The Warning Voice (43 page)

In this manner the summer gradually wore away. Autumn was just beginning when one day two of his grandmother's maids came round in a very agitated state to summon him.

The purpose of the summons and the reason for their agitation will be explained in the chapter which follows.

Jia Zheng was beginning to age now, and the worries and responsibilities of office had taken their toll of his health. It was good to be back after so long an absence from those nearest and dearest to him; he was determined to relax and enjoy himself to the utmost, refused even to think about money matters or domestic responsibilities, and spent all his time reading, or, when he felt in need of company, drinking and playing Go with his literary gentlemen, or enjoying the delights of family life with his wife and mother in the women's apartments inside.

This year the third day of the eighth month was Grandmother Jia's eightieth birthday. A formidable number of people would have to be invited and there was even some doubt whether they would be able to accommodate them all.
After discussion by the menfolk of both mansions, it was decided that there should be eight days of entertaining, beginning on the twenty-eighth of the seventh month and ending on the fifth day of the eighth. On each of these days banquets would be given in both mansions: in the Ning-guo mansion for male guests and in the Rong-guo mansion for female ones. The Painted Chamber, Prospect Hall and one or two other of the larger buildings in Prospect Garden would be used as restrooms for the ladies. The programme of entertaining would be as follows: the twenty-eighth would be for Imperial kinsmen, Princes and Princesses of the Blood and their consorts, Royal Highnesses, Serene Highnesses and members of the high nobility; the twenty-ninth would be for Ministers of State and Civil and Military Governors and their wives; the thirtieth for official colleagues and their wives and members of other clans related to the Jia family by marriage; on the first of the eighth month a family party would be given by Jia She, on the second one by Jia Zheng and on the third one by Cousin Zhen and Jia Lian; on the fourth a joint entertainment would be given by all members of the Jia clan irrespective of age and seniority; and on the fifth there would be another joint entertainment organized by Lai Da, Lin Zhi-xiao and the other senior domestics.

Ever since the beginning of the seventh month presents had been coming in almost continuously. From the highest source of all an order was received by the Board of Rites authorizing the bestowal of the following:

By the twenty-eighth both mansions had been hung with lanterns and festooned all over with garlands. Painted phoenixes gambolled on folding screens, embroidered lotuses blossomed on drapes and covers, and the sound of fluting and piping could be heard several streets away. The only guests that day at the Ning-guo mansion were the Prince of Bei-jing, the Prince of Nan-an, Princess Yang-chang's Consort, the Prince of Luo-shan and a number of noblemen whose families had long been on friendly terms with the Jias. At the Rong-guo mansion the guests were the Dowager Princess of Nan-an, the Prince of Bei-jing's Consort, and the ladies of the various aforementioned noblemen. Grandmother Jia and the others were dressed in full court rig to receive them. After the initial salutations were over, the visitors were conducted to Prospect Hall inside the Garden, where they took tea and ‘changed their clothes'. From there they were conducted to the Hall of Exalted Felicity, where they offered formal congratulations to Grandmother Jia before finally, after much polite bowing and deferring, taking their places at the banquet. The Dowager Princess of Nan-an and the Prince of Beijing's Consort sat at the two central tables at the back of the hall; the two rows of tables arranged at right-angles to left and right of theirs were occupied in order of precedence, the Marchioness of Jin-xiang and the Countess of Lin-an heading the row upon the left, while Grandmother Jia, as hostess,
occupied the first of the right-hand ones. Lady Xing and Lady Wang stood in attendance behind Grandmother Jia's chair, with You-shi, Xi-feng and a number of other Jia ladies fanning out to left and right behind them. Lin Zhi-xiao's wife and Lai Da's wife stood by the bamboo curtain on one side of the hall supervising the transportation of dishes and winekettles by a small army of serving-women, while Zhou-Rui's wife directed the waitresses from the other side of the folding screens. Meanwhile the attendants brought with them by the lady visitors were being entertained elsewhere.

Outside, on the temporary stage that had been erected in the courtyard, the players were due to begin their performance. In honour of the occasion they began by kneeling in a row at the front of it and offering their birthday congratulations to the old lady, while twelve little maids, dressed up as page-boys in identical costumes, stood solemnly to attention below the stage. When the players had finished, one of these little girl-pages advanced to the foot of the steps leading up to the hall with a playbill in her hands. She was relieved of it by a serving-woman who had been stationed there for the sole purpose of receiving and carrying messages. This woman handed it to Lin Zhi-xiao's wife, who put it on a salver, edged herself through the bamboo curtain, and carried it to Cousin Zhen's concubine, Lovey. Lovey handed it to You-shi, and You-shi walked up and offered it to the Dowager Princess of Nan-an. The Dowager Princess, after first, for politeness' sake, declining, chose one of those congratulatory pieces which are customarily performed on these occasions. The Prince of Bei-jing's Consort, whose turn it was next, did exactly the same. The rest of the ladies insisted that the players themselves should put on whatever they thought best, for it was sure to be good.

After four courses of various dishes and one of soup, the visitors' attendants gave their mistresses' largesse to the players, and the ladies returned to the Garden to ‘change their clothes' and sample a very special tea. The Dowager Princess of Nan-an asked Grandmother Jia about Bao-yu.

‘Several temples are reading the
Immaculate Diamond
for me today,' said Grandmother Jia. ‘He has gone to kneel a while in each one of them while they do the reading.'

‘And what about your granddaughters?' said the Princess.

‘Oh, this one is ill and that one is weakly and the other is too shy to see anyone. They are looking after my room for me today. We have more players than we need, so I thought we might as well let them have a troupe to themselves. I expect they are at this moment sitting with their cousins and watching a play in my courtyard.'

‘
Do
send for them!' said the old princess coaxingly.

Grandmother turned to where Xi-feng was standing behind her.

‘Go and fetch your Cousin Shi and the two Xue girls and your Cousin Lin, will you? Oh, and you can bring your Cousin Tan with you as well.'

Xi-feng went to Grandmother Jia's place. All the girls were there, nibbling sweets and watching a play, as Grandmother Jia had said they would be. Bao-yu had just got back from his kneeling. In obedience to her message, Bao-chai, Bao-qin, Dai-yu, Tan-chun and Xiang-yun followed her back into the Garden and made their curtseys to the assembled ladies. Some of the guests had seen them before, some had not; but all alike exclaimed admiringly at their beauty. Of the five girls Xiang-yun was the most familiar to those present.

‘Naughty girl!' said the Dowager Princess waggishly. ‘You should have come yourself to see me when you heard that I was here, not waited to be called! I shall have a bone to pick with your uncle now, next time I see him!'

She took Tan-chun by one hand and Bao-chai by the other and drew them towards her.

‘And how old are you girls?' she asked.

She released them, after several times commenting what ‘fine girls' they were, and then subjected Dai-yu and Bao-qin to the same treatment, taking them by the hand, scrutinizing each of them in turn, and extravagantly praising their good looks.

‘Dear me, they are all such lovely girls I' she said laughing. ‘I really don't know which of them I prefer.'

Suitable presents had now been made ready by an attendant: five gold rings, five jade rings and five wristlets of aromatic beads.

‘Rather trifling presents I am afraid, my dears,' said the Dowager Princess. ‘Perhaps you could give them to your maids.'

The five girls kotowed their thanks. There were more presents from the Prince of Bei-jing's Consort and from the other ladies present – but there is no need to enumerate them.

When they had finished their tea, the ladies walked for a while in the Garden, after which Grandmother Jia invited them to return to the banquet; but the Dowager Princess of Nan-an took her leave. ‘To tell you the truth, I am not feeling very well today,' she said. ‘I would not have stayed away for the world, but I am sure you will understand if I leave a little early.'

Under the circumstances, Grandmother Jia could not very well press her to stay, and after some polite skirmishing when the Princess protested that she could perfectly well find her way off the premises alone, the entire company saw her to the gate of the Garden, where she climbed into her palanquin and was carried away. The Prince of Bei-jing's Consort returned with the rest of them to the Hall of Exalted Felicity and sat with them there for some minutes, but then she too took her leave. Of the other ladies some stayed on to the end, others left when a decent interval had elapsed after the departure of the two princesses.

The day's entertaining left Grandmother Jia exhausted and next day she was unable to see anyone and stayed in her own room. Lady Xing and Lady Wang had to receive the female guests on her behalf. As for the male ones, those of them who wanted to offer their birthday congratulations had to do so in the outer reception hall. Their salutations were returned, obeisance for obeisance and bow for bow, by Jia She, Jia Zheng and Cousin Zhen, who then conducted them to the banquet prepared for them in Ning-guo House. But that is enough of banquets.

On one of these evenings she had just finished waiting on Grandmother Jia while she took her evening meal, when the old lady exempted her from further services.

‘You must be tired,' she said. ‘I know
I
am. Why don't you go and have a bite to eat yourself now and then go to bed? You will have to be up early again tomorrow.'

You-shi thanked her and went off to Xi-feng's room hoping for some supper. Xi-feng was in the upstairs storage-room, however, supervising the putting away of some screens that had just arrived. Only Patience was at home, folding up some of Xi-feng's clothes. Remembering Patience's many kindnesses to Er-jie while she was still alive, You-shi nodded her head sympathetically.

‘You are a good-hearted girl, Patience. I am afraid you have a great deal to put up with.'

Patience's eyes reddened, but she forbore to say anything. You-shi asked her if Xi-feng had eaten yet. Patience smiled.

‘She wouldn't eat without first asking you,' she said.

‘In that case I'll go and look for a bite elsewhere,' said You-shi. ‘I don't know why, but I'm absolutely ravenous.'

‘Don't go!' said Patience. ‘We've got some mince rolls. Why not make do with one or two of those now and have supper with Mrs Lian when she gets back?'

‘No, I can see you're busy,' said You-shi. ‘I think I shall go into the Garden to see the girls.'

Since she obviously wanted to go, Patience made no further effort to detain her.

When You-shi came to the Garden she found the main gate and all the side gates still open and blazing with lights. Turning to the maid who accompanied her, she told her to go and fetch one of the women who were supposed to be on duty. The maid went into the duty room in the gatehouse, but not a
soul was anywhere to be seen. She came back and told You-shi. Very well, said You-shi, then she should go and fetch one of the stewardesses from the mansion. The maid went back into the mansion to the corner-house inside the inner gate which was used by the stewardesses as a meeting-place, but its only occupants on this occasion were two women busily engaged in sharing out some left-overs for their supper.

‘Where are the stewardesses, then?' the girl asked them. ‘My mistress from the Ning-guo is waiting for someone to give an order to.'

The women continued with their sharing-out. They felt little inclined to put themselves out for a visitor from the other mansion.

‘The stewardesses have all gone home,' said one of them.

‘In that case you'd better go and get one from her lodgings,' said the maid.

‘Our job is to look after the rooms here, not to run errands,' said the woman. ‘If you want someone fetched, you'd better go and find someone whose job it is to fetch them.'

‘But this is rank mutiny!' said the maid. ‘Not your job to run errands? You might fool a newcomer with such talk, but you don't fool me! If I'd asked you to go to one of the stewardesses with a private message or tell her to come and collect a tip, you'd be trotting off like a little puppy-dog to its master. There'd be no talk
then
about it not being your job to do errands. I'd like to hear you give Mrs Lian such an answer!'

Partly because they had had a drop to drink and partly because what the girl said was uncomfortably close to the truth, the women's resentment quickly flared into anger.

‘Impertinent little baggage! We know very well what our job is; we don't need you to tell us. And before you start criticizing us, you might take a look at your own parents. The way they suck up to the stewards and stewardesses at
your
place is downright disgusting. You keep to your mansion and we'll keep to ours. Go and make trouble for your own people if you have a mind to, but keep away from us!'

The maid had become white-faced with anger.

‘Good!' she said ‘Very good!' and turning about, walked straight back into the Garden to report all this to her mistress.

On entering the Garden some minutes previously, You-shi had come upon Aroma, Bao-qin and Xiang-yun laughing at a story that two nuns from the Convent of the Saviour King were telling them. When You-shi told them how hungry she was, they invited her to sit with them in the courtyard of Green Delights while Aroma went indoors to get her something to eat. Aroma found some rolls with meat and some with vegetable stuffing in them and put them in a food-box to carry out to her. She also brought out some tea for Bao-qin and Xiang-yun to sip while You-shi was eating the rolls. The nuns continued with their story. At that moment the maid arrived, still bursting with indignation, and proceeded to tell You-shi about her encounter and what the two women had said. You-shi was silent for some moments before she made any comment.

‘What
extraordinary
behaviour!' she said finally.

One of the nuns gave the maidservant a prod.

‘You are too quick-tempered, my child! You don't want to go repeating what those silly old women said to you. Your mistress is quite worn out from all her exertions during these past few days. What she needs is a little pick-me-up, something to cheer her up a bit. That's what we're trying to do, cheer her up. This is no time to come troubling her with that sort of talk!'

Aroma took the girl by the hand.

‘Go off and calm down a bit, there's a good girl!
I
'll get someone to fetch one of the stewardesses.'

‘It isn't necessary,' said You-shi. She addressed herself to the maid. ‘Go and fetch those two women, and when you've done that, you can find out where Mrs Lian is and tell her I want to see her.'

‘
I
'll go,' said Aroma.

‘I'd rather you didn't,' said You-shi.

The two nuns rose to their feet with propitiatory smiles.

‘Come, Mrs Zhen! You are such a kind, forgiving person as a rule. Surely you are not going to lose your temper on Her Old Ladyship's birthday? Whatever would people say?'

Bao-qin and Xiang-yun added their own smiling entreaties.

‘All right,' said You-shi, ‘I'll let them off – but only because it is Lady Jia's birthday.'

Unfortunately Aroma had in the meantime already sent a junior maid outside the Garden to look for someone, and this girl was already pouring an account of what had happened into the receptive ear of Zhou Rui's wife, who, as it happened, was the first person she ran into.

Although Zhou Rui's wife was not actually a stewardess, she regarded herself as being of equal dignity with one on account of her special relationship with Lady Wang, who had brought her from the Wang household when she was married; moreover she was a somewhat insinuating woman, whose eagerness to please made her a popular servant with the younger mistresses. What the maid told her brought her flying over at once to Green Delights, brimming over with sympathy and concern.

‘How shocking! Poor Mrs Zhen! No wonder she is so angry! I wish I had been there. I should have boxed their ears for them on the spot and settled accounts with them later!'

These worthy sentiments were uttered by her on the way. You-shi was pleased to see her when she arrived.

‘Ah, my dear Zhou! Perhaps you will tell me whether or not I was right to feel concerned. When I came into the Garden just now, all the gates were wide open and candles were still burning in all the lanterns. Anyone would have been free to go in or come out as they pleased. I thought how awful it would be if anything were to happen, but when I gave orders for the duty-women to close the gates and put the lights out, not a single one was to be found.'

‘Good gracious!' said Zhou Rui's wife. ‘Mrs Lian gave special orders about this only a few days ago and
already
they're disobeying them! She'll have to flog a few of them when this is over; that's the only way to cure this sort of thing.'

You-shi then told her what the two women had said to her maid.

‘Well, don't let it upset you, Mrs Zhen,' said Zhou Rui's wife. ‘Just wait until these celebrations are over: I'll have a word with the stewardesses and we'll take that precious pair and flog the daylights out of them. “You keep to your mansion and we'll keep to ours” indeed! They'll be singing a different tune from that by the time we've finished with them!'

In the midst of this excitement someone arrived from Xi-feng's, inviting You-shi to come back for some supper.

‘I'm not hungry,' said You-shi. ‘I've just been eating some rolls. Tell your mistress to have her supper without me.'

Zhou Rui's wife went round herself to Xi-feng's place shortly afterwards to repeat all this story to Xi-feng.

‘All you need do is make a note of the women's names,' Xi-feng told her. ‘When these celebrations are over, you can have them tied up and sent over to Mrs Zhen to punish or pardon as she sees fit. It isn't a very serious matter.'

Now as it happened, Zhou Rui's wife was on very bad terms with these two women, and in her impatience to proceed against them, she put a somewhat loose construction on the warrant given her by Xi-feng, for she first of all sent a boy round to Lin Zhi-xiao's house to say that Lin Zhi-xiao's wife was wanted by You-shi immediately, and then sent some other servants to apprehend the two women, tie them up, and hand them over to the grooms to be shut up in the stables and kept under guard there until further notice.

Lin Zhi-xiao's wife, when she got the message, at once got into her carriage, wondering what on earth could be the matter, and hurried over to Xi-feng's place to inquire; but when, on reaching the inner gate, she sent someone inside to announce her, a maid came out and told her that Xi-feng had already gone to bed.

‘It's Mrs Zhen that wants to see you,' said the girl. ‘She's in the Garden now. You'd better look for her there.'

Lin Zhi-xiao's wife went into the Garden and hurried through it to Sweet-rice Village. You-shi was quite put out when the maids announced her arrival. She had her invited in immediately and smiled at her apologetically as she entered.

‘I only asked for you because I wanted to give an order and nobody could be found. It wasn't anything serious. It certainly wasn't serious enough to call you out for specially. It is all over and done with now, in any case.'

Lin Zhi-xiao's wife smiled, a trifle grimly.

‘But madam, Mrs Lian sent someone round to my place to say that you were asking for me.'

‘If I was, it was under the impression that you were still
here,' said You-shi. ‘I suppose it must be Zhou's wife who told Mrs Lian about this. She need not have done so. It was really nothing of any consequence. Please go back home to bed.'

Li Wan was on the point of telling Lin Zhi-xiao's wife what the trouble was, but You-shi would not let her. Since evidently neither lady was going to tell her, Lin Zhi-xiao's wife took her leave. Just as she was coming out of the Garden gate, she ran into Aunt Zhao.

‘Good gracious me! Still on your feet at this hour, Mrs Lin?' said Aunt Zhao. ‘I'd have thought you'd be at home and tucked up in bed by now!'

‘I
was
at home,' said Lin Zhi-xiao's wife, and proceeded to tell Aunt Zhao why she had been called out (for she had privately found out the reason for the summons before going into the Garden).

‘Well, fancy calling you out for a piddling little thing like that!' said Aunt Zhao indignantly. ‘She should either have ignored it altogether, if she was feeling generous, or if she was in an unforgiving mood, had the women given a few whacks and that would have been the end of the matter. There was no need to drag you out specially. I won't ask you in for a cup of tea now, you'll probably be wanting to get back to bed.'

Lin Zhi-xiao's wife continued on her way to the side gate where her carriage was waiting. The young daughters of the two imprisoned women were lying in wait for her there and, when they saw her coming, tearfully entreated her to intercede for their mothers. Lin Zhi-xiao's wife merely laughed at them.

‘Silly children! Those mothers of yours ought not to drink so much or be so free with their tongues – that's the cause of all this trouble. I don't know what makes them do it. It's Mrs Lian who had them tied up and I'm in trouble myself now, so I don't know what
I
can do to help them.'

The two daughters, being only little girls and of very limited understanding, continued to blubber and entreat and clung so obstinately to Lin Zhi-xiao's wife that she was unable to get into her carriage. She rounded on one of the two girls exasperatedly.

‘Stupid creature!' she said. ‘What do you want to come hanging around
me
for when you could find help elsewhere? Wasn't your elder sister married to Mrs Fei's boy recently? Mrs Fei came here with Lady Xing when she was married. If you were to tell your sister about this and get her to have a word with Mrs Fei and Mrs Fei spoke about it to Lady Xing, that would be the end of the mattér.'

Glad to be reminded, the girl went scampering off immediately; but the other girl continued to entreat. Lin Zhi-xiao's wife shoved her off impatiently.

‘You really are a stupid child! Didn't I just say that if she has a word with her sister that will be the end of the matter? That means they'll both be let off. You surely don't think they'd let
her
mother off and give yours a beating?'

She got into her carriage then and drove back home.

The first little girl went and told her sister, as Lin Zhi-xiao's wife had told her to, and the sister at once repeated the story to her mother-in-law, Goody Fei. This Goody Fei was a notorious trouble-maker, whose first reaction to the story was a stream of invective, fully audible to the occupants of all the neighbouring courtyards, after which she went to solicit help from Lady Xing.

‘It's my boy's mother-in-law, my lady: she only had a few words with a maid of Mrs Zhen's, but that Zhou woman told such a pack of lies about her to Mrs Lian that she had my boy's mother-in-law and the woman that was with her tied up and shut in the stables and in a few days' time she's going to have them both beaten. Do, please, my lady, put in a good word with Mrs Lian and ask her to let them off.'