第五十五回

第五十五回 辱亲女愚妾争闲气 欺幼主刁奴蓄险心

且说元宵已过，只因当今以孝治天下，目下宫中有一位太妃欠安，故各嫔妃皆为之减膳谢妆，不独不能省亲，亦且将宴乐俱免。故荣府今岁元宵亦无灯谜之集。

刚将年事忙过，凤姐儿便小月[1]了，在家一月，不能理事，天天两三个太医用药。凤姐儿自恃强壮，虽不出门，然筹画计算，想起什么事来，便命平儿去回王夫人，任人谏劝，他只不听。王夫人便觉失了膀臂，一人能有许多的精神？凡有了大事，自己主张；将家中琐碎之事，一应都暂令李纨协理。李纨是个尚德不尚才的，未免逞纵了下人。王夫人便命探春合同李纨裁处，只说过了一月，凤姐将息好了，仍交与他。

谁知凤姐禀赋气血不足，兼年幼不知保养，平生争强斗智，心力更亏，故虽系小月，竟着实亏虚下来，一月之后，复添了下红之症。他虽不肯说出来，众人看他面目黄瘦，便知失于调养。王夫人只令他好生服药调养，不令他操心。他自己也怕成了大症，遗笑于人，便想偷空调养，恨不得一时复旧如常。谁知一直服药调养到八九月间，才渐渐的起复过来，下红也渐渐止了。此是后话。

如今且说目今王夫人见他如此，探春与李纨暂难谢事，园中人多，又恐失于照管，因又特请了宝钗来，托他各处小心：“老婆子们不中用，得空儿吃酒斗牌，白日里睡觉，夜里斗牌，我都知道的。凤丫头在外头，他们还有个惧怕，如今他们又该取便了。好孩子，你还是个妥当人，你兄弟妹妹们又小，我又没工夫，你替我辛苦两天，照看照看。凡有想不到的事，你来告诉我，别等老太太问出来，我没话回。那些人不好了，你只管说。他们不听，你来回我。别弄出大事来才好。”宝钗听说，只得答应了。

时届孟春，黛玉又犯了嗽疾。湘云亦因时气所感，亦卧病于蘅芜苑，一天医药不断。探春同李纨相住间隔，二人近日同事，不比往年，来往回话人等亦不便，故二人议定：每日早晨皆到园门口南边的三间小花厅上去会齐办事，吃过早饭，于午错方回房。这三间厅原系预备省亲之时众执事太监起坐之处，故省亲之后也用不着了，每日只有婆子们上夜。如今天已和暖，不用十分修饰，只不过略略的铺陈了，便可他二人起坐。这厅上也有一匾，题着“辅仁〔一〕谕德”[3]四字，家下俗呼皆只叫“议事厅”儿。如今他二人每日卯正至此，午正方散。凡一应执事媳妇等来往回话者，络绎不绝。

众人先听见李纨独办，各各心中暗喜，以为李纨素日原是个厚道多恩无罚的，自然比凤姐儿好搪塞。便添了一个探春，也都想着不过是个未出闺阁的年轻小姐，且素日也最平和恬淡，因此都不在意，比凤姐儿前更懈怠了许多。只三四日后，几件事过手，渐觉探春精细处不让凤姐，只不过是言语安静，性情和顺而已。

可巧连日有王公侯伯世袭官员十几处，皆系荣宁非亲即友或世交之家，或有升迁，或有黜降，或有婚丧红白等事，王夫人贺吊迎送，应酬不暇，前边更无人。他二人便一日皆在厅上起坐。宝钗便一日在上房监察，至王夫人回方散。每于夜间针线暇时，临寝之先，坐了小轿带领园中上夜人等各处巡察一次。他三人如此一理，更觉比凤姐儿当权时倒更谨慎了些。因而里外下人都暗中抱怨说：“刚刚的倒了一个‘巡海夜叉’，又添了三个‘镇山太岁’[4]，越性连夜里偷着吃酒顽的工夫都没了。”

这日王夫人正是往锦乡侯府去赴席，李纨与探春早已梳洗，伺候出门去后，回至厅上坐了。刚吃茶时，只见吴新登的媳妇进来回说：“赵姨娘的兄弟赵国基昨日死了。昨日回过太太，太太说知道了，叫回姑娘奶奶来。”说毕，便垂手旁侍，再不言语。彼时来回话者不少，都打听他二人办事如何：若办得妥当，大家则安个畏惧之心；若少有嫌隙不当之处，不但不畏伏，出二门还要编出许多笑话来取笑。吴新登的媳妇心中已有主意，若是凤姐前，他便早已献勤说出许多主意，又查出许多旧例来任凤姐儿拣择施行。如今他藐视李纨老实，探春是年轻的姑娘，所以只说出这一句话来，试他二人有何主见。

探春便问李纨。李纨想了一想，便道：“前儿袭人的妈死了，听见说赏银四十两。这也赏他四十两罢了。”吴新登家的〔二〕听了，忙答应了是，接了对牌就走。探春道：“你且回来。”吴新登家的只得回来。探春道：“你且别支银子。我且问你：那几年老太太屋里的几位老姨奶奶，也有家里的也有外头的这两个分别。家里的若死了人是赏多少，外头的死了人是赏多少，你且说两个我们听听。”

一问，吴新登家的便都忘了，忙陪笑回说：“这也不是什么大事，赏多少谁还敢争不成？”探春笑道：“这话胡闹。依我说，赏一百倒好。若不按例，别说你们笑话，明儿也难见你二奶奶。”吴新登家的笑道：“既这么说，我查旧帐去，此时却记不得。”探春笑道：“你办事办老了的，还记不得，倒来难我们。你素日回你二奶奶也现查去？若有这道理，凤姐姐还不算利害，也就算是宽厚了！还不快找了来我瞧。再迟一日，不说你们粗心，反像我们没主意了。”吴新登家的满面通红，忙转身出来。众媳妇们都伸舌头。这里又回别的事。

一时，吴家的取了旧帐来。探春看时，两个家里的赏过皆二十两〔三〕，两个外头的皆赏过四十两。外还有两个外头的，一个赏过一百两，一个赏过六十两。这两笔底下皆注有原故：一个是隔省迁父母之柩，外赏六十两；一个是现买葬地，外赏二十两。探春便递与李纨看了。探春便说：“给他二十两银子。把这帐留下，我们细看看。”吴新登家的去了。

忽见赵姨娘进来，李纨探春忙让坐。赵姨娘开口便说道：“这屋里的人都踩下我的头去还罢了。姑娘你也想一想，该替我出气才是。”一面说，一面眼泪鼻涕哭起来。探春忙道：“姨娘这话说谁，我竟不解。谁踩姨娘的头？说出来我替姨娘出气。”赵姨娘道：“姑娘现踩我，我告诉谁！”探春听说，忙站起来，说道：“我并不敢。”李纨也站起来劝。

赵姨娘道：“你们请坐下，听我说。我这屋里熬油似的熬了这么大年纪，又有你和你兄弟，这会子连袭人都不如了，我还有什么脸？连你也没脸面，别说我了！”探春笑道：“原来为这个。我说我并不敢犯法违理。”一面便坐了，拿帐翻与赵姨娘看，又念与他听，又说道：“这是祖宗手里旧规矩，人人都依着，偏我改了不成？也不但袭人，将来环儿收了外头的，自然也是同袭人一样。这原不是什么争大争小的事，讲不到有脸没脸的话上。他是太太的奴才，我是按着旧规矩办。说办的好，领祖宗的恩典、太太的恩典；若说办的不均，那是他糊涂不知福，也只好凭他抱怨去。太太连房子赏了人，我有什么有脸之处；一文不赏，我也没什么没脸之处。依我说，太太不在家，姨娘安静些养神罢了，何苦只要操心。太太满心疼我，因姨娘每每生事，几次寒心。我但凡是个男人，可以出得去，我必早走了，立一番事业，那时自有我一番道理。偏我是女孩儿家，一句多话也没有我乱说的。太太满心里都知道。如今因看重我，才叫我照管家务，还没有做一件好事，姨娘倒先来作践我。倘或太太知道了，怕我为难不叫我管，那才正经没脸，连姨娘也真没脸！”一面说，一面不禁滚下泪来。

赵姨娘没了别话答对，便说道：“太太疼你，你越发拉扯拉扯我们。你只顾讨太太的疼，就把我们忘了。”探春道：“我怎么忘了？叫我怎么拉扯？这也问你们各人，那一个主子不疼出力得用的人？那一个好人用人拉扯的？”李纨在旁只管劝说：“姨娘别生气。也怨不得姑娘，他满心里要拉扯〔四〕，口里怎么说的出来。”探春忙道：“这大嫂子也糊涂了。我拉扯谁？谁家姑娘们拉扯奴才了？他们的好歹，你们该知道，与我什么相干。”赵姨娘气的问道：“谁叫你拉扯别人去了？你不当家我也不来问你。你如今现说一是一，说二是二。如今你舅舅死了，你多给了二三十两银子，难道太太就不依你？分明太太是好太太，都是你们尖酸刻薄，可惜太太有恩无处使。姑娘放心，这也使不着你的银子。明儿等出了阁，我还想你额外照看赵家呢。如今没有长羽毛，就忘了根本，只拣高枝儿飞去了！”

探春没听完，已气的脸白气噎，抽抽咽咽的一面哭，一面问道：“谁是我舅舅？我舅舅年下才升了九省检点，那里又跑出一个舅舅来？我倒素习按理尊敬，越发敬出这些亲戚来了。既这么说，环儿出去为什么赵国基又站起来，又跟他上学？为什么不拿出舅舅的款来？何苦来，谁不知道我是姨娘养的，必要过两三个月寻出由头来，彻底来翻腾一阵，生怕人不知道，故意的表白表白。也不知谁给谁没脸？幸亏我还明白，但凡糊涂不知理的，早急了。”李纨急的只管劝，赵姨娘只管还唠叨。

忽听有人说：“二奶奶打发平姑娘说话来了。”赵姨娘听说，方把口止住。只见平儿进来，赵姨娘忙陪笑让坐，又忙问：“你奶奶好些？我正要瞧去，就只没得空儿。”李纨见平儿进来，因问他来做什么。平儿笑道：“奶奶说，赵姨奶奶的兄弟没了，恐怕奶奶和姑娘不知有旧例，若照常例，只得二十两。如今请姑娘裁夺着，再添些也使得。”探春早已拭去泪痕，忙说道：“又好好的添什么，谁又是二十四个月养下来的？不然也是那出兵放马背着主子逃出命来过的人不成？你主子真个倒巧，叫我开了例，他做好人，拿着太太不心疼的钱乐的做人情。你告诉他，我不敢添减混出主意。他添他施恩，等他好了出来，爱怎么添添去。”平儿一来时已明白了对半，今听这一番话，越发会意，见探春有怒色，便不敢以往日喜乐之时相待，只一边垂手默侍。

时值宝钗也从上房中来，探春等忙起身让坐。未及开言，又有一个媳妇进来回事。因探春才哭了，便有三四个小丫鬟捧了沐盆、巾帕、靶镜等物来。此时探春因盘膝坐在矮板榻上，那捧盆的丫鬟走至跟前，便双膝跪下，高捧沐盆；那两个小丫鬟，也都在旁屈膝捧着巾帕并靶镜脂粉之饰。平儿见待书不在这里，便忙上来与探春挽袖卸镯，又接过一条大手巾来，将探春面前衣襟掩了。探春方伸手向面盆中盥沐。那媳妇便回道：“回奶奶姑娘，家学里支环爷和兰哥儿的一年公费。”平儿先道：“你忙什么！你睁着眼看，见姑娘洗脸，你不出去伺候着，先说话来。二奶奶跟前你也这么没眼色来着？姑娘虽然恩宽，我去回了二奶奶，只说你们眼里都没姑娘，你们都吃了亏，可别怨我。”唬的那个媳妇忙陪笑道：“我粗心了。”一面说，一面忙退出去。

探春一面匀脸，一面向平儿冷笑道：“你迟了一步，还有可笑的：连吴姐姐这么个办老了事的，也不查清楚了，就来混我们。幸亏我们问他，他竟有脸说忘了。我说他回你主子事也忘了再找去？我料着你那主子未必有耐性儿等他去找。”平儿忙笑道：“他有这一次，管包腿上的筋早折了两根。姑娘别信他们。那是他们瞅着大奶奶是个菩萨，姑娘又是个腼腆小姐，固然是托懒来混。”说着，又向门外说道：“你们只管撒野，等奶奶大安了，咱们再说。”门外的众媳妇都笑道：“姑娘，你是个最明白的人，俗语说‘一人作罪一人当’，我们并不敢欺蔽小姐。如今小姐是娇客[8]，若认真惹恼了，死无葬身之地。”

平儿冷笑道：“你们明白就好了。”又陪笑向探春道：“姑娘知道二奶奶本来事多，那里照看的这些，保不住不忽略。俗语说‘旁观者清’，这几年姑娘冷眼看着，或有该添该减的去处二奶奶没行到，姑娘竟一添减，头一件于太太的事有益，第二件也不枉姑娘待我们奶奶的情义了。”

话未说完，宝钗李纨皆笑道：“好丫头，真怨不得凤丫头偏疼他！本来无可添减的事，如今听你一说，倒要找出两件来斟酌斟酌，不辜负你这话。”探春笑道：“我一肚子气，没人煞性子，正要拿他奶奶出气去，偏他碰了来，说了这些话，叫我也没了主意了。”

一面说，一面叫进方才那媳妇来，问：“环爷和兰哥儿家学里这一年的银子，是做那一项用的？”那媳妇便回说：“一年学里吃点心或者买纸笔，每位有八两银子的使用。”探春道：“凡爷们的使用，都是各屋里领了月钱的。环哥的是姨娘领二两，宝玉的是老太太屋里袭人领二两，兰哥儿的是大奶奶屋里领。怎么学里每人又多这八两？原来上学去的是为这八两银子！从今儿起，把这一项蠲了。平儿，回去告诉你奶奶，说我的话，把这一条务必免了。”平儿笑道：“早就该免。旧年奶奶原说要免的，因年下忙，就忘了。”那个媳妇只得答应着去了。就有大观园中媳妇捧了饭盒来。

待书素云早已抬过一张小饭桌来，平儿也忙着上菜。探春笑道：“你说完了话干你的去罢，在这里忙什么。”平儿笑道：“我原没事的。二奶奶打发了我来，一则说话，二则恐这里人不方便，原是叫我帮着妹妹们服侍奶奶姑娘的。”探春因问：“宝姑娘的饭怎么不端来一处吃？”丫鬟们听说，忙出至檐外命媳妇去说：“宝姑娘如今在厅上一处吃，叫他们把饭送了这里来。”探春听说，便高声说道：“你别混支使人！那都是办大事的管家娘子们，你们支使他要饭要茶的，连个高低都不知道！平儿这里站着，你叫叫去。”

平儿忙答应了一声出来。那些媳妇们都忙悄悄的拉住笑道：“那里用姑娘去叫，我们已有人叫去了。”一面说，一面用手帕撢石矶上说：“姑娘站了半天乏了，这太阳影里且歇歇。”平儿便坐下。又有茶房里的两个婆子拿了个坐褥铺下，说：“石头冷，这是极干净的，姑娘将就坐一坐儿罢。”平儿忙陪笑道：“多谢。”一个又捧了一碗精致新茶出来，也悄悄笑说：“这不是我们的常用茶，原是伺候姑娘们的，姑娘且润一润罢。”

平儿忙欠身接了，因指众媳妇悄悄说道：“你们太闹的不像了。他是个姑娘家，不肯发威动怒，这是他尊重，你们就藐视欺负他。果然招他动了大气，不过说他个粗糙就完了，你们就现吃不了的亏。他撒个娇，太太也得让他一二分，二奶奶也不敢怎样。你们就这么大胆子小看他，可是鸡蛋往石头上碰。”众人都忙道：“我们何尝敢大胆了，都是赵姨奶奶闹的。”

平儿也悄悄的说：“罢了，好奶奶们。‘墙倒众人推’，那赵姨奶奶原有些倒三不着两，有了事都就赖他。你们素日那眼里没人，心术利害，我这几年难道还不知道？二奶奶若是略差一点儿的，早被你们这些奶奶治倒了。饶这么着，得一点空儿，还要难他一难，好几次没落了你们的口声[9]。众人都道：“如何敢！”平儿道：“他利害，你们都怕他，惟我知道他心里也就不算不怕你们呢。前儿我们还议论到这里，再不能依头顺尾，必有两场气生。那三姑娘虽是个姑娘，你们都横看了他。二奶奶在这些大姑子小姑子里头，也就只单畏他五分。你们这会子倒不把他放在眼里了。”

正说着，只见秋纹走来。众媳妇忙赶着问好，又说：“姑娘也且歇一歇，里头摆饭呢。等撤下饭桌子，再回话去。”秋纹笑道：“我比不得你们，我那里等得。”说着便直要上厅去。平儿忙叫：“快回来。”秋纹回头见了平儿，笑道：“你又在这里充什么外围的防护？”一面回身便坐在平儿褥上。

平儿悄问：“回什么？”秋纹道：“问一问宝玉的月银我们的月钱多早晚才领。”平儿道：“这什么大事。你快回去告诉袭人，说我的话，凭有什么事今儿都别回。若回一件，管驳一件；回一百件，管驳一百件。”秋纹听了，忙问：“这是为什么了？”平儿与众媳妇等都忙告诉他原故，又说：“正要找几件利害事与有体面的人开例作法子[10]，镇压与众人作榜样呢。何苦你们先来碰在这钉子上。你这一去说了，他们若拿你们也作一二件榜样，又碍着老太太、太太；若不拿着你们作一二件，人家又说偏一个向一个，仗着老太太、太太威势的就怕，也不敢动，只拿着软的作鼻子头[11]。你听听罢，二奶奶的事，他还要驳两件，才压的众人口声呢。”秋纹听了，伸舌笑道：“幸而平姐姐在这里，没的臊一鼻子灰。我赶早知会他们去。”说着，便起身走了。

接着宝钗的饭至，平儿忙进来服侍。那时赵姨娘已去，三人在板床上吃饭。宝钗面南，探春面西，李纨面东。众媳妇皆在廊下静候，里头只有他们紧跟常侍的丫鬟伺候，别人一概不敢擅入。这些媳妇们都悄悄的议论说：“大家省事罢，别安着没良心的主意。连吴大娘才都讨了没意思，咱们又是什么有脸的。”他们一边悄议，等饭完回事。

只觉里面鸦雀无声，并不闻碗箸之声。一时只见一个丫鬟将帘栊高揭，又有两个将桌抬出。茶房内早有三个丫头捧着三沐盆水，见饭桌已出，三人便进去了。一回又捧出沐盆并漱盂来，方有待书、素云、莺儿三个，每人用茶盘捧了三盖碗茶进去。一时等他三人出来，待书命小丫头子：“好生伺候着，我们吃饭来换你们，别又偷坐着去。”众媳妇们方慢慢的一个一个的安分回事，不敢如先前轻慢疏忽了。

探春气方渐平，因向平儿道：“我有一件大事，早要和你奶奶商议，如今可巧想起来。你吃了饭快来。宝姑娘也在这里，咱们四个人商议了，再细细问你奶奶可行可止。”平儿答应回去。

凤姐因问为何去这一日，平儿便笑着将方才的原故细细说与他听了。凤姐儿笑道：“好，好，好，好个三姑娘！我说他不错。只可惜他命薄，没托生在太太肚里。”平儿笑道：“奶奶也说糊涂话了。他便不是太太养的，难道谁敢小看他，不与别的一样看了？”凤姐儿叹道：“你那里知道，虽然庶出一样，女儿却比不得男人，将来攀亲时，如今有一种轻狂人，先要打听姑娘是正出庶出，多有为庶出不要的。殊不知别说庶出，便是我们的丫头，比人家的小姐还强呢。将来不知那个没造化的，挑庶正误了事呢；也不知那个有造化的，不挑庶正的得了去。”

说着，又向平儿笑道：“你知道，我这几年生了多少省俭的法子，一家子大约也没个不背地里恨我的。我如今也是骑上老虎了。虽然看破些，无奈一时也难宽放；二则家里出去的多，进来的少。凡百大小事仍是照着老祖宗手里的规矩，却一年进的产业又不及先时。多省俭了，外人又笑话，老太太、太太也受委屈，家下人也抱怨刻薄。若不趁早儿料理省俭之计，再几年就都赔尽了。”平儿道：“可不是这话！将来还有三四位姑娘，还有两三个小爷，一位老太太，这几件大事未完呢。”

凤姐儿笑道：“我也虑到这里，倒也够了：宝玉和林妹妹他两个一娶一嫁，可以使不着官中的钱，老太太自有梯己拿出来。二姑娘是大老爷那边的，也不算。剩了三四个，满破着每人花上一万银子。环哥娶亲有限，花上三千两银子，不拘那里省一抿子[12]也就够了。老太太事出来，一应都是全了的，不过零星杂项，便费也满破三五千两。如今再俭省些，陆续也就够了。只怕如今平空又生出一两件事来，可就了不得了。咱们且别虑后事，你且吃了饭，快听他商议什么。这正碰了我的机会，我正愁没个膀臂。虽有个宝玉，他又不是这里头的货，纵收伏了他也不中用。大奶奶是个佛爷，也不中用。二姑娘更不中用，亦且不是这屋里的人。四姑娘小呢。兰小子更小。环儿更是个燎毛的小冻猫子，只等有热灶火坑让他钻去罢。真真一个娘肚子里跑出这样天悬地隔的两个人来，我想到这里就不服。再者林丫头和宝姑娘他两个倒好，偏又都是亲戚，又不好管咱家务事。况且一个是美人灯儿，风吹吹就坏了；一个是拿定了主意，‘不干己事不张口，一问摇头三不知’，也难十分去问他。倒只剩了三姑娘一个，心里嘴里都也来的，又是咱家的正人，太太又疼他，虽然面上淡淡的，皆因是赵姨娘那老东西闹的，心里却是和宝玉一样疼呢。比不得环儿，实在令人难疼，要依我的性早撵出去了。如今他既有这主意，正该和他协同，大家做个膀臂，我也不孤不独了。按正理，天理良心上论，咱们有他这个人帮着，咱们也省些心，于太太的事也有些益。若按私心藏奸上论，我也太行毒了，也该抽头退步。回头看看了，再要穷追苦克，人恨极了，暗地里笑里藏刀，咱们两个才四个眼睛，两个心，一时不防，倒弄坏了。趁着紧溜[13]之中，他出头一料理，众人就把往日恨咱们的恨心暂可解了。还有一件，我虽知你极明白，恐怕你心里挽不过来，如今嘱咐你：他虽是姑娘家，心里却事事明白，不过是言语谨慎；他又比我知书识字，更利害一层了。如今俗语‘擒贼必先擒王’，他如今要作法开端，一定是先拿我开端。倘或他要驳我的事，你可别分辩，你只越恭敬，越说驳的是才好。千万别想着怕我没脸，和他一犟，就不好了。”

平儿不等说完，便笑道：“你太把人看糊涂了。我才已经行在先，这会子又反嘱咐我。”凤姐儿笑道：“我是恐怕你心里眼里只有了我，一概没有别人之故，不得不嘱咐。既已行在先，更比我明白了。你又急了，满口里‘你’‘我’起来。”平儿道：“偏说‘你’！你不依，这不是嘴巴子，再打一顿。难道这脸上还没尝过的不成！”凤姐儿笑道：“你这小蹄子，要掂多少过子[14]才罢。看我病的这样，还来怄我。过来坐下，横竖没人来，咱们一处吃饭是正经。”

说着，丰儿等三四个小丫头子进来放小炕桌。凤姐只吃燕窝粥，两碟子精致小菜，每日分例菜已暂减去。丰儿便将平儿的四样分例菜端至桌上，与平儿盛了饭来。平儿屈一膝于炕沿之上，半身犹立于炕下，陪着凤姐儿吃了饭，服侍漱盥。漱毕，嘱咐了丰儿些话，方往探春处来。只见院中寂静，人已散出。要知端的——

[1] 小月——即小产、流产。

〔一〕 “辅仁”，原作“补仁”，从蒙府、戚序本改。

[3] 辅仁谕德——辅：补益。谕：晓谕。此匾意谓对己要常补仁爱之不足，对人应宣谕良好的德性，这是旧时官僚士大夫的自谦自勉之辞。

[4] 巡海夜叉、镇山太岁——指担当巡逻和守卫职责的恶鬼凶神。夜叉：一名“药叉”，吃人的恶鬼。太岁：中国古代传说中的值岁神，被视作凶煞，不可触犯。

〔二〕 “吴新登家的”，原无“家的”，从梦稿本补。

〔三〕 “二十两”，原作“二十四两”，各本均同，唯梦稿本原作“二十四两”，“四”字涂去。下文两处提到“二十两”，从删。

〔四〕 “要拉扯”，原系“有拉扯”点改。梦稿、蒙府、戚序本均作“有拉扯”。甲辰本作“要拉扯”，从。

[8] 娇客——娇贵的人，这里指探春。

[9] 口声——即口实、话柄。

[10] 作法子——处理某人某事立威，以儆其馀。

[11] 鼻子头——开头第一个，这里是开例以儆众人的意思。

[12] 一抿子——一点点、一小宗。抿子：原指刮刷头发的小刷子，所蘸十分有限。引申作量词。

[13] 紧溜——紧要关头。

[14] 掂多少过子——以一事作话柄，反复提起。掂，掂量。

CHAPTER 55. A foolish concubine seeks to humiliate her own daughter And an ill-natured stewardess tries to outwit her young mistress

As we were saying, the First Month festivities in the Rong-guo mansion were scarcely over when Xi-feng had a miscarriage. Confined for a month to her room by doctor’s orders and with two or three physicians in daily attendance on her, she was unable to keep up her usual management of the household’s affairs; yet so confident was she of her powers of recovery that she continued, in spite of remonstrances, to plan things from her sick-room, despatching Patience with messages to Lady Wang whenever she thought of something that needed doing.

Lady Wang for her part was like a woman who has lost a limb. Never at the best of times an energetic person, she attended to only the most important matters herself and left most of the routine business to Li Wan. Unfortunately Li Wan, though a model young woman in some respects, was not a good manager and allowed the servants to do more or less as they liked. Soon Lady Wang was obliged to call in Tan-chun as a reinforcement. It would only be for a month, she told them. If they could hold out for a month, Xi-feng would by then be better and would be able to take over once more.

But Xi-feng was not as robust as she supposed. Like many young people she had not been taking proper care of herself, and the excessive demands she had for some time past been making on her nervous energies had seriously weakened a constitution that was already far from strong. The miscarriage was in fact only a symptom of her body’s exhaustion. A month later it was followed by the beginning of a chronic small discharge of blood from the womb. Although she was unwilling to tell anyone about it, it was apparent to everyone from her gaunt and yellow look that something must be seriously the matter with her.

Lady Wang insisted that she should make a more serious effort to get better: she must follow the treatment prescribed for her; above all she must stop worrying about the household. Xi-feng was herself beginning to be afraid that the trouble might develop into a major illness which would leave her at the mercy of her enemies and was now willing to take time off to recuperate. But in spite of her impatience to get better, the weakness was not to be cured in a day, and it was not until well into the autumn of that year, after months of slow convalescence, that her body recovered its strength and the discharge of blood finally dried up.

But we anticipate. Let us return to the time about a month after the miscarriage when Lady Wang was beginning to realize that her niece was far from better and could not be expected to relieve Li Wan and Tan-chun of their duties.

Lady Wang was worried about the Garden. There were far too many people in it: she feared that they were receiving insufficient supervision. Calling Bao-chai to her, she entrusted her with their surveillance.

‘Those older women are no good,’ she told her. ‘They drink and play cards whenever they have a moment to spare. They sleep in the daytime and play cards at night, I know they do. When Feng was up and about, there was someone they were afraid of; but now that she is out of the way, I expect they do just as they please. Now my dear, I know you are a dependable person. Your cousins are too young for these matters and I am too busy. Will you please, for my sake, keep your eye on things for the next week or two? If you come across anything I have missed, point it out to me. I don’t want Lady Jia asking me about things and finding that I don’t know the answer. If you see any of the servants misbehaving, let me know. And report them if they are disobedient. Don’t wait for things to get out of hand before speaking up about them.’

Bao-chai, whatever she thought of this request, could not very well refuse it.

Spring was now at its height. Dai-yu’s seasonal cough had returned, and in All-spice Court Shi Xiang-yun lay ill in bed with some epidemic sickness that required constant medical attention. Li Wan and Tan-chun, though neighbours, were too far apart for their present circumstances, since servants had to keep going from one place to the other looking for them, so it was decided that for purposes of household management they should meet at six o’clock each morning in a little three-frame reception room on the south side of the Garden gate. They would eat their lunch there and would be available for seeing people on household business there up to the end of the morning.

This reception room had originally been intended as a place for the senior eunuchs to sit at the time of the Visitation. After the Visitation was over there was no further use for it – in the daytime, at any rate; at night it provided a convenient meeting-place for the women who made up the watch. Now that the weather was getting warmer, it did not need a great deal doing to it – beyond moving in one or two pieces of furniture – to turn it into a comfortable office for the young managers. It had a board over the doorway bearing the inscription

SUPPORT BENEVOLENCE PROMOTE VIRTUE

but the servants always referred to it simply as ‘the jobs room’.

Thither, then, at six o’clock each morning the two sisters-in-law repaired and sat there until noon while a stream of stewardesses and serving women trooped in and out reporting on their duties and asking for their instructions.

To begin with, when the servants heard that Li Wan would be managing the household on her own, all of them were secretly pleased. She was known to be a kind, easy-going sort of person who disliked giving punishments, and with her in command they felt sure that it would be much easier than usual to get away with things. Even the addition of Tan-chun did not materially alter these expectations. Tan-chun was young and unmarried and, so far as one could judge, a quiet and docile girl. They foresaw no trouble from that quarter and were, as a consequence, inclined to take liberties in her presence that they would not have dared to do with Xi-feng. Within only a few days of her arrival, however, they had begun to sense, from the way in which she handled one or two of the matters that were brought to her attention, that though quieter-spoken than Xi-feng and of a much more equable disposition, she yielded nothing to her in thoroughness.

By coincidence it happened that about this time a dozen or more important events – promotions, demotions, marriages, deaths and the like – occurred in rapid succession among the group of aristocratic and official families connected by matrimonial or other ties with the Ning-guo and Rong-guo Jias, and for days on end Lady Wang’s time was taken up with visits of condolence or felicitation. Some responsible person was needed to stand in for her while she was away; so while Li Wan and Tan-chun spent all their mornings in the office, Bao-chai spent hers in Lady Wang’s apartment, only leaving it when her aunt got home from her visiting. At night the three young guardians spent whatever time could be spared from their sewing patrolling the Garden in sedans, escorted by the old women of the watch. Working together in this way they soon came to feel that they had evolved a system of supervision more careful even than Xi-feng’s – a view amply borne out by the grumbles of the domestics themselves:

‘No sooner is the Terror of the Seas put out of action than along come these three Scourges of the Mountains to take her place. Nowadays you can’t even take time off for a quiet drink of a night or a little game of cards!’

A day came when Lady Wang was due to attend a luncheon at the Marquis of Jin-xiang’s. Li Wan and Tan-chun, after an early toilet, had attended her to the gate and seen her off. They had just got back to their office and were enjoying a morning cup of tea when Wu Xin-deng’s wife came in to report:

‘Mrs Zhao’s brother, Zhao Guo-ji, died yesterday. I told Her Ladyship and she said I was to report it to you.’

Having delivered this brief communiqué, she stood in silence, her arms held stiffly at her sides, waiting for a reply. A number of stewardesses who were waiting their turn to report, pricked up their ears at this mention of Tan-chun’s natural mother and waited with interest to see what the two young deputies would decide. If their decision was a good one, they would in future treat them with respect; but if it was one in which there was the slightest possibility of picking holes, not only would they not respect them, but afterwards, when they got back outside, they would have many a good laugh at their expense.

The behaviour of Wu Xin-deng’s wife on this occasion was quite deliberate. If it had been Xi-feng that she was reporting to, she would have demonstrated her efficiency by making one or two helpful suggestions, having armed herself beforehand with some precedents for Xi-feng to choose from; but as it was only Li Wan and Tan-chun, one of whom she despised for her softness and the other for her youth, she merely stated her business and left them to flounder unaided.

Tan-chun turned questioningly to Li Wan.

‘When Aroma’s mother died recently, didn’t they give her forty taels?’ said Li Wan after thinking for a bit. ‘I suppose we’d better give her forty taels.’

‘Yes ma’am,’ said Wu Xin-deng’s wife, and taking up a tally, went hurrying off to collect the money.

‘Just a minute!’ Tan-chun called out after her.

Wu Xin-deng’s wife returned – a trifle reluctantly it could be observed.

‘Don’t collect that money yet,’ said Tan-chun. ‘There’s something I want to ask you. Of the old women in Lady Jia’s apartment who used to be chamber-wives when my grandfather was alive, some must have been home-reared and some must have been bought outside. There’s a different scale for the two kinds, isn’t there? How much do the home-reared ones get when someone in their family dies and how much do the ones from outside get? Give us one or two examples so that we have something to go on.’

Not having prepared herself for such a question, Wu Xin-deng’s wife was unable to answer it. She covered up for herself, all smiles:

‘It’s not a very important matter. Just give what you think. No one’s going to question your decision.’

Tan-chun smiled back:

‘Now you are talking nonsense. Suppose I said, “Give her a hundred taels”? No, we have to give what is right: otherwise, quite apart from the fact that you will all laugh at us, how am I going to face Mrs Lian when I next see her?’

‘Very good then, I’ll go and look up the old accounts,’ said Wu Xin-deng’s wife. ‘I can’t at the moment remember.’

‘You’ve been working here all these years and you can’t remember?’ said Tan-chun. ‘I think you are trying to make things difficult for us. I can’t believe that you have to go off and look things up when Mrs Lian asks you a question. If you do, all I can say is that she is not such a strict mistress as she is supposed to be; in fact, I should say that she was a rather indulgent one. All right, hurry up and fetch the accounts then! If this matter is delayed, it isn’t your negligence that will be blamed but our incompetence.’

Blushing to the roots of her hair, Wu Xin-deng’s wife hurried off to do as she was bidden. The other women gasped and stuck their tongues out in surprise. Reporting on other matters continued in her absence.

After a little while she returned with the account-books. On examination Tan-chun found two instances of home-reared concubines receiving twenty taels and two of ‘outsiders’ receiving forty taels. She also found an instance of an outsider receiving a hundred taels and one of an outsider receiving sixty; but in each case a note explaining special circumstances had been made against the entry: in the first case the body of a parent had had to be conveyed in its coffin for interment in another province and the extra sixty taels was to cover the cost of transport; in the second case the extra twenty taels was for the purchase of a plot of ground for burial. Tan-chun handed Li Wan the relevant account to look at, while at the same time informing Wu Xin-deng’s wife of her decision:

‘Give her twenty taels. And leave these accounts with us, so that we can have a good look at them.’

Wu Xin-deng’s wife went off once more.

The next thing that happened was that Aunt Zhao came stalking in. Li Wan and Tan-chun invited her to be seated, but Aunt Zhao was in no mood for polite preliminaries.

‘Everyone in this family tramples on me,’ she said, addressing herself to Tan-chun. ‘Don’t you think that you at least might stick up for me?’

She began crying messily, the abundant moisture seeming to come as much from her nostrils as from her eyes.

‘Who are you complaining about?’ said Tan-chun. ‘I really don’t understand you. Who’s been trampling on you? If you would tell me, perhaps I might be able to “stick up” for you.’

‘You have, for a start,’ said Aunt Zhao. ‘That doesn’t leave me anyone to turn to, does it?’

Tan-chun leaped to her feet:

‘I shouldn’t dream of trampling on you.’

Li Wan, too, stood up and made some soothing remark or other. But Aunt Zhao was not to be placated:

‘Sit down both of you, and listen to me. I’ve given the best years of my life to this family – years and years and years. I’ve borne two children for them, you and your brother. And now, after all that, I’m not even to be treated as well as Aroma. What sort of face does that leave me with? What sort of face does it leave you with – never mind me?’

Tan-chun laughed mirthlessly:

‘Oh that’s what this is about! The simple answer to that is that I have to follow the rules.’

She sat down again, opened up the account-book and, holding it out for Aunt Zhao to see, read the relevant entries out to her.

‘These regulations were laid down by the ancestors for everyone to follow. I can’t suddenly go altering them. It isn’t just Aroma. It will be exactly the same if one day Huan has a chamber-wife from outside. If someone in her family dies, then, as an outsider, she will get exactly the same amount as Aroma did. It has nothing to do with who is more important than whom. It isn’t a matter of prestige at all. Zhao Guo-ji was Lady Wang’s bondservant. That means that he belongs to the “home-reared” class. The rules lay down a certain scale of payments for that class. All I have done is to follow the rules. I am sure that Zhao Guo-ji must approve and be grateful to the ancestors and Lady Wang for their generosity. If he doesn’t – if he thinks he is being unfairly treated – then all I can say is that he is stupid and ungrateful and one can’t really care very much what he thinks. As regards face, it makes no difference to me whether Lady Wang gives him everything she’s got or nothing at all. And I really do think that while she is away you might try to compose yourself a bit and not go working yourself up into such a state. Although Lady Wang is so good to me, I am constantly worried that you will spoil everything with your perpetual trouble-making. If I’d been a boy I should have left home long ago and done something to show myself worthy of her kindness; but as I am a girl, I have to stay at home and never say a word out of turn. I believe she realizes this, and because she thinks highly of me she has entrusted me with this managing job as a means of proving myself. But before I have had a chance to do anything, you have to come along and start making things difficult for me. If Lady Wang gets to hear of it, she will probably conclude that the job is too hard for me and take it away again. That would be a real loss of face – for you as well as for me.’

Tan-chun’s shoulders began to shake as she said this and she ended up by bursting into tears.

Aunt Zhao did not really have an answer to what Tan-chun had said, so she tried another tack.

‘If Lady Wang is so fond of you, you ought to use your position to give us a helping hand. The fact is, though, you are so anxious to keep in her good books that you forget about us altogether.’

‘Of course I don’t forget about you,’ said Tan-chun. ‘But what do you mean by giving you a “helping hand”? A good mistress will always be favourable to those who try hard and make themselves useful, and a good servant doesn’t need any “helping hand” in order to keep in her favour.’

Li Wan hovered between them, still trying to act the peacemaker:

‘Please don’t be angry, Mrs Zhao. You mustn’t blame Tan-chun. I’m sure she’s most anxious to give you all the help she can; but you could hardly expect her to say so.’

‘Don’t talk such stuff, Wan!’ said Tan-chun impatiently. ‘Help whom, for goodness sake? Whoever heard of the young mistress in a family helping the servants? Their private interests are no concern of mine, as you perfectly well know.’

‘We’re not talking about “servants”, we’re talking about me,’ said Aunt Zhao angrily. ‘If you hadn’t been in charge now, I’d never have asked you. At this particular moment you happen to be in charge here. Very well. Your mother’s brother has just died. If you decide to give an extra twenty or thirty taels towards his funeral, Her Ladyship isn’t going to stop you, is she? Of course she isn’t. We all know what a good, kind person Her Ladyship is. It’s mean, tight-fisted people like you interfering that stop her being generous. I simply don’t know what you’re worried about. It isn’t your money you’re spending. I’d been hoping that one of these days when you grew up and got married you’d be able to do our Zhao family a bit of good. But not you! You’re in such a hurry to find a higher branch to perch on, you’ve forgotten the nest even before your feathers are full-grown!’

Tan-chun went white, and for a moment anger deprived her of her breath. When she regained it she broke into louder sobs.

‘Who is this “mother’s brother”? The only mother’s brother I know about is the one who has just been appointed Inspector-General of Armies in the Nine Provinces. I’m sure I always try to show respect where it is due, but no one ever told me that I ought to think of Zhao Guo-ji as my uncle. If so, how is it that he always stood up for Huan and walked behind him on his way to school in the mornings? Why didn’t he insist on being treated as an uncle by Huan? But what’s the point? Everyone knows it was you who bore me. Two or three months never go by without your making a scene about something or other just to give yourself an opportunity of proclaiming the fact. And you talk about face! It’s a good job I understand your little game. If I were a simple-minded person and not very sure of my position, it would have driven me distracted long ago.’

The ever more agitated attempts at peace-making by Li Wan and continuing gabble of complaint from Aunt Zhao which followed this outburst were suddenly interrupted by a call from the women outside:

‘Here’s Miss Patience with a message from Mrs Lian.’

At once Aunt Zhao fell silent. She advanced fawningly on Patience as she entered:

‘Is your mistress any better, Patience? I’ve been meaning to go round and see her, but I just haven’t had the time.’

Li Wan asked Patience what she had come for.

‘Mrs Lian heard that Mrs Zhao’s brother had died and she was afraid you might not know what to give. She said according to the rule it should be twenty taels, but in this particular case Miss Tan should feel free to add on a bit if she sees fit.’

‘Oh? On what grounds, I wonder?’ said Tan-chun, who had by this time wiped the traces of tears from her face. ‘I’m not aware that there was anything very special about this person. His mother didn’t carry him for twenty-four months before he was born. He didn’t rescue his master on the battlefield from under a heap of corpses and carry him to safety on his back. It is very ingenious of your mistress, getting me to break the rules so that she can take the credit for being generous, but if she wishes to play the Lady Bountiful by giving away other people’s money, I’m afraid she will have to wait. Tell her that I absolutely refuse to take responsibility for any change in the rules. If she wants to make a change, let her wait until she is better. Then she can add on as much as she likes!’

Patience had already had a rough idea of the situation when she arrived and by the time Tan-chun finished speaking she had sized it up completely. Observing the anger in Tan-chun’s face, she did not presume to reply in the joking, light-hearted manner she would normally have adopted with her, but stood in silence, with her arms held submissively at her sides.

It was now about the time when Bao-chai usually came over from Lady Wang’s apartment for discussion. Tan-chun and Li Wan stood up to greet her as she entered and invited her to sit with them. Before they had a chance to begin talking, however, one of the women who had been waiting outside came in to make her report.

Because Tan-chun had recently been crying, three or four maids had already been to fetch water and towels and a hand-mirror so that she could wash her face. As she was at this moment sitting cross-legged on a low wooden couch, the maid carrying the hand-basin went down on both her knees to bring it to a convenient level for her, whereupon the girls bearing the towels, hand-mirror, cosmetics and so forth also knelt down on either side. Seeing that Tan-chun’s body-servant Scribe was not present, Patience hurriedly stepped forward, rolled back Tan-chun’s sleeves for her, removed her bracelets and tucked a large towel round her neck to protect the front of her dress. As Tan-chun stretched out her hands to begin washing, the woman who had just entered began to make her report:

‘Excuse me Mrs Zhu; excuse me Miss Tan. The school want to draw this year’s allowance for Master Huan and Master Lan.’

‘What’s the hurry?’ snapped Patience. ‘Haven’t you got eyes in your head? Can’t you see that Miss Tan is washing? You ought to be waiting outside. What do you mean by bursting in like this? Would you behave like this if Mrs Lian were here? Miss Tan is a kind young lady and lets you get away with it, but if I tell Mrs Lian when I get back how little respect you show her, you’ll be in serious trouble – and don’t say I didn’t warn you!’

Thoroughly alarmed, the woman put on her broadest smile and retreated, apologizing, from the room.

Tan-chun, who had finished washing and was now making up her face, looked up at Patience with a sardonic smile:

‘It’s a pity you didn’t come a bit earlier. You missed the best part of the comedy. Wu Xin-deng’s wife, who has spent a whole lifetime in service, came here without having bothered to look up the records, in the hope of making us look foolish. Fortunately I thought to ask her what the rule was; but then she had the effrontery to tell me that she had forgotten. I told her that I didn’t think she would forget things and have to go off and look them up if it was your mistress that she was dealing with.’

‘I should think not, indeed!’ said Patience. ‘If she had ever tried a trick like that on Mrs Lian, she’d have some nasty scars on her backside to show for it, I can tell you! Don’t you believe any of them, miss! They think that because Mrs Zhu is such a kind, saintly person and you are such a quiet, shy young lady they can get away with anything.’

She turned to address the women who were standing outside the door:

‘Keep it up all of you! Just carry on with these little tricks! See what happens to you when Mrs Lian is better!’

‘Now, now, you know us better than that, miss!’ said the women, laughing. ‘“Let him face the summons that did the offence”. We wouldn’t pull the wool over a young mistress’s eyes. We know perfectly well that if a young unmarried lady like Miss Tan was to get really angry with us, it would be more than our lives was worth.’

‘Well, as long as you know, that’s all right,’ said Patience drily. She turned back to Tan-chun. ‘I’m sure you must realize, miss: Mrs Lian is much too busy to think of everything and there must be quite a few things that she’s overlooked. They say “the bystander sees all”, and during the years that you’ve been quietly looking on as a bystander you may have noticed cases in which more or perhaps less ought to be given that Mrs Lian herself has never got around to dealing with. If you were to take this opportunity of putting them right, you’d be doing Her Ladyship a good turn and at the same time it would be a kindness to my mistress which I’m sure she would appreciate.’

Before she had finished, Bao-chai and Li Wan were both laughing.

‘Patience, you’re wonderful! No wonder Feng is so devoted to you. The way you’ve just put it, you make us feel that even if there are no grounds for altering the rules, we ought to try and find some, just so as not to disappoint you!’

Tan-chun joined in their laughter:

‘I still feel very angry. Until she came along, I was hoping to work some of it off on her mistress, but she’s been so reasonable about it all that I hardly know what to do!’

She called in the woman whom Patience had chased out a few minutes earlier.

‘What are these allowances for Master Huan and Master Lan that the school is asking for?’

‘Eight taels each a year, miss. It’s for paper, writing-brushes and refreshments.’

‘But these expenses are already provided for in the monthly allowances,’ said Tan-chun. ‘Mrs Zhao gets two taels a month for Huan, Aroma gets two a month for Bao-yu from Her Ladyship, and Lan’s expenses are covered by Mrs Zhu’s allowance. Why should we pay an additional eight taels for each of them to the school? Is that what they go to school for, to collect the money? I think we should cancel that payment from now on. Patience, go back and tell your mistress: I insist that these payments should be discontinued.’

‘They should have been long ago,’ said Patience. ‘Mrs Lian had decided to stop them last year, but with so much going on over the New Year, she forgot about it.’

The woman who had come for the allowances had to go off empty-handed.

Women from Prospect Garden now arrived carrying food-boxes containing Li Wan’s and Tan-chun’s lunch. They were preceded by the maids Scribe and Candida who carried a little table between them which they put down in front of their mistresses. Patience busied herself by taking dishes from the food-boxes and putting them on the table; but Tan-chun stopped her:

‘If you have nothing more to say, you had better be about your own business. There is nothing for you to do here.’

‘I haven’t got any other business,’ said Patience, smiling. ‘That’s why Mrs Lian sent me here. Partly it was to bring you the message, but partly it was because she was afraid the servants here might be giving you trouble and she thought I might be able to make myself useful.’

‘Why hasn’t Miss Bao’s lunch been brought here so that she can eat with us?’ Tan-chun inquired.

At once one of the maids went outside and gave an order to the women who were waiting there under the eaves:

‘Miss Bao’s going to have her lunch here with the other young ladies. Tell them to bring it here.’

The raised voice of Tan-chun, who had overheard her, issued from behind her in reproof:

‘Who are you ordering about like that? Those are stewardesses out there and senior members of the domestic staff. You can’t make them run to and fro fetching and carrying things for you. Have you no respect for seniority? Patience is standing around here with nothing to do: why don’t you get her to go?’

Not waiting to be ordered, Patience murmured something and hurried out; but the women outside silently waylaid her and with broad smiles prevented her from going.

‘We can’t let you go, miss: that would never do! In any case, we’ve already sent someone.’

They dusted the steps with their handkerchiefs and invited her to sit down:

‘There you are, miss, sit there in the sun and rest yourself. You must be tired after standing about for so long.’

Patience was about to sit down when two women from the tea-kitchen rushed up to her with a rug:

‘That stone’s too cold to sit on. Here’s a nice clean rug. You sit on this, miss.’

Patience smiled and nodded:

‘Thank you very much.’

Another woman came out carrying a cup of tea for her on a tray.

‘Here you are, miss,’ she whispered. ‘This isn’t the tea we usually drink. This is the kind we make for the mistresses. Try some of that for a change.’

Patience bowed and took the cup, then, shaking a reproving finger at the women, she admonished them in a voice that she kept low so as not to be audible inside:

‘You’ve gone too far this time and no mistake! Miss Tan is a real little lady, but just because she is too well-bred to throw her weight about, it doesn’t mean that you can afford to take advantage of her. On the contrary, you ought to respect her all the more for it. If she were ever to get really angry, my word you would be in trouble! It wouldn’t just be a question of saying “sorry” then. If she took it into her head to throw a tantrum, even Her Ladyship would have to give in to her. Mrs Lian certainly wouldn’t stand in her way, she wouldn’t dare. So just what makes you so bold against her I do not know. You might just as well pelt a rock with eggs as set yourselves up against her!’

‘We wouldn’t dare set ourselves up against her,’ said the women. ‘This was all Mrs Zhao’s doing.’

‘Oh, come on now!’ said Patience, still speaking in a half-whisper. ‘Everyone likes to push a falling wall. We all know that Mrs Zhao isn’t the most sensible of mortals. She doesn’t know whether she’s coming or going half the time. It’s just a bit too easy to blame it all on her when things go wrong. Do you think after all the years I’ve been here I don’t know how unmanageable and how ruthless you can be? If Mrs Lian were just a shade less determined, she’d have been finished off by you lot years ago. As it is, you only need half a chance to start making things difficult for her. Many and many’s the time she’s nearly come unstuck because of your whispering. Everyone’s always saying what a holy terror she is and how you’re all afraid of her. I’m probably the only one who realizes that in her heart of hearts she’s actually afraid of you. As a matter of fact she and I were talking about this only the other day. We both agreed that if you didn’t make yourselves a bit more accommodating, there were sure to be one or two explosions. Miss Tan may be only a young girl, but you’re completely mistaken in treating her like this. Even Mrs Lian is a tiny bit scared of Miss Tan. Of all the young ladies in this household Miss Tan is the only one she feels that way about. And yet you think you can do what you like with her!’

Just then Ripple approached and the women all crowded round to greet her.

‘Better stay outside with us for a bit, miss,’ they said. ‘They’ve just laid for lunch inside. Better wait until they take the table away before going in to report anything.’

‘I’m not like you,’ said Ripple loftily. ‘I can’t wait.’

She began mounting the steps.

‘Come back at once!’ Patience called after her.

Ripple looked back and saw that it was Patience.

‘Oh, what are you doing here? Sentry duty?’

She came down again then and sat beside Patience on the rug.

‘What have you come about?’ Patience asked her in a low voice.

‘I want to ask about Bao-yu’s and our allowances for this month. We’ve been wondering when we’re going to get them.’

‘Oh that!’ said Patience. ‘That’s not very important. Go back and tell Aroma this – say I told you to tell her: no matter what it is, don’t come here asking for anything today. Anything you ask for will be refused. If you ask for a hundred things, one after the other, the answer will be “no” every time.’

‘Why’s that?’ said Ripple.

Patience and the women explained, pointing out that to go in and ask for something on Bao-yu’s behalf at the very moment when Tan-chun was looking around for someone of consequence to make an example of would be simply courting disaster.

‘There’s no sense in your going in now,’ said Patience. ‘Either way it will be awkward. If they make an example of Bao-yu they will risk offending Their Ladyships; if they don’t make an example of him You Know Who will call it favouritism and complain that they daren’t provoke anyone who has Their Ladyships behind them and only take it out on the weak ones who can’t protect themselves. You wait and see: they’ll even turn down one or two requests from Mrs Lian before they’ve finished, just to stop certain people talking.’

Ripple stuck her tongue out in a grimace.

‘It’s a good job I met you here. I should only have got smut on my nose if I’d gone inside. I’d better go back straight away then and tell the others.’

She rose and went away.

Presently Bao-chai’s lunch arrived and Patience went inside again to help serve it. By this time Aunt Zhao had already left. The three young women sat cross-legged on the wooden settle around the low lunch-table which had been placed upon it, Bao-chai facing south, towards the doorway, Tan-chun facing west and Li Wan facing east. Only their personal maids stayed inside the room to serve them; no one else dared enter. The women waited quietly on the verandah outside, discussing the situation in whispers:

‘Better keep out of trouble from now on. Better not try any more funny business. Look what happened to Mrs Wu, and she’s ever so much senior to us!’

Their whispered conversation continued intermittently until lunch was over. They knew it was over when the sound of chopsticks on bowls and dishes ceased and only an occasional low cough could be heard from inside. Presently a maid appeared in the doorway and held the portière up high to let two other maids through who were carrying out the lunch-table. Another three maids with wash-basins were already waiting outside who went in as soon as the other two had finished carrying out the table. Soon they too came out again, each carrying a wash-basin as before and also a spittoon. Then Scribe, Candida and Oriole arrived, each with a covered teacup on a tray, and went in. A little later this last trio reemerged. As they did so, Scribe stopped for a moment to admonish the junior maids who were remaining behind:

‘Now do your job properly. We’ll be back to relieve you as soon as we’ve had our lunch. No sneaking off to sit down while we’re away!’

The departure of Scribe and the other two was a signal for the women outside to begin going in, one by one, to report on their various business. They did this sedately enough, with none of the careless insolence they had been showing previously. Tan-chun’s customary good nature gradually reasserted itself and presently she turned to Patience and addressed her in a normal tone of voice:

‘There’s an important matter that I have been wanting to consult your mistress about. I’m glad I’ve remembered it now. Come back again as soon as you have finished your lunch, while Miss Bao is still here, and the four of us can discuss it together; then, when we’ve worked out all the details, we can ask your mistress whether to go forward with it or not.’

‘Yes, miss,’ said Patience, and promptly left.

When she got back, Xi-feng asked her why she had been so long and received a full account of what had happened which greatly entertained her.

‘Good! Good!’ she said. ‘Good for Tan-chun! I always said she’d make an excellent little manager. Oh, what a pity she wasn’t born in the right bed!’

‘Now you’re talking stupid, madam,’ said Patience. ‘Although she’s not Her Ladyship’s child by birth, surely no one is going to think any the worse of her because of that? Won’t she always be treated exactly the same as the rest?’

Xi-feng sighed:

‘I’m afraid it’s not quite as simple as you think. I know being a wife’s or a concubine’s child is not supposed to make any difference, and in a boy’s case perhaps it doesn’t; but I’m afraid with girls, when the time comes to start finding husbands for them, it often does. Nowadays you get a very shallow class of person who will ask about that before anything else and often, if they hear that the girl is a concubine’s child, will have nothing further to do with her. It’s silly, really, because if they did but know it, even the maids in a household like ours are better than the wife’s daughters in many another household, let alone the daughters of concubines. In the case of girls like Tan-chun and Ying-chun it’s hard to say. They might be unlucky and make a bad match through being discriminated against, or then again they might be lucky: someone might come along who didn’t care about these distinctions and they might make a perfectly good marriage.’

Xi-feng paused for a moment and smiled at Patience confidingly:

‘Because of all the economies I’ve introduced during these last few years there’s hardly anyone in this household who doesn’t secretly hate me. But it’s like riding a tiger: I daren’t relax my grip for a single moment for fear of being eaten. In any case, our expenditure is still far above our income. The trouble is, everything in this household from the largest down to the smallest item has to be done on a scale and according to rules that were laid down by our ancestors; but unfortunately the income from our property is not what it was in their days. If we do economize, the family looks ridiculous, Their Ladyships feel uncomfortable, and the servants complain of our harshness; yet if we don’t economize, in a very few years’ time we shall be bankrupt.’

‘I know,’ said Patience. ‘And there are three or four young ladies and two or three young masters to provide for, and Her Old Ladyship: all these big expenses are yet to come.’

‘Ah, I’ve allowed for them,’ said Xi-feng. ‘Those expenses I think we can just about manage. Bao-yu’s bride-price and Miss Lin’s dowry won’t involve us in any expense because Her Old Ladyship will pay them out of her private savings and Miss Ying will be taken care of by Sir She. Of the girls, that only leaves Miss Tan and Miss Xi. They’re not going to cost more than seven or eight thousand each at the outside. Then there’s Huan: they’re not going to spend all that much on him: say three thousand. Even if we can’t raise all of that, we can probably get by with a little judicious pruning. As for Her Old Ladyship: the main things have been paid for already; there will only be various miscellaneous expenses. Four or five thousand will probably be ample. No, as long as we can economize a bit, we shall be able to deal with those expenses as they come along. What really worries me is the possibility of one or two large items of expenditure turning up which we hadn’t been expecting. Then I am afraid we really shall be done for!

‘But let’s not worry about these far-off things just now. You must hurry up and have your lunch so that you can get back and find out what it is they want to talk about. I’m delighted that things should be turning out in this way. It’s what I’ve always wanted, someone to take a bit of the weight off my shoulders. There’s Bao-yu of course; but he isn’t really one of us, so even if I were to win him over, he wouldn’t be very much use. Mrs Zhu is such a Holy Buddha, she’s no good. Miss Ying’s even worse – and anyway she doesn’t properly belong to this household. Miss Xi is still childish. Lan is little more than a baby. Huan is like a singed cat in the cold, only looking for a warm stove or a corner of a kang to curl up on – How the same mother could produce two children such poles apart as him and Tan-chun I never shall understand! – Miss Lin and Miss Bao are both very capable girls, but unfortunately they’re not of our surname and can’t very well be expected to involve themselves in running our affairs. And in any case, one of them’s like a beautiful picture-lantern: you feel that a puff of wind would blow her out; and the other is so determined not to open her mouth about what doesn’t concern her that a shake or a nod or an “I don’t know” is about all you can ever get out of her and you feel a bit awkward about asking her to do anything. And that only leaves Miss Tan. She’s got a good mind; she’s good at expressing herself; she belongs to the right lineage; Her Ladyship likes her; she’s a bit unsure of herself perhaps, but that’s all the doing of that wretched Zhao woman; in other respects she’s very much like Bao-yu. She’s certainly not in the least like Huan. He really is the most objectionable child. If I had my way he’d have been sent packing long ago. No, if she’s got the determination to do this job, let’s go along with her, I say. Let’s make an ally of her, so that I don’t have to go on feeling so isolated. From a high-minded, honourable point of view, having her to help us will save us a good deal of anxiety, and in the long run Her Ladyship will benefit. But there is also a not so high-minded, rather more selfish way of looking at it. I’ve been too ruthless, I know I have. I ought to step back now and take stock of things. I can’t keep the pressure up any longer. People hate me so much already, there are daggers in their smiles. You and I have only two pairs of eyes between us. If I carry on as I have been doing, sooner or later they are bound to catch us off our guard and I shall be destroyed. So you see, her stepping forward and taking command just when things are at their liveliest means that the heat will be turned off me for the time being and people’s resentment against me will have a chance to cool down.

‘There’s something else I want to say to you. I know you are a very intelligent person, but I am afraid you may find it rather hard to transfer your allegiance, so I want to impress this on you now. Although Miss Tan may be only a girl, there are very few things that she doesn’t know about. You mustn’t be taken in by her quiet manner. In fact, being able to read and write, she’s if anything better equipped to manage things than I am. Now they always say that anyone who wants to break a gang up should begin by arresting the leader, and her immediate concern must be to make an example of someone as a means of establishing her authority. That being so, you can be quite sure that I shall be the person she’ll pick on first to make an example of. If she starts criticizing anything I have said or done, don’t try to defend it; just be very polite and say that the criticism is justified. Don’t, whatever you do, stand up to her out of a mistaken sense of loyalty to me: that’s the last thing I want you to do.’

Before she could go on, Patience laughingly interrupted her:

‘Why are you so ready to assume that other people are stupid? I’ve been taking that line with her already; I don’t need you to tell me!’

‘I was afraid you might have no time for anyone but me,’ said Xi-feng. ‘That was my only reason for warning you. If you have been taking that line with her already, so much the better. Evidently you are cleverer than I am. By the way, aren’t you perhaps getting a little carried away – this “you”, “you”, “you” all of a sudden? What’s wrong with “madam”?’

‘I’ll say “you” if I want to,’ said Patience. ‘If you don’t like it, there’s always my face to slap. It won’t be the first time it’s enjoyed that privilege!’

‘Little beast!’ said Xi-feng. ‘How many times do you intend to go on dragging that up? Fancy provoking me with a thing like that when you know how ill I am! Come on! There aren’t any visitors about. Come over and sit here with me. We’d better get on with our lunch.’

Felicity and three or four junior maids came in at this point carrying a short-legged table between them which they set down on the kang. Xi-feng’s lunch consisted of no more than some bird’s nest soup and a couple of small, light dishes suitable for an invalid palate. Unable to eat more, she had cancelled the portion that under normal catering arrangements would have been her due. Felicity put the four dishes to which Patience was entitled on Xi-feng’s table and filled her a bowlful of rice. Patience then half sat, half stood with one foot curled underneath her on the edge of the kang and the other one resting on the floor, and in that position kept Xi-feng company while she ate her lunch. When they had both finished eating, she helped Xi-feng to wash and rinse out her mouth, then, after a few admonitory words to Felicity, went back to rejoin Tan-chun and the others in the office.

Outside the office building the forecourt was quiet and deserted. The stewardesses who had formerly been waiting there had now all gone off about their business.

What happened when she went inside will be related in the following chapter.