CHAPTER 95
A rumour comes true and the Imperial Consort
passes away
A counterfeit is deceptively like the real thing,
and Bao-yu loses his wits
There was Tealeaf at the entrance to Green Delights, pro?claiming his discovery of the missing jade. A junior maid hurried in to tell Bao-yu. The others, when they heard, propelled Bao-yu towards the entrance to question Tealeaf, while they stood listening in the covered gallery. Bao-yu, greatly relieved at the news, walked out and asked Tealeaf:
‘Where did you find it? Come on, give it to me.’
Tealeaf replied:
‘I’m afraid I couldn’t bring it with me. I need a guaran?tor.’
‘But how did you find it? Tell me, and I’ll send some?one to fetch it.’
‘I heard that Steward Lin was going to consult the word-diviner,’ said Tealeaf, ‘so I went along with him. When I heard the word ‘pawnshop’, I didn’t wait to hear the rest, but went racing round the pawnshops. I de?scribed the jade to them, and eventually one of them said, “We’ve got it.” I asked him to hand it over, but he in?sisted on having the pawn-ticket. When I asked him how much it had been pawned for, he said he had one for three hundred taels and another for five hundred. The one for three hundred was brought in the day before yesterday, the one for five hundred came in today.’
‘Quick,’ interrupted Bao-yu. ‘Take three hundred taels and five hundred. Get them both, and we can see which is the right one.’
But Aroma called out jeeringly from within:
‘You’re not going to take any notice of him, are you? I remember my elder brother telling me when I was a little girl, that the people who deal in that kind of jade pawn one or two from their stock when they are short of cash. Every pawnshop must have at least one of them.’
At first everyone had been carried away by Tealeaf’s story. But now, after reflecting on what Aroma had just said, they all began to laugh.
‘Come inside, Master Bao. Don’t listen to that fool. Whatever it is he’s talking about, it obviously isn’t the real thing.’
Bao-yu laughed too. At that moment, Xiu-yan returned from her mission.
On her arrival at Green Bower Hermitage, she had come straight to the point. Would Adamantina consult the planchette for them? Her request met with a scornful laugh.
‘I thought you were above such worldly things, Xiu?-yan. I am sure we should never have been such friends if I had known you would ever let idle talk induce you to come bothering me. Anyway, I’m afraid this planchette you mention is something I am not familiar with.’
With this, she clearly intended to dismiss the subject, and Xiu-yan regretted ever having come. She knew what a difficult disposition Adamantina had. But now that she had broached the subject, it seemed such a pity to return empty-handed. She made no attempt to insist on her friend’s psychic powers, but instead tried to win Adaman?tina around by speaking of the urgent light in which Aro?ma and the others viewed the loss. At this, Adamantina showed signs of relenting, and Xiu-yan rose to her feet and bowed humbly before her several times. Adamantina sighed.
‘Are we to be at everyone’s beck and call? Since I have been here, I have kept this a secret. Now, if I make an exception for you, I shall never be left in peace.’
‘I felt I had to come, their need seemed so great,’ replied Xiu-yan. ‘I knew that you would feel sorry for them. If anyone else should ask, you will be quite free to say no. No one would ever press you into it.’
Adamantina laughed. She told one of the lay-sisters to light some incense, and went herself to fetch the tray of sand and the planchette-wand from a chest. After writing out the requisite incantation, she told Xiu-yan to kneel and pray. When this was done, they both stood and held the wand by its double handle. Before long it began to move across the tray. The characters it traced with a rapid motion in the sand read as follows:
ALAS!
IT LEFT NOR TRACE
NOR SIGN.
GONE TO GREENSICKNESS PEAK, TO LIE
AT THE FOOT OF AN AGE-OLD PINE
WHY TRAVERSE COUNTLESS MOUNTAINS,
SEARCHING FOR YOUR FRIEND?
FOLLOW ME AND LAUGH TO SEE
YOUR JOURNEY AT AN END!
The writing ceased, and the wand came to rest.
‘Which spirit did you invoke?’ asked Xiu-yan.
‘Iron Crutch Li,’ replied Adamantina.
Xiu-yan copied down the writing, and asked Adamant?ma to give an explanation of the line.
‘How could I?’ she replied. ‘I don’t understand them myself. Take it back to the others. Many of them are far cleverer than I am, I’m sure.’
Xiu-yan did not press her, but returned to Green Delights. On her arrival, she was besieged with questions.
‘Tell us what happened!’ they all cried.
Instead of giving them a lengthy description of the seance, Xiu-yan handed her transcript straight to Li Wan. The girls and Bao-yu crowded round to read it. Between them they came to the following interpretation of the lines: the jade would not be found by looking for it, and yet it was not irretrievably lost. At some unforeseeable time, when no one was looking for it, it would just turn up. But as for Green-sickness Peak, no one had any idea where that could be.
‘It may be some sort of hidden clue,’ suggested Li Wan. ‘We’ve certainly never had such a mountain in our garden, and one is not going to spring suddenly from nowhere. The only explanation I can think of is that whoever stole the jade lost his nerve and threw it away, and now it 5 lying beneath some miniature mountain in a rockery somewhere near a pine-tree. But what’s all this about ‘fol?low me’ at the end?’
‘Who was the spirit invoked?’ asked Dai-yu.
‘Iron Crutch Li,’ Xiu-yan informed her.
‘He’d be a hard one to follow!’ protested Tan-chun.
Aroma, meanwhile, in her desperation, took the words quite literally and set to in earnest, searching blindly everywhere. She left no stone in the garden unturned, but all to no avail. When she returned, Bao-yu did not even ask her if she had had any success, but just gave her a silly grin.
‘Little ancestor!’ cried Musk. ‘For pity’s sake tell us where you lost it! At least then if we have to suffer for it, we will know why!’
‘You wouldn’t listen to me when I said I’d lost it out?side,’ protested Bao-yu. ‘How am I supposed to know any better now?’
Li Wan and Tan-chun suggested that they had all had a long and tiring day. It was now eleven o’clock. Dai-yu, they observed, had been too weary to stay up any longer, and had gone home on her own.
‘We should all go to bed now,’ they proposed. ‘Tomorrow we can start afresh.’
The gathering dispersed. Bao-yu went straight to sleep. Aroma and the other maids, however, were quite unable to get to sleep, and sat up all night long, weeping and brood?ing by turns.
But we must leave them for a while, and turn our atten?tion to Dai-yu. When she reached home, her thoughts turned once more to the subject that had always pre?occupied her, the bond of gold and jade between Bao-yu and Bao-chai. On this occasion, her conclusions were more gratifying than usual.
‘How can there have been any truth in the prophecy made by the Monk and the Taoist?’ she argued with herself. ‘If there really were a bond of gold and jade, how could Bao-yu lose his jade like this? Perhaps I am an unforeseen circumstance that has broken the bond…’
More reflections of this kind brought her an unwonted peace of mind. Her weariness after the day’s exertions seemed to fall from her, and she began reading again. Nightingale, however, was worn out, and urged her mis?tress repeatedly to go to sleep. Dai-yu lay down, but con?tinued to think. This time it was the crab-trees that occu?pied her thoughts.
‘Bao-yu’s jade is no ordinary stone. He was born with it, and whatever happens to it is highly significant. If the crab-blossom were a good omen, then why should he lose his jade at the same time? It must be inauspicious. I’m afraid something unlucky will happen to him.’
Down went her spirits again. And then she saw it in yet another light, and became optimistic once more. Perhaps both the blossoming and the loss of the jade were meant to happen, were both in some way timely and auspicious. She lay awake in the throes of these conflicting emotions, and Only fell asleep in the early hours.
Early the next morning, Lady Wang sent servants to make inquiries in the pawnshops, while Xi-feng set in mo?tion her own secret investigations. Several days went by, but despite their combined efforts, there was still no sign of the missing jade. Luckily word of the disaster had as yet reached neither Grandmother Jia nor Jia Zheng. But Aroma and the other maids lived from day to day in unbearable suspense, while Bao-yu, who had now been absent from school for several days, was becoming pro?gressively more morose, listless and silent. Lady Wang was not too worried by this, judging it to be a temporary affliction brought on by the loss of his jade.
She was sitting one day lost in thought, when Jia Lian came into her room, and having paid his respects, announced with a complacent smile:
‘Uncle Zheng has today had word from Yu-cun that Uncle Wang Zi-teng has been promoted to a position in the Grand Secretariat. He has received an Imperial Decree to proceed to the capital. His official instatement is to be on the twentieth of the First month of next year, and an urgent dispatch has been sent to summon him from the frontier. He will be travelling day and night, and should be here in half a month or so. I have come especially to bring you this news, Aunt.’
Lady Wang was absolutely delighted. She had only just been thinking how few of her own family she had around her, a deficiency that had been highlighted during her sis?ter’s latest troubles. Her brother Zi-teng had been too far away to be able to wield any influence on their behalf. But now, with his new appointment and return to the capital, she could expect a revival of Wang family prestige from which Bao-yu too would be able to benefit. For the time being she felt able to dismiss her anxiety over the missing jade, and looked forward more and more to her brother’s return.
A day or two later, Jia Zheng came in unexpectedly, and with tear-stained face and voice choking with emo?tion, told her:
‘You must inform Mother immediately that her pres?ence is required at once at the Palace. There is no need for a large party to go. It will be sufficient if you escort Mother. Her Grace has suddenly been taken ill, and has fallen into a coma. There is a court eunuch waiting out?side. He says the official diagnosis by the College of Physicians is an incurable stroke.’
Lady Wang burst into tears.
‘This is no time for crying,’ said Jia Zheng. ‘You must go and tell Mother at once. Break it to her gently. We must not cause the old lady too much of a shock.’
So saying, Jia Zheng went out to give the staff their instructions. Lady Wang dried her eyes and went in to Grandmother Jia’s apartment. She said simply that Yuan?chun was ill, and that they must go to the Palace to pre?sent their respects.’
‘Merciful Buddha!’ exclaimed Grandmother Jia. ‘How can she have fallen ill again? Last time if you remem?ber I had such a fright, and then we found out that I had been imagining it all. If Only I were imagining it now!’
Lady Wang talked to the old lady, and at the same time urged Faithful and the other maids to look out her court robes and begin attiring her. She then went in haste to her own apartment, dressed and returned to wait on Grand?mother J ia. In a short while they were ready, and walked out from the main hall to the sedan-chairs that were wait?ing to carry them to the palace.
Yuan-chun, since her elevation to the Imperial Bed-chamber, had been the cherished object of the emperor’s favours, and had become as a result somewhat plump. From the constant pressure and daily exhaustion of life at court, she had also developed a chronic bronchial condi?tion. A few days previously, when returning late from attendance at a banquet, she had caught a chill,. which soon brought on her old complaint. This time, however, it was a severe attack. Phlegm completely obstructed her passages, causing a coldness and faintness in her limbs. The emperor was informed, and a court physician sum?moned at once. But she could swallow none of the medi?cines that he prescribed, and even the decongestant salts they tried to administer had no beneficial effect. Con?cerned at her critical condition, her attendant eunuchs reported again to His Majesty, requesting that the neces?sary precautions be taken. And so her immediate family were summoned to the Palace.
Grandmother Jia and Lady Wang presented themselves at the palace, and entered the Imperial Concubine’s Bed-chamber, to find her choked with phlegm, with saliva dribbling from her mouth, no longer capable of speech. When she saw her grandmother coming towards her, her face took on the most pitiful expression, as if she wanted to weep but no longer had the strength to do so. Grand?mother Jia came forward to do homage, and offered a few words of comfort. A little later, the official cards of Jia Zheng and company were brought in, and a lady-in-waiting presented them for Her Grace’s inspection. She no longer had the strength to look at them, however, and her face was growing paler minute by minute.
The eunuchs were about to report to the emperor again, and foreseeing that the other concubines would soon arrive to pay their last respects, asked the Jia rela?tives if they would kindly step outside and wait in one of the ante-chambers of the Palace. Grandmother Jia and Lady Wang had no choice but to conform to court regulations, and wrench themselves away. Holding back their tears, they left the chamber with sorrowful hearts.
They could see messages being passed within the Palace, and shortly afterwards a eunuch came out and sent for an official from the Imperial Board of Astronomy. Grand?mother Jia knew Only too well what this meant. He was requesting an auspicious date for the funeral. It was all over. But still she dared not make a move. It was not long before a junior eunuch came out to make the official announcement:
‘Her Grace the Jia Concubine has passed away.’
It was the nineteenth of the twelfth month. Spring Commencement fell on the eighteenth of the twelfth month of that year, being the year Jia Yin; the nineteenth of the month was therefore also, astrologically speaking, within the month Yin of the following Mao year. Her Grace was forty-three years old.
Grandmother Jia rose, and doing her best to remain composed, left the Palace, climbed into her sedan and was carried home. Jia Zheng and company had also been in?formed, and they too made the sad journey home. Lady Xing, Li Wan, Xi-feng, Bao-yu and other members of the family were lined up on both sides of the courtyard before the main hall of Rong-guo House to greet first Grand?mother Jia, then Jia Zheng and Lady Wang as they returned. Our narrative passes over the tearful family scene.
Early next day, all members of the family with official rank went to the Palace to pay their last respects, and to mourn as the rites prescribed. The details of Yuan-chun’s tomb were the responsibility of the Minister of Works, and Jia Zheng found himself being frequently entertained by his President, and consulted by his colleagues. It was a very busy time – not at all like the period of the previous court funerals for the Dowager Empress and the Zhou Concubine. Because Yuan-chun had died without issue, she was given the posthumous title: ‘Illustrious and Chaste Imperial Concubine’. This was in conformity with state precedent. But of this no more.
Everyone in the Jia family was kept extremely busy, travelling to and from the Palace daily for the duration of the funeral; Luckily Xi-feng’s health had improved a little of late, and she was able to get up and manage the house?hold. She was also preparing to celebrate the return of Wang Zi-teng. Her own elder brother, Wang Ren, now that his uncle was to be a Privy Councillor and in a posi?tion of such influence, was also on his way to the capital with his family. Xi-feng was glad of this. The knowledge that she would have these extra Wangs around her also gave her renewed confidence, and had a beneficial effect on her health. Lady Wang, no w that Xi-feng was up and about again, unloaded half of her responsibilities onto her, and with the reassuring prospect of having her elder brother back in the capital soon, felt more at peace.
Bao-yu was not entitled to attend any of his eldest sis?ter’s funeral ceremonies, as he held no official rank. He did no work either, and was left undisturbed in his idleness; the Preceptor attributed his state to the recent family events, while Jia Zheng was far too busy to keep a check on his son’s studies. Our hero might have been expected to seize this as an ideal opportunity to amuse himself in the delightful company of his sister and cousins. But from the day he lost his jade, he just sat around all the time d9ing nothing, and if he spoke, did so in an incoherent mumble. When Grandmother Jia and the others returned from the Palace, he went over to pay his respects if told to do so; if not, he stayed where he was. All this time Aroma and his other maids grew more and more guilty and apprehensive. They dared not take him to task, for fear that he might have a tantrum. Each day he drank, his tea and ate his meals, when they were placed before him. But he would as soon have gone without.
It eventually dawned on Aroma that this was not just a mood of his, but a genuine illness. When she had a free moment, she slipped over to the Naiad’s House, and had a word with Nightingale.
‘If only your Mistress would talk to him, and try to cheer him up,’ she said.
Nightingale passed this message on to Dai-yu straight away. But Dai-yu now saw herself as Bao-yu’s future bride, and felt a need to behave towards. him with scrupu?lous modesty.
‘If he should come to see me,’ she argued with herself, ‘I should have to receive him politely, for the sake of our childhood friendship. But as for going over to see him myself, that is quite out of the question.’
So she turned a deaf ear to Aroma’s entreaties. Aroma next went secretly to tell Tan-chun. But Tan-chun was herself plunged in gloom. To her mind, the strange flowering of the crab-trees had been the first of a series of’ ill omens, followed by the still stranger loss of the Pre?cious Jade, and now by her sister’s death. With the family fortunes so evidently on the decline, how could she find it in herself to rally Bao-yu’s spirits? Besides, as brother and sister, they were obliged to maintain a certain distance. She did visit him once or twice, but he seemed indifferent to her presence and she made no further efforts.’
Bao-chai also knew of the missing jade. Her mother’ had already told her of her proposed betrothal to Bao-yu, the day she discussed it with Lady Wang and all but consented.
‘Although it is your Aunt Wang’s proposal,’ she had said to Bao-chai, ‘I have still not given my final consent. I said we should have to wait until Pan comes home. What do you say to the idea? Are you willing?’
‘Mother,’ replied Bao-chai, in a most serious tone, ‘you don’t need to ask me. A daughter’s future lies in her parents’ hands. Since Father is dead, the decision is entirely yours. Consult Pan, if you wish, but why me?’
Aunt Xue was most touched by this display of modesty in her daughter, proof that her basically sound character had not been in any way spoiled by her luxurious up?bringing. She would not mention Bao-yu’s name to her again. Bao-chai for her part maintained a strict taboo from that day forth on those two syllables. So when she came to hear of the missing jade, despite the concern she felt, she refrained from inquiring any further and contented herself with what she gleaned from those around her, while maintaining a show of complete indifference.
Aunt Xue, on the other hand, sent a maid over several times to inquire after Bao-yu. She was also greatly con?cerned about her own son, and awaited her elder brother’s arrival with impatience. His influence would surely secure Pan’s release. With’ the death of the Imperial Concubine, she could see how busy the Jias were. But as Xi-feng was well enough to take charge of the household management, she did not feel it necessary to visit them often.
The one to suffer most during all this was Aroma, although she tried to remain quiet and calm, and to com?fort Bao-yu and minister to his needs. He seemed to understand nothing, and she could only watch over him in secret anguish.
After a few days, Yuan-chun’s coffin was laid out in the Imperial Chapel ‘of Rest, and Grandmother Jia and the other senior members of the family attended funeral ser?vices there for several days. Bao-yu was becoming daily more and more of an imbecile. He had no fever and was not in any physical pain, but he was eating little and sleep?ing less and becoming quite incoherent in his speech. Aroma, Musk and the other maids were at their wits’ end, and several times went to report to Xi-feng, who came over constantly to see how he was. At first she had thought that he was simply upset that his jade had not been found. But now, seeing the deranged state into which he was sinking, she sent for the doctor. The doctor paid daily visits, and more than one kind of medicine was prescribed, but all seemed to do more harm than good. To all inquiries as to where he felt pain, he was quite unable to reply.
When Yuan-chun’s funeral ceremonies were over, Grandmother Jia’s thoughts turned again to Bao-yu, and she came to the Garden to visit him, accompanied by Lady Wang. Aroma told Bao-yu to go out and greet her properly. Bao-yu was still able to get about, and managed to greet his grandmother presentably, with Aroma at his side prompting him at every turn.
‘My dear boy!’ exclaimed Grandmother Jia. ‘I am so relieved! I was led to believe that you were seriously ill. But now I see that you are quite your normal self.’
Lady Wang too ‘seemed pleasantly surprised. Bao-yu said nothing and gave an inane grin. They went in and sat down. When Grandmother Jia asked him a question, he could only repeat whatever Aroma said. It soon became clear to them all that so far from being his normal self, he was now little more than a halfwit. The more Grand?mother Jia saw, the more it puzzled and distressed her.
‘When I came in,’ she said, ‘he seemed quite well. But I can see now that he really is seriously ill. He seems to have quite lost his wits. Will someone please tell me what has happened?’
Lady Wang realized that they could not keep it from her any longer. For Aroma’s sake, who stood there in mortal terror, she stuck to Bao-yu’s story and told Grandmother Jia that he had lost his jade at the Earl of Lin-an’s party, whispering it all in the old lady’s ear, afraid it might come as too great a shock to her.
‘The servants have been told to look everywhere,’ she added. ‘We have asked several fortune-tellers, and they all say that it’s in a pawnshop, so it can only be a matter of time before we find it.’
Grandmother Jia rose to her feet in great agitation, tears streaming down her cheeks.
‘How could he lose such a precious thing? You are not fit to look after him! What about his father? Surely he has not washed his hands of it too?’
Lady Wang could see that Grandmother Jia was in a rage. She told Aroma and the others to kneel, and herself replied, with contrite face and lowered head:
‘I was afraid you would be upset,’ Mother, and that his father would be angry, so I still have not told him.’
‘But can’t you see?’ cried Grandmother Jia. ‘The jade is Bao-yu’s very life. Losing it is what has made him lose his wits. What are we going to do? People all over town have heard of the jade. If someone picks it up, he’s hardly going to hand it in. Send someone at once to his father and ask him to come here. I must speak to him about this.’
Lady Wang, Aroma and all the others present were terrified of the possible consequences and entreated Grandmother Jia to relent.
‘Imagine how angry Sir Zheng will be, Mother! Think of poor Bao-yu! For his sake, give us one last chance. We will search for all we are worth.’
‘Why should you fear his father’s wrath? I shall be here,’ said the old lady firmly.
She told Musk to send someone for Jia Zheng. Minutes later, the message returned that he was out visiting a friend.
‘Well, we’ll go ahead without him,’ said Grandmother Jia. ‘For the present, none of the servants is to be punished. “Those are my instructions, and I shall take full responsibility. Send for Lian and tell him to write out a Notice of Reward, and post copies of it wherever Bao-yu went on the day he lost his jade. It is to say: “Reward for return of jade, ten thousand taels of silver. Reward for information leading to its recovery, five thousand taels.” And there is to be no question of not paying up in full if someone does come forward. This is the only way we shall ever find it. If we rely on our own people, we could go on searching for the rest of our lives.’
Lady Wang did not dare voice her reservations about this plan of action. Jia Lian was sent fo’r, and told to have the posters made up with all speed.
‘Move Bao-yu’s things to my apartment,’ Grandmother Jia ordered one of the servants. ‘I shall Only need Aroma and Ripple to wait on him. The rest can stay here and look after his apartment.’
Bao-yu remained silent throughout all of this, grinning inanely. Grandmother Jia took him by the hand and led him out, Aroma and the others clustering round to sup?port him as far as the garden gate. When they reached her apartment, Grandmother Jia told Lady Wang to sit down, and herself supervised the putting in order of the inner room. When this was done, she spoke to Lady Wang:
‘You know why I have brought him over here, don’t you? In the first place, there are so few people living in the garden now, and I can’t help feeling there’s something odd about the way those crab-trees in his courtyard died so suddenly, and then so suddenly flowered. Before now he could always rely on his jade to keep any evil influences at bay. But now that it is lost, I am afraid the evil can get in more easily. So I thought it best for him to stay here with me. He had better not go out for a few days. When the doctor comes, he can see him here.’
‘Of course you are right,’ said Lady Wang promptly. ‘Your good luck will shelter him from any such influ?ences, now that he is here.’
‘My luck! Nothing of the sort! It is quieter here, that is all, and there are plently of sutras for him to, read, to help settle his mind. Ask him if he agrees.
When his mother put the question to him, Bao-yu merely smiled. Finally, prompted by Aroma, he answered, ‘Yes Mother.’ Lady Wang’ was moved to tears by the pitiful spectacle her son presented, but contained herself in Grandmother Jia’s presence. Grandmother Jia could see that she was somewhat overwrought, and told her to go back to her own apartment.
‘Leave him to me. I shall look after him. When his father gets home this evening, tell him there is no need for him to come and see me today. I do not want him to know yet.’
When Lady Wang had left, Grandmother Jia told Faith?ful to bring her one of her sedative remedies. Bao-yu took it; and there we must leave’ them, for the’ present.
Jia Zheng, on his way home that evening, heard from within his carriage the following conversation in the street:
‘If you want to get rich, I know of an easy way…’
‘Oh? What’s that?’
‘I heard today that at Rong-guo House one of the young nobs has lost a jade, and they’ve posted a notice of reward, with all the details – shape, size, colour, etc. Ten thousand they’re offering to anyone who hands it in, and five thousand for information!’
Jia Zheng did not catch every word. But he heard enough to be considerably alarmed. He hurried home, and on arrival summoned one of the janitors and ques?tioned him about the whole affair.
‘I knew nothing of all this until today, sir,’ replied the janitor. ‘The first I heard of it was this afternoon, when Mr Lian gave us Her Old Ladyship’s orders to put the posters up.’
‘We are doomed!’ said Jia Zheng to himself with a bitter sigh. ‘This son of mine is the bane of our lives! When he was a child he was the talk of the, neighbourhood. It has taken us these last ten years or more to stop their tongues, and now we have to go putting up a poster like this, announcing our troubles to the world!’
He went in without further delay and questioned Lady Wang, who told him the whole story. When he learnt that the reward was the old lady’s idea, Jia Zheng knew that he could not very well openly oppose it. He criticized Lady Wang instead for her part in it, and going out once more, gave orders for the posters to be taken down without Grandmother Jia’s knowledge. As it turned out, some local loafers had already pulled them down.
Despite this, a day or two later, a man did arrive at the main gate of Rong-guo House, claiming to have brought the jade. The servants were ecstatic. ‘Give it here!’ they cried. ‘We’ll take it in for you.’
‘Not so fast!’ The man fumbled inside his gown, and brought out the reward poster. ‘Look here,’ he said, pointing to the wording on the poster. ‘This is what your masters put up, isn’t it? “Ten thousand taels for return of jade” – plain as daylight. I may be a pauper today, my man, but wait till I come into my ten thousand. You’ll sing a different tune then.’
The gateman could see he was a difficult customer.
‘Well at least give us a look, so we can go in and report.’
At first the man refused. But eventually he allowed himself to be persuaded, and producing it from within his gown, he exhibited the jade to them fleetingly on the palm of his hand, saying:
‘Isn’t this what you are looking for?’
Now these servants were all employed on external duties, and though they had heard tell of Bao-yu’s jade, had hardly ever set eyes on it. This was in fact their first opportunity of inspecting the thing at close quarters.’ This did not deter them from running into the house in a great state of excitement, racing to be the first with the news.
They found that both Jia Zheng and Jia She were out. It was Jia Lian who received their report.,
‘Is it genuine or a fake?’ he asked them sceptically.
‘I saw it with my own eyes!’ replied one of them. ‘He wouldn’t hand it over to us though, but insisted on seeing one of the masters, so that he could exchange it directly for the money.
Jia Lian could not help being infected by their enthu?siasm, and went in straight away to tell Lady Wang and Grandmother Jia. Aroma, when she heard, was over?joyed, and brought ‘her hands piously together in a prayer of thanks to Lord Buddha. Grandmother Jia stood firmly by her word.
‘Tell Lian to invite him into the study at once,’ she said to Lady Wang in a’ flurry of excitement. ‘Once we have had a look at it, he will get his money straight away.’
Jia Lian did as instructed and invited the stranger in, treating him most politely and expressing profuse thanks’.
‘I should just like to let the owner have a look at it, if I may,’ he said. ‘Then you shall have your money, every pe’nny of it, I assure you.’
Reluctantly, the man handed him a little parcel wrapped in red silk. Jia Lian opened it. There lay a lustrous jade. Surely this was it! Jia Lian, to tell the truth, had never taken much, notice of it while it hung round Bao-yu’s neck. Now he looked closely at it for some time. The in?scription was certainly familiar. He remembered some of the words, such as “dispels the harms of witchcraft”. With a jubilant air, he strode in to show it to the ladies, leaving a servant to wait on the stranger.
By now the whole family had heard the news, and were gathered in Grandmother Jia’s apartment, waiting eagerly, each one anxious to be the first to see. Xi-feng saw Jia Lian come in, and thrusting forward her hand, snatched the parcel from him and without looking at it herself, placed it in Grandmother Jia’s hand.
‘Can’t you even let me take the credit for a small thing like this?’ said Jia Lian with a sneer.
Grandmother Jia opened the silk bundle and examined the stone. It seemed a great deal ‘duller than she remem?bered. She rubbed it between her fingers. Faithful brought her spectacles, and put them on for her. She examined it again.
‘How peculiar! This must surely be it; and yet it seems to have lost its original lustre entirely.’
Lady Wang now inspected it. She too felt unable to identify it with any certainty, and told Xi-feng to come over and take a look.
‘There is a certain similarity,’ said Xi-feng after her in?spection. ‘But the colour is not quite right. We should show it to Bao-yu himself. He will be able to tell.’
Aroma was standing at her side, and had managed to have a look at the stone. Her eyes told her that it was not the one, but her heart was too full of hope to allow her to voice her misgivings. Xi-feng took the stone from Grand?mother Jia’s hands and went with Aroma to show it to Bao-yu, who had just awoken.
‘Your stone has been found!’ announced Aroma.
Bao-yu’s eyes were still heavy with sleep. He took the stone in his hand, and ‘without so much as a glance, let it drop to the ground.
‘Why try to fool me!’ he said, smiling strangely.
Xi-feng picked it up promptly.
‘That’s odd,’ she said. ‘How can you tell without even looking at it?’
Bao-yu only smiled again. Lady Wang had come in meanwhile, and observed what happened.
‘It is perfectly natural,’ she commented. ‘That strange jade came into the world with him, it is his very own. He would be bound to know whether this was genuine or not. Someone must have read the reward-notice and faked it.
The truth dawned on them all. Jia Lian, who heard it all from the outer room, said at once:
‘If it is a fake, give it to me! I’ll have it out with this impostor! How dare he play a trick on us, in such a serious matter!’
‘No, Lian!’ ordered Grandmother Jia. ‘Give it back to him, and tell him to leave. No doubt he was desperately poor, and when he read the notice, saw a way of making a few pennies. It’s understandable. Now he has been found out, and whatever it cost him to make the thing has been wasted too. Don’t be too hard on him. Give him back the jade, and just say that it S not ours, and there’s been a mis?take. Give him a few taels of silver. If people hear that he’s been well treated, it will encourage someone’ with genuine information to come forward. If we treat this one harshly, no one will bring it in even if they do find it.’
Jia Lian went as bidden. The impostor had been waiting in the study, and as time went by and no one returned, had already begun to lose his nerve. Now he saw the irate figure of Jia Lian advancing into the room. For the out?come of their subsequent interview, please read the next chapter.
