A Dream of Red Mansions – Chapter 42

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Chapter 42

The Lady of the Alpinia Warns Against

Dubious Tastes in Literature

The Queen of Bamboos’ Quips

Add to the General Enjoyment

Presently the Lady Dowager awoke and the evening meal was served in Paddy-Sweet Cottage. But the old lady, too listless to eat, had herself carried back in the small bamboo sedan-chair to her own apartments to rest. She insisted, however, that Xifeng and the others should dine, and so they returned to the Garden. After the meal they went their different ways.

Now Granny Liu took Baner to see Xifeng.

‘I must go home first thing tomorrow,’ she announced. ‘I’ve not stayed here long, only two or three days, yet I’ve seen things, eaten things and heard tell of things I never even knew existed. The old lady and you, madam, as well as the young ladies and the girls in the different apartments, have all been kindness itself to a poor old woman. I’ve no way to show my gratitude when I get back except by burning incense every day and praying hard to Buddha to grant that all of you live to be a hundred.’

‘Don’t look so pleased,’ replied Xifeng with a smile. ‘All because of you, the old lady’s in bed with a chill and our Dajie has caught cold too and is running a fever.’

‘The old lady feels her age, and she isn’t used to exercise,’ observed Granny Liu with a sigh.

‘She’s never been in such high spirits as yesterday,’ Xifeng assured her. ‘Though she likes a jaunt in the Garden, she usually only sits a while in one or two places before coming back. With you here to show round yesterday, she covered more than half the Garden. As for Dajie, Lady Wang gave her a cake while she was crying for me, and eating it in the wind has made her feverish.’

‘I don’t suppose the little dear goes much into the Garden or places she doesn’t know. Not like our children, who as soon as they can walk are scampering all over the graveyards. She may have caught a chill in the wind, or being a clear-eyed innocent she may have met some spirit. If I were you I’d look up some book of enchantments, just so as to be on the safe side.’

Acting on this advice, Xifeng asked Pinger to find The Records of the Jade Casket and told Caiming to look up the relevant passage. After leafing through it Caiming read, ‘On the twenty-fifth of the eighth month, illness may be caused in the southeast by meeting a flower spirit. The cure is to carry forty coloured paper coins forty paces southeast, offering one at each step.’

‘There you are!’ exclaimed Xifeng. ‘There must be flower spirits in the Garden. Probably the old lady has run into one too.’

She sent for two lots of paper money and two servants to exorcise these spirits for the Lady Dowager and her own small daughter. Then sure enough Dajie fell into a sound sleep.

‘Yes, after all, it’s the old who are the most experienced,’ observed Xifeng. ‘Can you tell me, granny, why our Dajie is always ailing?’

‘It’s natural enough. The children of wealthy families are too deli­cate to stand any rough handling. Being too pampered isn’t good for kiddies either. She’ll do better, madam, if you don’t spoil her too much.’

‘I think you’re right,’ agreed Xifeng. ‘By the way, she has no name yet. You give her one so that she can share your good fortune and live as long as you. Besides ‘ I hope you won’t mind my saying this you country folk aren’t so well off, and a name given by someone poor like you should act as a counterbalance.’

‘When was she born?’ asked Granny Liu after some thought.

‘That’s the trouble: the seventh of the seventh month.’

‘Why, that’s good! Call her Qiaoge1 then. This is what is known as ‘fighting poison with poison and fire with fire.’ If you agree to this name, madam, she’s sure to live to a ripe old age. And when she grows up and has her own family, if anything untoward happens, her bad luck will turn into good all because of this ‘happy coincidence’ in her name.

Xifeng was naturally pleased and said gratefully, ‘I hope it will turn out for her as you say.

She called Pinger then and told her, ‘Tomorrow we’ll most likely be busy. Sort out our presents for granny now that you’re free, so that she can leave as early as suits her tomorrow.’

‘You mustn’t spend any more on me,’ protested Granny Liu. ‘I’ve imposed on you for several days already, and if I take presents too I shall feel even worse.

‘It’s nothing much, nothing special,’ replied Xifeng. ‘But good or bad you must take it. That will look better to your neighbours you’ll have something to show for your trip to town.’

Just then Pinger returned and said, ‘Come and have a look, granny.

She led the old woman to the other bedroom, where the kang was half covered with things. Pinger picked them up one by one to show them to her.

‘This is the green gauze you admired yesterday,’ she said. ‘And here is some pale grey gauze from our mistress for a lining. These two rolls of raw silk would do well for tunics or skirts, and the two lengths of silk in this wrapping will make clothes for New Year. Here’s a hamper of all sorts of cakes from the Imperial kitchen; some you’ve tasted, others you haven’t; they’re better to offer to visitors than any you can buy outside. One of these two sacks you brought vegetables in has two pecks of rice in it from the Imperial fields, which makes an excellent porridge; the other is full of fruit and nuts from our Garden. In this packet are eight taels of silver. All these are presents from our mistress. These two pack­ets of fifty taels each, a hundred in all, are a present from Lady Wang who wants you to start a small business or buy some land with it, so that in future you don’t have to appeal to friends for help.’ Then, smiling, she said in a low voice, ‘These two tunics and this skirt, four headscarfs and packet of embroidery silks are from me, granny. The clothes may not be new, but they haven’t been worn much. Still, if you turn up your nose at them, I shan’t complain.’

Granny Liu had exclaimed ‘Gracious Buddha!’ at each item men­tioned, until she must have invoked Buddha hundreds of times. Now, finding Pinger so generous and so modest too, she protested with a smile:

‘How can you say such a thing, miss? Who am I to turn up my nose at such fine things? Things money wouldn’t buy, even if I had any. I just feel ashamed to take so much, and yet since you’re so generous, miss, I must.’

‘Don’t talk as if we were strangers,’ chuckled Pinger. ‘I wouldn’t presume like this if we weren’t good friends. So don’t have any scruples about accepting. I’ve a favour to ask you too. Next New Year I want you to bring us some of your dried vegetables cabbage, string-beans, lentil, egg-plant and gourds. All of us here, high and low, enjoy such things. That’ll be quite enough, don’t trouble to bring anything else.’

Granny Liu agreed to this with a thousand thanks.

‘Off to bed with you now,’ Pinger urged her. ‘I’ll pack everything up for you and put it here. First thing tomorrow I’ll get some boys to order a carriage and load this on for you, so that you don’t have to worry about a thing.’

More grateful than ever, Granny Liu went back to thank Xifeng effu­sively and take her leave of her. She spent the night in the Lady Dowager’s apartments, meaning to say goodbye to the old lady as soon as she was up the next day.

But since the Lady Dowager was unwell, the whole family came the next morning to ask after her health, and a doctor was sent for. Soon a maid announced his arrival and an old nurse stepped forward to draw the bed-curtains.

‘I’m an old woman,’ said the Lady Dowager. ‘Old enough to be his mother. Why should I be afraid of his laughing at me? Leave the curtains as they are, he can see me like this.’

The maids moved a small table up to the bed, put a tiny cushion on it and sent to invite the doctor in. Presently ha Zhen, Jia Lian and Jia Rong led Doctor Wang over. Not presuming to walk up the central ramp, he took the side steps up the terrace behind Jia Zhen. Two serving-women had the portiere raised and two others ushered him in, while Baoyu came out to greet him.

The Lady Dowager in a blue silk tunic lined with a curly sheepskin was seated on the couch. On either side stood two short-haired young maids holding whisks, rinse-bowls and the like, while ranged beside them were half a dozen old nurses; and behind the green gauze screen the doctor glimpsed other figures wearing gay silks and trinkets set with pre­cious stones and pearls. Lowering his head, he advanced to pay his re­spects. The Lady Dowager saw from his robes of the sixth official rank that this was one of the Imperial physicians.

With a smile she greeted him, then asked Jia Zhen: ‘What is this gentleman’s honourable name?’

‘Wang.’

‘In the old days,’ she said, ‘the director of the Academy of Imperial Physicians. Wang Junxiao, was an excellent diagnostician.’

Wang bowed and, his head lowered, rejoined with a smile, ‘He was my great-uncle.’

‘So our families are old friends.’ With these words she slowly placed one hand on the cushion. An old nurse put a low stool slightly to one side of the table and Doctor Wang, sitting respectfully on the edge of the stool, bent one knee to lean over the couch. He felt both her pulses in turn for some length of time, his head inclined meditatively, after which he rose with a bow, his head lowered, to take his leave.

‘Thank you for your trouble,’ said the Lady Dowager. ‘Zhen, take the doctor to the study and see that he gets some tea.’

Jia Zhen and Jia Lian, quick to obey her instructions, conducted the doctor to the study outside.

There he told them, ‘There is nothing wrong with the old lady except a slight chill. She need not take any medicine. A light diet and keeping warm will put her right. However, I’ll make out a prescription and if she likes the old lady can take one dose. If she feels disinclined, it’s of no consequence.’

He sipped some tea then and wrote out the prescription. Just as he was about to leave, Dajie’s nurse carried her in and asked with a smile:

‘Will Doctor Wang look at us too?’

The doctor at once stood up. Supporting the child’s hand with his own left hand as she nestled in the nurse’s arms, with his right hand he felt her pulse. Then he felt her forehead and made her show him her tongue.

‘This young lady may scold me for what I’m going to say,’ he told them with a smile. ‘She will be all right if she just goes without two meals. There’s no need to dose her with medicine. I’ll bring some pills for her to take dissolved in ginger-water before sleeping.’

With that he left, seen off by Jia Zhen and the others. They went back to report his diagnosis to the Lady Dowager, then laid the prescription on her desk and withdrew. Lady Wang and the younger women and girls had emerged from behind the screen once the doctor had gone, and Lady Wang sat there a little longer before returning to her own apartments.

When Granny Liu knew that the old lady was free, she came in to say goodbye. The Lady Dowager urged her to come again and told Yuanyang:

‘See Granny Liu out. I’m not well enough to see her off myself.’

Then with final thanks Granny Liu took her leave and withdrew with Yuanyang to the maids’ room. Yuanyang pointed at a bundle on the kang.

‘Those are two sets of clothes given to the old lady on previous birth­days,’ she said. ‘She never wears anything made outside, and it’s a pity to keep them stored away, but she’s never once put them on. Yesterday she told me to choose two sets for you to take back you can either give them away or wear them at home. In this hamper are the pastries you asked for. In this packet the medicines: plum-blossom powder, purple-gold pills, tonic for the blood and restorative pills, each kind wrapped up with directions for its use. Here are two embroidered pouches you can wear for fun.’ She loosened the strings of these and took out two silver ingots. Showing her the device ‘May your wishes come true,’ she sug­gested with a smile, ‘You take the pouches, granny, and leave these to me.

Granny Liu, in such raptures already that she had invoked Buddha several hundred times, at once agreed, ‘Of course, you keep them, miss.’

Yuanyang smiled to see that the old woman thought her in earnest. Replacing the ingots she said, ‘I was only teasing. I’ve plenty of these. Keep them to give the children at New Year.’

And now a young maid stepped forward to hand Granny Liu a porce­lain bowl made in the Cheng Hua period.

‘This is a present from Master Bao,’ she announced.

‘Well, imagine that!’ cried Granny Liu, taking the bowl. ‘I must have done good deeds in some past life to have all this happen today.’

‘Those clothes you changed into when I asked you to have a bath the other day were mine,’ Yuanyang told her. ‘If they’re any use to you keep them, and here are a few others.’

As Granny Liu hastily thanked her, she produced two more sets of clothing and wrapped them up for her. The old woman wanted to go to the Garden to say goodbye to Baoyu, the young ladies and Lady Wang, but Yuanyang prevented her.

‘There’s no need. They don’t see people at this hour. I’ll tell them later. You must come again when you’ve time.’

An old serving-woman was dispatched to get a boy from the inner gate to help Granny Liu with her things. Then they went to Xifeng’s apartments to fetch the gifts there, which the page carried out through the side gate and loaded on to the carriage they had hired. Finally, the old serving-woman escorted Granny Liu to the carriage and saw her off.

After breakfast, Baoyu and the others paid their respects again to the Lady Dowager, after which they returned to the Garden. Where their ways parted Baochai said to Daiyu:

‘Come with me. I’ve something to ask you.

So Daiyu accompanied her to Alpinia Court.

As soon as they arrived, Baochai sat down and announced teasingly, ‘You must kneel down. I’m going to try you.

‘The girl must be mad!’ exclaimed Daiyu in amazement. ‘What am Ito be tried for?’

‘A fine young lady you are, a sheltered, innocent girl!’ Baochai snorted. ‘Yet the things you say! Confess now.

Daiyu, who had not the least idea what she meant, was amused but beginning to be worried too.

‘What have I said wrong?’ she asked. ‘You’re just trying to pick fault. Tell me what you mean.

‘So you’re still playing the innocent.’ Baochai smiled. ‘What were those lines you quoted yesterday when we played the drinking game? I couldn’t think where they had come from.’

Daiyu remembered then that, the day before, she had been careless enough to quote two lines from The Peony Pavilion and The Western Chamber. Her cheeks flaming, she threw her arms round Baochai and giggled:

‘Dear cousin, they slipped out inadvertently. Now that you’ve scolded me, I promise not to say them again.’

‘They were new to me but I was so struck by them I’d like to know where they’re from.’

‘Don’t tell anyone, dear cousin! I won’t do it again.’

She was blushing in such confusion and pleading so hard that Baochai had not the heart to question her further. Instead she made her sit down and have some tea.

‘You may not believe it, but I used to be a madcap too,’ she said gently. ‘At seven and eight I was a real handful. Our family could be considered a scholarly one, and my grandfather’s chief delight was col­lecting books. There were a lot of us in those days, boys and girls to­gether, and we all hated serious books. Some of my boy cousins liked poetry, others librettoes. We had books like The Western Chamber. Tale of the Lute and A Hundred Dramas of the Yuan Dynasty ‘ a whole collection of that sort. They used to read them in secret, and so did we girls. When the grown-ups later found out, we were beaten or scolded and the books were burnt, which put a stop to that.

‘So it’s best for girls like us not to know how to read. Even boys, if they study to no good purpose would do better not to study at all, and that’s even truer in our case. Poetry-writing and calligraphy are not re­quired of us, nor of boys either for that matter. If boys learn sound prin­ciples by studying so that they can help the government to rule the people, well and good; but nowadays we don’t hear of many such cases ‘reading only seems to make them worse than they were to start with. And while study leads them astray, the books they read are debased too. So it’s worse than taking up farming or trade, for in those professions they could do less damage. As for us, we should just stick to needlework. If we happen to have a little education we should choose proper books to read. If we let ourselves be influenced by those unorthodox books, there’s no hope for us.’

Daiyu had lowered her head to sip tea during this lecture and, rather impressed by it, she now simply murmured, ‘Yes.’

Just then Suyun came in to announce, ‘Our mistress wants you both to go and discuss some important business. All the other young ladies are there with Master Bao.’

‘What can this be?’ wondered Baochai.

‘We’ll know when we get there,’ said Daiyu.

They went to Paddy-Sweet Cottage, where they found all the others assembled.

Li Wan told them gaily, ‘Before we’ve got our club going, someone’s trying to wriggle out. Here’s Xichun asking for a whole year’s leave.’

‘That’s all because the old lady told her yesterday to paint a picture of the Garden,’ said Daiyu. ‘She’s glad of the excuse to ask for leave.’

‘You can’t blame it on the old lady,’ countered Tanchun. ‘It was Granny Liu who started it.’

‘That’s right,’ rejoined Daiyu promptly. ‘It’s all owing to her. Whose granny is she anyway? Old Mother Locust would be a better name for her.’

Everybody laughed.

‘Xifeng knows all the usual run of smart talk,’ said Baochai. ‘Luck­ily she hasn’t had too much education, so all her jokes are the vulgar talk of the town. But now our sharp-tongued Daiyu is using the method of the Spring-and-Autumn Annals2 to condense such talk, extract its essence and colour it with metaphors so that every phrase tells. How graphically the name Old Mother Locust conjures up everything that happened yes­terday. What a ready wit!’

‘Your commentaries are quite up to their standard too,’ cried the others, laughing.

Li Wan interposed, ‘I asked you here to decide how much leave to allow her. I said a month, but she thinks that’s too short. What do you say?’

‘Actually a year isn’t too long,’ replied Daiyu. ‘Since this Garden took a year to build, painting it will naturally require two, what with grind­ing the ink, spreading out the paper, dipping the brushes in the colours and then….

Before she could finish the others, knowing that she was poking fun at Xichun, asked, ‘And then what?’

Unable to hold back her laughter, Daiyu went on, ‘Then slowly paint­ing the whole thing in detail. It will surely take two years.

This sally was greeted with hilarious applause.

‘Marvellous!’ cried Baochai. ‘Especially that last bit about ‘slowly painting.’ Painting is the crux of the business, isn’t it? That’s why all those jokes yesterday seemed funny at the time, not when you look back on them; but when you consider what she’s just said, though there seems nothing to it, it’s so funny in retrospect that I can’t move for laughing.’

‘You’re egging her on to show off,’ complained Xichun. ‘And at my expense this time.

Daiyu caught hold of her arm. ‘Tell me, are you just painting the Garden or us as well?’ she asked.

‘The idea at first was just the Garden,’ said Xichun. ‘But yesterday the old lady objected that that would look like an architect’s drawing. She told me to put everybody in, just as in a family outing. I’m no good at the details of buildings or at painting people either, but I can’t very well back out now. A fine fix I’m in.’

‘People are easy,’ said Daiyu.’But can you paint insects?’

‘You’re talking nonsense again,’ objected Li Wan. ‘What insects does this painting need? A bird or two, perhaps, would be appropriate.’

‘We can dispense with other insects,’ giggled Daiyu. ‘But the paint­ing will have no point without yesterday’s Old Mother Locust.’

This produced a fresh outburst of laughter.

Shaking with mirth and pressing her hands to her heart, Daiyu cried, ‘Do start soon. I’ve even got the title ready for you. Call it Guzzling in the Company of the Locust.’

That set them rocking backwards and forwards with laughter until something crashed to the floor. At once all looked round. Xiangyun had been leaning on the back of a chair and, this being none too steady, her weight on it as she laughed had toppled it over, upsetting both girl and chair. Luckily the partition stopped her from slipping to the ground. This sight convulsed the whole party. Baoyu hastily helped Xiangyun up, and by degrees they regained control of themselves.

Baoyu then shot Daiyu a glance. Taking the hint she went into the bedroom and took the cover off the mirror to have a look. Seeing that the hair at her temples was dishevelled, she smoothed it with a hair-brush from Li Wan’s dressing-case, then put the brush away again and re­joined the party.

Wagging one finger at Li Wan she demanded, ‘Are you teaching us needlework and sound principles, or are you getting us here to romp and have fun?’

‘Just listen to her!’ protested Li Wan. ‘She takes the lead in sending you into hysterics but puts the blame on me. What a terror she is! Well, I just hope, when you marry, you’ll get a fierce mother-in-law and several really vicious sisters-in-law. We’ll see if you can go on being so cheeky then.’

Daiyu, flushing, caught hold of Baochai. ‘Let’s grant her one year’s leave.’

‘I’ll make a fair proposal,’ countered Baochai. ‘Listen, all of you. What Xichun’s best at is impressionistic sketches, whereas for a painting of this Garden one needs to have the whole lay-out in mind. As a matter of fact, this Garden itself is exactly like a painting with just the right number of rocks, trees, pavilions and villas near and far, some scattered, some grouped together. If you put all that on paper as it is, the result can’t possibly please. You must consider the spacing on the paper, how much to present in the background, how much in the foreground, what to play up and what to play down. Certain things should be added, others left out; certain things should be hidden, others revealed. And you must study your draft carefully to produce a good composition.

‘The second essential thing is that in order to get the proportions of the buildings right you’ll have to use a ruler. The least carelessness may result in crooked balustrades, collapsing pillars, lopsided windows and doors, steps out of line, or even tables squashed into the walls and flower­pots perched on top of screens. Then the whole thing would be a joke.

‘The third thing is to make sure that the figures put in are suitably spaced and at different heights. Then the folds of their clothes, their girdles, their fingers and the way they walk are especially important. One slip of the brush and you’ll get swollen hands and deformed feet which will look worse than dirty faces or tousled hair.

‘So it seems to me a very difficult job. One year’s leave is too long, but one month is too short. I suggest allowing her half a year and asking Cousin Bao to help her. Not that he can teach her anything about painting – he’d only hold her up – but if she has any problems or difficulties he can help solve them by consulting those gentlemen in the study outside who are good at painting.’

‘That’s a good idea,’ cried Baoyu eagerly. ‘Zhan Ziliang paints ex­cellent pavilions in the meticulous style and Cheng Rixing does superb beauties. I can go and consult them right away.’

‘‘Much Ado About Nothing’ ‘ that’s you,’ observed Baochai. ‘I say one word and off you go to consult them. At least wait till we’ve reached a decision. First let’s discuss what materials we’ll need.’

‘We’ve some big sheets of xue lang paper3 at home which absorbs ink well,’ put in Baoyu.

‘I knew you’d be no use.’ Baochai smiled mockingly. ‘That xue lang paper absorbs the ink and gives good shading effects for calligra­phy, ink sketches or landscapes of the Southern School. But if you used it for this, the colours wouldn’t stand out and would easily run. Yon’d ruin the picture and simply waste the paper.

‘So let me make a suggestion. When this Garden was built there was a detailed architect’s drawing, and though it was done by craftsmen the lay-out and directions are accurate. Ask Lady Wang for that and Xifeng for a piece of heavy weight silk of the same size, then get the secretaries outside to have the silk prepared and make a draft according to the draw­ing with some additions or omissions; and once you’ve put in the figures there’s your painting. Ask them to prepare the green and blue colours and the gold and silver too. In addition you’ll need portable stoves to melt and extract the glue, as well as to heat water to clean the brushes. A big varnished table with a felt cover will be needed too. You haven’t enough paint-saucers or brushes either. You’d better buy new sets.’

‘I haven’t all that equipment,’ exclaimed Xichun. ‘I just paint with my writing-brushes. And the only pigments I have are red-ochre, indigo, gamboge and rouge. Apart from that, all I have is a couple of colouring brushes.’

‘Why didn’t you tell me earlier?’ scolded Baochai. ‘I’ve got all that paraphernalia, more than you’d need ‘ you couldn’t have used it all if I’d sent it over. I’ll keep it for you, and let you have whatever you want when you need it. But these things are only good for painting fans; it would be a pity to use them on a painting this size. I’ll make out for you now a list of materials you can ask the old lady for. In case you don’t know everything that’s required, I’ll list them and Cousin Bao can write them down.’

Baoyu, not trusting his memory, had already got brush and ink ready and at this he picked up the brush with alacrity.

‘Four large brushes for drawing outlines, four of the medium size and four small ones,’ Baochai began. ‘Four large colouring brushes, four medium and four small ones; ten large brushes for painting fine lines and ten small ones; ten beard-and-eyebrow brushes; twenty large and twenty small brushes for colour washes; ten brushes for painting features; twenty willow brushes.

‘Then you’ll need four ounces each of ‘arrow-head’ cinnabar, south­ern ochre, orpirnent, azurite, malachite and gamboge; eight ounces of indigo; four boxes of white lead; ten sheets of rouge; two hundred sheets each of red gold-foil and green gold-foil; four ounces of glue and four ounces of pure alum ‘ that’s not counting what’s used to prepare the silk, but you can leave that to the secretaries when you get them to do it. Once these pigments are properly rinsed, ground, mixed with glue and shaken, I guarantee you’ll have enough to play about with and last you a lifetime.

‘Then you must prepare four fine silk filters; four sieves; four feather-dusters; four large and small mortars; twenty large coarse bowls; ten five-inch saucers; twenty three-inch coarse white saucers; two portable stoves; four large and small earthenware cooking pots; two new porce­lain jars; two new buckets; four white cloth bags one foot long; twenty catties of soft charcoal; one catty of hard charcoal; one chest with three drawers; ten feet of plain gauze; two ounces of ginger; half a catty of soy sauce….

‘And one pan and frying-slice,’ put in Daiyu.

‘What are they for?’ demanded Baochai.

‘Since you want things like ginger and soy sauce, I may as well get you a pan to fry those colours and eat them.’

Everyone laughed.

‘You don’t understand,’ rejoined Baochai with a smile. ‘Those coarse saucers can’t stand too much heat. The fire would crack them if you didn’t first smear ginger and soy sauce on the bottom.’

‘Yes, that’s right,’ agreed the others.

Daiyu had another look at the list, then nudged Tanchun and whis­pered, ‘Look at all the pots and chests she wants just for one painting. She must have mixed things up and put in the list of her dowry as well.’

Tanchun exploded in a fit of laughter.

‘Cousin Baochai!’ she cried. ‘Why don’t you pinch her lips? Ask her what she just said about you.

‘I don’t have to ask,’ retorted Baochai. ‘One doesn’t expect ivory from a dog’s mouth.’

As she spoke she pushed Daiyu down on the kang to pinch her cheeks.

‘Forgive me, dear cousin,’ pleaded Daiyu giggling. ‘I’m too young to know the right way to talk; but you, dear as an elder sister to me, can teach me. If you won’t forgive me, who else can I turn to?’

The others did not know what lay behind this exchange.

‘How pathetic she sounds,’ they teased. ‘Our hearts bleed for her. Do let her off!’

Baochai had only been joking, but catching this reference to her ear­lier lecture on reading improper books, she stopped teasing and let Daiyu go.

‘What a good girl you are,’ observed Daiyu. ‘If it had been me I shouldn’t have been so forgiving.’

Baochai pointed a finger at her. ‘No wonder the old lady’s so fond of you and everybody loves you. I declare I’m growing quite fond of you myself now. Come here and let me do your hair for you.’

Daiyu, complying, turned round and Baochai arranged her dishevelled hair for her. Baoyu, watching, decided that this way of dressing her hair was an improvement and regretted having sent her to comb her hair before ‘ the job should have been left for Baochai. His reverie was cut short by Baochai remarking:

‘If you’ve finished that list, you can show it to the old lady tomorrow. We may have the things at home; if not, they can be bought. I’ll help you with the preparations.’

Baoyu put the list away then and they chatted. That evening after dinner they went as usual to pay their respects to the Lady Dowager. As she had been suffering from nothing more serious than a slight chill caught when she was tired, a day in bed and a dose of medicine had set her right by the evening.

What happened the day after is told in the next chapter.

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