第六十回

第六十回 茉莉粉替去蔷薇硝 玫瑰露引来茯苓霜

话说袭人因问平儿，何事这等忙乱。平儿笑道：“都是世人想不到的，说来也好笑，等几日告诉你，如今没头绪呢，且也不得闲儿。”一语未了，只见李纨的丫鬟来了，说：“平姐姐可在这里，奶奶等你，你怎么不去了？”平儿忙转身出来，口内笑说：“来了，来了。”袭人等笑道：“他奶奶病了，他又成了香饽饽了，都抢不到手。”平儿去了。不提。

宝玉便叫春燕：“你跟了你妈去，到宝姑娘房里给莺儿几句好话听听，也不可白得罪了他。”春燕答应了，和他妈出去。宝玉又隔窗说道：“不可当着宝姑娘说，仔细反叫莺儿受教导。”

娘儿两个应了出来，一壁走着，一面说闲话儿。春燕因向他娘道：“我素日劝你老人家再不信，何苦闹出没趣来才罢。”他娘笑道：“小蹄子，你走罢，俗语道：‘不经一事，不长一智。’我如今知道了。你又该来支问着我。”春燕笑道：“妈，你若安分守己，在这屋里长久了，自有许多的好处。我且〔一〕告诉你句话：宝玉常说，将来这屋里的人，无论家里外头的，一应我们这些人，他都要回太太全放出去，与本人父母自便呢。你只说这一件可好不好？”他娘听说，喜的忙问：“这话果真？”春燕道：“谁可扯这谎做什么？”婆子听了，便念佛不绝。

当下来至蘅芜苑中，正值宝钗、黛玉、薛姨妈等吃饭。莺儿自去泡茶，春燕便和他妈一径到莺儿前，陪笑说“方才言语冒撞了，姑娘莫嗔莫怪，特来陪罪”等语。莺儿忙笑让坐，又倒茶。他娘儿两个说有事，便作辞回来。

忽见蕊官赶出叫：“妈妈姐姐，略站一站。”一面走上来，递了一个纸包与他们，说是蔷薇硝，带与芳官去擦脸。春燕笑道：“你们也太小气了，还怕那里没这个与他，巴巴的你又弄一包给他去。”蕊官道：“他是他的，我送的是我的。好姐姐，千万带回去罢。”春燕只得接了。娘儿两个回来，正值贾环贾琮二人来问候宝玉，也才进去。春燕便向他娘说：“只我进去罢，你老不用去。”他娘听了，自此便百依百随的，不敢倔强了。

春燕进来，宝玉知道回复，便先点头。春燕知意，便不再说一语，略站了一站，便转身出来，使眼色与芳官。芳官出来，春燕方悄悄的说与他蕊官之事，并与了他硝。宝玉并无与琮环可谈之语，因笑问芳官手里是什么。芳官便忙递与宝玉瞧，又说是擦春癣的蔷薇硝。宝玉笑道：“亏他想得到。”贾环听了，便伸着头瞧了一瞧，又闻得一股清香，便弯腰向靴桶内掏出一张纸来托着，笑说：“好哥哥，给我一半儿。”宝玉只得要与他。芳官心中因是蕊官之赠，不肯与别人，连忙拦住，笑说道：“别动这个，我另拿些来。”宝玉会意，忙笑包上，说道：“快取来。”

芳官接了这个，自去收好，便从奁中去寻自己常使的。启奁看时，盒内已空，心中疑惑，早间还剩了些，如何没了？因问人时，都说不知。麝月便说：“这会子且忙着问这个，不过是这屋里人一时短了使了。你不管拿些什么给他们，他们那里看得出来？快打发他们去了，咱们好吃饭。”芳官听了，便将些茉莉粉包了一包拿来。贾环见了，喜的就伸手来接。芳官便忙向炕上一掷。贾环只得向炕上拾了，揣在怀内，方作辞而去。

原来贾政不在家，且王夫人等又不在家，贾环连日也便装病逃学。如今得了硝，兴兴头头来找彩云。正值彩云和赵姨娘闲谈，贾环嘻嘻向彩云道：“我也得了一包好的，送你擦脸。你常说，蔷薇硝擦癣，比外头的银硝强。你且看看，可是这个？”彩云打开一看，嗤的一声笑了，说道：“你是和谁要来的？”贾环便将方才之事说了。彩云笑道：“这是他们哄你这乡老呢。这不是硝，这是茉莉粉。”贾环看了一看，果然比先的带些红色，闻闻也是喷香，因笑道：“这也是好的，硝粉一样，留着擦罢，自是比外头买的高便好。”彩云只得收了。

赵姨娘便说：“有好的给你！谁叫你要去了，怎怨他们耍你！依我，拿了去照脸摔给他去，趁着这回子撞尸的撞尸去了，挺床的便挺床，吵一出子，大家别心净，也算是报仇。莫不是两个月之后，还找出这个碴儿来问你不成？便问你，你也有话说。宝玉是哥哥，不敢冲撞他罢了。难道他屋里的猫儿狗儿，也不敢去问问不成！”贾环听说，便低了头。彩云忙说：“这又何苦生事，不管怎样，忍耐些罢了。”

赵姨娘道：“你快休管，横竖与你无干。乘着抓住了理，骂给那些浪淫妇们一顿也是好的。”又指贾环道：“呸！你这下流没刚性的，也只好受这些毛崽子的气！平白我说你一句儿，或无心中错拿了一件东西给你，你倒会扭头暴筋瞪着眼摔[2]娘。这会子被那起屄崽子耍弄也罢了。你明儿还想这些家里人怕你呢。你没有屄本事，我也替你羞。”贾环听了，不免又愧又急，又不敢去，只摔手说道：“你这么会说，你又不敢去，支使了我去闹。倘或往学里告去捱了打，你敢自不疼呢？遭遭儿调唆了我闹去，闹出了事来，我捱了打骂，你一般也低了头。这会子又调唆我和毛丫头们去闹。你不怕三姐姐，你敢去，我就服你。”只这一句话，便戳了他娘的肺，便喊说：“我肠子里爬出来的，我再怕不成！这屋里越发有得说了。〔二〕”一面说，一面拿了那包子，便飞也似的往园中去了。彩云死劝不住，只得躲入别房。贾环便也躲出仪门，自去顽耍。

赵姨娘直进园子，正是一头火，顶头正遇见藕官的干娘夏婆子走来。见赵姨娘气恨恨的走来，因问：“姨奶奶那去？”赵姨娘又说：“你瞧瞧，这屋里连三日两日进来唱戏的小粉头们，都三般两样掂人分量放小菜碟儿了。若是别一个，我还不恼，若叫这些小娼妇捉弄了，还成个什么！”夏婆子听了，正中己怀，忙问因何。赵姨娘悉将芳官以粉作硝轻侮贾环之事说了。

夏婆子道：“我的奶奶，你今日才知道，这算什么事。连昨日这个地方他们私自烧纸钱，宝玉还拦到头里。人家还没拿进个什么儿来，就说使不得，不干不净的忌讳。这烧纸倒不忌讳？你老想一想，这屋里除了太太，谁还大似你？你老自己撑不起来；但凡撑起来的，谁还不怕你老人家？如今我想，乘着这几个小粉头儿恰不是正头货，得罪了他们也有限的，快把这两件事抓着理扎个筏子[4]，我在旁作证据，你老把威风抖一抖，以后也好争别的礼。便是奶奶姑娘们，也不好为那起小粉头子说你老的。”赵姨娘听了这话，益发有理，便说：“烧纸的事不知道，你却细细的告诉我。”夏婆子便将前事一一的说了，又说：“你只管说去。倘或闹起，还有我们帮着你呢。”赵姨娘听了越发得了意，仗着胆子便一径到了怡红院中。

可巧宝玉听见黛玉在那里，便往那里去了。芳官正与袭人等吃饭，见赵姨娘来了，便都起身笑让：“姨奶奶吃饭，有什么事这么忙？”赵姨娘也不答话，走上来便将粉照着芳官脸上撒来，指着芳官骂道：“小淫妇！你是我银子钱买来学戏的，不过娼妇粉头之流！我家里下三等奴才也比你高贵些的，你都会看人下菜碟儿。宝玉要给东西，你拦在头里，莫不是要了你的了？拿这个哄他，你只当他不认得呢！好不好，他们是手足，都是一样的主子，那里有你小看他的！”

芳官那里禁得住这话，一行哭，一行说：“没了硝我才把这个给他的。若说没了，又恐他不信，难道这不是好的？我便学戏，也没往外头去唱。我一个女孩儿家，知道什么是粉头面头的！姨奶奶犯不着来骂我，我又不是姨奶奶家买的。‘梅香拜把子——都是奴几’[5]呢！”袭人忙拉他说：“休胡说！”赵姨娘气的便上来打了两个耳刮子。袭人等忙上来拉劝，说：“姨奶奶别和他小孩子一般见识，等我们说他。”芳官捱了两下打，那里肯依，便拾头打滚，泼哭泼闹起来。口内便说：“你打得起我么？你照照那模样儿再动手！我叫你打了去，我还活着！”便撞在怀里叫他打。

众人一面劝，一面拉他。晴雯悄拉袭人说：“别管他们，让他们闹去，看怎么开交！如今乱为王了，什么你也来打，我也来打，都这样起来还了得呢！”

外面跟着赵姨娘来的一干的人听见如此，心中各各称愿，都念佛说：“也有今日！”又有那一干怀怨的老婆子见打了芳官，也都称愿。

当下藕官蕊官等正在一处作耍，湘云的大花面葵官，宝琴的荳官，两个闻了此信，慌忙找着他两个说：“芳官被人欺侮，咱们也没趣，须得大家破着大闹一场，方争过气来。”四人终是小孩子心性，只顾他们情分上义愤，便不顾别的，一齐跑入怡红院中。荳官先便一头，几乎不曾将赵姨娘撞了一跤。那三个也便拥上来，放声大哭，手撕头撞，把个赵姨娘裹住。晴雯等一面笑，一面假意去拉。急的袭人拉起这个，又跑了那个，口内只说：“你们要死！有委曲只好说，这没理的事如何使得！”赵姨娘反没了主意，只好乱骂。蕊官藕官两个一边一个，抱住左右手；葵官荳官前后头顶住。四人只说：“你只打死我们四个就罢！”芳官直挺挺躺在地下，哭得死过去。

正没开交，谁知晴雯早遣春燕回了探春。当下尤氏、李纨、探春三人带着平儿与众媳妇走来，将四个喝住。问起原故，赵姨娘便气的瞪着眼粗了筋，一五一十说个不清。尤李两个不答言，只喝禁他四人。探春便叹气说：“这是什么大事，姨娘也太肯动气了！我正有一句话要请姨娘商议，怪道丫头说不知在那里，原来在这里生气呢，快同我来。”尤氏、李纨都笑说：“姨娘请到厅上来，咱们商量。”

赵姨娘无法，只得同他三人出来，口内犹说长说短。探春便说：“那些小丫头子们原是些顽意儿，喜欢呢，和他说说笑笑；不喜欢便可以不理他。便他不好了，也如同猫儿狗儿抓咬了一下子，可恕就恕，不恕时也只该叫了管家媳妇们去说给他去责罚，何苦自己不尊重，大吆小喝失了体统。你瞧周姨娘，怎不见人欺他，他也不寻人去。我劝姨娘且回房去煞煞性儿，别听那些混帐人的调唆，没的惹人笑话，自己呆，白给人作粗活。心里有二十分的气，也忍耐这几天，等太太回来自然料理。”一席话说得赵姨娘闭口无言，只得回房去了。

这里探春气的和尤氏李纨说：“这么大年纪，行出来的事总不叫人敬服。这是什么意思，也值得吵一吵，并不留体统，耳朵又软，心里又没有计算。这又是那起没脸面的奴才们的调停，作弄出个呆人替他们出气。”越想越气，因命人查是谁调唆的。媳妇们只得答应着，出来相视而笑，都说是“大海里那里寻针去。”只得将赵姨娘的人并园中人唤来盘诘，都说不知道。众人没法，只得回探春：“一时难查，慢慢访查，凡有口舌不妥的，一总来回了责罚。”

探春气渐渐平服方罢。可巧艾官便悄悄的回探春说：“都是夏妈和我们素日不对，每每的造言生事。前儿赖藕官烧纸，幸亏是宝玉叫他烧的，宝玉自己应了，他才没话说。今儿我与姑娘送手帕去，看见他和姨奶奶在一处说了半天，嘁嘁喳喳的，见了我才走开了。”探春听了，虽知情弊，亦料定他们皆是一党，本皆淘气异常，便只答应，也不肯据此为实。

谁知夏婆子的外孙女儿蝉姐儿便是探春处当役的，时常与房中丫鬟们买东西呼唤人，众女孩儿都和他好。这日饭后，探春正上厅理事，翠墨在家看屋子，因命蝉姐儿出去叫小幺儿买糕去。蝉姐儿便说：“我才扫了个大院子，腰腿生疼的，你叫个别的人去罢。”翠墨笑说：“我又叫谁去？你趁早儿去，我告诉你一句好话，你到后门顺路告诉你老娘，防着些儿。”说着，便将艾官告他老娘话告诉了他。蝉姐儿听了，忙接了钱道：“这个小蹄子也要捉弄人，等我告诉去。”说着，便起身出来。

至后门边，只见厨房内此刻手闲之时，都坐在阶砌上说闲话呢。他老娘亦在内。蝉姐儿便命一个婆子出去买糕。他且一行骂，一行说，将方才之话告诉与夏婆子。夏婆子〔三〕听了，又气又怕，便欲去找艾官问他，又欲往探春前去诉冤。蝉姐儿忙拦住说：“你老人家去怎么说呢？这话怎得知道的，可又叨登不好了。说给你老防着就是了，那里忙到这一时儿。”

正说着，忽见芳官走来，扒着院门，笑向厨房中柳家媳妇说道：“柳嫂子，宝二爷说了：晚饭的素菜要一样凉凉的酸酸的东西，只别搁上香油弄腻了。”柳家的笑道：“知道。今儿怎遣你来了告诉这么一句要紧话。你不嫌脏，进来逛逛儿不是？”

芳官才进来，忽有一个婆子手里托了一碟糕来。芳官便戏道：“谁买的热糕？我先尝一块儿。”蝉姐儿一手接了道：“这是人家买的，你们还稀罕这个。”柳家的见了，忙笑道：“芳姑娘，你喜吃这个？我这里有才买下给你姐姐吃的，他不曾吃，还收在那里，干干净净没动呢。”说着，便拿了一碟出来，递与芳官，又说：“你等我进去替你炖口好茶来。”一面进去，现通开火炖茶。芳官便拿着热糕，问到蝉姐儿脸上说：“稀罕吃你那糕，这个不是糕不成？我不过说着顽罢了，你给我磕个头，我也不吃。”说着，便将手内的糕一块一块的掰了，掷着打雀儿顽，口内笑说：“柳嫂子，你别心疼，我回来买二斤给你。”

小蝉气的怔怔的，瞅着冷笑道：“雷公老爷也有眼睛，怎不打这作孽的！他还气我呢。我可拿什么比你们，又有人进贡，又有人作干奴才，溜你们好上好儿，帮衬着说句话儿。”众媳妇都说：“姑娘们，罢呀，天天见了就咕唧。”有几个伶透的，见了他们对了口，怕又生事，都拿起脚来各自走开了。当下蝉姐儿也不敢十分说他，一面咕嘟着去了。

这里柳家的见人散了，忙出来和芳官说：“前儿那话儿说了不曾？”芳官道：“说了。等一二日再提这事。偏那赵不死的又和我闹了一场。前儿那玫瑰露姐姐吃了不曾，他到底可好些？”柳家的道：“可不都吃了。他爱的什么似的，又不好问你再要的。”芳官道：“不值什么，等我再要些来给他就是了。”

原来这柳家的有个女儿，今年才十六岁，虽是厨役之女，却生的人物与平、袭、紫、鸳皆类。因他排行第五，因叫他是五儿。因素有弱疾，故没得差。近因柳家的见宝玉房中的丫鬟差轻人多，且又闻得宝玉将来都要放他们，故如今要送他到那里应名儿。正无头路，可巧这柳家的是梨香院的差役，他最小意殷勤，服侍得芳官一干人比别的干娘还好。芳官等亦待他们极好，如今便和芳官说了，央芳官去与宝玉说。宝玉虽是依允，只是近日病着，又见事多，尚未说得。

前言少述，且说当下芳官回至怡红院中，回复了宝玉。宝玉正在听见赵姨娘厮吵，心中自是不悦，说又不是，不说又不是，只得等吵完了，打听着探春劝了他去后方从蘅芜苑回来，劝了芳官一阵，方大家安妥。今见他回来，又说还要些玫瑰露与柳五儿吃去。宝玉忙道：“有的，我又不大吃，你都给他去罢。”说着命袭人取了出来，见瓶中亦不多，遂连瓶与了他。

芳官便自携了瓶与他去。正值柳家的带进他女儿来散闷，在那边犄角子上一带地方儿逛了一回，便回到厨房内，正吃茶歇脚儿。芳官拿了一个五寸来高的小玻璃瓶来，迎亮照看，里面小半瓶胭脂一般的汁子，还道是宝玉吃的西洋葡萄酒。母女两个忙说：“快拿旋子[7]烫滚水，你且坐下。”芳官笑道：“就剩了这些，连瓶子都给你们罢。”

五儿听了，方知是玫瑰露，忙接了，谢了又谢。芳官又问他“好些？”五儿道：“今儿精神些，进来逛逛。这后边一带，也没什么意思，不过见些大石头大树和房子后墙，正经好景致也没看见。”芳官道：“你为什么不往前去？”柳家的道：“我没叫他往前去。姑娘们也不认得他，倘有不对眼的人看见了，又是一番口舌。明儿托你携带他有了房头[8]，怕没有人带着他逛呢，只怕逛腻了的日子还有呢。”芳官听了，笑道：“怕什么，有我呢。”柳家的忙道：“嗳哟哟，我的姑娘，我们的头皮儿薄，比不得你们。”说着，又倒了茶来。芳官那里吃这茶，只漱了一口就走了。柳家的说道：“我这里占着手，五丫头送送。”

五儿便送出来，因见无人，又拉着芳官说道：“我的话到底说了没有？”芳官笑道：“难道哄你不成？我听见屋里正经还少两个人的窝儿，并没补上。一个是红玉的，琏二奶奶要去还没给人来；一个是坠儿〔四〕的，也还没补。如今要你一个也不算过分。皆因平儿每每的和袭人说，凡有动人动钱的事，得挨的且挨一日更好。如今三姑娘正要拿人扎筏子呢，连他屋里的事都驳了两三件，如今正要寻我们屋里的事没寻着，何苦来往网里碰去。倘或说些话驳了，那时老了，倒难回转。不如等冷一冷，老太太、太太心闲了，凭是天大的事先和老的一说，没有不成的。”五儿道：“虽如此说，我却性急等不得了。趁如今挑上来了，一则给我妈争口气，也不枉养我一场；二则添上月钱，家里又从容些；三则我的心开一开，只怕这病就好了——便是请大夫吃药，也省了家里的钱。”芳官道：“我都知道了，你只放心。”二人别过，芳官自去不提。

单表五儿回来，与他娘深谢芳官之情。他娘因说：“再不承望得了这些东西，虽然是个珍贵物儿，却是吃多了也最动热。竟把这个倒些送个人去，也是个大情。”五儿问：“送谁？”他娘道：“送你舅舅的儿子，昨日热病，也想这些东西吃。如今我倒半盏与他去。”五儿听了，半日没言语，随他妈倒了半盏子去，将剩的连瓶便放在家伙厨内。五儿冷笑道：“依我说，竟不给他也罢了。倘或有人盘问起来，倒又是一场事了。”他娘道：“那里怕起这些来，还了得了。我们辛辛苦苦的，里头赚些东西，也是应当的。难道是贼偷的不成？”说着，一径去了。直至外边他哥哥家中，他侄子〔五〕正躺着，一见了这个，他哥嫂侄男无不欢喜。现从井上取了凉水，和吃了一碗，心中一畅，头目清凉。剩的半盏，用纸覆着，放在桌上。

可巧又有家中几个小厮同他侄儿素日相好的，走来问候他的病。内中有一小伙名唤钱槐者，乃系赵姨娘之内亲〔六〕。他父母现在库上管帐，他本身又派跟贾环上学。因他有些钱势，尚未娶亲，素日看上了柳家的五儿标致，和父母说了，欲娶他为妻。也曾央中保媒人再四求告。柳家父母却也情愿，争奈五儿执意不从，虽未明言，却行止中已带出，父母未敢应允。近日又想往园内去，越发将此事丢开，只等三五年后放出来，自向外边择婿了。钱家见他如此，也就罢了。怎奈钱槐不得五儿，心中又气又愧，发恨定要弄取成配〔七〕，方了此愿。今也同人来瞧望柳侄，不期柳家的在内。

柳家的忽见一群人来了，内中有钱槐，便推说不得闲，起身便走了。他哥嫂忙说：“姑妈怎么不吃茶就走？倒难为姑妈记挂。”柳家的因笑道：“只怕里面传饭，再闲了出来瞧侄子罢。”他嫂子因向抽屉内取了一个纸包出来，拿在手内送了柳家的出来，至墙角边递与柳家的，又笑道：“这是你哥哥昨儿在门上该班儿，谁知这五日一班，竟偏冷淡，一个外财没发。只有昨儿有粤东的官儿来拜，送了上头两小篓子茯苓霜。馀外给了门上人一篓作门礼，你哥哥分了这些。这地方千年松柏最多，所以单取了这茯苓的精液和了药，不知怎么弄出这怪俊的白霜儿来。说第一用人乳和着，每日早起吃一钟，最补人的；第二用牛奶子；万不得，滚白水也好。我们想着，正宜外甥女儿吃。原是上半日打发小丫头子送了家去的，他说锁着门，连外甥女儿也进去了。本来我要瞧瞧他去，给他带了去的，又想主子们不在家，各处严紧，我又没甚么差使，有要没紧跑些什么。况且这两日风声，闻得里头家反宅乱的，倘或沾带了倒值多的。姑娘来的正好，亲自带去罢。”

柳氏道了生受，作别回来。刚到了角门前，只见一个小幺儿笑道：“你老人家那里去了？里头三次两趟叫人传呢，我们三四个人都找你老去了，还没来。你老人家却从那里来了？这条路又不是家去的路，我倒疑心起来。”那柳家的笑骂道：“好猴儿崽子……”要知端的，且听下回分解。

〔一〕 “我且”，原作“好且”，点改为“呢且”（“呢”属上读）。从各本改。

[2] 摔——摔手顿足、发脾气。

〔二〕 “有得说了”，原作“有的话了”（点改为“有个活头儿了”）。梦稿本作“有的说了”，蒙府本作“有得活了”，戚序各本作“有些活头了”，俄藏本作“有活头儿了”。此从梦稿本改。

[4] 扎筏子（zā　fá zi）——意谓找借口出气。

[5] 梅香拜把子——都是奴几——歇后语，意谓不管老几，都是奴才辈的。梅香：婢女的代称。拜把子：结拜成兄弟姐妹。几：指次第、排行。

〔三〕 “夏婆子”，原无，从戚序、甲辰本补。

[7] 旋子——即镟子，一种温酒用的器皿，圆筒形，直上下，多用铜锡制成。温酒时将酒壶放入旋子内热水中，使之温热。

[8] 房头——义近“户头”，有了房头意即有了归属，指奴婢被分派到某一主子的屋里供使唤。

〔四〕 “坠儿”，原作“赘儿”，从梦稿本改。

〔五〕 “侄子”，原为“外甥子”点改，甲辰本作“侄子”，从。下同。

〔六〕 “内亲”，原作“内侄”，多数本子无异文。唯内侄于亲戚中有所专指，全句曰“赵姨娘之内侄”，殊为费解。疑有夺讹，故姑从蒙府本改。

〔七〕 “弄取成配”，原无“取”字。梦稿本作“弄成娶配”。从戚序、甲辰本补。

CHAPTER 60. As a substitute for rose-orris Jia Huan is given jasmine face-powder And in return for rose essence Cook Liu is given lycoperdon snow

Aroma, you will recall, had asked Patience what in particular it was that had been giving her so much trouble. Patience smiled mysteriously:

‘Something no one would ever guess. You’ll have a good laugh when I tell you. I won’t tell you for a few days yet, though, because I still haven’t quite got to the bottom of it – and I haven’t got time now, in any case.’

As if to prove that this was so, one of Li Wan’s little maids arrived at that very moment:

‘Miss Patience? Oh, there you are! Mrs Zhu’s waiting for you. Why don’t you come?’

‘I’m coming, I’m coming,’ said Patience, breaking away from the others with a laugh and hurrying after her.

Aroma and the others laughed, too.

‘She’s grown as popular as hot cakes since her mistress’s illness: everyone wants her at once!’

Patience’s business with Li Wan is no part of our story. We remain with Bao-yu and the rest at Green Delights.

‘Swallow,’ said Bao-yu, ‘you and your mother had better go to Miss Bao’s place and make it up with Oriole. You can’t let her go on feeling offended.’

‘Yes,’ said Swallow, and hurried out to find her mother. Bao-yu shouted to them through the window as the two of them were crossing the courtyard:

‘Don’t say anything about it in front of Miss Bao. You don’t want Oriole to get a telling-off.’

Mother and daughter shouted back a reply and continued on their way, conversing as they went. Swallow began reproaching her mother when they were out of earshot:

‘I told you, Mother, again and again, but you wouldn’t believe me. All this trouble you’ve got yourself into – it was so unnecessary.’

‘Get along with you, little hussy!’ said her mother, laughing. ‘You know what the proverb says: “Never suffer, never learn”. I’ve learned my lesson. I don’t need any lectures from you!’

‘If only you could be content with the job you’ve got, Ma, and not be always pushing forward so,’ said Swallow gently. ‘There are all sorts of benefits to be had from working here, after you’ve been here some length of time. I’ll tell you just one of them. Bao-yu says that when the time comes, he’s going to ask Her Ladyship to give us maids – all of us, that is, not just the ones who work in his room – our freedom, so that you can marry us to whoever you like. What about that for a start?’

‘Really?’ Her mother’s delight was tempered with incredulity.

‘Why should I tell a lie?’

The pious invocations which this news evoked continued until they were almost at All-spice Court. They arrived there when Bao-chai, Dai-yu, Aunt Xue and the others were having lunch. Swallow and her mother waited until Oriole came out to make the tea, then, as she emerged, Swallow’s mother stepped forward to make her apology.

‘I’m afraid I was a bit hasty just now, miss. I said some things I shouldn’t have done. I hope you won’t hold it against me. Anyway, I’m very sorry.’

Oriole, all smiles, begged them both to be seated and would have given them tea; but mother and daughter said they had business to attend to and took their leave. They were already on their way back to Green Delights when Éitamine came hurrying after them.

‘Just a minute, just a minute!’

She was holding a little packet which she wanted them to deliver to Parfumée for her. It was rose-orris, she explained, for the face.

‘That’s a bit unnecessary, isn’t it?’ said Swallow. ‘They must have plenty of it there they’d be only too willing to give her if she wanted any. Why go to the trouble of sending her some?’

‘What they do with theirs is their concern,’ said Étamine. ‘This is mine and I want to give it to her as a present. Please take it with you.’

Swallow could scarcely refuse.

When she and her mother got back to Green Delights, Jia Huan and Jia Cong were with Bao-yu inside, having arrived on a formal visit a few moments previously to inquire about his health. Swallow turned to her mother.

‘Now, Mother: I’ll go in alone. There’s no need for you to come in with me.’

Her mother received this without a murmur. All her former wilfulness was quite forgotten and she stood docilely outside while Swallow entered.

Bao-yu, seeing her come in, realized that it was only to report the successful conclusion of her mission and nodded to her curtly to show that he had understood. There was therefore no need for her to say anything, and after standing silently for a few moments inside the doorway, she slipped out again, signalling with her eyes to Parfumée as she did so to follow her into the outer room. There she handed the packet to her and told her in an undertone what Étamine had asked her to say.

Bao-yu, having nothing whatever to talk to his visitors about, had been idly following this transaction out of the corner of his eye, and when Parfumée came in again, he asked her what it was that she was holding. Parfumée told him and handed him the packet. He praised Étamine’s thoughtfulness while opening it up to have a look.

Jia Huan craned forward and smelt the powder’s cool, delicious scent. Stooping down, he fished a sheet of paper from inside his boot.

‘Give us a bit, brother!’ he said, holding the paper out for Bao-yu to pour some in.

Bao-yu would have given him some, but Parfumée was unwilling that Étamine’s gift to her should be shared.

‘No, don’t take any of that,’ she said. ‘I’ll get some more for you from outside.’

Bao-yu, divining the reason for her reluctance, quickly did the packet up again.

‘Here you are. Hurry up and get some more then.’

Parfumée took the packet, and having stored it safely away in the room where she kept her things, looked in the drawer of her vanity-case for her own supply, only to find that the box she had kept it in was empty – why she could not imagine, because she was sure there had been some left in it that morning. But when she asked the others, of course, no one knew anything about it.

‘There’s no time to bother about that now,’ said Musk. ‘Obviously it must have been someone from this room. They must have found themselves short and “borrowed” yours. Give him something else. It doesn’t matter what: he’ll never know the difference. Anything to get rid of them, so that we can get on with our lunch!’

Following this advice, Parfumée made up a little packet of jasmine-scented face-powder and took it inside to the boys. Jia Huan, grinning broadly, stretched out his hand to receive it, but she threw it contemptuously on the kang and he had to stoop down to pick it up. When he had stowed it inside the breast of his jacket, he and Jia Cong finally took their leave.

With Jia Zheng permanently away and Lady Wang and the other ladies now also absent, Jia Huan had lately taken to staying away from school for several days at a time on the pretext that he was ill; he therefore felt no compunction in entering his mother’s courtyard during the daytime. He did so now, very pleased with himself, to look for Sunset, whom he found chatting with Aunt Zhao.

‘Look, I’ve brought you something nice,’ he said, going up to her, all smiles, and holding out the packet: ‘something for your face. You know you’re always saying how good rose-orris is for skin troubles – how much better than the silver powder you get from outside – well, have a look at this!’

Sunset opened the packet, took one look at its contents, and let out a hoot of laughter.

‘Who did you get this from?’

Jia Huan told her.

‘They’ve been having you on,’ said Sunset. ‘This stuff isn’t rose-orris, it’s jasmine face-powder.’

Jia Huan looked again. It did in fact have a slightly pinkish tinge, and when he sniffed it, he found that it had a sweet, almost sickly perfume, quite unlike the clean, fresh scent of the orris.

‘Well, anyway, it’s good stuff,’ he said. ‘Orris or this stuff, it’s all powder, isn’t it? You can keep it to use on your face. This is still better than anything you could buy from outside.’

Sunset put it away resignedly.

Aunt Zhao eyed her offspring scornfully.

‘You don’t think if they’d got anything really good they’d give it to you, do you? I’m not surprised she made a fool of you; I’m surprised you bothered to ask her for it. Take it back and throw it in her face, that’s what you ought to do. Now that the others are all either chasing around the countryside after this funeral or lying with their toes curled up in bed is just the moment for a good old row. Stir them all up a bit. Pay them back for some of the things they’ve done to us in the past. No one’s going to be bothered to dig a little thing like this up in two months’ time when they’re all back again. And even if they do, you’ve got a good excuse. Bao-yu’s your elder brother; you can’t do anything to offend him, I agree. But that doesn’t mean that you have to put up with what every little cat or dog of his chooses to do to you.’

Jia Huan hung his head.

‘It’s not worth a quarrel,’ said Sunset, defending him. ‘Much better just grin and bear it, whatever we think.’

‘Just stay out of this, will you?’ said Aunt Zhao. ‘It’s got nothing to do with you. He knows he’s in the right. It’s a golden opportunity to go and tell these little hussies exactly what he thinks of them.’ She pointed at Jia Huan scornfully. ‘Pah! Spineless creature! If ever I say a word out of place or give you the wrong thing by mistake, I get black looks from you soon enough! Oh yes, you can be very fierce with your own mother! But when some little chit of a girl makes a fool of you, you take it lying down. How can you expect the servants to respect you when you grow up if you always behave like this? Oh, you’re so useless, you make me sick!’

Shamed and angered by her words, yet still not daring to act upon them, Jia Huan made a dismissive gesture with his hand.

‘It’s all very well to talk, but you wouldn’t dare to go there any more than I would. You want me to go back there and have a row with them, don’t you? All right, suppose I do and they tell the school. I’m the one who’ll feel the pain when I get beaten, not you. You’re always stirring me up to do things; then, when I get beaten and sworn at, you just keep your head down and say nothing. This time you’re trying to stir me up to have a row with these girls. Well, if you’re not afraid of Tan-chun, why don’t you do it yourself? Then perhaps in future I might take a bit more notice of what you said.’

His words touched Aunt Zhao on the raw.

‘What?’ she screamed. ‘Me afraid of my own flesh and blood, of my own daughter that I once carried inside me? That’s a good story!’

She snatched up the packet of orris-powder from where Sunset had placed it and went rushing off in the direction of the Garden. Sunset, having found expostulation in vain, slipped off to another apartment to shelter from the storm. Jia Huan slunk off through the ornamental gate to play on his own outside.

As Aunt Zhao, still in a highly combustible state, went charging into the Garden, who should she run into but old Mamma Xia, that aunt of Swallow’s who was also the foster-mother and implacable enemy of Nénuphar. From Aunt Zhao’s livid face and bloodshot eyes it was evident to the old nannie that she was in a very nasty temper. Mamma Xia politely inquired where she was going.

‘Now even the little painted actresses who haven’t been with us more than a few days are discriminating against us. I could take it from anyone else, but to have little creatures like that putting you in your place – it’s more than flesh and blood can bear!’

As these sentiments, insofar as she could make sense of them, seemed very much in accord with her own, Mamma Xia asked her, with some interest, precisely what it was that had upset her. Aunt Zhao explained how Jia Huan had asked for rose-orris and been fobbed off with ordinary face-powder.

‘My dear Mrs Zhao,’ said Mamma Xia, ‘have you only now begun to realize what they are like? Why, what you have just told me is nothing! The other day they were even burning ghost money in here – and Bao-yu sticking up for them, if you please! If anyone else brings anything into the Garden, it’s all “unclean, unclean!” – there’s no end of a fuss. But ghost money, than which there’s nothing more unclean that I know of, that’s all right, apparently. You’re the most senior person after Her Ladyship, Mrs Zhao. I think you ought to put your foot down for once. I’m sure if you did, everyone would respect you for it. If you ask me, players is only trash anyway, so even if you upset them, there’s nothing much they can do about it. Let these two things, the powder and the ghost money, be your justification for making an example of them. I’ll support you with my evidence. Give them a taste of your authority now and you will find it that much easier to deal with other things later on. Even if the young mistresses don’t like it, they’re not going to side against you with riff-raff like these.’

Aunt Zhao’s resolve was strengthened by this encouragement.

‘I didn’t know about the ghost money,’ she said. ‘Tell me what happened.’

Mamma Xia did so, in great detail, concluding with a further incitement to action.

‘Go and have it out with them, Mrs Zhao! We’ll stand by you if there’s any trouble.’

These words were as music in Aunt Zhao’s ears. Emboldened by them, she marched off without more delay to Green Delights.

It chanced that Bao-yu was out when she arrived (he had heard that Dai-yu was visiting All-spice Court and gone off to join her there) and Parfumée was having lunch with Aroma and the other maids. The girls all rose to their feet as Aunt Zhao entered and politely invited her to join them.

‘Won’t you have some lunch, Mrs Zhao? Why are you in such a hurry?’

Ignoring the invitation, Aunt Zhao stepped forward, threw the powder she was carrying in Parfumée’s face and, with stabbing index finger for emphasis, began shouting at her abusively.

‘Little strumpet! You’re a bit of bought goods, that’s all you are. We paid down money and bought you, so that you could be trained to sing for our entertainment. Play-actors and prostitutes are the class of people you belong to; the lowest servant in this household is still a few steps above you. So what makes you think you have the right to go discriminating between one person and another? It’s no skin off your nose if Bao-yu wants to give something of his away to somebody: what business have you to try and stop him? I suppose you thought when you palmed that stuff off on Huan that he wouldn’t know the difference. Well, let me tell you: Master Huan is Bao-yu’s brother, whatever you may think of him, and that means he’s one of the masters, and there’s no cause for you to look down on him.’

Parfumée, never one to take things quietly, set up a howl of tearful protest.

‘I gave that stuff to him because I hadn’t got any orris and I was afraid if I told him I hadn’t got any he wouldn’t believe me. Anyway, it’s good powder. And suppose I have been trained as an actress, I’ve never played outside for money. I’m a little girl, not a trumpet or whatever it was you called me. And as for being “bought goods”, well, it wasn’t you who bought me. And anyway, look who’s talking! I thought all of us here were bought goods. I don’t know why you of all people would want to drag that up.’

‘Stop that at once!’ said Aroma, shocked, and tried to pull her out of the way. But Aunt Zhao, in speechless fury, had already advanced on Parfumée and dealt her a couple of resounding slaps on the head. Aroma expostulated.

‘She’s only a child, Mrs Zhao, you don’t want to put yourself on the same level. Leave it to us to deal with her.’

Parfumée was not to be struck with impunity and reacted to the assault with a fine display of histrionics, weeping, shouting and throwing herself about in all directions.

‘How dare you hit me, you horrible old woman! You should look at yourself in the mirror! Go on, hit me again then, hit me again! I don’t want to go on living!’

Lowering her head, she drove it into Aunt Zhao’s midriff, continuing, as she butted into her, to repeat her challenge. Several of the servants shouted at her and attempted to pull her off. Aroma would have done so too, but Sky-bright drew her to one side and advised her against joining them.

‘Leave them to it, Aroma. You and I don’t want to get mixed up in this. It’s the law of the jungle now: you hit me, I hit you. Heaven knows where it will end!’

The servants who had followed in Aunt Zhao’s wake, when they heard the rumpus inside, gave thanks to the Lord Buddha that justice was at last being done. Among them, the old women who bore grudges against the little actresses were particularly gratified to hear that Parfumée was being beaten.

The news travelled quickly. Nénuphar and Étamine, who had found a quiet corner of All-spice Court in which to be alone together, heard it when the two former ‘painted faces’ of their troupe, Xiang-yun’s Althée and Bao-qin’s Cardamome, burst in on them to enlist their support.

‘Come on, you two! If we let them bully Parfumée, we shall all of us suffer. It’s time to come out in the open and make a stand. Let’s show them a bit of spirit!’

The four of them were only children, full of righteous indignation for their friend. Without a moment’s reflection they rushed off in a body and went charging into Green Delights. Cardamome made first impact, and Aunt Zhao would have been swept off her feet had she not been simultaneously ringed round by the three others, who, with fists flailing, heads butting, and all emitting loud ‘boo-hoos’, pressed in upon her rear and sides. Skybright and the senior maids, though pretending concern and making half-hearted attempts to intervene, found it difficult not to laugh; but Aroma was genuinely distressed and dashed from one to another of them, dragging them away from Aunt Zhao. It was useless. As she pulled one off, another would dart in to replace her.

‘What’s the matter with you all?’ wailed Aroma. ‘If you’ve got a grievance, why can’t you discuss it like sensible human beings? You can’t go taking the law into your own hands like this. I never heard of such a thing!’

Aunt Zhao could only curse helplessly, Éitamine and Nénuphar held her firmly by each arm and Althée and Cardamome had her pinned between them with their heads.

‘Kill us!’ they kept shouting, ‘Kill us all four!’

Parfumée meanwhile lay stretched out corpselike on the ground, having cried herself into a swoon.

The little actresses might have remained locked in their grapple with Aunt Zhao indefinitely, but Skybright had already sent Swallow to bear word of what was happening to Tan-chun, and You-shi, Li Wan and Tan-chun, together with Patience and a number of female domestics, now arrived upon the scene and shouted to them peremptorily to release her.

Aunt Zhao was by now pop-eyed with anger and the veins stood out thickly on her forehead. They asked her how she came to be in such a predicament, but her reply, though long and voluble, was made almost incomprehensible by rage, and You-shi and Li Wan, unable to make anything of it, contented themselves with shouting some more at the actresses. Tan-chun, though, merely sighed.

‘This isn’t really very serious. You are too easily angered, Aunt. As a matter of fact there was something I wanted to discuss with you, but the maids didn’t seem to know where you had got to. Now it appears that you were in here, working yourself into a rage. Do come with us now.’

You-shi and Li Wan smilingly confirmed the invitation.

‘Yes, Mrs Zhao. Come with us to the office and we can discuss things with you there.’

Since she could scarcely object to being consulted, Aunt Zhao was constrained to go along with them, but even as she went she continued muttering angrily to herself until Tan-chun cut her short:

‘These girls are here for our amusement,’ Tan-chun said. ‘They are like pets. You can talk to them and play with them if you feel like it, or if you don’t, you can simply ignore them. It’s the same when they are naughty. Just as, when your puppy-dog bites you or your kitten scratches you, you can either ignore it or have it punished, so with these girls. If they do something to offend you, you can either let it pass, or, if you don’t feel able to, you can call in one of the stewardesses and have them punished. There is absolutely no need to go rushing off in person, shouting and hollering at them. It’s so undignified. And besides, it sets so bad an example. Look at Aunt Zhou. She doesn’t seem to suffer any of this disrespect you complain of and she isn’t always rushing off after people to have it out with them. If I were you, Aunt, I should go back to your room now and try to calm down a bit. And don’t go listening any more to those trouble-makers. There’s no reason why you should do other people’s work for them; you get no thanks for it; they merely laugh at you for being stupid. However angry you may feel now, try to be patient for a few days until Lady Wang gets back and we’ll see what we can do to get all this sorted out then.’

This dressing-down was effective, insofar as it left Aunt Zhao without a word to say, and she returned in silence to her room. As soon as she had gone, Tan-chun burst out angrily to the others.

‘You’d think she’d know better at her age. Why can’t she do anything to make people respect her? I mean, what a ridiculous thing to quarrel about! And what a way to behave! She will listen to absolutely anything anyone tells her. She has absolutely no judgement of her own. And those wretched old women take advantage of the fact to use her as their cat’s-paw.’

The more Tan-chun thought about it, the angrier she became. She ended up by ordering the women to make some inquiries and find out whose incitement it was that had goaded Aunt Zhao into action. The women went off obediently to investigate, but turned to each other with shrugs and smiles as they left the building.

‘Like looking for a needle on the ocean bed!’

And though they had Aunt Zhao’s women and all the women from the Garden up in front of them for questioning, not one of them would admit to knowing anything at all about it, and they were obliged to report back to Tan-chun that they had failed.

‘But we shall go on making inquiries, miss,’ they said. ‘If we find anything suspicious, we shall report it to you.’

Tan-chun’s anger had by this time subsided and she would have let the matter drop; but Artémisie, the little actress who had been assigned to her apartment, came to her privately to tell her that she could identify the culprit.

‘It was Mamma Xia,’ she said. ‘She hates us and she is always trying to get us into trouble. The other day she tried to get Nénuphar into trouble for burning spirit-money, but Bao-yu had asked her to burn it, and when he owned up, Mamma Xia hadn’t a leg to stand on. Today, when I was delivering those handkerchiefs for you, I noticed her and Mrs Zhao twittering away for ever such a long time together and when they saw me coming they moved out of the way to avoid me.’

It seemed highly probable that it was Mamma Xia who had done the inciting; but these little actresses were all closely in league together, Tan-chun reflected, and all of them were exceptionally mischievous: it would be too risky to act on the evidence of what one of them had said. She thanked Artémisie for her information, but inwardly decided to do nothing.

By an unlucky chance Mamma Xia had a granddaughter who worked in Tan-chun’s apartment and did various little errands for the maids, with all of whom she was popular. Her name was Cicada, but the maids all called her ‘Ciggy’. On this particular occasion Tan-chun had gone back to the ‘jobs room’ after lunch, leaving Ebony in charge of her apartment. Ebony now asked Ciggy to go to the Garden gatehouse and get one of the pages there to run out and buy her a sweetcake. Ciggy objected that she had just finished sweeping the courtyard and had a backache. She told Ebony to ask someone else.

‘There’s no one else I can ask,’ said Ebony. ‘I tell you what. If you’ll do this errand for me now, I’ll give you a piece of good advice that you can pass on to your grandma when you get there.’

And she proceeded to tell her about Artémisie’s denunciation.

‘Tell her to be on her guard.’

‘The little beast!’ said Ciggy, taking the money for the sweetcake. ‘She wants to join in too, does she? Wait till I tell my gran!’

And off she went to the back gate of the Garden.

It was a slack time now in the kitchen and the women, Mamma Xia among them, having for the time being finished with fetching and carrying, were sitting outside on the steps and gossiping. Ciggy asked one of them to go out and buy a hot fried sweetcake for her and then proceeded to give her grandmother an account, interlarded with much bad language of her own, of what Ebony had told her about Artémisie.

Mamma Xia, both angered and alarmed by what she heard, was all for going off straight away, having it out with the little actress, and protesting her innocence to Tan-chun; but Ciggy prevented her.

‘Don’t go, Gran! What can you say to them if you do go? How are you going to explain how you got to know about it? Once they start asking questions, you’ll be in the soup again. I’ve told you this to put you on your guard. You don’t have to do anything about it.’

Just then Parfumée peered in the gateway of the kitchen courtyard and called across to Mrs Liu, the cook, who was still banging about inside the kitchen.

‘Cookie, Master Bao says, for his vegetable dish this evening could he have something cold and vinegary again, please, only not so oily as last time?’

‘Very good,’ Cook Liu stood in her doorway and called back cheerfully. ‘Why should they send you about such a great, important matter? Come in and look around, if it’s not too dirty for you.’

Parfumgée had barely stepped into the courtyard when the woman to whom Ciggy had entrusted the money arrived back carrying Ebony’s hot fritter on a saucer.

‘Oo, lovely hot fritter! Give us a taste!’ said Parfumée jokingly.

‘That has been ordered and paid for by someone else,’ said Ciggy primly, as she took the saucer from the woman. ‘It is not for you.’

‘Do you fancy one, miss?’ Cook Liu asked Parfumée. ‘I’ve got one in here that I bought for our Fivey you can have if you like. It hasn’t been touched yet, so it’s quite clean.’

She brought the fried cake out on a saucer and handed it to Parfumée.

‘There you are. Now you wait there a moment and I’ll heat up a nice cup of tea for you to go with it.’

She went inside again to rake the top off the fire and heat some tea up in a skillet. But instead of waiting for her, Parfumée picked the fritter up from its saucer, went over to Ciggy with it, and held it under her nose for her to inspect.

‘Look! What’s that, then? Fritter. Who wants your mouldy fritter? I was only joking. I wouldn’t eat yours if you went down on your bended knees and begged me to!’

She began to crumble it up between her fingers and throw the pieces to the birds.

‘Don’t worry, Mrs Liu!’ she called out in the direction of the kitchen. ‘I’ll buy two catties of these for you presently.’

Ciggy glared at her in outrage.

‘Old Thunder up there must be blind not to strike you dead,’ she said bitterly. ‘Either that, or he must be angry with me for something. Still, I can’t compete with you, can I! I haven’t got anyone to rush out and give me things, or trot around after me like a self-adopted slave, or chip in with a good word for me when there’s an argument.’

‘All right, young ladies, that’s enough!’ said the women on the steps. ‘Can’t you even see each other without having words?’

The more discerning of them, sensing that a storm was brewing and not wanting to get involved, had already begun slipping off elsewhere. But Ciggy had no stomach for a fight and went off, muttering angrily to herself, without further argument.

When the women had all gone, Cook Liu came bustling out of her kitchen for a private word with Parfumée.

‘That business we were talking about the other day – have you spoken to him about it yet?’

‘Yes, I have,’ said Parfumée. ‘I was going to remind him of it today, but that wretched Zhao woman came along and upset everything with her quarrelling. How’s Fivey? Did she drink any of that Essence of Roses I brought her the other day?’

‘She drank it all,’ said Cook Liu. ‘She loved it. She’d really like some more, to tell the truth, but she doesn’t like to ask.’

‘That’s all right,’ said Parfumée. ‘I can easily get her some more. I only have to ask for it.’

The object of Parfumée’s inquiry, who owed her strange name to the fact that she was the fifth of Old Liu’s grand-daughters, though only the daughter of a cook, was in both looks and intelligence a match for any of the senior maids – Patience, Aroma, Faithful or Nightingale – and it was only because of a weakly constitution that she was still, in her sixteenth year, without employment. Recently, however, observing how numerous the maids were in Bao-yu’s apartment and how light their duties were, and hearing that it was his intention to give them their freedom when they had finished service with him, her mother had conceived the ambition of getting her on the staff of Green Delights. Lack of a contact there had at first made this ambition seem unrealizable; but Cook Liu had previously worked at Pear Tree Court, where her cheerful and ungrudging service had won her golden opinions with the girls. They greatly preferred her to their own foster-mothers. And so when Parfumée moved into Green Delights, the cook had easily prevailed on her to tackle Bao-yu on her daughter’s behalf. Bao-yu had consented willingly, but the situation created by Xi-feng’s illness together with other more recent developments had so far prevented him from seeking higher approval for the appointment.

But we digress.

Bao-yu heard about the fracas created in his apartment by Aunt Zhao while he was at All-spice Court visiting the girls. Though deeply distressed on Parfumée’s behalf, he decided, after some hesitation, that intervention by him could only make matters worse, and resolved to stay where he was. He did so until word reached All-spice Court that Tan-chun had succeeded in getting Aunt Zhao out of the way. Returning then, he had formally reproved Parfumée for her belligerency and then sent her on an errand to the kitchen.

Parfumée now arrived back at Green Delights and reported on the fulfilment of her mission. She also told him that, if he still had any, Fivey would like some more of the Essence of Roses.

‘Yes, I think I’ve still got some,’ said Bao-yu. ‘Look, why don’t you give her all of it? I don’t drink it very often myself.’

He sent Aroma to fetch it. As there was not a great deal of it left, he told Parfumée that Fivey might as well keep the bottle. Parfumée went back to the kitchen again to give the bottle to Cook Liu.

When she got there, she found Fivey there as well. To give her ailing, cooped-up daughter a little treat, Cook Liu had brought her along with her that day when she went to work. The girl had just been taking a little walk in the environs of her mother’s kitchen and was now resting her feet in the kitchen and having a cup of tea. Mother and daughter, when they saw the glittering five-inch crystal bottle half-full of ruby liquid that Parfumée was carrying, assumed that it was some of Bao-yu’s West Ocean grape wine that she was bringing them.

‘Sit yourself down,’ said Cook Liu. ‘I’ll just fetch the mulling-pan and boil up some water to heat it in.’

Parfumée laughed.

‘That’s all there is, I’m afraid. He says you can keep the bottle.’

Fivey realized that the red liquid must be not grape wine but some more Essence of Roses, and thanked her effusively for her kindness. Parfumée asked her how she felt.

‘A bit livelier today,’ said Fivey. ‘That’s why I came in with Mother. I’ve been for a walk all around here, but there’s really not much to look at – just a lot of rocks and the backs of buildings. I haven’t seen anything that you could really call a view.’

‘Why don’t you go right inside?’ said Parfumée.

‘Because I won’t let her,’ her mother chipped in. ‘None of the young ladies in there knows her. If some inquisitive person were to stop her and start asking questions, she’d have a lot of trouble explaining what she was doing. Once you’ve got her a place in there, as you so kindly promised, I’m sure there will be plenty willing to show her around. She’ll be able to look around the Garden then until she’s sick of the sight of it!’

‘You don’t want to worry,’ said Parfumée. ‘I’d look after her.’

‘I’m sure you would, bless you!’ said the cook. ‘But folks like us have to be more careful.’

She poured Parfumée a cup of tea. Parfumée accepted her hospitality to the extent of using some of this as a mouth-wash before getting up to go.

‘My hands are a bit full at the moment,’ said Cook Liu. ‘Fivey will see you out.’

The two girls went out together. Having first ascertained that there was no one else about, Fivey impulsively took Parfumée by the hand:

‘Did you really ask him about that?’

‘Of course I did!’ said Parfumée. ‘I wouldn’t deceive you. I’ve found out that there are two vacancies that haven’t yet been filled: one of them is the place left by Crimson, for whom Mrs Lian still hasn’t found him a substitute; the other one is Trinket’s. If he asks for you, it will be only one out of those two places, so he will be perfectly within his rights. The only reason he hasn’t done so already is because Patience keeps telling Aroma that if we have any requests concerning either jobs or allowances to make, we’d be well advised to put them off for the time being. The fact is that Miss Tan is looking for someone to make an example of. She’s already made an example of Mrs Lian by turning down two or three of her requests in a row, and now she’s trying to pick on us. She hasn’t found an excuse for doing so yet, but she hasn’t given up trying. So if we go asking her about a thing like this now, it’s almost a foregone conclusion that she will say no; and once she’s turned it down, it will be very difficult to get that refusal reversed. Much better wait until the situation here has quietened down a bit – till Their Ladyships are back again and everyone is in a good mood. If he approaches the old girl then, she’ll give him anything he asks for, no matter what it is.’

‘I know,’ said Fivey, ‘but I’m too impatient to wait that long. I want that job now. In the first place it will make my mother happy. She’ll feel that all the trouble she has had in bringing me up has not been wasted. Secondly, the pay I shall earn will make things easier for them at home. And thirdly, if only I felt a bit more cheerful, as I shall do if I get that job, I do believe that this illness of mine would get better – and that would mean a great saving for my family on doctor’s fees and medicines.’

At that point Parfumée left her and continued on her way back alone. Fivey returned to the kitchen. She and her mother spoke warmly together of Parfumée’s kindness.

‘I’d never have thought anything like this would ever come our way,’ said Cook Liu. ‘Still, though it’s so precious, you can have too much of a good thing. You don’t want to overheat your blood. I think it would be rather a nice gesture if we were to pour a little of this off to give to someone else.’

Fivey asked her who she had in mind.

‘I was thinking of taking half a cupful to your uncle’s boy,’ said Cook Liu. ‘He’s been down with a fever this last day or two, and it’s just the sort of thing he would enjoy.’

Fivey made no reply and watched in silence while her mother decanted a small quantity of the red liquid into a teacup and then placed the bottle, after corking it up again, on a shelf of the kitchen cupboard.

‘I think if I were you I wouldn’t give him that,’ she said finally. There was a wry little smile on her face. ‘If anyone should ask you where it came from, we might find ourselves in trouble.’

‘Oh, fiddlesticks!’ said her mother. ‘Surely we don’t have to be that careful? If you work as hard as I do all the year round, you are entitled to a few perks. No one is going to say that we stole it, surely?’

She sailed off cup in hand then to her brother’s, leaving Fivey alone in the kitchen. She found her nephew in bed. He and his parents were all three delighted when they learned what she had brought them. A cupful of cool water freshly drawn from the well was mixed with a little of the essence and handed to the sick boy to drink. He finished it at one draught and immediately declared that he felt better and that his head seemed somewhat clearer. The cup containing the remainder of the essence was covered with a square of paper and set on the table beside him.

While Cook Liu was still there, some of the sick boy’s workmates from the mansion called in to visit him. Among them was a young fellow called Qian Huai, related on his mother’s side to Aunt Zhao. His father worked in Accounts. Qian Huai’s own job was to accompany Jia Huan when he went to school. A bachelor and with money to spend, he had for long been an admirer of Fivey’s and in time past his parents had, at his insistence, made several approaches to Fivey’s parents through intermediaries asking for Fivey’s hand in marriage. Her parents were by no means averse to the match, but as Fivey herself, though without actually saying anything, made it perfectly plain by her behaviour that the idea was repugnant to her, they had not dared to accept. More recently, with talk of Fivey going into service in the Garden, they had been less inclined than ever to look on Qian Huai as a possible son-in-law, for it now seemed probable that after four or five years’ service as a maid, Fivey would be at liberty to marry someone of their own choice from outside. Qian Huai’s parents, too, when they saw the way things stood, were inclined to let the matter drop.

Not so Qian Huai, however. Wounded in his amour propre by Fivey’s rejection, he made a fierce vow that he would pursue her relentlessly, with all the force and guile at his command, until he had succeeded in making her his wife.

It was a surprise to him, needless to say, to call with the other pages on his sick workmate and find Fivey’s mother at the bedside. Cook Liu was equally flustered on recognizing Qian Huai among the little group of visitors and got up to go, on the pretext of being busy.

‘Do just stay for a cup of tea,’ said her brother and sister-in-law. ‘It was so kind of you to think of him.’

‘I expect they’ll be wanting their dinner inside now,’ said Cook Liu. ‘I’ll come and see him again when I’m not so busy.’

The sister-in-law opened a drawer and took out a small paper packet from it as they were leaving. Outside, at the corner by the gate, she pressed it, smilingly, into Cook Liu’s hand.

‘This is something your brother brought back yesterday, from the gate. He was five days on duty there and not a single tip all the time. Then suddenly yesterday some high-up from Canton came here on a visit and left three little baskets of this white stuff– “Lycoperdon Snow” it’s called – two for the masters and one for the people on the gate. This here is your brother’s share of it. I opened it last night to have a look. It’s beautiful stuff – so white and fine. They say that a little of it taken every morning mixed with breast-milk is wonderful for building up the body. If you can’t get breast-milk, you can use cow’s milk, or even plain boiled water. Of course, we immediately thought of your Fivey; it would be just the thing for her. I sent our little maid round with some this morning, but she said your door was locked. She said you must have taken Fivey in with you. I would have gone in then to see her and given it to her myself; but then I thought that with the mistresses away they’re much stricter about letting people in and out now and they’d be sure to ask what business I had going inside. And besides, this last day or two we’ve heard rumours of such terrible goings-on in there, I should be afraid of getting mixed up in something. So it’s a good job you came today, sister-in-law; you’ll be able to take the packet to her yourself.’

Cook Liu thanked her and left. At the corner gate of the Garden her way was blocked by a grinning page.

‘Where have you been, missus? There have been two or three calls from inside asking for you. Me and the others have been looking for you all over the place. Where have you just come from? You don’t live out in this direction. I bet you’ve been up to something!’

‘Cheeky little monkey!’ said the cook.

The rest of their exchange is recorded in the following chapter.