True, she was a fallen woman; and though she had repented, neither her reform nor any other excellence could bring back her virtue. But that was what she said. Was it not Jia Lian himself who repudiated it?
‘Everybody makes mistakes,’ he would say. ‘As long as you know that you were wrong and don’t do it again, that’s all that matters.’
He refused to talk about the unchasteness of her past: her present goodness was enough for him.
And so, his doubts forgotten, he would cleave to her more passionately than ever. They were of one heart, one mind. He swore they should live and die together. Xi-feng and Patience were banished totally from his thoughts.
Inevitably these pillow-sessions would end with Er-jie urging Jia Lian to do something about her sister.
‘Why don’t you talk it over with Zhen and think of someone you both know of who can marry her?’ she said on the last of these occasions. ‘She can’t stay here like this indefinitely. Sooner or later there will be trouble.’
‘I did talk to Zhen about it the other day,’ said Jia Lian, ‘but he couldn’t give up the idea of keeping her for himself. I said to him, “That piece of meat is too hot for chaps like us, Zhen. The rose is a very pretty flower, but you can get some nasty jabs from its spines. You’ll never hold a girl like that down. Much better find a husband for her and get her off your hands.” But he wouldn’t say “yes” and he wouldn’t say “no”: he just hummed and hawed for a bit and left it at that. So what can I do?’
‘Don’t worry,’ said Er-jie. ‘We’ll speak to San-jie herself about it tomorrow. If we can persuade her to agree in principle to a betrothal, it can be left to her to have it out with Cousin Zhen herself. Once she has convinced him that he has nothing to hope for, he will have to do something about finding her a husband.’
Next day Er-jie spent the morning preparing a little party for the four of them, and Jia Lian, instead of going off as he usually did, deliberately stayed indoors. At about noon Er-jie invited her sister over and, when she arrived, seated her next to their mother in the place of honour. San-jie knew perfectly well what the subject of this meeting was to be and, as the wine was going round for the third time, before her sister had had a chance to broach it, she burst into tears and proceeded to do so herself.
‘I’m sure the only reason you have invited me here today, sister, is to give me a lecture, but I’m not stupid and I don’t need to be nagged at as if I were a child. We all know what happened in the past, and there is no point in dragging it up now. The important thing is that as you are comfortably settled and Mamma’s future is now assured, it’s time to start thinking about how I am to be disposed of. However, this matrimony business is no children’s game: it’s a girl’s whole lifetime to the day she dies that is decided by it. In the past, because we were so vulnerable and one could never be sure what designs men might have on one, I deliberately acted in a shameless manner in order to keep them at bay. Now I am willing to put all that behind me and turn myself into a good and obedient wife. On one condition, though: the man I marry has got to be somebody I know about and somebody who is to my liking. If I leave the choice to you, I am sure you will do your best to find someone rich and well-placed and good-looking, but if it is someone I cannot give my heart to, I shall feel that the whole of my life has been wasted.’
Jia Lian smiled reassuringly.
‘That’s easy. We leave the choice entirely to you. Just name the man and we will take care of the expenses. Your mother will have nothing to worry about.’
‘I don’t need to name him,’ said San-jie. ‘Er-jie has known about him all along.’
‘Who is it?’ Jia Lian asked, turning to Er-jie; but Er-jie could not for the moment think who her sister had in mind.
‘I know who it is!’ Jia Lian clapped his hands delightedly, suddenly convinced that he had thought of the right answer. ‘And a very good choice too!’ he added.
‘Who?’ said Er-jie.
‘No one else could ever be good enough for her. It has to be Bao-yu.’
Er-jie and Mrs You felt sure that he was right, but San-jie herself repudiated the suggestion indignantly.
‘I suppose you think that if we were ten sisters instead of only three, every one of us would have to marry a Jia. There are other males in the world besides the ones in your family, you know.’
The other three were nonplussed. If it was not Bao-yu that she had in mind, then who could it be?
‘Don’t just look under your noses,’ said San-jie. ‘Try casting your mind back five years, sister.’
But at that point Joker arrived, one of Jia Lian’s most trusted pages and sharer of his secrets.
‘Sir She has been asking for you, sir,’ said Joker. ‘I told him that you’d gone off to Sir Wang’s and then hurried here as quickly as I could to let you know.’
‘Were they asking about me at home yesterday?’ Jia Lian sounded a trifle concerned.
‘I told the mistress that you were at the family temple discussing arrangements for the Hundred Days with Mr Zhen and thought you might not be able to get back.’
Jia Lian called for his horse to be led out and set off immediately, with Rich in attendance. Joker was left behind at the disposal of the women. Er-jie had two plates of food and a large cup of wine set down on the edge of the kang beside him and invited him to eat and drink standing, while she asked him a few questions. In fact she asked him a great many. How old was Xi-feng? In what way was she so awful? How old was Grandmother Jia? How many girls were there? And so on. Joker, smiling broadly, proceeded, between large sips of wine, to give the old lady and her two daughters a detailed exposé of the Rong mansion and its inhabitants.
‘I’m one of the boys from the inner gate,’ he told them. ‘I belong to one of two groups of four. We work there by shifts. One group goes on duty as the other one comes off. Of us eight, some, like me, are in the master’s confidence, some are in the mistress’s. Those of us who are in the master’s confidence daren’t say a word to upset the mistress’s boys; but she can say or do whatever she likes to us. You want to know what she’s like? A cruel heart and a sharp tongue, that about sums her up. The master’s no softy, but he can do nothing with her. There’s a Miss Patience working for her though. She’s very nice. Though she’s so well in with the mistress, she’ll often do you a kindness behind her back. When one of us boys is in trouble, the mistress will be down on us like a ton of bricks, but if we can get Patience to put in a word for us, we know we shall be all right. Everyone hates the mistress. The only exceptions are Her Old Ladyship and Her Ladyship. The others pretend to like her, because they’re afraid. She knows she hasn’t got any rivals and she always takes very good care to keep both Their Ladyships happy, so consequently whatever she says goes, nobody else dares stand up to her. She’s a great one for saving. She must have saved a mountain of money by now. That’s why Their Ladyships are always saying what a good manager she is. They don’t realize how much we servants have to suffer so that she can take the credit. Whenever anything good happens, you can be sure that she’ll get in with the news first, before anyone else does, so that she can reap the benefit. But when things go wrong or she’s made a slip herself, she’ll very quickly step aside and fasten the blame for it on someone else. She’ll even fan the flames up and make it hotter for that other person once she’s safely out of it herself. Even her mother-in-law can’t stand her. “The magpie looking for a bigger nest who set up house with the crow” she calls her. She says she’s no business meddling with the affairs of our household when she ought to be looking after her own. She says if it weren’t for Her Old Ladyship, she’d have ordered her back long ago and made her stay where she belongs.’
Er-jie laughed.
‘If you say things like this behind her back, what must you say behind mine? In my case there are even more things to criticize!’
Joker fell on his knees, protesting.
‘If I ever said a word against you, madam, I should deserve to be
struck by lightning! It would have been a great blessing for all of us if the master had married you first instead of the mistress. I know there would have been fewer beatings and cursings for us boys and we shouldn’t have had to go around the way we do in fear and trembling all the time. There isn’t a boy among us who isn’t every day and everywhere singing your praises and saying what a kind and considerate lady you are. We are planning to ask the master to let us stay here and serve you all the time.’
‘Get up, get up!’ said Er-jie, laughing. ‘Little impertinence! I was only joking; how easily you are scared! I’m sure I don’t know what you should want to come here for. I am thinking of going to see your mistress.’
Joker waved his hand in vigorous disapproval.
‘Don’t do that, madam, whatever you do! It would be much better if you never set eyes on her as long as you live. She’s “soft of tongue and hard of heart”, “two faces and three knives”, she’ll “give you a smile and trip you up the while”, she’s “a welcoming fire when you see her, but a stab in the back when it’s dark” – all those things and more. I don’t think even Miss You here could get the better of her in an argument, so I’m sure a quiet, gentle lady like you would be no match for her.’
Er-jie smiled.
‘If I behave correctly towards her, I don’t see why she should do me any harm.’
‘Listen, madam,’ said Joker. ‘I’m not saying this to you because I’ve had too much to drink, but when she sees that you are both prettier and more popular than she is, she’s not going to let matters rest. They call jealous people “vinegar bottles”, don’t they? Well, she’s not just a bottle-full of vinegar; she’s a storage-jar – a whole cistern-full of it! The master’s only got to rest his eyes on one of the maids, and she’ll find occasion to have that poor girl beaten until she looks like a boiled sheep’s head. Miss Patience is supposed to be his chamber-wife, but I doubt she lets him sleep with her more than once in a year. And even then she’ll go on and on about it afterwards until she’s reduced Patience to tears. “I didn’t want to do it,” says Patience, “you made me. When I said I didn’t want to, you told me I was wicked and disobedient, but now that I’ve done it, you keep picking on me.” After that she makes it up with Patience and begs to be forgiven.’
‘That can’t be true,’ said Er-jie. ‘If she’s really the harpy you say she is, how could she possibly be frightened of a mere chamber-wife?’
‘Because Patience has reason on her side,’ said Joker. ‘It’s like the proverb says: “Three men with a carrying-pole can’t shift Reason from its place.” Patience has been with the mistress since she was a little girl. There were four maids that came with the mistress when she married, but only Patience stayed on with her. The other three either died or got married. The mistress gave her to the master to be his chamber-wife partly because she wanted to show everyone what a virtuous wife she was and partly because she thought it would be a way of binding him to her. Miss Patience is a really good sort. She’s not the sort of person to go looking for trouble, and she’s always been good and true to the mistress. That’s why the mistress always makes it up with her.’
‘I see,’ said Er-jie. ‘But haven’t I heard that there are a young widow and a number of young ladies in the family? If your mistress is as awful as you say she is, how comes it that these other ones let her get away with it?’
Joker clapped his hands together and laughed.
‘Because the “young widow” you’re talking about – that’s our Mrs Zhu – is a saint. The nickname we servants give her is “Lady Gwanyin”. She doesn’t as a rule have anything to do with household matters. She spends all her time teaching the young ladies writing and broidering and book-learning. That’s her job. She has done a bit of household managing since the mistress fell ill, but even now she doesn’t interfere very much: just follows the rules, very quiet and ladylike – no throwing her weight about or showing off how clever she is like the other one. Of the young ladies, the eldest one – well, I suppose she must be a good ‘un to have been so favoured. The second one – that’s the master’s sister – we call her “Miss Doddyblock”. She’d probably forget to say “oh” if you stuck a pin in her. The third – Master Bao’s younger sister – we call “The Rose”–’
‘Why do you call her that?’ the You sisters asked simultaneously.
‘Sweet and pretty and everyone loves her, but she has a thorn,’ said Joker. ‘The great pity about her is that she’s not Her Ladyship’s child. A phoenix reared in a crow’s nest, that’s what she is. The fourth young lady is really Mr Zhen’s sister, but Her Ladyship brought her over to our mansion when she was still a baby and brought her up there with the others. She’s a big girl now, but still pays no attention to what goes on around her, no more than the second one. Then besides our four there are two other young ladies that you probably won’t have heard about – both very, very beautiful. One is Sir Zheng’s sister’s child. Her name is Miss Lin. Though she’s so beautiful, she’s very thin and weakly. The other is Her Ladyship’s sister’s child. Her name is Miss Xue.’
‘Miss Wood and Miss Snow,’ said Er-jie, smiling.
‘If we ever meet them on their way through the courtyard or getting into their carriages when they go out,’ said Joker, ‘we none of us dare to breathe.’
‘Of course,’ said Er-jie. ‘A great household like yours is sure to be very strict about such matters. Though young boys like you would be allowed into the courtyards, you would naturally be expected to keep your distance when the young ladies are about.’
‘No, no, no,’ said Joker, waving his hand energetically. ‘That’s not the reason we’re afraid to breathe. We’re afraid that if we breathed out too hard, we might blow Miss Lin over and cause Miss Xue to melt!’
The three You ladies, the Mattress and the two maids all burst out laughing.
But who was it that San-jie wanted to marry? This will be revealed (if you want to know) in the following chapter.
CHAPTER 66
Shame drives a warm-hearted young woman to take her life And shock leads a cold-hearted young gentleman to renounce the world
Our last chapter concluded with Joker’s female audience laughing at the notion of Miss Wood’s being blown down and Miss Snow melted by the breathing-out of the pages. The Mattress dealt him a playful box on the ear.
‘There may be some truth in what you say; but your way of telling things turns even good sense into nonsense,’ she said. ‘You are more like one of Bao-yu’s boys than one of the Master’s.’
Er-jie was about to ask another question, but San-jie got in first.
‘Yes now, about Bao-yu: what does he do – apart from going to school?’
Joker laughed.
‘Don’t ask about him, Miss! You’d never believe half of it if I told you. To begin with, although he’s such a big fellow now, he’s never had what you might call a proper schooling. Everyone in the family since his great-grandfather’s time, including the Master, had to do their ten years in the family school; but not him. Bao-yu doesn’t like study; so because he is Her Old Ladyship’s darling, that’s that. Sir Zheng used to try and do something with him, but that was soon put a stop to by Her Old Ladyship. Nowadays he spends the whole of his time just fooling around. You can’t understand what he’s talking about half the time, and you can’t make any sense of what he does. He looks bright enough, and people always assume from his looks that he must be clever; but underneath it he’s stupid. You can tell he must be stupid from the fact that he never has a word to say for himself when he meets anyone. I’ll give him this, though: although he doesn’t go to school, he can write a bit. That’s about the only thing he’s any good at. He doesn’t study, he doesn’t care for physical training, and he doesn’t like meeting people. He just spends all his time playing around with a pack of maids. He’s soft, too. Sometimes when he sees us, if he’s in the mood, he’ll play with us as if he were an equal. Other times he ignores us and we ignore him. If we’
re sitting down or lying down when he comes by, we don’t get up for him; we just take no notice. He doesn’t care. Nobody’s afraid of him. We do just what we like when he’s around. He never stops us.’
‘You talk like this about someone who is easy-going with you,’ said San-jie, ‘yet you complain just as much about someone who is strict. One can see that you are difficult people to employ!’
‘I always thought Bao-yu looked so nice,’ said Er-jie. ‘How disappointing to learn that there is really nothing in him after all!’
‘You surely don’t believe the rubbish this boy has been talking, sister?’ said San-jie impatiently. ‘We have, after all, seen Bao-yu several times ourselves. I suppose you could call him effeminate. Whether he is eating or talking or moving about, there is certainly something rather girlish about his manner. That comes from spending nearly all his time in the women’s quarters with no other males around. But stupid? I hardly think he can be called that. Don’t you remember when we were still in mourning, that time we were standing watching the monks as they went round the coffin and he stood right in front of us? Everyone said how ill-mannered it was of him and how inconsiderate. But then afterwards he quietly came up to us and explained: “I hope you didn’t think it very inconsiderate of me to stand in front of you like that,” he said, “but I noticed how dirty some of those monks were and I was afraid that the smell of them might distress you.” Then shortly after that, when he was drinking some tea and you said you’d like some too, he stopped one of the old women from emptying the slops out of his cup and filling it up again for you. “No, no,” he said, “that’s dirty! You must wash it first before you pour her any.” Just on the strength of those two incidents I think you ought in fairness to agree that, when he is with girls at any rate, he is perfectly capable. People fail to find out what he is really like because they are put off by his manner.’