第六回

第六回 贾宝玉初试云雨情 刘姥姥一进荣国府

却说秦氏因听见宝玉从梦中唤他的乳名，心中自是纳闷，又不好细问。彼时宝玉迷迷惑惑，若有所失。众人忙端上桂圆汤来，呷了两口，遂起身整衣。袭人伸手与他系裤带时，不觉伸手至大腿处，只觉冰凉一片粘湿，唬的忙退出手来，问是怎么了。宝玉红涨了脸，把他的手一捻。袭人本是个聪明女子，年纪本又比宝玉大两岁，近来也渐通人事，今见宝玉如此光景，心中便觉察一半了，不觉也羞的红胀了脸面，不敢再问。仍旧理好衣裳，遂至贾母处来，胡乱吃毕了晚饭，过这边来。

袭人忙趁众奶娘丫鬟不在旁时，另取出一件中衣[2]来与宝玉换上。宝玉含羞央告道：“好姐姐，千万别告诉人。”袭人亦含羞笑问道：“你梦见什么故事了？是那里流出来的那些脏东西？”宝玉道：“一言难尽。”说着便把梦中之事细说与袭人听了。说至警幻所授云雨之情，羞的袭人掩面伏身而笑。宝玉亦素喜袭人柔媚娇俏，遂强袭人同领警幻所训云雨之事。袭人素知贾母已将自己与了宝玉的，今便如此，亦不为越礼，遂和宝玉偷试一番，幸得无人撞见。自此宝玉视袭人更比别个不同，袭人待宝玉更为尽心。暂且别无话说。

按荣府中一宅人合算起来，人口虽不多，从上至下也有三四百丁；虽事不多，一天也有一二十件，竟如乱麻一般，并无个头绪可作纲领。正寻思从那一件事自那一个人写起方妙，恰好忽从千里之外，芥荳之微，小小一个人家，因与荣府略有些瓜葛，这日正往荣府中来，因此便就此一家说来，倒还是头绪。你道这一家姓甚名谁，又与荣府有甚瓜葛？且听细讲〔二〕。

方才所说的这小小之家，乃本地人氏，姓王，祖上曾作过小小的一个京官，昔年与凤姐之祖王夫人之父认识。因贪王家的势利，便连了宗[4]认作侄儿。那时只有王夫人之大兄凤姐之父与王夫人随在京中的，知有此一门连宗之族，馀者皆不认识。目今其祖已故，只有一个儿子，名唤王成，因家业萧条，仍搬出城外原乡中住去了。王成新近亦因病故，只有其子，小名狗儿。狗儿亦生一子，小名板儿，嫡妻刘氏，又生一女，名唤青儿。一家四口，仍以务农为业。因狗儿白日间又作些生计，刘氏又操井臼等事，青板姊弟[5]两个无人看管，狗儿遂将岳母刘姥姥接来一处过活。这刘姥姥乃是个积年的老寡妇，膝下又无儿女，只靠两亩薄田度日。今者女婿接来养活，岂不愿意，遂一心一计，帮趁着女儿女婿过活起来。

因这年秋尽冬初，天气冷将上来，家中冬事未办，狗儿未免心中烦虑，吃了几杯闷酒，在家闲寻气恼，刘氏也不敢顶撞。因此刘姥姥看不过，乃劝道：“姑爷，你别嗔着我多嘴。咱们村庄人，那一个不是老老诚诚的，守多大碗儿吃多大的饭。你皆因年小的时候，托着你那老家之福，吃喝惯了，如今所以把持不住。有了钱就顾头不顾尾，没了钱就瞎生气，成个什么男子汉大丈夫呢！如今咱们虽离城住着，终是天子脚下。这长安城[6]中，遍地都是钱，只可惜没人会去拿去罢了。在家跳蹋[7]会子也不中用。”狗儿听说，便急道：“你老只会炕头儿上混说，难道叫我打劫偷去不成？”刘姥姥道：“谁叫你偷去呢。也到底想法儿大家裁度，不然那银子钱自己跑到咱家来不成？”狗儿冷笑道：“有法儿还等到这会子呢。我又没有收税的亲戚，作官的朋友，有什么法子可想的？便有，也只怕他们未必来理我们呢！”

刘姥姥道：“这倒不然。谋事在人，成事在天。咱们谋到了，看菩萨的保佑，有些机会，也未可知。我倒替你们想出一个机会来。当日你们原是和金陵王家连过宗的，二十年前，他们看承你们还好；如今自然是你们拉硬屎[8]，不肯去亲近他，故疏远起来。想当初我和女儿还去过一遭。他们家的二小姐着实响快，会待人，倒不拿大[9]。如今现是荣国府贾二老爷的夫人。听得说，如今上了年纪，越发怜贫恤老，最爱斋僧敬道，舍米舍钱的。如今王府虽升了边任[10]，只怕这二姑太太还认得咱们。你何不去走动走动，或者他念旧，有些好处，也未可知。要是他发一点好心，拔一根寒毛比咱们的腰还粗呢。”刘氏一旁接口道：“你老虽说的是，但只你我这样个嘴脸，怎么好到他门上去的。先不先，他们那些门上的人也未必肯去通信。没的去打嘴现世[11]。”

谁知狗儿利名心最重，听如此一说，心下便有些活动起来。又听他妻子这话，便笑接道：“姥姥既如此说，况且当年你又见过这姑太太一次，何不你老人家明日就走一趟，先试试风头再说。”刘姥姥道：“嗳哟哟！可是说的〔三〕‘侯门深似海’[13]，我是个什么东西，他家人又不认得我，我去了也是白去的。”狗儿笑道：“不妨，我教你老人家一个法子：你竟带了外孙子板儿，先去找陪房[14]周瑞，若见了他，就有些意思了。这周瑞先时曾和我父亲交过一件事，我们极好的。”刘姥姥道：“我也知道他的。只是许多时不走动，知道他如今是怎样。这也说不得了，你又是个男人，又这样个嘴脸，自然去不得；我们姑娘年轻媳妇子，也难卖头卖脚的，倒还是舍着我这付老脸去碰一碰。果然有些好处，大家都有益；便是没银子来，我也到那公府侯门见一见世面，也不枉我一生。”说毕，大家笑了一回。当晚计议已定。

次日天未明，刘姥姥便起来梳洗了，又将板儿教训了几句。那板儿才五六岁的孩子，一无所知，听见带他进城逛去，便喜的无不应承。于是刘姥姥带他进城，找至宁荣街。

来至荣府大门石狮子前，只见簇簇轿马，刘姥姥便不敢过去，且掸了掸衣服，又教了板儿几句话，然后蹭[15]到角门前。只见几个挺胸叠肚指手画脚的人，坐在大板凳上，说东谈西呢。刘姥姥只得蹭上来问：“太爷们纳福[16]。”众人打量了他一会，便问“那里来的？”刘姥姥陪笑道：“我找太太的陪房周大爷的，烦那位太爷替我请他老出来。”那些人听了，都不瞅睬[17]，半日方说道：“你远远的在那墙角下等着，一会子他们家有人就出来的。”内中有一老年人说道：“不要误他的事，何苦耍他。”因向刘姥姥道：“那周大爷已往南边去了。他在后一带住着，他娘子却在家。你要找时，从这边绕到后街上后门上去问就是了。”

刘姥姥听了谢过，遂携了板儿，绕到后门上。只见门前歇着些生意担子，也有卖吃的，也有卖顽耍物件的，闹吵吵三二十个小孩子在那里厮闹。刘姥姥便拉住一个道：“我问哥儿一声，有个周大娘可在家么？”孩子们道：“那个周大娘？我们这里周大娘有三个呢，还有两个周奶奶，不知是那一行当[18]的？”刘姥姥道：“是太太的陪房周瑞。”孩子道：“这个容易，你跟我来。”说着，跳蹿蹿的引着刘姥姥进了后门，至一院墙边，指与刘姥姥道：“这就是他家。”又叫道：“周大娘，有个老奶奶来找你呢，我带了来了。”

周瑞家的在内听说，忙迎了出来，问：“是那位？”刘姥姥忙迎上来问道：“好呀，周嫂子！”周瑞家的认了半日，方笑道：“刘姥姥，你好呀！你说说，能几年，我就忘了。请家里来坐罢。”刘姥姥一壁里走着，一壁笑说道：“你老是贵人多忘事，那里还记得我们呢。”说着，来至房中。周瑞家的命雇的小丫头倒上茶来吃着。周瑞家的又问板儿道：“你都长这们大了！”又问些别后闲话。又问刘姥姥：“今日还是路过，还是特来的？”刘姥姥便说：“原是特来瞧瞧嫂子你，二则也请请姑太太的安。若可以领我见一见更好，若不能，便借重嫂子转致意罢了。”

周瑞家的听了，便已猜着几分来意。只因昔年他丈夫周瑞争买田地一事，其中多得狗儿之力，今见刘姥姥如此而来，心中难却其意；二则也要显弄自己的体面。听如此说，便笑说道：“姥姥你放心。大远的诚心诚意来了，岂有个不教你见个真佛[19]去的呢。论理，人来客至回话，却不与我相干。我们这里都是各占一样儿：我们男的只管春秋两季地租子，闲时只带着小爷们出门子就完了；我只管跟太太奶奶们出门的事。皆因你原是太太的亲戚，又拿我当个人，投奔了我来，我就破个例，给你通个信去。但只一件，姥姥有所不知，我们这里又不比五年前了。如今太太竟不大管事，都是琏二奶奶管家了。你道这琏二奶奶是谁？就是太太的内侄女，当日大舅老爷的女儿，小名凤哥的。”刘姥姥听了，罕问道：“原来是他！怪道呢，我当日就说他不错呢。这等说来，我今儿还得见他了。”周瑞家的道：“这自然的。如今太太事多心烦，有客来了，略可推得去的就推过去了，都是凤姑娘周旋迎待。今儿宁可不会太太，倒要见他一面，才不枉这里来一遭。”刘姥姥道：“阿弥陀佛！全仗嫂子方便了。”周瑞家的道：“说那里话。俗语说的：‘与人方便，自己方便。’不过用我说一句话罢了，害着我什么。”说着，便叫小丫头到倒厅[20]上悄悄的打听打听，老太太屋里摆了饭了没有。小丫头去了。这里二人又说些闲话。

刘姥姥因说：“这凤姑娘今年大还不过二十岁罢了，就这等有本事，当这样的家，可是难得的。”周瑞家的听了道：“我的姥姥，告诉不得你呢。这位凤姑娘年纪虽小，行事却比世人都大呢。如今出挑的美人一样的模样儿，少说些有一万个心眼子。再要赌口齿，十个会说话的男人也说他不过。回来你见了就信了。就只一件，待下人未免太严些个。”说着，只见小丫头回来说：“老太太屋里已摆完了饭了，二奶奶在太太屋里呢。”周瑞家的听了，连忙起身，催着刘姥姥说：“快走，快走。这一下来他吃饭是个空子，咱们先赶着去。若迟一步，回事的人也多了，难说话。再歇了中觉，越发没了时候了。”说着一齐下了炕，打扫打扫衣服，又教了板儿几句话，随着周瑞家的，逶迤往贾琏的住处来。

先到了倒厅，周瑞家的将刘姥姥安插在那里略等一等。自己先过了影壁，进了院门，知凤姐未下来，先找着凤姐的一个心腹通房大丫头[21]名唤平儿的。周瑞家的先将刘姥姥起初来历说明，又说：“今日大远的特来请安。当日太太是常会的，今日不可不见，所以我带了他进来了。等奶奶下来，我细细回明，奶奶想也不责备我莽撞的。”平儿听了，便作了主意：“叫他们进来，先在这里坐着就是了。”周瑞家的听了，方出去引他两个进入院来。

上了正房台矶，小丫头打起猩红毡帘，才入堂屋，只闻一阵香扑了脸来，竟不辨是何气味，身子如在云端里一般。满屋中之物都耀眼争光的，使人头悬目眩。刘姥姥此时惟点头咂嘴念佛而已。于是来至东边这间屋内，乃是贾琏的女儿大姐儿睡觉之所。平儿站在炕沿边，打量了刘姥姥两眼，只得问个好让坐。刘姥姥见平儿遍身绫罗，插金带银，花容玉貌的，便当是凤姐儿了。才要称姑奶奶，忽见周瑞家的称他是平姑娘，又见平儿赶着周瑞家的称周大娘，方知不过是个有些体面的丫头了。于是让刘姥姥和板儿上了炕，平儿和周瑞家的对面坐在炕沿上，小丫头子斟了茶来吃茶。

刘姥姥只听见咯当咯当的响声，大有似乎打箩柜筛面[22]的一般，不免东瞧西望的。忽见堂屋中柱子上挂着一个匣子，底下又坠着一个秤砣般一物，却不住的乱幌。刘姥姥心中想着：“这是什么爱物儿[23]？有甚用呢？”正呆时，只听得当的一声，又若金钟铜磬一般，不防倒唬的一展眼。接着又是一连八九下。方欲问时，只见小丫头子们齐乱跑，说：“奶奶下来了。”周瑞家的与平儿忙起身，命刘姥姥“只管等着，是时候我们来请你”。说着，都迎出去了。

刘姥姥屏声侧耳默候。只听远远有人笑声，约有一二十妇人，衣裙窸窣，渐入堂屋，往那边屋内去了。又见两三个妇人〔四〕，都捧着大漆捧盒，进这边来等候。听得那边说了声“摆饭”，渐渐的人才散出，只有伺候端菜的几个人。半日鸦雀不闻之后，忽见二人抬了一张炕桌来，放在这边炕上，桌上碗盘森列，仍是满满的鱼肉在内，不过略动了几样。板儿一见了，便吵着要肉吃，刘姥姥一巴掌打了他去。忽见周瑞家的笑嘻嘻走过来，招手儿叫他。刘姥姥会意，于是带了板儿下炕，至堂屋中，周瑞家的又和他唧咕了一会，方过这边屋里来。

只见门外錾铜钩上悬着大红撒花软帘，南窗下是炕，炕上大红毡条，靠东边板壁立着一个锁子锦[25]靠背与一个引枕，铺着金心绿闪缎大坐褥，旁边有雕漆痰盒。那凤姐儿家常带着秋板貂鼠昭君套[26]，围着攒珠勒子[27]，穿着桃红撒花袄，石青刻丝灰鼠披风[28]，大红洋绉银鼠皮裙，粉光脂艳，端端正正坐在那里，手内拿着小铜火箸儿拨手炉内的灰。平儿站在炕沿边，捧着小小的一个填漆[29]茶盘，盘内一个小盖钟。凤姐也不接茶，也不抬头，只管拨手炉内的灰，慢慢的问道：“怎么还不请进来？”一面说，一面抬身要茶时，只见周瑞家的已带了两个人在地下站着呢。这才忙欲起身犹未起身时，满面春风的问好，又嗔着周瑞家的怎么不早说。刘姥姥在地下已是拜了数拜，问姑奶奶安。凤姐忙说：“周姐姐，快搀起来，别拜罢，请坐。我年轻，不大认得，可也不知是什么辈数，不敢称呼。”周瑞家的忙回道：“这就是我才回的那姥姥了。”凤姐点头。刘姥姥已在炕沿上坐了。板儿便躲在背后，百般的哄他出来作揖，他死也不肯。

凤姐儿笑道：“亲戚们不大走动，都疏远了。知道的呢，说你们弃厌我们，不肯常来；不知道的那起小人，还只当我们眼里没人似的。”刘姥姥忙念佛道：“我们家道艰难，走不起，来了这里，没的给姑奶奶打嘴，就是管家爷们看着也不像。”凤姐儿笑道：“这话没的叫人恶心。不过借赖着祖父虚名，作了穷官儿，谁家有什么，不过是个旧日的空架子。俗语说，‘朝廷还有三门子穷亲戚’呢，何况你我。”说着，又问周瑞家的回了太太了没有。周瑞家的道：“如今等奶奶的示下。”凤姐道：“你去瞧瞧，要是有人有事就罢，得闲儿呢就回，看怎么说。”周瑞家的答应着去了。

这里凤姐叫人抓些果子与板儿吃，刚问些闲话时，就有家下许多媳妇管事的来回话。平儿回了，凤姐道：“我这里陪客呢，晚上再来回。若有很要紧的，你就带进来现办。”平儿出去了，一会进来说：“我都问了，没什么紧事，我就叫他们散了。”凤姐点头。只见周瑞家的回来，向凤姐道：“太太说了，今日不得闲，二奶奶陪着便是一样。多谢费心想着。白来逛逛呢便罢；若有甚说的，只管告诉二奶奶，都是一样。”刘姥姥道：“也没甚说的，不过是来瞧瞧姑太太、姑奶奶，也是亲戚们的情分。”周瑞家的道：“没甚说的便罢；若有话，只管回二奶奶，是和太太一样的。”一面说，一面递眼色与刘姥姥。

刘姥姥会意，未语先飞红的脸，欲待不说，今日又所为何来？只得忍耻说道：“论理今儿初次见姑奶奶，却不该说，只是大远的奔了你老这里来，也少不的说了。”刚说到这里，只听二门上小厮们回说：“东府里的小大爷进来了。”凤姐忙止刘姥姥：“不必说了。”一面便问：“你蓉大爷〔五〕在那里呢？”只听一路靴子脚响，进来了一个十七八岁的少年，面目清秀，身材俊俏，轻裘宝带，美服华冠。刘姥姥此时坐不是，立不是，藏没处藏。凤姐笑道：“你只管坐着，这是我侄儿。”刘姥姥方扭扭捏捏在炕沿上坐了。

贾蓉笑道：“我父亲打发我来求婶子，说上回老舅太太给婶子的那架玻璃炕屏[31]，明日请一个要紧的客，借了略摆一摆就送过来。”凤姐道：“说迟了一日，昨儿已经给了人了。”贾蓉听着，嘻嘻的笑着，在炕沿上半跪道：“婶子若不借，又说我不会说话了，又挨一顿好打呢。婶子只当可怜侄儿罢。”凤姐笑道：“也没见你们，王家的东西都是好的不成？你们那里放着那些好东西，只是看不见，偏我的就是好的。”贾蓉笑道：“那里有这个好呢！只求开恩罢。”凤姐道：“若碰一点儿，你可仔细你的皮！”因命平儿拿了楼房的钥匙，传几个妥当人抬去。贾蓉喜的眉开眼笑，说：“我亲自带了人拿去，别由他们乱碰。”说着便起身出去了。

这里凤姐忽又想起一事来，便向窗外：“叫蓉哥回来。”外面几个人接声说：“蓉大爷快回来。”贾蓉忙复身转来，垂手侍立，听阿凤指示〔六〕。那凤姐只管慢慢的吃茶，出了半日的神，又笑道：“罢了，你且去罢。晚饭后你来再说罢。这会子有人，我也没精神了。”贾蓉应了一声，方慢慢的退去。

这里刘姥姥心神方定，才又说道：“今日我带了你侄儿来，也不为别的，只因他老子娘在家里，连吃的都没有。如今天又冷了，越想没个派头儿[33]，只得带了你侄儿奔了你老来。”说着又推板儿道：“你那爹在家怎么教你来？打发咱们作煞事[34]来？只顾吃果子咧。”凤姐早已明白了，听他不会说话，因笑止道：“不必说了，我知道了。”因问周瑞家的：“这姥姥不知可用了早饭没有？”刘姥姥忙说道：“一早就往这里赶咧，那里还有吃饭的工夫咧。”凤姐听说，忙命快传饭来。一时周瑞家的传了一桌客饭来，摆在东边屋内，过来带了刘姥姥和板儿过去吃饭。

凤姐说道：“周姐姐，好生让着些儿，我不能陪了。”于是过东边房里来。又叫过周瑞家的去，问他才回了太太，说了些什么？周瑞家的道：“太太说，他们家原不是一家子，不过因出一姓，当年又与太老爷在一处作官，偶然连了宗的。这几年来也不大走动。当时他们来一遭，却也没空了他们。今儿既来了瞧瞧我们，是他的好意思，也不可简慢了他。便是有什么说的，叫奶奶裁度着就是了。”凤姐听了说道：“我说呢，既是一家子，我如何连影儿也不知道。”

说话时，刘姥姥已吃毕了饭，拉了板儿过来，舌咂嘴的道谢。凤姐笑道：“且请坐下，听我告诉你老人家。方才的意思，我已知道了。若论亲戚之间，原该不等上门来就该有照应才是。但如今家内杂事太烦，太太渐上了年纪，一时想不到也是有的。况是我近来接着管些事，都不知道这些亲戚们。二则外头看着虽是烈烈轰轰的，殊不知大有大的艰难去处，说与人也未必信罢。今儿你既老远的来了，又是头一次见我张口，怎好叫你空回去呢。可巧昨儿太太给我的丫头们做衣裳的二十两银子，我还没动呢，你若不嫌少，就暂且先拿了去罢。”

那刘姥姥先听见告艰难，只当是没有，心里便突突的；后来听见给他二十两，喜的又浑身发痒起来，说道：“嗳，我也是知道艰难的。但俗语说的：‘瘦死的骆驼比马大’，凭他怎样，你老拔根寒毛比我们的腰还粗呢！”周瑞家的见他说的粗鄙，只管使眼色止他。凤姐看见，笑而不睬，只命平儿把昨儿那包银子拿来，再拿一吊钱来，都送到刘姥姥的跟前。凤姐乃道：“这是二十两银子，暂且给这孩子做件冬衣罢。若不拿着，就真是怪我了。这钱雇车坐罢。改日无事，只管来逛逛，方是亲戚们的意思。天也晚了，也不虚留你们了，到家里该问好的问个好儿罢。”一面说，一面就站了起来。

刘姥姥只管千恩万谢的，拿了银子钱，随了周瑞家的来至外面。周瑞家的道：“我的娘啊！你见了他怎么倒不会说了？开口就是‘你侄儿’。我说句不怕你恼的话，便是亲侄儿，也要说和软些。蓉大爷才是他的正经侄儿呢，他怎么又跑出这么一个侄儿来了。”刘姥姥笑道：“我的嫂子，我见了他，心眼儿里爱还爱不过来，那里还说的上话来呢。”二人说着，又到周瑞家坐了片时。刘姥姥便要留下一块银子与周瑞家孩子们买果子吃，周瑞家的如何放在眼里，执意不肯。刘姥姥感谢不尽，仍从后门去了。正是：

得意浓时易接济，受恩深处胜亲朋。

〔一〕 此回己卯、梦稿、蒙府、戚序、舒序、卞藏本有回前诗：“题曰：朝叩富儿门，富儿犹未足。虽无千金酬，嗟彼胜骨肉。”

[2] 中衣——贴身衬裤。

〔二〕 “且听细讲”，甲戌、蒙府、戚序、舒序本作“诸公若嫌琐碎粗鄙呢，则快掷下此书，另觅好书去醒目；若谓聊可破闷时，待蠢物逐细言来”。卞藏本文字略有出入。

[4] 连了宗——亦作“联宗”。旧时为拉关系把同姓而本非一个宗族的人认了本家，叫作“联宗”。

[5] 青板姊弟——底本作“青板姊妹”，己卯同。各本有作“姊弟”，有作“姊妹”者，杨藏、甲辰、程甲三本所述青、板皆刘氏所生。甲戌本上段全同己卯、庚辰本，下段作“姊弟”。从改。盖狗儿嫡妻先生青儿，无子，狗儿续娶生板儿，故称“姊弟”。

[6] 长安城——在今陕西西安市西北。汉、唐等朝曾建都于此。这里借指京都。

[7] 跳蹋——也作“跳跶”。急得顿足。

[8] 拉硬屎——装作硬气。俗谓瘦驴拉硬屎——瞎逞能。

[9] 拿大——摆架子，瞧不起人。

[10] 边任——防守边疆的重任。

[11] 打嘴现世——说嘴打嘴，现世现报。

〔三〕 “可是说的”，原作“是啊人云”，从各本改。

[13] 侯门深似海——形容官僚贵族之家宅大院深、门禁森严，难以进入。语本唐代崔郊《赠去婢》诗：“侯门一入深如海，从此萧郎是路人。”后常以“侯门深似海”，喻故友旧识因地位悬殊而隔绝。

[14] 陪房——旧时富家女子的随嫁仆人。

[15] 蹭（cèn层去声）——这里是行动缓慢、欲行又止的样子。

[16] 纳福——受福。旧时见面常用的客套话。

[17] 瞅睬——理睬。

[18] 行（hán杭）当——本指戏曲中角色的分类。这里指职务的类别。

[19] 真佛——佛教术语。佛教徒谓佛有报、应、化三身，“报身佛”相对于“化身佛”称为真佛，又名“无相之法身”，即难以见到之意。因此世俗借此喻难以见到的人物。这里指王熙凤。

[20] 倒厅——古代建筑，大厅多数是坐北向南，坐南向北的厅房以及大厅后面向后院开门的附属部分，均称“倒厅”。

[21] 通房大丫头——贴身侍婢收纳为妾，称“通房丫头”。其地位低于姨娘。通房又称“收房”。

[22] 打箩柜筛面——箩柜：装有筛面箩的木柜。筛面时用脚不断踩踏机关，发出“咯当咯当”的声音。

[23] 爱物儿——玩意儿。

〔四〕 “衣裙窸窣”至“妇人”共二十二字，原无，卞藏本作“衣裙悉卒”。从甲戌、蒙府、戚序、甲辰、舒序本补。

[25] 锁子锦——用金色丝线织成锁链形图案的锦缎。

[26] 秋板貂鼠昭君套——貂：鼬属的一种小型动物。貂皮是贵重的短毛细皮，以紫貂最贵。秋板貂是指秋季的绒毛尚未长全的貂鼠皮，又称“秋皮”。它比“夏皮”稍佳，但不如“正冬皮”。昭君套：没有顶的女用皮帽罩，因形同戏曲、绘画中昭君出塞所戴之罩，故名。

[27] 勒子——帽箍，用珠玉穿缀或以绒缎做成，套于额上，掩及耳间。

[28] 披风——古称褙子。明代王圻《三才图会》：“褙子，即今之披风。《明史·舆服志》：“四袄子即褙子。”褙子去半袖则成半臂，去全袖则成背心，与后世所谓披肩外衣之披风迥非一物。清代妇女礼服外套多用披风，作用与男褂相似。

[29] 填漆——漆器工艺之一，即填彩漆。有“磨显填漆”和“镂嵌填漆”两种，前者“先堆后填”，后者“刻后再填”，都需磨平。

〔五〕 “蓉大爷”，原作“荣大爷”，从甲戌、蒙府、戚序、甲辰、舒序本改。

[31] 炕屏——陈设在炕上的一种小屏风。

〔六〕 “听阿凤指示”，己卯、梦稿本同。甲戌、甲辰、舒序本作“听何指示”。卞藏本作“听凤姐指示”。此语颇似脂批口气，疑为脂批在传抄中误入正文。

[33] 派头儿——这里是“盼头儿”的衍音。

[34] 煞事——啥事。

CHAPTER 6. Jia Bao-yu conducts his first experiment in the Art of Love And Grannie Liu makes her first entry into the Rong-guo mansion

Qin-shi was surprised to hear Bao-yu call out her childhood name in his sleep, but did not like to pursue the matter. As she stood wondering, Bao-yu, who was still bemused after his dream and not yet in full possession of his faculties, got out of bed and began to stretch himself and to adjust his clothes, assisted by Aroma. As she was doing up his trousers, her hand, chancing to stray over his thigh, came into contact with something cold and sticky which caused her to draw it back in alarm and ask him if he was all right. Instead of answering, he merely reddened and gave the hand a squeeze.

Aroma had always been an intelligent girl. She was, in any case, a year or two older than Bao-yu and had recently begun to have some understanding of the facts of life. Observing the condition that Bao-yu was in, she therefore had more than an inkling of what had happened. Abandoning her question, she busied herself with his clothes, her cheeks suffused by a crimson blush of embarrassment. When he was properly dressed, they went to rejoin Grandmother Jia and the rest. There they bolted a hurried supper and then slipped back to the other house, where Aroma profited from the absence of the nurses and the other maids to take out a clean undergarment for Bao-yu to change into.

‘Please, Aroma,’ Bao-yu shamefacedly entreated as she helped him change, ‘please don’t tell anyone!’

Equally ill at ease, Aroma giggled softly.

‘Why did you…?’ she began to ask. Then, after glancing cautiously around, began again.

‘Where did that stuff come from?’

Bao-yu blushed furiously and said nothing. Aroma stared at him curiously and continued to giggle. After much hesitation he proceeded to give her a detailed account of his dream. But when he came to the part of it in which he made love to Two-in-one, Aroma threw herself forward with a shriek of laughter and buried her face in her hands.

Bao-yu had long been attracted by Aroma’s somewhat coquettish charms and tugged at her purposefully, anxious to share with her the lesson he had learned from Disenchantment. Aroma knew that when Grandmother Jia gave her to Bao-yu she had intended her to belong to him in the fullest possible sense, and so, having no good reason for refusing him, she allowed him, after a certain amount of coy resistance, to have his way with her.

From then on Bao-yu treated Aroma with even greater consideration than before, whilst Aroma for her part redoubled the devotion with which she served him. But of this, for the time being, no more.

The inhabitants of the Rong mansion, if we include all of them from the highest to the humblest in our total, numbered more than three hundred souls, who produced between them a dozen or more incidents in a single day. Faced with so exuberant an abundance of material, what principle should your chronicler adopt to guide him in his selection of incidents to record? As we pondered the problem where to begin, it was suddenly solved for us by the appearance as it were out of nowhere of someone from a very humble, very insignificant household who, on the strength of a very tenuous, very remote family connection with the Jias, turned up at the Rong mansion on the very day of which we are about to write.

Their name was Wang and they were natives of these parts. A grandfather had held some very small official post in the capital and had there become acquainted with Wang Xi-feng’s grandfather, the father of Lady Wang. Conceiving an admiration for the power and prestige of this greater namesake, he had sought to link his family with the latter’s clan by becoming his adoptive nephew. Only Lady Wang and her elder brother – Wang Xi-feng’s father – who chanced at that time to be staying with their parent on his tour of duty at the capital, knew anything about this. The other members of the clan were unaware that any such relationship existed.

The grandfather had long since died, leaving an only son called Wang Cheng who, having fallen on hard times, had moved back into the countryside somewhere outside the capital. Wang Cheng in his turn had died leaving a son called Gou-er, who had married a girl from a family called Liu and now had two children, a son called Ban-er and a daughter called Qing-er. The four of them depended on agriculture for their living, and since, with Gou-er himself busy most of the day on the land and his wife busy about the farm drawing water, pounding grain, and the like, there was no one to look after Qing-er and her little brother, Gou-er invited his mother-in-law, old Grannie Liu, to come and live with them.

This Grannie Liu was an ancient widow-woman, rich in experience of the world, who, having no son or daughter-in-law to cherish her, eked out her solitary existence by scratching a livelihood from a miserable half-acre of land. She therefore embraced her son-in-law’s invitation with alacrity and threw herself enthusiastically into the business of helping the young couple to make a living.

The season was now at the turn between autumn and winter. The cold weather was beginning, but none of the preparations for winter had yet been made. By drinking to allay his anxiety, Gou-er merely put himself more out of temper. He returned home to vent some of his spleen on his long-suffering wife. Grannie Liu could eventually stomach no more of his wife-baiting and intervened on her daughter’s behalf.

‘Now look here, son-in-law: probably you will think me an interfering old woman; but we country folk have to be grateful for what is in the pot and cut down our appetites to the same measure. When you were little your Ma and Pa could afford to indulge you; so now you’re grown-up you spend all your money as soon as you’ve got any, without stopping to count the cost; then, when it’s all gone, you start making a fuss. But what sort of way is that for a grown man to behave?

‘Now where we live may be out in the country, but it’s still “in the Emperor’s shadow”, as they say. Over there in the city the streets are paved with money just waiting for someone to go and pick it up. What’s the sense in rampaging around here at home when you could go out and help yourself?’

‘It’s easy for you to sit on your backside and talk,’ said Gou-er rudely, ‘but what do you expect me to do? Go out and rob?’

‘No one’s asking you to rob,’ said Grannie Liu. ‘But can’t we all sit down peaceably and think of a way? Because if we don’t, the money isn’t going to come walking in the door of its own accord.’

Gou-er snorted sarcastically. ‘If there were a way, do you suppose I should have waited till now before trying it out? There are no tax-collectors in my family and no mandarins among my friends. What way could there be of laying my hands on some money? Even if I did have rich friends or relations, I’m not so sure they would want to be bothered with the likes of us.’

‘I wouldn’t say that,’ said Grannie Liu. ‘Man proposes, God disposes. It’s up to us to think of something. We must leave it to the good Lord to decide whether He’ll help us or not. Who knows, He might give us the opportunity we are looking for.

‘Now I can think of a chance you might try. Your family used to be connected with the Wang clan of Nanking. Twenty years ago the Nanking Wangs used to be very good to you folk. It’s only because of late years you have been too stiff-necked to approach them that they have become more distant with you.

‘I can remember going to their house once with my daughter. The elder Miss Wang was a very straightforward young lady, very easy to get on with, and not at all high and mighty. She’s now the wife of the younger of the two Sir Jias in the Rong mansion. They say that now she’s getting on in years she’s grown even more charitable and given to good works than she was as a girl. Her brother has been promoted; but I shouldn’t be surprised if she at least didn’t still remember us. Why don’t you try your luck with her? You never know, she might do something for you for the sake of old times. She only has to feel well disposed and a hair off her arm would be thicker than a man’s waist to poor folks like us!’

‘That’s all very well, Mother,’ put in Gou-er’s wife, ‘but just take a look at us! What sort of state are we in to go calling on great folks like them? I doubt the people at the door would bother to tell them we were there. Who’s going to all that trouble just to make a fool of themselves?’

Gou-er’s cupidity, however, had been aroused by the words of his mother-in-law, and his reaction to them was less discouraging than his wife’s.

‘Well, if it’s as you say, Grannie, and being as you’ve already seen this lady, why not go there yourself and spy out the land for us?’

‘Bless us and save us!’ said Grannie Liu. ‘You know what they say: “A prince’s door is like the deep sea.” What sort of creature do you take me for? The servants there don’t know me; it would be a journey wasted.’

‘That’s no problem,’ said Gou-er. ‘I’ll tell you what to do. You take young Ban-er with you and ask for Old Zhou that stayed in service with your lady after she married. If you tell them you’ve come to see him, it will give you an excuse for the visit. Old Zhou once entrusted a bit of business to my father. He used to be very friendly with us at one time.’

‘I knew all about that,’ said Grannie Liu. ‘But it’s a long time since you had anything to do with him and hard to say how he may prove after all these years. Howsomever. Being a man, you naturally can’t go in your present pickle; and a young married woman like my daughter can’t go gallivanting around the countryside showing herself to everybody. But as my old face is tough enough to stand a slap or two, it’s up to me to go. So be it, then. If any good does come of the visit, we shall all of us benefit.’

And so, that very evening, the matter was settled.

Next day Grannie Liu was up before dawn. As soon as she had washed and done her hair, she set about teaching Ban-er a few words to say to the ladies at the great house – an exercise to which he submitted cheerfully enough, as would any little boy of four or five who had been promised an outing to the great city. That done, she set off on her journey, and in due course made her way to Two Dukes Street. There, at each side of the stone lions which flanked the gates of the Rong Mansion, she saw a cluster of horses and palanquins. Not daring to go straight up, she first dusted down her clothes and rehearsed Ban-er’s little repertoire of phrases before sidling up to one of the side entrances.

A number of important-looking gentlemen sat in the gateway sunning their bellies and discoursing with animated gestures on a wide variety of topics. Grannie Liu waddled up to them and offered a respectful salutation. After looking her up and down for a moment or two, they asked her her business. Grannie Liu smiled ingratiatingly.

‘I’ve come to see Old Zhou that used to be in service with Her Ladyship before she married. Could I trouble one of you gentlemen to fetch him out for me?’

The gentlemen ignored her request and returned to their discussion. After she had waited there for some considerable time one of them said, ‘If you stand at that gate along there on the corner, someone from inside the house should be coming out presently.’

But a more elderly man among them protested that it was ‘a shame to send her on a fool’s errand’, and turning to Grannie Liu he said, ‘Old Zhou is away in the South at the moment, but his missus is still at home. She lives round at the back. You’ll have to go from here round to the back gate in the other street and ask for her there.’

Grannie Liu thanked him and trotted off with little Ban-er all the way round to the rear entrance. There she found a number of sweetmeat vendors and toy-sellers who had set their wares down outside the gate and were being beseiged by a crowd of some twenty or thirty noisy, yelling children. She grabbed a small urchin from their midst and drew him towards her.

‘Tell me, sonny, is there a Mrs Zhou living here?’

The urchin stared back at her impudently.

‘Which Mrs Zhou? There are several Mrs Zhous here. What’s her job?’

‘She’s the Mrs Zhou that came here with Her Ladyship when she was married.’

‘That’s easy,’ said the urchin. ‘Follow me!’

He led Grannie Liu into a rear courtyard. ‘That’s where she lives,’ he said, pointing in the direction of a side wall. Then, bawling over the wall, ‘Mrs Zhou, there’s an old woman come to see you!’

Zhou Rui’s wife came hurrying out and asked who it was.

‘How are you, my dear?’ said Grannie Liu, advancing with a smile. Zhou Rui’s wife scrutinized her questioningly for some moments before finally recognizing her.

‘Why, it’s Grannie Liu! How are you? It’s so many years since I saw you last, I’d forgotten all about you! Come in and sit down!’

Grannie Liu followed her cackling.

‘You know what they say: “Important people have short memories.” I wouldn’t expect you to remember the likes of us!’

When they were indoors, Zhou Rui’s wife ordered her little hired help to pour out some tea.

‘And hasn’t Ban-er grown a big boy!’ said Zhou Rui’s wife; then, after a few inquiries about the various things that had happened since they last met, she asked Grannie Liu about her visit.

‘Were you just passing by, or have you come specially?’

‘Well, of course, first and foremost we came to see you,’ replied Grannie Liu mendaciously, ‘but we were also hoping to pay our respects to Her Ladyship. If you could take us to see her, that would be very nice; but if that’s not possible, perhaps we could trouble you just to give her our regards.’

From the tone of this reply Zhou Rui’s wife was already able to make a pretty good guess as to the real purpose of the old woman’s visit; but because some years previously her husband had received a lot of help from Gou-er’s father in a dispute over the purchase of some land, she could not very well reject Grannie Liu now, when she came to her as a suppliant. She was, in any case, anxious to demonstrate her own importance in the Jia household; and so the answer she gave her was a gracious one.

‘Don’t you worry, Grannie! After you’ve made such a long pilgrimage, we won’t let you go home without seeing a real Buddha! By rights, of course, Callers and Visitors has nothing to do with me. You see, we each have our own jobs here. My man’s is collecting the half-yearly rents in the spring and autumn; and when he’s not doing that, he takes the young masters out when they go on visits. That’s all he ever does. Now my job is to attend to their ladyships and the young mistresses when they go out. But being as how you are a relation of Her ladyship, and since you’ve put your confidence in me and turned to me to help you, I don’t mind breaking the rules for once and taking in a message.

‘There’s only one thing, though. I don’t expect you know, but things here are very different from what they were five years ago. Nowadays Her Ladyship doesn’t run things here any longer. It’s Master Lian’s wife who does all the managing – You’ll never guess who that is: Her Ladyship’s niece Wang Xi-feng. You know, Her Ladyship’s eldest brother’s daughter, that we used to call “Feng-ge” when she was a child.’

‘Bless you, my dear, for being such a help!’ said Grannie Liu.

‘Oh Grannie, how can you say such a thing?’ said Zhou Rui’s wife demurely. ‘You know what the old saying is, “He who helps others helps himself.” It’s only a question of saying a few words. No trouble at all.’

So saying, she instructed the little maid to slip quietly round to the back of old Lady Jia’s quarters and ask if they were serving lunch yet. The little maid departed on her errand and the two women resumed their conversation.

‘This Mrs Lian,’ said Grannie Liu: ‘she can’t be more than eighteen or nineteen years old. She must be a very capable young woman. Fancy her being able to run a great household like this!’

‘Oh Grannie, you have no idea!’ said Zhou Rui’s wife. ‘Mrs Lian may be young, but when it comes to doing things, she’s got an older head on her shoulders than any I’ve ever come across. She’s grown up to be a real beauty too, has Mrs Lian. But sharp! Well, if it ever comes to a slanging match, she can talk down ten grown men any day of the week! Wait till you meet her, and you’ll see what I mean. There’s only one thing, though. She’s a bit too strict with those beneath her.’

As she was speaking, the little maid came back, her errand completed.

‘They’ve finished serving lunch at Her Old Ladyship’s. Mrs Lian is still there.’

Zhou Rui’s wife hurriedly rose to her feet and urged Grannie Liu to do likewise.

‘Quick! After she comes out from there she’ll be free for a few minutes while she has her meal. We must try and catch her then. If we delay a moment longer, people will start coming in with messages and we shan’t have a chance to speak to her. And once she goes off for her afternoon nap, we’ve really lost her!’

Grannie Liu got off the kang, adjusted her clothing, conducted Ban-er through a rapid revision of his little stock of phrases and followed Zhou Rui’s wife through various twists and turns to Jia Lian’s quarters. Just before they reached them, Zhou Rui’s wife planted them both in a covered passage-way while she went on ahead round the screen wall and into the gate of the courtyard. First ascertaining that Wang Xi-feng had not yet left Lady Jia’s, she sought out Xi-feng’s chambermaid and principal confidante, Patience, and primed her with a full account of Grannie Liu’s antecedents.

‘She has come all this way today to pay her respects,’ she concluded. ‘At one time Her Ladyship used to see quite a lot of her, which is why I thought it would be in order for me to bring her in. I thought I would wait for the young mistress to come back and explain it all to her. I hope she won’t be angry with me for pushing myself forward.’

Patience at once made up her mind what to do.

‘Let them come in here. They can sit here while they are waiting.’

Zhou Rui’s wife went off again to fetch her charges. As they ascended the steps to the main reception room, a little maid lifted up the red carpet which served as a portière for them to enter. A strange, delicious fragrance seemed to reach forward and enfold them as they entered, producing in Grannie Liu the momentary sensation that she had been transported bodily to one of the celestial paradises. Their eyes, too, were dazzled by the bright and glittering things that filled the room. Temporarily speechless with wonder, Grannie Liu stood wagging her head, alternating clicks of admiration with pious ejaculations.

From the glittering reception room they passed to a room on the east side of it in which Jia Lian’s baby daughter slept. Patience, who was standing by the edge of the kang, made a rapid assessment of Grannie Liu and judged it sufficient to greet her with a civil ‘how-do-you-do’ and an invitation to be seated.

Grannie Liu looked at the silks and satins in which Patience was dressed, the gold and silver ornaments in her hair, her beauty of feature which in every respect corresponded with what she had been told of Wang Xi-feng, and taking the maid for the mistress, was on the point of greeting her as ‘Gou-er’s aunt’, when Zhou Rui’s wife introduced her as ‘Miss Patience’. Then, when Patience shortly afterwards addressed Zhou Rui’s wife as ‘Mrs Zhou’, she knew that this was no mistress but a very high-class maid. So Grannie Liu and Ban-er got up on the kang at one side, while Patience and Zhou Rui’s wife sat near the edge of it on the other, and a little maid came in and poured them all some tea.

Grannie Liu’s attention was distracted by a persistent tock tock tock tock not unlike the sound made by a flour-bolting machine, and she could not forbear glancing round her from time to time to see where it came from. Presently she caught sight of a sort of boxlike object fastened to one of the central pillars of the room, and a thing like the weight of a steelyard hanging down from it, which swung to and fro in ceaseless motion and appeared to be the source of the noise which had distracted her.

‘I wonder what that can be,’ she thought to herself, ‘and what it can be used for?’

As she studied the strange box, it suddenly gave forth a loud dong! like the sound of a bronze bell or a copper chime, which so startled the old lady that her eyes nearly popped out of her head. The dong! was followed in rapid succession by eight or nine others, and Grannie Liu was on the point of asking what it meant, when all the maids in the house began scurrying about shouting, ‘The mistress! The mistress! She’ll be coming out now!’ and Patience and Zhou Rui’s wife hurriedly rose to their feet.

‘Just stay here, Grannie,’ they said. ‘When it is time for you to see her, we shall come in and fetch you’; and they went off with the other servants to greet their mistress.

As Grannie Liu sat in silence, waiting with bated breath and head cocked to one side for her summons, she heard a far-off sound of laughter, followed presently by a sound of rustling dresses as between ten and twenty women entered the reception room and passed from it into the room beyond. Then two or three women bearing large red lacquer boxes took up their positions on the side nearest the room in which she sat and stood there waiting to be called. A voice in the far room called out, ‘Serve now, please!’ at which, to judge from the noises, most of the women scuttled off, leaving only the few who were waiting at table. A long silence ensued in which not so much as a cheep could be heard; then two women came in bearing a small, low table which they set down on the kang. It was covered with bowls and dishes containing all kinds of meat and fish, only one or two of which appeared to have been touched. At the sight of it Ban-er set up a clamour for some meat and was silenced by Grannie Liu with a resounding slap.

Just at that moment Zhou Rui’s wife appeared, her face all wreathed in smiles, and advanced towards Grannie Liu beckoning. Grannie Liu slipped off the kang, lifted down Ban-er, and exchanged a few hurried whispers with her in the reception room before waddling into the room beyond.

A dark-red patterned curtain hung from brass hooks over the doorway. Inside, under the window in the south wall, there was a kang covered with a dark-red carpet. At the east end of the kang, up against the wooden partition wall, were a backrest and bolster, both covered in gold brocade, and a large flat cushion for sitting on, also glittering with gold thread. Beside them stood a silver spittoon.

Wang Xi-feng had on a little cap of red sable, which she wore about the house for warmth, fastened on with a pearl-studded bandeau. She was dressed in a sprigged peach-pink gown, with an ermine-lined skirt of dark-red foreign crêpe underneath it, and a cloak of slate-blue silk with woven coloured insets and lining of grey squirrel around her shoulders. Her face was exquisitely made-up. She was sitting on the edge of the kang, her back straight as a ramrod, with a diminutive pair of tongs in her hand, removing the spent charcoal from a portable hand-warmer. Patience stood beside her carrying a covered teacup on a tiny inlaid lacquer tray. Xi-feng appeared not to have noticed her, for she neither reached out for the cup nor raised her head, but continued picking absorbedly at her hand-warmer. At last she spoke:

‘Why not ask them in, then?’

As she did so, she raised her head and saw Zhou Rui’s wife with her two charges already standing in front of her. She made a confused movement as if to rise to her feet, welcomed the old lady with a look of unutterable benevolence, and almost in the same breath said rather crossly to Zhou Rui’s wife, ‘Why didn’t you tell me?’

By this time Grannie Liu was already down on her knees and had touched her head several times to the floor in reverence to her ‘Aunt Feng’.

‘Stop her, Zhou dear!’ said Xi-feng in alarm. ‘She mustn’t do that, I am much too young! In any case, I don’t know her very well. I don’t know what sort of relations we are and what I should call her.’

‘This is the Grannie Liu I was just telling you about,’ said Zhou Rui’s wife.

Xi-feng nodded, and Grannie Liu sat herself down on the edge of the kang. Ban-er at once hid himself behind her back and neither threats nor blandishments would induce him to come out and make a bow to his ‘Auntie’.

‘Relations don’t come to see us much nowadays,’ said Xi-feng affably. ‘We are getting to be quite strangers with everybody. People who know us realize that it is because you are tired of us that you don’t visit us oftener; but some spiteful people who don’t know us so well think it’s our fault, because we have grown too proud.’

Grannie Liu invoked the Lord Buddha in pious disavowal of so shocking a view.

‘It’s hard times that keeps us away. We can’t afford to visit. We are afraid that if we came to see you looking the way we are, you would disown us; and even the people at the gate might think we were tramps!’

‘Now you are really being too hard on us! What if Grandfather did make a little bit of a name for himself and we do hold some miserable little appointment? What does it all amount to? It’s all empty show, really. You know what they say: “Even the Emperor has poor relations.” It would be strange indeed if we didn’t have a few!’

She turned to Zhou Rui’s wife.

‘Have you told Her Ladyship yet?’

‘No, ma’am. I was waiting for your instructions.’

‘Go and have a look, then. If she has anyone with her, you had better leave it; but if she is free, tell her about their visit and see what she says.’

Zhou Rui’s wife departed on her errand.

Xi-feng told one of the servants to give Ban-er a handful of sweets, and had just begun a desultory conversation with Grannie Liu when a number of domestics and underlings of either sex arrived to report on their duties.

‘I am entertaining a guest,’ said Xi-feng to Patience when she came in to announce their arrival. ‘Let them leave it until this evening. But if anyone has important business, bring them in and I will deal with it now.’

Patience went out and returned a minute later to say that she had asked them and no one had any business of special importance, so she had sent them all away. Xi-feng nodded.

At this point Zhou Rui’s wife returned with a message for Xi-feng.

‘Her Ladyship says she isn’t free today, but that if you will entertain them for her, it will be just the same as if she were to receive them herself. She says please thank them very much for coming. And she says if it’s just an ordinary visit she has nothing more to add; but if they have anything particular to say, she says tell them that they can say it to you instead.’

‘I hadn’t anything particular in mind,’ said Grannie Liu. ‘Only to look in on Her Ladyship and your mistress. Just a visit to relations.’

‘Well all right then, if you are sure you have nothing to say. But if you have got anything to say, you really ought to tell the mistress. It will be just the same as if you were to say it to Her Ladyship.’ Zhou Rui’s wife darted a meaningful look at Grannie Liu as she said this.

Grannie Liu perfectly well understood the significance of this look, and a blush of shame overspread her face. Yet if she did not speak up now, what would have been the purpose of her visit? She forced herself to say something.

‘By rights I ought not to mention it today, seeing that this is our first meeting: but as I have come such a long way to see you, it seems silly not to speak…’

She had got no further when the pages from the outer gate announced the arrival of ‘the young master from the Ning mansion’ and Xi-feng gestured to her to stop.

‘It’s all right. There is no need to tell me.’ She turned to the pages. ‘Where is Master Rong, then?’

A man’s footstep sounded outside and a fresh-faced, willowy youth of seventeen or eighteen in elegant and expensive-looking winter dress came into the room.

Grannie Liu, acutely embarrassed in this male presence, did not know whether to sit or stand, and looked round her in vain for somewhere to hide herself. Xi-feng laughed at her discomfiture.

‘Don’t mind him; just stay where you are! It’s only my nephew.’

With a good deal of girlish simpering Grannie Liu sat down again, perching herself obliquely on the extreme edge of the kang.

Jia Rong saluted his aunt Manchu fashion.

‘My father is entertaining an important visitor tomorrow and he wondered if he might borrow the little glass screen that your Uncle Wang’s wife gave you, to put on our kang while he is there. We can let you have it back again as soon as he has gone.’

‘You are too late,’ said Xi-feng. ‘I lent it yesterday to someone else.’

Jia Rong flashed a winning smile at her and half-knelt on the side of the kang.

‘If you won’t lend it, my father will say that I didn’t ask properly and I shall get a beating. Come on, Auntie, be a sport! Just for my sake!’

Xi-feng smiled maliciously.

‘I don’t know what’s so special about my family’s things. Heaven knows, you have enough stuff of your own over there; yet you have only to set eyes on anything of ours, and you want it for yourselves.’

Jia Rong’s smile flashed again.

‘Please, Auntie! Be merciful!’

‘If it’s the tiniest bit chipped,’ said Xi-feng, ‘I’ll have the hide off you!’

She ordered Patience to take the key of the upstairs room and get some reliable servants to carry it over. Delighted with his good luck, Jia Rong hurriedly forestalled her.

‘I’ll get some of my own people to carry it. Don’t put yours to a lot of trouble!’ and he hurried out.

Xi-feng suddenly seemed to remember something, and called to him through the window, ‘Rong, come back!’

Servants in the yard outside dutifully took up the cry, ‘Master Rong, you’re wanted back again!’

Jia Rong came hurrying back, wreathed in smiles, and looked at Xi-feng with eyebrows arched inquiringly.

Xi-feng, however, sipped very intently from her teacup and mused for a while, saying nothing. Suddenly her face flushed and she gave a little laugh:

‘It doesn’t matter. Come back again after supper. I’ve got company now, and besides, I don’t feel in the mood to tell you.’

‘Yes, Aunt,’ said Jia Rong, and pursing his lips up in a complacent smile he sauntered slowly out of the room.

Having all this while had time to collect herself, Grannie Liu began her speech again:

‘The real reason I have brought your little nephew here today is because his Pa and Ma haven’t anything in the house to eat, and the weather is getting colder, and – and – I thought I’d bring him here to see you…’ She gave Ban-er a despairing push. ‘What did your Pa tell you to say when we got here? What was it he sent us for? Look at you! All you can do is sit there eating sweets!’

It was abundantly clear to Xi-feng that the old lady was too embarrassed to go on, and she put her out of her misery with a gracious smile.

‘It’s quite all right. There is no need to tell me. I quite understand.’ She turned to Zhou Rui’s wife. ‘I wonder if Grannie has eaten yet today?’

‘We were on our way first thing this morning,’ Grannie Liu chimed in. ‘There was no time to think about eating.’

Xi-feng gave orders for a meal to be brought in, and Zhou Rui’s wife went out and presently reappeared with a guest’s portion of various choice dishes on a little table, which she set down in the east wing, and to which she then conducted Grannie Liu and Ban-er for their meal.

‘Zhou, dear,’ said Xi-feng, ‘will you keep them company and see that they have enough to eat? I shan’t be able to sit with them myself.’ Then calling her aside for a moment she asked, ‘What did Her Ladyship say when you went to report about them just now?’

‘She said they don’t really belong to the family but were adopted into the clan years ago when your grandfather and theirs were working in the same office. She said they haven’t been round much of late years, but in the old days when they used to visit us we never sent them back empty-handed. She said it was nice of them to come and see us today and we should be careful to treat them considerately. And she said if they appear to want anything, she would leave it to you to decide what we should do for them.’

‘No wonder!’ exclaimed Xi-feng when she had heard this account. ‘I couldn’t understand how they could be really related to us if I had never even heard of them.’

While they were talking, Grannie Liu came back from the other room having already finished eating, smacking her lips and sucking her teeth appreciatively, and voicing her thanks for the repast.

‘Sit down,’ said Xi-feng with a smile. ‘I have something to say to you. I quite understand what you were trying to tell me just now. As we are relations, we ought by rights not to wait for you to come to our door before helping you when you are in trouble; but there are so many things to attend to in this family, and now that Her Ladyship is getting on a bit she doesn’t always remember them all. And since I took over the management of the household, I find there are quite a lot of relations that I don’t even know about. And then again, of course, though we may look thriving enough from the outside, people don’t realize that being a big establishment like ours carries its own difficulties. They won’t believe it if you tell them, but it’s true. However, since you have come such a long way, and since this is the first time you have ever said a word about needing help, we obviously can’t let you go back empty-handed. Fortunately it so happens that I still haven’t touched any of the twenty taels of silver that Her Ladyship gave me the other day to make clothes for the maids with. If you don’t mind it being so little, you are very welcome to take it.’

When Grannie Liu heard Xi-feng talk about ‘difficulties’ she concluded that there was no hope. Her delight and the way in which her face lit up with pleasure when she heard that she was, after all, to be given twenty taels of silver can be imagined.

‘We knew you had your troubles,’ she said, ‘but as the saying goes, “A starved camel is bigger than a fat horse.” Say what you like, a hair plucked from your arm is thicker than a man’s waist to folks like us!’

Horrified by the crudity of these expressions, Zhou Rui’s wife, who was standing by, was meanwhile signalling frantically to the old lady to stop. But Xi-feng laughed quite unconcernedly and told Patience to wrap up the silver and also to fetch a string of cash to go with it. The money was set down in front of Grannie Liu.

‘Here is the twenty taels of silver,’ said Xi-feng. ‘Take this for the time being to make some winter clothes for the children with. Some time later on, when you have nothing better to do, look in on us for a day or two for kinship’s sake. It’s late now, so I won’t try to keep you. Give our regards to everybody who ought to be remembered when you get back!’

She rose to her feet, and Grannie Liu, with heartfelt expressions of gratitude, picked up the money and followed Zhou Rui’s wife out of the room.

‘My dear good woman,’ said the latter when they were out of earshot, ‘whatever came over you? First, when you met her, you couldn’t get a word out; then, when you did start talking, it was all “your nephew” this and “your nephew” that! I hope you won’t mind my saying so, but even if the child was a real nephew you would still need to go a bit easy on the familiarities. Now Master Rong, he is her real nephew. That’s the sort of person a lady like that calls “nephew”. Where she would come by a nephew like this one, I just do not know!’

‘My dear,’ replied Grannie Liu with a laugh, ‘when I saw the pretty little darling sitting there, I took such a liking to her that my heart was too full to speak.’

Back in Zhou Rui’s quarters the two women sat talking for a while. Grannie Liu wanted to leave a piece of silver to buy something for the Zhou children with, but Zhou Rui’s wife said she wouldn’t hear of it and refused absolutely to accept anything. And so, with many expressions of gratitude, the old lady took her leave and set out once more through the back gate of the mansion.

And if you want to know what happened after she had left, you will have to read the next chapter.