but what benefit will you then derive? Don't give way to any dreams; for, if he does die, I'll just exact your lives from you! It's all because you've been continuously at him, inciting and urging him to read and write, that his spirit has become so intimidated that, at the sight of his father, he behaves just like a rat trying to get out of the way of a cat! And is not all this the result of the bullying of such a mean herd of women as yourselves! Could you now drive him to death, your wishes would immediately be fulfilled; but which of you will I let off?'
Now she shed tears; now she gave vent to abuse.
Chia Cheng, who stood by, heard these invectives; and they so enhanced his exasperation that he promptly shouted out and made Mrs. Chao withdraw. He then exerted himself for a time to console (his senior) by using kindly accents. But suddenly some one came to announce that the two coffins had been completed. This announcement pierced, like a dagger, dowager lady Chia to the heart; and while weeping with despair more intense, she broke forth in violent upbraidings.
'Who is it,'-she inquired; 'who gave orders to make the coffins? Bring at once the coffin-makers and beat them to death!'
A stir ensued sufficient to convulse the heavens and to subvert the earth. But at an unforeseen moment resounded in the air the gentle rapping of a 'wooden fish' bell. A voice recited the sentence: 'Ave! Buddha able to unravel retribution and dispel grievances! Should any human being lie in sickness, and his family be solicitous on his account; or should any one have met with evil spirits and come across any baleful evils, we have the means to effect a cure.'
Dowager lady Chia and Madame Wang at once directed servants to go out into the street and find out who it was. It turned out to be, in fact, a mangy-headed bonze and a hobbling Taoist priest. What was the appearance of the bonze?
His nose like a suspended gall; his two eyebrows so long,
His eyes, resembling radiant stars, possessed a precious glow,
His coat in tatters and his shoes of straw, without a home;
Rolling in filth, and, a worse fate, his head one mass of boils.
And the Taoist priest, what was he like?
With one leg perched high he comes, with one leg low;
His whole frame drenching wet, bespattered all with mud.
If you perchance meet him, and ask him where's his home,
'In fairyland, west of the 'Weak Water,' he'll say.'
Chia Cheng ordered the servants to invite them to walk in. 'On what hill,' he asked those two persons, 'do you cultivate the principles of reason?
'Worthy official!' the bonze smiled, 'you must not ask too many questions! It's because we've learnt that there are inmates of your honourable mansion in a poor state of health that we come with the express design of working a cure.'
'There are,' explained Chia Cheng, 'two of our members, who have been possessed of evil spirits. But, is there, I wonder, any remedy by means of which they could he healed?'
'In your family,' laughingly observed the Taoist priest, 'you have ready at hand a precious thing, the like of which is rare to find in the world. It possesses the virtue of alleviating the ailment, so why need you inquire about remedies?'
Chia Cheng's mind was forthwith aroused. 'It's true,' he consequently rejoined, 'that my son brought along with him, at the time of his birth, a piece of jade, on the surface of which was inscribed that it had the virtue of dispelling evil influences, but we haven't seen any efficacy in it.'
'There is, worthy officer,' said the bonze, 'something in it which you do not understand. That precious jade was, in its primitive state, efficacious, but consequent upon its having been polluted by music, lewdness, property and gain it has lost its spiritual properties. But produce now that valuable thing and wait till I have taken it into my hands and pronounced incantations over it, when it will become as full of efficacy as of old!'
Chia Cheng accordingly unclasped the piece of jade from Pao-yue's neck, and handed it to the two divines. The Buddhist priest held it with reverence in the palm of his hand and heaving a deep sigh, 'Since our parting,' he cried, 'at the foot of the Ch'ing Keng peak, about thirteen years have elapsed. How time flies in the mortal world! Thine earthly destiny has not yet been determined. Alas, alas! how admirable were the qualities thou did'st possess in those days!
'By Heaven unrestrained, without constraint from Earth,
No joys lived in thy heart, but sorrows none as well;
Yet when perception, through refinement, thou did'st reach,
Thou went'st among mankind to trouble to give rise.
How sad the lot which thou of late hast had to hear!
Powder prints and rouge stains thy precious lustre dim.
House bars both day and night encage thee like a duck.
Deep wilt thou sleep, but from thy dream at length thou'lt wake,
Thy debt of vengeance, once discharged, thou wilt depart.'
At the conclusion of this recital, he again rubbed the stone for a while, and gave vent to some nonsensical utterances, after which he surrendered it to Chia Cheng. 'This object,' he said, 'has already resumed its efficacy; but you shouldn't do anything to desecrate it. Hang it on the post of the door in his bed-room, and with the exception of his own relatives, you must not let any outside female pollute it. After the expiry of thirty-three days, he will, I can guarantee, be all right.'
Chia Cheng then gave orders to present tea; but the two priests had already walked away. He had, however, no alternative but to comply with their injunctions, and lady Feng and Pao-yue, in point of fact, got better from day to day. Little by little they returned to their senses and experienced hunger. Dowager lady Chia and Madame Wang, at length, felt composed in their minds. All the cousins heard the news outside. Tai-yue, previous to anything else, muttered a prayer to Buddha; while Pao-ch'ai laughed and said not a word.
'Sister Pao,' inquired Hsi Ch'un, 'what are you laughing for?'
'I laugh,' replied Pao-ch'ai, 'because the 'Thus-Come' Joss has more to do than any human being. He's got to see to the conversion of all mankind, and to take care of the ailments, to which all flesh is heir; for he restores every one of them at once to health; and he has as well to control people's marriages so as to bring them about through his aid; and what do you say, has he ample to do or not? Now, isn't this enough to make one laugh, eh?'
Lin Tai-yue blushed. 'Ts'ui!' she exclaimed; 'none of you are good people. Instead of following the example of worthy persons, you try to rival the mean mouth of that hussey Feng.'
As she uttered these words, she raised the portiere and made her exit.
But, reader, do you want to know any further circumstances? If so, the next chapter will explain them to you.
CHAPTER XXVI.
On the Feng Yao bridge, Hsiao Hung makes known sentimental matters in
equivocal language.
In the Hsiao Hsiang lodge, Tai-yue gives, while under the effects of
the spring lassitude, expression to her secret feelings.
After thirty days' careful nursing, Pao-yue, we will now notice, not only got strong and hale in body, but the scars even on his face completely healed up; so he was able to shift his quarters again into the garden of Broad Vista.
But we will banish this topic as it does not deserve any additional explanations. Let us now turn our attention elsewhere. During the time that Pao-yue was of late laid up in bed, Chia Yuen along with the young pages of the household sat up on watch to keep an eye over him, and both day and night, they tarried on this side of the mansion. But Hsiao Hung as well as all the other waiting-maids remained in the same part to nurse Pao-yue, so (Chia Yuen) and she saw a good deal of each other on several occasions, and gradually an intimacy sprung up
