第二十回

第二十回 王熙凤正言弹妒意 林黛玉俏语谑娇音

话说宝玉在林黛玉房中说“耗子精”，宝钗撞来，讽刺宝玉元宵不知“绿蜡”之典，三人正在房中互相讥刺取笑。那宝玉正恐黛玉饭后贪眠，一时存了食，或夜间走了困，皆非保养身体之法；幸而宝钗走来，大家谈笑，那林黛玉方不欲睡，自己才放了心。忽听他房中嚷起来，大家侧耳听了一听，林黛玉先笑道：“这是你妈妈和袭人叫嚷呢。那袭人也罢了，你妈妈再要认真排场[1]他，可见老背晦了。”

宝玉忙要赶过来，宝钗忙一把拉住道：“你别和你妈妈吵才是，他老糊涂了，倒要让他一步为是。”宝玉道：“我知道了。”说毕走来，只见李嬷嬷拄着拐棍，在当地骂袭人：“忘了本的小娼妇！我抬举起你来，这会子我来了，你大模大样的躺在炕上，见我来也不理一理。一心只想妆狐媚子哄宝玉，哄的宝玉不理我，听你们的话。你不过是几两臭银子买来的毛丫头，这屋里你就作耗[2]，如何使得！好不好拉出去配一个小子，看你还妖精似的哄宝玉不哄！”袭人先只道李嬷嬷不过为他躺着生气，少不得分辩说“病了，才出汗，蒙着头，原没看见你老人家”等语。后来只管听他说“哄宝玉”、“妆狐媚”，又说“配小子”等，由不得又愧又委屈，禁不住哭起来。

宝玉虽听了这些话，也不好怎样，少不得替袭人分辩病了吃药等话，又说：“你不信，只问别的丫头们。”李嬷嬷听了这话，益发气起来了，说道：“你只护着那起狐狸，那里认得我了，叫我问谁去？谁不帮着你呢，谁不是袭人拿下马[3]来的！我都知道那些事。我只和你在老太太、太太跟前去讲了。把你奶了这么大，到如今吃不着奶了，把我丢在一旁，逞着丫头们要我的强。”一面说，一面也哭起来。彼时黛玉宝钗等也走过来劝说：“妈妈，你老人家担待他们一点子就完了。”李嬷嬷见他二人来了，便拉住诉委屈，将当日吃茶，茜雪出去，与昨日酥酪等事，唠唠叨叨说个不清。

可巧凤姐正在上房算完输赢帐，听得后面高声嚷动，便知是李嬷嬷老病发了，排揎宝玉的人。——正值他今儿输了钱，迁怒于人。便连忙赶过来，拉了李嬷嬷，笑道：“好妈妈，别生气。大节下，老太太才喜欢了一日，你是个老人家，别人高声，你还要管他们呢；难道你反不知道规矩，在这里嚷起来，叫老太太生气不成？你只说谁不好，我替你打他。我家里烧的滚热的野鸡，快来跟我吃酒去。”一面说，一面拉着走，又叫：“丰儿，替你李奶奶拿着拐棍子，擦眼泪的手帕子。”

那李嬷嬷脚不沾地跟了凤姐走了，一面还说：“我也不要这老命了，越性今儿没了规矩，闹一场子，讨个没脸，强如受那娼妇蹄子的气！”后面宝钗黛玉随着，见凤姐儿这般，都拍手笑道：“亏这一阵风来，把个老婆子撮了去了。”宝玉点头叹道：“这又不知是那里的帐，只拣软的排揎。昨儿又不知是那个姑娘得罪了，上在他帐上。”

一句未了，晴雯在旁笑道：“谁又不疯了，得罪他作什么。便得罪了他，就有本事承认，不犯着带累别人！”袭人一面哭，一面拉宝玉道：“为我得罪了一个老奶奶，你这会子又为我得罪这些人，这还不够我受的，还只是拉别人。”宝玉见他这般病势，又添了这些烦恼，连忙忍气吞声，安慰他仍旧睡下出汗。又见他汤烧火热，自己守着他，歪在旁边，劝他只养着病，别想着些没要紧的事生气。袭人冷笑道：“要为这些事生气，这屋里一刻还站不得了。但只是天长日久，只管这样，可叫人怎么样才好呢。时常我劝你，别为我们得罪人，你只顾一时为我们那样，他们都记在心里，遇着坎儿[4]，说的好说不好听，大家什么意思。”一面说，一面禁不住流泪，又怕宝玉烦恼，只得又勉强忍着。

一时杂使的老婆子煎了二和药[5]来。宝玉见他才有汗意，不肯叫他起来，自己便端着就枕与他吃了，即命小丫头子们铺炕。袭人道：“你吃饭不吃饭，到底老太太、太太跟前坐一会子，和姑娘们玩一会子再回来。我就静静的躺一躺也好。”宝玉听说，只得替他去了簪环，看他躺下，自往上房来。

同贾母吃毕饭，贾母犹欲同那几个老管家嬷嬷斗牌解闷，宝玉记着袭人，便回至房中，见袭人朦朦睡去。自己要睡，天气尚早。彼时晴雯、绮霰、秋纹、碧痕都寻热闹，找鸳鸯、琥珀等耍戏去了，独见麝月一个人在外间房里灯下抹骨牌。宝玉笑问道：“你怎不同他们玩去？”麝月道：“没有钱。”宝玉道：“床底下堆着那么些，还不够你输的？”麝月道：“都玩去了，这屋里交给谁呢？那一个又病了。满屋里上头是灯，地下是火。那些老妈妈子们，老天拔地，服侍一天，也该叫他们歇歇；小丫头子们也是服侍了一天，这会子还不叫他们玩玩去。所以让他们都去罢，我在这里看着。”

宝玉听了这话，公然又是一个袭人。因笑道：“我在这里坐着，你放心去罢。”麝月道：“你既在这里，越发不用去了，咱们两个说话玩笑岂不好？”宝玉笑道：“咱两个作什么呢？怪没意思的。也罢了，早上你说头痒，这会子没什么事，我替你篦头罢。”麝月听了便道：“就是这样。”说着，将文具镜匣搬来，卸去钗钏，打开头发，宝玉拿了篦子替他一一的梳篦。

只篦了三五下，只见晴雯忙忙走进来取钱。一见了他两个，便冷笑道：“哦，交杯盏还没吃，倒上头了[6]！”宝玉笑道：“你来，我也替你篦一篦。”晴雯道：“我没那么大福。”说着，拿了钱，便摔帘子出去了。

宝玉在麝月身后，麝月对镜，二人在镜内相视。宝玉便向镜内笑道：“满屋里就只是他磨牙。”麝月听说，忙向镜中摆手，宝玉会意。忽听唿一声帘子响，晴雯又跑进来问道：“我怎么磨牙了？咱们倒得说说。”麝月笑道：“你去你的罢，又来问人了。”晴雯笑道：“你又护着。你们那瞒神弄鬼的，我都知道。等我捞回本儿来再说话。”说着，一径出去了。这里宝玉通了头，命麝月悄悄的服侍他睡下，不肯惊动袭人。一宿无话。

至次日清晨起来，袭人已是夜间发了汗，觉得轻省了些，只吃些米汤静养。宝玉放了心，因饭后走到薛姨妈这边来闲逛。彼时正月内，学房中放年学，闺阁中忌针，却都是闲时。贾环也过来顽，正遇见宝钗、香菱、莺儿三个赶围棋作耍，贾环见了也要玩。宝钗素习看他亦如宝玉，并没他意。今儿听他要玩，让他上来坐了一处。一磊十个钱，头一回自己赢了，心中十分欢喜。后来接连输了几盘，便有些着急。赶着这盘正该自己掷骰子，若掷个七点便赢，若掷个六点，下该莺儿掷三点就赢了。因拿起骰子来，狠命一掷，一个作定了五，那一个乱转。莺儿拍着手只叫“幺”，贾环便瞪着眼，“六——七——八”混叫。那骰子偏生转出幺来。贾环急了，伸手便抓起骰子来，然后就拿钱，说是个六点。莺儿便说：“分明是个幺！”宝钗见贾环急了，便瞅莺儿说道：“越大越没规矩，难道爷们还赖你？还不放下钱来呢！”

莺儿满心委屈，见宝钗说，不敢则声，只得放下钱来，口内嘟囔说：“一个作爷的，还赖我们这几个钱，连我也不放在眼里。前儿我和宝二爷玩，他输了那些，也没着急。下剩的钱，还是几个小丫头子们一抢，他一笑就罢了。”宝钗不等说完，连忙断喝。贾环道：“我拿什么比宝玉呢。你们怕他，都和他好，都欺负我不是太太养的。”说着，便哭了。宝钗忙劝他：“好兄弟，快别说这话，人家笑话你。”又骂莺儿。

正值宝玉走来，见了这般形况，问：“是怎么了？”贾环不敢则声。宝钗素知他家规矩，凡作兄弟的，都怕哥哥。却不知那宝玉是不要人怕他的。他想着：“弟兄们一并都有父母教训，何必我多事，反生疏了。况且我是正出，他是庶出[7]，饶这样还有人背后谈论，还禁得辖治他了。”更有个呆意思存在心里。——你道是何呆意？因他自幼姊妹丛中长大，亲姊妹有元春、探春，伯叔的有迎春、惜春，亲戚中又有史湘云、林黛玉、薛宝钗等诸人。他便料定，原来天生人为万物之灵，凡山川日月之精秀，只钟于女儿，须眉男子不过是些渣滓浊沫而已。因有这个呆念在心，把一切男子都看成混沌浊物，可有可无。只是父亲叔伯兄弟中，因孔子是亘古第一人说下的，不可忤慢，只得要听他这句话。所以，弟兄之间不过尽其大概的情理就罢了，并不想自己是丈夫，须要为子弟之表率。是以贾环等都不怕他，却怕贾母，才让他三分。

如今宝钗恐怕宝玉教训他，倒没意思，便连忙替贾环掩饰。宝玉道：“大正月里哭什么？这里不好，你别处玩去。你天天念书，倒念糊涂了。比如这件东西不好，横竖那一件好，就弃了这件取那个。难道你守着这个东西哭一会子就好了不成？你原是来取乐玩的，既不能取乐，就往别处去再寻乐玩去。哭一会子〔一〕，难道算取乐玩了不成？倒招自己烦恼，不如快去为是。”贾环听了，只得回来。

赵姨娘见他这般，因问：“又是那里垫了踹窝[9]来了？”一问不答，再问时，贾环便说：“同宝姐姐玩的，莺儿欺负我，赖我的钱，宝玉哥哥撵我来了。”赵姨娘啐道：“谁叫你上高台盘去了？下流没脸的东西！那里顽不得？谁叫你跑了去讨没意思！”

正说着，可巧凤姐在窗外过，都听在耳内。便隔窗说道：“大正月又怎么了？环兄弟小孩子家，一半点儿错了，你只教导他，说这些淡话作什么！凭他怎么去，还有太太老爷管他呢，就大口啐他！他现是主子，不好了，横竖有教导他的人，与你什么相干！环兄弟，出来，跟我顽去。”

贾环素日怕凤姐比怕王夫人更甚，听见叫他，忙唯唯的出来。赵姨娘也不敢则声。凤姐向贾环道：“你也是个没气性的！时常说给你：要吃，要喝，要顽，要笑，只爱同那一个姐姐妹妹哥哥嫂子顽，就同那个顽。你不听我的话，反叫这些人教的歪心邪意，狐媚子霸道的。自己不尊重，要往下流走，安着坏心，还只管怨人家偏心。输了几个钱？就这么个样儿！”〔二〕贾环见问，只得诺诺的回说：“输了一二百。”凤姐道：“亏你还是爷，输了一二百钱就这样！”回头叫丰儿：“去取一吊钱来，姑娘们都在后头顽呢，把他送了顽去。——你明儿再这么下流狐媚子，我先打了你，打发人告诉学里，皮不揭了你的！为你这个不尊重，恨的你哥哥牙根痒痒，不是我拦着，窝心脚把你的肠子窝出来了。”喝命：“去罢！”贾环诺诺的跟了丰儿，得了钱，自己和迎春等顽去。不在话下。

且说宝玉正和宝钗顽笑，忽见人说：“史大姑娘来了。”宝玉听了，抬身就走。宝钗笑道：“等着，咱们两个一齐走，瞧瞧他去。”说着，下了炕，同宝玉一齐来至贾母这边。只见史湘云大笑大说的，见他两个来，忙问好厮见。正值林黛玉在旁，因问宝玉：“在那里的？”宝玉便说：“在宝姐姐家的。”黛玉冷笑道：“我说呢，亏在那里绊住，不然早就飞了来了。”宝玉笑道：“只许同你顽，替你解闷儿。不过偶然去他那里一趟，就说这话。”林黛玉道：“好没意思的话！去不去管我什么事，我又没叫你替我解闷儿。可许你从此不理我呢！”说着，便赌气回房去了。

宝玉忙跟了来，问道：“好好的又生气了？就是我说错了，你到底也还坐在那里，和别人说笑一会子。又来自己纳闷。”林黛玉道：“你管我呢！”宝玉笑道：“我自然不敢管你，只没有个看着你自己作践了身子呢。”林黛玉道：“我作践坏了身子，我死，与你何干！”宝玉道：“何苦来，大正月里，死了活了的。”林黛玉道：“偏说死！我这会子就死！你怕死，你长命百岁的，如何？”宝玉笑道：“要像只管这样闹，我还怕死呢？倒不如死了干净。”黛玉忙道：“正是了，要是这样闹，不如死了干净。”宝玉道：“我说我自己死了干净，别听错了话赖人。”

正说着，宝钗走来道：“史大妹妹等你呢。”说着，便推宝玉走了。这里黛玉越发气闷，只向窗前流泪。没两盏茶的工夫，宝玉仍来了。林黛玉见了，越发抽抽噎噎的哭个不住。宝玉见了这样，知难挽回，打叠起千百样的款语温言来劝慰。不料自己未张口，只见黛玉先说道：“你又来作什么？横竖如今有人和你顽，比我又会念，又会作，又会写，又会说笑，又怕你生气拉了你去，你又作什么来？死活凭我去罢了！”

宝玉听了，忙上来悄悄的说道：“你这么个明白人，难道连‘亲不间疏，先不僭后’[11]也不知道？我虽糊涂，却明白这两句话。头一件，咱们是姑舅姊妹，宝姐姐是两姨姊妹，论亲戚，他比你疏。第二件，你先来，咱们两个一桌吃，一床睡，长的这么大了，他是才来的，岂有个为他疏你的？”林黛玉啐道：“我难道为叫你疏他？我成了个什么人了呢！我为的是我的心。”宝玉道：“我也为的是我的心。难道你就知你的心，不知我的心不成？”林黛玉听了，低头一语不发，半日说道：“你只怨人行动嗔怪了你，你再不知道你自己怄人难受。就拿今日天气比，分明今儿冷的这样，你怎么倒反把个青肷[12]披风脱了呢？”宝玉笑道：“何尝不穿着，见你一恼，我一暴躁[13]就脱了。”林黛玉叹道：“回来伤了风，又该饿着吵吃的了。”

二人正说着，只见湘云走来，笑道：“爱哥哥，林姐姐，你们天天一处玩，我好容易来了，也不理我一理儿。”黛玉笑道：“偏是咬舌子爱说话，连个‘二’哥哥也叫不出来，只是‘爱’哥哥‘爱’哥哥的。回来赶围棋儿，又该你闹‘幺爱三四五’了。”宝玉笑道：“你学惯了他，明儿连你还咬起来呢。”史湘云道：“他再不放人一点儿，专挑人的不好。你自己便比世人好，也不犯着见一个打趣一个。我指出一个人来，你敢挑他，我就服你。”黛玉忙问是谁。湘云道：“你敢挑宝姐姐的短处，就算你是好的。我算不如你，他怎么不及你呢。”黛玉听了，冷笑道：“我当是谁，原来是他！我那里敢挑他呢。”宝玉不等说完，忙用话岔开〔三〕。湘云笑道：“这一辈子我自然比不上你。我只保佑着明儿得一个咬舌的林姐夫，时时刻刻你可听‘爱’‘厄’去。阿弥陀佛，那才现在我眼里！”说的众人一笑，湘云忙回身跑了。要知端详，下回分解。

[1] 排场——在这里义同下文的“排揎”，数落、责难的意思。

[2] 作耗——捣乱生事。

[3] 拿下马——降伏。

[4] 坎儿——地上的坡埂，走路时易绊。遇着坎儿，喻碰在当口上。

[5] 二和（huò获）药——即二煎药，指煎了第二次的中药汤剂。

[6] 交杯盏、上头——旧时婚礼，用两杯酒以彩线连之，新婚夫妇换杯饮酒，叫吃“交杯盏”。见《东京梦华录·娶妇》。旧时女子出嫁时梳发髻叫上头，表示由姑娘变成了媳妇。

[7] 正出、庶出——封建宗法制度下，正室（妻）所生的子女为“正出”，称为“嫡”；侧室（妾）所生的子女为“庶出”，称为“庶”。

〔一〕 “再寻乐顽去。哭一会子”，原作“再寻乐顽一会子”，从梦稿、舒序本改。

[9] 垫踹窝——垫平路面，引申为供人践踏、代人受过。踹窝：路面上践踏成的坑窝。

〔二〕 己卯本此处有朱笔旁添“因问贾还（环），你输了多少钱”，文字同程本。

[11] 亲不间疏，先不僭（jiàn贱）后——亲密者不被疏远者所离间，先到者不被后来者所超越。间：离间。僭：超越本分。

[12] 青肷（qiǎn遣）——即青狐肷，指青狐腋部或胸腹部的毛皮，是皮衣之贵重者。

[13] 暴躁——由于心中烦躁而感到身上燥热的意思。

〔三〕 “岔开”，原作“分开”。各本同。从舒序本改。

CHAPTER 20. Wang Xi-feng castigates a jealous attitude with some forthright speaking And Lin Dai-yu makes a not unattractive speech impediment the subject of a jest

We have shown how Bao-yu was in Dai-yu’s room telling her the story of the magic mice; how Bao-chai burst in on them and twitted Bao-yu with his failure to remember the ‘green wax’ allusion on the night of the Lantern Festival; and how the three of them sat teasing each other with good-humoured banter.

Bao-yu had been afraid that by sleeping after her meal Dai-yu would give herself indigestion or suffer from insomnia through being insufficiently tired when she went to bed at night, but Bao-chai’s arrival and the lively conversation that followed it banished all Dai-yu’s desire to sleep and enabled him to lay aside his anxiety on her behalf.

Just then a sudden commotion arose from the direction of Bao-yu’s room, and the three of them stopped talking and turned their heads to listen. Dai-yu was the first to speak:

‘That’s your Nannie quarrelling with Aroma,’ she said. ‘To think how that poor girl goes out of her way to be nice to the old woman, yet still she manages to find fault with her! She really must be getting senile.’

Bao-yu was for rushing over straight away, but Bao-chai restrained him:

‘Don’t go quarrelling with your Nannie, whatever you do! She’s only a silly old woman. You have to indulge her a bit.’

‘Of course,’ said Bao-yu and ran off.

He found Nannie Li leaning on her stick in the middle of the room abusing Aroma:

‘Ungrateful little baggage! After all I’ve done for you – and now when I come to call on you, you lie back there on the kang like a young madam and haven’t even the grace to look up and take notice of me! You and your airs and graces! All you ever think about is how to win Bao-yu over to you. Thanks to you he won’t listen to me any more. He only does what you say. To think that a cheap bit of goods like you that they only paid a few taels of silver for should come along here and turn the whole place upside down! The best thing they could do with you would be to marry you off to one of the boys and send you packing. Then we’d see how you managed to play the siren and lead young gentlemen astray!’

Aroma at first thought that Nannie Li’s anger arose solely on account of her failure to get up and welcome her, and had started to excuse herself on that supposition:

‘I’m ill, Mrs Li. I’ve just been sweating. I didn’t see you because I had my head under the clothes.’

But when the old woman proceeded to go on about leading young men astray and marrying her off to a servant and what not, she felt wronged and humiliated, and in spite of her efforts to restrain them, burst into tears of sheer helplessness.

Bao-yu had heard all this, and though too embarrassed to argue, could scarcely refrain from saying a word or two in Aroma’s defence:

‘She’s ill. She’s having to take medicine,’ he said. ‘If you don’t believe me, ask any of the maids.’

This made the old woman even angrier.

‘Oh yes! You stick up for the little hussies! You don’t care about me any more! And which of them am I supposed to ask, pray? They will all take your side against me. You are all under Aroma’s thumb, every one of you. I know what goes on here, don’t think I don’t! Well, you can come along with me to see Her Old Ladyship and Her Ladyship about this. Let them hear how you have cast me off – me that reared you at my own breast – now that you don’t need my milk any more, and how you encourage a pack of snotty-nosed little maidservants to amuse themselves at my expense!’

She was in tears herself by now, and wept as she cursed.

By this time Dai-yu and Bao-chai had also arrived on the scene and did their best to calm her:

‘Come, Nannie! Be a bit more forbearing with them! Try to forget about it!’

Nannie Li turned towards this new audience and proceeded to pour out her troubles in an interminable gabble in which tea and Snowpink and drinking koumiss mingled incoherently.

Xi-feng happened to be in Grandmother Jia’s room totting up the day’s scores for the final settlement when she heard this hubbub in the rear apartment. She identified it immediately as Nannie Li on the rampage once more, taking out on Bao-yu’s unfortunate maids some of the spleen occasioned by her recent gambling losses. At once she hurried over, seized Nannie Li by the hand, and admonished her with smiling briskness:

‘Now, Nannie, we mustn’t lose our tempers! This is the New Year holiday and Her Old Ladyship has been enjoying herself all day. A person of your years ought to be stopping other people from quarrelling, not upsetting Her Old Ladyship by quarrelling yourself. Surely you know better than that? If anyone has been misbehaving, you have only to tell me and I’ll have them beaten for you. Now I’ve got a nice hot pheasant stew in my room. You just come along with me and you shall have some of that and a drink to go with it!’

She proceeded to haul her off the premises, addressing a few words over her shoulder to her maid Felicity as she went:

‘Felicity, bring Nannie’s stick for her, there’s a good girl! And for goodness’ sake give her a handkerchief to wipe her eyes with!’

Unable to hold her ground, the old Nannie was borne off in Xi-feng’s wake, muttering plaintively as she went:

‘I wish I was dead, I really do! But I’d sooner forget meself and make a scene like I have today and be shamed in front of you all than put up with the insolence of those shameless little baggages!’

Watching this sudden exit, Bao-chai and Dai-yu laughed and clapped their hands:

‘How splendid! Just the sort of wind we needed to blow the old woman away!’

But Bao-yu shook his head and sighed:

‘I wonder what had really upset her. Obviously she only picked on Aroma because she is weak and can’t defend herself. I wonder which of the girls had offended her to make her so…’

He was interrupted by Skybright:

‘Why should any of us want to upset her? Do you think we’re mad? And even if we had offended her, we should be perfectly capable of owning up to it and not letting someone else take the blame!’

Aroma grasped Bao-yu’s hand and wept:

‘Because I offended one old nurse, you have to go offending a whole roomful of people. Don’t you think there’s been enough trouble already without dragging other people into it?’

Seeing how ill she looked and realizing that distress of mind could only aggravate her condition, Bao-yu stifled his indignation and did his best to comfort her so that she might be able to settle down once more and continue sweating out the fever. Her skin was burning to the touch. He decided to stay with her for a while, and lying down beside her, spoke to her soothingly:

‘Just try to get better, now! Never mind all that other nonsense! It’s of no importance.’

Aroma smiled bitterly.

‘If I had allowed myself to get upset about things like that, I shouldn’t have lasted in this room for five minutes! Still, if we’re always going to have this sort of trouble, I think in the long run I just shan’t be able to stand any more. You don’t seem to realize. You offend people on my account and the next moment you’ve forgotten all about it. But they haven’t. It’s all scored up against me; and as soon as something goes a bit wrong, they come out with all these horrible things about me. It makes it so unpleasant for all of us.’

She cried weakly as she said this, but presently checked herself for fear of upsetting Bao-yu.

Soon the odd-job woman came in with the second infusion of Aroma’s medicine. Bao-yu could see that she had started sweating again and told her not to get up, holding the medicine for her himself and supporting her while she drank it. Then he told one of the junior maids to make up a bed for her on the kang.

‘Whether you’re going to eat there or not,’ Aroma said to him, ‘you’d better go and sit with Her Old Ladyship and Her Ladyship for a bit and play a while with the young ladies before you come back here again. I shall be all right if I lie here quietly on my own.’

Bao-yu thought he had better do as she said, and after waiting until she had taken off her ornaments and was lying tucked up in bed, he went to the front apartment and took his dinner with Grandmother Jia.

After dinner Grandmother Jia wanted to go on playing cards with some of the old stewardesses. Bao-yu, still worrying about Aroma, returned to his own room, where he found her sleeping fitfully. He thought of going to bed himself, but it was still too early. Skybright, Mackerel, Ripple and Emerald had gone off in quest of livelier entertainment, hoping to persuade Grandmother Jia’s maids, Faithful and Amber, to join them in a game. Only Musk was left in the outer room, playing Patience under the lamp with a set of dominoes. Bao-yu smiled at her.

‘Why don’t you go off to join the others?’

‘I haven’t got any money.’

‘There’s a great pile of money under the bed. Isn’t that enough for you to lose?’

‘If we all went off to play,’ said Musk, ‘who would look after this room? There’s her sick inside. And lamps and stoves burning everywhere. The old women were practically dead on their feet after waiting on you all day; I had to let them go and rest. And the girls have been on duty all day, too. You could scarcely grudge them some time off now for amusement. – Which leaves only me to look after the place.’

‘Another Aroma,’ thought Bao-yu to himself and gave her another smile.

‘I’ll sit here while you’re away. There’s nothing to worry about here if you’d like to go.’

‘There’s even less excuse for going if you are here,’ said Musk. ‘Why can’t we both sit here and talk?’

‘What can we do?’ said Bao-yu. ‘Just sitting here talking is going to be rather dull. I know! You were saying this morning that your head was itchy. As you haven’t got anything else to do now, I’ll comb it for you.’

‘All right,’ said Musk, and fetching her toilet-box with the mirror on top she proceeded to take off her ornaments and shake her hair out. Bao-yu took a comb and began to comb it for her. But he had not drawn it more than four or five times through her hair, when Skybright came bursting in to get some more money. Seeing the two of them together, she smiled sarcastically:

‘Fancy! Doing her hair already – before you’ve even drunk the marriage-cup!’

Bao-yu laughed.

‘Come here! I’ll do yours for you too, if you like!’

‘I wouldn’t presume, thanks all the same!’

She took the money, and with a swish of the door-blind was gone.

Bao-yu was standing behind Musk as she sat looking at herself in the mirror. Their eyes met in the glass and they both laughed.

‘Of all the girls in this room she has the sharpest tongue,’ said Bao-yu.

Musk signalled to him agitatedly in the glass with her hand. Bao-yu took her meaning; but it was too late. With another swish of the door-blind, Skybright had already darted in again.

‘Oh! Sharp-tongued, am I? Perhaps you’d like to say a bit more on that subject?’

‘Get along with you!’ laughed Musk. ‘Don’t go starting any more arguments!’

‘And don’t you go sticking up for him!’ said Skybright gaily. ‘I know what you’re up to, you two. You don’t deceive me with your goings-on. I’ll have something to say to you about this when I get back later. Just wait until I’ve won some of my money back!’

With that she darted off once more.

When Bao-yu had finished combing her hair, he asked Musk to help him get to bed – very quietly, so as not to disturb Aroma.

And that ends our account of that day.

First thing next morning Aroma awoke to find that she had sweated heavily during the night and that her body felt very much lighter; but she would take only a little congee for breakfast in order not to tax her system too soon. Bao-yu saw that there was no further cause for concern, and after his meal drifted off to Aunt Xue’s apartment in search of amusement.

Now this was the prime of the year, when the schoolroom is closed for the New Year holiday and the use of the needle is forbidden to maidenly fingers throughout the whole of the Lucky Month, so that boys and girls alike are all agreeably unemployed, and Bao-yu’s half-brother Jia Huan, on holiday like all the rest, had also drifted over to Aunt Xue’s place in search of amusement. He found Bao-chai, Caltrop and Oriole there playing a game of Racing Go, and after watching them for a bit, wanted to play too.

Bao-chai had always behaved towards Jia Huan in exactly the same way as she did towards Bao-yu and made no distinctions between them. Consequently, when he asked to play, she at once made a place for him and invited him to join them on the kang. They played for stakes of ten cash each a game. Jia Huan won the first game and felt very pleased. But then, as luck would have it, he lost several times in a row and began to get somewhat rattled.

It was now his turn to throw the dice. He needed seven to win, and if he threw anything less than seven, the dice would go next to Oriole, who needed only three. He hurled them from the pot with all his might. One of them rested at two. The other continued rather erratically to roll about. ‘Ace! Ace! Ace!’ cried Oriole, clapping her hands. ‘Six! Seven! Eight!’ shouted Jia Huan glaring at Oriole and commanding the die to perform the impossible. But the perverse wanderer finally came to rest with the ace uppermost, making a grand total of three. With the speed of desperation Jia Huan reached out and snatched it up, claiming, as he did so, that it was a six.

‘It was an ace,’ said Oriole, ‘as plain as anything!’

Bao-chai could see that Jia Huan was rattled, and darting a sharp look at Oriole, commanded her to yield.

‘You grow more unmannerly every day,’ she told her. ‘Surely you don’t think one of the masters would cheat you? Come on! Put your money down!’

Oriole smarted with the injustice of this, but her mistress had ordered it, so she had to pay up without arguing. She could not, however, forbear a few rebellious mutterings:

‘Huh! One of the masters! Cheating a maid out of a few coppers! Even I should be ashamed! Look how much money Bao-yu lost when he was playing with us the other day, yet he didn’t mind. Even when some of the maids took all he had left, he only laughed…’

She would have gone on, but Bao-chai checked her angrily.

‘How can I hope to compete with Bao-yu?’ said Jia Huan, beginning to blubber. ‘You’re all afraid of him. You all take his part against me because I’m only a concubine’s son.’

Bao-chai was shocked:

‘Please don’t say things like that, Cousin! You’ll make yourself ridiculous.’

Once more she rebuked Oriole.

Just at that moment Bao-yu walked in, and seeing the state that Jia Huan was in, asked him what was the matter. But Jia Huan dared not say anything.

Bao-chai, familiar with the state of affairs, normal in other families, which places the younger brother in fearful subjection to the elder, assumed that Jia Huan was afraid of Bao-yu. She was unaware that Bao-yu positively disliked anyone being afraid of him. ‘We are both equally subject to our parents’ control,’ he would say of himself and Jia Huan. ‘Why should I create a greater distance between us by trying to control him myself – especially when I am the wife’s son and he is the concubine’s? People already talk behind our backs, even when I do nothing. It would be ten times worse if I were to start bossing him about.’

But there was another, zanier, notion which contributed to this attitude. Let us try to explain it. Bao-yu had from early youth grown up among girls. There were his sisters Yuan-chun and Tan-chun, his cousins of the same surname Ying-chun and Xi-chun, and his distaff-cousins Shi Xiang-yun, Lin Dai-yu and Xue Bao-chai. As a result of this upbringing, he had come to the conclusion that the pure essence of humanity was all concentrated in the female of the species and that males were its mere dregs and off-scourings. To him, therefore, all members of his own sex without distinction were brutes who might just as well not have existed. Only in the case of his father, uncles and brother, where rudeness and disobedience were expressly forbidden by the teachings of Confucius, did he make an exception – and even then the allowances he made in respect of the fraternal bond were extremely perfunctory. It certainly never occurred to him that his own maleness placed him under any obligation to set an example to the younger males in his clan. The latter – Jia Huan included – reciprocated with a healthy disrespect only slightly tempered by their fear of his doting grandmother.

But Bao-chai was ignorant of all this; and fearing that Bao-yu might embarrass them all by delivering a big brother’s telling-off, she hastened to Jia Huan’s defence.

‘What are you crying about in the middle of the New Year holidays?’ said Bao-yu to Jia Huan, ignoring Bao-chai’s excuses. ‘If you don’t like it here, why don’t you go somewhere else? I think your brains must have been addled by too much study. Can’t you see that if there is something you don’t like, there must be something else you do like, and that all you’ve got to do is leave the one and go after the other? Not hang on to it and cry. Crying won’t make it any better. You came here to enjoy yourself, didn’t you? And now you’re here you’re miserable, right? Then the thing to do is to go somewhere else, isn’t it?’

In the face of such an argument Jia Huan could not very well remain.

When he got back to his own apartment, his real mother, ‘Aunt’ Zhao (Lady Wang was his mother only in name) observed the dejected state he was in.

‘Who’s been making a doormat of you this time?’ she asked him, and, obtaining no immediate reply, asked again.

‘I’ve just been playing at Bao-chai’s. Oriole cheated me and Bao-yu turned me out.’

Aunt Zhao spat contemptuously:

‘Nasty little brat! That’s what comes of getting above yourself. Who asked you to go playing with that lot? You could have gone anywhere else to play. Asking for trouble!’

Just at that moment Xi-feng happened to be passing by outside, and hearing what she said, shouted back at her through the window:

‘What sort of language is that to be using in the middle of the New Year holiday? He’s only a child. He hasn’t done anything terrible. What do you want to go carrying on at him like that for? No matter where he’s been, Sir Zheng and Lady Wang are quite capable of looking after him themselves. There’s no cause for you to go biting his head off! After all, he is one of the masters. If he’s misbehaved himself, you should leave the telling-off to those whose job it is. It’s no business of yours. Huan! Come out here! Come and play with me!’

Jia Huan had always been afraid of Xi-feng – more even than he was of Lady Wang – and hearing her call him, came running out immediately. Aunt Zhao dared not say a word.

‘You’re a poor-spirited creature!’ Xi-feng said to him. ‘How many times have I told you that you can eat and drink and play with any of the boys and girls you like? But instead of doing as I say, you hang about with these other people and let them warp your mind for you and fill it up with mischief. You’ve no self-respect, that’s your trouble. Can’t keep away from the gutter. You insist on making yourself disagreeable and then you complain that people are prejudiced against you! Fancy making a fuss like that about losing a few coppers! How much did you lose?’

‘One or two hundred,’ Jia Huan muttered abjectly.

‘All this fuss about one or two hundred cash! And you one of the masters!’ She turned to Felicity. ‘Go and get a string of cash for him, Felicity, and take him round to the back where Miss Ying and the girls are playing! And if I have any more of this nonsense from you in future, young man,’ she went on to Jia Huan, ‘I’ll first give you a good hiding myself and then send someone to tell the school about you and see if they can knock a bit of sense into you! It sets your Cousin Lian’s teeth on edge to see you so wanting in self-respect. He’d have disembowelled you by now I shouldn’t wonder, if I hadn’t kept his hands off you! Now be off with you!’

‘Yes,’ said Jia Huan meekly and went off with Felicity. When he had got his money, he took himself off to play with Ying-chun and the girls.

And there we must leave him.

While Bao-yu was enjoying himself with Bao-chai, a servant announced that Miss Shi had arrived, and he hurriedly got up to go.

‘Wait!’ said Bao-chai. ‘Let’s go and see her together!’

She got down from the kang as she said this, and accompanied him round to Grandmother Jia’s apartment. Shi Xiang-yun was already there, laughing and chattering away nineteen to the dozen, but rose to greet them as they entered. Dai-yu was there too.

‘Where have you been?’ she asked Bao-yu.

‘Bao-chai’s.’

‘I see’ (very frostily). ‘I thought something must have been detaining you. Otherwise you would have come flying here long since.’

‘Is one only allowed to play with you,’ said Bao-yu, ‘and keep you amused? I just happened to be visiting her. Why should you start making remarks like that?’

‘How thoroughly disagreeable you are!’ said Dai-yu. ‘What do I care whether you go to see her or not? And I’m sure I never asked to be kept amused. From now on you can ignore me completely, as far as I’m concerned.’

With that she went back to her own room in a temper.

Bao-yu came running after.

‘What on earth are you upset about this time? Even if I’ve said anything wrong, you ought, out of simple courtesy, to sit and talk with the others for a bit!’

‘Are you telling me how to behave?’

‘Of course not. It’s just that you destroy your health by carrying on in this way.’

‘That’s my affair. If I choose to die, I don’t see that it’s any concern of yours.’

‘Oh, really, really! Here we are in the middle of the New Year holiday, and you have to start talking about death!’

‘I don’t care. I’ll talk about death if I like. Death! Death! Death! I’m going to die this minute. If you’re so afraid of death, I wish you long life. A hundred years, will that satisfy you?’

‘Do you think I’m afraid of dying when all you will do is quarrel? I wish I were dead. It would be a relief.’

‘Exactly!’ said Dai-yu. ‘If I were to die, it would be a relief from all this quarrelling!’

‘I said if I were to die,’ said Bao-yu. ‘Don’t twist my words. It isn’t fair.’

Just then Bao-chai came hurrying in.

‘Cousin Shi’s waiting for you!’

She took hold of Bao-yu’s hand and pulled him after her, to the great mortification of Dai-yu, who sat with her face to the window and shed tears of pure rage.

After about as long as it would take to drink two cups of tea, Bao-yu came back again. During his absence Dai-yu’s sobs seemed to have redoubled in intensity. Seeing the state she was in he realized that it would need careful handling and began turning over in his mind all kinds of soft and soothing things to coax her with. But before he could get his mouth open, she had anticipated him:

‘What have you come for this time? Why can’t you just leave me here to die in peace? After all, you’ve got a new playmate now – one who can read and write and compose and laugh and talk to you much better than I can. Oh yes, and drag you off to be amused if there’s any danger of your getting upset! I really can’t imagine what you have come back here for!’

‘“Old friends are best friends and close kin are kindest,”’ said Bao-yu, coming over to where she sat and speaking very quietly. ‘You’re too intelligent not to know that. Even a simpleton like me knows that much! Take kinship first: you are my cousin on Father’s side; Cousin Bao is only a mother-cousin. That makes you much the closer kin. And as for length of acquaintance: it was you who came here first. You and I have practically grown up together – eaten at the same table, even slept in the same bed. Compared with you she’s practially a new arrival. Why should I ever be any less close to you because of her?’

‘Whatever do you take me for? Do you think I want you to be any less close to her because of me? It’s the way I feel that makes me the way I am.’

‘And it’s the way I feel,’ said Bao-yu, ‘that makes me the way I am! Do you mean to tell me that you know your own feelings about me but still don’t know what my feelings are about you?’

Dai-yu lowered her head and made no reply. After a pause she said:

‘You complain that whatever you do people are always getting angry with you. You don’t seem to realize how much you provoke them by what you do. Take today, for instance. It’s obviously colder today than it was yesterday. Then why of all days should you choose today to leave your blue cape off?’

Bao-yu laughed.

‘I didn’t. I was wearing it this morning the same as usual; but when you started quarrelling just now, I got into such a sweat that I had to take it off.’

‘Next thing you’ll be catching a cold,’ said Dai-yu with a sigh, ‘and then Heaven knows what grumblings and scoldings there will be!’

Just then Xiang-yun burst in on them and reproved them smilingly for abandoning her:

‘Couthin Bao, Couthin Lin: you can thee each other every day. It’th not often I get a chanthe to come here; yet now I have come, you both ignore me!’

Dai-yu burst out laughing:

‘Lisping doesn’t seem to make you any less talkative! Listen to you: “Couthin!” “Couthin!” Presently, when you’re playing Racing Go, you’ll be all “thicktheth” and “theventh”!’

‘You’d better not imitate her,’ said Bao-yu. ‘It’ll get to be a habit. You’ll be lisping yourself before you know where you are.’

‘How you do pick on one!’ said Xiang-yun. ‘Always finding fault. Even if you are tho perfect yourthelf, I don’t thee why you have to go making fun of everyone elthe. But I can show you thomeone you won’t dare to find fault with. I shall certainly think you a wonder if you do.’

‘Who’s that?’ said Dai-yu.

‘If you can find any shortcomings in Cousin Bao-chai’, said Xiang-yun, ‘you must be very good indeed.’

‘Oh her,’ said Dai-yu coldly. ‘I wondered whom you could mean. I should never dare to find fault with her.’

But before she could say any more, Bao-yu cut in and hurriedly changed the subject.

‘I shall never be a match for you as long as I live,’ Xiang-yun said to Dai-yu with a disarming smile. ‘All I can thay ith that I hope you marry a lithping huthband, tho that you have “ithee-withee” “ithee-withee” in your earth every minute of the day. Ah, Holy Name! I think I can thee that blethed day already before my eyeth!’

Bao-yu could not help laughing; but Xiang-yun had already turned and fled.

If you wish to know the conclusion of this scene, you must read the following chapter.