第五十三回
第五十三回 宁国府除夕祭宗祠 荣国府元宵开夜宴
话说宝玉见晴雯将雀裘补完，已使的力尽神危，忙命小丫头子来替他捶着，彼此捶打了一会歇下。没一顿饭的工夫，天已大亮，且不出门，只叫快传大夫。一时王太医来了，诊了脉，疑惑说道：“昨日已好了些，今日如何反虚微浮缩[1]起来，敢是吃多了饮食？不然就是劳了神思。外感却倒清了，这汗后失于调养，非同小可。”一面说，一面出去开了药方进来。
宝玉看时，已将疏散驱邪诸药减去了，倒添了茯苓、地黄、当归等益神养血之剂。宝玉一面忙命人煎去，一面叹说：“这怎么处！倘或有个好歹，都是我的罪孽。”晴雯睡在枕上嗐道：“好太爷！你干你的去罢，那里就得痨病了。”宝玉无奈，只得去了。至下半天，说身上不好就回来了。
晴雯此症虽重，幸亏他素习是个使力不使心的；再素习饮食清淡，饥饱无伤。这贾宅中的风俗秘法，无论上下，只一略有些伤风咳嗽，总以净饿为主，次则服药调养。故于前日一病时，净饿了两三日，又谨慎服药调治，如今劳碌了些，又加倍培养了几日，便渐渐的好了。近日园中姊妹皆各在房中吃饭，炊爨饮食亦便，宝玉自能变法要汤要羹调停，不必细说。
袭人送母殡后，业已回来，麝月便将平儿所说宋妈坠儿一事，并晴雯撵逐出去也曾回过宝玉等话，一一告诉袭人。袭人也没说别的，只说太性急了些。只因李纨亦因时气感冒；邢夫人又正害火眼，迎春岫烟皆过去朝夕侍药；李婶之弟又接了李婶和李纹李绮家去住几日；宝玉又见袭人常常思母含悲，晴雯犹未大愈：因此诗社之日，皆未有人作兴，便空了几社。
当下已是腊月，离年日近，王夫人与凤姐治办年事。王子腾升了九省都检点，贾雨村补授了大司马[2]，协理军机参赞朝政，不题。
且说贾珍那边，开了宗祠，着人打扫，收拾供器，请神主，又打扫上房，以备悬供遗真影像。此时荣宁二府内外上下，皆是忙忙碌碌。这日宁府中尤氏正起来同贾蓉之妻打点送贾母这边的针线礼物，正值丫头捧了一茶盘押岁锞子进来，回说：“兴儿回奶奶，前儿那一包碎金子共是一百五十三两六钱七分，里头成色不等，共总倾[3]了二百二十个锞子。”说着递上去。尤氏看了看，只见也有梅花式的，也有海棠式的，也有笔锭如意的，也有八宝联春的。尤氏命：“收起这个来，叫他把银锞子快快交了进来。”丫鬟答应去了。
一时贾珍进来吃饭，贾蓉之妻回避了。贾珍因问尤氏：“咱们春祭的恩赏[4]可领了不曾？”尤氏道：“今儿我打发蓉儿关去了。”贾珍道：“咱们家虽不等这几两银子使，多少是皇上天恩。早关了来，给那边老太太见过，置了祖宗的供，上领皇上的恩，下则是托祖宗的福。咱们那怕用一万银子供祖宗，到底不如这个又体面，又是沾恩锡福的。除咱们这样一二家之外，那些世袭穷官儿家，若不仗着这银子，拿什么上供过年？真正皇恩浩大，想的周到。”尤氏道：“正是这话。”
二人正说着，只见人回：“哥儿来了。”贾珍便命叫他进来。只见贾蓉捧了一个小黄布口袋进来。贾珍道：“怎么去了这一日。”贾蓉陪笑回说：“今儿不在礼部关领，又分在光禄寺库上，因又到了光禄寺[5]才领了下来。光禄寺的官儿们都说问父亲好，多日不见，都着实想念。”贾珍笑道：“他们那里是想我。这又到了年下了，不是想我的东西，就是想我的戏酒了。”一面说，一面瞧那黄布口袋上有印，就是“皇恩永锡”四个大字，那一边又有礼部祠祭司的印记，又写着一行小字，道是“宁国公贾演荣国公贾源〔一〕恩赐永远春祭赏共二分，净折银若干两，某年月日龙禁尉候补侍卫贾蓉当堂领讫，值年寺丞某人”，下面一个朱笔花押。
贾珍看了，吃过饭，盥漱毕，换了靴帽，命贾蓉捧着银子跟了来，回过贾母王夫人，又至这边回过贾赦邢夫人，方回家去，取出银子，命将口袋向宗祠大炉内焚了。又命贾蓉道：“你去问问你琏二婶子，正月里请吃年酒的日子拟了没有。若拟定了，叫书房里明白开了单子来，咱们再请时，就不能重犯了。旧年不留心重了几家，不说咱们不留神，倒像两宅商议定了送虚情怕费事一样。”贾蓉忙答应了过去。一时，拿了请人吃年酒的日期单子来了。贾珍看了，命交与赖升去看了，请人别重这上头日子。因在厅上看着小厮们抬围屏，擦抹几案金银供器。只见小厮手里拿着个禀帖并一篇帐目，回说：“黑山村的乌庄头[7]来了。”
贾珍道：“这个老砍头的今儿才来。”说着，贾蓉接过禀帖和帐目，忙展开捧着，贾珍倒背着两手，向贾蓉手内只看红禀帖上写着：“门下庄头乌进孝叩请爷、奶奶万福金安，并公子小姐金安。新春大喜大福，荣贵平安，加官进禄，万事如意。”贾珍笑道：“庄家人有些意思。”贾蓉也忙笑说：“别看文法，只取个吉利罢了。”一面忙展开单子看时，只见上面写着：
大鹿三十只，獐子五十只，狍子五十只，暹猪二十个，汤猪二十个，龙猪二十个，野猪二十个，家腊猪二十个，野羊二十个，青羊二十个，家汤羊二十个，家风羊二十个，鲟鳇鱼二个，各色杂鱼二百斤，活鸡、鸭、鹅各二百只，风鸡、鸭、鹅二百只，野鸡、兔子各二百对，熊掌二十对，鹿筋二十斤，海参五十斤，鹿舌五十条，牛舌五十条，蛏干二十斤，榛、松、桃、杏穰各二口袋，大对虾五十对，干虾二百斤，银霜炭[8]上等选用一千斤、中等二千斤，柴炭三万斤，御田胭脂米[9]二石，碧糯五十斛，白糯五十斛，粉粳五十斛，杂色粱谷各五十斛，下用常米一千石，各色干菜一车，外卖粱谷、牲口各项之银共折银二千五百两。外门下孝敬哥儿姐儿顽意：活鹿两对，活白兔四对，黑兔四对，活锦鸡两对，西洋鸭两对。
贾珍看完，便命带进他来。一时，只见乌进孝进来，只在院内磕头请安。贾珍命人拉他起来，笑说：“你还硬朗。”乌进孝笑回：“托爷的福，还能走得动。”贾珍道：“你儿子也大了，该叫他走走也罢了。”乌进孝笑道：“不瞒爷说，小的们走惯了，不来也闷的慌。他们可不是都愿意来见见天子脚下世面？他们到底年轻，怕路上有闪失，再过几年就可放心了。”
贾珍道：“你走了几日？”乌进孝道：“回爷的话，今年雪大，外头都是四五尺深的雪，前日忽然一暖一化，路上竟难走的很，耽搁了几日。虽走了一个月零两日，因日子有限了，怕爷心焦，可不赶着来了。”贾珍道：“我说呢，怎么今儿才来。我才看那单子上，今年你这老货又来打擂台[10]来了。”乌进孝忙进前了两步，回道：“回爷说，今年年成实在不好。从三月下雨起，接接连连直到八月，竟没有一连晴过五日。九月里一场碗大的雹子，方近一千三百里地，连人带房并牲口粮食，打伤了上千上万的，所以才这样。小的并不敢说谎。”贾珍皱眉道：“我算定了你至少也有五千两银子来，这够作什么的！如今你们一共只剩了八九个庄子，今年倒有两处报了旱涝，你们又打擂台，真真是又教别过年了。”
乌进孝道：“爷的这地方还算好呢！我兄弟离我那里只一百多里，谁知竟大差了。他现管着那府里八处庄地，比爷这边多着几倍，今年也只这些东西，不过多二三千两银子，也是有饥荒打呢。”贾珍道：“正是呢，我这边都可，已没有什么外项大事，不过是一年的费用。我受用些，就费些〔二〕；我受些委屈就省些。再者年例送人请人，我把脸皮厚些，可省些也就完了。比不得那府里，这几年添了许多花钱的事，一定不可免是要花的，却又不添些银子产业。这一二年倒赔了许多，不和你们要，找谁去！”乌进孝笑道：“那府里如今虽添了事，有去有来，娘娘和万岁爷岂不赏的！”贾珍听了，笑向贾蓉等道：“你们听，他这话可笑不可笑？”贾蓉等忙笑道：“你们山坳海沿子上的人，那里知道这道理。娘娘难道把皇上的库给了我们不成！他心里纵有这心，他也不能作主。岂有不赏之理，按时到节不过是些彩缎古董顽意儿。纵赏银子〔三〕，不过一百两金子，才值了一千两银子，够一年的什么？这二年那一年不多赔出几千银子来！头一年省亲连盖花园子，你算算那一注共花了多少，就知道了。再两年再一回省亲，只怕就精穷了。”贾珍笑道：“所以他们庄家老实人，外明不知里暗〔四〕的事。黄柏木作磬槌子——外头体面里头苦。”贾蓉又笑向贾珍道：“果真那府里穷了。前儿我听见凤姑娘和鸳鸯悄悄商议，要偷出老太太的东西去当银子呢。”贾珍笑道：“那又是你凤姑娘的鬼，那里就穷到如此。他必定是见去路太多了，实在赔的狠了，不知又要省那一项的钱，先设此法使人知道，说穷到如此了。我心里却有一个算盘，还不至如此田地。”说着，命人带了乌进孝出去，好生待他，不在话下。
这里贾珍吩咐将方才各物，留出供祖的来，将各样取了些，命贾蓉送过荣府里。然后自己留了家中所用的，馀者派出等例来，一分一分的堆在月台下，命人将族中的子侄唤来与他们。接着荣国府也送了许多供祖之物及与贾珍之物。
贾珍看着收拾完备供器，靸着鞋，披着猞猁狲[14]大裘，命人在厅柱下石矶上太阳中铺了一个大狼皮褥子，负暄[15]闲看各子弟们来领取年物。因见贾芹亦来领物，贾珍叫他过来，说道：“你作什么也来了？谁叫你来的？”贾芹垂手回说：“听见大爷这里叫我们领东西，我没等人去叫就来了。”贾珍道：“我这东西，原是给你那些闲着无事的无进益的小叔叔兄弟们的。那二年你闲着，我也给过你的。你如今在那府里管事，家庙里管和尚道士们，一月又有你的分例外，这些和尚的分例银子都从你手里过，你还来取这个，太也贪了！你自己瞧瞧，你穿的可像个手里使钱办事的？先前说你没进益，如今又怎么了？比先倒不像了。”贾芹道：“我家里原人口多，费用大。”贾珍冷笑道：“你还支吾我。你在家庙里干的事，打谅我不知道呢。你到了那里自然是爷了，没人敢违拗你。你手里又有了钱，离着我们又远，你就为王称霸起来，夜夜招聚匪类赌钱，养老婆小子。这会子花的这个形象，你还敢领东西来？领不成东西，领一顿驮水棍[16]去才罢。等过了年，我必和你琏二叔说，换回你来。”贾芹红了脸，不敢答应。
人回：“北府水王爷送了字联、荷包来了。”贾珍听说，忙命贾蓉出去款待，“只说我不在家。”贾蓉去了，这里贾珍看着领完东西，回房与尤氏吃毕晚饭，一宿无话。至次日，更比往日忙〔五〕，都不必细说。
已到了腊月二十九日了，各色齐备，两府中都换了门神、联对、挂牌，新油了桃符[18]，焕然一新。宁国府从大门、仪门、大厅、暖阁、内厅、内三门、内仪门并内塞门[19]，直到正堂，一路正门大开，两边阶下一色朱红大高烛，点的两条金龙一般。
次日，由贾母有诰封者，皆按品级着朝服，先坐八人大轿，带领着众人进宫朝贺，行礼领宴毕回来，便到宁国府暖阁下轿。诸子弟有未随入朝者，皆在宁府门前排班伺候，然后引入宗祠。
且说宝琴是初次，一面细细留神打谅这宗祠，原来宁府西边另一个院子，黑油栅栏内五间大门，上悬一块匾，写着是“贾氏宗祠”四个字，旁书“衍圣公[20]孔继宗书”。两旁有一副长联，写道是：
肝脑涂地，兆姓赖保育之恩；
功名贯天，百代仰蒸尝[21]之盛。
亦衍圣公所书。进入院中，白石甬路，两边皆是苍松翠柏。月台上设着青绿古铜鼎彝等器。抱厦前上面悬一九龙金匾，写道是：“星辉辅弼”[22]。乃先皇御笔。两边一副对联，写道是：
勋业有光昭日月，功名无间及儿孙。
亦是御笔。五间正殿前悬一闹龙填青匾[23]，写道是：“慎终追远”[24]。旁边一副对联，写道是：
已后儿孙承福德，至今黎庶念荣宁。
俱是御笔。里边香烛辉煌，锦幛绣幕，虽列着神主，却看不真切。只见贾府人分昭穆[25]排班立定：贾敬主祭，贾赦陪祭，贾珍献爵，贾琏贾琮献帛[26]，宝玉捧香，贾菖〔六〕贾菱展拜毯，守焚池。青衣乐奏，三献爵，拜兴[28]毕，焚帛奠酒，礼毕，乐止，退出。
众人围随着贾母至正堂上，影前锦幔高挂，彩屏张护，香烛辉煌。上面正居中悬着宁荣二祖遗像，皆是披蟒〔七〕腰玉；两边还有几轴列祖遗影。贾荇贾芷等从内仪门挨次列站，直到正堂廊下。槛外方是贾敬贾赦，槛内是各女眷。众家人小厮皆在仪门之外。
每一道菜至，传至仪门，贾荇贾芷等便接了，按次传至阶上贾敬手中。贾蓉系长房长孙，独他随女眷在槛内。每贾敬捧菜至，传于贾蓉，贾蓉便传于他妻子，又传于凤姐尤氏诸人，直传至供桌前，方传于王夫人。王夫人传于贾母，贾母方捧放在桌上。邢夫人在供桌之西，东向立，同贾母供放。直至将菜饭汤点酒茶传完，贾蓉方退出下阶，归入贾芹阶位之首。
凡从文旁之名者，贾敬为首；下则从玉者，贾珍为首；再下从草头者，贾蓉为首；左昭右穆，男东女西。俟贾母拈香下拜，众人方一齐跪下，将五间大厅，三间抱厦，内外廊檐，阶上阶下两丹墀内，花团锦簇，塞的无一隙空地。鸦雀无闻，只听铿锵叮当，金铃玉珮微微摇曳之声，并起跪靴履飒沓之响。一时礼毕，贾敬贾赦等便忙退出，至荣府专候与贾母行礼。
尤氏上房早已袭地铺满红毡，当地放着象鼻三足鳅沿鎏金珐琅大火盆，正面炕上铺新猩红毡，设着大红彩绣云龙捧寿的靠背引枕，外另有黑狐皮的袱子搭在上面，大白狐皮坐褥，请贾母上去坐了。两边又铺皮褥，让贾母一辈的两三个妯娌坐了。这边横头排插之后小炕上，也铺了皮褥，让邢夫人等坐了。地下两面相对十二张雕漆椅上，都是一色灰鼠椅搭小褥，每一张椅下一个大铜脚炉，让宝琴等姊妹坐了。尤氏用茶盘亲捧茶与贾母，蓉妻捧与众老祖母，然后尤氏又捧与邢夫人等，蓉妻又捧与众姊妹。凤姐李纨等只在地下伺候。茶毕，邢夫人等便先起身来侍贾母。贾母吃茶，与老妯娌闲话了两三句，便命看轿。
凤姐儿忙上去挽起来。尤氏笑回说：“已经预备下老太太的晚饭。每年都不肯赏些体面用过晚饭过去，果然我们就不及凤丫头不成？”凤姐儿搀着贾母笑道：“老祖宗快走，咱们家去吃饭，别理他。”贾母笑道：“你这里供着祖宗，忙的什么似的，那里搁得住我闹。况且每年我不吃，你们也要送去的。不如还送了去，我吃不了留着明儿再吃，岂不多吃些。”说的众人都笑了。又吩咐他：“好生派妥当人夜里看香火，不是大意得的。”尤氏答应了。一面走出来至暖阁前上了轿。尤氏等闪过屏风，小厮们才领轿夫，请了轿出大门。尤氏亦随邢夫人等同至荣府。
这里轿出大门，这一条街上，东一边合面〔八〕设列着宁国府的仪仗执事乐器，西一边合面设列着荣国府的仪仗执事乐器，来往行人皆屏退不从此过。一时来至荣府，也是大门正厅直开到底。如今便不在暖阁下轿了，过了大厅，便转弯向西，至贾母这边正厅上下轿。
众人围随同至贾母正室之中，亦是锦裀绣屏，焕然一新。当地火盆内焚着松柏香、百合草。贾母归了坐，老嬷嬷来回：“老太太们来行礼。”贾母忙又起身要迎，只见两三个老妯娌已进来了。大家挽手，笑了一回，让了一回。吃茶去后，贾母只送至内仪门便回来，归正坐。
贾敬贾赦等领诸子弟进来。贾母笑道：“一年价难为你们，不行礼罢。”一面说着，一面男一起，女一起，一起一起俱行过了礼。左右两旁设下交椅，然后又按长幼挨次归坐受礼。两府男妇小厮丫鬟亦按差役上中下行礼毕，散押岁钱、荷包、金银锞，摆上合欢宴来。男东女西归坐，献屠苏酒、合欢汤、吉祥果、如意糕毕，贾母起身进内间更衣，众人方各散出。
那晚各处佛堂灶王前焚香上供，王夫人正房院内设着天地纸马香供，大观园正门上也挑着大明角灯，两溜高照，各处皆有路灯。上下人等，皆打扮的花团锦簇，一夜人声嘈杂，语笑喧阗，爆竹起火，络绎不绝。
至次日五鼓，贾母等又按品大妆，摆全副执事进宫朝贺，兼祝元春千秋。领宴回来，又至宁府祭过列祖，方回来受礼毕，便换衣歇息。所有贺节来的亲友一概不会，只和薛姨妈李婶二人说话取便，或者同宝玉、宝琴、钗、玉等姊妹赶围棋抹牌作戏。王夫人与凤姐是天天忙着请人吃年酒，那边厅上院内皆是戏酒，亲友络绎不绝，一连忙了七八日才完了。早又元宵将近，宁荣二府皆张灯结彩。十一日是贾赦请贾母等，次日贾珍又请，贾母皆去随便领了半日。王夫人和凤姐儿连日被人请去吃年酒，不能胜记。
至十五日之夕，贾母便在大花厅上命摆几席酒，定一班小戏，满挂各色佳灯，带领荣宁二府各子侄孙男孙媳等家宴。贾敬素不茹酒，也不去请他，于后十七日祖祀已完，他便仍出城去修养。便这几日在家内，亦是净室默处，一概无听无闻，不在话下。贾赦略领了贾母之赐，也便告辞而去。贾母知他在此彼此不便，也就随他去了。贾赦自到家中与众门客赏灯吃酒，自然是笙歌聒耳，锦绣盈眸，其取便快乐另与这边不同的。
这边贾母花厅之上共摆了十来席。每一席旁边设一几，几上设炉瓶三事[31]，焚着御赐百合宫香。又有八寸来长四五寸宽二三寸高的点着山石布满青苔的小盆景，俱是新鲜花卉。又有小洋漆茶盘，内放着旧窑[32]茶杯并十锦小茶吊，里面泡着上等名茶。一色皆是紫檀透雕，嵌着大红纱透绣花卉并草字诗词的璎珞[33]。
原来绣这璎珞的也是个姑苏女子，名唤慧娘。因他亦是书香宦门之家，他原精于书画，不过偶然绣一两件针线作耍，并非市卖之物。凡这屏上所绣之花卉，皆仿的是唐、宋、元、明各名家的折枝花卉，故其格式配色皆从雅，本来非一味浓艳匠工可比。每一枝花侧皆用古人题此花之旧句，或诗词歌赋不一，皆用黑绒绣出草字来，且字迹勾踢、转折、轻重、连断皆与笔草无异，亦不比市绣字迹板强可恨。他不仗此技获利，所以天下虽知，得者甚少，凡世宦富贵之家，无此物者甚多，当今便称为“慧绣”。竟有世俗射利者，近日仿其针迹，愚人获利。偏这慧娘命夭，十八岁便死了，如今竟不能再得一件的了。凡所有之家，纵有一两件，皆珍藏不用。有那一干翰林文魔先生们，因深惜“慧绣”之佳，便说这“绣”字不能尽其妙，这样笔迹说一“绣”字，反似乎唐突了，便大家商议了，将“绣”字便隐去，换了一个“纹”字，所以如今都称为“慧纹”。
若有一件真“慧纹”之物，价则无限。贾府之荣，也只有两三件，上年将那两件已进了上，目下只剩这一副璎珞，一共十六扇，贾母爱如珍宝，不入在请客名色陈设之内，只留在自己这边，高兴摆酒时赏玩。又有各色旧窑小瓶中都点缀着“岁寒三友”“玉堂富贵”等新鲜花草。
上面两席是李婶薛姨妈二位。贾母于东边设一透雕夔龙护屏矮足短榻，靠背引枕皮褥俱全。榻之上一头又设一个极轻巧洋漆描金小几，几上放着茶吊、茶碗、漱盂、洋巾之类，又有一个眼镜匣子。贾母歪在榻上，与众人说笑一回，又自取眼镜向戏台上照一回，又向薛姨妈李婶笑说：“恕我老了，骨头疼，容我放肆些，歪着相陪罢。”因又命琥珀坐在榻上，拿着美人拳[34]捶腿。
榻下并不摆席面，只有一张高几，却设着璎珞花瓶香炉等物。外另设一精致小高桌，设着酒杯匙箸〔九〕，将自己这一席设于榻旁，命宝琴、湘云、黛玉、宝玉四人坐着。每一馔一果来，先捧与贾母看了，喜则留在小桌上尝一尝，仍撤了放在他四人席上，只算他四人是跟着贾母坐。故下面方是邢夫人王夫人之位，再下便是尤氏、李纨、凤姐、贾蓉之妻。西边一路便是宝钗、李纹、李绮、岫烟、迎春姊妹等。两边大梁上，挂着一对联三聚五玻璃芙蓉彩穗灯。每一席前竖一柄漆干倒垂荷叶，叶上有烛信插着彩烛。这荷叶乃是錾珐琅的，活信可以扭转，如今皆将荷叶扭转向外，将灯影逼住全向外照，看戏分外真切。窗格门户一齐摘下，全挂彩穗各种宫灯。廊檐内外及两边游廊罩棚，将各色羊角、玻璃、戳纱、料丝[36]或绣、或画、或堆、或抠、或绢、或纸诸灯挂满。
廊上几席，便是贾珍、贾琏、贾环、贾琮、贾蓉、贾芹、贾芸、贾菱、贾菖等。贾母也曾差人去请众族中男女，奈他们或有年迈懒于热闹的；或有家内没有人不便来的；或有疾病淹缠，欲来竟不能来的；或有一等妒富愧贫不来的；甚至于有一等憎畏凤姐之为人而赌气不来的；或有羞口羞脚，不惯见人，不敢来的：因此族众虽多，女客来者只不过贾菌之母娄氏带了贾菌来了，男子只有贾芹、贾芸、贾菖、贾菱四个现是在凤姐麾下办事的来了。当下人虽不全，在家庭间小宴中，数来也算是热闹的了。
当下又有林之孝之妻带了六个媳妇，抬了三张炕桌，每一张上搭着一条红毡，毡上放着选净一般大新出局的铜钱，用大红彩绳串着，每二人搭一张，共三张。林之孝家的指示将那两张摆至薛姨妈李婶的席下，将一张送至贾母榻下来。贾母便说：“放在当地罢。”这媳妇们都素知规矩的，放下桌子，一并将钱都打开，将彩绳抽去，散堆在桌上。
此时正唱《西楼·楼会》[37]这出将终，于叔夜因赌气去了，那文豹便发科诨道：“你赌气去了，恰好今日正月十五，荣国府中老祖宗家宴，待我骑了这马，赶进去讨些果子吃是要紧的。”说毕，引的贾母等都笑了。薛姨妈等都说：“好个鬼头孩子，可怜见的。”凤姐便说：“这孩子才九岁了。”贾母笑说：“难为他说的巧。”便说了一个“赏”字。早有三个媳妇已经手下预备下小簸箩，听见一个“赏”字，走上去向桌上的散钱堆内，每人便撮了一簸箩，走出来向戏台说：“老祖宗、姨太太、亲家太太赏文豹买果子吃的！”说着，向台上便一撒，只听豁啷啷满台的钱响。
贾珍贾琏已命小厮们抬了大簸箩的钱来，暗暗的预备在那里。听见贾母一赏，要知端的——
[1] 虚微浮缩——中医诊断脉象的术语。虚、微，指脉搏细软无力的脉象，常见于正气不足、气血虚极的各种疾病。浮、缩，指轻按便得、应指即回的脉象。病初起，邪在表时，出现浮脉是正常的；病久后，正气损伤，致使气血运行不通畅，正常的情况应出现沉脉；如果相反地出现了浮脉，说明阳气已不能潜藏，病情已到十分危重的地步。故王太医认为晴雯病已“非同小可”。
[2] 都检点、大司马——都检点亦作都点检，官名，五代置，为禁军最高统帅，宋初废。这里借指朝廷委派的高级武官。大司马，官名，汉置，掌管内廷全部政务，后世用作兵部尚书的别称。
[3] 倾——这里指将金银熔化倒入模子里铸造的一种工艺。古代使用金银作为货币，需将大锭化小，或集零为整，或铸成各种特定的形状（如锞子），都叫作“倾”。
[4] 春祭的恩赏——旧历年节，皇帝按照常例赏给受封荫的官僚供祭祖用的银两。
[5] 光禄寺——官署名，自北齐起光禄寺掌管皇室膳食，历朝相沿，至清代，皇帝膳饮由内务府掌管，光禄寺为外廷职司，只管祭祀所用膳食等事。
〔一〕 “荣国公贾源”，底本及馀各本均作“荣（底本误作“等”）国公贾法”。本书第三回作“贾源”，从改。
[7] 庄头——清代为满汉旗籍贵族地主经营旗地田庄的代理人，专管监督佃户生产，催收地租，摊派劳役等事，有的庄头本身就是地主。
[8] 银霜炭——一种优质无烟炭，表面灰白，如披银霜。
[9] 御田胭脂米——一种优质稻米，煮熟后色红如胭脂，有香气，味腴粒长。据清代刘廷玑《在园杂志》及《顺天府志》记载，胭脂米是康熙帝在丰泽园御田布种的玉田稻中的良种，因而也叫“玉田米”，为内膳所用。七十五回贾母所吃的“红稻米粥”亦当指此。
[10] 打擂台——原指比武较艺，此指故意作对。
〔二〕 “我受用些就费些”，原作“废用废些”，点改为“费用费些”。“费用”原上句，“费些”属下句。底本中缺“我受用些，就”五字据蒙府本补。
〔三〕 “银子”，底本点改为“金子”，甲辰本作“银子”。从底本原文。
〔四〕 “外明不知里暗”，原作“外头不知里暗”，“里暗”又点改为“内里”。从梦稿、甲辰本改。
[14] 猞猁狲——兽名，猞猁的别称，亦名土豹。毛呈红色或灰色，常带黑斑。其皮毛可作衣裘，很贵重。
[15] 负暄（xuān宣）——即“负日之暄”，晒太阳取暖的意思。语出《列子·杨朱》。暄，暖和。
[16] 驮水棍——背水负重时用作支撑的随身棍棒。这里借指打人棍棒。“领一顿驮水棍”即“招一顿打”的意思。
〔五〕 “至次日更比往日忙”，原“往日”下有“更”字，从蒙府、戚序本删。
[18] 桃符——《风俗通》载：东海度朔山有大桃，蟠屈千里，其北有鬼门，二神守之，曰神荼、郁垒，主领众鬼。黄帝因立桃板于门，画二神以御凶鬼。后因称画有门神像或题有门神名的桃木板为桃符。又春联也称桃符。
[19] 内塞门——塞门即屏门。《论语·八佾》：“邦君树塞门，管氏亦树塞门。”朱熹注：“塞，犹蔽也。设屏于门，以蔽内外也。”这里的内塞门，即内仪门与正堂间的又一重屏门。
[20] 衍圣公——孔子后裔的封号，自宋仁宗时始，历朝沿袭。
[21] 蒸尝——古代祭祀名。《尔雅·释天》：“秋祭曰尝，冬祭曰蒸。”
[22] 星辉辅弼（bì币）——代指辅佐帝王的重臣。以日月比帝王，以星辰比大臣。弼，辅佐。
[23] 闹龙填青匾——匾的四边雕镂以舞动的龙形图案，谓之“闹龙”；匾的底面作石青色，谓之“填青”。
[24] 慎终追远——语出《论语·学而》。慎终：父母亡故做到居丧尽礼；追远：按时诚敬地祭祀祖先。这里引申为谨慎从事，考虑身后，追念先人，保持祖德。
[25] 昭穆——古代宗法制度对于宗庙祭祀排列次序的规定，始祖居中，始祖的下一代为昭，居左，昭辈的下一代为穆，居右；穆辈的下一代又为昭，居左；以后各代，依此类推；用以区别父子、远近、长幼、亲疏等关系。见《礼记·祭统》。
[26] 献帛——祭祀礼仪之一，“帛”指缯帛、币帛，作为供品的一种绣织精美的丝织品。
〔六〕 “贾菖”，原作“贾葛”，从梦稿、甲辰本改。
[28] 拜兴——谓跪拜和起立。唐常衮《贺册皇太后表》：“候金册以拜兴，承瑞宝以俯受。”《儒林外史》第三十七回：“虞博士走上香案前，迟均赞道：‘跪，升香，灌地。拜，兴；拜兴，拜兴，复位。’”《儒林外史》与《红楼梦》同时，可参。
〔七〕 “披蟒”，原作“披龙”，从各本改。
〔八〕 “合面”，底本点改为“整一面”，蒙府、戚序、甲辰本均作“合面”。从底本原文。下“合面”同。
[31] 炉瓶三事——焚香用具，即指一个香炉、一个香盒和一个放香铲等用的瓶子。与四十回“炉瓶”条同义。
[32] 旧窑——仿古窑。
[33] 璎珞——同缨络，原指珠玉穿成的颈饰，这里是一件带穗子的刺绣陈设品。
[34] 美人拳——一种木制小锤，外裹皮革，装有弹性的长竹柄。因老年人用以捶打腰腿，代替拳头，故名“美人拳”。
〔九〕 “酒杯匙箸”，原无“匙”字，从戚序本补。
[36] 戳纱、料丝——都是用作灯罩的材料。戳纱是一种有明显竖向纹理的纱，料丝是以玛瑙、紫石英等熔化后抽丝而成的一种透光材料。
[37] 《西楼·楼会》——明末清初袁于令所作《西楼记》传奇中的一出。该剧描写于叔夜和妓女穆素徽悲欢离合的故事。第八出《病晤》的演出本叫《楼会》，俗称《西楼会》。下回的〔楚江情〕即《楼会》中的一支曲子。
CHAPTER 53. Ning-guo House sacrifices to the ancestors on New Year’s Eve And Rong-guo House entertains the whole family on Fifteenth Night
SEEING that Skybright’s repair of the peacock gold snow-cape had so utterly exhausted her, Bao-yu called in a junior maid to help massage her and for a while they pummelled her between them. After that they all went to bed; but in less than no time it seemed to be broad daylight and they had to get up again. Instead of going straight off to his uncle’s, however, Bao-yu first sent someone to summon Dr Wang. The doctor arrived promptly and proceeded to take Skybright’s pulses. He appeared to be disconcerted by what he found.
‘Yesterday she seemed to be a little better,’ he said, ‘but this pulse today takes us right back to where we started from – empty, superficial, faint, constricted. Now why should that be? She must have been eating or drinking too much. Either that, or she has been worrying about something. The original attack was not a serious one; but failure to take care of oneself after perspiration has been induced can be very serious.’
He went outside and wrote another prescription, which was presently brought in to Bao-yu. Bao-yu noticed that the sudorifics and decongestants of the earlier prescription had been omitted and restorative drugs to increase the vitality and nourish the blood, such as lycoperdon, nipplewort and angelica, had been substituted. He gave instructions for the medicine to be made up immediately. He seemed distressed.
‘This is dreadful. If anything should happen to you after this, I shall never forgive myself.’
Skybright, lying back on her pillow, hooted derisively at his concern:
‘My dear young Master, just get on with your own affairs and don’t worry about me. I’m not about to go into a decline, I assure you!’
Bao-yu was in any case obliged to go now; but having held out at his uncle’s place until the afternoon, he managed to get back to her by pretending that he was feeling unwell.
Skybright was certainly quite ill. Fortunately she was normally an active, lively sort of girl, not given to moping and vapours; she had always been sensible – even abstemious – in her diet; and her constitution was a sound one. The Jias were great believers in the virtues of fasting. Masters and servants alike were put on a starvation diet at the slightest hint of a cough or cold, the physic and nursing they received being considered of only secondary importance to this, and Skybright had been fasting now for two or three days, ever since the influenza began. In addition to this, she had taken her medicine regularly and, except for the one night’s lapse, had looked after herself reasonably well. Although the overexertion set her back a few days, she was soon on the mend again. And as the new catering arrangements whereby the cousins now ate in their own apartments made ordering things much easier, Bao-yu was able to get all sorts of soups and broths made up to aid her recovery.
Omitting details of this convalescence, our story passes on to the return of Aroma, which occurred shortly after her mother’s funeral. As soon as she got back, Musk told her all about Trinket and how Skybright had dismissed her first and reported the dismissal afterwards to Bao-yu. Aroma merely remarked that Skybright had been ‘too hasty’, but made no further comment.
Li Wan had herself now fallen a victim to the season’s cold; Lady Xing was suffering from an inflammation of the eyes which necessitated Ying-chun’s and Xiu-yan’s attendance on her both mornings and evenings to dress them for her; Mrs Li had been invited to spend some days with a younger brother and gone off taking Li Wen and Li Qi with her; and Bao-yu was preoccupied with Aroma, who was still thinking constantly of her mother and liable at any moment to break down, as well as with Skybright, who had still not entirely recovered. So what with one thing and another, no one felt much in the mood for writing poetry and one or two of the club’s fixture-days went by without a meeting.
It was now well into the twelfth month and Lady Wang and Xi-feng were busily preparing for the New Year. The season of appointments brought news that Wang Zi-teng had been promoted to the post of Inspector-General of Armies in the Nine Provinces and that Jia Yu-cun was to become Under Secretary to the President of the Board of War with occasional duties at Court. Over in the Ning mansion Cousin Zhen had opened up the Hall of the Ancestors and set his people to work sweeping it, setting the vessels out in readiness for the New Year sacrifices, and welcoming the spirits back into the ancestral tablets. He also had the main hall of the Ning-guo mansion swept in readiness for the annual ceremonial hanging of the ancestral portraits. Everyone in both mansions, both high and low, was in a fever of activity.
One morning in the course of these preparations, as You-shi, who had not long since risen, was, with the assistance of Jia Rong’s new wife, getting the presents of newly made clothes ready for sending to Grandmother Jia, a maid came in bearing a trayful of New Year medallions.
‘It’s from Merry, ma’am. He says that loose silver you gave him the other day was of several different marks but the total weight was one hundred and fifty-three taels and thirteen pennyweights and he says they’ve managed to make two hundred and twenty medallions from it.’
She held out the tray for You-shi to inspect. On it there were medallions shaped like plum-flowers, crabflower-shaped medallions, medallions with ‘heart’s desire’ rebus patterns of ingot, brush and sceptre, and others with patterns of auspicious flowers.
‘Yes,’ said You-shi, ‘they seem to be all right. Tell him to take them inside immediately.’
The maid went off to do her bidding. Shortly after that Cousin Zhen came in to have his lunch and Jia Rong’s wife hurried out to avoid him.
‘Have we received the bounty money for the New Year sacrifices yet?’ Cousin Zhen asked You-shi when they were alone together.
‘I sent Rong to draw it this morning,’ said You-shi.
‘It’s not that we rely on the money exactly,’ said Cousin Zhen, ‘but it is after all the gift of the Emperor and I think we ought to draw it as soon as possible and get it across to Lady Jia so that it can be used to pay for the offerings. It’s a double blessing when the gracious favour shown us by His Majesty can be passed on to the ancestors. However many thousands of our own we were to spend on them, it wouldn’t do them nearly as much honour as these offerings subsidized by the Imperial bounty – not to mention the advantages that we enjoy as recipients of Imperial favour. And we have to remember that apart from the one or two great families like ours who don’t really need this money, there are many, many families of poor hereditary officials who do actually depend on it for their ancestral sacrifices and who wouldn’t be able to celebrate New Year properly without it. So you see it really was extraordinarily benevolent and far-seeing of the dynasty to institute this annual bounty.’
‘Yes, indeed,’ said You-shi.
‘Master Rong is back,’ a servant came in to report while the two of them were still talking.
‘Tell him to come in,’ said Cousin Zhen.
Jia Rong entered carrying a little yellow bag, not as one would normally carry a bag, but holding it in both hands at shoulder height.
‘You’ve been a long time, haven’t you?’ said Cousin Zhen. Jia Rong smiled nervously.
‘This year they’re not paying it at the Board of Rites any longer but at the treasury of the Imperial Victuallers; so having first gone to the Board of Rites, I had to go from there all the way to the Imperial Victuallers to draw the money. The people at the Imperial Victuallers’ office all asked after you, by the way. They say they haven’t seen you for a long time, but they often think about you.’
‘It’s not me they think about but my things,’ said Cousin Zhen with a dry smile. ‘Either that, or they are hoping for an invitation to come round over the New Year.’
He was inspecting the yellow bag as he said this. It had a sealing-slip with the words
PERPETUAL BOUNTY
written on it in large characters. On the other side was the chop of the Department of Sacrifices of the Board of Rites and some columns of smaller characters:
Annual grant awarded in perpetuity to Jia Yan, Duke of Ning-guo, and Jia Yuan, Duke of Rong-guo, for New Year Sacrifices: goods to the value of —— taels net Cash received by: Jia Rong, Captain, Imperial Bodyguard, Inner Palace, on (date) Issuing officer for the year: (name)
This was followed by a cipher in red ink.
After inspecting the yellow bag, Cousin Zhen had his lunch; then, when he had washed his hands and rinsed his mouth out, he changed into formal hat and boots and, ordering Jia Rong to follow him with the bag, set off for the other mansion to report the arrival of the bounty-money, first to Grandmother Jia and Lady Wang and then to Jia She and Lady Xing next door. When they got back he took out the money and ordered the bag to be carried into the Hall of the Ancestors and burnt there in the great incense-burner in front of the ancestral tablets.
There were further orders now for Jia Rong:
‘I want you to go and ask your Aunt Lian whether she’s decided yet on which days she’ll be entertaining in the New Year. If she has, get the office to make out a good, clear list of the dates, so that we don’t have any duplicating this year. Last year several families got invitations from both of us for the same day, and of course, people being what they are, instead of realizing that it was a mistake, they assumed that we had deliberately worked it out between us as an economy.’
Jia Rong hurried off to see Xi-feng, returning presently with the list of dates that his father had asked for. After running his eye over it, Cousin Zhen handed it to a servant.
‘Give this to Lai Sheng. Tell him to avoid these dates when he sends out our New Year invitations.’
He and Jia Rong went on to inspect operations in the hall, where a number of pages were carrying in and arranging the large screens on which the portraits of the ancestors were to be hung, and cleaning and polishing the tables and the ritual vessels of gold and silver which were to be set up in front of them. While they were thus engaged, a page came in holding a red greetings-card and a schedule containing some sort of list.
‘Bailiff Wu from Black Mountain village, sir. He’s just arrived.’
‘That old rascal?’ said Cousin Zhen. ‘He’s been long enough getting here!’
Jia Rong took the greetings-card and schedule from the servant, and opening up the card, held it out for his father to read. Cousin Zhen folded his hands behind his back and bent over to read the inscription:
Wu Jin-xiao, Bailiff, presents his Humble Compliments to the Master and Mistress and compliments to The Young Gentlemen and Ladies wishing you Wealth, Health and Prosperity Increase of Pay and Promotion and all your Heart’s Desire in the Coming Year
Cousin Zhen laughed.
‘These country people have an original sense of style.’
‘Never mind the style,’ said Jia Rong, echoing his father’s laughter with obsequious laughter of his own, ‘just think of all the good luck he is wishing us!’
He opened up the schedule and held it out while Cousin Zhen ran his eye down the list:
tufted deer
30
water deer
50
spotted deer
50
Siamese pigs
20
scalded pigs
20
wild boar
20
wild pigs
20
salted pigs
20
wild sheep
20
goats
20
scalded sheep
20
sheep, salted in fell
20
sturgeons
200
fish, various
200 catties
live chickens, ducks and geese
(each)
200
dried ditto
(each)
200
pheasants & hares
(each)
200 brace
bear’s paws
20 pairs
deer’s sinews
20 catties
sea-slugs
50 catties
deer’s tongues
50
ox-tongues
10
dried mussels
20 catties
filberts, pine-nuts, peach-kernels, almonds
(each)
2 bags
crayfish
50 pairs
dried shrimps
200 catties
high quality selected Silver Frost charcoal
1000 catties
medium grade ditto
2000 catties
red charcoal
30,000 catties
red Emperor rice
5 bushels
green glutinous rice
60 bushels
white ditto
60 bushels
powder rice
60 bushels
millet, sorghum & other grains
(each)
60 bushels
general purpose rice
2500 bushels
dried vegetables
1 cartload
Item, total realized from sales of livestock and cereals
2500 taels silver
Item, Present for the young ladies and gentlemen (Pets)
1
2 deer 4 pair white rabbits 4 pair black rabbits 2 pair golden pheasants 2 pair Foreign ducks
‘Bring him in,’ said Cousin Zhen when he had finished perusing the schedule.
Wu Jin-xiao promptly appeared. He knelt down in the courtyard below and had already kotowed and called out his greetings before Cousin Zhen could have him raised up and brought into the hall.
‘You are still hale and hearty then?’ Cousin Zhen asked him.
‘Yes, sir, thank you sir,’ said the old man, beaming. ‘I still manage to get about.’
‘Your sons must be quite big fellows by now,’ said Cousin Zhen. ‘Why don’t you let them do the travelling for you?’
‘To tell you the truth, sir, I’m so used to the journey, I’d miss it now if I wasn’t to come. Shouldn’t know what to do with myself. The boys would be only too glad to come if I’d let them, of course – see what it’s like here “in the Emperor’s shadow” as we say – but they’re only youngsters yet: I’d be afeared of them having some mishap on the way. A few years longer and I shan’t need to worry.’
‘How many days have you been on the road?’ said Cousin Zhen.
‘Well, sir, as you know, there was a lot of snow this year: it must have been lying three or four foot thick in places. And that sudden thaw we had coming on top of it made the going very difficult. That must have put us back several days. It’s taken a month and two days altogether. But I do assure you, sir, seeing that the time was running out and knowing how anxious you’d be, we made as much speed as we could.’
‘I was wondering what could have made you so late,’ said Cousin Zhen. ‘Well, I’ve been looking at this list of yours. I see you’re holding out on me again this year, you old devil.’
Wu Jin-xiao advanced a couple of steps – springing, as it were, to his own defence:
‘It’s like this, sir. The harvests this year have been really terrible. From the third month to the eighth month it rained on and off all the time. I doubt we had six fine days in a row together. Then in the ninth month we had hail as big as teacups. For fifty miles around, the damage to crops and livestock – and houses and people as well, for that matter – was terrible. That’s why I haven’t brought you more this year. That’s the honest truth, sir. You know I wouldn’t lie to you.’
‘I’d reckoned on your bringing me at least five thousand taels,’ said Cousin Zhen, frowning. ‘What am I supposed to do with an amount like this? We have only eight or nine farms now and of those eight or nine two have declared themselves disaster areas this year and aren’t contributing anything. With you holding back on me too, I might as well give up celebraing New Year altogether.’
‘Your lands have done better than some,’ said Wu Jin-xiao. ‘Take my cousin’s place. That’s only thirty mile from where I am, but my word, what a difference! My cousin manages eight farms for your relations at the other House. They’ve got several times as much land as you, but the vittles he’s brought them this year are no more than this lot here, and their cash yield on sales is no more than two or three thousand. Now they really have got something to make a fuss about.’
‘It’s true,’ said Cousin Zhen. ‘We’re not too badly off on this side. At least we haven’t got any new major commitments outside our regular annual expenditure. For us it’s a question of spending a bit more freely when we’re flush and economizing a bit when things are tighter. And even in the case of these New Year expenses, I suppose I could cut down on them if I really had to. It would simply be a question of brazening it out. But with our Rong-guo cousins it’s different. They’ve had all these new expenses during the past few years, none of which were optional, but no new source of income to set against them. Which means that for the past year or two they’ve had to start eating into their capital. If you folk can’t help them to make up the deficit, who else is there they can turn to?’
‘I know they’ve got a lot on their plate,’ said Wu Jin-xiao with a knowing smile, ‘but it can’t all be outgoings, can it? There must be something coming in as well. Surely Her Grace and old Live-For-Ever must give them a hand-out once in a while?’
Cousin Zhen turned to Jia Rong with a laugh.
‘You heard that? Rich, isn’t it?’
Jia Rong tittered.
‘What does a countryman like you living at the back of beyond know about such matters? You don’t suppose Her Grace has handed them the keys of the Emperor’s treasury, do you? She’s not her own mistress, even if she wanted to. She does give presents, of course, but it’s only on birthdays and feastdays and the like and never more than a few lengths of figured satin or some curios or knick-knacks. Even when she gives money, at the very most it will be a hundred gold. Now say a hundred gold is worth a thousand silver taels – it can’t be much more than that – what possible good can a thousand taels do them, when during each of the past two years they’ve been forced to draw on their capital to the tune of several thousands a year? During the first of those two years they had the Visitation – including the building of that great garden. Just imagine what that must have cost them. Another two years like these last two with another Visitation thrown in and they’ll be cleaned out!’
‘These simple country souls see “the bright outside but not the dark within”,’ said Cousin Zhen. ‘The situation our Rong-guo cousins are in is like the proverbial chime-hammer made of phellodendron wood: imposing to look at but bitter inside.’
‘You can tell they really are hard-up,’ said Jia Rong half-jokingly. ‘The other day I heard Auntie Lian plotting with Faithful to steal some of Lady Jia’s things to use as security for a loan.’
‘No, I think that was merely our Feng being her usual artful self,’ said Cousin Zhen, laughing. ‘They’re still not that poor. I expect she has noticed how much they have been spending beyond their means and is planning some economy or other. What you overheard would simply have been her way of letting people know how hard-up they are and preparing them for some cuts. I’ve got a rough idea of how their finances stand at present and I assure you that they aren’t quite as desperate as that yet.’
Concluding the conversation on this more reassuring note, Cousin Zhen gave Wu Jin-xiao into the charge of the servants with instructions that he was to be properly looked after and entertained. Our narrative does not follow the old man into the servants’ quarters, however, but remains in the hall with Cousin Zhen.
Cousin Zhen had a portion of the things that Wu Jin-xiao had brought set aside to be used as offerings to the ancestors; he had another portion set aside for sending to Rong-guo House; and while Jia Rong attended to its delivery, he personally supervised the selection of a third portion which he intended to keep for his own use. What remained he had piled up in orderly heaps on the pavement beneath the hall terrace to be shared out among the junior members of the clan, who were forthwith invited to come and collect their shares.
At that point a large consignment of things arrived from the other mansion, most of them things to be used in the ancestral sacrifices, but some of them for Cousin Zhen himself. Having given orders for their disposal, Cousin Zhen went back to his supervision of the polishing and furniture-shifting in the hall. When that work was completed, he put on a lynx-skin coat and went out, still in his slippers, on to the terrace, where, having found himself a warm place under the eaves, he got the servants to spread out a wolfskin rug for him so that he could sit there and watch the young clansmen as they came to collect their shares. He noticed that Jia Qin was among them.
‘What are you doing here?’ he called out to him. ‘Who told you to come?’
Jia Qin came over and stood in front of him, arms held submissively at his sides.
‘I heard that you were having a family share-out, Uncle, so I came along without waiting to be called.’
‘These things I’m giving away now are intended for those of your uncles and cousins who haven’t got jobs or private incomes to support them,’ said Cousin Zhen. ‘During the years when you were unemployed yourself, I used to give you a share of the New Year things. But you aren’t unemployed now: you’ve got that supervisor’s job that my Rong-guo cousins gave you, looking after those young nuns in the family temple. Not only have you got a salary of your own, but you control all the nuns’ allowances as well. Yet still you come here for my things. You are too greedy. And just look at you! No one would think from your appearance that you had money to spend and a responsible position. You used to have the excuse that you had no money, but what excuse have you got now? You look even more disreputable now than you did when you were unemployed!’
‘I’ve got a big family to support,’ said Jia Qin. ‘I have a lot of expenses.’
‘Humbug!’ said Cousin Zhen. ‘I know what you get up to in that temple of yours, don’t think I don’t! Once you set foot in that place, you are the master and nobody there can gainsay you. With money to spend and the rest of us a long way away in the city, you can do exactly as you like: invite the local riff-raff in every night to gamble with you and fill the place with your kept women and fancy boys. So having squandered all the money and reduced yourself to the disgraceful state I see you in now, you have the effrontery to try and get something out of me. All you are likely to get out of me, young man, is a good stout stick across the shoulders! And when this holiday is over, I shall make it my business to have a word with your Uncle Lian and see to it that he has you recalled.’
Jia Qin reddened, but dared not say anything.
A servant came up then to report:
‘Someone with a present from the Prince of Bei-jing, sir Two scrolls and a perfume-bag.’
Cousin Zhen turned to Jia Rong.
‘Go and entertain him for me. Tell him I’m out.’
Jia Rong hurried off.
Cousin Zhen then dismissed Jia Qin, and having presided over the distribution until all the things had been taken, returned to his own apartment to have his dinner with You-shi.
Concerning the rest of that day and the night which followed our narrative is silent.
The day after that was even busier. But to give further details of these preparations would be tedious. Suffice it to say that by the twenty-ninth of the twelfth month they had been completed. In both mansions new door-gods had been pasted up on all the doors, the inscribed boards at the sides and over the tops of gateways had been repainted, and fresh ‘good luck’ slips – auspicious couplets written in the best calligraphy on strips of scarlet paper – had been pasted up at the sides of all the entranc. In the Ning-guo mansion the central doors of the main outer gate, of the ornamental gate, of the outer reception hall, of the pavilion-gate, of the inner reception hall, of the triple gate dividing the inner from the outer parts of the mansion, and of the inner ornamental gate were all thrown open, so that a way was opened up from the street right through into the family hall inside. Red lanterns on tall scarlet stands lined either side of this route. At dusk, when the candles in them were lit, they took on the appearance of two long, parallel serpents of light, undulating slightly where they ascended or descended the steps of terraces.
Next day, the last of the Old Year, Grandmother Jia and any of the Jia ladies who possessed patents of nobility attired themselves in the court dress appropriate to their rank and were borne in procession to the Palace, Grandmother Jia at the head in a palanquin carried by eight bearers, to make their kotows to the Imperial Concubine and felicitate her on the successful conclusion of the year. On their return from the banquet which she gave them, their chairs were set down outside the pavilion-gate of the Ning-guo mansion, where those of the younger Jia males who had not escorted them to the Palace were lined up on either side of the gateway waiting to receive them. When the ladies had all alighted, the young men conducted them on foot to the Jia family’s Hall of the Ancestors.
Bao-qin had never been inside this part of the mansion before. She was being allowed in on this occasion by virtue of her recent adoption into the family and was anxious to take in every detail in order that she might retain as accurate an impression of it as possible.
The Jia family’s Hall of the Ancestors was in a separate courtyard of its own in the west part of Ning-guo House, away from the more domestic parts of the mansion – a courtyard that was entered through an imposing five-frame gateway behind a black-lacquered wooden paling. An inscription in large characters hung over the central arch of the gate:
ANCESTRAL TEMPLE OF THE JIA FAMILY
with a column of smaller characters in the lower lefthand part of the board indicating that the calligrapher was a direct descendant in the sixty-somethingth generation of the Sage Confucius. A long couplet from the brush of the same calligrapher occupied the two vertical boards at the arch’s sides:
With loyal blood poured out willingly upon the ground a myriad subjects pay tribute to their benevolent rulers
For famous deeds lauded resoundingly to the skies a hundred generations offer sacrifices to their heroic ancestors
Inside the gate a raised white marble walk shaded by an avenue of venerable pines and cypresses led up to a terrace on which ancient bronze tripods were ranged. Over the entrance to the temple’s vestibule, whose penthouse-roof swept forwards from the main building’s façade, hung a board framed in a carved and gilded border of nine interlacing dragons and inscribed in the Late Emperor’s calligraphy with the following words:
HIS MINISTERS ARE AS SHINING STARS
The vertical inscriptions on either side were in the same Imperial hand:
Their achievements outshone the celestial luminaries Their fame is reflected in the generations that come after them
The board over the entrance to the main hall of the temple was framed by two contending dragons and its inscription was of incised characters infilled in green. Both it and the matching couplet below it were in the calligraphy of the reigning sovereign:
HONOUR THE DEAD AND KEEP THEIR MEMORIAL
Their sons and grandsons enjoy the fruits of their blessedness The common people recall Ning and Rong with kindness
Beyond the flickering brilliance of many lights and the glint and sheen of drapes and hangings Bao-qin could make out some of the spirit tablets of the ancestors, but not very clearly.
By ancient custom the menfolk were divided in ranks to left and right of the hall so that each generation was on a different side from the one which followed it, fathers and sons separated, grandfathers and grandsons together. Jia Jing presided over the sacrifice with Jia She acting as his assistant; Cousin Zhen held the drink-offering; Jia Lian and Jia Cong the silk-offering; Bao-yu carried the incense; Jia Chang and Jia Ling unrolled the kneeling-mat in front of the great incense-burner. Then the black-coated musicians struck up and the ceremony began: the threefold offering of the Cup, the standings, kneelings and prostrations, the burning of the silk-offering, the libation – every movement precisely in time to the solemn strains of the music. The music ceased at the same time as the ceremony, and the participants filed out and, grouping themselves round Grandmother Jia, conducted her to the main hall of the Ning-guo mansion where, under the richly-embroidered frieze which hung high in front of them, against a background of brilliantly-decorated screens, high above the smoking incense and flickering candles of the altar, the portraits of the ancestors hung, those of the ducal siblings, Ning-guo and Rong-guo, resplendent in dragon robes and jade-encrusted belts, in the centre and somewhat raised above the rest.
The men ranged themselves in ascending order of seniority in the space between the hall and the ornamental gate, so that the two most junior ones, Jia Xing and Jia Zhi, were just inside the gate and the two most senior ones, Jia Jing and Jia She, were at the top of the terrace steps and under the eaves of the hall. The womenfolk of the family were ranged inside the hall in corresponding ranks but in reverse order: that is to say, the most junior were nearest the threshold and the most senior furthest inside the hall, but whereas the senior male in a generation was at the east end of his row, the senior female in the same generation would be at the west end of hers, and vice versa. The male domestics of all ages were ranged in the courtyard on the further side of the ornamental gate.
The manner of making the offerings was as follows. Each ‘course’ was passed from hand to hand by the servants until it reached the ornamental gate. There it was received by Jia Xing and Jia Zhi and passed on from hand to hand until it reached Jia Jing at the top of the terrace steps. Jia Rong, as senior grandson of the senior branch of the family, was permitted, alone of all the males, to stand inside the threshold with the women. He received the dishes from his grandfather Jia Jing’s hands and passed them to his wife, Hu-shi. Hu-shi passed them to the row ending in Xi-feng and You-shi, who passed them forwards to Lady Wang standing at the side of the altar. Lady Wang then put them into the hands of Grandmother Jia, who raised them up reverently towards the portraits before laying them down on the altar in front of her. Lady Xing stood to the west of the altar facing eastwards and helped her lay them down. When meat, vegetables, rice, soup, cakes, wine and tea had all been transmitted to the altar by this human chain and offered up there by Grandmother Jia and her two daughters-in-law, Jia Rong withdrew and took up his position next to Jia Qin in the courtyard below, at the head of the most junior generation of Jia family males.
Now came the most solemn part of the ceremony. As Grandmother Jia, clasping a little bundle of burning joss-sticks with both her hands, knelt down for the incense-offering, the entire congregation of men and women, rank upon rank of them, close-packed as flowers in a flower-bed, knelt down in perfect time with her and proceeded to go through the motions of the Great Obeisance. This was done with such silent concentration that, from five-frame hall and three-frame vestibule, from portico and terrace, terrace steps and courtyard, for some minutes nothing could be heard but the faint tinkling made by jade girdle-pendants and tiny golden bells and the soft scrape and scuffle of cloth-soled boots and shoes.
The ceremony over, Jia Jing, Jia She and the rest of the menfolk hurried back to the Rong-guo mansion so that they could be waiting there in readiness to make their kotows to Grandmother Jia on her return.
In You-shi’s main reception-room, whither the ladies repaired now from the hall, the floor had been entirely covered with a great red carpet and a huge gold cloisonné incense-burner with a loach-lipped rim and three massive legs shaped like the trunks of elephants stood in the middle.
In the centre of the kang – also new-carpeted, but in scarlet – a dark-red back-rest had been placed with a design showing a couchant dragon coiled around the character for ‘longevity’. Large bolsters of the same colour and with the same design on them had been placed as arm-rests at right-angles to it; for extra warmth a black fox-fur had been draped around the top of it, and there was a white fox-fur rug between the bolsters, for sitting on. When Grandmother Jia had been installed on this furry throne, several old great-aunts were invited to sit on fur rugs that had been spread out on the kang to left and right of it. Lady Xing, Lady Wang and other ladies of their generation were installed on fur rugs on a smaller kang in an alcove-room to the side of the main kang and discreetly separated from it by an openwork wooden screen. On the floor below, in two facing rows, were a dozen carved lacquer chairs, on which Bao-qin and the other cousins were invited to sit. They had chair-backs and seat-covers of squirrel, and large copper foot-warmers in place of footstools.
You-shi and her daughter-in-law Hu-shi now appeared with tea-trays in their hands, and while You-shi offered tea to Grandmother Jia, Hu-shi served the old aunties. After that You-shi passed into the alcove and served tea to Lady Xing and the other ladies on the smaller kang, and Hu-shi served the cousins sitting in chairs below. Xi-feng, Li Wan and a few other young married women of their generation, debarred from taking tea either with the elder ladies or with their young unmarried cousins, stood idly by, on the floor below the kang, ‘in attendance’. Lady Xing and her group, as soon as they had finished drinking their tea, rose and moved over to where Grandmother Jia was sitting on the kang so that they too might be ‘in attendance’.
After exchanging a few words with the other old ladies while she sipped her tea, Grandmother Jia gave orders for her palanquin to be made ready. At once Xi-feng climbed up on to the kang and began helping her to her feet.
‘But we’ve already prepared dinner for you here,’ said You-shi. ‘You never stay with us for dinner on New Year’s Eve. Won’t you make an exception just this once? Surely my catering can’t be all that inferior to Feng’s?’
Xi-feng continued to help Grandmother Jia from the kang.
‘Come on, Grannie, let’s be getting home! Pay no attention to her!’
Grandmother Jia laughed.
‘You’re so busy with the sacrifices,’ she said. ‘You’re worked off your feet as it is; I’m sure you don’t want the bother of feeding me as well. Besides, in past years when I haven’t stayed, you have sent the food over to me. Why don’t you do that again this year? I don’t feel like eating very much now; but if you send it over, I shall be able to save it up for tomorrow, and then I shall be able to eat more of it than I could now.’
This made everyone laugh.
‘See that you get someone thoroughly dependable to sit up and keep an eye on the candles tonight,’ Grandmother Jia said by way of parting admonition. ‘Where fire is concerned, one can’t afford to take chances.’
You-shi, escorting her meanwhile from the room, assured her that she would do so.
At the pavilion-gate You-shi and the other ladies hid themselves behind the gate-screen from the eyes of the waiting menservants while Grandmother Jia got into her palanquin. Pages of the Ning-guo mansion went ahead of the bearers and, as they approached the outer gate, directed them through the centre of its three gateways. Lady Xing and Lady Wang followed in their less imposing conveyances, accompanied by You-shi, who was also going over to the other mansion.
Outside, while they were being borne in a westerly direction down the street, the ladies could see the achievements, insignia and musical instruments (bells, gongs, stone-chimes and drums hung in magnificently carved, painted and tasselled stands) of the Dukes of Ning-guo and Rong-guo, those of the Duke of Ning-guo along the eastern half of the street outside the south wall of the Ning-guo property, and those of his brother-duke outside the Rong-guo wall to its west.
As in the other mansion, the centre-gates throughout Rong-guo House were all thrown open so that a way was clear from the outer gate right through to the Hall of Exalted Felicity inside. But this time, instead of going through to the pavilion-gate and getting out there, they turned left after the outer reception hall and were carried to the main reception hall in Grandmother Jia’s part of the mansion. The others assembled round the old lady as they got out of their sedans and followed her into the hall. Here, too, everything had been transformed: brilliantly embroidered screens and cushions specially brought out for the occasion and an incense-burner set down in the middle of the room from which emanated delicious odours of pine and cedar and Hundred Blend aromatic.
As soon as Grandmother Jia was seated, a venerable nannie came up to her to report that ‘the old ladies had arrived to make their kotow’ and she hurriedly got up again and advanced to welcome two or three elderly female relations who had just come into the hall. A good deal of polite tussling ensued, accompanied on both sides by laughter and protestations, as Grandmother Jia took the hands of each old lady in turn and, while the old ladies pretended that they were struggling to kneel, made a great show of struggling to prevent them – for although Grandmother Jia was their senior, they were in the same generation as her and too elderly to be allowed to kotow in earnest. They sat down for a while after that and took a cup of tea; then Grandmother Jia saw them out, but no farther than the inner ornamental gate.
When she had returned and was once more enthroned on the principal seat in the hall, Jia Jing and Jia She came forward with all the menfolk in the family in rows behind them to make their kotow.
‘You all do so much for me during the year,’ Grandmother Jia protested. ‘Can’t we forget about the kotow?’
But nobody heeded her. Rank upon rank of them, the males in one large group and the females in another, knelt down together and bowed their foreheads to the ground. After that folding chairs were brought and put down in a row to left and right of Grandmother Jia’s seat and the next most senior members of the family sat down and received their kotows, and so on by order of seniority downwards, until all but the most junior members of the family had been kotowed to; but now even their turn arrived and they too were allowed to sit down as the domestics of both households, men-servants and women-servants, pages and maids, came in by order of their various ranks and duties and made their kotows to their employers.
After that the New Year’s Eve wish-penny was distributed to servants and children – gold or silver medallions in little embroidered purses – and the New Year’s love-feast was laid, tables on the east side of the hall for men and boys, tables on the west side for girls and women. There was herb-flavoured New Year’s Eve wine and love-feast soup, there were lucky-cakes and wish-puddings; and when all had eaten and drunk, Grandmother Jia rose and went into an inner room to change out of her court dress, which she had all this time been wearing. This was a signal for the others present to disperse.
As darkness came on, offerings of cakes and burning joss-sticks were made in front of all the Buddha-shrines and in all the little niches of the Kitchen God, who is welcomed back this night from his annual trip aloft. In the main courtyard, outside Lady Wang’s apartment, an ‘altar to heaven and earth’ was set up – a long table on which offerings of sticky fried honey-sticks and fresh apples and steamed wheat-flour cakes and other goodies had been built up, layer upon layer, into a little pagoda of offerings in front of a large colour-print representing the whole host of heaven (or as much of it as the artist had been able to fit in). Great horn lanterns hung at either side of the main entrance to Prospect Garden to illuminate the gateway, and innumerable standard lamps lit up its alley-ways and courtyards and walks. As for the inhabitants of the mansion, all of them, both masters and servants, seemed, in their dazzling holiday array, like walking flower-gardens of brilliant embroidery and brocade. And all night long a confused hubbub of talking and shouting and laughter arose, punctuated by the continual, unceasing pops and bangs of exploding firecrackers.
At four o’clock in the morning, as the drums of the fifth watch were sounding, Grandmother Jia and the other ladies once more got into their court dresses and were borne in procession to the Palace, this time to felicitate Yuan-chun on the advent of the New Year. Liveried footmen walked ahead of them carrying the full paraphernalia to which Grandmother Jia’s rank entitled her. Once more Yuan-chun feasted them; once more, on their return from the Palace, they made offerings to the ancestors in their shrine in the Ning-guo mansion; and once more, on returning to her own apartment in Rong-guo House, Grandmother Jia received the prostrations of the assembled family. As soon as that was over, she changed out of her court clothes and declared that she was going to rest, refusing to see any of the friends and relations who now began arriving in great numbers to offer their New Year felicitations, and spending her time either quietly conversing with Aunt Xue and Mrs Li or, as an occasional diversion, playing games of cards or Racing Go with Bao-yu and the girls.
But Lady Wang and Xi-feng, on both this and each of the seven or eight days which followed, were kept busy entertaining the guests whom the family had invited to drink their New Year wine. In both the reception hall and the courtyard outside it there were plays to watch and tables at which the unending stream of visitors could sit for a while and eat and drink while they watched them.
And no sooner was that lot of entertaining over than another lot had to be prepared for as the First Moon waxed greater and the Lantern Festival drew near. Again the Ning and Rong mansions were gay with lanterns and decorations. On the eleventh of the month Jia She entertained Grandmother Jia and the rest of the family and on the twelfth it was Cousin Zhen’s turn to play host, while for several days running Lady Wang and Wang Xi-feng were most of the time out visiting one or other of the innumerable families from whom they had received invitations.
On the evening of the fifteenth Grandmother Jia had tables laid for a feast in her big ‘new’ reception hall – the scene of Xi-feng’s fateful birthday-feast. A stage was set up for a troupe of child-actors which she had specially hired for this occasion, and both the stage and hall were hung all over with lanterns of every imaginable shape and colour. When her preparations were completed, she summoned all her children and grandchildren, nephews and nieces, great-nephews and great-nieces to a family feast.
As a matter of fact it is not strictly true that all of them were invited. Jia Jing was, for religious reasons, a total abstainer from meat and strong drink, so he was not invited. Obligations to the dead rather than to the living had brought him back for the holiday, and on the seventeenth, two days after this, as soon as the last of the ancestral sacrifices was over, he returned to his Taoist monastery outside the city and the briefly interrupted pursuit of immortality. Meanwhile, when not actually engaged in discharging ceremonial duties, he spent all the time on his own in a quiet, out-of-the-way corner of the mansion, in a state of incommunicado with the other members of the family.
And Jia She, although he was invited, excused himself as soon as he had received a party-gift from his mother. She knew that he felt uncomfortable in her presence and did not attempt to detain him. Back in his own quarters, surrounded by cronies and dependants, he could drink and admire the lanterns while beautiful young women played and sang for his delectation:
Ears with pipes and songs beguiled, Eyes by silk skirts hypnotized.
– A different scene altogether from the one he had just left. But let us return to the latter – to the reception hall in Grandmother Jia’s rear courtyard, where a covered stage had been erected to accommodate the players.
Inside the hall some dozen or more tables had been laid facing outwards towards the stage. They were arranged in a fan shape, with the two central tables in the place of honour at the back and the rest of them raying out forwards to left and right of them. At the side of each table a smaller, ornamental table had been placed on which were arranged
1. a little three-piece incense set (a vase, a cassolette and a tripod, all made on a miniature scale out of metal) in which Hundred Blend aromatic – a gift from the Palace – was burning;
2. a porcelain dish, eight inches long, four or five inches wide and two or three inches deep, containing a miniature landscape made out of stones and mosses;
3. a small japanned tea-tray on which was one of Grand mother Jia’s best china teacups and a little individual mille fiori teapot in which choicest tea was brewing;
4. a little table-screen of red silk gauze, embroidered with flowers and appropriate lines of ‘grass character’ verse, framed in a delicately carved pierced-work sandalwood frame;*
5. a vase (each one a collector’s piece and each different from the rest) containing the ‘three friends of winter’ or ‘riches in a jade hall’ or some other flower arrangement, mostly of fresh flowers that had been specially forced for the occasion.
The two tables in the place of honour at the back were occupied by Aunt Xue and Mrs Li. To their left, at the head of the row of tables radiating outwards towards the east side of the hall, there was a large, low wooden settle with a carved pierced-work back of interlacing dragons, which had been put there for Grandmother Jia to lie on. It was furnished with a back-rest and bolsters and was large enough to have a fur rug spread out on it and still leave room at one end for a small, exquisitely gilded table of foreign make on which had been placed a teapot, a teacup, a spittoon, a napkin and, among various other small objects, an eyeglass-case. Grandmother Jia rested with her feet up on the settle and, after talking for a while with the company, took out the eyeglasses from their case and looked through them at the stage.
‘I do hope you will forgive me for lying down like this in your presence,’ she apologized to Aunt Xue and Mrs Li. ‘It’s very rude of me, I know, but I’m getting so rheumaticky in my old age.’
She made Amber get up on to the settle beside her and massage her legs by gently pounding them with a ‘maiden’s fist’ – a sort of short-handled mallet with a padded leather head.
No feaster’s table with cover and drapes had been put in front of the settle, only the little ornamental table with the table-screen and the incense set and vase of flowers. The very elegant, somewhat larger table of normal height which would have been hers if she had been sitting up with the rest had been placed somewhat to the left of the settle and laid with winecups, soup-spoons and chopsticks for four. It was occupied by Bao-qin, Xiang-yun, Dai-yu and Bao-yu. Although she could not sit with them, Grandmother Jia kept up a pretence that they were eating together: each dish as it arrived would be submitted to her inspection, and if she fancied it, would be placed on the little table at her elbow; then, when she had tasted it, it would be removed and set down in front of the four young people for them to finish.
After Grandmother Jia and her four grandchildren, the next along on the east side was Lady Xing; after her came Lady Wang, then You-shi, then Li Wan, then Xi-feng, and lastly Jia Rong’s wife, Hu-shi. Along the west side Bao-chai came first, next to her mother, then Li Wen, then Li Qi, then Xiu-yan, then Ying-chun, then Tan-chun and then Xi-chun.
Red-tasselled glass lanterns hung in rows from the beams overhead to left and right of the diners. In front of them, on each of their tables, was an ingenious light consisting of a flower-shaped candle attached to the base of a reflector in the form of a vertical lotus leaf. These lotus leaves, though made of metal, were so skilfully engraved and enamelled that they looked almost real. They were attached to their metal stands by means of a swivel, so that the beams of the candle could be concentrated in any direction desired. When all the reflectors were simultaneously directed towards the stage, the diners’ view of the players was wonderfully improved.
The wooden partitions with their window-lattices and doors which normally separated the hall from the verandah had been removed and great palace lanterns of glass, whose elaborately carved wooden frames were hung with strings of crimson tassels, were suspended at intervals in the space thus created. More rows of lanterns – lanterns of every kind of material and design – horn lanterns, glass lanterns, gauze lanterns, lanterns of Yunnan glitter-glass, embroidered ones, painted ones, lanterns with cut-outs of paper or silk in them, hung in lines under the verandah eaves, both inside and outside the architraves, and from the eaves of the loggias on either side of the courtyard.
The tables on the verandah were all occupied by males: Cousin Zhen, Jia Lian, Jia Huan, Jia Cong, Jia Rong, Jia Qin, Jia Yun, Jia Ling and Jia Chang.
Although Grandmother Jia had sent invitations by word of mouth to every clansman and clanswoman residing in the city, some of them were too elderly to stand up to the noise and excitement of a party, some were unable to come because they had no one to look after the house for them while they were away, some had intended to come but were prevented from doing so by illness, some stayed away from envy of their richer clansmen or because they were ashamed of their own poverty, others because they could not stand Xi-feng, and yet others because they were so unused to company and incapacitated by shyness that they dared not come – in short, although the clan was a numerous one, for one reason or another, of all those invited the only female guest who turned up was Lou-shi, mother of Bao-yu’s former classmate, the intrepid little Jia Jun, who came bringing Jia Jun with her, and the only male ones were those who had found employment with the family under Xi-feng’s auspices and were therefore obliged to put in an appearance: Jia Qin, Jia Yun, Jia Chang and Jia Ling. Yet even with the absence of so many who had been invited from outside, for a family party the company was a large one.
Presently, while they all sat watching the players, Lin Zhi-xiao’s wife came into the hall leading six other women, each pair of whom were carrying between them a small kang-table covered with a red felt top on which was a bundle of strung cash: hundreds and hundreds of newly-minted copper coins, specially chosen for size and quality, fastened together by a single long cord of crimson silk. Under the direction of Lin Zhi-xiao’s wife two of these tables were set down in front of Mrs Li and Aunt Xue and the third one beside Grandmother Jia’s settle.
‘Do it in the middle, where everyone can see,’ said Grandmother Jia.
The women all knew what was expected of them. Setting the tables down in the centre of the hall, they simultaneously undid the ends of the crimson cords with which the money was fastened and began pulling them out so that the coins tumbled in heaps upon the tables.
The play being performed on this occasion was The House in Ping-kang Lane, and the actors had just come to the end of that section of it called ‘Meeting in the Sickroom’. The hero Yu Shu-ye, having at last met the love of his life only to be called by stern duty from her side, had just left the stage in chagrin. At this point the child-actor playing the part of his little page Leopard Boy, observing what was going on in the hall, began to extemporize:
‘You can go off in a huff if you like; but today is the fifteenth of the first month and old Lady Jia of Rong-guo House is holding a family party; so what I am going to do is to get on this horse and gallop there as quickly as I can and ask them for some sweeties!’
This caused Grandmother Jia and the rest of the audience to burst out laughing.
‘That’s a sharp little fellow,’ said Aunt Xue. ‘How sweet!’
‘And he’s barely nine,’ said Xi-feng.
‘Barely nine!’ said Grandmother Jia. ‘And being able to come out with it so pat!’
She nodded in the direction of the waiting women.
‘Largesse!’
Three of the women had already provided themselves with small shallow baskets in readiness for this order. At the word of command they walked up to the little tables, shovelled up basketfuls of coins from the heaped-up money, and took them outside to the foot of the stage which Leopard Boy had just vacated.
‘Largesse from Lady Jia, Mrs Xue and Mrs Li for Leopard Boy to buy himself some sweets with,’ said one of the women.
The three of them then discharged the contents of their baskets upon the stage. The money landed with a mighty clatter and at once the whole stage was covered with shining pennies.
Cousin Zhen had ordered his own pages to have a large flat basket of money ready for his own largesse to the players.
But you will have to wait for the next volume, gentle reader, in order to find out whether they received it.
EXPLICIT SECUNDA PARS LAPIDIS HISTORIAE