一应经济世事，全然不知，不过赖祖父之旧情分，户部挂虚名，支领钱粮，其馀事体，自有伙计老家人等措办。寡母王氏乃现任京营节度使王子腾之妹，与荣国府贾政的夫人王氏，是一母所生的姊妹，今年方四十上下年纪，只有薛蟠一子。还有一女，比薛蟠小两岁，乳名宝钗，生得肌骨莹润，举止娴雅。当日有他父亲在日，酷爱此女，令其读书识字，较之乃兄竟高过十倍。自父亲死后，见哥哥不能依贴母怀，他便不以书字为事，只留心针黹家计等事，好为母亲分忧解劳。
近因今上[45]崇诗尚礼，征采才能，降不世出之隆恩[46]，除聘选妃嫔外，凡仕宦名家之女，皆亲送〔一四〕名达部，以备选为公主郡主[48]入学陪侍，充为才人赞善[49]之职。二则自薛蟠父亲死后，各省中所有的买卖承局、总管、伙计人等，见薛蟠年轻不谙世事，便趁时拐骗起来，京都中几处生意，渐亦消耗。薛蟠素闻得都中乃第一繁华之地，正思一游，便趁此机会，一为送妹待选，二为望亲，三因亲自入部销算旧帐，再计新支，——其实则为游览上国[50]风光之意。因此早已打点下行装细软，以及馈送亲友各色土物人情等类，正择日己〔一五〕定起身，不想偏遇见了拐子重卖英莲。薛蟠见英莲生得不俗，立意买他，又遇冯家来夺人，因恃强喝令手下豪奴将冯渊打死。他便将家中事务一一的嘱托了族中人并几个老家人，他便带了母妹竟自起身长行去了。人命官司一事，他竟视为儿戏，自为花上几个臭钱，没有不了的。
在路不记其日。那日已将入都时，却又闻得母舅王子腾升了九省统制[52]，奉旨出都查边。薛蟠心中暗喜道：“我正愁进京去有个嫡亲的〔一六〕母舅管辖着，不能任意挥霍挥霍；偏如今又升出去了，可知天从人愿。”因和母亲商议道：“咱们京中虽有几处房舍，只是这十来年没人进京居住，那看守的人未免偷着租赁与人，须得先着几个人去打扫收拾才好。”他母亲道：“何必如此招摇！咱们这一进京，原该先拜望亲友，或是在你舅舅家，或是你姨爹家。他两家的房舍极是便宜的，咱们先能着[54]住下，再慢慢的着人去收拾，岂不消停[55]些。”薛蟠道：“如今舅舅正升了外省去，家里自然忙乱起身，咱们这工夫一窝一拖的奔了去，岂不没眼色[56]。”他母亲道：“你舅舅家虽升了去，还有你姨爹家。况这几年来，你舅舅姨娘两处，每每带信捎书，接咱们来。如今既来了，你舅舅虽忙着起身，你贾家姨娘未必不苦留我们。咱们且忙忙收拾房屋，岂不使人见怪？你的意思我却知道，守着舅舅姨爹住着，未免拘紧了你，不如你各自住着，好任意施为。你既如此，你自去挑所宅子去住。我和你姨娘，——姊妹们别了这几年，却要厮守几日。我带了你妹子投你姨娘家去，你道好不好？”薛蟠见母亲如此说，情知扭不过的，只得吩咐人夫一路奔荣国府来。
那时王夫人已知薛蟠官司一事，亏贾雨村维持了结，才放了心。又见哥哥升了边缺，正愁又少了娘家的亲戚来往，略加寂寞。过了几日，忽家人传报：“姨太太带了哥儿姐儿，合家进京，正在门外下车。”喜的王夫人忙带了女媳人等，接出大厅，将薛姨妈等接了进去。姊妹们暮年相会，自不必说悲喜交集，泣笑叙阔一番。忙又引了拜见贾母，将人情土物各种酬献了。合家俱厮见过，忙又治席接风。
薛蟠已拜见过贾政，贾琏又引着拜见了贾赦、贾珍等。贾政便使人上来对王夫人说：“姨太太已有了春秋[57]，外甥年轻不知世路，在外住着恐有人生事。咱们东北角上梨香院一所十来间房，白空闲着，打扫了，请姨太太和姐儿哥儿住了甚好。”王夫人未及留，贾母也就遣人来说“请姨太太就在这里住下，大家亲密些”等语。薛姨妈正要同居一处，方可拘紧些儿子；若另住在外，又恐他纵性惹祸，遂忙道谢应允。又私与王夫人说明：“一应日费供给一概免却，方是处常之法。”王夫人知他家不难于此，遂亦从其愿。从此后薛家母子就在梨香院住了。
原来这梨香院即当日荣公暮年养静之所，小小巧巧，约有十馀间房屋，前厅后舍俱全。另有一门通街，薛蟠家人就走此门出入。西南有一角门，通一夹道，出夹道便是王夫人正房的东边了。每日或饭后，或晚间，薛姨妈便过来，或与贾母闲谈，或与王夫人相叙。宝钗〔一七〕日与黛玉迎春姊妹等一处，或看书下棋，或作针黹，倒也十分乐业。
只是薛蟠起初之心，原不欲在贾宅居住者，但恐姨父管约拘禁，料必不自在的；无奈母亲执意在此，且宅中又十分殷勤苦留，只得暂且住下，一面使人打扫出自己的房屋，再移居过去的。谁知自从在此住了不上一月的光景，贾宅族中凡有的子侄，俱已认熟了一半，凡是那些纨气习者，莫不喜与他来往，今日会酒，明日观花，甚至聚赌嫖娼，渐渐无所不至，引诱的薛蟠比当日更坏了十倍。虽然贾政训子有方，治家有法，一则族大人多，照管不到这些；二则现任族长乃是贾珍，彼乃宁府长孙，又现袭职，凡族中事，自有他掌管；三则公私冗杂，且素性潇洒，不以俗务为要，每公暇之时，不过看书着棋而已，馀事多不介意。况且这梨香院相隔两层房舍，又有街门另开，任意可以出入，所以这些子弟们竟可以放意畅怀的闹〔一八〕，因此遂将移居之念渐渐打灭了。
[1] 葫芦——“糊涂”的谐音。“葫芦案”即“糊涂案”。宋元时民间俗语有“葫芦提”一词，意思是糊里糊涂，不明不白。这里语意双关，既寓葫芦僧原住的葫芦庙，又含“糊涂”之意，隐喻后文“胡乱判断了此案”。
〔一〕 此回梦稿本回前诗作：“题曰：捐躯报国恩，未报身犹在。眼底物多情，君恩或可待。”俄藏、卞藏本回前诗“身犹在”作“躯犹在”，馀同梦稿本。
〔二〕 “王夫人处见”，原无，从各本补。
〔三〕 “的来使”，原作“来时便”，俄藏本作“处来人”，卞藏本作“的来人”。从己卯、梦稿、甲戌、甲辰、舒序本改。
[5] 国子监祭酒——是国子监的主管官，封建时代的最高学官。国子监：封建王朝的最高学府，简称“国学”，始建于西晋，称国子学，隋唐改称国子监，后代因之，清末始废。祭酒：古代举行盛大宴会时，必推举宾客中一位长者先举酒以祭，叫祭酒，后来衍为学官名。
[6] 女子无才便有德——原作“女子无才便是德”。见清代石成金《家训钞》引明人陈眉公语。
[7] 《女四书》、《列女传》、《贤媛集》——《女四书》：明代王相仿朱熹编《四书》的办法，把东汉班昭的《女诫》、唐代宋若莘、宋若昭的《女论语》、明代永乐皇后徐氏的《内训》和王相母刘氏的《女范捷录》编辑为一书，并加注，总名为《女四书》。《列女传》：西汉刘向编。《贤媛集》：未详。《世说新语》第十九篇为《贤媛》，或即所指。
[8] 井臼（jiù旧）——指汲水、舂米等劳作。这里泛指家务事。
[9] 槁木死灰——这里喻情性欲望已归寂灭。
[10] 针黹（zhǐ旨）——旧时妇女针线活儿的统称。也叫“女红（ɡōn工）”。黹：缝纫，刺绣。
[11] 详——旧时下属向上司呈报请示的一种公文。这里是动词，作“上报”解。
〔四〕 “剪恶除凶”，原无，从己卯、梦稿、甲戌、蒙府、戚序、舒序、俄藏、卞藏本补。
[13] 发签——签：封建官府差役外出办事的凭证，一般系木制，长条形，插在公案签筒中，用时取出，称“发签”。
[14] 海捕文书——封建时代官府通令各地捕拿逃犯的公文，即后来的通缉令。
〔五〕 “正要”，底本、俄藏、卞藏本作“未”，从蒙府、戚序本改。
[16] 门子——旧时官衙中从事看门、传达、站班等杂务的差役。
[17] 沙弥——梵语音译之略，意为“息恶”“行慈”。凡男子初出家受十戒者通称沙弥，俗多以称呼年幼的小和尚。
[18] 斜签着坐——侧身直腰坐在凳子边沿，表示谦恭。
[19] 顺袋——衣服小襟上的口袋，右手顺襟便可探得。一说为系在腰间的竖向小袋。
[20] 口碑——《五灯会元》：“劝君不用镌顽石，路上行人口似碑。”比喻人们口头上所传诵的，如同刻在石碑上一样不可磨灭。
〔六〕 “护官符”小注，原阙，各本均有，唯文字少异。己卯本正文亦无，但其卷首另有带注夹条。此从甲戌本补。
[22] “贾不假”句及注——此句极言贾府的尊贵豪富。白玉为堂金作马：汉乐府《相逢行》：“黄金为君门，白玉为君堂。”房分：家族的一支叫“一房”。
[23] “阿房（ē pán痾旁）宫”句及注——此句形容史府的门第显赫。《三辅黄图》：“秦惠文王造阿房宫，未成，始皇广其宫，规恢三百余里，阁道通骊山。”尚书令：秦代始置，权限历代有异，秦时掌章奏文书，东汉时为总理政事，魏晋时事实上即为宰相。明清时废。
[24] “东海缺少白玉床”句及注——此句极言王家多奇珍异宝。传说四海龙王极富有，尤以东海龙王为最。太尉：古官名。秦汉为全国军事首脑，“三公”之一；后渐变为加官，无实权；至宋徽宗时，成为武官最高官阶；元以后废。统制：北宋所置官名，可节制兵马，南宋后成为禁军将官职衔。
[25] “丰年好大雪”句及注——此句极言薛家钱财之多。雪：谐音“薛”。紫薇舍人，即中书舍人，为撰拟诰敕之专官，以有文学资望者充任。唐开元年间曾改中书省为紫薇省。帑（tǎn倘）银：国库所藏之钱财。
[26] 传点——封建时代的官署或大官僚的私邸，二门旁常设有一种金属的响器叫“点”，击之报时或集众叫“传点”。“点”多铸成云头形，故又称“云板”。
〔七〕 “冯渊”，原作“逢渊”，从各本改。
[28] 男风——即男色，也叫男宠。
[29] 胭脂（jì记）——红色胎记。，天生的色癍。
[30] 堂客——旧时称妇女内眷为堂客，称男子为官客。
[31] 孽障——佛教名词，又作“业障”。意谓前世所作种种恶因，致为今生的障碍。
〔八〕 “这英莲受”，原无，从己卯、俄藏、卞藏本补。
[33] 相时而动——审察时势采取行动。
[34] 扶鸾（luán峦）——即扶乩（jī机），亦作“扶箕”。多用木制的丁字架，以竖木为笔，下设沙盘，由两人扶持横木之两端，假作施术请神降临，问以休咎吉凶，木笔便在沙盘上画出文字作答，实际上是一种迷信占卜术。
〔九〕 “老爷就说”，原无，俄藏、卞藏本作“老爷只说”。从己卯、梦稿、甲戌、蒙府、戚序本补。
[36] 口声——指众人的议论。
[37] 节度使——官职名，始设于唐代景云二年。开元时，将边境地区每数州划为一镇，镇置节度使，统揽镇内军政大权，世称藩镇，实际上都成了拥权自重，割据独立的军阀。到宋代始成为有虚名而无实权的名誉职位，元以后废。
[38] 充发——即充军发配。把死刑减等的罪犯或其他重犯押解到边远地方去服役。
〔一○〕 “他才罢”，原无，从戚序、俄藏、卞藏本补。
〔一一〕 “文起”，底本及馀各本并同。甲戌本作“文龙”。
〔一二〕 “今年方十有五岁”，底本无“今年方十有”，据甲戌本补。
〔一三〕 “不过”，原无，从戚序、俄藏、卞藏本补。
[43] 斗鸡走马——形容贵族子弟不务正业、游荡享乐的寄生生活。斗鸡：用鸡相斗博输赢的一种游戏。走马：驰马游猎。
[44] 皇商——专为宫廷采办购置各种用品的人。民间把这种给皇室“采办”的人称为“皇商”。
[45] 今上——封建时代对当朝皇帝的称谓。
[46] 不世出之隆恩——特别大的恩典。不世出：不常出现。
〔一四〕 “送”，底本无，各本文异。据蒙府本补。
[48] 郡主——旧称诸王之女曰郡主。唐宋称太子之女为郡主，元明清均以称亲王之女。
[49] 才人、赞善——才人：宫中女官名，品位低于皇帝妃嫔。初设于魏晋时，南北朝到明代多沿置，清代宫中无此称。赞善：本太子宫中官名，掌侍从、讲授。始置于唐，设左右赞善大夫，相当于朝廷的谏议大夫。元明清皆因之，只称赞善。这里为宫中女官名。
[50] 上国——汉代诸侯称帝室为上国。后人多用来指国都京城。
〔一五〕 “己定”，底本作“一定”，据甲戌等本改。
[52] 九省统制——沿古虚拟的官名。统制之称，始于宋代，为武官职衔。
〔一六〕 “母舅”至“嫡亲的”共三十五字，原无，己卯、梦稿、甲戌、蒙府、戚序、甲辰本均存，文字略有出入。此从己卯、梦稿、甲戌、俄藏、卞藏本补。
[54] 能着——犹言“耐着”、“忍着”，引申为“将就着”。
[55] 消停——安闲、妥当。
[56] 没眼色——不知趣、不识相。
[57] 春秋——常用作对别人年岁的敬称。
〔一七〕 “宝钗”，原无，从各本补。
〔一八〕 “闹”，底本与甲戌、俄藏、舒序、蒙府、甲辰、卞藏诸本无。据己卯、梦稿本补。
CHAPTER 4. The Bottle-gourd girl meets an unfortunate young man And the Bottle-gourd monk settles a protracted law suit
When Dai-yu and the girls went to call on Lady Wang, they found her in the midst of discussing family affairs with the messengers from her elder brother and his wife and heard talk of their aunt’s family in Nanking being involved in a case of manslaughter. Since Lady Wang was obviously preoccupied with this matter, the girls went off to call on Li Wan.
Li Wan’s husband Jia Zhu had died young, but fortunately not without issue. He left her a son called Jia Lan who was now just five years old and had already begun his schooling. Like most of the Jia women, Li Wan was the daughter of a distinguished Nanking official. Her father, Li Shou-zhong, had been a Director of Education.
Up to Li Shou-zhong’s time, all members of the clan, including the women, had been given a first-class education; but when Li Shou-zhong became head of the family, he founded his educational policy for girls on the good old maxim ‘a stupid woman is a virtuous one’ and, when he had a daughter of his own, refused to let her engage in serious study. She was permitted to work her way through The Four Books for Girls and Lives of Noble Women, so that she might be able to recognize a few characters and be familiar with some of the models of female virtue of former ages; but overriding importance was to be attached to spinning and sewing, and even her name ‘Wan’, which means a kind of silk, was intended to symbolize her dedication to the needle.
Thanks to her upbringing, this young widow living in the midst of luxury and self-indulgence was able to keep herself like the ‘withered tree and dead ashes’ of the philosopher, shutting out everything that did not concern her and attending only to the duties of serving her husband’s parents and bringing up her child. Whatever leisure this left her was devoted to her little sister-in-law and cousins, accompanying them at their embroidery or hearing them recite their lessons.
With such gentle companions to console her, Dai-yu, though a stranger and far from home, soon had nothing apart from her old father that she need worry about.
Let us now turn to the affairs of Jia Yu-cun, newly installed in the yamen at Ying-tian-fu.
No sooner had he arrived at his new post than a case involving manslaughter was referred to his tribunal. It concerned two parties in dispute over the purchase of a slave-girl. Neither had been willing to give way to the other, and in the ensuing affray one of the parties had been wounded and had subsequently died. After reading the papers in the case, Yu-cun summoned the plaintiff for questioning and received from him the following account of what had happened:
‘The murdered man was my master, Your Honour. Although he did not realize it at the time, the girl he purchased had been kidnapped by the man who was selling her. My master paid him in advance, and arranged to receive the girl into his house three days from the date of purchase, the third day being a lucky day. The kidnapper, having already pocketed my young master’s money, then quietly went off and sold her again to Xue. When we found this out, we went along to seize him and to collect the girl.
‘But unfortunately this Xue turned out to be a powerful Nanking boss, who evidently thought that by money and influence he could get away with anything. He set a crowd of his henchmen on to my young master and beat him up so badly that he died.
‘Xue and his henchmen have now disappeared without trace, leaving only a few retainers who were not involved in the crime. But though it is a year since I first brought this charge, no one has yet done anything to help me. I beseech Your Honour to arrest the criminals and to uphold the course of justice! Both the living and the dead will be everlastingly grateful to you if you do!’
‘This is monstrous!’ said Yu-cun in a towering rage. ‘Am I to understand that a man can be beaten to death and the murderer walk off scot-free with nobody lifting a finger to arrest him?’ and he took up a warrant and was on the point of sending his runners to seize the murderer’s dependants and bring them to court so that they might be put to the torture, when he observed one of the ushers signalling to him with his eyes not to issue the warrant. His resolution somewhat shaken, he put it down again and adjourned to his private chambers, dismissing everyone except the usher, whom he ordered to remain behind in attendance.
When they were alone together the usher, with a broad smile on his face, came forward and touched his hand and knee to the ground in the Manchu salute.
‘Your Honour has gone a long way up in the world during these past eight or nine years! I don’t expect you would remember me!’
‘Your face is certainly familiar,’ said Yu-cun, ‘but for the moment I simply can’t place it.’
The usher smiled again. ‘Has Your Honour forgotten the place you started from? Do you remember nothing of the old times in Bottle-gourd Temple?’
With a start of recognition, Yu-cun remembered. The usher had been a little novice in the temple where he once lodged.
Finding himself homeless after the fire, and bethinking himself that a post in a yamen was a fine, gentlemanly way of earning a living, and being furthermore heartily sick of the rigours of monastic life, the little novice had taken advantage of his youth to grow his hair again and get himself a post as an usher. Small wonder that Yu-cun had failed to recognize him!
‘Ah, so it was an old acquaintance!’ said Yu-cun, grasping him warmly by the hand and urging him to sit down for a chat. But the usher would not be seated.
‘Come,’ said Yu-cun, ‘as a friend of my early, hard-up days you are entitled to. After all, this is a private room. Why not?’
The usher permitted himself to perch one of his haunches sideways on the edge of a chair.
‘Tell me,’ said Yu-cun, ‘why did you stop me issuing that warrant just now?’
‘Your Honour is new to this post. Surely you must have provided yourself before you left with a copy of the Mandarin’s Life-Preserver for this province?’
‘What is the Mandarin’s Life-Preserver?’ Yu-cun inquired curiously.
‘Nowadays every provincial official carries a private handlist with the names of all the richest, most influential people in his area. There is one for every province. They list those families which are so powerful that if you were ever to run up against one of them unknowingly, not only your job, but perhaps even your life might be in danger. That’s why they are called “life-preservers”.
‘Now take this Xue you were dealing with just now. Your Honour couldn’t possibly try conclusions with him! Why do you suppose this case has remained unsettled for so long? It’s a straightforward enough case. The reason is simply that none of your predecessors dared touch it because of the unpleasantness and loss of face it would have caused them.’
While he was speaking he had been fishing for a copy of the Mandarin’s Life-Preserver in his pocket. This he now presented to Yu-cun for his inspection. It contained a set of doggerel verses in which were listed the big families and most powerful magnates of the area in which he was working. It went something like this:
Shout hip hurrah
For the Nanking Jia!
They weigh their gold out
By the jar.
The Ah-bang Palace
Scrapes the sky,
But it could not house
The Nanking Shi.
The King of the Ocean
Goes along,
When he’s short of gold beds,
To the Nanking Wang.
The Nanking Xue
So rich are they,
To count their money
Would take all day…
Before Yu-cun had time to read further, a warning chime from the inner gate and a shout outside the door announced the arrival of a Mr Wang on an official call. Yu-cun hastily donned the hat and robe of office which he had temporarily laid aside and went out to meet the visitor. About the length of time it would take to eat a meal elapsed before he returned and resumed his conversation with the usher.
‘Those four families,’ said the usher in answer to a question from Yu-cun, ‘are all closely connected with each other. A loss for one is a loss for all. A gain for one is a gain for all. The Xue who has been charged with the manslaughter is one of the “Nanking Xue so rich are they”. Not only can he count on the support of the other three Nanking families, he also has any number of family friends and connections of his own both at the capital and in the provinces. Now who are you going to arrest?’
‘That’s all very well,’ said Yu-cun with an uneasy laugh, ‘but how am I going to settle this case? Incidentally, I assume you know perfectly well where the criminal is hiding?’
‘I wouldn’t deceive Your Honour,’ replied the usher with a grin, ‘not only do I know where the criminal has gone but I also know who the kidnapper is and all about the poor devil who was killed. Let me tell you the whole story.
‘The man who was killed was a poor country squire’s son called Feng Yuan. His father and mother were both dead and he had no brothers. He lived off the income of a very small estate. He was eighteen or nineteen when he died. He was a confirmed queer and not interested in girls. Which shows that the whole business must have been fated, because no sooner did he set eyes on this girl than he at once fell in love with her – swore he would never have anything more to do with boys and never have any other woman but her. That was the idea of this waiting three days before she came to him. To make it seem more like a wedding and less like a sale.
‘What he couldn’t foresee, of course, was that the kidnapper would use this interval to resell her on the sly to Xue, hoping to pocket the money from both parties and then do a flit. Only he didn’t get away with it. The two parties nabbed him before he could disappear and beat the daylights out of him. Both refused to take back their money, and both insisted that they wanted the girl. It was at this point that our young friend Xue called for his roughs to get to work on Feng Yuan. They beat him till he was hardly recognizable. Then they picked him up and carried him home. He died three days later.
‘Now long before any of this happened, young Xue had made arrangements for a journey to the capital. So after killing Feng and carrying off the girl, he set off with his family, calm as you please, on the appointed day. There was no question of his running away because of the killing. In his eyes a trifling matter like taking another man’s life was something for his junior clansmen or the servants to clear up in his absence.
‘But never mind him. Who do you think the slave-girl is?’
‘How in the world should I know?’ said Yu-cun.
The usher smiled maliciously. ‘You ought to, Your Honour! She is your great benefactress – Ying-lian, the little daughter of Mr Zhen, who used to live next door to Bottle-gourd Temple.’
‘Good gracious!’ said Yu-cun in astonishment. ‘I had heard that she was kidnapped at the age of five. But how did she come to be sold so long after the kidnapping?’
‘This type of kidnapper specializes in kidnapping very young girls and rearing them until they are twelve or thirteen for sale in other parts of the country. When she was little we used to play with Ying-lian at the temple nearly every day, so I knew her very well; and when I saw her again, even though it was after an interval of seven or eight years, I could tell it was her. She’d grown into a little woman in the meantime, but her features were still the same; and to confirm it there was a tiny red birthmark right in the middle of her brow which I remembered.
‘By a strange coincidence the kidnapper had rented one of my rooms, and one day when he was out I put it to her who she was. But she said she was scared of being beaten and nothing would induce her to talk. She just kept insisting that the kidnapper was her real father, selling her because he had no money to pay his debts with. I kept on at her, cajoling and persuading, and in the end she broke down and cried. Said she didn’t remember anything about her childhood. But there’s no doubt in my mind. It’s her, all right.
‘The day young Feng met her and paid out the money for her, the kidnapper got drunk, and she opened up to me a bit. She was feeling very relieved. She said, “Today I think my tribulations are at last coming to an end.” But then later, when she heard that she wasn’t to be installed until after another three days, she began to look worried and despondent again. I felt truly sorry for her, and sent the wife round to have a talk with her while the kidnapper was out and give her a bit of encouragement.
‘The wife said to her, “Mr Feng’s insistence on waiting three days before taking you in shows that he doesn’t intend to treat you like a servant. Besides,” she said, “he’s a very nice, handsome gentleman, and quite comfortably off. Normally he doesn’t like the fair sex, yet here he is spending everything he has on your purchase. You can tell from that,” she said, “how much he must care for you. You only have to be patient for another day or two,” she said. “You’ve no cause to be downcast.”
‘Well, that seemed to cheer her up a bit, and she began to feel that life was going to be worth living.
‘But only the day after that, by the most accursed stroke of bad luck which no one could possibly have foreseen, she was sold to Xue. Now if it had been anyone else, it wouldn’t have mattered so much, but this young Xue, whose nickname is the Oaf King, is the world’s most bad-tempered bully; and having spent money like water on buying the girl only to find that she wasn’t willing, he knocked her about until she was half unconscious and dragged her off with him more dead than alive. Whether she’s alive or dead now, I have no idea.
‘And young Feng is really to be pitied! After a brief moment of happiness, before anything had come his way, he spent all his money and laid down his life for nothing!’
Yu-cun sighed sympathetically. ‘Their meeting cannot have been coincidental. It must have been the working out of some destiny. An atonement. Otherwise, how is one to account for Feng Yuan’s sudden affection for that particular girl?
‘And Ying-lian, after all those years of ill-treatment at the hands of her kidnapper, suddenly seeing a road to freedom opening in front of her – for she was a girl of feeling, and there is no doubt that they would have made a fine couple if they had succeeded in coming together – and then for this to have happened!
‘And even though Xue may be far wealthier and better-placed than Feng was, a man like that is sure to have numbers of concubines and paramours and to be licentious and debauched in his habits – quite incapable of concentrating all his affections on one girl as Feng Yuan would have done.
‘A real case of an ideal romance on the one hand and a pair of unlucky young things on the other adding up to make a tragedy!
‘But a truce to this discussion of other people’s affairs! Let us rather consider how this case is to be settled!’
‘Your Honour used to be decisive enough in the old days,’ said the usher with a smile. ‘What has become of your old resolution today? Now, I was told that your promotion to this post was due to the combined influence of the Jias and the Wangs; and this Xue Pan is related to the Jias by marriage. Why not trim your sails to the wind in your handling of this case? Why not make a virtue of necessity by doing them a favour which will stand you in good stead next time you see them?’
‘What you say is, of course, entirely correct,’ said Yu-cun. ‘But there is, after all, a human life involved in this case; and you have to remember that I have only just been restored to office by an act of Imperial clemency. I really cannot bring myself to pervert justice for private ends at the very moment when I ought to be doing my utmost to show my gratitude.’
The usher smiled coldly. ‘What Your Honour says is no doubt very right and proper, but it won’t wash. Not the way things are in the world today! Haven’t you heard the old saying “The man of spirit shapes his actions to the passing moment”? And there’s another old saying: “It is the mark of a gentleman to avoid what is inauspicious”. If you were to act in accordance with what you have just said, not only would you not be able to show your gratitude to the Emperor, but also you would probably put your own life in danger. If I were you, I should think very carefully before you do anything.’
Yu-cun lowered his head in thought. After a very long pause he asked, ‘What do you think I ought to do?’
‘I’ve thought of a very good solution,’ said the usher. ‘When you open court tomorrow, you should make a great display of authority. Send out writs, issue warrants for arrest, and so forth. You won’t, of course, be able to arrest the culprits, and the plaintiffs will certainly not allow the matter to rest there; so what you do then is to arrest some of Xue’s clansmen and servants for questioning. But in the meantime I shall have got to work on them on the side and arranged for them to report that Xue has died of sudden illness. This can be supported by the affidavits of the whole Xue clan and the people living in the neighbourhood.
‘Then Your Honour has it put about that you have a gift for the planchette. You have an altar set up in the court and a planchette board installed on it and you issue an open invitation to any members of the public who want to to attend a séance. Then you say, “The spirit control gives judgment as follows:
‘“The dead man, Feng Yuan, owed a debt of karma to Xue Pan from a former life and ‘meeting his enemy in a narrow way’, paid for it with his life. The sudden, unexplained illness which struck down Xue Pan was caused by the vengeful ghost of Feng Yuan come to claim its own. Since the tragedy was entirely due to the behaviour of the kidnapper, the kidnapper should be dealt with according to the full rigour of the law; but apart from him, all other parties are exonerated…” and so on and so forth.
‘I shall secretly instruct the kidnapper to make a full confession, and when the public see that the judgment given by the planchette tallies with the confession made by the kidnapper, they will naturally have no suspicions.
‘Then you award the Fengs compensation to cover funeral expenses and so on. And since the Xues are rolling in money, you can say anything you like. Five hundred, a thousand – it doesn’t matter. There’s no one of any importance on the Feng side, and in any case they’re mainly in this for the money. So once they have got their compensation, they shouldn’t give you any further trouble.
‘What about that for a plan, Your Honour? You just think it over!’
Yu-cun laughed. ‘Too risky! Let me turn it over in my mind a little longer. The main thing is to think of something that will stop people talking.’
And with this observation the two men concluded their discussion.
At next day’s session a group of well-known associates of the wanted man were brought in and subjected by Yu-cun to careful questioning. It emerged, as the usher had said, that the Fengs were few in number and had brought this action solely in the hope of gaining some compensation, and that it was only because the Xues had, with the arrogance of the very rich and very powerful, refused to pay a penny, that the case had been brought to a standstill.
By a judicious bending of the law to suit the circumstances, Yu-cun managed to arrive at some sort of judgment whereby the plaintiffs received substantial compensation and went off tolerably well satisfied. He then hurriedly drafted and sent off two letters, one to Jia Zheng and one to Wang Zi-teng, Commandant, Metropolitan Barracks, in which he merely stated that their ‘nephew’s affair had been settled and there was no further cause for concern’.
Fearful that the now usher and quondam novice of Bottle-gourd Temple might talk to others about the days when he was an obscure and impoverished student, Yu-cun for some time went about in great discomfort of mind. Finally, however, he managed to catch him out in some misdemeanour or other and have him drafted for military service on a frontier outpost, after which he felt able to breathe freely again.
But now no more of Yu-cun. Let us turn instead to Young Xue, the man who purchased Ying-lian and had Feng Yuan beaten to death. He was a native of Nanking and came of a refined and highly cultivated family, but having lost his father in infancy and been, as sole remaining scion of the stock, excessively indulged by a doting widowed mother, he had grown up into a useless lout. The family was immensely wealthy. As one of the official Court Purveyors they received money from the Privy Purse with which to make purchases for the Imperial Household.
Xue Pan, to give him his full name, was a naturally extravagant young man with an insolent turn of speech. He had been educated after a fashion, but could barely read and write. He devoted the greater part of his time to cock-fighting, horse-racing, and outings to places of scenic interest. Though an Imperial Purveyor, he was wholly innocent of business skill and savoir-faire; and though, for his father’s and grandfather’s sake, he was allowed to register at the Ministry and receive regular payments of grain and money, everything else was looked after for him by the clerks and factors of the family business.
Xue Pan’s widowed mother was a younger half-sister of Wang Zi-teng, at that time Commandant of the Metropolitan Barracks, and younger sister of Lady Wang, the wife of Jia Zheng of the Rong mansion. She was now around fifty and had only the one son. Besides Xue Pan she had a daughter two years his junior called Bao-chai, a girl of flawless looks and great natural refinement. While her father was still alive she had been his favourite and had been taught to read and write and construe – all of which she did ten times better than her oafish brother; but when he died and her brother proved incapable of offering their mother any comfort, she laid aside her books and devoted herself to needlework and housewifely duties in order to take some of the burden off her mother’s shoulders.
The well-known interest always shown by our present sovereign in literature and the arts, and the widespread recruitment of talent that this has stimulated, had recently, at the time of which we speak, led to an unprecedented act of Imperial grace whereby daughters of hereditary officials and distinguished families, apart from the possibility of being recruited to the Imperial seraglio by the customary procedures, were permitted to have their names sent in to the Ministry for selection as study-companions, with the rank and title of Maid of Honour or Lady-in-waiting, of the Imperial princesses and the daughters of princes of the blood.
This circumstance, coupled with the fact that, since the death of his father, the managers, clerks, and factors of the family business in its various agencies throughout the provinces had profited from Xue Pan’s youth and ignorance of affairs to feather their own nests at the firm’s expense, and even the family’s enterprises in the capital, of which there were several, had shown a gradual falling-off, provided Xue Pan, who had long heard of the rich pleasures of the metropolis and was agog to taste them, with excuses for realizing his cherished ambition, viz:
1. They must go to the capital because he had to present his sister to the Ministry for selection.
2. They must go to the capital to look up their kinsfolk there.
3. They must go to the capital so that he might clear his accounts with the Ministry and take receipt of a new instalment of funds.
(Needless to say, the sole substantial reason for going to the capital, Xue Pan’s desire to see the sights, was unexpressed.)
Accordingly, their baggage had long been packed and souvenirs of Nanking for their friends and relations in the capital long been selected and a date for their departure long been decided on, when Xue Pan encountered the kidnapper and Ying-lian and, as Ying-lian was an uncommonly attractive slave-girl, resolved to purchase her and make her his concubine.
Then Feng and his servants came to seize the girl and Xue Pan, confident in his superior forces, shouted the command to his attendant roughs which was to have such fatal consequences for poor Feng Yuan.
Entrusting everything to his clansmen and a few old and trusty retainers, he then proceeded to depart according to schedule, in company with his mother and sister, on the long journey to the capital, accounting the charge of manslaughter a mere bagatelle which the expenditure of a certain amount of coin could confidently be expected to resolve.
Of the journey our story gives no record, except to say that on the last day, when they were about to enter the capital, they heard news that Xue Pan’s uncle Wang Zi-teng had just been promoted C.-in-C. Northern Provinces with instructions to leave the capital on a tour of frontier inspection. The news secretly delighted Xue Pan.
‘Just as I was worrying about Uncle cramping my style when we got to the capital and preventing me from having a really good fling,’ he reflected, ‘the old boy obligingly gets himself popped out of the way. Fortune is on my side!’
He then proceeded to reason as follows with his mother:
‘We’ve got several houses in the capital, but it’s all of ten years since anyone has been to stay in them, so you can bet that the housekeepers will have let all the rooms out on the sly. We shall have to send someone on ahead to get things straightened out for us.’
‘Whyever should we go to any such trouble?’ said his mother. ‘I thought the main purpose of our coming here in the first place was to see our relations. There must be lots and lots of spare room at your Uncle Wang’s and at your Uncle Jia’s place. Surely it would be much more sensible to stay with one of them first? There will be plenty of time to send our people to get a place of our own ready after we are there.’
‘But Uncle’s just been promoted to the Northern Provinces,’ Xue Pan expostulated. ‘They will all be making frantic preparations for him to go. What sort of stupid idiots shall we look like if we come scooting along with all our bag and baggage just at the very moment when he wants to leave?’
‘Suppose your Uncle Wang has been promoted to another place,’ said his mother. ‘There is still your Uncle Jia. Besides, Uncle Wang and Auntie Jia have for years been sending us letters inviting us to come and stay with them. Now that we are here, even though Uncle Wang is busy getting ready to go, Auntie Jia will probably be only too glad to have us. I’m sure she would be most offended if we were to go rushing off to get our own house ready.
‘But I know perfectly well what’s in your mind. You think that if we are staying with your uncle or aunt you will be too restricted, and that if we were living in our own place you would be freer to do just as you liked. Very well then. Why don’t you go off and choose a house for yourself to live in and let me and your sister go to Auntie’s without you? I haven’t seen her or the girls for years and years, and I intend to spend a few days with them now we are here.’
Experience taught Xue Pan that his mother was in an obstinate mood and not to be shaken from her purpose, so he resignedly gave orders to the porters to make straight for the Rong mansion.
Lady Wang had just breathed a sigh of relief on learning that the affair of Xue Pan’s manslaughter charge had been retrieved through the good offices of Jia Yu-cun, when the news that her elder brother had been promoted to a frontier post plunged her once more in gloom at the prospect of losing her main source of contact with the members of her own family. Several days passed in despondency, and then suddenly the servants announced that her sister, bringing her son and daughter and all her household with her, had arrived in the capital and was at that very moment outside the gate dismounting from her carriage.
Delightedly she hurried with her women to the entrance of the main reception hall and conducted Aunt Xue and her party inside. The sudden reunion of the two sisters was, it goes without saying, an affecting one in which joy and sorrow mingled. After an exchange of information about the years of separation, and after they had been taken to see Grandmother Jia and made their reverence to her, and after the gifts of Nanking produce had been presented and everyone had been introduced to everyone else, there was a family party to welcome the new arrivals.
Xue Pan, meanwhile, had paid his respects to Jia Zheng and Jia Lian and been taken to see Jia She and Cousin Zhen. Jia Zheng now sent a servant round to Lady Wang with the following message:
‘Your sister is getting on in years and our nephew is very young and seems rather inexperienced and, I fear, quite capable of getting into a scrape again if they are going to live outside. Pear Tree Court in the north-east corner of our property is lying completely unoccupied at the moment and has quite a sizeable amount of room in it. Why not invite your sister and her children to move in there?’
Lady Wang had wanted all along to ask her sister to stay. Grandmother Jia had sent someone round to tell her that she should ‘ask Mrs Xue to stay with us here, so that we can all be close to one another.’ And Aunt Xue for her own part had been wanting to stay so that some sort of check could be kept on her son. She was sure that if they were to be on their own somewhere else in the city his unbridled nature would precipitate some fresh calamity. She therefore accepted the invitation with alacrity, privately adding the proviso that she could only contemplate a long stay if it was on the understanding that they were themselves to be responsible for all their expenses. Lady Wang knew that money was no problem to them, so she readily consented, and Aunt Xue and her children proceeded there and then to move into Pear Tree Court.
This Pear Tree Court had been the Duke of Rong-guo’s retreat during the last years of his life. Its buildings totalled not much more than ten frames; but though small and charming, it was complete in every respect, with a little reception room in the front and all the usual rooms and offices behind. It had its own outer door on to the street, through which Xue Pan and the menservants could come and go, and another gate in the south-west corner giving on to a passage-way which led into the courtyard east of Lady Wang’s compound.
Through this passage-way Aunt Xue would now daily repair, either after dinner or in the evening, to gossip with Grandmother Jia or reminisce with her sister, Lady Wang. Bao-chai for her part spent her time each day in great contentment, reading or playing Go or sewing with Dai-yu and the three girls.
The only dissatisfied member of the party – to begin with, at any rate – was Xue Pan. He had not wanted to stay in the Jia household, fearing that his uncle’s control would prevent him from enjoying himself, but what with his mother’s obstinacy and the insistence of the Jias themselves, he was obliged to acquiesce in settling there for the time being, contenting himself with sending some of his people to clean up one of their houses outside so that he would be able to move there later on.
But, to his pleasant surprise, he discovered that the young males of the Jia establishment, half of whom he was already on familiar terms with before he had been there a month, were of the same idle, extravagant persuasion as himself and thought him a capital fellow and boon companion. And so he found himself meeting them for a drinking-party one day, for theatre-going the next, on a third day perhaps gambling with them or visiting brothels. For there were no limits to the depravity of their pleasures, and Xue Pan, who was bad enough to start with, soon became ten times worse under their expert guidance.
It was not that Jia Zheng was a slack disciplinarian, incapable of keeping his house in order; but the clan was so numerous that he simply could not keep an eye on everyone at once. And in any case the nominal head of the family was not Jia Zheng but Cousin Zhen who, as eldest grandson of the senior, Ning-guo branch, had inherited the founder’s office and emoluments and was therefore officially in charge of all the clan’s affairs.
Besides, Jia Zheng was kept busy with public and private business of his own and, being by nature a quiet, retiring man who attached little importance to mundane affairs, tended to use whatever leisure time he had for reading and playing Go.
Then again, the Pear Tree Court was two courtyards away from Jia Zheng’s compound and had its own private door onto the street by which Xue Pan could come and go as he pleased, so that he and his young cronies could enjoy themselves to their heart’s content with no one being any the wiser.
Under these agreeable circumstances Xue Pan gradually abandoned all thought of moving out.
But as to the outcome of these capers: that will be told in a later chapter.