第五十一回

第五十一回 薛小妹新编怀古诗 胡庸医乱用虎狼药

众人闻得宝琴将素习所经过各省内的古迹为题，作了十首怀古绝句，内隐十物，皆说这自然新巧。都争着看时，只见写道是：

　赤壁[2]怀古 其一

赤壁沉埋水不流[3]，徒留名姓载空舟。

喧阗[4]一炬悲风冷，无限英魂在内游。

　交趾[5]怀古 其二

铜铸金镛振纪纲，声传海外播戎羌。[6]

马援[7]自是功劳大，铁笛无烦说子房[8]。

　钟山[9]怀古 其三

名利何曾伴汝身，无端被诏出凡尘。

牵连大抵难休绝，莫怨他人嘲笑频。

　淮阴[10]怀古 其四

壮士须防恶犬欺[11]，三齐位定盖棺时[12]。

寄言世俗休轻鄙，一饭之恩死也知[13]。

　广陵[14]怀古 其五

蝉噪鸦栖转眼过，隋堤风景近如何。

只缘占得风流号，惹得纷纷口舌多。

　桃叶渡[15]怀古 其六

衰草闲花映浅池，桃枝桃叶总分离。

六朝梁栋多如许[16]，小照空悬壁上题[17]。

　青冢[18]怀古 其七

黑水茫茫咽不流，冰弦[19]拨尽曲中愁。

汉家制度诚堪叹，樗栎[20]应惭万古羞。

　马嵬[21]怀古 其八

寂寞脂痕渍汗光[22]，温柔一旦付东洋。

只因遗得风流迹，此日衣衾尚有香。[23]

　蒲东寺[24]怀古 其九

小红骨贱最身轻，私掖偷携强撮成。[25]

虽被夫人时吊起，已经勾引彼同行。[26]

　梅花观[27]怀古 其十

不在梅边在柳边，个中谁拾画婵娟。[28]

团圆莫忆春香[29]到，一别西风又一年。

众人看了，都称奇道妙。宝钗先说道：“前八首都是史鉴上有据的；后二首却无考，我们也不大懂得，不如另作两首为是。”黛玉忙拦道：“这宝姐姐也忒‘胶柱鼓瑟’[30]，矫揉造作了。这两首虽于史鉴上无考，咱们虽不曾看这些外传，不知底里，难道咱们连两本戏也没有见过不成？那三岁孩子也知道，何况咱们？”探春便道：“这话正是了。”李纨又道：“况且他原是到过这个地方的。这两件事虽无考，古往今来，以讹传讹，好事者竟故意的弄出这古迹来以愚人。比如那年上京的时节，单是关夫子[31]的坟，倒见了三四处。关夫子一生事业，皆是有据的，如何又有许多的坟？自然是后来人敬爱他生前为人，只怕从这敬爱上穿凿出来，也是有的。及至看《广舆记》[32]上，不止关夫子的坟多，自古来有些名望的人，坟就不少，无考的古迹更多。如今这两首虽无考，凡说书唱戏，甚至于求的签上皆有注批，老少男女，俗语口头，人人皆知皆说的。况且又并不是看了‘西厢’‘牡丹’的词曲，怕看了邪书。这竟无妨，只管留着。”宝钗听说，方罢了。

大家猜了一回，皆不是。

冬日天短，不觉又是前头吃晚饭之时，一齐前来吃饭。因有人回王夫人说：“袭人的哥哥花自芳进来说，他母亲病重了，想他女儿。他来求恩典，接袭人家去走走。”王夫人听了，便道：“人家母女一场，岂有不许他去的。”一面就叫了凤姐儿来，告诉了凤姐儿，命酌量去办理。

凤姐儿答应了，回至房中，便命周瑞家的去告诉袭人原故。又吩咐周瑞家的：“再将跟着出门的媳妇传一个，你两个人，再带两个小丫头子，跟了袭人去。外头派四个有年纪跟车的。要一辆大车，你们带着坐；要一辆小车，给丫头们坐。”周瑞家的答应了，才要去，凤姐儿又道：“那袭人是个省事的，你告诉他说我的话：叫他穿几件颜色好衣裳，大大的包一包袱衣裳拿着，包袱也要好好的，手炉也要拿好的。临走时，叫他先来我瞧瞧。”周瑞家的答应去了。

半日，果见袭人穿戴来了，两个丫头与周瑞家的拿着手炉与衣包。凤姐儿看袭人头上戴着几枝金钗珠钏，倒华丽；又看身上穿着桃红百子刻丝〔一〕银鼠袄子，葱绿盘金彩绣绵裙，外面穿着青缎灰鼠褂。凤姐儿笑道：“这三件衣裳都是太太的，赏了你倒是好的。但只这褂子太素了些，如今穿着也冷，你该穿一件大毛的。”袭人笑道：“太太就只给了这灰鼠的，还有一件银鼠的。说赶年下再给大毛的，还没有得呢。”凤姐儿笑道：“我倒有一件大毛的，我嫌风毛儿[34]出不好了，正要改去。也罢，先给你穿去罢。等年下太太给作的时节我再作罢，只当你还我一样。”众人都笑道：“奶奶惯会说这话。成年家大手大脚的，替太太不知背地里赔垫了多少东西，真真的赔的是说不出来，那里又和太太算去。偏这会子又说这小气话取笑儿。”凤姐儿笑道：“太太那里想的到这些。究竟这又不是正经事，再不照管，也是大家的体面。说不得我自己吃些亏，把众人打扮体统了，宁可我得个好名也罢了。一个一个像‘烧糊了的卷子’似的，人先笑话我当家倒把人弄出个花子来。”众人听了，都叹说：“谁似奶奶这样圣明！在上体贴太太，在下又疼顾下人。”

一面说，一面只见凤姐儿命平儿将昨日那件石青刻丝八团天马皮褂子拿出来，与了袭人。又看包袱，只得一个弹墨花绫水红绸里的夹包袱，里面只包着两件半旧棉袄与皮褂。凤姐儿又命平儿把一个玉色绸里的哆罗呢的包袱拿出来，又命包上一件雪褂子。

平儿走去拿了出来，一件是半旧大红猩猩毡的，一件是大红羽纱的。袭人道：“一件就当不起了。”平儿笑道：“你拿这猩猩毡的。把这件顺手拿将出来，叫人给邢大姑娘送去。昨儿那么大雪，人人都是有的，不是猩猩毡，就是羽缎羽纱的，十来件大红衣裳映着大雪，好不齐整。就只他穿着那件旧毡斗篷，越发显的拱肩缩背，好不可怜见的。如今把这件给他罢。”凤姐儿笑道：“我的东西，他私自就要给人。我一个还花不够，再添上你提着，更好了！”众人笑道：“这都是奶奶素日孝敬太太，疼爱下人。若是奶奶素日是小气的，只以东西为事，不顾下人的，姑娘那里还敢这样了。”凤姐儿笑道：“所以知道我的心的，也就是他还知三分罢了。”说着，又嘱咐袭人道：“你妈若好了就罢；若不中用了，只管住下，打发人来回我，我再另打发人给你送铺盖去。可别使人家的铺盖和梳头的家伙。”又吩咐周瑞家的道：“你们自然也知道这里的规矩的〔二〕，也不用我嘱咐了。”周瑞家的答应：“都知道。我们这去到那里，总叫他们的人回避。若住下，必是另要一两间内房的。”说着，跟了袭人出去，又吩咐预备灯笼，遂坐车往花自芳家来，不在话下。

这里凤姐又将怡红院的嬷嬷唤了两个来，吩咐道：“袭人只怕不来家，你们素日知道那大丫头们，那两个知好歹，派出来在宝玉屋里上夜。你们也好生照管着，别由着宝玉胡闹。”两个嬷嬷答应着去了，一时来回说：“派了晴雯和麝月在屋里，我们四个人原是轮流着带管上夜的。”凤姐儿听了，点头道：“晚上催他早睡，早上催他早起。”老嬷嬷们答应了，自回园去。一时果有周瑞家的带了信回凤姐儿说：“袭人之母业已停床[36]，不能回来。”凤姐儿回明了王夫人，一面着人往大观园去取他的铺盖妆奁。

宝玉看着晴雯麝月二人打点妥当。送去之后，晴雯麝月皆卸罢残妆，脱换过裙袄。晴雯只在熏笼[37]上围坐。麝月笑道：“你今儿别装小姐了，我劝你也动一动儿。”晴雯道：“等你们都去尽了，我再动不迟。有你们一日，我且受用一日。”麝月笑道：“好姐姐，我铺床，你把那穿衣镜的套子放下来，上头的划子[38]划上，你的身量比我高些。”说着，便去与宝玉铺床。晴雯嗐了一声，笑道：“人家才坐暖和了，你就来闹。”此时宝玉正坐着纳闷，想袭人之母不知是死是活，忽听见晴雯如此说，便自己起身出去，放下镜套，划上消息，进来笑道：“你们暖和罢，都完了。”晴雯笑道：“终久暖和不成的，我又想起来汤婆子还没拿来呢。”麝月道：“这难为你想着！他素日又不要汤婆子，咱们那熏笼上暖和，比不得那屋里炕冷，今儿可以不用。”宝玉笑道：“这个话，你们两个都在那上头睡了，我这外边没个人，我怪怕的，一夜也睡不着。”晴雯道：“我是在这里睡的。麝月往他外边睡去〔三〕。”说话之间，天已二更，麝月早已放下帘幔，移灯炷香，服侍宝玉卧下，二人方睡。

晴雯自在熏笼上，麝月便在暖阁外边。至三更以后，宝玉睡梦之中，便叫袭人。叫了两声，无人答应，自己醒了，方想起袭人不在家，自己也好笑起来。晴雯已醒，因笑唤麝月道：“连我都醒了，他守在旁边还不知道，真是个挺死尸的。”麝月翻身打个哈气笑道：“他叫袭人，与我什么相干！”因问：“作什么？”宝玉说：“要吃茶。”麝月忙起来，单穿红绸小棉袄儿。宝玉道：“披上我的袄儿再去，仔细冷着。”麝月听说，回手便把宝玉披着起夜的一件貂颏满襟暖袄披上〔四〕[41]，下去向盆内洗手，先倒了一钟温水，拿了大漱盂，宝玉漱了一口；然后才向茶槅[42]上取了茶碗，先用温水[43]了一，向暖壶中倒了半碗茶，递与宝玉吃了；自己也漱了一漱，吃了半碗。晴雯笑道：“好妹子，也赏我一口儿。”麝月笑道：“越发上脸儿了！”晴雯道：“好妹妹，明儿晚上你别动，我服侍你一夜，如何？”麝月听说，只得也服侍他漱了口，倒了半碗茶与他吃过。麝月笑道：“你们两个别睡，说着话儿，我出去走走回来。”晴雯笑道：“外头有个鬼等着你呢。”宝玉道：“外头自然有大月亮的，我们说话，你只管去。”一面说，一面便嗽了两声。

麝月便开了后门，揭起毡帘一看，果然好月色。晴雯等他出去，便欲唬他玩耍。仗着素日比别人气壮，不畏寒冷，也不披衣，只穿着小袄，便蹑手蹑脚的下了熏笼，随后出来。宝玉笑劝道：“看冻着，不是玩的。”晴雯只摆手，随后出了房门。只见月光如水，忽然一阵微风，只觉侵肌透骨，不禁毛骨悚然。心下自思道：“怪道人说热身子不可被风吹，这一冷果然利害。”一面正要唬麝月，只听宝玉高声在内道：“晴雯出去了！”晴雯忙回身进来，笑道：“那里就唬死了他？偏你惯会这蝎蝎螫螫老婆汉像〔五〕[45]的！”宝玉笑道：“倒不为唬坏了他，头一则你冻着也不好；二则他不防，不免一喊，倘或唬醒了别人，不说咱们是玩意，倒反说袭人才去了一夜，你们就见神见鬼的。你来把我的这边被掖一掖。”晴雯听说，便上来掖了掖，伸手进去渥一渥时，宝玉笑道：“好冷手！我说看冻着。”一面又见晴雯两腮如胭脂一般，用手摸了一摸，也觉冰冷。宝玉道：“快进被来渥渥罢。”

一语未了，只听咯噔的一声门响，麝月慌慌张张的笑了进来，说道：“吓了我一跳好的。黑影子里，山子石后头，只见一个人蹲着。我才要叫喊，原来是那个大锦鸡[46]，见了人一飞，飞到亮处来，我才看真了。若冒冒失失一嚷，倒闹起人来。”一面说，一面洗手，又笑道：“晴雯出去我怎么不见？一定是要唬我去了。”宝玉笑道：“这不是他，在这里渥呢！我若不叫的快，可是倒唬一跳。”晴雯笑道：“也不用我唬去，这小蹄子已经自怪自惊的了。”一面说，一面仍回自己被中去了。麝月道：“你就这么‘跑解马’[47]似的打扮得伶伶俐俐[48]的出去了不成？”宝玉笑道：“可不就这么出去了。”麝月道：“你死不拣好日子〔六〕！你出去站一站，把皮不冻破了你的。”说着，又将火盆上的铜罩揭起，拿灰锹重将熟炭埋了一埋，拈了两块素香〔七〕[51]放上，仍旧罩了，至屏后重剔了灯，方才睡下。

晴雯因方才一冷，如今又一暖，不觉打了两个喷嚏。宝玉叹道：“如何？到底伤了风了。”麝月笑道：“他早起就嚷不受用，一日也没吃饭。他这会还不保养些，还要捉弄人。明儿病了，叫他自作自受。”宝玉问：“头上可热？”晴雯嗽了两声，说道：“不相干，那里这么娇嫩起来了〔八〕。”说着，只听外间房中十锦槅上的自鸣钟当当两声，外间值宿的老嬷嬷嗽了两声，因说道：“姑娘们睡罢，明儿再说罢。”宝玉方悄悄的笑道：“咱们别说话了，又惹他们说话。”说着，方大家睡了。

至次日起来，晴雯果觉有些鼻塞声重，懒怠动弹。宝玉道：“快不要声张！太太知道，又叫你搬了家去养息。家去虽好，到底冷些，不如在这里。你就在里间屋里躺着，我叫人请了大夫，悄悄的从后门来瞧瞧就是了。”晴雯道：“虽如此说，你到底要告诉大奶奶一声儿，不然一时大夫来了，人问起来，怎么说呢？”宝玉听了有理，便唤一个老嬷嬷吩咐道：“你回大奶奶去，就说晴雯白冷着了些，不是什么大病。袭人又不在家，他若家去养病，这里更没有人了。传一个大夫，悄悄的从后门进来瞧瞧，别回太太罢了。”老嬷嬷去了半日，来回说：“大奶奶知道了，说吃两剂药好了便罢，若不好时，还是出去为是。如今时气不好，恐沾带了别人事小，姑娘们的身子要紧的。”晴雯睡在暖阁里，只管咳嗽，听了这话，气的喊道：“我那里就害瘟病了，只怕过了人[53]！我离了这里，看你们这一辈子都别头疼脑热的。”说着，便真要起来。宝玉忙按他，笑道：“别生气，这原是他的责任，唯恐太太知道了说他，不过白说一句。你素习好生气，如今肝火自然盛了。”

正说时，人回大夫来了。宝玉便走过来，避在书架之后。只见两三个后门口的老嬷嬷带了一个大夫进来。这里的丫鬟都回避了，有三四个老嬷嬷放下暖阁上的大红绣幔，晴雯从幔中单伸出手去。那大夫见这只手上有两根指甲，足有三寸长，尚有金凤花[54]染的通红的痕迹，便忙回过头来。有一个老嬷嬷忙拿了一块手帕掩了。那大夫方诊了一回脉，起身到外间，向嬷嬷们说道：“小姐的症是外感内滞[55]，近日时气不好，竟算是个小伤寒。幸亏是小姐素日饮食有限，风寒也不大，不过是血气原弱，偶然沾带了些，吃两剂药疏散疏散就好了。”说着，便又随婆子们出去。

彼时，李纨已遣人知会过后门上的人及各处丫鬟回避，那大夫只见了园中的景致，并不曾见一女子。一时出了园门，就在守园门的小厮们的班房内坐了，开了药方。老嬷嬷道：“你老且别去，我们小爷罗唆，恐怕还有话说。”大夫忙道：“方才不是小姐，是位爷不成？那屋子竟是绣房一样，又是放下幔子来的，如何是位爷呢？”老嬷嬷悄悄笑道：“我的老爷，怪道小厮们才说今儿请了一位新大夫来了，真不知我们家的事。那屋子是我们小哥儿的，那人是他屋里的丫头，倒是个大姐，那里的小姐？若是小姐的绣房，小姐病了，你那么容易就进去了？”说着，拿了药方进去。

宝玉看时，上面有紫苏、桔梗、防风、荆芥等药〔九〕，后面又有枳实、麻黄。宝玉道：“该死，该死，他拿着女孩儿们也像我们一样的治，如何使得！凭他有什么内滞，这枳实、麻黄如何禁得。谁请了来的？快打发他去罢！再请一个熟的来。”

老婆子道：“用药好不好，我们不知道这理。如今再叫小厮去请王太医去倒容易，只是这大夫又不是告诉总管房请来的，这轿马钱是要给他的。”宝玉道：“给他多少〔一〇〕？”婆子道：“少了不好看，也得一两银子，才是我们这门户的礼。”宝玉道：“王太医来了给他多少？”婆子笑道：“王太医和张太医每常来了，也并没个给钱的，不过每年四节大趸[58]送礼，那是一定的年例。这人新来了一次，须得给他一两银子去。”宝玉听说，便命麝月去取银子。麝月道：“花大奶奶还不知搁在那里呢？”宝玉道：“我常见他在螺甸小柜子[59]里取钱，我和你找去。”

说着，二人来至宝玉堆东西的房子，开了螺甸柜子，上一槅子都是些笔墨、扇子、香饼、各色荷包、汗巾等物；下一槅却是几串钱。于是开了抽屉，才看见一个小簸箩内放着几块银子，倒也有一把戥子。麝月便拿了一块银子，提起戥子来问宝玉：“那是一两的星儿？”宝玉笑道：“你问我？有趣，你倒成了才来的了。”麝月也笑了，又要去问人。宝玉道：“拣那大的给他一块就是了。又不作买卖，算这些做什么！”麝月听了，便放下戥子，拣了一块掂了一掂，笑道：“这一块只怕是一两了。宁可多些好，别少了，叫那穷小子笑话，不说咱们不识戥子，倒说咱们有心小器似的。”那婆子站在外头台矶上，笑道：“那是五两的锭子夹了半边，这一块至少还有二两呢！这会子又没夹剪，姑娘收了这块，再拣一块小些的罢。”麝月早掩了柜子出来，笑道：“谁又找去！多了些你拿了去罢。”宝玉道：“你只快叫茗烟再请王大夫去就是了。”婆子接了银子，自去料理。

一时茗烟果请了王太医来，诊了脉后，说的病症与前相仿，只是方子上果没有枳实、麻黄等药，倒有当归、陈皮、白芍等，药之分量较先也减了些。宝玉喜道：“这才是女孩儿们的药，虽然疏散，也不可太过。旧年我病了，却是伤寒内里饮食停滞，他瞧了，还说我禁不起麻黄、石膏、枳实等狼虎药。我和你们一比，我就如那野坟圈子里长的几十年的一棵老杨树，你们就如秋天芸儿进我的那才开的白海棠，连我禁不起的药，你们如何禁得起。”麝月等笑道：“野坟里只有杨树不成？难道就没有松柏？我最嫌的是杨树，那么大笨树，叶子只一点子，没一丝风，他也是乱响。你偏比他，也太下流了。”宝玉笑道：“松柏不敢比。连孔子都说：‘岁寒然后知松柏之后凋也。’[60]可知这两件东西高雅，不怕羞臊的才拿他混比呢。”

说着，只见老婆子取了药来。宝玉命把煎药的银吊子找了出来，就命在火盆上煎。晴雯因说：“正经给他们茶房里煎去，弄得这屋里药气，如何使得。”宝玉道：“药气比一切的花香果子香都雅。神仙采药烧药，再者高人逸士采药治药，是最妙的一件东西。这屋里我正想各色都齐了，就只少药香，如今恰好全了。”一面说，一面早命人煨上。又嘱咐麝月打点东西，遣老嬷嬷去看袭人，劝他少哭。一一妥当，方过前边来贾母王夫人处问安吃饭。

正值凤姐儿和贾母王夫人商议说：“天又短又冷，不如以后大嫂子带着姑娘们在园子里吃饭一样。等天长暖和了，再来回的跑也不妨。”王夫人笑道：“这也是好主意。刮风下雪倒便宜。吃些东西受了冷气也不好；空心走来，一肚子冷风，压上些东西也不好。不如后园门里头的五间大房子，横竖有女人们上夜的，挑两个厨子女人在那里，单给他姊妹们弄饭。新鲜菜蔬是有分例的，在总管房里支去，或要钱，或要东西；那些野鸡、獐、狍各样野味，分些给他们就是了。”贾母道：“我也正想着呢，就怕又添一个厨房多事些。”凤姐道：“并不多事。一样的分例，这里添了，那里减了。就便多费些事，小姑娘们冷风朔气的，别人还可，第一林妹妹如何禁得住？就连宝兄弟也禁不住，何况众位姑娘。”贾母道：“正是这话了。上次我要说这话，我见你们的大事太多了，如今又添出这些事来。”要知端的——

[1] 怀古诗——感怀古人古事之作。这十首诗虽是用作谜语，但小说作者抑或另有寓意。

[2] 赤壁——在今湖北省蒲圻县西北（原属嘉鱼县）长江南岸，同今洪湖县的乌林隔江相对。东汉建安十三年，孙权、刘备联军大败曹军于此。

[3] 沉埋水不流——意思是火烧曹操战船后，馀骸沉埋江中，江水为之不流。唐杜牧《赤壁》诗：“折戟沉沙铁未销。”

[4] 喧阗（xuān　tián宣田）——声音喧哗、噪杂。

[5] 交趾——古郡名，辖境相当今越南北部。西汉武帝元鼎元年置。趾，或作“址”、“阯”。

[6] “铜铸”二句——用宫中钟声传播四方，形容国威远扬。金镛：铜铸的大钟。纪纲：指国家的法纪和政令。戎羌（qiānɡ枪）：这里代指我国各少数民族地区。羌，我国西部的少数民族之一，古代也称西戎。

[7] 马援——东汉人，字文渊，光武帝刘秀的大将，封伏波将军、新息侯，曾带兵西击羌族，南征交趾，北逐匈奴，晚年在进兵武陵五溪时染疫身亡。

[8] “铁笛”句——晋代崔豹《古今注》：“《武溪深》，乃马援南征之所作也。援门生爰寄生善吹笛，援作歌以和之，名曰《武溪深》。”子房：西汉人张良的字，他曾辅刘邦建立汉朝。传说当汉军围项羽于垓下时张良命军士用笛吹奏楚歌，瓦解楚军军心。这句紧连上句，意思说，以吹笛之事论功劳，马援本已很大，毋须再提张良了。

[9] 钟山——即紫金山，又称北山，在今南京市中山门外。南齐孔稚珪在《北山移文》中说：有个“周子”，为了欺世盗名，曾来钟山隐居。但等皇帝诏书一到，他便“形驰魄散，志变神动”，趋炎附势，出山作了海盐令，因而受到山灵的嘲笑。这首诗中的“汝”，即指周子。依《文选》吕向注，“周子”指南齐人周颙（yónɡ），但据《南齐书》、《南史》中《周颙传》所载，周颙终生作官，并无隐居之事，也不曾作过海盐令。他在钟山所立隐舍，仅供休沐假日之用。

[10] 淮阴——古县名，秦代所置，即今江苏省清江市。西汉名将韩信出生于此。

[11] “壮士”句——指韩信青年时曾受辱于淮阴恶少，从其胯下爬过的事。

[12] “三齐”句——意谓当韩信受封为齐王时，已经决定了他最后被杀的命运。三齐：项羽灭秦后，将齐地分封给胶东、齐、济北三王，故“齐”又称“三齐”。盖棺：即“盖棺论定”，意谓人死后方能做出结论。这里指韩信最后被杀之事。

[13] “一饭”句——韩信贫贱时，曾钓于淮阴城北淮水之上，有一漂母出于怜悯，供他饭食。后来韩信作了楚王，曾以千金相报。

[14] 广陵——广陵，古郡名，隋初先设扬州，后改作江都郡，治所在今江苏省扬州市。隋炀帝杨广于大业元年强征河南、淮北各郡民工百馀万开通济渠，从洛阳直达江都。渠宽四十步，渠旁筑“御道”，两岸种垂柳，世称隋堤。又沿渠大造离宫，率后妃、百官等南游江都，穷极侈靡。

[15] 桃叶渡——故址在今江苏省南京市，秦淮河与青溪合流处。《古今乐录》载：晋代王献之曾与其妾桃叶在此作别，作《桃叶歌》相赠，故后人称此渡为桃叶渡。

[16] “六朝”句——意思是：六朝的大臣们大多像王献之一样同亲人作别。六朝：指三国吴、东晋、宋、齐、梁、陈，皆先后在今之南京建都。梁栋：既指屋宇，又指大臣。如许：如此；像这样。

[17] “小照”句——意谓小照空空挂在墙壁上。小照：肖像画的一种，画面除人物外，还可以点缀简单的景物。壁上题：墙壁的上部。题：额头。

[18] 青冢——即王昭君墓，在今内蒙古自治区呼和浩特市南大黑河岸上。或谓：“塞草皆白，唯此冢草青，故名。”见《大同府志》；或谓：“墓无草木，远而望之，冥蒙作黛色，故曰青冢。”见清宋荦《筠廊偶记》。一说，蒙语“呼和”意谓“青”，“浩特”意谓“城”，昭君葬该地，故名“青冢”。昭君名嫱，西汉元帝宫人，元帝为同南匈奴和亲，嫁昭君与呼韩邪单于。

[19] 冰弦——一种优质的丝弦，其音激越清亮，色光洁，明透如冰，故称冰弦。一说为冰蚕丝制成的弦。这里指王昭君琵琶上的弦。

[20] 樗（chū出）栎（lì力）——樗：臭椿。栎：柞树。古人认为这两种树不能成材，故常用来比喻无用之人。这里指汉元帝。

[21] 马嵬（wéi韦）——即马嵬驿，在今陕西省兴平县马嵬镇。杨贵妃因受宠于唐玄宗，遂一门显贵，势压天下。后范阳节度使安禄山以讨杨贵妃之兄宰相杨国忠为名起兵反唐，攻破潼关，直逼长安。唐玄宗携杨妃逃往四川，行至马嵬，军士以罪在杨门，杀杨国忠并请诛杨贵妃。玄宗被迫缢杀杨贵妃，埋于驿西道旁。

[22] “寂寞”句——以汗水浸渍胭脂残痕来形容杨贵妃被缢死时的面容。

[23] “只因”二句——意指杨贵妃的风流遗韵至今犹存。《旧唐书·后妃传上》载：唐玄宗自四川返回时，“密令中使改葬（杨贵妃）于他所。初（yì异，埋）时以紫褥裹之，肌肤已坏而香囊仍在。内官以献，上皇视之凄惋，乃令图其形于别殿，朝夕视之。”

[24] 蒲东寺——即唐代元稹《会真记》中张珙与崔莺莺相会的普救寺，因寺在山西省蒲津之东，故又称蒲东寺。

[25] “小红”二句——小红：即崔莺莺的丫鬟红娘。下句指红娘瞒着老夫人为张珙和莺莺撮合。

[26] “虽被”二句——指《西厢记》中《拷红》一折。意谓夫人虽拷打红娘问出私情，但为时已晚。夫人：即崔莺莺的母亲郑氏。

[27] 梅花观——《牡丹亭》中杜家为守护杜丽娘坟墓而建造的庙宇。柳梦梅曾寄居观中，拾得丽娘生前自画像，引来丽娘游魂，并挖墓开棺，救活丽娘，结为夫妻。

[28] “不在”二句——首句是杜丽娘题自画像诗的最后一句，句中暗含柳梦梅的名字。个中：此中。

[29] 春香——杜丽娘丫鬟的名字。

[30] 胶柱鼓瑟——语出《史记·廉颇蔺相如列传》，蔺相如劝赵王不要任用赵括为将说：“王以名使括，若胶柱而鼓瑟耳。括徒能读其父书传，不知合变也。”瑟：乐器名。柱：瑟上架弦的柱，能移动，可调音。用胶粘柱则音不能调，比喻拘泥固执不知灵活变通。

[31] 关夫子——即关羽，字云长，河东解县（今山西临猗）人。三国时蜀汉大将，后世封建统治阶级把他神化，尊称为“关公”、“关帝”，或把他同“文圣”孔夫子并列而为“武圣”，故亦称“关夫子”。

[32] 《广舆记》——地理书，明代陆应旸撰。

〔一〕 “百子刻丝”，原作“百子剡丝”，底本改文及蒙府、戚序、甲辰本均作“百花刻丝”。按，“刻丝”即“缂丝”，今据各本取“刻”字。

[34] 风毛儿——皮毛衣服有的特意将领、袖、襟、摆等边缘部分的皮毛露在外面，以增添美观及显示皮毛的珍贵，因其露毛在外，故称“风毛儿”，也叫“出锋”。

〔二〕 “规矩的”，原无，从蒙府、戚宁、甲辰本补。

[36] 停床——人刚死停尸于床，尚未入殓，叫“停床”。

[37] 熏笼——罩在炭盆上的箱形罩笼，又名“火箱”。

[38] 划子——这里指穿衣镜框子上押镜帘的活动小签子。

〔三〕 “麝月往他外边睡去”，原作“晴雯麝月往他外边睡去”，点改为“叫麝月在你外边睡去”，蒙府、戚序本作“麝月你往他那外边睡去”，甲辰本作“麝月你叫他进里间睡去”。底本原文“晴雯”二字为衍文，今从底本原文删去“晴雯”两字。

〔四〕 “貂颏满襟暖袄披上”，原作“貂颏子襟暖袄被上”，点改为“貂鼠下颏子讷尔库披上”。从蒙府、戚序、甲辰本改。

[41] 貂颏满襟暖袄——貂颏皮作的大襟袄。颏：下巴。满襟：大襟。

[42] 茶槅——即茶盘。

[43] （shuàn涮）——同“涮”，以水晃荡，洗净器物。

〔五〕 “老婆汉像”，“汉”原为“寒”点改，梦稿本同底本原文，蒙府、戚序同点改文字，甲辰本作“老婆像”。从底本改文。

[45] 蝎蝎螫螫老婆汉像——形容大惊小怪、为一点小事就咋呼起来。虽是汉子却婆婆妈妈过分小心。

[46] 锦鸡——野鸡的一种，雄者羽毛美丽，头部有金黄色丝状羽冠，易于驯养，可供玩赏，羽毛可作装饰。

[47] 跑解马——也叫跑马卖解，即在马上表演各种技艺，表演者皆著短装。

[48] 伶伶俐俐——形容穿的单薄。

〔六〕 “死不拣好日子”，底本旁添为“要死也不拣个好日子”，梦稿、甲辰本均作“死不拣好日子”。从底本原文。

〔七〕 “素香”，甲辰本作“速香”。

[51] 素香——家常用的普通香料。

〔八〕 “说道，不相干，那里这么娇嫩起来了”，原缺，从各本补。各本“娇”均作“姣”，径改。

[53] 过了人——传染（疾病）给别人。

[54] 金凤花——即“凤仙花”，一年生草本植物，夏季开花，红色的花瓣可用来染指甲，因又名指甲花或指甲草。

[55] 外感内滞——中医用语。外感：指感受风、寒、暑、湿、燥、热而致病。内滞：在消化系统内有饮食积滞。

〔九〕 “等药”，原作“芍药”，从各本改。下文“麻黄等药”同。

〔一〇〕 “宝玉道，给他多少”，原仅一“少”字，又点去，从各本补。

[58] 大趸（dǔn盹）——也作“打趸”，打总、凑总数的意思。趸：整数、整批。

[59] 螺甸小柜子——用“螺甸”这种工艺装饰的小柜子。螺甸，亦作“螺钿”或“螺填”，即用贝壳磨薄制成各种花样镶嵌装饰在漆器或雕镂器物上。

[60] “岁寒然后知松柏之后凋也”——语出《论语·子罕》。以松柏之后凋喻处于浊世而能保持自身的节操。

CHAPTER 51. A clever cousin composes some ingenious riddles And an unskilful physician prescribes a barbarous remedy

WHEN Bao-qin explained that the riddles she had composed were in the form of quatrains, each containing a clue to some well-known object, about famous places she had visited in the course of her travels, the cousins were greatly impressed, and waited with eagerness for her to copy them out. This is what they read when she had finished doing so1:

Red Cliff

The river at Red Cliff was choked with the dead, And the ships without crew carried naught but their names. A clamour and shouting, a wind took the blaze, And a host of brave souls rode aloft in the flames.

Hanoi

His column of brass bade the nations obey: The noise of him spread through barbarian parts. Brave Ma Yuan to conquest and empire was born: He needed no Iron Flute to teach him those arts.

Mt Zhong-shan

Though ambition had never been part of your nature And the call from retirement was none of your choosing, You danced in the end at another’s commandment, So you can’t be surprised if we find it amusing.

Huai-yin

The brave must beware of the vicious dog’s bite: The gift of a throne on your fate set the seal. Let us learn from your story the humble to prize, And due gratitude show for the gift of a meal.

Guang-ling

Your crows and cicadas no more you shall hear By the old Sui embankment back home in the South; But the scandalous story of those wanton times Wags in many an idle, unsavoury mouth.

Peach Leaf Ford

In the waters a scene of decay is reflected; Long since from its bough did the last peach-leaf fall. Your old Southern mansion has tumbled in ruins, And only your likeness looks down from the wall.

Green Mound

The Amur’s black flood for pure grief is arrested; The frozen string twangs with a heartbroken sound; And, deploring the harsh rule that ordered this exile, A few crooked trees bow in shame to the ground.

Ma-wei

The sad, ravaged face seemed to shine in its sweat; Then soon that sweet softness all vanished away. Yet something remained, for the well-known perfume In the clothing she wore lingers on to this day.

The Monastery at Pu-dong

Young Reddie was ever a light, empty creature, Always to-ing and fro-ing in all kinds of weather. Though her Mistress in ire hung her up from the ceiling, Those two had already been walking together.

The Plum-tree Shrine

‘’Twill be by the willow and not by the plum.’ But who is it there will her likeness discover? Let not her full moon make you think that Spring’s coming, For the cold parts her now till next year from her lover.

After reading these poems, the cousins all praised the remarkable ingenuity with which they had been constructed. Only Bao-chai was critical.

‘The first eight of these poems have historically verifiable subjects, but what about the last two? I’m afraid I don’t quite understand what they are about. I think you ought to make up another two to replace them with.’

‘Don’t be so stuffy, Chai!’ said Dai-yu. ‘Talk about “gluing the bridges of the zither”! It’s true that the subjects of those last two poems can’t be found in the history books, but how can you say that you don’t know what they are? Even if, as well-bred young ladies, we may not read the books in which they are to be found, we’ve all watched plenty of plays. Every three-year-old child is familiar with these stories. It’s sheer hypocrisy to pretend that you’ve never heard of them.’

‘Hear, hear!’ said Tan-chun.

‘In any case,’ said Li Wan, ‘she has actually been to the places associated with the stories, even if the stories themselves are unhistorical. Stories pick up all kinds of circumstantial detail in the course of centuries of re-telling. Sooner or later some know-all invariably equips them with a location in order to fool more people into believing them. I remember on my journey here when I first came up to the capital we visited three or four different sites all claiming to be the burial-place of Guan Yu. Now no one doubts that Guan Yu actually existed or that he actually did the heroic things he is supposed to have done; but he can’t have been buried in more than one grave. Obviously the tradition that he was buried in those places was invented by people living long after Guan Yu’s death who loved and admired Guan Yu and all that he had stood for and wanted to claim him for themselves. And if you look in the Geographical Gazetteer, you’ll find that it isn’t only Guan Yu who has graves in several different places: practically all the famous men who ever lived appear to have been buried in more than one place. And when it comes to sites which are famous because of people who never even existed, they are still more numerous. It may well be that the people those last two poems are about didn’t exist; but though the stories about them are unhistorical, they are certainly well-known. You can hear them told by story-tellers; you can see them acted on the stage; you can even find references to them on the divination-sticks that people tell their fortunes with in temples. There can’t be a man, woman or child who isn’t familiar with them. And even if one knows them from the books, it can hardly be said that to have read a few lyrics from The Western Chamber or The Soul’s Return is tantamount to reading pornography. No, I see no harm in these two poems. I think she should leave them as they are.’

This, coming from Li Wan, effectively silenced Bao-chai’s objection.

Some time was now spent in trying to guess answers to the riddles concealed in these poems, but all of their guesses were wrong.

The days in winter are very short and in no time at all, it seemed, they were trooping back into the mansion for their dinner. While they were there, a message arrived for Lady Wang to say that Aroma’s brother, Hua Zi-fang, had come and was waiting outside in the front.

‘His mother is seriously ill and has been asking to see Aroma,’ said the messenger. ‘He asks if, as a special kindness, you will allow her to go home and see her.’

‘We shouldn’t dream of preventing a mother from seeing her daughter under such circumstances,’ said Lady Wang. ‘Of course she may go.’

She called for Xi-feng and, having explained the situation to her, left it to her to decide what arrangements should be made for Aroma’s departure. Xi-feng promised to attend to the matter and hurried back to her own apartment to do so. She told Zhou Rui’s wife to break the news to Aroma about her mother. She also gave detailed instructions for the visit.

‘Get hold of another of the women in your group to go with you as second chaperone. And take two of the junior maids with you as well. And you’ll want four of the grooms from the front. Take responsible ones: not too young. Tell them you’ll need two carriages, one large and one small. You two can sit in the larger one with Aroma, and the two maids can go in the smaller one.’

Zhou Rui’s wife was on the point of going off to execute these orders, but Xi-feng had evidently not finished.

‘Aroma’s a girl who doesn’t like fuss. You’d better tell her that it’s my wish that she should dress herself up in the very best things she’s got. Tell her to take a good big bundle of extra clothes with her as well. The cloth it’s wrapped in is to be of the highest quality. Her hand-warmer is to be a good one, too. And tell her that before she goes I want her to come here so that I can have a look at her.’

Zhou Rui’s wife went off to do her bidding. In due course Aroma herself arrived, dressed up in all her finery. She was accompanied by Zhou Rui’s wife and the other woman and by two little maids, one carrying her bundle and the other one her hand-warmer. Xi-feng proceeded at once to inspect her, beginning at the top. Aroma’s hair, liberally studded with pearled and golden jewellery, was satisfactory; her clothing, it seemed, less so. She had on an ermine-lined silk tapestry dress of peach-pink satin, sprigged with a pattern of different sorts of flowers, a leek-green padded skirt embroidered in couched gold thread and coloured silks, and a black satin jacket lined with squirrel.

‘I see. These are all things that Her Ladyship gave you. That’s good. But the jacket is too plain. And it’s not warm enough for the time of year, either. You want something with a heavier fur in it.’

‘This is the only one she gave me,’ said Aroma, ‘and the only other one I’ve got is lined with ermine. She promised me one with a heavier fur in time for the New Year, but I haven’t been given it yet.’

‘I’ve got one with a heavier fur which I haven’t worn because the trimmings don’t suit me,’ said Xi-feng. ‘I’d been meaning to get it altered, but I could let you have it now if you like and you can give it back to me to have altered Her Ladyship gets this other one made that she’s promised you. We’ll call it a loan.’

The servants laughed.

‘You like to have your little joke, Mrs Lian. All the year round you’re handing things out on the quiet that Her Lady-ship has overlooked, yet you never ask her for anything back for them. Why so stingy all of a sudden about a little old jacket?’

‘Her Ladyship can’t be expected to remember everything,’ said Xi-feng, ‘and these are, after all, rather trifling matters. Of course, someone has to think about them, for the sake of appearances. Even if it leaves me a bit out of pocket, I’ve got to see that everyone is dressed decently. If that gets me a reputation for being generous – well, that’s just one of the hardships I must learn to put up with! It would be much worse to have everyone going around looking like tramps. Think of the jokes I should hear about my housekeeping then!’

‘There can’t be many like you, Mrs Lian,’ said the women admiringly, ‘so considerate towards Her Ladyship and yet at the same time so thoughtful towards us servants. You really do think of everything.’

While they were praising her, Xi-feng was already ordering Patience to fetch the jacket she had mentioned. It had in fact arrived from the tailor’s only a day or two previously. It was a very grand one, in slate-blue satin, with eight large, embroidery-like silk tapestry roundels woven into it, and with a lining of arctic fox. After giving Aroma the jacket, Xi-feng inspected her bundle. The carrying-cloth was of silk gauze in a nondescript black-and-white pattern, lined with strawberry-coloured silk. All she had got wrapped up in it were a couple of padded dresses, by no means new, and her other fur-lined jacket. Xi-feng told Patience to fetch a better carrying-cloth – one made of a good-quality foreign broadcloth and lined with turquoise-coloured silk – and a snow-cape to add to the contents of her bundle. Patience went off to get them. When she came back she was carrying not one snow-cape but two: one of them, in dark-red felt, showed signs of wear; the other, in dark-red camlet, seemed to be almost new.

Aroma protested.

‘I can’t possibly take both of these,’ she said. ‘Even one of these would seem a bit on the grand side for me.’

‘Just pack the felt one,’ said Patience. ‘You can carry the other one on your arm and on your way out get someone to take it over to Miss Xing. Yesterday when we had that heavy snow there were ten or a dozen of them all wearing felt or camlet snow-capes. They made quite a picture in their red capes against the background of white snow. She was the only one there who hadn’t got one. She looked all hunched-up with the cold, poor thing: I felt really sorry for her. Let her have the camlet one.’

‘See how liberal she is with my possessions,’ Xi-feng expostulated jokingly. ‘Heavens, girl, I give enough away already without needing you to help me!’

‘Like mistress, like maid,’ said the woman who had spoken before. ‘It’s because you yourself are so considerate towards Her Ladyship and so kind to us servants that she feels free to behave in that way. If you were a mean, tight-fisted sort of person, she’d never dare.’

Xi-feng laughed.

‘I suppose you could say that she understands me a bit – about thirty per cent perhaps!’

She turned back to Aroma to deliver her parting instructions.

‘We must hope that your mother recovers, but if by any chance she doesn’t, you will obviously have to stay on for a bit. Let me know, in that case, and I’ll have your bedding sent on to you. Don’t use their bedding or any of their toilet things.’ She turned to Zhou Rui’s wife. ‘You know our rules, don’t you? I don’t need to go over them again.’

‘Yes, ma’am,’ said Zhou Rui’s wife. ‘All their people are to keep away from us while we are there, and if we stay they have to give us one or two inside rooms to ourselves.’

With that she accompanied Aroma outside and called to the pages to fetch lanterns, for it was already getting dark. The little party then made its way to the carriages, and having disposed themselves inside them, were driven off to Hua Zi-fang’s house, where our story leaves them.

Back at the mansion Xi-feng summoned two of the nannies from Green Delights.

‘I doubt very much whether Aroma will be coming back for a day or two,’ she told them. ‘You’d better tell whichever two of the senior maids you think are most reliable to be on call at night in Bao-yu’s room while she is away. And keep an eye on things yourselves. See that he doesn’t get up to mischief.’

The two women went off, saying that they would attend to the matter, and a little later came back to report on what they had arranged.

‘We’ve put Skybright and Musk on night-call in his room. There are always four of us outside, of course. We take it in turns to be on duty throughout the night.’

Xi-feng nodded.

‘See that he goes to bed early and doesn’t get up too late.’

The old women promised, and went back into the Garden.

Not long after this Zhou Rui’s wife returned with the message that Xi-feng had been half expecting: Aroma’s mother had already breathed her last and Aroma would be unable to come back. Xi-feng went off to report this news to Lady Wang. She also sent someone into the Garden to collect Aroma’s bedding and toilet things. Bao-yu stood by and supervised, while Skybright and Musk got them ready.

When Aroma’s things had been despatched, the two girls removed their hair ornaments and changed into their nightclothes. Skybright showed no disposition, after changing, to remove herself from the clothes-warmer over which she was crouched.

‘Now don’t start acting the young lady,’ said Musk. ‘I advise you to stir yourself a bit.’

‘I’ll stir myself soon enough when you are out of the way,’ said Skybright. ‘As long as you are around, I might as well take it easy.’

‘Now come on, there’s a good girl!’ said busy Musk. ‘I’ll make his bed and you can put the cover over the dressing-mirror and fasten the catch. You’re taller than I am.’

She bustled off and began making up Bao-yu’s bed.

‘Hai’ said Skybright disgustedly. ‘Just as I was beginning to get warm!’

Bao-yu, who up to that moment had been sitting apart, abstractedly wondering about Aroma’s mother (he had still not been told of her death), chanced suddenly to catch this remark. At once he got up, went into the next room, and attended to the dressing-mirror himself.

‘Carry on warming yourself,’ he said with a smile to Sky-bright as he came in again, ‘I’ve done it for you.’

‘I don’t think I shall ever get warm,’ said Skybright. ‘And I’ve just remembered: I haven’t brought in the hot-water bottle.’

‘How thoughtful we are all of a sudden!’ said Musk. ‘He never has a hot-water bottle. And we shan’t need one tonight. It’ll be much warmer in here on the clothes-warmer than it is on the kang in the other room.’

‘You’re not both going to sleep on the clothes-warmer, are you?’ said Bao-yu. ‘I shall be scared, all on my own in the closet-bed with nobody near me. I shan’t be able to sleep.’

‘Well, I’m sleeping on the clothes-warmer at all events,’ said Skybright. ‘Let Musk sleep beside the closet-bed.’

The time was well after nine. Musk, who had by this time let down the curtains, moved the lamp to its night-time position, and lit the slow-burning incense, now helped Bao-yu into bed and tucked him up. After that she and Skybright themselves settled down for the night, Skybright on top of the clothes-warmer and Musk outside the curtains which separated the alcove of the closet-bed from the rest of the room.

Some time in the middle watch of the night Bao-yu called out for Aroma a couple of times in his sleep and, not getting the customary response, woke up. Awake he remembered, with some amusement, that Aroma was not there to answer. The noise he made had woken Skybright, who called out from where she lay to Musk.

‘Musk! He’s even woken me up, over here. Do you mean to say you really haven’t heard anything, lying there right beside him? You must sleep like a corpse!’

Musk turned over and yawned.

‘He was calling for Aroma; what’s it got to do with me? – What do you want?’ she asked Bao-yu.

‘I want some tea,’ he said.

Musk hopped out of bed to get him some. She was wearing only a quilted red silk tunic.

‘You’ll get cold,’ said Bao-yu. ‘Put my fur gown on.’

She picked up the winter dressing-gown that lay always ready beside him, in case he should need to get up during the night. It was lined with the orange-yellow chest fur of pine-martens and had a big fur collar. Slipping the gown over her shoulders, Musk first washed her hands in the basin, then she poured him a cup of hot water and held the spittoon for him to spit into when he had washed his mouth out. After that she took a teacup from the shelf where the tea-things were kept, rinsed it out with hot water, and filled it from a pot in a padded wicker case in which ready-brewed tea was kept warm for such emergencies. Having ministered to Bao-yu’s wants, she rinsed her own mouth out with the hot water and poured half a cup of tea out for herself.

‘Musk,’ Skybright called out to her, ‘give us a drop too, there’s a dear!’

‘What a nerve!’

‘Go on!’ said Skybright. ‘Tomorrow night you can lie back all night long and let me wait on you.’

Musk held out the spittoon, as she had done for Bao-yu, while Skybright rinsed her mouth out, then fetched her half a cupful of tea.

‘Don’t go to sleep yet, you two,’ she said, as soon as Skybright had been attended to. ‘Keep talking while I go outside for a bit.’

‘There’s a ghost waiting for you out there,’ said Skybright.

‘There’s no ghost out there, but there’s a very fine moon,’ said Bao-yu. ‘Go ahead: we’ll keep talking, don’t worry!’

He coughed significantly.

Musk opened the door and lifted up the felt portière. There was, as Bao-yu had predicted, a beautiful moon outside. As soon as she had gone out, Skybright slipped down from the clothes-warmer and tip-toed after her, intending to give her a scare. Physically the hardiest of the maids and, as a rule, the one who was least afraid of the cold, she went as she was, with nothing but a short tunic to cover her. Bao-yu tried to dissuade her from going out.

‘I wouldn’t, if I were you. If you catch cold, it won’t be quite so funny.’

But Skybright motioned impatiently to him to be quiet and crept out of the door.

The moonlight outside was like water. Suddenly she heard the wind. It was only a brief, faint gust, but the chill of it penetrated to the marrow of her bones and made her shudder.

‘It’s certainly true what they say about a warm body fearing the wind,’ she reflected. ‘This cold is really no joke.’

She was still determined to frighten Musk; but just as she was about to do so, Bao-yu called out in a loud voice from indoors.

‘Careful Musk! Skybright’s outside.’

Immediately Skybright ran in again.

‘What an old woman you are!’ she said. ‘The shock wouldn’t have killed her.’

‘I wasn’t thinking about that,’ said Bao-yu. ‘I was worried about your catching cold; and besides, if she’d called out when you startled her she might have woken somebody up, and you know what it would have been like then. They’d never have believed it was a practical joke, they’d have said, “Just look, Aroma only away for a single night and already the girls in his room are seeing things. Not one of them’s to be trusted.” Come on, come over here and tuck this quilt in for me.’

Skybright went over to arrange his bedding. While she was doing so, she stuck one of her hands inside the cover and held it against his skin.

‘Your hand is freezing!’ he said. ‘I told you you’d get cold.’

He noticed how red her cheeks were and put out his hand to touch them. They were as cold as ice.

‘Quick, you’d better get inside here and warm up,’ he said.

Just as she did so, there was a loud bang and Musk rushed giggling into the room, slamming the door behind her.

‘Whew, what a shock!’ she said. ‘I thought I saw someone crouching down in the shadows behind the rockery. Actually it was that long-tailed pheasant. I was just going to cry out, when it heard me coming and flew up into the light, so that I could see what it was. If I’d lost my head and started screaming, I might have woken everybody up.’

She said this while washing her hands. Presently she finished washing and laughed.

‘Did you say Skybright had gone outside? I wonder why I didn’t see her. I bet she went outside to scare me.’

‘What’s this lump here then?’ said Bao-yu. ‘She’s down in here getting warm. She did go outside. If I hadn’t called out when I did, she would have scared you.’

‘She doesn’t need me to scare her, silly little goose!’ said Skybright, laughing, from inside the bedclothes. ‘By the looks of it she’s perfectly capable of scaring herself!’

She emerged from Bao-yu’s bedding now and crossed the room to the clothes-warmer to get inside her own. Musk gazed at her incredulously as she did so.

‘Is that all you were wearing when you went outside, that circus rider’s outfit you’ve got on now?’

‘That’s all she was wearing,’ said Bao-yu.

‘You’ll die before your time!’ said Musk. ‘What, standing around with only that on? It’s enough to freeze the skin off you!’

She took the copper cover off the brazier and damped down the glowing charcoal by shovelling some ash on to it with the fire-shovel. Before replacing the cover, she threw on a couple of pieces of agalloch to sweeten the air. Then she went behind the screen and trimmed the lamp up. After that she too went back to bed.

The effect on Skybright of the sudden change of temperature was to make her sneeze. Bao-yu groaned.

‘I told you so. You have caught a cold.’

‘She was complaining that she didn’t feel too good when we got up this morning,’ said Musk, ‘and she hasn’t eaten properly all day. Yet instead of looking after herself she has to go playing pranks on people outside. It will be her own silly fault if she is ill tomorrow.’

‘Does your head feel hot?’ Bao-yu asked Skybright.

Skybright coughed a few times.

‘It’s nothing,’ she said. ‘I’m not that delicate!’

Just then the chiming clock that hung on the partition in the outer room struck twice and they heard the old woman on night duty cough a couple of times and call out:

‘Go to sleep, young ladies! There’ll be plenty of time for talking in the morning.’

Bao-yu gave a subdued chuckle.

‘Better not talk any more,’ he said. ‘We don’t want them talking about us.’

After that the three of them settled down and went to sleep again.

When Skybright got up next morning, her nose was stuffed up, her voice was hoarse, and the slightest movement cost her an effort.

‘We’d better keep this dark,’ said Bao-yu. ‘If my mother gets to hear of it, she’s sure to insist on your going back home until you’re better; and however nice it may be at your home, I’m sure it won’t be so warm as here, so you’ll be better off with us. I’ll get a doctor in through the back gate to have a look at you on the quiet.’

‘That’s all very well,’ said Skybright, ‘but at least let Mrs Zhu know what you’re doing. Otherwise, when the doctor comes, what are you going to say if they start asking questions?’

Bao-yu knew that she was right and instructed one of the old nannies to go to Li Wan with a message.

‘Tell Mrs Zhu that Skybright has got a bit of a chill. Say it’s nothing very serious, and with Aroma away we shall be even more short-handed if she goes back home to get better, so we’d like to get a doctor in quietly through the back gate to have a look at her and not tell Her Ladyship about it.’

The old nannie was gone for quite a long time. When she did return it was with the following answer.

‘Mrs Zhu says all right, as long as she’s better after one or two doses of medicine, otherwise she thinks it would really be better to send her home. She says there’s so much danger of infection at this time of year. She’s particularly worried that one of the young ladies might catch something.’

All this time Skybright had been lying in the closet-bed inside, coughing. She stopped coughing when she heard this message and called out angrily.

‘Anyone would think I’d got the plague! I suppose I’d better go, if she’s so scared that I might infect somebody. It would be just too terrible if any of you lot were to get a headache or a sore throat as long as you live!’

She actually began getting up as she said this, but Bao-yu rushed in and made her lie down again.

‘Now don’t start getting angry. She is, after all, responsible for the girls and she’s probably terrified that Lady Wang might get to know about this and grumble at her. I’m sure that’s the only reason she says this: to cover herself in case it’s found Out. You’re inclined to be quick-tempered at the best of times. Now, with so much extra heat inside you, you are even more inflammable!’

At this point the doctor was announced and Bao-yu barely had time to conceal himself behind a bookcase as he entered the outer doorway, conducted by two or three old women from the gate. The maids had all fled as soon as the arrival of a male visitor was announced, leaving only three or four old nannies in charge of the apartment. The old nannies quickly let down the closet-bed’s red embroidered curtains and Skybright stretched forth her hand through a join in them.

This hand held out for the doctors inspection had nails two or three inches long on two of its fingers, stained with balsam juice to a delicate shade of pink. The doctor averted his eyes from this inflaming sight and would not proceed with the examination until one of the old nannies had covered it up with a handkerchief. When he had finished feeling the pulses, he got up, went into the outer room, and announced his diagnosis to the nannies.

‘The young lady is suffering from inner congestion caused by exposure. In view of the severe weather we have been having we should probably not be far wrong in calling it a minor case of cold-fever or grippe. Fortunately your patient is a young lady and therefore probably fairly modest in her diet; and the exposure does not appear to have been a very serious one. What we have, then, is no more than a mild infection picked up by someone whose stamina is normally rather low. One or two doses of something to disperse the congestion should be sufficient to put her right.’

Having pronounced this diagnosis, he went off, conducted once more by the women who had brought him in.

Li Wan had sent warning of the doctor’s arrival both to the servants on the gate and the maids in the various apartments, so that his passage through the Garden, both coming and going, was through an empty landscape in which not a single female was to be seen. After passing through the Garden gate, he sat down in the outer lodge which the pages occupied and wrote out his prescription.

‘Don’t go yet, sir,’ said one of the old women when he had finished writing it. ‘Our young master always likes to have his say about these matters. Like as not he’ll have some question to ask you.’

The doctor looked startled.

‘Did you say “master”? But surely that was a young lady I examined just now? The room was certainly a young lady’s boudoir, and the consultation was made with the patient behind a curtain. Surely it cannot have been a young gentleman?’

The old woman laughed.

‘I see now why the boys said we had a “new doctor” coming in today. You certainly don’t know much about this family, sir! That was our young master’s room you were in just now, but the person you examined was one of his maids – one of the senior ones. That was no young lady’s room. If one of the young mistresses had been ill, you wouldn’t have got into her room that easy – not on your first visit!’

She took the prescription from him and went back inside to show Bao-yu. Bao-yu glanced through it rapidly. ‘Perilla’, ‘kikio root’, ‘wind-shield’ and ‘nepeta-seed’ appeared among the drugs at the head of the list, and lower down he noticed ‘thorny lime’ and ‘ephedra’. He was appalled.

‘He’s prescribing for her as if she were a man. However bad the congestion is, you can’t expect a young girl to stand up to drugs like thorny lime and ephedra. Who sent for this man, anyway? You’d better get rid of him straight away and send for someone we know.’

‘We weren’t to know what his prescriptions would be like,’ said the woman defensively. ‘I suppose we could send one of the boys for Dr Wang. The only thing is, as we didn’t tell the Office about this one, we shall have to pay him ourselves.’

‘How much?’ said Bao-yu.

‘Well, you don’t want to give too little,’ said the old woman. ‘I should think for a single visit a family like ours would give a tael.’

‘How much do we give Dr Wang for a visit?’ said Bao-yu.

‘Ah, Dr Wang and Dr Zhang are our regular doctors. They aren’t paid by the visit. They get a fixed yearly amount paid to them in quarterly instalments. But this is a new man who’s only ever been here the once, so we have to pay him now.’

Bao-yu ordered Musk to fetch a tael for him, but Musk said that she didn’t know where Aroma kept her money.

‘I’ve seen her taking silver from the little pearl-inlaid cabinet,’ said Bao-yu. ‘I’ll go along with you and have a look.’

The two of them went into the room that Aroma used as her store-room and opened the cabinet that Bao-yu had referred to. In the top compartment they found nothing but writing-brushes, ink-sticks, fans, incense-pastilles and a wide variety of scarves and sachets. In the lower compartment, however, they found several strings of cash, and there was a drawer in it in which they found a work-basket containing several pieces of silver and even a little balance for weighing it with. Musk picked up the balance.

‘Which of these is the one tael mark?’ she said.

‘That’s rich,’ said Bao-yu, ‘your asking me! Anyone would think you were new here.’

Musk laughed. She was about to go outside and ask, but Bao-yu stopped her.

‘Just pick out one of the larger pieces and give her that. There’s no need to bother about the exact amount. We aren’t shopkeepers.’

Putting the balance back into the basket, Musk picked up one of the pieces of silver and felt the weight of it on her palm.

‘I should think this one is about a tael,’ she said. ‘Anyway, it’s better to give too much than too little. A poor creature like that, used to scrimping and scraping himself, would say that it was meanness if we gave him too little. He’d never believe it was because we didn’t know how to use a balance.’

The woman who had brought the prescription was standing in the doorway, following all this with amusement.

‘That piece you’ve got in your hand is half of a five-taelingot,’ she said. ‘It must weigh two taels at the very least. Since you haven’t got any silver-shears, I should keep that piece if I were you and pick out a smaller one.’

But Musk had already closed the cabinet.

‘Oh, I can’t be bothered to look in there again. Just take it. Never mind the weight.’

‘And tell Tealeaf to go and get Dr Wang,’ said Bao-yu.

The old woman took the silver and went off to deal with the matter.

Tealeaf must have been quick, for Dr Wang arrived quite soon afterwards. The diagnosis he gave after taking Skybright’s pulses was similar to the other man’s, but there was no ephedra or thorny lime in his prescription: their place was taken by milder drugs such as angelica, bitter-peel and white peony root; and the quantities prescribed were smaller. Bao-yu was pleased.

‘That’s more like it!’ he said. ‘She certainly needs treating for congestion, but not in the savage way this other man was proposing. I remember last year when I was suffering from the same thing and Dr Wang came to look at me – in my case I was badly constipated as we – he said that my constitution wouldn’t stand up to harsh decongestants like ephedra, gypsum and thorny lime. Well, if my constitution won’t stand up to those drugs, I’m quite sure that yours or Skybright’s wouldn’t. In comparison with you girls, I’m like one of those old aspens that have stood for half a century or more in some grave-garth in the countryside, while you are like those delicate crab-flowers that Yun brought round for me in the autumn.’

‘Aspens aren’t the only trees you find growing in grave-garths,’ said Musk, smiling. ‘What about pines and cypresses? I hate aspens – great, stupid trees! It’s not as if they had more leaves than others, yet at the slightest breath of wind they start making a racket. Why compare yourself to an aspen? How common!’

‘I wouldn’t compare myself with a pine or a cypress,’ said Bao-yu. ‘Confucius himself speaks highly of those two trees:

“When the year is coldest, we see that pine and cypress are the last to fade.”

That shows you how noble they are. I should need to be a very conceited person to compare myself with them.’

While he was still discussing this with Musk and Skybright, the old woman who had shown him the prescription arrived back again with the drugs. Bao-yu told one of the maids to find the silver medicine-skillet and brew them on the brazier in his room.

‘Now do be sensible!’ said Skybright. ‘Tell them to do it in the tea-kitchen. You’ll stink the place out with the smell of boiling herbs if you do it in here.’

‘But the smell of boiling herbs is the finest smell in the world,’ said Bao-yu, ‘– far superior to the perfume of any flower. Even the Immortals are supposed to gather herbs and cook them; and gathering herbs to make medicine with is the favourite occupation of hermits and holy men. The smell of medicine: that is the one aesthetic treat that has so far been missing from this apartment; and now, today, we shall enjoy it!’

And he insisted that they should prepare the medicine on the spot. Then he told Musk to get some things ready to send to Aroma and commissioned one of the old women to take them to her. She was to see how Aroma was and urge her not to endanger her health by excessive weeping. When all these matters had been attended to, he went off to pay his morning calls on Lady Wang and Grandmother Jia and to have his lunch.

He found Xi-feng at Grandmother Jia’s place discussing mealtime arrangements with his mother and grandmother.

‘Now that it’s so cold and the days are so short,’ she was saying, ‘wouldn’t it be better if Li Wan and the young people were to have their meals in the Garden, to avoid all this trekking to and fro? They can begin coming in for them again when the weather is warmer and the days are not so short.’

‘Oh, much better, surely?’ said Lady Wang. ‘Especially when it’s snowing or blowing, as it has been recently. It’s so bad for one to be exposed to the cold immediately after eating. It’s also not good to eat food after being out in the cold with an empty stomach. The empty parts fill up with cold air and then the food presses it down inside one. That big five-frame room inside the back gate of the Garden would make an ideal kitchen. We’ve already got all those women there who keep watch in the Garden at night, so there are plenty of hands for fetching and carrying. All we need are a couple of women from the kitchens here to go over and do the cooking. There are regular allowances for vegetables and so forth, so they can either get the money from Accounts and do their own shop ping themselves, or, if they prefer, they can ask the Office to get the stuff for them. And when we have anything special here, like pheasant or roebuck, we can always arrange for a share of it to be sent over to them.’

‘I’d been thinking along these lines myself,’ said Grandmother Jia, ‘but I was afraid that opening another kitchen might mean extra trouble for you and Feng.’

‘No trouble at all,’ said Xi-feng. ‘It’s simply a matter of switching allowances – spending a bit less here and a bit more there. And even if it does put our expenses up a bit, we don’t want the girls getting colds. Cousin Lin is particularly susceptible. Even Bao-yu is liable to suffer from the cold; and none of our girls is really strong.’

How Grandmother Jia replied will be shown in the following chapter.