第四十五回

第四十五回 金兰契互剖金兰语 风雨夕闷制风雨词

话说凤姐儿正抚恤[2]平儿，忽见众姊妹进来，忙让坐了，平儿斟上茶来。凤姐儿笑道：“今儿来的这么齐，倒像下帖子请了来的。”探春笑道：“我们有两件事：一件是我的，一件是四妹妹的，还夹着老太太的话。”凤姐儿笑道：“有什么事，这么要紧？”探春笑道：“我们起了个诗社，头一社就不齐全，众人脸软，所以就乱了。我想必得你去作个监社御史，铁面无私才好。再四妹妹为画园子，用的东西这般那般不全，回了老太太。老太太说：‘只怕后头楼底下还有当年剩下的，找一找，若有呢拿出来，若没有，叫人买去。’”凤姐笑道：“我又不会作什么‘湿的’‘干的’，要我吃东西去不成？”探春道：“你虽不会作，也不要你作。你只监察着我们里头有偷安怠惰的，该怎么样罚他就是了。”凤姐儿笑道：“你们别哄我，我猜着了：那里是请我作监社御史，分明是叫我作个进钱的铜商[3]！你们弄什么社，必是要轮流作东道的。你们的月钱不够花了，想出这个法子来了我去，好和我要钱。可是这个主意？”一席话〔一〕说的众人都笑起来了。

李纨笑道：“真真你是个水晶心肝玻璃人。”凤姐儿笑道：“亏你是个大嫂子呢！把姑娘们原交给你〔二〕带着念书学规矩针线的，他们不好，你要劝。这会子他们起诗社，能用几个钱，你就不管了？老太太、太太罢了，原是老封君[6]。你一个月十两银子的月钱，比我们多两倍银子。老太太、太太还说你寡妇失业的，可怜，不够用，又有个小子，足的又添了十两，和老太太、太太平等。又给你园子地，各人取租子。年终分年例，你又是上上分儿。你娘儿们，主子奴才共总没十个人，吃的穿的仍旧是官中的。一年通共算起来，也有四五百银子。这会子你就每年拿出一二百两银子来陪他们顽顽，能几年的限？他们各人出了阁，难道还要你赔不成？这会子你怕花钱，调唆他们来闹我，我乐得去吃一个河涸海干，我还通不知道呢！”

李纨笑道：“你们听听，我说了一句，他就疯了，说了两车的无赖泥腿市俗专会打细算盘分斤拨两的话出来。这东西亏他托生在诗书大宦名门之家做小姐，出了嫁又是这样，他还是这么着；若是生在贫寒小户人家，作个小子，还不知怎么下作贫嘴恶舌的呢！天下人都被你算计了去！昨儿还打平儿呢，亏你伸的出手来！那黄汤难道灌丧了狗肚子里去了？气的我只要给平儿打报不平儿。忖度了半日，好容易‘狗长尾巴尖儿’的好日子[7]，又怕老太太心里不受用，因此没来，究竟气还未平。你今儿又招我来了。给平儿拾鞋也不要〔三〕，你们两个只该换一个过子才是。”说的众人都笑了。凤姐儿忙笑道：“竟不是为诗为画来找我这脸子，竟是为平儿来报仇的。竟不承望平儿有你这一位仗腰子的人。早知道，便有鬼拉着我的手打他，我也不打了。平姑娘，过来！我当着大奶奶姑娘们替你赔个不是，担待我酒后无德[9]罢。”说着，众人又都笑起来了。李纨笑问平儿道：“如何？我说必定要给你争争气才罢。”平儿笑道：“虽如此，奶奶们取笑，我禁不起。”李纨道：“什么禁不起，有我呢。快拿了钥匙叫你主子开了楼房找东西去。”

凤姐儿笑道：“好嫂子，你且同他们回园子里去。才要把这米帐和他们算一算，那边大太太又打发人来叫，又不知有什么话说，须得过去走一趟。还有〔四〕年下你们添补的衣服，还没打点给他们做去。”李纨笑道：“这些事我都不管，你只把我的事完了我好歇着去，省得这些姑娘小姐闹我。”凤姐忙笑道：“好嫂子，赏我一点空儿。你是最疼我的，怎么今儿为平儿就不疼我了？往常你还劝我说，事情虽多，也该保养身子，捡点着偷空儿歇歇，你今儿反倒逼我的命了。况且误了别人的年下衣裳无碍，他姊妹们的若误了，却是你的责任，老太太岂不怪你不管闲事，这一句现成的话也不说？我宁可自己赔不是，岂敢带累你呢。”李纨笑道：“你们听听，说的好不好？把他会说话的！我且问你，这诗社你到底管不管？”凤姐儿笑道：“这是什么话，我不入社花几个钱，不成了大观园的反叛了，还想在这里吃饭不成？明儿一早就到任，下马拜了印，先放下五十两银子给你们慢慢作会社东道。过后几天，我又不作诗作文，只不过是个俗人罢了。‘监察’也罢，不‘监察’也罢，有了钱了，你们还撵出我来！”说的众人又都笑起来。凤姐儿道：“过会子我开了楼房，凡有这些东西都叫人搬出来你们看，若使得，留着使，若少什么，照你们单子，我叫人替你们买去就是了。画绢我就裁出来。那图样没有在太太跟前，还在那边珍大爷那里呢。说给你们，别碰钉子去。我打发人取了来，一并叫人连绢交给相公们矾去，如何？”李纨点首笑道：“这难为你，果然这样还罢了。既如此，咱们家去罢，等着他不送了去再来闹他。”说着，便带了他姊妹就走。

凤姐儿道：“这些事再没两个人，都是宝玉生出来的。”李纨听了，忙回身笑道：“正是为宝玉来，反忘了他。头一社是他误了。我们脸软，你说该怎么罚他？”凤姐想了一想，说道：“没有别的法子，只叫他把你们各人屋子里的地罚他扫一遍才好。”众人都笑道：“这话不差。”

说着才要回去，只见一个小丫头扶了赖嬷嬷进来。凤姐儿等忙站起来，笑道：“大娘坐。”又都向他道喜。赖嬷嬷向炕沿上坐了，笑道：“我也喜，主子们也喜。若不是主子们的恩典，我们这喜从何来？昨儿奶奶又打发彩哥儿赏东西，我孙子在门上朝上磕了头了。”李纨笑道：“多早晚上任去？”赖嬷嬷叹道：“我那里管他们，由他们去罢！前儿在家里给我磕头，我没好话，我说：‘哥哥儿，你别说你是官儿了，横行霸道的！你今年活了三十岁，虽然是人家的奴才，一落娘胎胞，主子恩典，放你出来，上托着主子的洪福，下托着你老子娘，也是公子哥儿似的读书认字，也是丫头、老婆、奶子捧凤凰似的。长了这么大，你那里知道那“奴才”两字是怎么写的！只知道享福，也不知道你爷爷和你老子受的那苦恼，熬了两三辈子，好容易挣出你这么个东西来。从小儿三灾八难，花的银子也照样打出你这么个银人儿来了。到二十岁上，又蒙主子的恩典，许你捐个前程在身上。你看那正根正苗的忍饥挨饿的要多少？你一个奴才秧子，仔细折了福！如今乐了十年，不知怎么弄神弄鬼的，求了主子，又选了出来。州县官儿虽小，事情却大，为那一州的州官，就是那一方的父母。你不安分守己，尽忠报国，孝敬主子，只怕天也不容你。’”李纨凤姐儿都笑道：“你也多虑。我们看他也就好了。先那几年还进来了两次，这有好几年没来了，年下生日，只见他的名字就罢了。前儿给老太太、太太磕头来，在老太太那院里，见他又穿着新官的服色，倒越发的威武了，比先时也胖了。他这一得了官，正该你乐呢，反倒愁起这些来！他不好，还有他父亲呢，你只受用你的就完了。闲了坐个轿子进来，和老太太斗一日牌，说一天话儿，谁好意思的委屈了你。家去一般也是楼房厦厅，谁不敬你，自然也是老封君似的了。”

平儿斟上茶来，赖嬷嬷忙站起来接了，笑道：“姑娘不管叫那个孩子倒来罢了，又折受我。”说着，一面吃茶，一面又道：“奶奶不知道。这些小孩子们全要管的严。饶这么严，他们还偷空儿闹个乱子来叫大人操心。知道的说小孩子们淘气；不知道的，人家就说〔五〕仗着财势欺人，连主子名声也不好。恨的我没法儿，常把他老子叫来骂一顿，才好些。”因又指宝玉道：“不怕你嫌我，如今老爷不过这么管你一管，老太太护在头里。当日老爷小时挨你爷爷的打，谁没看见的。老爷小时，何曾像你这么天不怕地不怕的了。还有那大老爷，虽然淘气，也没像你这扎窝子[12]的样儿，也是天天打。还有东府里你珍哥儿的爷爷，那才是火上浇油的性子，说声恼了，什么儿子，竟是审贼！如今我眼里看着，耳朵里听着，那珍大爷管儿子倒也像当日老祖宗的规矩，只是管的到三不着两的。他自己也不管一管自己，这些兄弟侄儿怎么怨的不怕他？你心里明白，喜欢我说，不明白，嘴里不好意思，心里不知怎么骂我呢。”

正说着，只见赖大家的来了。接着，周瑞家的张材家的都进来回事情。凤姐儿笑道：“媳妇来接婆婆来了。”赖大家的笑道：“不是接他老人家，倒是打听打听奶奶姑娘们赏脸不赏脸？”赖嬷嬷听了，笑道：“可是我糊涂了，正经说的话且不说，且说陈谷子烂芝麻的混捣熟[13]。因为我们小子选了出来，众亲友要给他贺喜，少不得家里摆个酒。我想，摆一日酒，请这个也不是，请那个也不是。又想了一想，托主子洪福，想不到的这样荣耀，就倾了家，我也是愿意的。因此吩咐他老子连摆三日酒：头一日，在我们破花园子里摆几席酒，一台戏，请老太太、太太们、奶奶姑娘们去散一日闷；外头大厅上一台戏，摆几席酒，请老爷们、爷们去增增光〔六〕。第二日再请亲友。第三日再把我们两府里的伴儿请一请。热闹三天，也是托着主子的洪福一场，光辉光辉。”李纨凤姐儿都笑道：“多早晚的日子？我们必去，只怕老太太高兴要去也定不得。”赖大家的忙道：“择了十四的日子，只看我们奶奶的老脸罢了。”凤姐笑道：“别人不知道，我是一定去的。先说下，我是没有贺礼的，也不知道放赏，吃完了一走，可别笑话。”赖大家的笑道：“奶奶说那里话〔七〕？奶奶要赏，赏我们三二万银子就有了。”赖嬷嬷笑道：“我才去请老太太，老太太也说去，可算〔八〕我这脸还好。”说毕又叮咛了一回，方起身要走，因看见周瑞家的，便想起一事来，因说道：“可是还有一句话问奶奶，这周嫂子的儿子犯了什么不是，撵了他不用？”凤姐儿听了，笑道：“正是我要告诉你媳妇，事情多也忘了。赖嫂子回去说给你老头子，两府里不许收留他小子，叫他各人去罢。”

赖大家的只得答应着。周瑞家的忙跪下央求。赖嬷嬷忙道：“什么事？说给我评评。”凤姐儿道：“前日我生日，里头还没吃酒，他小子先醉了。老娘那边送了礼来，他不说在外头张罗，他倒坐着骂人，礼也不送进来。两个女人进来了，他才带着小幺们往里抬。小幺们倒好，他拿的一盒子倒失了手，撒了一院子馒头。人去了，打发彩明去说他，他倒骂了彩明一顿。这样无法无天的忘八羔子，不撵了作什么！”赖嬷嬷笑道：“我当什么事情，原来为这个。奶奶听我说：他有不是，打他骂他，使他改过，撵了去断乎使不得。他又比不得是咱们家的家生子儿，他现是太太的陪房。奶奶只顾撵了他，太太脸上不好看。依我说，奶奶教导他几板子，以戒下次，仍旧留着才是。不看他娘，也看太太。”凤姐儿听说，便向赖大家的说道：“既这样，打他四十棍，以后不许他吃酒。”赖大家的答应了。周瑞家的磕头起来，又要与赖嬷嬷磕头，赖大家的拉着方罢。然后他三人去了，李纨等也就回园中来。

至晚，果然凤姐命人找了许多旧收的画具出来，送至园中。宝钗等选了一回，各色东西可用的只有一半，将那一半又开了单子，与凤姐儿去照样置买，不必细说。

一日，外面矾了绢，起了稿子进来。宝玉每日便在惜春这里帮忙。探春、李纨、迎春、宝钗等也多往那里闲坐，一则观画，二则便于会面。宝钗因见天气凉爽，夜复渐长，遂至母亲房中商议打点些针线来。日间至贾母处王夫人处省候两次，不免又承色[17]陪坐闲话半时，园中姊妹处也要度时闲话一回，故日间不大得闲，每夜灯下女工必至三更方寝。

黛玉每岁至春分秋分之后，必犯嗽疾；今秋又遇贾母高兴，多游玩了两次，未免过劳了神，近日又复嗽起来，觉得比往常又重，所以总不出门，只在自己房中将养。有时闷了，又盼个姊妹来说些闲话排遣；及至宝钗等来望候他，说不得三五句话又厌烦了。众人都体谅他病中，且素日形体娇弱，禁不得一些委屈，所以他接待不周，礼数粗忽，也都不苛责。

这日宝钗来望他，因说起这病症来。宝钗道：“这里走的几个太医虽都还好，只是你吃他们的药总不见效，不如再请一个高明的人来瞧一瞧，治好了岂不好？每年间闹一春一夏，又不老又不小，成什么？不是个常法。”黛玉道：“不中用。我知道我这样病是不能好的了。且别说病，只论好的日子我是怎么形景，就可知了。”宝钗点头道：“可正是这话。古人说‘食谷者生’[18]，你素日吃的竟不能添养精神气血，也不是好事。”黛玉叹道：“‘死生有命，富贵在天’，[19]也不是人力可强的。今年比往年反觉又重了些似的。”说话之间，已咳嗽了两三次。宝钗道：“昨儿我看你那药方上，人参肉桂觉得太多了。虽说益气补神，也不宜太热。依我说，先以平肝健胃为要，肝火一平，不能克土[20]，胃气无病，饮食就可以养人了。每日早起拿上等燕窝一两，冰糖五钱，用银铫子[21]熬出粥来，若吃惯了，比药还强，最是滋阴补气的。”

黛玉叹道：“你素日待人，固然是极好的，然我最是个多心的人，只当你心里藏奸。从前日你说看杂书不好，又劝我那些好话，竟大感激你。往日竟是我错了，实在误到如今。细细算来，我母亲去世的早，又无姊妹兄弟，我长了今年十五岁，竟没一个人像你前日的话教导我。怨不得云丫头说你好，我往日见他赞你，我还不受用，昨儿我亲自经过，才知道了。比如若是你说了那个，我再不轻放过你的；你竟不介意，反劝我那些话，可知我竟自误了。若不是从前日看出来，今日这话，再不对你说。你方才说叫我吃燕窝粥的话，虽然燕窝易得，但只我因身上不好了，每年犯这个病，也没什么要紧的去处。请大夫，熬药，人参肉桂，已经闹了个天翻地覆，这会子我又兴出新文[22]来熬什么燕窝粥，老太太、太太、凤姐姐这三个人便没话说，那些底下的婆子丫头们，未免不嫌我太多事了。你看这里这些人，因见老太太多疼了宝玉和凤丫头两个，他们尚虎视眈眈，背地里言三语四的，何况于我？况我又不是他们这里正经主子，原是无依无靠投奔了来的，他们已经多嫌着我了。如今我还不知进退，何苦叫他们咒我？”

宝钗道：“这样说，我也是和你一样。”黛玉道：“你如何比我？你又有母亲，又有哥哥，这里又有买卖地土，家里又仍旧有房有地。你不过是亲戚的情分，白住了这里，一应大小事情，又不沾他们一文半个，要走就走了。我是一无所有，吃穿用度，一草一纸，皆是和他们家的姑娘一样，那起小人岂有不多嫌的。”宝钗笑道：“将来也不过多费得一副嫁妆罢了，如今也愁不到这里。”黛玉听了，不觉红了脸，笑道：“人家才拿你当个正经人，把心里的烦难告诉你听，你反拿我取笑儿。”宝钗笑道：“虽是取笑儿，却也是真话。你放心，我在这里一日，我与你消遣一日。你有什么委屈烦难，只管告诉我，我能解的，自然替你解一日。我虽有个哥哥，你也是知道的，只有个母亲比你略强些。咱们也算同病相怜。你也是个明白人，何必作‘司马牛之叹’[23]？你才说的也是，多一事不如省一事。我明日家去和妈妈说了，只怕我们家里还有，与你送几两，每日叫丫头们就熬了，又便宜，又不惊师动众的。”黛玉忙笑道：“东西事小，难得你多情如此。”宝钗道：“这有什么放在口里的！只愁我人人跟前失于应候罢了。只怕你烦了，我且去了。”黛玉道：“晚上再来和我说句话儿。”宝钗答应着便去了，不在话下。

这里黛玉喝了两口稀粥，仍歪在床上，不想日未落时天就变了，淅淅沥沥下起雨来。秋霖脉脉，阴晴不定，那天渐渐的黄昏，且阴的沉黑，兼着那雨滴竹梢，更觉凄凉。知宝钗不能来，便在灯下随便拿了一本书，却是《乐府杂稿》[24]，有《秋闺怨》《别离怨》[25]等词。黛玉不觉心有所感，亦不禁发于章句，遂成《代别离》[26]一首，拟《春江花月夜》之格[27]，乃名其词曰《秋窗风雨夕》。其词曰：

秋花惨淡秋草黄，耿耿[28]秋灯秋夜长。

已觉秋窗秋不尽，那堪风雨助凄凉！

助秋风雨来何速，惊破秋窗秋梦绿[29]。

抱得秋情不忍眠，自向秋屏移泪烛。

泪烛摇摇短檠[30]，牵愁照恨动离情。

谁家秋院无风入，何处秋窗无雨声！

罗衾不奈秋风力，残漏声催秋雨急。

连宵脉脉复飕飕，灯前似伴〔九〕离人泣。

寒烟小院转萧条，疏竹虚窗时滴沥。

不知风雨几时休，已教泪洒窗纱湿。

吟罢搁笔，方要安寝，丫鬟报说：“宝二爷来了。”一语未完，只见宝玉头上带着大箬笠[32]，身上披着蓑衣。黛玉不觉笑了：“那里来的渔翁！”宝玉忙问：“今儿好些？吃了药没有？今儿一日吃了多少饭？”一面说，一面摘了笠，脱了蓑衣，忙一手举起灯来，一手遮住灯光，向黛玉脸上照了一照，觑着眼细瞧了一瞧，笑道：“今儿气色好了些。”

黛玉看脱了蓑衣，里面只穿半旧红绫短袄，系着绿汗巾子，膝下露出油绿绸〔一〇〕撒花裤子，底下是掐金满绣的绵纱袜子，靸著蝴蝶落花鞋。黛玉问道：“上头怕雨，底下这鞋袜子是不怕雨的？也倒干净。”宝玉笑道：“我这一套是全的。有一双棠木屐[34]，才穿了来，脱在廊檐上了。”黛玉又看那蓑衣斗笠不是寻常市卖的，十分细致轻巧，因说道：“是什么草编的？怪道穿上不像那刺猬似的。”宝玉道：“这三样都是北静王送的。他闲了下雨时在家里也是这样。你喜欢这个，我也弄一套来送你。别的都罢了，惟有这斗笠有趣，竟是活的。上头〔一一〕的这顶儿是活的，冬天下雪，带上帽子，就把竹信子[36]抽了，去下顶子来，只剩了这圈子。下雪时男女都戴得，我送你一顶，冬天下雪戴。”黛玉笑道：“我不要他。戴上那个，成个画儿上画的和戏上扮的渔婆了。”及说了出来，方想起话未忖夺，与方才说宝玉的话相连，后悔不及，羞的脸飞红，便伏在桌上嗽个不住。

宝玉却不留心，因见案上有诗，遂拿起来看了一遍，又不禁叫好。黛玉听了，忙起来夺在手内，向灯上烧了。宝玉笑道：“我已背熟了，烧也无碍。”黛玉道：“我也好了许多，谢你一天来几次瞧我，下雨还来。这会子夜深了，我也要歇着，你且请回去，明儿再来。”宝玉听说，回手向怀中掏出一个核桃大小的一个金表来，瞧了一瞧，那针已指到戌末亥初之间，忙又揣了，说道：“原该歇了，又扰的你劳了半日神。”说着，披蓑戴笠出去了，又翻身进来问道：“你想什么吃，告诉我，我明儿一早回老太太，岂不比老婆子们说的明白？”黛玉笑道：“等我夜里想着了，明儿早起告诉你。你听雨越发紧了，快去罢。可有人跟着没有？”

有两个婆子答应：“有人，外面拿着伞点着灯笼呢。”黛玉笑道：“这个天点灯笼？”宝玉道：“不相干，是明瓦[37]的，不怕雨。”黛玉听说，回手〔一二〕向书架上把个玻璃绣球灯拿了下来，命点一支小蜡来，递与宝玉，道：“这个又比那个亮，正是雨里点的。”宝玉道：“我也有这么一个，怕他们失脚滑倒了打破了，所以没点来。”黛玉道：“跌了灯值钱，跌了人值钱？你又穿不惯木屐子。那灯笼命他们前头照着。这个又轻巧又亮，原是雨里自己拿着的，你自己手里拿着这个，岂不好？明儿再送来。就失了手也有限的，怎么忽然又变出这‘剖腹藏珠’[39]的脾气来！”宝玉听说，连忙接了过来，前头两个婆子打着伞提着明瓦灯，后头还有两个小丫鬟打着伞。宝玉便将这个灯递与一个小丫头捧着，宝玉扶着他的肩，一径去了。

就有蘅芜苑的一个婆子，也打着伞提着灯，送了一大包上等燕窝来，还有一包子洁粉梅片雪花洋糖，说：“这比买的强。姑娘说了：姑娘先吃着，完了再送来。”黛玉道：“回去说‘费心’。”命他外头坐了吃茶。婆子笑道：“不吃茶了，我还有事呢。”黛玉笑道：“我也知道你们忙。如今天又凉，夜又长，越发该会个夜局，痛赌两场。”婆子笑道：“不瞒姑娘说，今年我大沾光儿了。横竖每夜各处有几个上夜的人，误了更也不好，不如会个夜局，又坐了更，又解闷儿。今儿又是我的头家，如今园门关了，就该上场了。”黛玉听说笑道：“难为你。误了你发财，冒雨送来。”命人给他几百钱，打些酒吃，避避雨气。那婆子笑道：“又破费姑娘赏酒吃。”说着，磕了一个头，外面接了钱，打伞去了。

紫鹃收起燕窝，然后移灯下帘，服侍黛玉睡下。黛玉自在枕上感念宝钗，一时又羡他有母兄；一面又想宝玉虽素习和睦，终有嫌疑。又听见窗外竹梢〔一三〕焦叶之上，雨声淅沥，清寒透幕，不觉又滴下泪来。直到四更将阑，方渐渐的睡了。暂且无话。要知端的——

[1] 金兰契——比喻情投意合的知心朋友。金，喻坚；兰，喻香；契，契合，意气相合。参见第559页注①。

[2] 抚恤——亦作“抚”。意即抚慰。《后汉书·西羌传·东号子麻奴》：“贤抚恤不至，常有怨心。”《晋书·华谭传》：“兵乱之后，境内饥馑，谭倾心抚。”冰心《最后的安息》：“便拿翠儿当作苦人的代表，去抚恤、安慰。”此处“抚恤”一词，常为人误解，不知“抚恤”的本意即安慰、爱抚，至有擅改此词者。殊不知对死者及其家属的救助、安慰，反是此词的另义。

[3] 进钱的铜商——进钱：供给钱。进，这里是进奉的意思。铜商：西汉邓通受宠于汉文帝，得赐蜀郡严道铜山，可自行铸钱，成为西汉大富商。见《汉书·邓通传》。故后以铜商代指富商。

〔一〕 “一席话”，原作“一夕话”，从戚序本改。

〔二〕 “原交给你”，原作“原教给你”，从蒙府、戚序本改。

[6] 封君——古代受封邑的贵族的通称。《汉书·食货志下》引颜师古注：“封君，受封邑者，谓公主及列侯之属也。”自晋以后，历代均有封典之制，即皇帝按照官员的等级分别给他本人及其妻室、父祖以荣誉封赠，凡受到这种封典的都叫“封君”。

[7] “狗长尾巴尖儿”的好日子——代指生日。俗传小狗在胎里，一到尾巴长足便生下来。这是对别人生日的玩笑话。

〔三〕 “拾鞋也不要”，原无“也”字，从蒙府、戚序本补。

[9] 酒后无德——酒后失态，失去了应有的仪态和德行。

〔四〕 “走一趟。还有”，原作“走一淌边有”，“一”为旁添，“边”点改为“还”。从改文，“淌”字径改。

〔五〕 “就说”，原作“就要”，从各本改。

[12] 扎窝子——本指飞鸟钻在巢中，不肯出来。这里喻留恋家庭小天地，不思有所作为。

[13] 混捣熟——絮絮叨叨地说一些别人听厌了的陈词滥调。

〔六〕 “增增光”，原作“争争光”，从戚序本改。

〔七〕 “我是没有贺礼的，也不知道放赏，吃完了一走，可别笑话。’赖大家的笑道：‘奶奶说那里话”，原“我是没有贺”以下，仅旁添“礼的呢，赖大家的道”八字，从各本补。

〔八〕 “可算”，原作“可笑”，从各本改。

[17] 承色——顺承迎合父母长辈以博欢心。

[18] “食谷者生”——中医认为食五谷，可以添养精神气血。

[19] “死生有命，富贵在天”——语出《论语·颜渊》。

[20] 肝火一平，不能克土——中医理论以五行的生克致化来说明五脏之间的相互关系。肝属木，脾胃属土，木与土是相克关系，木能生火，肝火太旺，要伤及脾土。肝火一平，使之不能再克伤脾胃，就能和顺地摄取食物的营养。

[21] 铫（diào掉）子——一种带柄有短嘴的小锅。

[22] 新文——新花样。

[23] 司马牛之叹——司马牛是孔子的学生，名耕，字子牛，他曾感叹说：“人皆有兄弟，我独亡（无）。”见《论语·颜渊》。后常以此代指没有兄弟。其实司马牛是有兄弟的，只因其兄作乱，致使忧惧。故此语可解为“没有好兄弟”，也宜乎作为宝钗内心之感叹。

[24] 《乐府杂稿》——未详。疑为作者虚拟的书名。清代以前辑录“乐府”的书今存者尚有宋代郭茂倩的《乐府诗集》、元代左克明的《古乐府》、明代梅鼎祚的《古乐苑》等。乐府：本为汉武帝所立的官署，专司搜集诗歌配管弦以入乐。后世因称乐府官署保存的和一些能入乐的诗歌为“乐府”。

[25] 怨——本为乐府中一种抒发哀怨情怀的诗歌，乐府楚调曲有《怨诗行》、《怨歌行》等。这里的《秋闺怨》、《别离怨》是以“怨”字为题虚拟的篇名。

[26] 《代别离》——代：拟作。清代沈德潜《古诗源》：“代，犹拟也。”有时也指用别人口气写诗来抒发自己的情怀。这里的《代别离》是拟上文所说的《别离怨》之类的作品。

[27] 拟《春江花月夜》之格——《春江花月夜》：乐府吴声歌曲名。宋代郭茂倩《乐府诗集》引《晋书·乐志》：“《春江花月夜》、《玉树后庭花》、《堂堂》，并陈后主所作。”后隋炀帝及唐代张若虚、温庭筠等均有此作。这里的《秋窗风雨夕》是拟张若虚《春江花月夜》的格调。

[28] 耿耿——隐隐有些光亮的样子；喻心中有所思虑而展转不寐。

[29] “秋梦绿”句——意谓秋天来临，草木将衰萎枯黄。但秋之初来，人尚不觉，故秋梦之中还是一片绿色，而今风雨相催，摇撼秋窗，惊破了绿色的梦，由此而产生物色变衰、年华易老之感。

[30] （ruò若）短檠（qínɡ情）——谓烛将燃尽，烧及灯台。：燃烧；点燃。檠：烛台，灯架。

〔九〕 “似伴”，原作“以伴”，从各本改。

[32] 箬（ruò若）笠——用竹篾、箬竹叶或笋壳编制的斗笠。箬：箬竹；笋壳也叫箬。

〔一〇〕 “膝下露出油绿绸”，原“膝下”作“膝上”，“油绿绸”三字缺。从蒙府、戚序本改。

[34] 棠木屐（jī基）——棠木制作的屐，下有高齿，雨天当套鞋用。棠：即棠梨，也叫杜梨，落叶乔木，木质坚韧。屐：木鞋。

〔一一〕 “上头”，原作“头上”，从各本改。

[36] 竹信子——竹子做的插销。信子亦作“芯子”。

[37] 明瓦——古时未有玻璃，用蛎壳磨成半透明的薄片，嵌于窗间或灯架上以透光照明，谓之“明瓦”。

〔一二〕 “回手”，原作“回首”，从各本改。

[39] 剖腹藏珠——《资治通鉴·唐太宗贞观元年》：“上（唐太宗）谓侍臣曰：‘吾闻西域贾胡得美珠，剖身以藏之。’彼之爱珠而不爱其身。”后以喻为物伤身、轻重倒置。

〔一三〕 “竹梢”，原作“竹稍”，从戚序、甲辰本改。

CHAPTER 45. Sisterly understanding finds expression in words of sisterly frankness And autumnal pluviousness is celebrated in verses of autumnal melancholy

As we were saying at the end of the last chapter, Xi-feng had just begun expressing her concern for Patience when Li Wan and the cousins walked in. She broke off and invited them to be seated, and Patience went round and served them all with tea.

‘What a crowd!’ said Xi-feng. ‘Anyone would think I’d sent out an invitation for something!’

‘There are two things we wanted to see you about,’ said Tan-chun. ‘One is my affair; the other concerns Xi-chun but also includes instructions from Grandmother.’

‘They must be very important things for a turn-out like this,’ said Xi-feng.

‘We started a poetry club recently,’ said Tan-chun, ‘and the very first time we had a regular meeting, somebody didn’t turn up. As the rest of us are too soft to apply the rules ourselves, we want to invite you, as someone we could trust to apply them for us with iron impartiality, to be our Disciplinary Officer. That’s the first thing. The second thing concerns this painting of the Garden that Xi-chun has been asked to do. There are all sorts of things she’ll need for it that she hasn’t got. We spoke to Grandmother about it and she said that there might still be some things that would do in the downstairs store-room at the back. She said we ought to have a look, and if there are, we can use them. Otherwise, anything we haven’t got ourselves we should send outside for and buy.’

‘I know nothing about poetry,’ said Xi-feng. ‘I couldn’t compose a poem to save my life. I could come along to eat and drink with you if you like.’

‘You wouldn’t have to compose poems,’ said Tan-chun. ‘That’s not what we want you for. All you have to do is keep an eye on the rest of us, and if you find anyone slacking or playing truant, decide how they ought to be punished.’

‘Don’t try to fool me,’ said Xi-feng. ‘I’ve already guessed. It’s not iron impartiality you’re after, it’s financial backing. If you’ve got a club, you’re sure to have some arrangement for taking it in turns to pay the bill, and as you’re short of money, you’ve thought of this as a means of roping me in so that you can get some out of me. That’s the real reason for your invitation, isn’t it?’

The others laughed.

‘Too bad! You’ve guessed.’

‘You’re like the original Crystal Man, Feng,’ said Li Wan.

‘A heart of crystal in a body of glass.

You can see through everything!’

‘Fancy!’ said Xi-feng, mockingly. ‘The respected elder sister-in-law! The one who’s put in charge of these young ladies to guide their studies and teach them needlework and good manners! You encourage them to start a poetry club, but as soon as the question of money arises (and incidentally, how much money is involved? – it can’t surely be very much), you’re not interested: it has nothing to do with you! Now, you have a monthly allowance of ten taels. Excluding Grandmother and Aunt Wang – and they are, after all, ladies of rank and title – that’s twice as much as any of the rest of us gets. Yet Grandma and Auntie go on about how poor you are: “poor young widow!” “no means of her own!” Oh yes, and because you’ve got a son, you get another ten taels a month on top of that, which actually makes you equal with Grandma and Auntie Wang. And you’ve got your land in the Garden, the best plot there. It’s down in the tithe-book for the highest tithing. And you haven’t got a big establishment. I doubt there are ten of you there altogether, counting you and Lan and all the servants, so your outgoings can’t come to very much. And in any case your food and clothing is all found out of common funds. If one were to add it all up together, I think your real income must be somewhere in the region of four or five hundred taels a year. Even if you were to spend one or two hundred a year out of that on amusements for the girls like this poetry thing, it wouldn’t be for many years. Another year or two from now and they’ll all be getting married. And it’s not as if you were saving up for their dowries, either. That’s hardly likely to be your responsibility. No, you’re frightened of spending that money of yours, that’s why you’ve set these girls on to me. I’m supposed to go along like an innocent and eat and drink myself silly so that next day I can be made to foot the bill. That’s your little game, isn’t it?’

‘Listen to her, all of you!’ said Li Wan, laughing. ‘I make a single, inoffensive remark to her, and in return I get this cartload of ill-bred abuse! Really, Feng, what a mercenary creature you are! You’re just like one of those muddy-legged wretches who stand haggling in the market-place with a little abacus up one sleeve to do their calculations on. It’s a good job you were born a girl and brought up in an educated, upper-class family and that you married into a family of the same sort. If you’d been born a boy and your family had been poor and uneducated people, I dread to think what sort of a calculating monster you would have grown up into! Everyone in the world has to become the object of your calculations. Yesterday it was Patience’s turn. It’s a wonder you have arms to strike her with, for I’m sure it was a dog’s stomach you poured all that wine into. None but a dog would have turned on Patience the way you did. I tell you, I was so angry, I felt like coming straight over and giving you a piece of my mind. Then I thought it over for a bit and decided not to. After all, it was your birthday, and as we know, “every dog must have his day”. Also I was afraid that if I made a fuss I might upset Grandmother. And because I didn’t have it out with you yesterday, I was still feeling angry about it when I came here to see you just now. Yet you have the gall to start on me – you who aren’t worthy to pick up Patience’s shoes! You ought to change places, you two. I’m sure Patience would make the better mistress.’

It made the girls laugh to hear Li Wan speaking with such unaccustomed heat.

‘Oh, now I understand!’ said Xi-feng, joining in their laughter. ‘It wasn’t about poetry or painting that you came to see me: it was revenge for Patience you were after. I didn’t realize that she had so powerful a protector. Now that I do, I shall never dare to strike her again – not if all the devils in hell are tugging at my elbow! Here, Patience! Miss Patience! Let me apologize to you in front of Mrs Zhu and the young ladies. I “did evil in my cups”. Please forgive me.’

The others laughed.

‘There you are!’ said Li Wan to Patience. ‘I told you I’d stick up for you, didn’t I?’

‘It’s all very well for you ladies to joke about it,’ said Patience, ‘but you make me feel very uncomfortable.’

‘You’ve no cause to feel uncomfortable,’ said Li Wan. ‘I’ll look after you. You just get that key and tell your mistress to unlock the store-room and find those things for us.’

‘My dear good Wan, please take these girls back to the Garden,’ said Xi-feng. ‘I’ve got the rice accounts to go over; I’ve got to see Lady Xing about something (I don’t know what, but she’s just sent over to say that she wants me); and I’ve got the New Year’s clothes to see about. I have to find out what everyone wants and get the orders placed —’

‘I don’t care in the least about these things,’ said Li Wan airily. ‘You just settle my business first so that I can go back home and rest and not have these girls pestering me any more.’

‘Give me a little time!’ said Xi-feng pleadingly. ‘You’re so considerate towards me as a rule; I don’t know why I’m so out of favour with you today. I suppose it must be because of Patience. Often in the past you’ve said to me, “Now I know how busy you are, Feng, but your health is important: you ought to find means somehow or other of taking a rest.” That’s what you would normally say in a situation like this; but today you seem more intent on driving me into an early grave! Incidentally, you may not think it matters very much if the arrangements for other people’s winter clothing get put off, but what about the clothing for the girls? Strictly speaking that’s your responsibility. Don’t you think Grandmother would feel that you were taking non-interference just a little far if she discovered that the girls were going without winter clothes simply for want of a word from you? You know, of course, that I would rather get into trouble myself than involve you in trouble …’

‘Listen to her, all of you,’ said Li Wan. ‘Marvellous, isn’t it? I’d like to get hold of that clever tongue of yours, Feng, and –! Just tell me this one thing, then: are you going to keep an eye on our poetry club for us or aren’t you?’

‘What a question!’ said Xi-feng. ‘If I refused to join your club and spend my money in it, I should be declaring myself in open rebellion against the Prospect Garden Residents’ Association, and heaven help me then! – my life wouldn’t be worth living! I shall be round first thing tomorrow to report for duty, and the first thing I shall do will be to pay down fifty taels to be spent as and when you wish on the club’s entertainment. I can’t write poetry – or anything else, for that matter – and I’m a very common, ignorant sort of person to be joining a poetry club; and as for taking on this disciplinary business: well, whether I do or whether I don’t, I don’t suppose there’ll be much danger of your expelling me once you’ve seen the colour of my money.’

The others laughed.

‘I’ll open the store-room presently,’ she continued, ‘and I’ll get them to put out anything that looks as if it might be of use for you to have a look at. If you can use it, keep it. Anything you’re still short of after that, I’ll tell them to buy for you outside. I can get the pongee cut for you straight away. The architect’s drawing isn’t at Lady Wang’s, by the way; it’s at Cousin Zhen’s place. I’m telling you this to save you a wasted journey. I can get it for you, if you like; then I can have it taken with the pongee to Sir Zheng’s gentlemen and ask them to do the sizing for you.’

Li Wan nodded approvingly.

‘That would be very kind. If you’ll really do all that for us, we shall have nothing more to say. Come on then, everybody! Let’s go home and see what happens. If she doesn’t send the stuff, we can come back and deal with her later.’

She began to leave the room as she said this, the cousins following in her wake.

‘I know of only one person who could have stirred all this up,’ said Xi-feng as they were going, ‘and that’s Bao-yu.’

The mention of his name stopped Li Wan in her tracks. She came back into the room.

‘I’d completely forgotten: it was Bao-yu that I came about in the first place. He was the one who failed to turn up at our first meeting. We’re all too soft to know what to do with him. How do you think we ought to punish him?’

Xi-feng thought for a bit.

‘The only thing I can suggest is that you should make him go round to each of your apartments in turn and sweep the floors for you.’

‘Yes, yes,’ said the others, laughing. ‘The very thing!’

They were just about to leave for the second time when Lai Da’s mother, old Mrs Lai, came in, leaning on the shoulder of a little maid. Xi-feng and the rest rose to greet her. They begged her to be seated and offered her their congratulations. The old woman sat down on the edge of the kang and smiled round at them with pleasure.

‘The way I see it, since you are our employers, our good fortune is really yours. If it weren’t for your family, how would the likes of us ever have come by a piece of good fortune like this in the first place? Yesterday when you sent young Sunshine round with those presents, my grandson “kotowed upwards” in the doorway to show his gratitude.’

‘When will he be leaving to take up his post?’ said Li Wan.

Old Mrs Lai sighed, as though the thought made her melancholy.

‘Oh, I don’t concern myself with their affairs. I just let them get on with it. When he came round to me to kotow the other day, I didn’t have a good word for him. I said to him, “Young man, don’t tell me you’re a mandarin now, because it’s just plain ridiculous. Thirty years it is since you were born,” I said, “and all that time, in actual fact, you’ve been a bondservant. Yet through the kindness of our Masters you were set apart from the moment you came out of your mother’s womb. Thanks to the Masters and your parents,” I said, “you were taught to read and write like a gentleman’s son and fussed over by a parcel of maids and nannies and wet-nurses as if you was some sort of young phoenix. I doubt you know how the word ‘bondservant’ is written. You’ve known nothing but soft living since you were born,” I said. “You don’t know the bitterness your father and your grandfather had to go through. You don’t appreciate the generations of hardship that went into the making of a fine gentleman like you. And the money they spent on you,” I said, “nursing you through all the fevers and calamities of youth (for you were a sickly, ailing child): it would have been enough to have made you anew out of silver! Then, when you were twenty, the Master, out of the kindness of his heart, undertook to buy you a place in the Service, so that your future would be assured. Think how many freeborn members of the clan go hungry,” I said, “yet he did this for you, that was born a slave. Such great fortune should make you fearful. And now, after ten years of fooling around, you’ve talked the Master – by what jiggery-pokery I do not know – into getting you selected for a posting. A district magistrate may not be very high in the scale,” I said, “but the mandarin who goes to a district to be its magistrate is supposed to be the father and mother of all the people who live there. So mind you don’t go getting above yourself,” I said. “Do all in your power to show that you are worthy of the trust. And always let the Master see how much you appreciate what he has done for you. Otherwise Heaven will surely cast you off.’

Li Wan and Xi-feng both laughed.

‘You worry too much, Mrs Lai,’ said Xi-feng. ‘He’s all right. It’s true we don’t see much of him nowadays. He used to come in once in a while, but these last few years all we’ve seen of him has been his visiting-card at New Years and birthdays. He did come in the other day, however, to kotow to Her Old Ladyship and Lady Wang. We saw him in Her Old Ladyship’s courtyard, dressed in his new uniform. He looked very imposing. A little bit fatter than he used to be. You ought to be happy now that he’s a mandarin, not making yourself miserable with all this worrying about him. Even if he doesn’t behave himself, I should leave his parents to do the worrying. All you have to do now is sit back and enjoy yourself. If ever you’re at a loose end, you can always jump in your chair and have yourself carried round here for a game of cards and a chat with Her Old Ladyship. I’m sure no one here would dream of making you feel uncomfortable. After all, you’ve got upstairs and downstairs and halls and reception-rooms back home just the same as we have. You’re as good as any lady in the land now, you know. I’m sure you will be respected as such.’

Mrs Lai hurriedly rose to her feet as Patience came up to pour tea for her.

‘You shouldn’t do that, miss. You should let one of the younger ones do it. ‘Tain’t right you should pour for me.’

Sitting down again she continued to hold forth between sips.

‘You don’t know that boy, Mrs Lian. He’s like all young people: you have to be strict with them all the time. Even then if you’re not careful they’ll somehow find a way to raise the devil and grieve their parents’ hearts. This young chap of ours now: those that know him realize it’s just the mischief coming out, but those who don’t are liable to think that he’s taking advantage of the fact that he’s got more money and influence than other people to throw his weight about; and that reflects badly on the Master’s reputation as well. Oh, I get so angry about it sometimes, I don’t know what to do with myself. I have to call his Dad in and give him a good talking-to and then I feels a bit better. I hope you won’t mind my saying this’ – she pointed a finger at Bao-yu – ‘but I wouldn’t have thought that your father was strict enough with you. Look at the way Her Old Ladyship was out in front the moment he started when he gave you that beating a while ago. You should have seen the way your grandfather used to lay into him when he was a lad. And your father wasn’t the scapegrace that you are, either. Then there was your father’s elder brother, Master She. Now he was mischievous – though even so, he didn’t turn the whole household upsy-downsy the way you seem to. He was always getting beaten. Oh, and the way your Cousin Zhen’s grandfather over at the Ning-guo used to lay into his son! Oh, he had a fiery temper! Once it was up – well, you’d never have thought it was his son he was beating. Looked more like he was torturing a bandit. From what I’ve seen and heard, I should imagine that the way your Cousin Zhen at the Ning-guo disciplines his son is in his grandfather’s tradition. Only trouble is, he’s a bit too erratic. Can’t control himself, that’s his trouble. I don’t blame the young ones for not respecting him. If you’re sensible, young man, you’ll be glad to hear me say this; otherwise, though you may be too polite to say so, I expect you’ll think I’m an interfering old woman.’

Just then Lai Da’s wife came in, followed almost immediately by the wives of Zhou Rui and Zhang Cai. The latter two had come to report to Xi-feng on various domestic matters. Xi-feng smilingly inquired of Lai Da’s wife whether she had come to collect her mother-in-law.

Well, no, madam, not exactly,’ said Lai Da’s wife. ‘I really came to find out whether you and the young ladies will be favouring us with your presence or not.’

‘Oh, how silly of me!’ said old Mrs Lai when she heard this. ‘Here have I been talking a load of stale old sesame and all the time forgetting the one thing I came here to ask you about! On account of our young chap’s posting, all our friends and relations want to get together and celebrate, so we thought we’d better have a reception. Well, the way I saw it, if we only held it for one day, it would mean inviting some people and leaving out others, and that wouldn’t seem right. So I thought about it for a bit, and I thought to myself, well, it’s thanks to the Masters that this great honour has come our way, so we must do what we can to show our appreciation. Even if it means spending every penny we’ve got, we ought to be glad to do it. So I told the boy’s father to arrange a reception for three days running. On the first day we’ll have some tables and a stage in our little bit of garden at the back to entertain Her Old Ladyship and Their Ladyships and your good selves and the young ladies, and some more tables and a stage with another lot of players in the reception room at the front where we can entertain the gentlemen. The second day will be a reception for relations and friends of the family, and the third day will be for colleagues of the two mansions. I do hope you will honour us with a visit. It will be the highlight of our celebrations.’

Li Wan and Xi-feng asked her when the reception would be, assuring her that they fully intended to come.

‘I’m sure Lady Jia would love to come too,’ they said, ‘but I wouldn’t bank on her being able to.’

‘The date we’ve chosen is the fourteenth,’ said Lai Da’s wife hurriedly, before her mother-in-law had a chance to get under way again. ‘We do hope you’ll come, for Mother’s sake.’

‘I can’t answer for the others,’ said Xi-feng amiably, ‘but I shall definitely be coming. I’d better warn you, though: I haven’t got any present to bring, and you mustn’t expect me to offer largesse – I wouldn’t know how to go about it. You mustn’t laugh if I just eat up and go.’

‘Get along with you, madam!’ said Lai Da’s wife, laughing. ‘If you feel like bringing a largesse, twenty or thirty thousand taels would do very nicely!’

Old Mrs Lai laughed.

‘I been to see Her Old Ladyship already and she says she’ll come. Reckon I ought to feel pretty pleased with myself.’

After further exhortations to attend the party and various other admonishments, the old woman was at last getting up to go when her eye chanced to fall on Zhou Rui’s wife and she seemed to remember something.

‘There’s something else I wanted to ask you about, Mrs Lian. What’s all this about Zhou’s boy being dismissed? What did he do wrong?’

‘Ah yes, I’ve been meaning to speak to your daughter-in-law about it,’ said Xi-feng, ‘but there were so many other things to think about that they drove it from my mind. Lai, dear,’ – she turned to Lai Da’s wife – ‘when you get back, will you tell your husband that neither of our households will be employing Zhou Rui’s son any longer and that he is to send him packing?’

Lai Da’s wife could only agree, but the unhappy mother fell on her knees in supplication.

‘What did he do?’ old Mrs Lai repeated. ‘Tell me what he did, and I’ll be judge for you.’

‘Yesterday on my birthday,’ said Xi-feng, ‘before the rest of us had even started drinking, he was already drunk, and when my grandmother sent her women round with some presents, instead of going out and being nice to them, he sat where he was swearing at everybody and made no attempt to receive the presents or take them inside. Eventually the two women came in by themselves and he did at last go with a couple of the pages to take in what they had brought. But though the pages made no trouble, this young Zhou dropped the box he was carrying and scattered wheat-cakes all over the courtyard. After the women had gone, I sent Sunshine out to give him a talking-to, but it ended up with him shouting and swearing at Sunshine. Faced with a young hooligan like that who is so utterly and completely uncontrollable, I don’t see that one has any choice but to dismiss him.’

‘Is that all it was?’ said Grannie Lai. ‘And I was thinking it must have been something serious! Take my advice, Mrs Lian. If that boy’s done wrong, beat him and curse him and tell him to mend his ways, but dismiss him? – no, that would never do. He’s not like one of your house-born servants. The Zhous came with Her Ladyship from her old home when she was married. If you insist on dismissing him, it will look like an affront to Her Ladyship. Give him a few whacks to learn him and tell him not to do it again; but keep him on, whatever you do. If you won’t do it for his ma’s sake, do it for Her Ladyship’s.’

Xi-feng turned to Lai Da’s wife.

‘Very well then. Let him be called for tomorrow and given forty strokes with the heavy bamboo. And tell him he’s not to drink any more.’

Lai Da’s wife said she would see that done. After that Zhou Rui’s wife kotowed to Xi-feng in gratitude. She wanted to kotow to Mrs Lai as well, but the old woman reached forward and prevented her. The four women then left, and Li Wan and the girls went back into the Garden.

Towards evening Xi-feng sent someone to the store-room, as promised, to hunt out any old painting gear that had been stored there and take it round for Bao-chai and the others to look over. On doing so the girls found only about half the things they wanted, and made a list of the other half which they gave to Xi-feng to have bought. But these are matters about which it is not necessary to go into detail.

Suffice it to say that the freshly-sized pongee arrived back from outside in due course together with a rough draft of the projected painting, and that Bao-yu began to spend a part of each day at Xi-chun’s place helping her. Tan-chun, Li Wan, Ying-chun and Bao-chai developed the habit of dropping in to sit with them while they worked, partly to watch the painting and partly because it made a convenient rendezvous.

Reminded by the first nip in the air that the hours of darkness were gradually lengthening, Bao-chai went round for a long consultation with her mother from which she came away with quantities of extra sewing to occupy herself with in the evenings; but since, when making her morning and evening calls on Lady Wang and Grandmother Jia, she would often, if they seemed desirous of her company, spend a considerable while sitting and talking with them, and since she was also in the habit of dropping in from time to time to gossip with one or another of her cousins in the Garden, she had very little leisure for sewing in the daytime and as a consequence was invariably plying her needle under the lamp until eleven or twelve o’clock at night.

As for Dai-yu, twice every year, following the spring and autumn equinoxes, she suffered from a recurrence of her old sickness. This autumn the repeated junketings occasioned by Grandmother Jia’s enthusiastic excursions into the Garden had drained her of energy. Recently she had begun coughing again; and as this year it seemed to be considerably worse than usual, she had stopped going out altogether and stayed at home nursing herself in her room. Sometimes when she was feeling depressed she would long for a visit from one of the girls and the distraction of someone to talk to. But when Bao-chai or one of the others did in fact look in to ask how she was, she would grow fidgety after only a few sentences had been exchanged between them and begin to wish that they would go. The others realized that it was being ill that made her like this; and knowing from past experience how hypersensitive she was, they were never sharp with her, even if she was somewhat remiss as a hostess and often lacking in courtesy.

Once when Bao-chai called in to see her, the nature of her illness became the subject of their conversation.

‘I suppose the doctors in attendance on this family aren’t too bad as doctors go,’ said Bao-chai, ‘but the medicines they prescribe for you don’t seem to make you any better. Don’t you think it’s time they called in someone really first-rate who could cure this sickness once and for all? Every year all through the spring and summer you have this trouble; yet you’re not an old lady, and you’re not a little girl any longer. You can’t go on in this way indefinitely.’

‘It’s no good,’ said Dai-yu. ‘This illness will never go away completely. Look what I’m like ordinarily, even when I’m not ill.’

Bao-chai nodded.

‘Exactly! You know the old saying: “He that eats shall live”? What you ordinarily eat, when you’re not ill, doesn’t seem to nourish you or build up your resistance. That’s one of your troubles.’

Dai-yu sighed.

‘Life and death are as Heaven decrees; and rank and riches are as Heaven bestows them.

These things are not in human power to command. I seem to be worse this year than I have been in previous years.’

She coughed several times while she was saying this.

‘I was looking the other day at that prescription of yours,’ said Bao-chai. ‘I should have said myself that there was too much cinnamon and ginseng in it. I know they are supposed to build you up; but you don’t want to go overheating yourself. If you ask me, I think the first, most important thing to do is to calm your liver and strengthen your stomach a bit. If you could reduce the inflamed, over-active state of your liver so that it was no longer harming the earthy humour of your spleen, your stomach would begin functioning normally again and then the food you ate could begin to nourish you properly. First thing every morning you ought to take an ounce of the best quality bird’s nest and five drams of sugar-candy and heat them up in a silver skillet until they make a sort of syrup. If you were to take that regularly, it would do you more good than medicine. There’s nothing like it for building you up if you have low vitality.’

Dai-yu sighed again.

‘You’re such a kind person,’ she said, ‘but I’ve got such a suspicious nature that in the past I always suspected that your kindness was a cloak for something and rejected it. It wasn’t until the other day, when you told me off for reading forbidden books and offered me all that good advice, that I ever felt really grateful to you. I realized then that I had all along been wrong about you – right from the very start. I suddenly realized: I’m fifteen this year and have no brothers or sisters: ever since my mother died there has been no one – literally no one – who has ever spoken to me in that sort of way. I’m not surprised Cousin Yun speaks so highly of you. I used to hate it when I heard her praise your kindness, but since experiencing it myself, I know what she means. If it had been you who’d said those things in the drinking game, I should have been quite merciless. I should never have kept quiet about it at the time and gently remonstrated about it later, when we were alone together, as you did. I knew from that that I had been wrong about you, and that you must really care for me. If my eyes hadn’t been opened for me then, I should never be talking to you like this today.

‘Now about this bird’s nest syrup you want me to take. I know bird’s nest is fairly easy to come by, but this illness of mine is something I suffer from every year because of my weak constitution. There’s nothing particularly serious about it, it’s just something that I always get. Yet already everyone’s put to a huge amount of inconvenience because of it, fetching doctors, brewing medicines, buying ginseng for me and Saigon cinnamon. If I now come up with some fancy new idea like asking to have bird’s nest syrup made for me every day, then even though Grandmother and Aunt Wang and Cousin Feng may not say anything, the old nannies and maids on the staff are sure to resent the extra work. Cousin Bao and Cousin Feng are Grandma’s favourites, yet you should see the looks these people give them sometimes – and you should hear the things they say about them behind their backs! So you can imagine what they must be like about me. I’m not even a proper member of the family: I’m just a refugee, with no family of my own, living here as a hanger-on. That in itself is enough to make them resent me. It’s difficult enough for me as it is, without deliberately thinking up new ways to make them hate me.’

‘I’m just as much an outsider as you are,’ said Bao-chai.

‘There’s no comparison between us,’ said Dai-yu. ‘You’ve got your mother and your brother for a start. You’ve got property and businesses. You’ve still got land and a home of your own back in Nanking. It’s true that as marriage-relations they allow you to live here free of charge, but you provide everything for yourselves apart from the accommodation. You don’t cost them a penny. And any time you feel like it, you can just get up and go. I’ve got nothing at all of my own, absolutely nothing. Yet everything they give me – food, clothing, pocket-money, even the flowers and trees in my garden – are the same as they give their own girls. Can you wonder that the servants are so resentful?’

‘Your being here only means one more dowry for them to find,’ said Bao-chai. ‘Surely so small an extra expense as that is hardly going to bother them?’

Dai-yu coloured.

‘I’ve been telling you my troubles because I thought you really cared, but you turn them into a joke.’

‘Perhaps,’ said Bao-chai, smiling. ‘But it’s true, all the same. However, don’t you worry: as long as I’m here, I promise to do my best to make it easier for you. If you will promise always to let me know when anything is bothering you, I will promise to deal with it if it is in my power to do so. I have a brother, it’s true; but you know as well as I do what he’s like. It’s really only in having a mother that I can count myself a bit luckier than you. In other respects we have enough in common to think of ourselves as fellow-sufferers. If you can see this – as with your intelligence I am sure you must – you have no cause to go echoing Si-ma Niu’s complaint: “All men have brothers, only I have none.” Now, you have suggested that “the less trouble the better” ought to be your motto here, and I take your point. I shall have a word with Mother next time I see her about this. I’ll be surprised if we haven’t got some bird’s nest of our own at home. If we have, I shall tell them to send you a few ounces, so that you can get your own maids to prepare it for you every morning. That way will be handier for you and will also avoid the risk of any alarms and excursions with the staff.’

Dai-yu smiled at her gratefully.

‘It may be only a little thing, but it is very kind indeed of you to have thought of it.’

‘Nonsense!’ said Bao-chai. ‘It’s not worth speaking of. I’m only afraid that by spending so much time with other people I may have been neglecting you rather. Well, I’d better be going now. I’m afraid I’m tiring you.’

‘Come again this evening and talk to me for a bit,’ said Dai-yu.

Bao-chai promised to do so and departed.

And at this point she departs for a little while from our narrative.

Left alone, Dai-yu ate a few mouthfuls of congee and then lay down on her bed.

Towards sundown a change of weather came, bringing the whisper and rustle of rain. It was the pulsing, steady rain of autumn, so constant that you sometimes wonder if it has stopped. The afternoon slid imperceptibly into a sombre evening, blackened by lowering rainclouds and made yet more melancholy for Dai-yu by the persistent drip of the rain on her bamboos. Reflecting that Bao-chai would now be unable to come, she picked up a book at random to read beneath the lamp.

It was a volume of The Lyric Miscellany consisting largely of songs of sorrow and separation: ‘The Autumn Bride’, ‘The Grief of Parting’ and suchlike. Moved by what she read, she was inevitably drawn to give outlet to her feelings in composition and had soon completed a ‘song of separation’ of her own. As she had modelled it on Zhang Ruo-xu’s famous poem ‘Spring River: A Night of Flowers and Moonlight’, she decided to call it ‘Autumn Window: A Night of Wind and Rain’. This is how it went:

Autumn Window: A Night of Wind and Rain

The autumn flowers are dead, the leaves are sere; Lamp-light comes soon, the nights grow long again. Outside my window autumn’s signs appear More dismal in the wind and rustling rain.

The rustling rain came in such swift downpour It startled me from autumn-dream-filled sleep. Now, in a muse, unable to sleep more, I watch the candle at my bedside weep.

The candle weeps down to its socket low, And my heart weeps and desolation feels. Yet the same wind in other courts must blow; The sound of rain through other windows steals.

The wind’s chill strikes through quilt and counterpane, The rain drums like a mad clock in my ears, All night, in whispering, monotone refrain, Companion to my own swift-coursing tears.

The courtyard now with mist begins to fill, The bamboo’s drip persists without a pause. When will the wind cease and the rain be still, That with its weeping soaks my window’s gauze?

Having read it over to herself out loud, she laid down the writing-brush and was about to go back to bed and settle down for the night when one of her maids announced the arrival of ‘Master Bao’. Almost simultaneously with this announcement, Bao-yu himself burst in wearing a rain-cape and an enormous rain-hat of woven bamboo. Dai-yu laughed at the spectacle he presented.

‘The Old Fisherman! Where have you just sprung from?’

‘How are you today?’ Bao-yu asked her anxiously. ‘Have you had your medicine? How much have you managed to eat today?’

He was divesting himself of the rain-clothes while he asked these questions. When he had disposed of them, he picked up the lamp from the table and, shielding it with one hand to throw the light on her, scrutinized her face. He appeared to be satisfied with what he saw.

‘You’ve got a better colour today.’

Now that he had taken off the rain-clothes, Dai-yu could see what he was wearing underneath. He had on a somewhat worn-looking tunic of red silk damask tied with a green sash at the waist, and trousers of sprigged green silk. The ends of his trousers were stuffed into socks extravagantly patterned with a design of flowers picked out in gold, and there were flowers and butterflies embroidered on his satin slippers.

‘The top part of you seems to have been pretty well protected against the rain,’ said Dai-yu, ‘but what about the bottom part? Still, you appear to have kept your feet dry.’

‘This is a complete outfit I’ve been wearing,’ said Bao-yu. ‘There is a pair of pear-wood pattens that go with it as well, but I left them outside on your verandah.’

Dai-yu looked again at the cape and rain-hat. Both were exquisitely made – quite unlike those that are sold in the market.

‘What sort of straw is this cape made of?’ she asked him. ‘It’s so fine. I can see now why you didn’t look like a hedge-hog in it as people usually do in these things.’

‘The whole outfit was given to me by the Prince of Beijing,’ said Bao-yu. ‘It’s exactly like the one he wears himself at home when it rains. If you like it, I’ll get you one the same. There’s nothing so very special about it really. The hat’s rather fun. The centre part is detachable. If you want to wear it in winter when it’s snowing, you undo this little bamboo fastener and the whole top comes out, leaving you with just the brim. So when it snows, it can be worn by a woman just as well as by a man. I’ll get you a hat like this to wear in winter when it snows.’

‘I don’t want one, thank you,’ said Dai-yu laughing. ‘If I were to wear one of those, I should look like one of those old fisherwomen you see in plays and paintings.’

Immediately after saying this she realized that she had virtually been offering herself as a fishwife to Bao-yu’s old fisherman and wished the remark unsaid. She blushed with embarrassment and leaned forwards, racked with coughing, over the table. But Bao-yu appeared not to have noticed. What drew his attention was the poem he had just spotted which lay on the table beside her. He picked it up and read it. A murmur of praise which escaped involuntarily from his lips at once brought Dai-yu to her feet. She snatched the paper from him and burned it over the lamp. But Bao-yu only laughed.

‘Too late! I’ve already memorized it.’

‘I want to go to bed now,’ said Dai-yu. ‘Please go now. Come again tomorrow.’

Hearing her speak of bed, Bao-yu felt inside his tunic and pulled out a gold watch about the size of a walnut which he proceeded to inspect. The hand was pointing exactly midway between the sign of the Dog and the sign of the Pig: nine o’clock at night.

‘Yes,’ he said, stuffing the watch hurriedly back into his tunic. ‘Time for bed. I’ve tired you long enough.’

He put on his cape and his rain-hat and went out, but was back again almost immediately.

‘Is there anything you fancy to eat? Let me know if there is, and I’ll tell Grandmother first thing tomorrow. It will be safer to tell me than trying to explain what you want to the old women.’

Dai-yu smiled.

‘I’ll think about it during the night and let you know first thing tomorrow. Listen: it’s raining harder. You’d better go quickly. Have you got anyone with you?’

‘Yes,’ one of the old women standing outside on the verandah called in to her. ‘We’re waiting with our umbrellas up and we’ve got the lantern ready.’

‘Lantern?’ said Dai-yu. ‘In this weather?’

‘The rain makes no difference,’ said Bao-yu. ‘It’s a horn lantern. They’re not affected by rain.’

Dai-yu reached out and took down a lamp with a balloon-shaped glass shade from the top of her bookcase. She ordered one of the maids to light a little candle in it and offered it to Bao-yu.

‘Take this. It’s brighter than a horn one, and it’s specially made for going out in the rain with.’

‘I’ve got one like that myself,’ said Bao-yu, ‘but I didn’t bring it because I was afraid they might trip over and break it.’

‘Which is worse,’ said Dai-yu, ‘a broken lamp or a broken leg? You’re not used to wearing pattens, so it’s important to see where you’re going. The others can carry the horn lantern in front of you, and you can carry this glass lamp, which is handier and brighter and specially made for going out in the rain with, yourself. There. You can send it back to me tomorrow. And if you should break it – well, it won’t be the end of the world. What has made you of all people so parsimonious about things all of a sudden? You’re as bad as the Persian with his pearl!’

Thus persuaded, Bao-yu took the lamp from her and set off, two old nannies with umbrellas and a horn lantern in front of him and two little maids with umbrellas bringing up the rear. He made one of the little maids hold the glass lamp Dai-yu had given him and leaned on her shoulder until they were back home.

The departure of Bao-yu and his party was immediately followed by the arrival of two old women from Allspice Court, also carrying lanterns and umbrellas, with a large packet of bird’s nest and another packet containing little frosty star-shapes of dazzling white imported sugar.

‘You’ll find these a bit better than the stuff you can buy in the shops,’ they told Dai-yu. ‘Our young lady says this is to be getting on with and when you’ve finished it she’ll send you some more.’

‘That’s very kind,’ said Dai-yu. ‘Won’t you sit outside with the girls and let them give you some tea?’

‘We won’t, miss, thank you all the same,’ they said. ‘We’ve got other things to do.’

‘Ah yes, you’re busy,’ said Dai-yu, smiling. ‘I should have remembered. Now that it’s getting colder and the nights are longer, I expect you will have started your card-school again. Nothing like a little gambling to pass the long night hours!’

The women laughed good-humouredly.

‘I won’t deceive you, miss,’ said one of them, evidently the chief organizer. ‘I’ve got a really nice little school going this year. There are always a few of us on night-duty, you see, and we don’t like to risk falling asleep and missing our watch, so we find our little card-school the best answer. It keeps us awake and, as you say, miss, it helps to pass the time. Tonight it’s my turn to be banker. The Garden gate has been closed now, so it’s time we got started.’

Dai-yu laughed.

‘Well, all I can say is that it’s very nice of you to have taken time off when you could have been winning money, to go out in the rain and bring me these things.’ She turned to one of her maids: ‘Give them a few hundred cash so that they can buy some wine to warm themselves up with after the rain.’

The women thanked her delightedly, and having kotowed, hurried outside to collect the money, after which they put up their umbrellas again and departed.

Nightingale first put away the bird’s nest and sugar and then, having moved the lamp over to the bedside and let down the blinds, helped Dai-yu into bed.

As she lay there alone, Dai-yu’s thoughts turned to Bao-chai, at first with gratitude, because of her kindness, but afterwards a trifle enviously, because Bao-chai had a mother and brother and she had none. Then she began thinking about Bao-yu and herself: how they had been such good friends to start with, but how later on suspicion and misunderstanding had grown up between them. Then she listened to the insistent rustle of the rain on the bamboos and plantains outside her window. The coldness penetrated the curtains of her bed. Almost without noticing it she had begun to cry. It was nearly three in the morning before she was properly asleep.

We leave her now, to continue our story in the following chapter.