第六回 可知今日怜才意 即是当时种树心
海老公问起今日做了什么事，韦小宝说了到鳌拜家中抄家，至于吞没珍宝、金银、匕首等事，自然绝口不提，最后道：“太后命我到鳌拜家里拿两部《四十二章经》……”海老公突然站起，问道：“鳌拜家有两部《四十二章经》？”韦小宝道：“是啊。是太后和皇上吩咐去取的，否则的话，我拿来给了你，别人也未必知道。”When Old Hai asked what he had been doing that day, Trinket told him that he had been helping supervise the confiscation of Oboi’s estate. He concluded his account–which of course omitted any mention of the dagger and various other valuables that he had pocketed for himself–by telling him about the two copies of the Sutra in Forty-Two Sections that had been discovered in Oboi’s house. The old eunuch jumped up in surprise. ‘Did you say there were two copies at Oboi’s place?’ ‘Yes,’ said Trinket. ‘We were told to look for them by the Empress Dowager; otherwise I could have brought them to you without anyone knowing.’
海老公脸色阴沉，哼了一声，冷冷的道：“落入了太后手里啦，很好，很好！”Old Hai’s face fell, but he soon recovered his composure. ‘Hm, in the Empress Dowager’s hands now, are they?’ he said grimly. ‘Well, it could be worse.’
待会厨房中送了饭来，海老公只吃了小半碗便不吃了，翻着一双无神的白眼，仰起了头只是想心事。Shortly after this their evening meal was brought in from the Imperial kitchens. After eating barely half a bowl of rice, the old eunuch sat back, turned up his pale, unseeing eyes towards the ceiling, and appeared to be lost in thought.
韦小宝吃完饭，心想我先睡一会，到三更时分再去和那小宫女说话玩儿，见海老公呆呆的坐着不动，便和衣上床而睡。When he had finished his own meal, Trinket decided to get a little sleep in before going to his midnight assignation with the maid-in-waiting. Not wishing to disturb the old eunuch, who was still sitting motionless in his chair, he slipped over to his bed, lay down on it fully clothed, and was soon asleep.
他迷迷糊糊的睡了一会，悄悄起身，把那盒蜜饯糕饼揣在怀里，生怕惊醒海老公，慢慢一步步的蹑足而出，走到门边，轻轻拔开了门闩，再轻轻打开了一扇门，突然听得海老公问道：“小桂子，你去哪里？”After sleeping fitfully for what must have been several hours, he got up silently, stuffed the box of cakes inside his breast pocket, and made his way on tiptoe across the room, pausing at each step for fear the old eunuch might waken. Then, slowly and gently, he slid back the door-bar and opened one of the leaves of the door. At that very moment he heard the old eunuch’s voice calling out from behind him. ‘Laurie, where are you going?’
韦小宝一惊，说道：“我……我小便去。”海老公道：“干么不在屋里小便？”韦小宝道：“我睡不着，到花园里走走。”生怕海老公阻拦，也不多说，拔步往外便走，左足刚踏出一步，只觉后领一紧，已给海老公抓住，提了回来。’I’m . . . I’m going out for a piss.’ ‘Why can’t you piss in the pot?’ ‘I can’t get to sleep,’ said Trinket. ‘I thought I’d walk around in the garden for a bit.’ No point in standing there talking, he thought; better get off quickly, before the Old Devil could stop him. But just as his foot crossed the threshold, he felt a tightening around the throat.韦小宝“啊”的一声，尖叫了出来，当下便有个念头：“糟糕，糟糕，老乌龟知道我要去见那小宫女，不许我去。”’Ow!’ he hollered. The old eunuch had him by the collar and was propelling him back into the room. ‘Damn!’ thought Trinket, ‘Damn!’ as the old man threw him down on the bed. The Old Devil knows I want to go and see that little maid and now he’s going to stop me.’念头还未转完，已给海老公摔在床上。韦小宝笑道：“公公，你试我武功么？好几天没教我功夫了，这一抓是什么招式？”’Is this to test my reactions, Goong-goong?’ he said, forcing a laugh. ‘It’s a long time since you’ve taught me any kungfu. What do you call that grip?’
海老公哼了一声，道：“这叫做‘瓮中抓鳖’，手到擒来。鳖便是甲鱼，捉你这只小甲鱼。”韦小宝心道：“老甲鱼捉小甲鱼！”可是毕竟不敢说出口，眼珠骨溜溜的乱转，寻思脱身之计。’Catching a Turtle in a Jar, ‘ said the old eunuch. ‘Little turtle!’ ‘Turtle yourself!’ thought Trinket, but didn’t dare say it out loud. His eyes were darting all round him, looking for some means of escape;
海老公坐在他床沿上，轻轻的道：“你胆大心细，聪明伶俐，学武虽然不肯踏实，但如果由我来好好琢磨琢磨，也可以算得是可造之材，可惜啊可惜。”but the old eunuch sat himself down beside him on the bed and began addressing him in a low, almost mournful voice. ‘You’re bold but not careless,’ he said. ‘You’re a sharp, intelligent lad. You haven’t shown much willingness to exert yourself, but if I could have taken you in hand and knocked you into some sort of shape, you might have made quite a promising little fighter. It seems such a pity.’韦小宝问道：“公公，可惜什么？”海老公不答，只叹了口气，过了半晌，说道：“你的京片子学得也差不多了。几个月之前，倘若就会说这样的话，不带丝毫扬州腔调，倒也不容易发觉。”’What does, Goong-goong?’ Trinket asked. ‘What seems a pity?’ The old eunuch ignored his question and heaved a sigh. After a pause he said: ‘Your Peking accent is almost perfect now. If your voice had sounded like this a few months ago, without a trace of the Yangzhou twang in it, I might have been taken in.’
韦小宝大吃一惊，霎时之间全身寒毛直竖，忍不住身子发抖，牙关轻轻相击，强笑道：“公公，你……你今儿晚上的说话，真是……嘻嘻……真是奇怪。”Shock raised the fine hairs on Trinket’s body. An uncontrollable shivering took possession of him and his teeth began chattering. Nevertheless he managed a nervous laugh. ‘G-g-goong-goong, you’re speaking very–ha ha!–s-strangely tonight.’
海老公又叹了口气，问道：“孩子，你今年几岁啦？”韦小宝听他语气甚和，惊惧之情渐减，道：“我……我是十四岁罢。”海老公道：“十三岁就十三岁，十四岁就十四岁，为什么是‘十四岁罢？’”The old eunuch heaved another sigh. ‘How old are you, child?’ He was speaking so calmly that Trinket’s terror was somewhat allayed. ‘About fourteen, I think.’ ‘If you’re thirteen, you’re thirteen; if you’re fourteen, you’re fourteen. What do you mean, you “think”?’韦小宝道：“我妈妈也记不大清楚，我自己可不知道。”这一句倒是真话，他妈妈胡里胡涂，小宝到底几岁，向来说不大准。’My mother’s not sure herself,’ said Trinket. ‘I can’t say exactly.’ This was true. His mother had always been vague when asked about his age.
海老公点了点头，咳嗽了几声，道：“前几年练功夫，练得走了火，惹上了这咳嗽的毛病，越咳越厉害，近年来自己知道是不大成的了。”The old eunuch nodded and coughed for a bit. ‘A few years ago I overtaxed my body in some way while I was training. It brought on this cough which just seems to get worse and worse. This last year I’ve begun to realize there’s no hope for me.’韦小宝道：“我……我觉得你近来……近来咳得好了些。”海老公摇头道：“好什么？一点也没好。我胸口痛得好厉害，你又怎知道？”韦小宝道：“现下怎样？要不要我拿些药给你吃？”海老公叹道：“眼睛瞧不见，药是不能乱服的了。”韦小宝大气也不敢透，不知他说这些话是什么用意。’Oh, I don’t know,’ said Trinket, not quite sure where this conversation was heading. ‘I thought your cough was getting a bit better lately.’ ‘Better?’ said the old eunuch shaking his head. ‘It’s not the least bit better. I’ve got a terrible pain in my chest all the time. What would you know about it?’ ‘What’s it like at the moment?’ said Trinket. ‘Would you like me to get you some of your medicine?’ Again the old man sighed. ‘I’ve already lost my eyesight. Medicine has to be taken in the proper doses.’ Trinket almost stopped breathing. Did this mean that the Old Devil had guessed about that as well?
海老公又道：“你机缘挺好，巴结上了皇上，本来嘛，也可以有一番大大的作为。你没净身，我给你净了也不打紧，只不过，唉，迟了，迟了。”’You’ve got a lucky streak,’ the old eunuch continued. ‘Getting yourself into the Emperor’s graces like that–it could have been very useful. You haven’t been purified, of course, but that’s no problem. I could have done the cutting for you. Ah, it’s a pity. Too late. Just too late.’
韦小宝不懂“净身”是什么意思，只觉他今晚话说的语气说不出的古怪，轻声道：“公公，很晚了，你这就睡罢。”海老公道：“睡罢，睡罢！唉，睡觉的时候以后可多着呢，朝也睡，晚也睡，睡着了永远不醒。孩子，一个人老是睡觉，不用起身，不会心口痛，不会咳嗽得难过，那不是挺美么？”韦小宝吓得不敢作声。Trinket had no idea what ‘purified’ meant; but everything the old eunuch was saying tonight seemed to have something odd about it. ‘Goong-goong,’ he said, ‘it’s very late. Shouldn’t you be getting some sleep?’ ‘Sleep?’ said the old eunuch. ‘Sleep? There’s plenty of sleeping to come: sleeping all day, sleeping all night, sleeping and never waking up again. No more getting up in the morning, no more pains in the chest, no more coughing. What do you think, boy? Don’t you think it would be nice?’ Trinket was too frightened to answer.
海老公道：“孩子，你家里还有些什么人？”这平平淡淡一句问话，韦小宝却难以回答。他可不知那死了的小桂子家中有些什么人，胡乱回答，多半立时便露出马脚，Tell me, boy,’ said the old eunuch, ‘who else is there besides you in your family?’ The question was straightforward enough and seemed to have been asked without sinister intent, yet Trinket did not know how to answer it. He hadn’t the faintest idea what family the late Laurie had had and feared that almost any answer he gave was likely to betray his ignorance;但又不能不答，只盼海老公本来不知小桂子家中底细，才这样问，便道：“我家里只有个老娘，其余的人，这些年来，唉，那也不用提了。”yet he had to say something. He settled for a modified version of the truth, hoping that Old Hai himself knew nothing about Laurie’s family. ‘My mother’s the only one at home,’ he said. ‘What’s happened to the rest of the family during these past few years, I’d rather not say.’话中拖上这样个尾巴，倘若小桂子还有父兄姊弟，就不妨用“那也不用提了”这六字来推搪。海老公道：“只有个老娘，你们福建话，叫娘是叫什么的？”’Only a mother,’ said the old eunuch. ‘And what word do you use for “mother” in the Fujian dialect?’
韦小宝又是一惊：“什么福建话？莫非小桂子是福建人？Here was another surprise for Trinket. ‘Could the real Laurie have been a Fujianese?’ he wondered.
他说我以前的说话中有扬州腔调，恐怕……恐怕……那么他眼睛给我弄瞎这回事，他知不知道？”刹那之间，心中转过了无数念头，含含糊糊的道：“这个……这个……你问这个干么？”’I thought he said just now that I used to have a Yangzhou accent. Perhaps . . . perhaps he does know that I blinded him.’ Some seconds elapsed while his brain raced through a number of possibilities. His final response was a lame one. ‘I… I–why do you ask?’
海老公又叹了口气，说道：“你年纪小小，就这样坏，嘿，到底是像你爹呢，还是像你妈？”韦小宝嘻嘻一笑，说道：“我是谁也不像。好是不大好，坏也不算挺坏。”There was another sigh from the old eunuch. ‘So young and yet so wicked! I wonder where you get it from. Who do you most resemble, your father or your mother?’ ‘I don’t think I’m like anyone,’ said Trinket. ‘Anyway, I’m not all that bad. I may not be very good, but I don’t think I’m wicked.’海老公咳了几声，道：“我是成年之后，才净身做太监的……”韦小宝暗暗叫苦：“原来做太监要净身，那就是割去小便的东西。他说知道我没净身，要是来给我净身，那可乖乖龙的东……”’I haven’t always been a eunuch,’ the old man said after a few more coughs. ‘I was already a grown man when I was purified.’ Trinket was horrified. ‘So that’s what being “purified” means: having your piss-pipe and the other bits cut off. I hope he doesn’t think he’s going to purify me. Holy ding-a-ling dongs!’只听海老公续道：“我本来有个儿子，只可惜在八岁那年就死了。倘若活到今日，我的孙儿也该有你这般大了。那个姓茅的茅十八，不是你爹爹罢？”But the old man’s thoughts were on another track. ‘I had a son once,’ he said. ‘Unfortunately he died when he was only eight years old. If he’d lived, I might have had a grandson today of about your age. Tell me, is that Whiskers Mao your father?’
韦小宝颤声道：“不……不是！辣块妈妈的，当……当然不是。”心中一急，扬州话冲口而出。
海老公道：“我也想不是的。倘若你是我儿子，失陷在皇宫之中，就算有天大危险，我也会来救你出去。”韦小宝苦笑道：“就可惜我没你这个好爹爹。”’No. No, he’s not. Hot-piece momma, of course he’s not!’ ‘I didn’t think he was,’ said the old eunuch. ‘If you were my son and you were trapped here in the Palace, I would find the means of getting you out somehow, whatever the danger.’ Trinket forced a smile. ‘Pity you’re not my father,’ he said. ‘I could do with a nice, kind father like you.’
海老公道：“我教过你两套武功，第一套‘大擒拿手’，第二套‘大慈大悲千叶手’，这两套功夫，我都没教全，你自然也没学会，只学了这么一成半成，嘿嘿，嘿嘿。”韦小宝道：“是啊，你老人家最好将这两套功夫教得我学全了。你这样天下第一的武功，总算有个人传了下来，给你老人家扬名，那才成话。”’Those two kinds of Martial Art I was teaching you, the Greater Catch-Can and the Merciful Guanyin,’ said the old eunuch, ‘–I’d only started you on them: you couldn’t be said to have more than a smattering of either.’ ‘You ought to teach me them properly, Goong-goong,’ said Trinket. ‘You’re a world champion. You ought to have someone to carry on the tradition when you’re gone. Teach me, so that one day I can make you famous: that’s what you ought to do.’
海老公摇头道：“‘天下第一’四个字，哪里敢当？世上武功高强的，可不知有多少。我这两套功夫，你这一生一世也来不及学得全了。”他顿了一顿，说道：“你吸一口气，摸到左边小腹，离开肚脐眼三寸之处，用力掀一掀，且看怎样？”The old man shook his head. ‘I’m not a “world champion”. There are any number of kungfu Masters in the world as highly qualified as I am. In any case, you couldn’t master my two kinds of kungfu if you spent a whole lifetime studying them.’ After a moment he said: ‘Put your fingers on your belly about three inches to the left of your navel and press hard. Tell me what you feel.’韦小宝依言摸到他所说之处，用力一掀，登时痛澈心肺，不由得“啊”的一声，大叫出来，霎时间满头大汗，不住喘气。近半个多月来，左边小腹偶然也隐隐作痛，只道吃坏了肚子，何况只痛得片刻，便即止歇，从来没放在心上，不料对准了一点用力掀落，竟会痛得这等厉害。Trinket did as he said. A pain shot through his vitals, so intense that he cried out loud. He found himself panting, and the sweat stood out on his brow. As a matter of fact, for several weeks now he had from time to time been conscious of a slight pain in his left side which he put down to indigestion. Since it had invariably gone away after a bit, he had not paid it much attention. He had certainly never imagined that pressure on the source of this pain could produce such agony.
海老公阴恻恻的道：“很有趣罢？”韦小宝肚中大骂：“死老乌龟，臭老乌龟！”说道：“有一点点痛，也没什么有趣。”’Interesting, isn’t it!’ said the old eunuch with ill-disguised satisfaction. Trinket cursed him inwardly: ‘Hateful Old Devil! Stinking Old Turtle!’ But all he said was: ‘It hurts a bit. I wouldn’t have said it was interesting exactly.’
海老公道：“你每天早上去赌钱，又去跟皇上练武，你还没回来，饭菜就送来了。我觉得这汤可不够鲜，每天从药箱之中，取了一瓶药出来，给你在汤里加上些料。只加这么一点儿，加得多了，毒性太重，对你身子不大妥当。你这人是很细心的，可是我从来不喝汤，你一点也不疑心吗？”’Every morning when they deliver our food from the kitchens, you’re still not back from gambling with your friends or wrestling with the Emperor, ‘ said the old eunuch. ‘I noticed some time ago that the soup they serve is in need of seasoning, so every day I’ve been getting out one of the little bottles from my medicine chest and tipping a little of the powder in the soup to give it a bit of flavour. Only a tiny bit. Too much of the poison would have too obvious an effect. A smart lad like you doesn’t miss much; but as I had been careful never to take soup myself anyway, you didn’t suspect anything.’韦小宝毛骨悚然，道：“我……我以为你不爱喝汤。你……你又说喝了汤，会……会……咳……咳嗽……”海老公道：“我本来很爱喝汤的，不过汤里有了毒药，虽然份量极轻，可是天天喝下去，时日久了，总有点危险，是不是？”Trinket could feel his skin crawling. ‘But. . . but… I thought you didn’t like soup,’ he said. ‘You said it made you cough.’ ‘I’m very fond of soup as a matter of fact,’ said the old eunuch, ‘but when the soup’s poisoned, even if there’s only a minute amount of poison in it, the effect of drinking it day after day could in the end become a little dangerous, don’t you think?’
韦小宝愤然道：“是极，是极！公公，你当真厉害。”海老公叹了口气，道：“也不见得。本来我想让你再服三个月毒药，这才放你出宫，那时你就慢慢肚痛了。’I should say it could!’ said Trinket indignantly. ‘You think of everything, Goong-goong, don’t you?’ ‘Oh, I don’t know, ‘ said the old eunuch with a sigh. ‘I’d originally been planning to let you take the poison for about three months and then set you free so that it would have a nice long time to work on you.先是每天痛半个时辰，痛得也不很凶，以后越痛越厉害，痛的时刻也越来越长，大概到一年以后，那便日夜不停的大痛，要痛到你将自己脑袋到墙上去狠狠的撞，痛得将自己手上、腿上的肉，一块块咬下来。”To start with you’d just have about half-an-hour’s pain every day, not very severe. Then, as time went by, it would get gradually worse and the periods when you felt it would get longer. After about a year you would be in pain continuously, night and day, and the pain would get so terrible that in the end you would be dashing your head against walls and tearing the flesh of your arms and legs with your teeth, ‘说到这里，叹道：“可惜我身子越来越不成了，恐怕不能再等。你身上中的毒，旁人没解药，我终究是有的。小娃娃，你到底是受了谁的指使，想这计策来弄瞎我眼睛？你老实说了出来，我立刻给你解药。”He sighed again. ‘Unfortunately my health is getting so bad that I doubt if I can wait that long. Now then, no one else has an antidote for this poison but me, so why don’t you be a good little boy and tell me who you are working for? Who was it that put you up to blinding me? If you will give me an honest answer to that question, I promise to give you the antidote this minute, ‘韦小宝年纪虽小，也知道就算自己说了指使之人出来，他也决不能饶了自己性命，何况根本就无人指使，说道：“指使之人自然有的，说出来只怕吓你一大跳。原来你早知道我不是小桂子，想了这个法子来折磨我，哈哈，哈哈，你这可上了我的大当啦！哈哈，哈哈！”The question was unanswerable because there was no such person; but Trinket, though young, was not so naive as to believe that the old eunuch would spare his life even if he answered it. The person I’m working for?’ he said. ‘You’d get a nasty shock if I told you. So you knew all along that I wasn’t Laurie and you thought this trick up to make me suffer? Well–ha ha ha!– you’re the one who’s been tricked. Ha ha ha! You’ve been had good and proper.’纵声大笑，身子跟着乱动，右腿一曲，右手已抓住了匕首柄，极慢极慢的从剑鞘中拔出，不发出丝毫声息，就算有了些微声，也教笑声给遮掩住了。He kept up the artificial laughter in order to cover up the wriggling of his body. While he was talking and laughing he had managed to draw up his right leg so that he could get his hand on the dagger in his boot and draw it from its sheath. Any slight sound that this operation might have given rise to was masked by his idiotic cachinnation.
海老公道：“我上了你什么大当啦？”’What do you mean?’ said the old eunuch. ‘How have I been had?’
韦小宝胡说八道，原是要教他分心，心想索性再胡说八道一番，说道：“汤里有毒药，第一天我就尝了出来。我跟小玄子商量，他说你在下毒害我……”海老公一惊，道：“皇上早知道了？”Trinket had to go on talking in order to keep the old man’s attention distracted. Any old nonsense would do. ‘I could tell there was something funny about that soup the very first day I tasted it, ‘ he said. ‘I asked Misty about it and he told me you were trying to poison me . . , ‘ The old eunuch was clearly startled by this. The Emperor knew this?’
韦小宝道：“怎么会不知道？只不过那时我可还不知他是皇上，小玄子叫我不动声色，留神提防，喝汤之时只喝入口中，随后都吐在碗里，反正你又瞧不见。”’Of course he did, ‘ said Trinket, ‘–though I didn’t realize at the time that he was the Emperor. Misty advised me not to let on that I knew. He said pretend to drink the soup but don’t swallow it; then afterwards you can spit it back in the bowl. So that’s what I did. It wasn’t very difficult to fool you because you couldn’t see.’一面说，一面将匕首半寸半寸的提起，剑尖缓缓对准了海老公心口，心想若不是一下子便将他刺死，纵然刺中了，他一掌击下来，自己还是没命。All the while he was saying this, he was raising the dagger inch by inch and aiming it at the pit of the old man’s stomach. He knew that in order to succeed he would have to kill him instantly. Even a correctly aimed blow, if it did not kill him at once, would cost him his own life.
海老公将信将疑，冷笑道：“你如没喝汤，干么一按左边肚子，又会痛得这么厉害？”
韦小宝叹道：“想是我虽将汤吐了出来，差着没漱口，毒药还是吃进了肚里。”The old eunuch wasn’t sure whether to believe him or not. ‘If you didn’t drink the soup, ‘ he said, ‘how is it that it hurt so badly when you pressed your belly?’ Trinket affected a sigh. ‘I suppose it’s because I didn’t rinse my mouth after spitting it out. Some of the poison must still have got into my stomach.’说着又将匕首移近数寸。只听海老公道：“那也很好啊。反正这毒药是解不了的，你中毒浅些，发作得慢些，吃的苦头只有更大。”While he was saying this he managed to move the dagger a few inches nearer. ‘Good!’ said the old eunuch. The important thing is, there’s no cure; so though you’ve had a lighter dose, all that means is that the poison will act more slowly and you will have that much longer to suffer.’韦小宝哈哈大笑，长笑声中，全身力道集于右臂，猛力戳出，直指海老公心口，只待一刀刺入，便即滚向床角，从床脚边窜出逃走。Trinket began laughing loudly again. Under cover of his laughter he made a tremendous stab, concentrating all the strength of his body into his right arm and aiming at a place he had chosen just beneath the old man’s ribs. He had worked out in advance that, after driving the dagger home, he would roll towards the corner of the bed, crawl out from under the foot of it, and make for the still open door.海老公陡觉一阵寒气扑面，微感诧异，只知对方已然动手，更不及多想他是如何出手，左手挥出，便往戳来的兵刃上格去，右掌随出，砰的一声，将韦小宝打得飞身而起，撞破窗格，直摔入窗外的花园，跟着只觉左手剧痛，四根手指已被匕首切断。But at that very moment the old eunuch sensed a slight coldness of the air caused by the proximity of the metal. Surprised but, because of a lifetime of training, never totally off his guard, he raised his left hand almost automatically to fend off an attack–though of what nature, he had no time to think–while his right hand followed with a blow of such giant force that it knocked Trinket flying through the papered lattice of the bedside window and into the garden outside. Almost at the same time the old eunuch became aware of an agonizing pain in his left hand. The dagger had severed all four of the fingers on it.
若不是韦小宝匕首上寒气太盛，他事先没有警兆，这一下非戳中心口不可。但如是寻常刀剑，二人功力相差太远，虽然戳中心口，也不过皮肉之伤，他内劲到处，掌缘如铁，击在刀剑之上，震飞刀剑，也不会伤到自己手掌。但这匕首实在太过锋锐，海老公苦练数十年的内劲，竟然不能将之震飞脱手，反而无声息的切断了四根手指。???可是他右手一掌结结实实的打在韦小宝胸口，这一掌开碑裂石，非同小可，料得定韦小宝早已五脏俱碎，人在飞出窗外之前便已死了。他冷笑一声，自言自语：“死得这般容易，可便宜了这小鬼。”The old man calculated that the blow must have killed Trinket instantaneously and that he was probably already dead when he crashed through the window. ‘Pity!’ he muttered to himself, smiling grimly. The little devil didn’t deserve to die so quickly.’定一定神，到药箱中取出金创药敷上伤口，撕下床单，包扎了左掌，喃喃的道：“这小鬼用的是什么兵刃，怎地如此厉害？”When he had recovered somewhat from the shock of his own gruesome accident, he went to his medicine chest and got out some wound-powder to put on the bleeding stumps; then he tore a strip off the bed-sheet to bind up his left hand with, continuing to mutter to himself as he did so. ‘Where on earth could the little devil have got hold of a blade like that? I’ve never come across anything so sharp in my life before.’强忍手上剧痛，跃出窗去，伸手往韦小宝跌落处摸去，要找那柄自己闻所未闻、见所未见的宝刀利刃。哪知摸索良久，竟什么也没摸到。Forcing himself to endure the excruciating pain in his hand, he jumped through the broken window into the garden, groped his way to the place where he thought Trinket must have fallen, and began feeling around for this extraordinary weapon; but though he searched for a long time, he could not find it.
他于眼睛未瞎之时，窗外的花园早看得熟了，何处有花，何处有石，无不了然于胸。明明听得韦小宝是落在一株芍药花旁，这小鬼手中的宝剑或许已震得远远飞出，可是他的尸体怎会突然不见？Because he had come to know the garden so well while he still had his sight, he retained a clear memory of where each rock and shrub was situated. According to his calculation, Trinket must have fallen into the bed of peonies. He could understand that the weapon might have flown from his hand and be lying at quite some distance away, but where was the body?
韦小宝中了这掌，当时气为之窒，胸口剧痛，四肢百骸似乎都已寸寸碎裂，一摔下地，险些便即晕去。他知此刻生死系于一线，既然没能将海老公刺死，老乌龟定会出来追击，The blow that Trinket sustained had knocked all the air out of his lungs and caused an agonizing pain in his chest, coupled with the feeling that every bone in his body had been broken. When he hit the ground, he very nearly fainted; but somewhere at the back of his fading consciousness there was an awareness that to lie where he was would mean certain death, for the old eunuch had not been killed and would certainly come after him to finish him off.当即奋力爬起，只走得两步，脚下一软，又即摔倒，骨碌碌的从一道斜坡上直滚下去。Making a supreme effort, he struggled to his feet, but after staggering no more than a couple of steps, his legs gave way and he collapsed once more onto the ground. Fortunately the place where he had fallen was the beginning of a fairly steep declivity in an open part of the garden, so instead of lying where he fell, he began rolling downwards.
海老公倘若手指没给割断，韦小宝滚下斜坡之声自然逃不过他耳朵，只是他重伤之余，心烦意乱，加之做梦也想不到这小鬼中了自己这一掌竟会不死，虽然听到声音，却全没想到其中缘由。If the old eunuch had not been so distracted by pain, he would probably have heard something; though so certain was he that the boy was dead, that even if he had, he would probably have attributed the sound to some other cause.
这条斜坡好长，韦小宝直滚出十余丈，这才停住。他挣扎着站起，慢慢走远，周身筋骨痛楚不堪，幸好匕首还是握在手中，暗自庆幸：“刚才老乌龟将我打出窗外，我居然没将匕首插入自己身体，当真运气好极。”The slope was a long one and Trinket must have rolled a dozen yards or more before his body came to rest. He struggled to his feet and began walking again in the same direction. This time, though his whole body hurt unbearably, he did not fall. Incredibly, he was still holding the dagger tightly in his hand. ‘I think I must have a lucky streak,’ he said to himself when he became aware of this. ‘After being knocked through the window and rolling down the bank and everything, it’s a miracle I didn’t cut myself.’
将匕首插入靴筒，心想：“西洋镜已经拆穿，老乌龟既知我是冒牌货，宫中是不能再住了。只可惜四十五万两银子变成了一场空欢喜。He stopped for a moment to put the dagger back inside his boot. Well, the cat’s really out of the bag now, ‘ he thought. ‘If the Old Devil knows I’m not what I’m pretending to be, I can’t stay in the Palace a moment longer. Pity about that half a million taels though. Fancy winning all that money in a single go and then losing the lot in an evening!他奶奶的，一个人哪有这样好运气，横财一发便是四十五万两？总而言之，老子有过四十五万两银子的身家，只不过老子手段阔绰，一晚之间就花了个精光。你说够厉害了罢？”肚里吹牛，不禁得意起来。又想：“那小宫女还巴巴的在等我，反正三更半夜也不能出宫，我这就瞧瞧她去，啊哟……”That’s what I call real style!’ A few minutes before this he had been nearly dead, but now, after a little boasting, he was on top of the world. That little maid will be wondering what’s become of me,’ he thought. ‘I can’t get out of the Palace anyway in the middle of the night, so I might as well still go and see her. –Aiyo!’一摸怀中那只纸盒，早已压得一塌胡涂，心道：“我还是拿去给她看看，免她等得心焦。就说我摔了一交，将蜜饯糖果压得稀烂，变成了一堆牛粪，不过这堆牛粪又甜又香，滋味挺美。哈哈，辣块妈妈，又甜又香的牛粪你吃过没有？老子就吃过。”Fishing it out from inside his gown, he found that the box of honey-cakes had, as he feared, been squashed completely flat. ‘Better take this as evidence, in case she’s feeling cross because I’ve kept her waiting so long, ‘ he thought. ‘I’ll tell her I had a fall. Ha! Some fall! It’s turned the cakes into a cow-pat.’ He sampled a small piece of the sticky mess. ‘Hot-piece tamardy, this is really nice! Have you ever eaten a piece of cow-pat? Do try some, it’s delicious!’
他想想觉得好玩，加快脚步，步向太后所住的慈宁宫，只走快几步，胸口随即剧痛，只得又放慢了步子。As he started walking again, this time in the direction of the Hall of Maternal Tranquillity, the Empress Dowager’s compound, he was feeling so cock-a-hoop that he was stepping out at quite a pace. The result was a most frightful pain in his chest which at once slowed him down to a shuffle.
来到慈宁宫外，见宫门紧闭，心想：“糟糕，可没想到这门会关着，那怎么进去？”When he reached his goal, however, he found the gate tightly closed. ‘Damn!’ he thought. ‘I didn’t think this one would be shut .Now how the devil am I going to get inside?’
正没做理会处，宫门忽然无声无息的推了开来，一个小姑娘的头探出来，月光下看得分明，正是蕊初。只见她微笑着招手，韦小宝大喜，轻轻闪身过门。蕊初又将门掩上了，Just as he was wondering what to do next, the gate suddenly opened a bit and a girl’s head popped out which he recognized in the moonlight as Blossom’s. She smiled at him and beckoned to him to come in. He complied happily, and when he had slipped inside, she fastened the gate after him.在他耳畔低声道：“我怕你进不来，已在这里等了许久。”韦小宝也低声道：“我来迟啦。我在路上绊到了一只又臭又硬的老乌龟，摔了一交。”’I thought I’d better wait here in case you had trouble getting -in,’ she said softly in his ear. ‘I’ve been waiting ever such a long time.’ ‘I know, I’m late,’ Trinket whispered back, ‘but I had a fall on the way. I tripped over a horrible old turtle.’蕊初道：“花园里有大海龟吗？我倒没见过。你……你可摔痛了没有？”韦小宝一鼓作气的走来，身上的疼痛倒也可以耐得，给蕊初这么一问，只觉得全身筋骨无处不痛，忍不住哼了一声。’I didn’t know there were any in the Palace,’ said Blossom. ‘I’ve never seen one. Did you hurt yourself?’ The effort of getting to this appointment had absorbed so much of his attention that it had almost taken his mind off the pain; but as soon as she asked the question he became aware that he was hurting dreadfully all over and groaned in spite of himself.
蕊初拉住他手，低声问：“摔痛了哪里？”Blossom seized his hand in her own. ‘Where does it hurt?’ she asked in an anxious whisper.
韦小宝正要回答，忽见地下有个黑影掠过，一抬头，但见一只硕大无朋的大鹰从墙头飞了进来，轻轻落地。他大吃一惊，险些骇呼出声，月光下只见那大鹰人立起来，原来不是大鹰，却是一人。这人身材瘦削，弯腰曲背，却不是海老公是谁？As Trinket was on the point of answering her, a shadow appeared on the ground and he looked up to see a dark figure like a great eagle floating down from the top of the garden wall and softly alighting at the foot of it. He was so startled that he almost called out. While he watched, the monstrous bird-shape transformed itself into a much taller, thinner shape which he could see now, in the light of the moon, was no eagle but a man–a tall, thin man with hunched shoulders and a rounded back: none other, in fact, than Old Hai the eunuch.
蕊初本来面向着他，没见到海老公进来，但见韦小宝转过了头，瞪目而视，脸上满是惊骇之色，也转过身来。韦小宝左手一探，已按住了她的嘴唇，出力奇重，竟不让她发出半点声音，Blossom, who had her face towards Trinket and away from the wall, had not seen this apparition; but when Trinket fell silent and turned to stare at something with a startled look on his face, she turned to look as well. The next moment Trinket had his hand over her mouth, holding it perhaps rather tighter than was necessary for fear she might cry out.跟着右手急摇，示意不可作声。蕊初点了点头。韦小宝这才慢慢放开了左手，目不转睛的瞧着海老公。At the same time he signaled to her with his other hand to keep quiet. When she nodded to show that she understood, he slowly withdrew the hand from her mouth, though all the time keeping his eyes on the old eunuch.
只见海老公僵立当地，似在倾听动静，过了一会，才慢慢向前走去。韦小宝见他不是向自己走来，暗暗舒了口气，心道：“老乌龟好厉害，眼睛虽然瞎了，居然能追到这里。”又想：“只要我和这小宫女不发出半点声音，老乌龟就找不到我。”Old Hai had now straightened himself up and was standing rather stiffly with his head cocked to one side as if listening for something. After a while he began, very slowly, to move forwards. Trinket breathed a silent sigh of relief when he saw that he was not walking in his direction. ‘Who’d have thought the Old Turtle would be able to follow me all the way here in spite of being blind?’ he thought. ‘Still, provided neither of us makes any noise, he isn’t likely to find me.’
海老公向前走了几步，突然跃起，落在韦小宝跟前，左手一探，扠住了蕊初的脖子。蕊初“啊”的一声叫，但咽喉被卡，这一声叫得又低又闷。After taking a few steps forwards, the old eunuch made a sudden leap sideways which brought him right in front of Trinket; then, shooting out his right arm, he grasped Blossom round the neck. She tried to scream, but because of the pressure on her throat, it was only a little smothered sound that came out.
韦小宝心念电转：“老乌龟找的是我，又不是找这小宫女，不会杀死她的。”此时和海老公相距不过两尺，吓得几乎要撒尿，却一动也不动，知道只要自己动上一根手指，就会给他听了出来。’It’s me he’s after, not this girl,’ thought Trinket. ‘I don’t think he’ll kill her.’ He was only a couple of feet away from the old man and so scared that he was nearly wetting himself, but he dared not budge an inch, knowing that if he made the slightest movement he would be heard.
海老公低声道：“别作声！不听话就卡死你。轻轻回答我的话。你是谁？”蕊初低声道：“我……我……”海老公伸出右手，摸了摸她头顶，又摸了摸她脸蛋，道：“你是个小宫女，是不是？”蕊初道：“是，是！”海老公道：“三更半夜的，在这里干什么？”蕊初道：“我……我在这里玩儿！”’Don’t make any noise,’ the old eunuch hissed to Blossom. ‘If you don’t do as I tell you, I shall strangle you. Now tell me, but keep your voice down, who are you?’ ‘I. . . I. . .’ Blossom began. The old eunuch ran his hand over her head, then over her face. ‘You’re one of the maids-in-waiting, aren’t you?’ he said. ‘Yes,’ said Blossom in a little voice. ‘So what are you doing out here in the middle of the night?’ ‘I’m just. . . just playing,’ said Blossom.
海老公脸上露出一丝微笑，在惨淡的月光下看来，反显得更加阴森可怖，问道：“还有谁在这里？”侧过了头倾听。A faint smile appeared on the face of the old eunuch which the dim moonlight transformed into a ghastly leer. ‘Who is here with you?’ He cocked his head to listen.
适才蕊初不知屏息凝气，惊恐之下呼吸粗重，给海老公听出了她站立之处。韦小宝和他相距虽近，呼吸极微，他一时便未察觉。韦小宝想要打手势叫她别说，却又不敢移动手臂。幸好蕊初乖觉，发觉他双眼已盲，说道：“没……没有了。”What had enabled him to tell where Blossom was standing was the fact that she did not know how to control her breathing and had been breathing rather heavily because she was frightened. He hadn’t been aware of Trinket’s presence because Trinket’s breathing was more restrained. When Trinket heard the old eunuch’s question, he wanted to signal to Blossom not to let on that he was there, but dared not risk even moving his hand. Fortunately Blossom’s quick wits had already sensed that the old man was blind and she said ‘no one’ without needing to be told.
海老公道：“皇太后住在哪里？你带我去见她。”蕊初惊道：“公公，你……你别跟皇太后说，下次……下次我再也不敢了。”
她只道这老太监捉住了自己，要去禀报太后。’Where are the Empress Dowager’s rooms?’ said the old eunuch. ‘Take me to her!’ ‘Goong-goong, please, ‘ said Blossom pleadingly, ‘please don’t tell her. I… I promise never to do this again.’ She assumed that he intended to report her for being caught wandering outside at an unauthorized hour.海老公道：“你求也没用。不带我去，立刻便扠死你。”手上微一使劲，蕊初气为之窒，一张小脸登时胀得通红。’No use bleating,’ said the old eunuch. Take me to her, or I’ll strangle you this minute.’ He increased the pressure on her throat so that she could no longer breathe and her face became swollen and purple.
韦小宝惊惶之下，终于撒出尿来，从裤裆里一滴一滴的往下直流，幸好海老公没留神，就算听到了，也道是蕊初吓得撒尿。Trinket was so frightened that he lost control of his bladder and piss soaked through his trousers and began falling drip after drip on the ground. Fortunately the faint sound it made was not detected by the old eunuch; or if it was, he must have assumed that it was the little maid of honour who was wetting herself.
海老公慢慢松开左手，低声道：“快带我去。”蕊初无奈，只得道：“好！”侧头向韦小宝瞧了一眼，脸上神色示意他快走，自己决不供他出来。He released the pressure on her throat. ‘Come on! Take me there!’ Blossom had no choice but to obey, but before they went, she shot a look full of tenderness at Trinket which seemed to say, ‘Go, quickly! I promise I won’t give you away.’低声道：“太后寝宫在那边！”慢慢移动脚步。海老公的左手仍是抓住她咽喉，和她并肩而行。That’s the Empress Dowager’s bedroom, over there,’ she whispered, temporarily forgetting that the old man couldn’t see. She began walking, very slowly, in the direction she had indicated. The old eunuch walked beside her, his right hand still encircling her throat.韦小宝寻思：“老乌龟定是去跟皇太后说，我是冒充的小太监，小桂子是给我杀死的，他自己的眼睛是给我弄瞎的，要太后立刻下令捉拿。他为甚么不去禀报皇上？The Old Devil’s going to tell the Empress Dowager about me, ‘ thought Trinket. ‘He’ll tell her everything–how I killed Laurie and dressed up in his clothes, and how I made him blind, and he’ll ask her to have me arrested. But I wonder why he doesn’t tell the Emperor?是了，他知道皇上对我好，告状多半告不进。那……那便如何是好？我须得立即逃出宫去。啊哟，不好，这时候宫门早闭，又怎逃得出去？只要过得片刻，太后传下命令，更是插翅难飞了。”I suppose it’s because he knows the Emperor likes me and is afraid he might not do anything about it. Oh help! What am I going to do? I have to get out of this Palace as quickly as possible. Aiyo, I can’t though! The gates will have been shut long ago. It won’t be long now before the Empress Dowager gives orders for my arrest. I shan’t get away then, even if I grow wings.’韦小宝正没做理会处，忽听得前面房中一个女子的声音问道：“外边是谁？”这声音阴森森地，韦小宝听得明白，正是皇太后的话声，他一惊之下，便想拔脚就逃。却听得海老公道：“奴才海大富，给你老人家请安来啦。”这声音也是阴森森地，殊无恭谨之意。While Trinket stood wondering what to do, he suddenly heard a woman’s voice issuing from the building opposite. ‘Who’s that out there?’ There was something unpleasant and rather threatening about the voice. Realizing that it must be the Empress Dowager, he was about to run off in panic when he heard the old eunuch answering her. ‘Your servant, Hai Dafu, come to pay my respects to Your Majesty.’ He noticed with surprise that diough the words were polite enough in themselves, they were uttered in the same unpleasant, threatening tone that the Empress Dowager had used and were anything but respectful.
韦小宝大奇：“老乌龟是什么东西，胆敢对太后这等无礼？”念头一转，寻思：“老乌龟说话不讨人喜欢，多半太后向来很讨厌他，我何不乘机跟他胡辩一番？反正要逃是逃不出去的了。”’What a nerve!’ he thought. ‘Who does Old Turtle-head think he is, talking to the Empress Dowager in that tone of voice?’ Then another thought struck him: ‘If he’s always as disagreeable to her as this, she probably doesn’t like him. Why don’t I take advantage of that to fake some kind of defence? She might just take my word against his. There’s no escaping from the Palace at this time of night, so I’ll probably have to face the music anyway.’这一着虽然行险，但想自己新近立了大功，皇上和太后都很喜欢，杀了个把小桂子，弄瞎几只海老乌龟的狗眼珠，也算不了什么大罪，当真要紧之时，还可请把兄弟索额图出头说情。自己如果拍腿一走，什么话都让老乌龟说去了，自己既然逃跑，自然作贼心虚，本来无罪反而变得有罪了。It would be risky, he knew; but there were certain advantages on his side. After all, he had done the Court a great service and the Emperor and Empress Dowager were very pleased with him. Surely the arrest of the mighty Oboi would more than compensate for the killing of young Laurie or the blinding of even half a dozen old eunuchs like the Old Turtle? And if there was still any difficulty, he could always rely on his sworn brother Songgotu to put in a good word for him. On the other hand if he tried to get away, it would look as if he had a guilty conscience and anything the Old Turtle said about him would be believed, even if it was untrue.
又想：“太后倘若问我为什么要杀小桂子？我说……我说，喂，我说听到小桂子和海老乌龟说太后和皇上的坏话，说了许许多多难听之极的言论，我实在气不过，忍无可忍，因此将小桂子一刀杀了，又乘机弄瞎了海老乌龟的眼睛。He began planning what he would say in his defence. ‘Suppose she asks me why I killed Laurie. I’ll tell her… I know, I’ll tell her I heard him and Old Hai saying bad things about her and the Emperor–all sorts of terrible things–and, er, it made me very angry, so angry that I couldn’t stand it any longer. So I stabbed Laurie and blinded the old eunuch with an overdose of his own medicine.至于说什么坏话，那大可捏造一番。比赛打架，我打不过老乌龟。比赛撒谎吹牛，老乌龟哪里是老子的对手？”想想得意起来，登时胆为之壮。便不想逃了。他最怕的是海老公辩不过，跳上来一掌将自己打死，那可死得冤枉，因此待会在太后跟前辩白之时，务须站在一个安全之所，让老乌龟捉不到、打不着。I may be no match for the Old Turtle-head in Martial Arts, but I bet I can beat him hands down at telling a story!’ He began to feel rather pleased with himself, and as his courage returned, he abandoned all thought of running away. His only fear now was that when the Old Devil found himself getting the worst of the argument, he might suddenly rush at him and kill him with another terrific blow. What a waste that would be, to die when he had as good as won his case! What he must do now, he realized, was to find a safe place where the Old Devil couldn’t get at him and install himself there in advance.
只听太后道：“你要请安，怎么白天不来？半夜三更的到来，成什么体统？”But just at that moment he heard the Empress Dowager speaking. ‘If you wanted to pay your respects to me, why couldn’t you have done so in the daytime? The middle of the night is hardly the proper time to do it.’海老公道：“奴才有件机密大事要启禀太后，白天人多耳杂，给人听到了，可不大稳便。”韦小宝心道：“来了，来了！老乌龟告状了。且听他先说，待他说了一大半，我再插嘴不迟。我躲在哪里好？”’I have a matter of the utmost secrecy to impart,’ the old eunuch replied. There are too many people about in the daytime. It’s not a matter for any ears but your own.’ ‘Here we go!’ thought Trinket. ‘Now he’s going to tell her about me. Better let him speak first and chip in when he’s nearly finished. But where shall I hide?’看了看周遭形势，选中了个所在，一步步挨到金鱼池的假山之后，心想：“老乌龟如抢过来打我，扑通一声，必先跌入金鱼池中，我就立即抢入太后的房中，老乌龟便有天大的胆子，也不敢追进太后房中来打人。”Having quickly surveyed the layout of the garden, he chose a suitable spot and began edging his way towards it. It was a rockery ‘mountain’ made out of Tai Hu rocks with a goldfish pool at the foot of it. ‘If the Old Turtle makes a dash at me while I’m hidden behind those rocks,’ he thought, ‘he’ll fall splash in the middle of that fishpond and that will give me a chance to nip inside her bedroom. Even he wouldn’t dare to follow me in there.’
只听太后哼了一声，道：“有什么机密大事，你这就可以说了。”海老公道：“太后身边，没旁人吗？老奴才的话，可机密得很哪！”’What is this matter of the utmost secrecy?’ he heard the Empress Dowager saying. ‘You can tell me now.’ ‘Is there anyone in there with you, Your Majesty?’ said the old eunuch. ‘What I have to say really is an extremely confidential matter.’太后道：“你要不要进来查查？你武功了得，我身边有没有人，难道也听不出来？”海老公道：“奴才不敢进太后屋子，可否劳动太后的圣驾，走出屋来，奴才有事启禀。”太后哼了一声，道：“你可越来越大胆了，这会儿又仗了谁的势啦？胆敢这等放肆！”’Do you want to come in and search my room?’ said the Empress Dowager. ‘I should have thought someone so skilful would have been able to tell whether there was anyone else in here or not by merely listening.’ ‘I wouldn’t presume to enter Your Majesty’s bedroom,’ said the old eunuch. ‘Could I trouble you to come outside, so that I can talk to you here?’ ‘Your request is impertinent,’ said the Empress Dowager. ‘I wonder on what authority you dare to take such liberties.’
韦小宝听到此处，心中大乐，暗暗骂道：“老乌龟，你可越来越大胆了，这会儿又仗了谁的势啦？胆敢这等放肆！”海老公道：“奴才不敢！”太后又哼了一声，说道：“你……你早就没将我瞧在眼里，今晚忽然摸了来，可不知捣什么鬼。”’That’s right, you Old Devil, ‘ Trinket mouthed silently. ‘How dare you take such liberties with the Empress Dowager!’ ‘Your pardon, Majesty,’ said the old eunuch. ‘Humph!’ said the Empress Dowager. ‘You have never had proper respect for me. How do I know what sort of mischief you are up to now, groping your way here at this time of night?’韦小宝更是开心，忍不住想大声帮太后斥骂海老公几句，心道：“老乌龟啊老乌龟，你告状还没告成，先就碰了个大钉子，惹了一鼻子灰。看来用不着老子亲自出马，单是太后，就会将你一顿臭骂轰走了。”Trinket was delighted. He would have liked to add a reproof or two of his own. ‘Not getting a very good reception, are you, Old Devil?’ he thought. ‘Perhaps there won’t be any need for me to say anything. Perhaps she’ll send you off with a flea in your ear before you can even get started.’
只听海老公道：“太后既不想知道那人消息，那也没有什么，奴才去了！”
韦小宝大喜，心道：“去得好，去得妙，去得刮刮叫。快快滚你妈的王八蛋！太后怎么会想知道我的消息？”’If Your Majesty does not want to hear any news of that person, I have nothing more to say,’ said the old eunuch. ‘I may as well take my leave.’ ‘Yes, do! Please do!’ thought Trinket. ‘I wish you would. Just bugger off! The Empress Dowager doesn’t want to hear your news, you old fool!’
却听得太后问道：“你有什么消息？”海老公道：“五台山上的消息！”太后道：“五台山？你……你说什么？”语音有些发颤。But it seemed from her next words that he was mistaken. ‘What news?’ she asked. ‘News from the Wutai Mountains.’ ‘What? What did you say? The Wutai Mountains?’ Trinket thought he could detect a slight tremor in her voice.
月光下只见海老公伸手一戳，蕊初应手而倒。韦小宝一惊，心下有些难过，又想：“老乌龟害死了这小姑娘，待会我说了出来，太后一定更加动怒。老乌龟再要告我的状，那可是千难万难。”Suddenly, in the moonlight, he saw the old eunuch make a stabbing motion with his hand at little Blossom, who had been standing all this while a prisoner beside him. She toppled over instantly to the ground. ???只听得太后又问：“你……你伤了什么人？”海老公道：“是太后身边的一个小宫女，奴才可没敢伤她，只不过点了她的穴道，好教她听不到咱们的说话。”’You hurt someone then,’ said the Empress Dowager, who must have heard the fall. ‘Who was it?’ ‘One of your maids-in-waiting,’ said the old eunuch. ‘But I wouldn’t presume to hurt her. I merely struck her on a vital point so that she won’t be able to hear what we are saying.’
韦小宝放宽了心：“原来老乌龟没杀她！”内心深处，隐隐又有点失望，海老公不杀这小宫女，自己的处境就不算十分有利。Thank goodness!’ thought Trinket, who’d assumed that he had killed her.
太后又问：“五台山？你为什么说五台山？”海老公道：“只因为五台山上有一个人，是太后很关心的。”太后颤声道：“你……你说他到了五台山上？”海老公道：“太后如想知道详情，只好请你移一移圣驾。三更半夜的，奴才不能进太后屋子，在这里大声嚷嚷的，这等机密大事，给宫女太监们听到了，可不是好玩的。”’Wutai?’ said the Empress Dowager, repeating her former question. ‘Why did you mention the Wutai Mountains?’ ‘Because there is someone there whom Your Majesty is very much concerned about, ‘ said the old eunuch. ‘Are you . . . are you telling me he went to Wutai?” said the Empress Dowager. Her voice was shaking. ‘If Your Majesty wants to hear more, I really must request you to come outside,’ said the old eunuch. ‘I can’t go into Your Majesty’s bedroom in the middle of the night, and I can’t stand here shouting state secrets at you from outside. Suppose any of your ladies-in-waiting or eunuchs were to hear me?’
太后犹豫片刻，道：“好！”只听得开门之声，她脚步轻盈的走了出来。There was a moment or two of silence while she hesitated, then: ‘Very well,’ she said. A door was heard opening and she came stepping out. She had a swaying, rather graceful walk.
韦小宝缩在假山之后，心想：“海老乌龟瞧不见我，太后可不是瞎子。”他不敢探头张望，太后出来之时，一瞥眼间见到她身材不高，有点儿矮胖。他见过太后两次，但两次见到她时都是坐着。Bearing in mind that the Empress Dowager, unlike the old eunuch, could see, Trinket, who had been leaning out watching, drew back quickly behind the rocks, but not before he had got a glimpse of her as she came out–enough at any rate to see that she was short and rather stout. He had seen her a couple of times previously, but only sitting down.
只听太后说道：“你刚才说，他到了五台山上，那……那可是真的？”’You said just now that he had gone to Wutai, ‘ said the Empress Dowager. ‘Is that really true?’海老公道：“奴才没说有谁到了五台山上。奴才只说，五台山上，有一个人恐怕是太后很关心的。”太后顿了一顿，道：“好，就算你是这样说。他……他……那个人……在五台山干什么？是在庙里么？”’I didn’t say anyone had gone there, ‘ said the old eunuch. ‘All I said was that there is someone there that Your Majesty is very concerned about.’ ‘All right, ‘ said the Empress Dowager after a moment’s hesitation, ‘let us suppose he–the person there–is who I think it is. What is he doing there? Is he staying in one of the temples?’她本来说话极是镇静，但自从听得海老公说到五台山上有一个人之后，就气急败坏，似乎心神大乱。海老公道：“那人是在五台山的清凉寺中。”太后舒了口气，说道：“谢天谢地，我终于……终于知道了他……他的下落……他……他……他……”连说了三个“他”字，再也接不下口去，声音颤抖得十分厉害。Until the subject of the Wutai Mountains had come up, she had been speaking calmly. Since its first mention she had become flustered and excited. ‘He is living in the Pure Coolness Monastery, ‘ said the old eunuch. The Empress Dowager seemed greatly relieved by this information. ‘Thank heavens!’ she said. ‘At last–at last I know where he is. He … he … he …’ Her voice was shaking so much that she was unable to go on.
韦小宝好生奇怪：“那个人是谁？为什么太后对他这样关心？”不禁又担忧起来：“难道是太后的父亲、兄弟，又或许是她的老姘头？对了，一定是老姘头，如果是父亲、兄弟，那也不是什么机密大事，何必怕别人听见？老乌龟抓住了她的把柄，倘若定要她杀我，太后怕了老乌龟，说不定只好听他的，这可有点儿不大妙。Trinket wondered who this person could be that the Empress Dowager was so concerned about. Not her father or brother, he decided, because in that case there would be no need for secrecy. It must be her boyfriend. This was not so good for his own prospects, because it gave the old eunuch an edge over her which he could exploit to make her do what he wanted–like having Trinket executed, for example.幸亏老子在这里听到了，老婊子如果胆敢杀我，老子就一五一十的都抖了出来，我去跟皇上说，大伙儿闹个一拍两散。我怕了你的不算英雄好汉。”’Never mind, ‘ he thought, ‘I’ve heard everything too; so if the Old Whore tries to have me killed, I’ll spill the beans to the Emperor. That will settle the two of them.’
自盘古开天辟地以来，胆敢骂皇太后为“老婊子”的，谅必寥寥无几，就算只在肚里暗骂，也不会很多。韦小宝无所忌惮，就算是他自己母亲，打得他狠了，也会“烂婊子，臭婊子”的乱叫乱骂。好在他母亲本来就是婊子，妓院中人人污言秽语，习以为常，听了也不如何生气，只不过打在他小屁股上的掌力加重了三分，而口中也是“小杂种、小王八蛋”的对骂一场而已。Not many people in those days could have called–or even thought of calling–the Empress Dowager ‘the Old Whore’, but the expression tripped easily off the tongue of young Trinket who was brought up in a brothel and even applied it on occasion to his own mother. ‘Filthy whore!’ ‘Dirty old whore!’ he would shout when she was beating him particularly hard. Foul language was common currency in the brothel–so much so that it was heard without offence. His mother, hearing these choice epithets, would not be in the least put out. She would merely shout back ‘Little bugger!’ ‘Little bastard!’ and beat him all the more soundly.
只听皇太后喘气很急，隔了半晌，问道：“他……他……他……在清凉寺干什么？”The Empress Dowager, whom emotion seemed temporarily to have deprived of breath, began again. ‘He… he … what is he doing in the Pure Coolness Monastery?’海老公道：“太后真的想知道？”皇太后道：“那还用多问？我自然想知道。”海老公说道：“主子是出家做了和尚。”太后“啊”的一声，气息更加急了，问道：“他……他真的出了家？你……你没骗我？”海老公道：“奴才不敢欺骗太后，也不用欺骗太后。”’Does Your Majesty really want to know?’ ‘Need you ask?’ said the Empress Dowager. ‘Of course I do, ‘ ‘My Master has become a monk, ‘ ‘Ah!’ Again she seemed to be having trouble with her breathing. ‘Has he … has he really become a monk? You are not deceiving me?’ ‘I wouldn’t dare, ‘ said the old eunuch. ‘Why should I want to deceive you?’太后“哼”的一声，道：“他就这样忍心，一心一意，只……只是想念那……那狐媚子，把国家社稷、祖宗百战而创的基业……都抛到了脑后，我们母子，他……他更不放在心上了。”韦小宝越听越奇，心想：“什么国家社稷，祖宗的基业？
老乌龟又叫那人作‘主子’，那么这人……这人难道不是太后的老姘头？”’Huh! How typical of him, ‘ she said bitterly. ‘Always wrapped up, heart and soul, in that–that fox-woman. Willing to throw up everything–family, State, the Empire that his ancestors fought for in a hundred battles–because of her.’ As Trinket listened, he was growing more and more puzzled. ‘”Empire that his ancestors fought for”? Who is this person?’ he wondered. ‘And the Old Devil called him “my Master”. Perhaps it isn’t her boyfriend after all.’
海老公冷冷的道：“主子瞧破了世情，已然大彻大悟。万里江山，儿女亲情，主子说都已如过眼浮云，全都不再挂怀。”太后怒道：“他为什么早不出家，迟不出家，却等那……那狐媚子死了，他才出家？’My Master has seen through the vanity of human wishes, ‘ said the old eunuch coldly. ‘Now that he has embraced the Truth, neither Imperial power nor human passions concern him any longer–no more than the clouds that float in the sky, ‘ ;, ‘Why couldn’t he have seen through the vanity of human wishes a little earlier?’ said the Empress Dowager angrily. ‘Why did he have to wait until that–that scheming vixen died?国家朝廷，祖宗妻儿，一古脑儿加起来，在他心中，也还及不上那狐媚子的一根寒毛。我……我……早知他……他是为了那狐媚子，这才突然出走。哼，他既然走了，何必又要叫你来通知我？”她越说越怒，声音尖锐，渐渐响了起来。I’ll tell you why: because his country, his throne, his wife, his children never did mean anything to him. In his estimation the whole lot of them put together was of less importance than a tiny hair on that wicked creature’s arm. No, it was because of her that he went off so suddenly, not some revelation of the Truth. All right, he’s left the world. So why send you back here to tell me about it?’ She was getting angrier and angrier and her voice had grown louder and more strident while she spoke.
韦小宝说不出的害怕，隐隐觉得，他二人所说的那个人和那件事，实是非同小可。An indescribable sense of panic took hold of Trinket as he became dimly aware that what these two people were discussing as some person or event of very great importance.
海老公道：“主子千叮万嘱，命奴才说什么也不可泄漏风声，千万不能让太后和皇上得知。主子说道：皇上登基，天下太平，四海无事，他也放心了。”’As a matter of fact, my Master was most insistent that I should keep all this a secret,’ said the old eunuch. ‘He particularly warned me against telling Your Majesty or the Emperor. As long as the Emperor’s accession was assured and the Empire at peace, he said, he could set his mind at rest.’太后厉声道：“那为什么你又来跟我说？我本来就不想知道，不要知道。他心中就只牵记那狐媚子一个，他儿子登基不登基，天下太平不太平，他又有什么放心不放心了？”’Then why have you come here to tell me all this?’ said the Empress Dowager in a high, angry voice. ‘I didn’t want to know this. I didn’t need to know it. The only person he ever cared about was that fox-woman. He didn’t care a rap about his son’s accession or whether the Empire was at peace or not. Set his mind at rest, indeed! What humbug!’
韦小宝听到此处，心下大奇：“他们所说的难道是皇帝的爸爸？小皇帝的爸爸顺治皇帝早已一命呜呼了，小皇帝这才有皇帝做，莫非小皇帝另外还有个爸爸？”他于朝廷和宫中之事所知本来极少，除了知道小皇帝的爸爸是顺治皇帝之外，其余一无所知，就算太后和海老公说得再明白十倍，他也猜不到其中的真实情形。It suddenly struck Trinket that the person they were talking about was Kang Xi’s father, the Emperor Shun Zhi. ‘But the Old Emperor died years ago,’ he thought. That’s why the Young Emperor is on the throne. Perhaps his real father was someone else.’ Trinket’s knowledge of Court history was extremely limited; in fact, beyond knowing that Kang Xi’s father Shun Zhi was the last Emperor, he was almost totally ignorant. Old Hai and the Empress Dowager could have been ten times more explicit and he would still have been hard put to it to say exactly what they were talking about.
海老公道：“主子既然出了家，奴才本当在清凉寺中也出家为僧，服侍主子。可是主子吩咐，他还有一件事放心不下，要奴才回京来查查。”’When my Master became a monk, I ought by rights to have become one too and stayed with him in the Pure Coolness Monastery to look after him,’ said the old eunuch. ‘But there remained one thing which he said he could not set his mind at rest about and which he sent me back to Peking to investigate.’太后道：“那又是什么事了？”海老公道：“主子说，董鄂妃虽然……”太后怒道：“在我跟前，不许提这狐媚子的名字！”
韦小宝心道：“原来那狐狸精叫做董鄂妃，那定是宫里的妃子了。太后的老姘头只爱这只骚狐狸，不爱太后，因此太后大吃其醋。”’And what was that?’ said the Empress Dowager. ‘According to my Master, although Lady Donggo–‘ ‘I forbid you to mention that fox-woman’s name in my presence, ‘ said the Empress Dowager angrily. ‘So this fox-woman she keeps talking about was called Lady Donggo,’ thought Trinket. ‘She must have been one of the Imperial Concubines. I suppose the Empress Dowager’s boyfriend took a shine to this Donggo lady and didn’t love the Empress Dowager any more, so the Empress Dowager got jealous.’
海老公道：“是，太后不许提，奴才就不提。”太后道：“他说那狐媚子又怎么样了？”海老公道：“奴才不明白太后说的是谁。主子从来没提过‘狐媚子’三字。”’Very well,’ said the old eunuch. ‘If you forbid me to mention her, I won’t do so.’ ‘What did he say about the fox-woman?’ ‘I don’t know who Your Majesty is referring to, ‘ said the old eunuch. ‘My Master said nothing about any fox-woman.’太后怒道：“他自然不提这三个字，在他心中，那是‘端敬皇后’哪。这狐媚子死了之后，他……他追封她为皇后，拍马屁的奴才们恭上谥法，叫什么‘孝献庄和至德宣仁温惠’皇后，这称号中没‘天圣’二字，他可还大发脾气呢。又叫胡兆龙、王熙这两个奴才学士，编纂什么《端敬后语录》，颁行天下，也不怕丑。”’Of course not, ‘ said the Empress Dowager angrily. ‘No doubt he referred to her as the Empress Donggo. There were plenty of creeping sycophants who proposed that she should be given that title posdiumously. There was even a pair of academic toadies who put together a booklet called The Sayings of the Empress Donggo and had it published. Shameless!’
海老公道：“太后说得是，董鄂妃归天之后，奴才原该称她为‘端敬皇后’了。那《端敬后语录》，奴才身边经常带得一册，太后要不要看？”’Your Majesty does right to remind me, ‘ said the old eunuch. ‘I should have referred to her as the Empress Donggo, not Lady Donggo. As regards The Sayings of the Empress Donggo, I happen to have a spare copy on me at this moment. Would Your Majesty care to see it?’
太后怒喝：“你……你……你……”走上一步，呼呼喘气，忽然似乎明白了什么，嘿嘿一笑，说道：“当时天下趋炎附势之徒，人人都读《端敬后语录》，把胡、王两个奴才捏造的一番胡说八道，当成是天经地义，倒比《论语》、《孟子》还更要紧。可是现下又怎样呢？除了你身边还有一册，你主子身边还有几册之外，哪里还见得到这鬼话连篇的《语录》？”’You . . . you . . . you . . .’ The Empress Dowager was almost screaming with fury. After some moments struggling for breath, however, she suddenly calmed down and smiled as she thought of something. ‘Yes, at one time everyone who wanted to curry favour widi him was reading it. The rubbish concocted by those precious academicians was treated with more reverence than The Analects of Confucius or The Book of Mencius. But what about now? Apart from the copy you’ve got on you now and the one which your Master no doubt carries, where else will you find a copy today?’海老公道：“太后密旨禁毁《端敬后语录》，又有谁敢收藏？至于主子身边，就算没有，但端敬皇后当年说过的一字一句，他牢牢记在心头，胜过身边藏一册《语录》了！”’After your secret directive banning the Sayings, who would dare to retain a copy?’ said the old eunuch. ‘But as to whether my Master also carries a copy, I should think it unlikely. Since every word the Empress Donggo uttered during their time together is engraved on his heart, he would hardly need to.’
太后道：“他……他叫你回北京来查什么事？”海老公道：“主子本来吩咐查两件事，但奴才查明之后，发觉两件事原来是一件事。”太后道：“什么两件事、一件事了？”’So…so what did he send you back to Peking to investigate?’ said the Empress Dowager. Two things, ‘ said the old eunuch, ‘but by the time I had completed my investigation, I had discovered that they were really one.’ ‘So what were these two things,’ said the Empress Dowager, ‘and what was the one thing?’海老公道：“第一件事，要查荣亲王是怎么死的？”太后道：“你……你说那狐媚子的儿子？”海老公道：“奴才说的，是端敬皇后所生的皇子，和砚荣亲王。”The first was to discover the cause of Prince Rong’s death.’ The fox-woman’s brat.’ ‘I was referring to the son of the late Empress Donggo, His Imperial Highness Prince Rong,’ said the old eunuch.太后哼了一声，道：“小孩子生下来不满四个月，养不大，又有什么希奇了？”海老公道：“但主子说，当时荣亲王突患急病，召御医来诊视，说道荣亲王足阳明胃经、足少阴心经、足太阴脾经俱断，脏腑破裂，死得甚奇。”The Empress Dowager snorted contemptuously. ‘What is so extraordinary about a sickly baby dying at the age of four months, I should like to know.’ ‘My Master told me that the little Prince’s illness came on very suddenly and that when the Imperial physicians examined him they found that the three meridians connecting the Greater Yang of the foot to the stomach, the Eesser Yin of the foot to the heart, and the Greater Yin of the foot to the spleen had all been severed, and that all his internal organs had been ruptured. It was certainly not natural causes that he died of.’太后哼了一声，道：“什么御医有这样好本事？多半是你说的。”There was another contemptuous ‘Huh!’ from the Empress Dowager. ‘I know none of our Imperial physicians who would be capable of such a diagnosis,’ she said. ‘I expect you made it up yourself.’
海老公不置可否，又道：“端敬皇后逝世，人人都道她是心伤荣亲王之死，但究其实，却是不然。她是给人用截手法截断了阴维、阴蹻两处经脉而死。”The old eunuch ignored the interruption and continued. ‘When the Empress Donggo died, because her death followed so closely on the death of the little Prince, most people thought she had died of grief; but this belief was not borne out by the facts. I discovered that someone had used a rare Martial Arts technique to sever her Yin Cord and Yin Cradle ducts. It was that which caused her death.’太后冷冷的道：“他居然会相信你异想天开的胡说。”海老公道：“主子本来也不相信，后来奴才便试给他看，那还是在端敬皇后去世之后不久的事。一个月之中，奴才接连在五个宫女身上，截断了她们的阴维、阴蹻两处经脉。这五个宫女死时的症状、模样，和端敬皇后临终之时一般模样。单是一个宫女，还说是巧合，五个宫女都是如此这般，主子就确信不疑了。”’And you mean to tell me that your Master really believed these fantasies?’ said the Empress Dowager coldly. ‘At first not,’ said the old eunuch. ‘Not until I had given him proof. Not long after the Empress Donggo’s death I began a series of experiments on five ladies-in-waiting. In the course of a single month I performed the operation of severing these two ducts on all five of them. They all died, showing exactly the same symptoms that had been observed in the case of the Empress Donggo. One such case might have been a coincidence, but five in a row was evidence so overwhelming that finally he was convinced.’太后道：“嘿，可了不起！咱们宫中，居然有你这样的大行家。”海老公道：“多谢太后称赞。奴才的手法，跟那个凶手不同。不过道理是一样的。”’Amazing!’ said the Empress Dowager sarcastically. ‘I’d no idea we had such a medical genius in the Palace.’ Thank you, Your Majesty,’ said the old eunuch. ‘You are too kind. The method I used was not quite the same as the murderer’s, but the principle was the same.’
注：胡兆龙、王熙二学士奉旨编纂《端敬后语录》，系当时事实，具见孟森所著《清代史·世祖出家事考实》一文。本书此段文字写于一九七○年一月，此后并无增删。硬凑硬编之《语录》传世不久，自来皆然，不必智者而后知。
两人默默相对，良久不语。海老公轻轻咳了几声，隔了好一会，才道The Empress Dowager made no reply, and for some time the two of them, the Empress and the old eunuch, faced each other in silence–a silence punctuated only by a few low coughs from the latter. After what seemed a very long pause he continued speaking.：“主子命奴才回京来查明，害死荣亲王和端敬皇后的是谁？”太后冷笑道：“那又何必再查？咱们宫中除你之外，又有谁能有这等身手？”’My Master ordered me to return to Peking to find out who it was that murdered the little prince and the Empress Donggo in that highly sophisticated manner.’ ‘I wonder he bothered, ‘ said the Empress Dowager coldly. ‘I doubt there is anyone in the Palace besides yourself who has the skill, ‘海老公道：“那还是有的。端敬皇后一向待奴才很好，奴才只盼她多福多寿，如果早知有人要加暗算，奴才便是拚了老命，也要护卫她周全。”太后道：“你倒挺忠心哪。他用了你这样的好奴才，也是他的福气。”’Ah, but there is, ‘ said the old eunuch. ‘It couldn’t, in any case, have been me, because the Empress Donggo was always very good to me. I wished her nothing but happiness and long life. If I had known that someone was plotting her death, I would have done everything in my power to protect her, ‘ ‘You are very loyal, ‘ said the Empress Dowager sneeringly. ‘She was a lucky woman to have such a servant, ‘
海老公叹了口气，说道：“可惜奴才太也没用，护卫不了端敬皇后。”
太后冷冷的道：“他朝拜佛，晚念经，保佑你的端敬皇后从十八层地狱中早得超生，早升西方极乐世界，也就是了。”The old eunuch sighed. ‘Unfortunately not, ‘ he said. ‘In the event I failed miserably to protect her, ‘ ‘Oh well, ‘ said the Empress Dowager, ‘with your Master praying to the Buddha morning, noon, and night for her soul, you can console yourself with the thought that she must certainly be in Paradise by now, instead of in the lowest depth of Hell where she belongs, ‘
语气之中，却充满了幸灾乐祸之意。海老公道：“拜佛念经未必有用，不过善有善报，恶有恶报的话，总是对的。”顿了一顿，慢吞吞的道：“若是不报，时辰未到。”太后哼了一声。There was a chilly edge to her voice which suggested that the removal of Empress Donggo from this world had given her a good deal more satisfaction than the thought of any comforts she might be enjoying in the next. ‘Whether praying to the Buddha does any good or not I don’t know, ‘ said the old eunuch, ‘but of one thing I am certain: that good is repaid with good and evil with evil, ‘ He paused for a while before adding, very slowly and deliberately, ‘And that if any evil has not yet been paid for, it is only a matter of time, ‘ The Empress Dowager sniffed contemptuously.
海老公道：“启禀太后得知，主子吩咐奴才查两件事，奴才查明两件事是一件。哪知道无意之中，另外又查到了两件事。”太后道：“你查到的事儿也真多，那又是什么事了？”’I have something to report to Your Majesty,’ said the old eunuch. ‘As I said, the two matters that my Master sent me back here to investigate turned out to be one. But that is not all. While investigating them, I unintentionally found out about two other matters as well.’ ‘There seems to be no end to your discoveries,’ said the Empress Dowager. ‘Very well, what were they?’海老公道：“第一件事跟贞妃有关。”太后冷笑道：“狐媚子的妹子是小狐媚子，你提她干什么？”The first concerns Lady Zhen,’ said the old eunuch. ‘The fox-woman’s younger sister,’ said the Empress Dowager scornfully, ‘the little vixen. Why do you mention her?’
海老公道：“主子离宫出走，留书说道永不回来。太皇太后跟太后你两位圣上的主意，说道国家不可一日无君，于是宣告天下说主子崩驾。’When my Master fled from the Palace, ‘ said the old eunuch, ‘he left a letter behind him in which he said that he was never coming back. His grandmother the Imperial Grand Dowager and Your Majesty both took the view that the Empire must not be without a ruler for a single day and, so that they could make the arrangements for a regency, gave it out that he was dead.当世知道这个大秘密的，只有六人，那是你两位圣上，主子本人，跟主子剃度的玉林大师，以及服侍主子的两个奴才。这两个奴才一个是侍卫总管赫巴察，这时候跟着主子在五台山出了家，另一个便是奴才海大富了。”At the time only six people in the whole world shared the secret that he was still alive: Your Majesty, the Imperial Grand Dowager, my Master himself, the Venerable Yulin who became a monk when my Master did, and the two servants who accompanied him from the Palace. One of them, Hebacha the Captain of the Guard, is himself a monk now on Wutai. The other one is me.’
韦小宝听到这里，方始恍然，原来太后口中的“他”，海老公所说的“主子”，竟然便是顺治皇帝。天下都道他已经崩驾，其实却因心爱的妃子死了，伤心之极，到五台清凉寺去做了和尚。Now at last Trinket understood the full meaning of what he had been listening to. The person whom the Empress Dowager had been referring to as ‘he’ and whom Old Hai referred to as ‘my Master’ was Kang Xi’s father, the Emperor Shun Zhi. Although everyone in the Empire believed that he was dead, the truth was that, overwhelmed by his grief at the death of his beloved concubine the Lady Donggo, he had gone off to the Pure Coolness Monastery in the Wutai Mountains to become a monk.这妃子所以会死，听海老公的语气，倒似是太后派遣武功高手将她害死的。And from what the old eunuch had been saying, it appeared that the Emperor’s beloved concubine had died not naturally but as a result of hidden injuries inflicted on her by a highly-skilled assassin employed for the purpose by the Empress Dowager.他不禁颇为得意，心想：“老乌龟说这大秘密天下只六个人知道，哪知道还得加上我韦小宝，天下可有七个人知道了。”但得意不了片刻，跟着便害怕起来，本来颇有点儿有恃无恐，料想在太后跟前跟海老公斗口，未必输给了老乌龟，此刻却知大事不妙，若给他二人发觉自己在这里偷听，就算海老公杀不了自己，太后也决计不肯放过。Trinket’s vanity was tickled. The Old Devil said there were only six people in the world who knew this secret,’ he thought. ‘Well, now there are seven, and old Trink is one of them.’ But his elation soon gave way to fear. Up to now he had taken courage from the fact that the Empress and the eunuch were enemies. If he was forced to confront the Old Devil in her presence, the Old Devil might for once get the worst of it. But now he was in real trouble. What he had just heard was a state secret, and if they found out that he had been listening, he would be in danger from both of them; for even if the Old Devil didn’t kill him, there would be no escaping the Empress Dowager, who would kill him to stop his mouth.
只听得喀喀两声轻响，竟是自己牙关相击，急忙使力咬住。幸好海老公恰在这时连声咳嗽，静夜之中，便只听到他的气喘和咳嗽之声。He became aware of a slight rattling sound, but it was some moments before he realized that it was his own teeth chattering. He gritted them firmly, for fear the sound would betray him; but fortunately the old eunuch had just embarked on another of his coughing fits and his coughs and wheezes were the only sounds which broke the silence of the night.
过了一会，海老公道：“当时贞妃自杀殉主，朝中都称赞得了不得。但也有许多人悄悄的说，贞妃是给太后逼着殉葬的，自杀并非本意。”Having eventually recovered from his coughing, the old eunuch continued. ‘When the Empress Donggo died, most people at Court were greatly impressed by the loyal devotion shown by Lady Zhen in taking her own life so that she could follow her sister to the grave; but there were those who whispered that she had not done so willingly but had been forced to by Your Majesty.’太后道：“这些无君无上的逆臣，早晚容他们不得。”海老公道：“不过他们的话倒也没全错，贞妃并不是甘心情愿自杀的。”太后道：“你也说贞妃是给我逼杀的？”They were vile traitors that said so, ‘ said the Empress Dowager, ‘and they will be dealt with in due course.’ ‘Yet there was some truth in what they were saying, ‘ said the old eunuch. ‘Lady Zhen certainly did not take her own life willingly.’ ‘Are you saying that I was responsible for her suicide?’ asked the Empress Dowager angrily. ‘海老公道：“这个‘逼’字，倒可以省去。”太后道：“你说什么？”海老公道：“贞妃是给人杀死的，不是逼得自杀。奴才曾详细问过殡殓贞妃的仵工，得知贞妃大殓之时，全身骨骼寸断，连头盖骨也都成为碎片。这门杀人的功夫，好像叫做‘化骨绵掌’，请问太后是不是？””Suicide” is not the word I would use, ‘ said the old eunuch. ‘What do you mean?’ : ‘Lady Zhen wasn’t forced to commit suicide, she was killed, ‘ said the old eunuch. ‘I asked the undertaker who prepared her corpse for burial. When they put her in the coffin, there were multiple fractures in every bone in her body. Even her skull was in pieces. Soft Crush karate is what they call the art of killing people in that way, isn’t it?’太后道：“我怎知道？”’How would I know?’ said the Empress Dowager.
海老公道：“奴才听说，世间有这样一门‘化骨绵掌’，打中人后，那人全身没半点异状，要过得一年半载之后，尸体的骨骼才慢慢的折断碎裂。但出手杀贞妃之人，显然功夫练得没到家。’From what I’ve heard, ‘ said the old eunuch, ‘a person who has been attacked by a skilled practitioner of Soft Crush karate will afterwards show no sign of injury anywhere on their body, yet in the course of a year or so their entire bone structure will disintegrate. Obviously whoever killed her was only a semi-skilled practitioner.那仵作起初给贞妃的尸体整容收拾，也没什么特异，到得傍晚入殓，忽然尸体变得如同没有骨头了一般，全身绵软。他吓得什么似的，只道是尸变，当时一句话也没敢说。奴才威逼利诱，用上了不少苦刑，他才吐露真相。According to the undertaker, when they were laying out the corpse, there was nothing that seemed to be amiss. It wasn’t until the evening, when they came to put it in the coffin, that he noticed a change had come over it. It had gone completely soft, as if there wasn’t a bone in it. But although it gave him the shock of his life, he didn’t suspect anything. He put it down to unusually rapid decomposition. All the same, he didn’t dare breathe a word about it to anyone else. In fact, I had a great deal of trouble getting it out of him. I tried threats and promises and in the end was obliged to use several kinds of torture before he would tell me.太后，凭您圣断，这门‘化骨绵掌’的功力，打中人后，两三天内骨骼便断，只怕还不算十分深厚，是不是？”太后阴森森道：“虽不算绝顶深厚，但也有些用处了。”I wonder what Your Majesty’s opinion is of this matter? I would have said myself that a practitioner of Soft Crush karate whose subject’s bone structure disintegrated in only two or three days after the attack had not had very much training.’ ‘Enough to serve the purpose,’ said the Empress Dowager chillingly.
海老公道：“自然有用，咳……咳，……自然有用！杀得了贞妃，也杀得了孝康皇后！”韦小宝心想：“他奶奶的，这老皇帝的皇后真多，又有一个什么孝康皇后。他的皇后，只怕比咱们丽春院里的小娘们还多。”’Oh, it served the purpose all right–heh, heh–it served the purpose,’ said the old eunuch. (It was hard to tell whether he was coughing or chuckling.) ‘It served to kill Lady Zhen. And it served to kill the Empress Kang as well.’ ‘Hot popping grandmother’s!’ exclaimed Trinket silently to himself. ‘Just how many Empresses did this old Emperor have? Must have been more of them than all the girls in Vernal Delights put together.’
皇太后颤声道：“你……你又提孝康皇后干什么？”韦小宝不知孝康皇后是康熙的生母，听得皇太后语音大变，只感诧异，不明其中原由。The Empress Kang? Why . . . why do you mention her?’ The Empress Dowager’s voice was shaking. Trinket did not know that the Empress Kang was Kang Xi’s own mother, otherwise he would have been less surprised by the Empress Dowager’s sudden change of tone.
只听海老公道：“殉葬孝康皇后的，就是殉葬董鄂贞妃的那个仵作。”皇太后道：“那个该死的仵作，又胡说八道什么了？这人诬指宫事，罪该族诛。”The undertaker who prepared the Empress Kang’s body for burial was the same one who supervised the laying-out of Lady Donggo and Lady Zhen,’ said the old eunuch. ‘What nonsense has this villain been telling you about her?’ said the Empress Dowager. The punishment for making slanderous allegations about Palace matters is execution of the slanderer with all his clan.’海老公道：“皇太后要杀他，这时候却已迟了。”皇太后道：“你已先杀了他？”海老公道：“不是，两年多以前，奴才就已命他到五台山清凉寺，将这番情由禀告主子知道，然后叫他远走蛮荒，隐姓埋名，以免杀身大祸。”’If Your Majesty is thinking of killing the undertaker, I am afraid it is too late.’ ‘Why? Have you already killed him yourself?’ ‘No. Two years ago I sent him to the Pure Coolness Monastery to tell his story to my Master. After that I advised him, if he wanted to stay alive, to change his name and go abroad to live among the barbarians.’皇太后颤声道：“你……你……好毒辣的手段！”海老公道：“手段毒辣的另有其人，奴才自愧不如。”’You . . . you are diabolically thorough,’ said the Empress Dowager. ‘Not as much as someone I could mention,’ said the old eunuch. ‘A mere novice by comparison.’
注：顺治皇帝共有四位皇后。两个是真皇后。第一个历史上称为废后，《清史稿》说她“丽而慧”，是顺治之母的侄女。《清史稿》载称：“上好简朴，后则奢侈，又妒，积与上忤。”那时顺治对董鄂妃十分宠爱，皇后喝醋，和皇帝不断吵嘴。顺治大怒之下，就下旨废后。王公大臣一致反对，争执了很久，结果还是于顺治十年被废。顺治心中当然想立董鄂妃为皇后，但董鄂妃不是出身于皇亲国戚的大贵族之家，因此只得另立母亲家族中的一个少女为后，后世称为孝惠皇后。
立这个皇后，是出于他母亲太后的主张，顺治很不喜欢。《清史稿》载称：“顺治十一年五月，聘为妃，六月册为后，贵妃董鄂氏方幸，后又不当上旨。十五年正月，皇太后不豫，上责皇后礼节疏阙，命停应进中宫笺表，下诸王贝勒大臣议行。
三月，以皇太后制，如旧制封进。圣祖即位，尊为皇太后。”
顺治对董鄂妃爱情很专，一心要找皇后的麻烦，母亲生病，就怪皇后服侍不好，要以此为借口废她。但他母亲极力维护娘家这个小辈，皇后方得保全。待康熙做了皇帝，这皇后便升为皇太后。
另外两个不算是真正皇后。一个是康熙的亲生母亲，她父亲佟图赖是汉军旗人，所以康熙有一半是汉人血统。她本来只是妃子，母以子贵，康熙做了皇帝后，也尊她为皇太后。
她在康熙二年二月去世。历史上称孝康皇后。另一个就是董鄂妃。《清史稿》说：“年十八入侍，上眷之特厚，宠冠后宫。”
死后追封为皇后，称为孝献皇后，又称端敬皇后。
皇太后默然半晌，问道：“你今晚来见我，有什么用意？”The Empress Dowager fell silent for a while. ‘Why have you come to see me tonight?’ she asked suddenly. ‘What is the purpose of this visit?’海老公道：“奴才是来请问太后一件事，好回去禀告主子。端敬皇后、孝康皇后、贞妃、荣亲王四人，都是死于非命的，主子也因此而弃位出家。To ask Your Majesty a question,’ said the old eunuch. ‘I need an answer to take back to my Master on Wutai. The Empress Donggo, the Empress Kang, Lady Zhen, and the little Prince, all four of them died unnatural deaths. It was because of their deaths that my Master left his throne and the whole world behind him to become a monk.下这毒手之人，是宫中的一位武功好手。奴才冒死来请问太后：这位武功高手是谁？奴才年纪老了，瞎了眼睛，又患了不治之症，便如风中残烛一般，但如不查明这件事，未免死不瞑目。”The person responsible for their deaths was a very skilled assassin living inside the Palace. Who is that assassin? That is the question I have taken my life in my hands to come here and ask Your Majesty. I am old and blind and suffering from an incurable disease. My life is like the flame of a candle that has burnt down low: a puff of wind would extinguish it. Yet I shall never close my eyes in peace until I have got to the bottom of this mystery.’太后冷冷的道：“你一双眼珠子早已瞎了，瞑不瞑目，也没什么相干。”海老公说道：“奴才虽然眼睛盲了，心中倒是雪亮的。”太后道：“你既心中雪亮，又何必来问我？”’Since your eyes are blind,’ said the Empress Dowager unfeelingly, ‘what difference does it make whether you close them or not?’ ‘My eyes may be blind,’ said the old eunuch, ‘but my mind is crystal clear.’ ‘Why come to me for the answer then?’ said the Empress Dowager.
海老公道：“还是问一问明白的好，免得冤枉了好人。这几个月来，奴才用心查察，要知道潜伏在宫中的这位武学高手是谁。本来是极难查到的，可是机缘巧合，无意中竟知道皇上身有武功。”’Because I need to make doubly sure,’ said the old eunuch. ‘Because I don’t want to accuse anyone who is innocent. During these past few months I have applied myself constantly to the task of finding out where in the Palace this highly skilled assassin is hiding. The investigation has been very, very difficult, but I have had one great piece of luck. Quite by chance I have discovered that His Majesty the Emperor himself has some knowledge of the Martial Arts.’
皇太后冷笑道：“皇上身有武功，那又怎地？难道是他害死了自己母亲？”’Fancy that!’ said the Empress Dowager. ‘Now, I suppose, you are going to tell me that the Emperor murdered his own mother?’
海老公道：“罪过，罪过。这种忤逆之事是说不得的，倘是奴才说了，死后要入拔舌地狱，就是心中想一想，死后也不免进洗脑地狱去受苦。”他咳了几声，续道：“奴才身边有个小太监，叫做小桂子……”’God forbid!’ said the old eunuch. ‘God forbid that I should even utter so unspeakable a thing! The devils in Hell would tear my tongue out in the life to come. They would scour my brains out for even thinking such a thought!’ He coughed a while before continuing. ‘It so happens that I have under my charge a little eunuch called Laurie . . .’
韦小宝心头一凛：“老乌龟说到我了。”只听海老公续道：“……他年纪只比皇上小着一两岁，皇上很喜欢他，天天跟他比武摔交，习练武艺。这小桂子的功夫，是奴才教的，虽然算不上怎么样，但在他这样年纪的小孩子中间，也算不容易了。”Trinket’s heart missed a beat. ‘Here it comes!’ he thought. ‘The Old Devil’s got round to me at last!’ This Laurie is roughly the same age as the Emperor. Perhaps a year or two younger. The Emperor is very fond of him. He wrestles and boxes with him daily. What little this Laurie knows of the Martial Arts is what I have taught him. It does not amount to much, but for someone of his age, he is not at all bad.’
韦小宝听他称赞自己，不由得大是得意。太后道：“名师出高徒，强将手下无弱兵。”海老公道：“多谢太后金口。可是这小桂子跟皇上过招，十次中倒有九次是输的。不论奴才教他什么武功，皇上的功夫总是胜了他一筹。看来教皇上武功的师父，比奴才是行得多了。奴才想来想去，宫里的武学高手，也只有这一位大行家了。只要寻到了这位大行家，那么害死两位皇后、一位皇妃、一位皇子的凶手，也不难追查得到。”Trinket glowed with the pleasure of being praised. ‘Good master, good pupil, ‘ said the Empress Dowager. ‘Thank you, Your Majesty,’ said the old eunuch. ‘You are too kind. However, nine times out of ten when the boy wrestles with the Emperor he gets the worst of it. No matter what I teach him, the Emperor always comes off a little better. I conclude from this that the Emperor’s teacher must be better at Martial Arts than I am. None of the skilled practitioners in the Palace who are known to me will fit this description. Only the very highly qualified person who killed the two Empresses, Lady Zhen, and the little Prince could be so described. If I can find the Emperor’s teacher, I have found the murderer.’
太后道：“原来如此，你远兜圈子，便是要跟我说这番话。”’I see,’ said the Empress Dowager. ‘You seem to have gone about this business in an extraordinarily roundabout way.’
海老公道：“太后说道名师必出高徒，这句话反过来也是一样，高徒必有名师。皇上会使八八六十四式‘八卦游龙掌’， ‘Your Majesty just now remarked that good masters have good pupils,’ said the old eunuch. ‘The converse is also true. When one meets excellence in a learner, it can be assumed that he has a highly qualified teacher. His Majesty is able to use all sixty-four movements of the Roving Dragon style of kungfu.教他这掌法之人，就多半会使‘化骨绵掌’。”太后问道：“你找到了这位武功高手没有？”The person capable of teaching him that could well be proficient in Soft Crush karate as well.’ ‘So, have you found this highly qualified person?’ said the Empress Dowager.海老公道：“已经找到了。”太后冷笑道：“你好深的心计。你教小桂子跟皇上练武，这半年多来，便是在找寻皇上的师父。”’I have,’ said the old eunuch. ‘How devious you are!’ said the Empress Dowager. ‘You mean to tell me you have had young Laurie practising kungfu with the Emperor for more than half a year in order to find out who the Emperor’s teacher is?’
海老公叹道：“那没法子啊。韦小宝是个阴毒的小坏蛋，奴才的一双眼珠子，便是给他用毒药毒瞎的。若不是为了要将这件大事查得千真万确，决计容不得这小坏蛋活到今朝。”’I had no alternative,’ said the old eunuch. ‘The boy is an evil, pernicious child. It was he who caused me to lose my eyesight. He gave me a poison to drink that blinded me. But I needed him to make absolutely sure that I was right. If it weren’t for that, I would never have permitted him to live.’
太后哈哈一笑，道：“小桂子这孩子真乖，毒瞎了你的眼睛，好得很，妙得很，明天我得好好赏他。”海老公道：“多谢太后。太后如果下旨将他厚葬，小桂子在阴世也必感戴太后的洪恩。”The Empress Dowager burst out laughing. ‘He blinded you? Ha ha ha! What a clever boy! Oh good! Oh wonderful! Tomorrow I must remember to reward him with something really nice.’ ‘Your Majesty is very kind,’ said the old eunuch. ‘An expensive funeral, I suggest. His soul in the next world should be very grateful.’太后问道：“你已杀了他？”海老公道：“奴才已忍耐了很久很久，此后已用他不着了。”韦小宝又惊又怒，寻思：“这老乌龟早就知道我不是小桂子，也早知他一双眼睛是给我毒瞎的，Why, have you already killed him?’ ‘I had put up with his nonsense long enough,’ said the old eunuch. ‘In any case, I had no further use for him.’ Trinket heard this with a mixture of anger and surprise. He had discovered earlier that evening that the old eunuch had known all along that he was not really Laurie and that it was he who had blinded him.原来他一直在利用老子，这才迟迟不下毒手。他教我功夫，全是为了要察看皇上的武功，他奶奶的，早知这样，我真不该将皇上的武功详详细细的跟他说。你奶奶的，老乌龟以为老子死了，可是老子偏偏就没死，待会我来扮鬼，吓你个屁滚尿流。”Now it appeared that the only reason he had not killed him there and then was so that he could make use of him– teaching him kungfu as a roundabout way of finding out who the Emperor’s teacher was. ‘Hot grandmother’s!’ he thought. ‘If I’d known what the Old Devil was up to, I’d never have given him all that information about the Emperor’s style of fighting. Huh! so you think I’m dead, do you? Well, Old Turtle, it so happens that I’m not. Just wait a bit longer, and I’ll pretend to be a ghost and scare the shit out of you!’海老公叹了口气，说道：“主子的性子向来很急，要做什么事，非办到不可。只可惜他虽贵为天子，心爱的人给人家害死，却也救她不活了。主子出了家，对董鄂妃却还是念念不忘。The old eunuch sighed. ‘My Master was always an impatient man. Whatever he wanted always had to be carried out immediately–and Heaven help you if it wasn’t! But for all his Imperial power, he was unable to prevent the person he loved most from being murdered. He couldn’t stop thinking about Lady Donggo even after he had renounced the world to become a monk.奴才离清凉寺回宫之前，主子亲笔写了个上谕交给奴才，命奴才查明是谁害死董鄂妃，不，端敬皇后，再命奴才将这凶手就地正法。”Before I left the Pure Coolness Monastery to return to the Palace, he gave me an Imperial edict written in his own hand empowering me to execute summary justice on the murderer of Lady Donggo–I beg her pardon, the Empress Donggo–whenever and wherever I found out who it was.’
太后哼了一声，说道：“他做了和尚，还能写什么上谕？
出家人念念不忘杀人害人，也不大像样罢？”The Empress Dowager gave a little snort of contempt. ‘How can a monk write Imperial edicts? In any case, it’s hardly fitting that a Buddhist in holy orders should be constantly thinking about killings and executions.’海老公道：“因果报应，佛家也是挺讲究的。害了人的人，终究不会有好下场。不过奴才练功岔了经脉，闹得咳嗽气喘，周身是病，再加上眼睛瞎了，更加没指望啦。”’On the contrary, sin and retribution are very much a Buddhist concern,’ said the old eunuch. ‘No one who takes another’s life can hope to come to a good end. Unfortunately, some years ago I did permanent damage to my constitution while I was training and I’ve suffered from coughing and breathlessness ever since. In fact my whole body is full of sickness. And now, on top of that, I am blind. So there’s not much hope of my carrying out the retribution.’
太后道：“是啊，你周身是病，眼又瞎了，就算奉有他的密旨，那也办不了事啦！”’Of course there isn’t,’ said the Empress Dowager. ‘As you say, your body is full of sickness and your eyes are blind. Although you have a Secret Edict, what earthly hope is there of your acting on it?’
海老公叹了口气，说道：“不成啦，不成啦！奴才告辞太后，这就去了。”说着转过身来，慢慢向外走去。韦小宝心头登时如放了一块大石，暗想：“老乌龟这一去，我就没事了。他只道我已经死了，再也不会来找我。老子明儿一早溜出宫门，老乌龟如果再找得着我，老子服了你，跟你姓，我叫海小宝！”The old eunuch sighed again. ‘Alas! I’m afraid it’s true. I beg to take leave of Your Majesty.’ With that he turned and began, very slowly, to walk away. This was a great weight off Trinket’s mind. ‘Once Old Turtle-head’s out of here, I shall be all right,’ he thought. ‘He won’t come looking for me again because he thinks I’m dead. First thing tomorrow I’ll slip out of the Palace gate, and if he ever finds me after that–well, I’ll change my name to Hai!’
太后却道：“且慢！海大富，你上哪里去？”海老公道：“奴才已将一切都禀明了太后，那就回去等死。”But the Empress Dowager was not letting the old eunuch go so easily. ‘Not so fast, Hai Dafu!’ she said. ‘Where do you think you’re going?’ ‘I’ve told Your Majesty everything,’ said the old eunuch. ‘Now I’m just going back to wait for death.’太后道：“他交给你的事，你也不办了？”海老公道：“奴才心有余而力不足，况且也没这天大的胆子，作乱犯上。”太后嘿嘿一笑，道：“你倒很识时务，也不枉了侍候我们这几年。”’So you’re not going to carry out the task he entrusted to you?’ ‘My spirit is willing enough, but my strength is not equal to it,’ said the old eunuch. ‘In any case, it would take greater daring than mine to lift a hand against my betters.’ ‘I’m glad you know your place,’ said the Empress Dowager with an unpleasant laugh. ‘Your years of service with us have not been wasted.’海老公道：“是，是！多谢太后的恩典。这些冤沉海底之事，也只有等皇上年纪大了，再来昭雪。”他咳嗽两声，说道：“皇上拿办鳌拜，手段英明得很。皇上亲生之母为人所害，这件事也用不了等多少时候，皇上定会办理，只可惜……只可惜奴才活不到那时候，等不到啦。”’No, indeed, Your Majesty. Your Majesty is very gracious,’ said the old eunuch. These unfathomable wrongs will have to wait for the Emperor himself to deal with when he is older.’ He coughed a few times. ‘His Majesty showed great intelligence in his handling of the Oboi affair. I am sure there will not be long to wait before he takes action against the murderer of his own mother.’
太后走上几步，喝道：“海大富，你转来。”海老公道：“是，太后有甚么吩咐？”太后厉声道：“你刚才跟我胡说八道，这些……这些荒谬不堪的言语，已……已都跟皇上说过了？”语音发颤，显得极是激动。The Empress Dowager took a few steps forward and called after him. ‘Hai Dafu, turn round at once!’ ‘Yes, Your Majesty.’ The old eunuch, who had already started to move away again, stopped in his tracks and turned round to face her. ‘What is Your Majesty’s command?’ This absurd nonsense you have just been telling me,’ the Empress Dowager began–her voice was strident, but there was a tremor in it which betrayed extreme anxiety–‘these preposterous allegations of yours . . . have you . . . have you already spoken to the Emperor about them?’
海老公道：“奴才明日一早，就去禀告皇上，但是……但是今晚迫不及待，先来禀告太后。”太后道：“很好，很好！”’I plan to tell His Majesty first thing tomorrow,’ said the old eunuch, ‘but–well, this evening I felt I just couldn’t wait any longer and decided to tell Your Majesty first.’ ‘Good,’ said the Empress Dowager. ‘Very good.’突然间一声劲风响起，跟着蓬蓬两声巨响。韦小宝吃了一惊，忍不住探头张望，只见太后正绕着海老公的溜溜转动，身法奇快，一掌又一掌往他身上击去。海老公端然凝立，还掌抵御。Suddenly there was a sound like a little squall of wind getting up followed, in rapid succession, by two loud slapping sounds. Startled but curious, Trinket peeped out from behind the rocks and saw the Empress Dowager circling round the old eunuch with surprising agility and aiming blow after blow at his body with her open palms, while the eunuch stood his ground, blocking and occasionally striking back.韦小宝这一惊更是非同小可：“怎么太后跟老乌龟打了起来？原来太后也会武功。”太后每一掌击出，便是呼的一声响，足见掌上劲力极是厉害。Trinket watched them in amazement. It had never occurred to him that an Empress might be proficient in unarmed combat. Every time the Empress Dowager aimed a blow at the old eunuch she gave a shout. It was evident that she was delivering her blows with tremendous force. ???海老公双足不动，随掌迎击，拍出的掌力无声无响。相斗良久，太后始终奈何他不得。突然间太后身子飞起，双掌从半空中压击下来。海老公左掌翻转，向上迎击，右掌却向太后腹上拍去。拍的一声响，掌力相交，太后向后直飞出去。The old eunuch, on the other hand, never moved his feet at all, blocked each blow aimed at him with the minimum of effort, and, when he struck out himself, did so quite soundlessly. When they had been fighting for some time without the Empress Dowager being able to gain the least advantage, she suddenly leapt into the air, raising both hands above her to bring them crashing down on his head. At once the old eunuch’s left palm was upturned to meet them, while his right hand struck out at her belly. There was a loud slap as their three palms met, then the Empress Dowager’s body went hurtling backwards.
海老公一个踉跄，身子晃了几下，终于拿桩站住。太后厉声喝道：“好奴才，你……你……装神弄鬼，以少林……少林……少林派武功教小桂子，原来自己是崆峒派的。”The old eunuch himself was staggering, but after swaying for a bit, he caught his hand against a tree and managed to right himself. ‘You–you cheating devil!’ cried the Empress Dowager shrilly. ‘It was Shaolin boxing you taught that Laurie boy, but your own way of fighting belongs to the Kongdong School.’
海老公喘息道：“不敢，大家彼此彼此！太后以武当派武功教给皇上，想诱奴才上当。不过……不过那‘化骨绵掌’是蛇岛的功夫，奴才几年前就已知道了。”’I must apologize,’ said the old eunuch wheezingly. ‘All the same, I think we are about quits. You taught His Majesty Wudang boxing in order to deceive me. In fact, though, I learned about the Soft Crush karate style of boxing that is taught by the Master of Snake Island some years ago, so you see . . .’韦小宝略一凝思，已然明白，心道：“他奶奶的，老乌龟奸猾得紧，他教我什么‘大擒拿手’，什么‘大慈大悲千叶手’，都是少林派武功，好让太后以为他是少林派的，其实却是辣块妈妈的崆峒派。只可惜太后的假武当派‘八卦游龙掌’，却瞒不了老乌龟。”又想：“原来皇上的武功，都是太后教的。”After racking his brains for a bit, Trinket began to understand the import of what they were saying. ‘Hot grandmother’s!’ he thought. ‘I remember now. He told me. That Greater Catch-Can and Merciful Guanyin stuff he taught me both belong to the Shaolin School. So it was just to fool the old girl into thinking he was a Shaolin boxer himself that he taught me them, while all the time what he really goes in for himself is this hot-piece-how’s-your-mother’s Kongdong stuff. Pity she didn’t manage to take him in too, with her Roving Dragon type of Wudang!’ And as more and more of what he had heard began to sink in: ‘Of course!’ he thought. ‘It was the Empress Dowager who taught the Emperor Martial Arts!’ Then suddenly another thought struck him.
突然间背上出了一阵冷汗，心道：“啊哟，不好！太后会使‘化骨绵掌’，难道……难道那四个人都是太后害的？啊哟！别的倒也罢了，皇帝的亲生母亲也是为她所杀，海老公去跟皇帝一说，岂不是一场滔天大祸！皇上如果杀不了太后，太后非杀皇上不可，那……那怎么办？”’Aiyo!’–and he could feel a cold sweat running down his back–‘He said Soft Crush. She knows how to do Soft Crush. Does that mean–could it be–is she the one who did those four murders? Aiyo! And one of the four she killed was the Emperor’s own mother. And now the Old Devil’s going to tell the Emperor. That’ll be a real calamity, because if the Emperor can’t kill the Empress Dowager, the Empress Dowager will sure as eggs kill the Emperor. Hot tamardy sauce! What am I going to do?’唯一的念头便是拔腿就跑，尽快离开这是非之地，然后去通知皇帝，叫他千万小心。
可是他吓得全身酸软，拚命想逃，一双脚恰好似钉住了在地下，半分动弹不得。He wanted most fervently to run away, to take to his heels, and get out of that accursed place as quickly as possible. Then he would tell all to the Emperor and warn him to be on his guard. The trouble was that fear had deprived him of control over his body and, however much he wanted to run, his feet would no more obey him than if they had been nailed to the ground.
只听得太后说道：“事已如此，难道你还想活过今晚么？”海老公道：“太后尽管去召唤侍卫到来。来的人越多越好，奴才便可将种种情由，说给众人听听，总有一个人会将真相传入皇上耳中。”He became aware that the Empress Dowager was speaking again. ‘Now that things have come to this pass, you don’t, surely, expect to live beyond this night?’ ‘Are you going to call the Guard?’ the old eunuch asked her. ‘Let them come. The more the merrier. I shall tell them everything, in great detail. There is bound to be one of them who will carry the information to the Emperor.’太后冷笑道：“哼，你倒打的如意算盘。”她说话声音甚是缓慢，不住调匀呼吸。’If you imagine I would do anything so foolish, you are deluding yourself,’ said the Empress Dowager.’ She spoke slowly and deliberately because she was in the process of stabilizing her breathing, as kungfu experts do when they are preparing for action.海老公道：“太后保重圣体，别岔了经脉。”太后道：“你倒好心！”海老公的武功本来高过太后，双眼既盲之后，便非敌手了。但他于数年之前，已从仵作口中查知，杀害董鄂妃和贞妃之人使的是“化骨绵掌”，这是辽东海外蛇岛岛主独门秘传的阴毒功夫。其时他不知凶手是谁，便即干冒奇险，暗练一项专门对付“化骨绵掌”的武功，虽然大伤身体，功夫却已练成。
后来韦小宝和康熙皇帝练武，海老公推测，教皇帝武功之人便是杀害董鄂妃、孝康皇后诸人的凶手，日后势将有一场大战。他明知韦小宝害死了小桂子，又毒瞎了自己双目，却冒充小桂子来陪伴自己，心想这小孩子小小年纪，与自己素不相识，必是受人指使而来，多方以言语诱骗，想知道主使之人是谁，主使者自然多半便是凶手。可是韦小宝本来无人指使，并无底细可露，否则他再精乖十倍，毕竟年轻识浅，如何不给海老公套问出来？
海老公查问虽无结果，却就此将计就计，教他武功，所教的武功却又错漏百出，好让对方认定自己是少林派的，武功却是平平。此刻动上了手，太后果然吃了大亏。太后在半年之前，便料定海老公是少林派，海老公却知她的武当派武功是假装的。两人眼睛一明一盲，于对方武学派别的判断，却刚刚相反，海老公料敌甚明，太后却一起始就料错了。那也不是太后见识较差，只是海老公从仵作口中探知了真相，太后却自始至终给蒙在鼓里。再者，海大富心中，早以“教皇帝武功之人”为死敌，太后却直至此刻，才知海大富要致自己死命，否则的话，早就下旨令侍卫将他处死，也用不着自己动手。???
海老公心想自己眼睛盲了，务须激得对方出手攻击，方能以逸待劳，于数招之间便即取胜。适才说了半天，太后一直不露口风，不知害死董鄂妃、孝康皇后等人的到底是谁。“化骨绵掌”是阴邪狠毒的旁门功夫，按常理想来，若不是二十年左右的苦功不能练成。太后博尔济吉特氏是科尔沁贝勒绰尔济之女，家世亲贵无比，数世为后，累代大官，她在做闺女之时，便要出府门一步，也是千难万难，从小不知有多少奶妈丫鬟侍候，如何能去偏僻凶险的蛇岛，学这等旁门功夫？她就算要学武功，也必是学些八段锦、五禽戏之类增强体魄的粗浅功夫，说什么也不会学这“化骨绵掌”。 Until she attacked him, the old eunuch, in spite of what he had been saying, had not been at all sure that it was the Empress Dowager herself who killed Lady Donggo and the other three. She was, after all, a daughter of Prince Koran of the noble Borjigit clan whose men had for generations held high offices of state and whose women had supplied several Manchu rulers with their consorts. The Soft Crush karate technique, taught only on Snake Island off the coast of Liaodong by its sinister Master, was reckoned to be one that took anything up to twenty years to perfect. It seemed inconceivable that a daughter of the Borjigit, who could scarcely venture out of doors unless attended by bevies of nurses and maidservants, should have made her way to so dangerous and remote a place for her training. And even if she had been allowed to practise Martial Arts, it would have been one of the gentler, mainly body-strengthening kinds suitable for young ladies, not the lethal and highly unorthodox methods of Soft Crush karate.多半她身畔亲信的太监、宫女之中，有这么一个武功好手，只盼太后吩咐此人出手。The old eunuch had been inclined to think that the person who had actually done the killings was some trusted eunuch or Court lady in the Empress Dowager’s employment and had been hoping that, when sufficiently provoked, she would call on this person to attack him.哪知道自己一提到要去禀报皇帝，太后心中发急，不及细思，登时出手相攻。这一来，太后不但招认杀害四人乃是自己下手，而三掌一对，便已受了极重内伤。海老公苦心孤诣的筹划数年，一旦见功，不由得心下大慰。He had not expected that when he told her he was going to tell his story to the Emperor she would completely lose her head and begin attacking him herself. By attacking him she was virtually admitting that the four murders were her own handiwork, for he had no difficulty in detecting the Soft Crush element in her fighting. Whatever the ultimate outcome of this confrontation, to have obtained this admission and to have dealt her a blow which he was sure had done her serious damage were ample reward for his years of patient scheming.
太后受伤不轻，几次调匀呼吸，都不济事，缓缓的道：“海大富，你爱瞎造谣言，尽管胡说去。皇上年纪虽小，头脑可清醒得很，瞧他是听你的，还是听我的话。”The blow sustained by the Empress Dowager had indeed been a damaging one. Several attempts to regulate her breathing had proved unavailing; consequently her speech, when she addressed the old eunuch, was slow and laboured. ‘Hai Dafu, ‘ she said, ‘if it amuses you to invent these monstrous fabrications, by all means go and tell the Emperor. But there is an old head on those young shoulders, don’t forget. Do you really think he will prefer your word to mine?’
海老公道：“皇上初时自然不信奴才，多半还会下旨立时将奴才杀了。可是过得几年，他会细细想的，他会越想越明白。太后，你这一族世代尊荣，太宗和主子的皇后，都出自你府上。就可惜这一场荣华富贵，在康熙这一朝中便完结了。”’Of course not,’ said the old eunuch. ‘Not at first. He will probably have me beheaded. But in a year or two’s time, when he has had a chance to think about it, he will come to see more and more clearly that what I told him was true. And then, Your Majesty, the great Borjigit clan, that breeding-ground of Empresses, will find that its days of glory are at an end.’太后哼了一声，冷冷的道：“好得很，好得很！”海老公又道：“主子吩咐奴才，一查到凶手，不管他是什么人，立时就杀了。可惜奴才武功低微，不是太后对手，只好出此下策，去启奏皇上。”’Fine words!’ said the Empress Dowager. ‘Bravo!’ ‘My Master’s orders were that as soon as I had tracked down Lady Donggo’s murderer, I should put that person to death immediately no matter who it was. Unfortunately my powers are unequal to the task: I am clearly no match for Your Majesty. The best I can do, as a poor alternative, is to tell the Emperor about his mother’s murder.’说着向外缓缓走去。太后暗暗运气，正待飞身进击，突然间微风闪动，海老公陡然间欺身而近，双掌猛拍过来。With that he turned once more and, moving very, very slowly, began to go. In the course of this exchange the Empress Dowager had finally succeeded in summoning up enough strength to renew the fight. But just as she was preparing to fly after him and attack him unawares, she was herself taken by surprise, for the old eunuch, moving like a little whirlwind, had already turned round again and was advancing on her with arms upraised to smite.海老公奉了顺治之命，要将害死董鄂妃的凶手处死，他决意要办成这件大事，什么启奏皇上云云，只不过意在扰乱太后的神智，He had never abandoned his intention of carrying out his Master’s order to kill the murderer of Lady Donggo. The talk of going off to tell his story to the Emperor had been merely a ruse, to put her off her guard and get her feeling anxious.让她心意烦躁，难以屏息凝气，便可施展雷霆万钧的一击。这一掌虽无声无息，却是毕生功力之所聚。适才他倾听太后说话，已将她站立的方位拿捏得不差数寸，一掌拍出，直取太后胸口要穴。Anxiety, he hoped, would cloud her judgement and cause her breathing to be unsettled. While she was thus ill-prepared, it might be possible to finish her off with one almighty blow. And it was indeed a formidable blow, this two-handed strike that he now dealt her. Into it were concentrated all the resources of skill and strength he had accumulated during a lifetime’s training. Moreover it was directed at a vital point on her body; for by listening intently to her voice, he had been able, in spite of his blindness, to calculate her position with great accuracy.
太后没防到他来得如此之快，闪身欲避，只要以快步移动身形数次，这恶监是个瞎子，便无法得知自己处身所在，其时只有自己可以出手相攻，他除了随掌抵御之外，更无反击之能。If she had been able to dodge the blow, the initiative would have been hers, because once out of his range she had only, by using quick footwork, to keep on the move, and the blind man could only parry her blows; he would have little hope of retaliating.哪知道身形甫动，海老公的掌力中宫直进，逼得她自己几乎气也喘不过来，只得右掌运力拍出。她原拟交了这掌之后，立即移步，但海老公掌力上有股极大粘力，竟然无法移身，只得右掌加催掌力，和他比拚内劲。But the onslaught was too sudden for her and she found herself blocking with her right palm almost before she could catch her breath. Having blocked the blow, she wanted to skip back out of his reach, but some powerful adhesive or magnetic force in the old eunuch’s two palms prevented her, so that instead of pulling her palm away, she found herself pressing with it against the two of his, and what started as a fight now turned into a trial of strength.
海老公发觉对方内力源源送来，心下暗喜，自己瞎了双目，倘若与对方游斗，那是处于极不利之境，但比拚内力却和眼明眼盲无关。太后一上来便受了伤，气息已岔，非一时三刻之间能够复元，The old eunuch could sense the vital force flowing out of his opponent’s palm and secretly rejoiced. Because of his blindness, he was enormously disadvantaged in a moving fight; but in a trial of strength, sight or the lack of it was irrelevant. The Empress Dowager had been seriously hurt and her breathing was unsettled and would take some time to regulate:这等比拚内力，定要教她精力耗竭、软瘫而死。当下左掌阴力，右掌阳力，拚得片刻，阴阳之力渐渐倒转，变成左掌阳力，右掌阴力。in a situation like this it was possible, by correctly applying the principles of Yin and Yang, to so drain a person of their strength that they might actually die. At that moment he was exercising a Yin force with his wounded left palm and a Yang with his right. After a while he would gradually reverse the process, directing the Yin force through his right palm and the Yang force through his left.在韦小宝看来，不过是太后一只手掌和海老公两只手掌相抵，并无丝毫凶险。哪知海老公的掌力便如是一座石磨，缓缓转动，犹如磨粉，正在将太后的内力一点一滴的磨去。To Trinket, peeping out from behind his rockery, the two figures standing there motionlessly a yard or so apart, the right palm of the one and the two palms of the other seemingly locked together, looked rather as if they were engaged in some sort of harmless game. He could not know that what he was witnessing was a deadly contest in which the slow, relentless pressure of the alternating Yin and Yang forces flowing from the palms of the old eunuch were imperceptibly draining the vital forces from the Empress Dowager’s body.
韦小宝躲在假山之后，怕给太后发觉，偶然探头偷看一眼，立即缩头回去，蓦地里眼前白光一闪，忙又探头出去，只见二人仍是三掌相抵，太后左手中却已多了一柄短兵刃，正在向海老公腹上刺去，登时大喜，暗暗喝彩：“妙极，妙极！
老乌龟这一下子，非他妈的归天不可。”He quickly ducked back behind the rocks in case she caught sight of him, but a sudden flash of light caused him to peep out again. The two figures locked in their strange stance appeared to be the same–except that there was now a blade protruding from the Empress Dowager’s left hand, gleaming wickedly in the white light of the moon. It was a stiletto of finest Emei steel inlaid with white gold; and it was pointed at the old eunuch’s belly. Trinket inwardly cheered. The Old Devil’s done for now!’ he thought .This is his ticket to Heaven.’原来太后察觉到对方掌力怪异，左手轻轻从怀中摸出一柄白金点钢蛾眉刺，极慢极慢的向外递出，刺尖渐渐向海老公小腹上戳去。可是蛾眉刺递到相距对方小腹尺许之处，便再也递不过去。Sensing the loss of vital force through her .right palm, the Empress Dowager, using her free left hand, had very slowly and gently extracted the stiletto from the bosom of her dress and begun slowly inching it towards her opponent’s body. Unfortunately the distance between them was such that she could get the point of it no nearer than a foot from his belly;却是海老公双掌上所发的“阴阳磨”劲力越催越快，太后的单掌已然抵敌不住，只觉得右掌渐渐酸软无力，忍不住便要伸左掌相助。and all the time the pressure from the old eunuch’s palms was increasing and her own right hand was growing more and more weak and numb, so that she would soon need her left hand to help it out.
她本想将蛾眉刺缓缓刺出，不带起半点风声，敌人就无法察觉，但此刻右掌一掌之力已万难支持，再也顾不得海老公是否察觉，左手运劲，只盼将蛾眉刺倏地刺将过去。At last the effort of keeping the pressure up with her right hand became so intolerable that she decided to make a wild thrust forward with the stiletto, no longer caring whether the old eunuch could sense it coming or not.哪知便这么瞬息俄延，左手竟然已无法前送半寸。静夜之中，只听得嗒嗒轻响，But just in those few moments the strength seemed to have deserted her left hand as well, and she found herself powerless to advance it by even a fraction of an inch. Suddenly, as the two of them stood in their clinch, they became aware of a pattering sound.却是海老公左手四指断截处鲜血不断流出，掉在地下。海老公越是使劲催逼内力，鲜血涌出越多。It was the blood from the old eunuch’s left hand splashing on the ground. The same sinister force which was draining the Empress Dowager’s energy was causing the blood to flow more and more freely from the stumps of his severed fingers.
韦小宝见蛾眉刺上闪出的月光不住晃动，有时直掠到他脸上，足见太后的左手正在不停颤动，白光越闪越快，蛾眉刺却始终戳不到海老公的小腹。过得片刻，只见太后手中的蛾眉刺竟然慢慢的缩将回来。As Trinket watched, the gleam of reflected light from the stiletto began to jump and waver. The supreme effort being made by the Empress Dowager to stab it home was causing her hand to shake. The shaking grew more and more violent, then, to Trinket’s dismay, ceased altogether as the left hand clasping the stiletto began slowly to withdraw.
韦小宝大惊：“啊哟，不好，太后打不过老乌龟！此时不走，更待何时？”他慢慢转过身来，一步步的向外走去。每走出一步，便知离开险境远了一步，放心了一分，脚步也便快了一些，待走到门边，伸手摸到了门环，突然间听得身后传来太后“啊”的一声长叫。’Aiyo, she’s lost!’ he thought. ‘If I’m going to get out of this place at all, it had better be now.’ Very slowly, a step at a time, he crept out of the rockery and began making his way towards the garden gate. With each step he took nearer to deliverance, his spirits rose a little. In his relief he began to walk faster, and was almost running y the time he reached the gate. His hand was already on its iron ring when he heard a despairing ‘Aah!’ from the Empress Dowager.
韦小宝心道：“糟糕，太后给老乌龟害死了。”却听得海老公冷冷道：“太后，你渐渐油尽灯枯，再过得一炷香时分，你便精力耗竭而死。’Horrors!’ he thought. The Old Devil must have killed her.’ But then he heard the Old Devil talking to her and knew that she was still alive. ‘You’ve run out of oil, Your Majesty, ‘ he was saying. ‘Your lamp is about to go out.除非这时候突然有人过来，向我背心下手，我难以抵御，才会给他害死！”The only thing that could save you now would be if someone were to come up from behind and stab me in the back; but there’s not much chance of that happening. You’re going to die.’韦小宝正要开门飞奔而逃，突然听得海老公的话，心道：“原来太后并没死！老乌龟的话不错，他双手和太后拚上了，我如去刺他背心，老乌龟怎能分手抵御？这是他自己说的，可怨不得旁人。”At that moment there was nothing to stop Trinket pushing the gate open and getting clean away–but he was tempted. The Old Devil’s right, ‘ he thought. ‘He can’t let go of her. If I wanted to stab him in the back now, there’s nothing he could do to stop me. Well, if I did, he’d have no one but himself to blame.’眼前正是打落水狗的大好良机，这现成便宜不拣，枉自为人了。韦小宝性喜赌博，输赢各半，尚且要赌，如暗中作弊弄鬼，赢面占了九成十成，这样的赌钱机会便要了他命也决计不肯放过。要他冒险去救太后，那是无论如何不干的，It seemed so simple–and no more dangerous than hitting a drowning dog on the head with a stick. As an inveterate gambler he was used to taking fifty-fifty chances, but this was no fifty-fifty chance: the odds were more like ninety-nine to one. Not that he would have taken even that small risk to save the Empress Dowager.但耳听得海老公自暴弱点，正是束手待缚、引颈就戮之势，一块肥肉放在口边，岂可不吞？But when the old eunuch had his hands tied and was almost asking to be killed, who could refuse the invitation?
他一伸手，便从靴筒中摸出匕首，快步向海老公背后直冲过去，喝道：“老乌龟，休得伤了太后！”提起匕首，对准了他背心猛刺。He drew out the dagger from inside his boot and, running up behind the old man’s back, raised it above his head to strike. ‘Old Devil!’ he shouted. ‘How dare you hurt Her Majesty!’
海老公一声长笑，叫道：“小鬼，你上了当啦！”左足向后踹出，砰的一声，踹在韦小宝胸口，登时将他踹得飞出数丈。With a triumphant peal of laughter the old eunuch kicked backwards like a mule, catching Trinket a mighty thump in the chest that sent him flying. ‘Young devil! I fooled you, didn’t I!’
原来海老公和太后比拚内力，已操胜券，忽听得有人从假山后走了出去，脚步声正是平时听得熟了的韦小宝，这小鬼中了自己一掌，居然不死，心下颇为诧异，Just as victory seemed to be within his grasp, the old eunuch had heard the sound of someone coming out from behind the rockery and recognized the footsteps as Trinket’s–with some surprise, because he thought the blow he dealt him earlier must have killed him.生怕他出去召唤侍卫前来，救了太后，那当真是功亏一篑，If Trinket got away he might call the guards, the Empress Dowager would be rescued, and the task he had worked on for so long and so very nearly completed would come to nothing.灵机一动，便出声指点，诱他来攻击自己背心。韦小宝临敌应变的经验不丰，果然便上了当。海老公这一脚正踹在他胸口。韦小宝腾云驾雾般身在半空，一口鲜血呕了出来。His fertile brain supplied him with the only ploy that might stop the boy leaving the garden and dispose of him altogether. The ruse had worked. Insufficiently experienced in the duplicities of combat, Trinket had allowed himself to be taken in, and now he was sailing several yards through the air, and coughing out a full mouthful of blood.海老公左足反踢，早料到太后定会乘着自己劲力后发的一瞬空隙，左掌击向自己小腹，是以踢中韦小宝后，想也不想，右掌便向前拍出，护住了小腹，The old eunuch had calculated that his backward kick would temporarily reduce the pressure in his palms, giving the Empress Dowager an opportunity, which she would probably exploit, of striking him with her free left hand. While he was kicking out therefore, he almost automatically dropped his right hand to protect his belly.突然间手掌心一凉，跟着小腹上一阵剧痛。太后那柄白金点钢蛾眉刺已穿破他手掌，插入了他小腹。As he gloated over the disposal of his detested house-boy, he suddenly experienced a sensation of intense cold in this hand, while an agonizing pain shot through his bowels. The Emei steel stiletto had transfixed his hand and entered his body.他毕竟吃亏在双目不能视物，纵然料到太后定会乘隙攻击，却料不到攻击过来的并非掌力，而是一柄锋锐之极的利器。他小腹被蛾眉刺插入，左掌劲力大盛，将太后震出数步。This time his want of eyesight had betrayed him. He had expected the Empress Dowager to strike, but being blind, had no means of knowing that what she would strike with was not her bare hand but a pointed weapon. With his right hand skewered to his own body and in dreadful pain, he yet had strength enough in his mutilated left hand to send her flying.
太后左足落地，立即又向后跃出丈余，只觉胸口气血翻涌，几欲晕去，生怕海老公乘机来攻，慢慢又退了数步，倚墙而立。Landing on her left foot, she at once jumped back another yard. Even then, though she could feel all the blood in her body rushing upwards and was almost fainting, so terrified was she that he would reach her that she forced herself to stagger back a few more paces and ended up propped against a wall when she could get no further.
海老公纵声而笑，叫道：“你运气好！你运气好！”呼呼呼连接推出三掌，一面出击，一面身子向前直冲。The old eunuch gave a terrible laugh. The luck is yours!’ he cried in a loud, despairing voice. Then–whoosh! whoosh! whoosh!–he had hurled himself forwards, striking out as he went, three times in rapid succession, with all his remaining strength.太后向右跃出闪避，双腿酸软，摔倒在地，只听得豁啦啦一声响，一排花架给海老公的掌力推到了半边。太后筋疲力竭，再也动弹不得，惊惶之下，却见海老公伏在倒塌的花架之上，动也不动了。The Empress Dowager leapt sideways–though there was little danger of his reaching her–then, as her legs gave way beneath her, sank to the foot of the wall. Lying there she heard a rending crash as one side of a pergola that the old eunuch had struck in passing came tumbling to the ground. Startled, but too weak to do more than raise her head, she saw the old eunuch lying face downwards on the ruined pergola. His body no longer stirred.
太后支撑着想要站起，但四肢便如是棉花一般，全身瘫软，正想叫一名宫女出来相扶，隐隐听得远处传来人声，The Empress Dowager made an effort to get up, but her arms and legs seemed to have turned into cotton wool and her whole body was utterly drained of strength. She was thinking of calling for one of her ladies-in-waiting to come and help her when there was a confused noise of voices in the distance.心想：“我和这恶监说话搏斗，一直没发高声，可是他临死时大叫大嚷，推倒花架，已然惊动了宫监侍卫。这些人顷刻便至，见到我躺在这里，旁边死了一老一小两名太监，成何体统？”’Neither of us made much noise throughout that fight,’ she thought. ‘It was just at the end, when that vile creature knew he was beaten: his shouting and laughing and smashing things must have been a deliberate attempt to make himself heard outside. So now the eunuchs and guards have been alerted and soon they will be here. Whatever is it going to look like when they see me lying here with an old eunuch lying dead on one side of me and another young one lying dead over there?’
勉力想要运气，起身入房，这一口气始终提不上来。The thought prompted another effort to struggle to her feet and get indoors, but she could not summon up the strength.
只听得人声渐近，正着急间，忽然一人走了过来，说道：“太后，你老人家安好罢？我扶你起身。”正是那小太监小桂子。太后又惊又喜，道：“你……你……没给这恶人……踢死么？”Just as she was growing desperate, she became aware that someone had walked up from another part of the garden and was addressing her. ‘Is Your Majesty all right? Let me help you get up.’ With a mixture of surprise and delight, she saw that it was the boy eunuch, Laurie. ‘So you … so the kick didn’t kill you?’
韦小宝道：“他踢我不死的。”刚才他被海老公踢入花丛之中，吐了不少鲜血，定一定神，便站起身来，’No,’ said Trinket, ‘it didn’t kill me.’ The kick had in fact landed him in the midst of some flowering bushes where, after coughing up several mouthfuls of blood and spending some time trying to collect himself, he had finally got back on his feet.见海老公伏在花架上不动，忙躲在一棵树后，拾起块石子向海老公投去，噗的一声，正中后脑，海老公全不动弹。韦小宝大喜：“老乌龟死了！”但毕竟害怕，不敢上前察看，From there he had emerged to see the old eunuch lying face downwards on the broken pergola. Concealing himself behind a tree, he had aimed a stone at the recumbent body which by good chance had caught it squarely on the back of the head. The body had not moved. The Old Devil’s dead,’ he thought delightedly, but was still too scared of him to go right up and investigate.一时拿不定主意，该当奔逃出外，还是去扶太后，耳听得人声喧哗，多人蜂涌而来，倘若逃了出去，定会撞上，便即走到太后跟前，伸手将她扶起。For a few moments he could not make up his mind what to do–run, or help the Empress Dowager. But then he heard a hubbub of voices and running feet and realized that even if he did run out, he wouldn’t get very far. So he had gone to help the Empress Dowager.
太后喜道：“好孩子，你快扶我进去休息。”韦小宝道：“是！”半拖半抱，踉踉跄跄的将她扶入房中，放上了床，自己双足酸软，倒在厚厚的地毯上，呼呼喘气。’Good boy!’ she said. ‘Help me up, will you? I must go and lie down indoors.’ ‘Yes, Your Majesty,’ said Trinket, and half carrying, half dragging her, he got her inside her bedroom and on to the bed; then, his own legs being too weak to support him any longer, he collapsed, panting, on the thick-piled carpet.太后道：“你便躺在这里，待会有人来，不可出声。”’Just lie there,’ said the Empress Dowager. ‘If anyone comes here presently, say nothing.’韦小宝道：“是！”过了一会，但听得脚步声杂沓，许多人奔到屋外。灯笼火把的火光从窗格中照进来。有人说道：“啊哟，有个太监死在这里！”’Yes, Your Majesty,’ said Trinket. After a bit, the sound of many footsteps could be heard in the garden and a small crowd seemed to have gathered outside the building. The lights of their lanterns and torches could be seen through the latticed windows. ‘Aiyo!’ they heard someone saying, ‘there’s a dead eunuch here.’另一人道：“是尚膳监的海老公。”一人提高声音说道：“启奏太后：园中出了些事情，太后万福金安。”这样说，意在询问太后的平安。
太后问道：“出了什么事？”’It’s Old Hai Goong-goong from the Catering Department,’ said another. Someone standing outside the window raised his voice to address the Empress Dowager inside. ‘Your Majesty, there has been an incident in the garden. Is Your Majesty all right?’ ‘What kind of incident?’ the Empress Dowager shouted back.
她一出声，外边一众侍卫和太监都吁了口大气，只要太后安好，慈宁宫中虽然出事，也不会有太大的罪名。The eunuchs and Palace Guards standing in the garden breathed a sigh of relief when they heard her voice. As long as the Empress Dowager was all right, whatever it was that had happened in the grounds of the Hall of Maternal Tranquillity, at least their heads would be safe.为首的侍卫道：“好似是太监们打架，没什么大事。请太后安歇，奴才们明日查明了详奏。”太后道：“是了。”只听那侍卫首领压住嗓子，悄声吩咐手下将海老公的尸体抬出去。有一人低声道：“这里还有个小宫女的尸体。啊！
这小宫女没死，只不过昏了过去。”侍卫首领低声道：“一并带出去，待她醒转后查问原因。”The most senior officer present answered her. ‘It seems that some eunuchs have been fighting, Your Majesty. Nothing very serious. Your Majesty can safely go back to sleep. We shall report in detail in the morning.’ ‘Very good,’ said the Empress Dowager. They heard the commanding officer in a lower voice giving orders for the old eunuch’s body to be removed. ‘Hey, there’s another body here, a little maid-in-waiting,’ said another low voice outside. ‘No, just a minute. She’s not dead; she’s just fainted.’ ‘Carry her away, along with the other body,’ said the commanding officer. ‘We’ll interrogate her when she comes to.’
太后道：“有个小宫女吗？抱进我房来。”她生怕蕊初醒转之后，向人泄漏了风声。The Empress Dowager had heard this. ‘Did you say there’s a maid-in-waiting there? Bring her in here.’ (When Blossom eventually came round, she didn’t want her giving away any secrets.)
外面有人答应，一名太监将小宫女蕊初抱进房来，轻轻放在地下，向太后磕了个头，退了出去。There was a murmur of assent from outside and presently a eunuch came in carrying little Blossom in his arms. He laid her down on the carpet, kowtowed to the Empress Dowager, and retired.这时太后身畔的众宫女都已惊醒，个个站在房外侍候，只是不得太后召唤，不敢擅自进内。By this time the Empress Dowager’s ladies-in-waiting, who had been wakened by the noise, were all gathered outside the closed doors of her bedroom, not daring to go in until they were summoned.太后听得一众侍卫太监渐渐远去，说道：“你们都去睡好了，不用侍候。”众宫女答应了，便即散去。It was some time before all the eunuchs and guardsmen in the garden left. When they had all done so, she dismissed the women. ‘You can go back to bed now,’ she called to them. ‘I don’t need you to wait on me.’ The women murmured a reply and dispersed.太后身有武功，此事极为隐秘，纵使是贴身宫女，也不知晓。她朝晚都要练功，任何太监宫女，若非奉召，不得踏入房门一步，连伸手碰一碰门帷，也属严禁。The Empress Dowager’s proficiency in the Martial Arts was a closely guarded secret which not even the more intimate of her ladies-in-waiting knew about. Because she needed to exercise twice daily, morning and evening, she made it a rule that no eunuch or Palace lady should ever enter her bedroom or even so much as touch the curtain of its door, except when expressly commanded to do so, on pain of the severest penalties.
太后调匀了一会气息。韦小宝也力气渐复，坐了起来，过得片刻，支撑着站起。By the time the Empress Dowager had regularized her breathing, Trinket, too, had begun to revive a bit and was able to sit up on the carpet; and before very long he managed to struggle to his feet.太后眼见他胸口中了海老公力道极其沉重的一脚，可是这小太监居然行动自如，还能将自己扶进房来，不知他练过什么功夫，便问：“除了跟这海大富外，你还跟谁练过功夫？”For some moments the Empress Dowager studied him in silence. This young eunuch had sustained what had looked like a lethal blow in the chest, yet appeared to be almost unscathed. He had even got her, single-handed, into her room. Surely he must have undergone some sort of special training, she thought. ‘Apart from Hai Dafu, has anyone else given you training in the Martial Arts?’ she asked him.
韦小宝道：“奴才就跟这恶老头儿练过几个月武功。他教的武功大半是假的。这人坏得很，每天都在想杀我。”’I only studied Martial Arts for a few months with that person you mentioned, Your Majesty,’ said Trinket, ‘but what he taught me was all rubbish. He was a very wicked man, Your Majesty. All the time I was with him he was trying to kill me.’太后嗯了一声，道：“他的一双眼睛，是你毒瞎的？”韦小宝道：“这老头日日夜夜，都在背后诅咒太后，辱骂皇上，奴才听了实在气不过，又没本事杀他，只好……只好……”’Hm, ‘ said the Empress Dowager, ‘wasn’t it you who blinded him?’ ‘It was because night and day he was always saying wicked things about Your Majesty and His Majesty the Emperor, Your Majesty,’ said Trinket. ‘I couldn’t stand it. I wasn’t able to kill him, so I. . . so I. . .’太后道：“他怎样骂我骂皇上？”韦小宝道：“说的都是无法无天的话，奴才一句也不敢记在心里，一听过即刻就忘记了。早已忘得干干净净，再也想不起来了。”
‘What sort of wicked things did he say about me and the Emperor?’ said the Empress Dowager. Terrible things,’ said Trinket, ‘so awful, I just made myself forget them straight away. I’ve forgotten them so completely, I couldn’t even tell Your Majesty any of them now if I tried.’
太后点了点头道：“你这孩子倒乖得很，今天晚上，你到这里来干什么？”
韦小宝道：“奴才睡在床上，听见这恶老头开门出外，只怕他要出什么法子害我，于是悄悄跟在他后面，一直跟到了这里。”
太后缓缓的道：“他向我胡说八道的那番话，你都听见了。”The Empress Dowager nodded. ‘I can see you are a very sensible boy. What were you doing here in the garden tonight?’ ‘While I was lying in bed, I heard that wicked person open the door and go outside. I thought he might be planning some new trick to kill me, so I got up and followed him. I followed him all the way here.’ That nonsense he was saying to me,’ said the Empress Dowager, speaking very slowly, ‘did you hear all that?’韦小宝道：“这恶老头的说话，奴才向来句句当他是放屁，太……太后你别见怪，奴才口出粗言，我可恨极了他。他每天骂我小乌龟，骂我祖宗，我知道他说的从来就没一句真话。”’Nothing that wicked old man said was worth a fart, ‘ said Trinket. ‘Oh, I beg your pardon, Your Majesty, I shouldn’t have said that. I hated him, though. He called me the most terrible names. And he said all sorts of things about my family. I don’t think anything he ever said was true.’太后冷冷的道：“我是问你，海大富跟我说的话，你都听见了没有。你老老实实的回答。”韦小宝道：“奴才远远躲在门外，不敢走近，这恶老头耳朵灵得很，我一走近他便发觉了。我只见他在和太后说话，想偷听几句，可是离得太远，听来听去听不到，I asked you whether or not you heard what Hai Dafu said to me,’ said the Empress Dowager icily. ‘Kindly answer the question.’ ‘I was hiding outside the gate, Your Majesty,’ said Trinket. ‘I didn’t dare go inside. His ears were so sharp, he’d have heard me if I’d got any nearer. I could see him talking to Your Majesty and I tried to hear what he said, but you were too far off. Though I tried my hardest, I couldn’t hear anything.后来见到他胆敢冒犯太后，太也大逆不道，奴才便拚着性命来救驾。他到底向太后说了些什么话，奴才不知道，他……他一定在诉说奴才的不是，说我毒瞎了他眼睛，这虽然不假，其余的话，太后千千万万不可相信。大概太后不信他的话，这奴才竟敢冒犯太后。”’Of course afterwards, when I saw him lay hands on Your Majesty–well, that’s treason, isn’t it–I had to come inside then and do what I could to help. I don’t know what he was talking about to Your Majesty, but he was probably saying bad things about me, I shouldn’t wonder. Of course, if he told you I blinded him, I have to admit that I did. But anything else he told you about me, I beg you, Your Majesty, a thousand, thousand times over, don’t believe a word of it. But it’s probably because Your Majesty didn’t believe what he was saying that he attacked you.’
太后道：“哼！你机灵得很，乖觉得很。海大富说的话，你真的没听见也好，假的没听见也好。只要将来有半句风言风语传入了我耳中，你知道有什么结果。”’Hm,’ said the Empress Dowager. ‘You are a very sharp boy, very intelligent. I don’t know whether you really didn’t hear what Hai Dafu was saying or whether you are only pretending you didn’t, but if one little whisper of it ever reaches my ears, I am sure you know what will happen to you.’韦小宝道：“太后待奴才恩重如山，如果有哪一个大胆恶徒敢在背后说太后和皇上的坏话，奴才非跟他拚命不可。”’Your Majesty has been so good to me,’ said Trinket. ‘In future if I ever hear anyone so wicked or so bold as to say bad things about Your Majesty or His Majesty the Emperor behind your backs, I promise I’ll deal with them, even if it costs me my life.’太后道：“你能这样，我就喜欢了。我过去也没待你什么好。”韦小宝道：“从前皇上跟奴才摔交练武，奴才不识得万岁爷，言语举动乱七八糟，太后和皇上一点也没怪罪，这就是恩重如山了。否则的话，奴才便有一百个脑袋，也都该砍了。这恶老头天天想杀奴才，幸好太后救了我的性命，奴才当真是感激得不得了。”’If you do as you say, I shall be very pleased, ‘ said the Empress Dowager. ‘But why do you speak of my kindness to you?’ ‘When His Majesty and I first began wrestling, ‘ said Trinket, ‘I didn’t realize who he was. I must have done and said all sorts of things I shouldn’t have, but Your Majesty and His Majesty the Emperor have never taken me up on it. I call that a very great kindness, Your Majesty. If you wanted you could have had my head off a hundred times over for the things I did and said then. Besides, that wicked old man was trying to kill me every day for months, so Your Majesty has saved my life. That makes me feel very grateful indeed.’
太后缓缓的道：“你知道感恩，那就很好。你点了桌上的蜡烛。”’So you know how to be grateful for what is done for you, ‘ said the Empress Dowager. ‘I’m glad to hear it. Light the candles on that table, ‘
韦小宝道：“是！”打着了火，点亮了蜡烛。太后房中的蜡烛，烛身甚粗，特别光亮。
太后道：“你过来，让我瞧瞧你。”韦小宝道：“是！”慢慢走到太后床前，Trinket struck a light and lit the candles. The Palace candles were very thick ones and unusually bright. ‘Now come over here, ‘ said the Empress Dowager. ‘I want to look at you.’ ‘Yes, Your Majesty, ‘ said Trinket, moving, with a marked lack of enthusiasm, to the side of her bed.只见她脸色雪白，更无半点血色，双眉微竖，目光闪烁，韦小宝心跳加剧，寻思：“她……她会不会杀了我灭口？这时候我拔足飞奔，她定然追不上我，但如给她一把抓住，那可糟了！”She had a snowy-white, completely bloodless complexion. Her eyebrows slanted slightly upwards and the eyes beneath them were hard and bright. Trinket could feel his heart beating faster. ‘Is she going to kill me, to shut me up?’ he wondered. ‘If I were to leg it now, she wouldn’t be able to run after me. Still, suppose she grabbed me before I could get away?’他心中只想立刻发步便奔，一时却下不了决心，只微一犹豫间，太后已伸出左手，握住了他右手。
韦小宝大吃一惊，全身一震，“啊”的一声叫了出来。太后道：“你怕什么？”韦小宝道：“我……我没怕，只不过……只不过……”But it was too late to run anyway. While he was still trying to decide, she shot her left hand out and imprisoned his right hand in its grasp. Trinket almost jumped out of his skin and cried out in terror. ‘Why are you afraid?’ she asked him. ‘I’m not afraid, ‘ said Trinket. ‘It’s just. . . it’s just太后道：“只不过什么？”韦小宝道：“太后待奴才恩重如山，奴才受什么惊什么的？”他听人说过“受宠若惊”的成语，可是四个字中只记得二字。太后不知他说些什么，问道：“你为什么全身发抖？”韦小宝道：“我……我没有……没有……”’Just what?’ said the Empress Dowager. ‘It’s just that Your Majesty is so kind, I’m over. . . over . . . something by this . . . this . . . what-did-you-call-it, ‘ (He’d often heard the expression ‘overwhelmed by this unexpected favour’, but fear had caused his always unreliable memory to abandon him completely.) The Empress Dowager looked puzzled. ‘But you are trembling all over, ‘ she said. ‘I’m not. . . I’m not. . . not. . . not. . , ‘ Trinket abandoned the attempt to finish.
太后如在此刻一掌劈死了他，日后更不必担心他泄漏机密，可是一口真气说什么也提不上来，委实是筋疲力竭，虽握住了韦小宝的手，其实手指间一点力气也无，韦小宝只须微微一挣，便能脱身，The Empress Dowager might at this point have killed him with a single blow and been rid for ever of the fear of discovery, but she simply did not have the energy left to do it. In fact, she was so weak that even though she had Trinket’s hand in her own, her grasp was powerless. Had he but known, he could have shaken it off easily and got away.当下微笑道：“你今晚立了大功，我重重有赏。”韦小宝道：“是那恶老头要杀奴才，幸得太后搭救性命，奴才可半点功劳也没有。”Conscious of her own weakness, she gave him a little smile. ‘You have done me a great service tonight, ‘ she said. ‘I shall see to it that you are well rewarded.’ That wicked old man wanted to kill me, ‘ said Trinket. ‘Your Majesty has saved my life. I only did what I should.’
太后道：“你知道好歹，我将来不会亏待你的，这就去罢！”
轻轻放脱了他手。’I think we understand each other, ‘ said the Empress Dowager. ‘You will not find me ungrateful. You may go now.’ She gently released his hand.
韦小宝大喜，忙爬下磕了几个头，退了出去。太后见他衣襟上鲜血淋漓，显是吐过不少血，可是跪拜磕头之际，行动仍是颇为伶俐，不由得暗暗纳罕。Greatly relieved, Trinket dropped to his knees and made several kowtows before retiring. The Empress Dowager had noticed that the front of Trinket’s gown was still wet with expectorated blood; yet his movements as he made his kowtows had been almost sprightly. She was finding this little eunuch distinctly puzzling.韦小宝出房之时，向躺在地下的蕊初看了一眼，见她胸口缓缓起伏，呼吸甚匀，便是如睡熟了一般，脸色红润，绝无异状，On his way out Trinket took a quick look at Blossom, lying unconscious on the carpet. She was breathing gently and regularly as if she was merely sleeping, and her normally fresh and rosy complexion had lost none of its colour.心想：“过几天我去找些糕饼果子来给你吃。”快步回到自己屋中，闩上了门，舒了口长气，登时如释重负。’In a few days’ time I’ll find some more little cakes to bring her, ‘ he thought, as he hurried back to his room. As soon as he was inside and had barred the door behind him, he let out an enormous sigh of relief. He felt as if he had been carrying an intolerable weight on his back and had just that moment put it down.
这些日子来和海老公同处一室，时时刻刻提心吊胆，“现下老乌龟死了，再也不用怕有人来害我了。”These last days spent in the old eunuch’s company had been a nightmare. Every minute of the day his heart had been in his mouth. But now the Old Devil was dead. There was no longer any need to be afraid. No one was going to kill him now.突然之间，想起了烛光下的太后脸色，猛地里打了个寒噤，心想：“在这皇宫里不大太平，老子还是……还是……哈哈，还是拿到了那四十五万两银子，回扬州去见妈妈的为妙。”But just a minute! A vision of the Empress Dowager’s white face as he had seen it in the candlelight flashed momentarily before his eyes and made him shudder. ‘It’s no good, ‘ he thought, ‘this Imperial Palace is not a healthy place to be. I tell you what, old Trink, we ought to … we ought to–ha ha!– I know what we ought to do: get a hold of those half a million silver taels and go back to Yangzhou to see our Mum!’想到自己性命尚在，四十五万两银子失而复得，忍不住手舞足蹈起来。高兴了好一会，渐感疲倦，身子一横，躺在床上便睡熟了。And the thought that he was still alive and that he had half a million taels of silver, lost and found again, had him very nearly dancing round the room. But rejoicing at last gave way to exhaustion and, throwing himself down on the bed, almost instantaneously, he fell asleep.
