第九回
第九回 恋风流情友入家塾 起嫌疑顽童闹学堂
话说秦业父子专候贾家的人来送上学择日之信。原来宝玉急于要和秦钟相遇，却顾不得别的，遂择了后日一定上学。“后日一早请秦相公到我这里，会齐了，一同前去。”——打发了人送了信。
至是日一早，宝玉起来时，袭人早已把书笔文物包好，收拾的停停妥妥，坐在床沿上发闷。见宝玉醒来，只得服侍他梳洗。宝玉见他闷闷的，因笑问道：“好姐姐，你怎么又不自在了？难道怪我上学去丢的你们冷清了不成？”袭人笑道：“这是那里话。读书是极好的事，不然就潦倒一辈子，终久怎么样呢。但只一件：只是念书的时节想着书，不念的时节想着家些。别和他们一处顽闹，碰见老爷不是顽的。虽说是奋志要强，那工课宁可少些，一则贪多嚼不烂，二则身子也要保重。这就是我的意思，你可要体谅。”袭人说一句，宝玉应一句。袭人又道：“大毛衣服[1]我也包好了，交出给小子们去了。学里冷，好歹想着添换，比不得家里有人照顾。脚炉手炉的炭也交出去了，你可着他们添。那一起懒贼，你不说，他们乐得不动，白冻坏了你。”宝玉道：“你放心，出外头我自己都会调停的。你们也别闷死在这屋里，长和林妹妹一处去顽笑着才好。”说着，俱已穿戴齐备，袭人催他去见贾母、贾政、王夫人等。宝玉又去嘱咐了晴雯麝月等几句，方出来见贾母。贾母也未免有几句嘱咐的话。然后去见王夫人，又出来书房中见贾政。
偏生这日贾政回家早些，正在书房中与相公清客们闲谈。忽见宝玉进来请安，回说上学里去，贾政冷笑道：“你如果再提‘上学’两个字，连我也羞死了。依我的话，你竟顽你的去是正理。仔细站脏了我这地，靠脏了我的门！”众清客相公们都早起身笑道：“老世翁何必又如此。今日世兄一去，三二年就可显身成名的了，断不似往年仍作小儿之态了。天也将饭时，世兄竟快请罢。”说着便有两个年老的携了宝玉出去。
贾政因问：“跟宝玉的是谁？”只听外面答应了两声，早进来三四个大汉，打千儿请安。贾政看时，认得是宝玉的奶母之子，名唤李贵。因向他道：“你们成日家跟他上学，他到底念了些什么书！倒念了些流言混语在肚子里，学了些精致的淘气。等我闲一闲，先揭了你的皮，再和那不长进的算帐！”吓的李贵忙双膝跪下，摘了帽子，碰头[2]有声，连连答应“是”，又回说：“哥儿已念到第三本《诗经》，什么‘呦呦鹿鸣，荷叶浮萍’[3]，小的不敢撒谎。”说的满座哄然大笑起来。贾政也撑不住笑了。因说道：“那怕再念三十本《诗经》，也都是掩耳偷铃，哄人而已。你去请学里太爷的安，就说我说了：什么《诗经》古文[4]，一概不用虚应故事[5]，只是先把《四书》一气讲明背熟，是最要紧的。”李贵忙答应“是”，见贾政无话，方退出去。
此时宝玉独站在院外屏声静候，待他们出来，便忙忙的走了。李贵等一面掸衣服，一面说道：“哥儿听见了不曾？可先要揭我们的皮呢！人家的奴才跟主子赚些好体面，我们这等奴才白陪着挨打受骂的。从此后也可怜见些才好。”宝玉笑道：“好哥哥，你别委曲，我明儿请你。”李贵道：“小祖宗，谁敢望你请，只求听一句半句话就有了。”说着，又至贾母这边，秦钟早来候着了，贾母正和他说话儿呢。于是二人见过，辞了贾母。宝玉忽想起未辞黛玉，因又忙至黛玉房中来作辞。彼时黛玉才在窗下对镜理妆，听宝玉说上学去，因笑道：“好，这一去，可定是要‘蟾宫折桂’[6]去了。我不能送你了。”宝玉道：“好妹妹，等我下了学再吃饭。和胭脂膏子也等我来再制。”劳叨了半日，方撤身去了。黛玉忙又叫住问道：“你怎么不去辞辞你宝姐姐呢？”宝玉笑而不答，一径同秦钟上学去了。
原来这贾家之义学，离此也不甚远，不过一里之遥，原系始祖所立，恐族中子弟有贫穷不能请师者，即入此中肄业。凡族中有官爵之人，皆供给银两，按俸之多寡帮助，为学中之费。特共举年高有德之人为塾掌[7]，专为训课子弟。如今宝秦二人来了，一一的都互相拜见过，读起书来。自此以后，他二人同来同往，同坐同起，愈加亲密。又兼贾母爱惜，也时常的留下秦钟，住上三天五日，与自己的重孙一般疼爱。因见秦钟不甚宽裕，更又助他些衣履等物。不上一月之工，秦钟在荣府便熟了。宝玉终是不安本分之人，竟一味的随心所欲，因此又发了癖性，又特向秦钟悄说道：“咱们俩个人一样的年纪，况又是同窗，以后不必论叔侄，只论弟兄朋友就是了。”先是秦钟不肯，当不得宝玉不依，只叫他“兄弟”，或叫他的表字“鲸卿”，秦钟也只得混着乱叫起来。
原来这学中虽都是本族人丁与些亲戚的子弟，俗语说的好：“一龙生九种，九种各别。”[8]未免人多了，就有龙蛇混杂，下流人物在内。自宝、秦二人来了，都生的花朵儿一般的模样，又见秦钟腼腆温柔，未语面先红，怯怯羞羞，有女儿之风；宝玉又是天生成惯能作小服低，赔身下气，情性体贴，话语绵缠，因此二人更加亲厚，也怨不得那起同窗人起了疑，背地里你言我语，诟谇谣诼[9]，布满书房内外。
原来薛蟠自来王夫人处住后，便知有一家学，学中广有青年子弟，不免偶动了龙阳之兴[10]，因此也假来上学读书，不过是三日打鱼，两日晒网，白送些束脩[11]礼物与贾代儒，却不曾有一些儿进益，只图结交些契弟[12]。谁想这学内就有好几个小学生，图了薛蟠的银钱吃穿，被他哄上手的，也不消多记。更又有两个多情的小学生，亦不知是那一房的亲眷，亦未考真名姓，只因生得妩媚风流，满学中都送了他两个外号，一号“香怜”，一号“玉爱”。虽都有窃慕之意，将不利于孺子之心[13]，只是都惧薛蟠的威势，不敢来沾惹。如今宝、秦二人一来，见了他两个，也不免绻缱羡慕，亦因知系薛蟠相知，故未敢轻举妄动。香、玉二人心中，也一般的留情与宝、秦。因此四人心中虽有情意，只未发迹。每日一入学中，四处各坐，却八目勾留，或设言托意，或咏桑寓柳[14]，遥以心照，却外面自为避人眼目。不意偏又有几个滑贼看出形景来，都背后挤眉弄眼，或咳嗽扬声，这也非止一日。
可巧这日代儒有事，早已回家去了，只留下一句七言对联，命学生对了，明日再来上书；将学中之事，又命贾瑞暂且管理。妙在薛蟠如今不大来学中应卯[15]了，因此秦钟趁此和香怜挤眉弄眼，递暗号儿，二人假装出小恭，走至后院说梯己话[16]。秦钟先问他：“家里的大人可管你交朋友不管？”一语未了，只听背后咳嗽了一声。二人唬的忙回头看时，原来是窗友名金荣者。香怜有些性急，羞怒相激，问他道：“你咳嗽什么？难道不许我两个说话不成？”金荣笑道：“许你们说话，难道不许我咳嗽不成？我只问你们：有话不明说，许你们这样鬼鬼祟祟的干什么故事？我可也拿住了，还赖什么！先得让我抽个头[17]儿，咱们一声儿不言语，不然大家就奋起来[18]。”秦、香二人急的飞红的脸，便问道：“你拿住什么了？”金荣笑道：“我现拿住了是真的。”说着，又拍着手笑嚷道：“贴的好烧饼！你们都不买一个吃去？”秦钟香怜二人又气又急，忙进去向贾瑞前告金荣，说金荣无故欺负他两个。
原来这贾瑞最是个图便宜没行止的人，每在学中以公报私，勒索子弟们请他；后又附助着薛蟠图些银钱酒肉，一任薛蟠横行霸道，他不但不去管约，反助纣为虐[19]讨好儿。偏那薛蟠本是浮萍心性，今日爱东，明日爱西，近来又有了新朋友，把香、玉二人又丢开一边。就连金荣亦是当日的好朋友，自有了香、玉二人，便弃了金荣〔一〕。近日连香、玉亦已见弃。故贾瑞也无了提携帮衬之人，不说薛蟠得新弃旧，只怨香、玉二人不在薛蟠前提携帮补他，因此贾瑞金荣等一干人，也正在醋妒他两个。今见秦、香二人来告金荣，贾瑞心中便更不自在起来，虽不好呵叱秦钟，却拿着香怜作法[21]，反说他多事，着实抢白了几句。香怜反讨了没趣，连秦钟也讪讪的各归坐位去了。金荣越发得了意，摇头咂嘴的，口内还说许多闲话，玉爱偏又听了不忿[22]，两个人隔座咕咕唧唧的角起口来。金荣只一口咬定说：“方才明明的撞见他两个在后院子里亲嘴摸屁股，一对一肏，撅草根儿抽长短，谁长谁先干。”金荣只顾得意乱说，却不防还有别人。谁知早又触怒了一个。你道这个是谁？
原来这一个名唤贾蔷，亦系宁府中之正派玄孙，父母早亡，从小儿跟着贾珍过活，如今长了十六岁，比贾蓉生的还风流俊俏。他弟兄二人最相亲厚，常相共处。宁府人多口杂，那些不得志的奴仆们，专能造言诽谤主人，因此不知又有什么小人诟谇谣诼之词。贾珍想亦风闻得些口声不大好，自己也要避些嫌疑，如今竟分与房舍，命贾蔷搬出宁府，自去立门户过活去了。
这贾蔷外相既美，内性又聪明，虽然应名来上学，亦不过虚掩眼目而已。仍是斗鸡走狗，赏花玩柳。总恃上有贾珍溺爱，下有贾蓉匡助[23]，因此族人谁敢来触逆于他。他既和贾蓉最好，今见有人欺负秦钟，如何肯依？如今自己要挺身出来报不平，心中却忖度一番，想道：“金荣贾瑞一干人，都是薛大叔的相知，向日我又与薛大叔相好，倘或我一出头，他们告诉了老薛，我们岂不伤和气？待要不管，如此谣言，说的大家没趣。如今何不用计制伏，又止息口声，又伤不了脸面。”想毕，也装作出小恭，走至外面，悄悄的把跟宝玉的书童名唤茗烟者唤到身边，如此这般，调拨他几句。
这茗烟乃是宝玉第一个得用的，且又年轻不谙世事，如今听贾蔷说金荣如此欺负秦钟，连他爷宝玉都干连在内，不给他个利害，下次越发狂纵难制了。这茗烟无故就要欺压人的，如今得了这个信，又有贾蔷助着，便一头进来找金荣，也不叫金相公了，只说“姓金的，你是什么东西！”贾蔷遂跺一跺靴子，故意整整衣服，看看日影儿说：“是时候了。”遂先向贾瑞说有事要早走一步。贾瑞不敢强他，只得随他去了。这里茗烟先一把揪住金荣，问道：“我们肏屁股不肏屁股，管你相干，横竖没肏你爹去罢了！你是好小子，出来动一动你茗大爷！”唬的满屋中子弟都怔怔的痴望。贾瑞忙吆喝：“茗烟不得撒野！”金荣气黄了脸，说：“反了！奴才小子都敢如此，我只和你主子说。”便夺手要去抓打宝玉秦钟。尚未去时，从脑后飕的一声，早见一方砚瓦飞来，并不知系何人打来的，幸未打着，却又打在旁人的座上，这座上乃是贾兰贾菌。
这贾菌亦系荣国府近派的重孙，其母亦少寡，独守着贾菌。这贾菌与贾兰最好，所以二人同桌而坐。谁知贾菌年纪虽小，志气最大，极是淘气不怕人的。他在座上冷眼看见金荣的朋友暗助金荣，飞砚来打茗烟，偏没打着茗烟，便落在他桌上，正打在面前，将一个磁砚水壶打了个粉碎，溅了一书黑水。贾菌如何依得，便骂：“好囚攮的们，这不都动了手了么！”骂着，也便抓起砚砖来要打回去。贾兰是个省事的，忙按住砚，极口劝道：“好兄弟，不与咱们相干。”贾菌如何忍得住，便两手抱起书匣子来，照那边抡了去。终是身小力薄，却抡不到那里，刚到宝玉秦钟桌案上就落了下来。只听哗啷啷一声，砸在桌上，书本纸片等至于笔砚之物撒了一桌，又把宝玉的一碗茶也砸得碗碎茶流。贾菌便跳出来，要揪打那一个飞砚的。
金荣此时随手抓了一根毛竹大板在手，地狭人多，那里经得舞动长板。茗烟早吃了一下，乱嚷：“你们还不来动手！”宝玉还有三个小厮：一名锄药，一名扫红，一名墨雨。这三个岂有不淘气的，一齐乱嚷：“小妇养的！动了兵器了！”墨雨遂掇[24]起一根门闩，扫红锄药手中都是马鞭子，蜂拥而上。贾瑞急的拦一回这个，劝一回那个，谁听他的话，肆行大闹。众顽童也有趁势帮着打太平拳[25]助乐的，也有胆小藏在一边的，也有直立在桌上拍着手儿乱笑，喝着声儿叫打的。登时间鼎沸起来。
外边李贵等几个大仆人听见里边作起反来，忙都进来一齐喝住。问是何原故，众声不一，这一个如此说，那一个又如彼说。李贵且喝骂了茗烟四个一顿，撵了出去。秦钟的头早撞在金荣的板上，打起一层油皮，宝玉正拿褂襟子替他揉呢，见喝住了众人，便命：“李贵，收书！拉马来，我去回太爷去！我们被人欺负了，不敢说别的，守礼来告诉瑞大爷，瑞大爷反倒派我们的不是，听着人家骂我们，还调唆他们打我们。茗烟见人欺负我，他岂有不为我的；他们反打伙儿打了茗烟，连秦钟的头也打破了。还在这里念什么书！茗烟他也是为有人欺侮我的。不如散了罢。”李贵劝道：“哥儿不要性急。太爷既有事回家去了，这会子为这点子事去聒噪他老人家，倒显的咱们没理。依我的主意，那里的事那里了结好，何必去惊动他老人家。这都是瑞大爷的不是，太爷不在这里，你老人家就是这学里的头脑了，众人看着你行事。众人有了不是，该打的打，该罚的罚，如何等闹到这步田地还不管？”贾瑞道：“我吆喝着都不听。”李贵〔二〕笑道：“不怕你老人家恼我，素日你老人家到底有些不正经，所以这些兄弟才不听。就闹到太爷跟前去，连你老人家也是脱不过的。还不快作主意撕罗[27]开了罢。”宝玉道：“撕罗什么？我必是回去的！”秦钟哭道：“有金荣，我是不在这里念书的。”宝玉道：“这是为什么？难道有人家来的，咱们倒来不得？我必回明白众人，撵了金荣去。”又问李贵：“金荣是那一房的亲戚？”李贵想了一想道：“也不用问了。若问起那一房的亲戚，更伤了兄弟们的和气。”
茗烟在窗外道：“他是东胡同子里璜大奶奶的侄儿。那是什么硬正仗腰子的[28]，也来唬我们。璜大奶奶是他姑娘。你那姑妈只会打旋磨子[29]，给我们琏二奶奶跪着借当头[30]。我眼里就看不起他那样的主子奶奶！”李贵忙断喝不止，说：“偏你这小狗肏的知道，有这些蛆嚼[31]！”宝玉冷笑道：“我只当是谁的亲戚，原来是璜嫂子的侄儿，我就去问问他来！”说着便要走。叫茗烟进来包书。茗烟包着书，又得意道：“爷也不用自己去见，等我到他家，就说老太太有说的话问他呢，雇上一辆车拉进去，当着老太太问他，岂不省事。”李贵忙喝道：“你要死！仔细回去我好不好先捶了你，然后再回老爷太太，就说宝玉全是你调唆的。我这里好容易劝哄好了一半了，你又来生个新法子。你闹了学堂，不说变法儿压息了才是，倒要往大里闹！”茗烟方不敢作声儿了。
此时贾瑞也怕闹大了，自己也不干净，只得委曲着来央告秦钟，又央告宝玉。先是他二人不肯。后来宝玉说：“不回去也罢了，只叫金荣赔不是便罢。”金荣先是不肯，后来禁不得贾瑞也来逼他去赔不是，李贵等只得好劝金荣说：“原是你起的端，你不这样，怎得了局？”金荣强不得，只得与秦钟作了揖。宝玉还不依，偏定要磕头。贾瑞只要暂息此事，又悄悄的劝金荣说：“俗语说的好：‘杀人不过头点地。’你既惹出事来，少不得下点气儿，磕个头就完事了。”金荣无奈，只得进前来与秦钟〔三〕磕头。且听下回分解。
[1] 大毛衣服——大毛：相对“小毛”而言，通常指白狐皮，也泛指其它狐、貂、猞猁等贵重皮毛中长毛可御严寒的直毛皮筩子。用这种皮筩子做的皮袄，叫作大毛衣服。
[2] 碰头——指磕响头。
[3] “呦呦鹿鸣”二句——《诗经·小雅·鹿鸣》：“呦呦鹿鸣，食野之苹。”“荷叶浮萍”是李贵学舌闹出的笑话。
[4] 古文——通常指先秦两汉以及唐宋八大家的散文。
[5] 虚应故事——照旧例行事，敷衍应付。故事：犹言成例、老例。
[6] 蟾宫折桂——晋代文士郤诜（xìshēn戏身）因长于答对策问当上了官，他认为自己“举贤良对策，为天下第一，犹桂林之一枝，昆山之片玉。”见《晋书·郤诜传》。后遂以“折桂”比喻科举及第。又因传说蟾宫（月宫）中有桂树，所以又把折桂与蟾宫联系起来。
[7] 塾掌——塾：私塾。旧时民间办的学校。《礼·学记》：“古之教者，家有塾，党有庠，术（街道）有序，国有学。”私塾的主管者，叫“塾掌”。
[8] 一龙生九种，九种各别——俗传龙生九子不成龙，各有所好。九子说法不一。明代杨慎《升庵外集》以为是：屃、螭吻、蒲牢、狴犴、饕餮、、睚眦、狻猊、椒图。这里以喻贾府族大人多，好坏不一，各种各样的人都有。
[9] 诟谇（ɡòu suì够碎）谣诼（zhuó浊）——诟谇：辱骂斥责。谣诼：造谣诽谤。《离骚》：“众女嫉余之蛾眉兮，谣诼谓余以善淫。”
[10] 龙阳之兴——即喜好男色。战国时有个叫龙阳君的人，以男色事魏王而得宠。见《战国策·魏策》。后世因以“龙阳”代指“男色”。
[11] 束脩（xiū休）——脩：干肉。十条干肉扎成一束，叫束脩。古代见面礼之最薄者。《论语·述而》：“自行束脩以上，吾未尝无诲焉。”原指孔子的学生向他送的见面礼，后世遂用作学费的代称。
[12] 契弟——气味相投的兄弟。这里含有男色的意思。
[13] 将不利于孺子之心——语出《尚书·金縢》。周武王死时，其子成王年幼，成王之叔周公旦摄政，管叔、蔡叔、霍叔等诸叔散布流言说：“公将不利于孺子。”意思是说，周公要篡夺成王的王位。这里是说有人想在这两个孩子身上打主意。孺子：小孩子；小后生。
[14] 咏桑寓柳——借咏赞桑树来赞美柳树，喻表面称赞某一事物，实际寓托着对另一事物的真实感情。
[15] 应卯——古代军营、官府点名都在卯时（上午五时至七时），故称点名为“点卯”。应卯：到班应名；也常引申为按例到场，应付差事。
[16] 梯己话——私下里的知心话。“梯己”亦作“体己”，意即私人的、贴心的。私蓄亦可称作“梯己”。
[17] 抽头——原指设局聚赌抽取头钱以获利，这里是占便宜的意思。
[18] 奋起来——声张开来的意思。
[19] 助纣为虐——亦作“助桀为虐”。比喻帮助恶人作坏事。桀、纣：夏、商两朝的末代君主，史称暴君。
〔一〕 “便弃了金荣”，底本、卞藏本作“见弃于金”，俄藏本作“渐弃了金荣”。从蒙府、戚序本改。
[21] 作法（zā fá扎筏）——方言，又作“扎筏子”、“扎罚子”等。意为找岔头、找借口，拿某人“作法”，意即拿某人当作出气或立威的对象，以儆其馀。
[22] 不忿——不高兴，不服气。
[23] 匡助——帮助，辅助。
[24] 掇（duō多）——拾取。
[25] 打太平拳——别人打架，在旁趁机捅几下冷拳，因不易为人发觉，所以叫“打太平拳”。
〔二〕 “李贵”，原系“李瑞”点改，各本均作“李贵”，从。
[27] 撕罗——调停，解决。
[28] 硬正仗腰子的——犹言硬的后台。仗腰子的：也作“仗腰眼子的”，指可作依仗的靠山。
[29] 打旋（xué学）磨子——围着人打转转，向人献殷勤的意思。
[30] 借当头——旧时用实物作抵押去当铺借钱叫当或典当，用作抵押典质的东西叫当头。借别人的东西去当铺典当，叫作“借当头”。
[31] 蛆嚼——即嚼蛆。骂人胡说八道的意思。
〔三〕 “秦钟”，底本作“宝玉”，卞藏本作“宝玉秦钟”。从戚序本改。
CHAPTER 9. A son is admonished and Li Gui receives an alarming warning A pupil is abused and Tealeaf throws the classroom in an uproar
In the last chapter we left Qin Bang-ye and his son waiting for a message from the Jia household to tell them when Qin Zhong was to begin school. Bao-yu was impatient to see Qin Zhong again and sent word to say that it was to be the day after next.
When the appointed day arrived, Bao-yu rose in the morning to find that Aroma had already got his books, brushes and other writing materials ready for him and was sitting disconsolately on the side of his bed. Seeing him get up, she roused herself and helped him to do his hair and wash. He asked her the cause of her despondency.
‘What’s upset you this time, Aroma? I can’t believe you are worried about being left alone while I am at school.’
‘Of course not!’ said Aroma with a laugh. ‘Learning is a very good thing. Without it you would fritter all your life away and never get anywhere. I only hope that you’ll see to it that you are learning when you are meant to be and that, when you are not, you will be thinking about home and not getting into scrapes with the other boys; because then you would be in real trouble with your father. And though you talk a lot about the need for effort and self-improvement, it would really be better to do too little work than too much. For one thing you don’t want to bite off more than you can chew; and for another you don’t want your health to suffer. At least, that’s how it seems to me, so you mustn’t mind my saying so.’
Each time Aroma paused, Bao-yu answered ‘Yes’ or ‘No’. She continued:
‘I have packed your big fur gown for the pages to take. Mind you put it on if you find it cold at the school. It won’t be like here, where there is always someone else to think of these things for you. I’ve also given them your foot-warmer and your hand-warmer. You’ll have to see that they give the charcoal a stir from time to time. They’re such a lazy pack of good-for-nothings, they’ll be only too pleased to do nothing if you don’t stand over them. You could freeze to death for all they cared.’
‘Don’t worry!’ said Bao-yu. ‘I know how to do it myself. And don’t go getting gloomy, all of you, cooped up here while I am away. Try to spend as much time as you can with my Cousin Lin.’
His dressing was now completed and Aroma urged him to begin his visits to Grandmother Jia, Jia Zheng and Lady Wang. After a few parting instructions to Skybright and Musk, he went off to his grandmother’s, where he had to listen to more admonitions, then on to Lady Wang’s, and then outside to the study to see his father, Jia Zheng.
Jia Zheng was in conversation with his literary gentlemen when Bao-yu entered the room and made his salutation. Hearing him announce that he was off to school to resume his studies, Jia Zheng smiled sarcastically.
‘I think you had better not use that word “studies” again in my hearing, unless you want to make me blush for you. In my opinion you might just as well be left to fool around as before, since that is all you seem fit for. At all events, I don’t want you here. I find your presence in a place like this contaminating.’
The literary gentlemen rose to their feet with nervous laughter.
‘Come, come, Sir Zheng! You are too hard on him! Two or three years from now our young friend will be carrying all before him! He has left his old, childish ways behind him now – haven’t you boy? Quite reformed. Come!’ – two of the older men took Bao-yu by the hands and hurried him from the room – ‘I am sure it must be time now for your breakfast. To breakfast! To breakfast!’
Jia Zheng asked who was in attendance on Bao-yu. There was a ringing ‘Sir!’ from outside, and three or four strapping fellows entered the study and saluted Manchu fashion. Jia Zheng recognized the foremost one as Li Gui, the son of Bao-yu’s old wet-nurse, Nannie Li, and addressed himself to him.
‘You have attended Bao-yu during all his lessons in the past. What precisely has he been doing? Stuffing his head with worthless nonsense and acquiring a fine new stock of knavish tricks, I shouldn’t wonder! Wait until I have a little time to spare: I’ll have your hide off first and then settle accounts with that good-for-nothing son of mine!’
‘Sir!’
Li Gui sank terrified to his knees, snatched off his cap, and knocked the ground several times with his forehead.
‘Master Bao has read the first three books of the Poetry Classic, sir, up to the part that goes
Hear the happy bleeding deer
Grousing in the vagrant meads…
That’s the truth, sir. I wouldn’t tell a lie.’
This novel version of the well-known lines provoked a roar of laughter from the literary gentlemen. Even Jia Zheng could not restrain a smile.
‘If he read thirty books of the Poetry Classic,’ said Jia Zheng, ‘it would still be tomfoolery. No doubt he hopes to deceive others with this sort of thing, but he does not deceive me. Give my compliments to the Headmaster and tell him from me that I want none of this trifling with the Poetry Classic or any other ancient literature. It is of the utmost importance that he should thoroughly understand and learn by heart the whole Four Books before he attempts anything else.’
‘Sir!’
Seeing that Jia Zheng had nothing more to say, Li Gui and the other servants rose to their feet again and withdrew.
All this time Bao-yu had been waiting for them in the courtyard outside, scarcely daring to breathe. As they came out, dusting their knees, Li Gui said,
‘Did you hear that, young master? “Have my hide off first” he said. Some people’s servants are respected for their masters’ sakes, but not us. All we get is beatings and hard words. So spare a thought for us in future, will you?’
‘Don’t be upset, old chap!’ said Bao-yu. ‘Tomorrow I’ll treat you all.’
‘Little ancestor,’ Li Gui replied, ‘nobody’s looking for treats. All we ask is that once in a while – just once in a while – you should do what you are told.’
They were now back at Grandmother Jia’s apartment. Qin Zhong had already arrived and was engaged in conversation with the old lady. As soon as the two friends had greeted each other they took their leave.
Bao-yu suddenly remembered that he had not yet seen Dai-yu and hurried to her room to say good-bye. He found her by the window making herself up at the mirror. Her answer to his announcement that he was off to begin school was smiling but perfunctory:
‘Good. I wish you every success. I’m sorry I can’t see you off.’
‘Wait till I get back and have had my supper, cousin,’ said Bao-yu, ‘and I will give you a hand with that rouge.’
He chatted with her for quite a bit longer before finally tearing himself away. As he was going she suddenly called after him so that he stopped:
‘Aren’t you going to say good-bye to your cousin Bao-chai?’
Bao-yu smiled but said nothing and went straight off to school with Qin Zhong.
The Jia clan school was situated at no great distance from Rong-guo House. It was a charitable foundation which had been established many years previously by the founder of the family and was designed for the sons and younger brothers of those members of the clan who could not afford to pay for private tuition. All members of the clan holding official posts were expected to contribute towards its expenses and members of advanced years and known integrity were chosen to be its masters. As soon as Bao-yu and Qin Zhong arrived they were introduced to the other students and then set to work at once on their lessons.
From now on the two friends were inseparable, arriving at school and leaving school together and sitting beside each other in class. Grandmother Jia herself became very fond of Qin Zhong. She was always having him to stay for three or four nights at a time and treated him exactly as if he were one of her own great-grandchildren. And because she realized that his family was not very well off, she frequently helped out with clothes and the like. Within a month or two he was a familiar and accepted member of the Rong household.
Bao-yu had always been impatient of social conventions, preferring to let sentiment rather than convention dictate the terms of his relationships. It was this which now prompted him to make Qin Zhong the following proposal:
‘You and I are schoolmates and pretty much the same age. Let us in future forget all this “uncle” “nephew” business and address each other exactly like friends or brothers!’
Qin Zhong was at first too timid to comply; but as Bao-yu persisted and went on calling him ‘brother’ or ‘Jing-qing’ (which was his school-name) whenever he spoke to him, Qin Zhong himself gradually fell into the habit of addressing Bao-yu as an equal.
All the pupils at the clan school were either members of the Jia clan or relations by marriage; but as the proverb rightly says, ‘there are nine kinds of dragon and no two kinds are alike’. Where many are gathered together the wheat is sure to contain a certain amount of chaff; and this school was no exception in numbering some very ill-bred persons among its pupils.
The two new boys, Qin Zhong and Bao-yu, were both as beautiful as flowers; the other scholars observed how shrinking and gentle Qin Zhong was, blushing almost before you spoke to him and timid and bashful as a girl; they saw in Bao-yu one whom nature and habit had made humble and accommodating in spite of his social position, always willing to defer to others in the interest of harmony; they observed his affectionate disposition and familiar manner of speech; and they could see that the two friends were devoted to each other. Perhaps it is not to be wondered at that these observations should have given rise to certain suspicions in the minds of those ill-bred persons, and that both in school and out of it all kinds of ugly rumours should have circulated behind their backs.
When Xue Pan learned, some time after moving into his aunt’s place in the capital, that the establishment included a clan school plentifully stocked with young males of a certain age, his old enthusiasm for ‘Lord Long-yang’s vice’ was reawakened, and he had hastened to register himself as a pupil. His school-going was, needless to say, a pretence – ‘one day fishing and two days to dry the nets’ as they say – and had nothing to do with the advancement of learning. Having paid a generous fee to Jia Dai-ru, he used his membership of the school merely as a means of picking up ‘soul-mates’ from among his fellow-students. It must with regret be recorded that a surprisingly large number of the latter were deluded into becoming his willing victims by the prospect of receiving those ample advances of money and goods which he was in a position to offer.
Among them were two amorous young creatures whose names and parentage escape us but who, because of their glamorous looks and affected manners, were universally known by the nicknames of ‘Darling’ and ‘Precious’. Although their fellow-students much admired them and entertained towards them feelings not at all conducive to that health of mind which the Young Person should at all times endeavour to cultivate, they were deterred from meddling with them for fear of what Xue Pan might do.
When Qin Zhong and Bao-yu joined the school it was only to be expected that they too should fall under the spell of this charming pair; but like the rest they were inhibited from overt declaration of their feelings by the knowledge that Xue Pan was their ‘friend’. Their feelings were reciprocated by Darling and Precious, and a bond of mutual attraction grew up between the four, which nevertheless remained unexpressed, except for the significant looks that every day passed between them across the classroom, or the occasional rather too loud utterance to a neighbour of some remark really intended for the ears of the opposite pair.
They were persuaded that these cryptic communications had escaped the notice of their fellows; but they were wrong. Certain young hooligans among their classmates had long since discerned the true nature of what was going on, and while the two handsome couples were engaged in their silent and (as they thought) secret communion, these others would be winking and leering behind their backs or becoming suddenly convulsed with paroxysms of artificial coughing.
It happened that one day Jia Dai-ru was called home on business and left the class with the first half of a fourteen word couplet to complete, telling them that he would be back on the morrow to take them over the next passage in their reading and putting his eldest grandson Jia Rui in charge of the school during his absence. Xue Pan had by now stopped coming in even for roll-call, and so on this occasion he too was out of the way. The opportunity was too good to miss, and Qin Zhong and Darling, after a preliminary exchange of glances, both asked to be excused and went round to the rear courtyard to converse.
‘Does your father mind what friends you have?’ Qin Zhong had got no further than this question when there was a cough behind them. The two boys spun round and saw that it came from their classmate ‘Jokey’ Jin. Darling had a somewhat impetuous nature which now, fired by a mixture of anger and shame, caused him to round sharply on the intruder.
‘What’s that cough supposed to mean? Aren’t we allowed to talk if we want to?’
Jokey Jin leered: ‘If you’re allowed to talk, aren’t I allowed to cough if I want to? What I’d like to know is, if you’ve got something to say to each other, why can’t you say it out openly? Why all this guilty secrecy? But what’s the good of pretending? It’s a fair cop. You let me in on your game and I won’t say anything. Otherwise there’ll be trouble!’
With furious blushes the other two protested indignantly that they did not know what he was talking about.
Jokey Jin grinned. ‘Caught you in the act, didn’t I?’ He began to clap his hands and chant in a loud, guffawing voice,
‘Bum-cake!
Bum-cake!
Let’s all have a
Bit to eat!’
Angry and indignant, Qin Zhong and Darling hurried back into the classroom and complained to Jia Rui that Jokey Jin was persecuting them.
This Jia Rui was a spineless, unprincipled character who, as a means of obliging the boys to treat him, always displayed the most shameless favouritism in his settlement of classroom disputes. In return for money, drinks, and dinners, he had lately given Xue Pan a free hand in his nefarious activities – had, indeed, not only refrained from interfering with him, but even ‘aided the tyrant in his tyranny’.
Now Xue Pan was very inconstant in his affections, always blowing east one day and west the next. He had recently abandoned Darling and Precious in favour of some newly discovered sweetheart, just as previously he had abandoned Jokey Jin in favour of Darling and Precious. It followed that in this present confrontation Jia Rui, to his chagrin, could not hope to gain any rewards by the exercise of his usual partiality. Instead of blaming this vexatious state of affairs on Xue Pan’s fickleness, however, he directed all his resentment against Darling and Precious, for whom he felt the same unreasonable jealousy as motivated Jokey Jin and the rest.
Qin Zhong’s and Darling’s complaint at first put Jia Rui in somewhat of a quandary, for he dared not openly rebuke Qin Zhong. He could, however, give his resentment outlet by making an example of Darling; so instead of dealing with his complaint, he told him that he was a trouble-maker and followed this up with so savage a dressing-down that even Qin Zhong went back to his seat humiliated and crestfallen.
Jokey Jin, now thoroughly cock-a-hoop, wagged his head and tutted in a most provoking manner and addressed wounding remarks to no one in particular, which greatly upset Darling and Precious for whose ears they were intended. A furious muttered altercation broke out between them across the intervening desks. Jokey Jin insisted that he had caught Qin Zhong and Darling in flagrante delicto.
‘I ran into them in the back courtyard, kissing each other and feeling arses as plain as anything. I tell you they had it all worked out. They were just measuring themselves for size before getting down to business.’
Reckless in his hour of triumph, he made these wild allegations, unmindful of who might hear them. But one heroic soul was moved to mighty anger by his wanton words. This was Jia Qiang, a member of the Ning-guo branch of the family of the same generation as Jia Rong. He had lost both his parents when a small child and been brought up by Cousin Zhen. At sixteen he was even more handsome and dashing than Jia Rong and the two youths were inseparable friends.
Any establishment as large as the Ning household always contains a few disgruntled domestics who specialize in traducing their masters, and a number of disagreeable rumours concerning Jia Qiang did in fact begin to circulate among the servants which seem to have reached the ears of Cousin Zhen, for, partly in self-defence (since they involved him too), he moved Jia Qiang out of the house and set him up in a small establishment of his own somewhere in the city.
Jia Qiang possessed a very shrewd brain under his dazzlingly handsome exterior. His attendance at the school, however, was no more than a blind to his other activities, principal among which were cock-fighting, dog-racing, and botanizing excursions into the Garden of Pleasure; but with a doting Cousin Zhen to protect him on the one hand and Jia Rong to aid and comfort him on the other, there was no one in the clan who dared thwart him in anything he did.
Since Qin Zhong was the brother-in-law of his best friend, Jia Qiang was naturally unwilling to stand by and see him abused in so despiteful a manner without doing anything to help. On the other hand he reflected that there would be certain disadvantages in coming forward as his champion.
‘Jokey Jin, Jia Rui, and that lot are all friends of Uncle Xue,’ he thought. ‘For that matter, I’m a friend of Uncle Xue myself. If I openly stick up for Qin Zhong and they go and tell old Xue, it’ll make things rather awkward between us. On the other hand, if I don’t interfere at all, Jokey Jin’s rumours are going to get quite out of hand. This calls for a stratagem of some kind which will shut the little beast up without causing too much embarrassment afterwards.’
Having thought of a plan, he pretended that he wanted to be excused, and slipping round to the back, quietly called over Bao-yu’s little page Tealeaf and whispered a few inflammatory words in his ear.
Tealeaf was the most willing but also the youngest and least sensible of Bao-yu’s pages. Jia Qiang told him how Jokey Jin had been bullying Qin Zhong. ‘And even Bao-yu came in for a share,’ he said. ‘If we don’t take this Jin fellow down a peg, next time he is going to be quite insufferable.’
Tealeaf never needed any encouragement to pick a fight, and now, inflamed by Jia Qiang’s message and open incitement to action, he marched straight into the classroom to look for Jokey Jin. And there was no ‘Master Jin’ when he saw him, either: it was ‘Jin! Who do you think you are?’
At this point Jia Qiang began to scrape his boots on the floor and make a great business of straightening his clothes and glancing out of the window at the sky, muttering to himself as he did so, ‘Ah, yes. Hmn. Must be about time.’ Going up to Jia Rui, he informed him that he had an engagement which necessitated his leaving early, and Jia Rui, not having the courage to stop him, allowed him to slip away.
Tealeaf had by now singled out Jokey Jin and grabbed him by the front of his jacket.
‘Whether we fuck arseholes or not,’ he said, ‘what fucking business is it of yours? You should be bloody grateful we haven’t fucked your dad. Come outside and fight it out with me, if you’ve got any spunk in you!’
‘Tealeaf!’ Jia Rui shouted agitatedly. ‘You are not to use such language in here!’
Jokey Jin’s face turned pale with anger.
‘This is mutiny! I don’t have to take this sort of thing from a slave. I shall see your master about this’ – and he shook himself free of Tealeaf and made for Bao-yu, intending to seize and belabour him.
As Qin Zhong turned to watch the onslaught, he heard a rushing noise behind his head and a square inkstone launched by an unseen hand sailed past it and landed on the desk occupied by Jia Lan and Jia Jun.
Jia Lan and Jia Jun belonged to the Rong-guo half of the clan and were in the same generation as the other Jia Lan, the little son of Li Wan and nephew of Bao-yu. Jia Jun had lost his father in infancy and was doted on by his widowed mother. Jia Lan was his best friend, which is why they always sat next to each other in school. Though Jia Jun was among the youngest in the class, his tiny body contained an heroic soul. He was extremely mischievous and completely fearless. With the impartial interest of an observer he had watched a friend of Jokey Jin’s slyly aim the inkstone at Tealeaf; but when it fell short and landed right in front of him on his own desk, smashing a porcelain water-bottle and showering his books with inky water, his blood was up.
‘Rotten swine!’ he shouted. ‘If this is a free-for-all, here goes!’ and he grabbed at the inkstone intending to send it sailing back. But Jia Lan was a man of peace and held it firmly down.
‘Leave it, old chap! It’s none of our business,’ he counselled.
Jia Jun was not to be restrained, however. Deprived of the inkstone, he picked up a satchel full of books and raising it in both hands above his head, hurled it in the direction of the assailant. Unfortunately his body was too small and his strength too puny for so great a trajectory, and the satchel fell on the desk occupied by Bao-yu and Qin Zhong. It landed with a tremendous crash, scattering books, papers, writing-brushes and inkstones in all directions and smashing Bao-yu’s teabowl to smithereens so that tea flowed over everything round about. Nothing daunted, Jia Jun leaped out and rushed upon the thrower of inkstones to smite him.
Meanwhile Jokey Jin had found a bamboo pole which he flailed around him: a terrible weapon in so confined and crowded a space. Soon Tealeaf had sustained a blow from it and was bawling for reinforcements from outside. There were three other pages in attendance on Bao-yu besides himself, all equally inclined to mischief. Their names were Sweeper, Ploughboy and Inky. With a great shout of ‘To arms! To arms! Down with the bastards!’ these three now came rushing like angry hornets into the classroom, Inky wielding a doorbar which he had picked up and Sweeper and Ploughboy brandishing horsewhips.
Jia Rui, in a frenzy of outraged authority, hopped from one to the other, alternately grabbing and cajoling, but none would take the slightest bit of notice. Disorder was now general. The more mischievous of the scholars mingled gleefully in the fray, safe, in the general scrimmage, to land punches at chosen foes without fear of discovery or reprisal. The more timid crawled into places of safety. Others stood on their desks, laughing and clapping their hands and cheering on the combatants. The classroom was like a cauldron of still water that had suddenly come to the boil.
Li Gui and the other older servants, hearing the uproar from outside, now hurried in, and by concerted shouting eventually managed to call the boys to a halt. Li Gui asked them what they were fighting about. He was answered by a medley of voices, some saying one thing and some another. Unable to make sense of what he heard, he turned his attention to Tealeaf and the other pages, cursing them roundly and turning them out of the room.
Qin Zhong had fallen an early victim to Jokey Jin’s pole, sustaining a nasty graze on the head which Bao-yu was at this very moment mopping with the flap of his gown. Seeing that Li Gui had succeeded in restoring some kind of order, he asked to be taken away.
‘Pack up my books, Li Gui, and fetch the horse, will you? I am going to tell Great-uncle Dai-ru about this. We were shamefully insulted, and because we didn’t want to start a quarrel, we went along in a perfectly polite and reasonable manner and reported the matter to Cousin Rui. But instead of doing anything about it, he gave us a telling-off, stood by while someone called us filthy names, and actually encouraged them to start hitting us. Naturally Tealeaf stuck up for us when he saw we were being bullied. What would you expect him to do? But they all ganged up on him and started hitting him, and even Qin Zhong’s head was cut open. We can’t go on studying here after this.’
Li Gui tried to calm him.
‘Don’t be hasty, young master! Your great-uncle has gone home on business and if we go running after him to pester him about a little thing like this, he’ll think we don’t know how to behave. If you want my advice, the proper way to settle this affair is by dealing with it here, where it started. Not by rushing off and upsetting your poor old uncle.’ He turned to Jia Rui. ‘This is all your fault, Mr Rui, sir. While your granfer is away you are the head of the whole school and everyone looks to you to set an example. If anyone does anything they shouldn’t, it’s up to you to deal with it – give them a hiding, or whatever it is they need. Not sit by and let matters get out of hand to this extent.’
‘I did tell them to stop,’ said Jia Rui, ‘but they wouldn’t listen.’
‘If you don’t mind my saying so,’ said Li Gui, ‘it’s because you’ve been to blame yourself on past occasions that these lads won’t do what you tell them to now. So if this business today does get to the ears of your grandfather, you’ll be in trouble yourself, along of all the rest. If I were you, sir, I should think of some way of sorting this out as quickly as possible.’
‘Sort it out nothing!’ said Bao-yu. ‘I’m definitely going to report this.’
‘If Jokey Jin stays here,’ wailed Qin Zhong tearfully, ‘I’m not studying in this school any longer.’
‘There is no earthly reason to talk about leaving this school,’ said Bao-yu. ‘We have as much right to come here as anyone else. When I’ve explained to everyone exactly what happened, Jokey Jin will be expelled.
‘Who is this Jokey Jin, any way?’ he asked Li Gui.
Li Gui thought for a moment.
‘Better not ask. If I told you, it would only make for more unpleasantness.’
Tealeaf’s voice piped up from outside the window:
‘He’s the nephew of Mrs Huang on the Ning-guo side. Trash like that trying to scare us! I know your Auntie Huang, Jokey Jin! She’s an old scrounger. I’ve seen her down on her knees in front of our Mrs Lian, begging for stuff so that she could go out and pawn it. What an aunt! I’d be ashamed to own an aunt like that!’
Li Gui shouted at him furiously.
‘Detestable little varmint! Trust you to know the answer and spread your poison!’
Bao-yu sniffed contemptuously.
‘So that’s who he is! The nephew of Cousin Huang’s wife. I’ll go and speak to her about this.’
He wanted to go straight away, and called to Tealeaf to come inside and pack up his books.
‘No need for you to go, Master Bao,’ said Tealeaf as he swaggered in triumphantly to do his bidding. ‘Let me go for you and save you the trouble. I’ll just say that Lady Jia wants a word with her, hire a carriage, and bring her along myself. Then you can question her in front of Lady Jia.’
Li Gui was furious.
‘Do you want to die? If you’re not careful, my lad, when we get home I’ll first thrash the living daylights out of you and then tell Sir Zheng and Lady Wang that Master Bao was put up to all this by your provocation. I’ve had trouble enough as it is trying to get these lads calmed down a bit without needing any fresh trouble from you. It was all of your making, this rumpus, in the first place. But instead of thinking about ways of damping it down, you have to go throwing more fat on the fire.’
After this outburst Tealeaf was at last silent.
Jia Rui was by now terrified lest the matter should go any further and his own far from clean record be brought to light. Fear made him abject. Addressing Qin Zhong and Bao-yu in turn, he humbly begged them not to report it. At first they were adamant. Then Bao-yu made a condition:
‘All right, we won’t tell. But you must make Jokey Jin apologize.’
At first Jokey Jin refused, but Jia Rui was insistent, and Li Gui added his own persuasion:
‘After all, it started with you, so if you don’t do what they say, how are we ever going to end it?’
Under their combined pressure Jokey Jin’s resistance at last gave way and he locked hands and made Qin Zhong a bow. But Bao-yu said this was not enough. He insisted on a kotow. Jia Rui, whose only concern now was to get the matter over with as quickly as possible, quietly urged him to comply:
‘You know what the proverb says:
He who can check a moment’s rage
Shall calm and carefree end his days.’
Did Jokey Jin comply? The following chapter will reveal.