while with all the words his mouth could express, he tried to pacify him, adding 'My dear brother, it's no business of yours and mine.'
Chia Chuen could not repress his resentment; and perceiving that the inkslab was held down, he at once laid hold of a box containing books, which he flung in this direction; but being, after all, short of stature, and weak of strength, he was unable to send it anywhere near the mark; so that it dropped instead when it got as far as the desk belonging to Pao-yue and Ch'in Chung, while a dreadful crash became audible as it fell smash on the table. The books, papers, pencils, inkslabs, and other writing materials were all scattered over the whole table; and Pao-yue's cup besides containing tea was itself broken to pieces and the tea spilt.
Chia Chuen forthwith jumped forward with the intent of assailing the person who had flung the inkslab at the very moment that Chin Jung took hold of a long bamboo pole which was near by; but as the space was limited, and the pupils many, how could he very well brandish a long stick? Ming Yen at an early period received a whack, and he shouted wildly, 'Don't you fellows yet come to start a fight.'
Pao-yue had, besides, along with him several pages, one of whom was called Sao Hung, another Ch'u Yo, another Mo Yue. These three were naturally up to every mischief, so that with one voice, bawling boisterously, 'You children of doubtful mothers, have you taken up arms?' Mo Yue promptly took up the bar of a door; while Sao Hung and Ch'u Yo both laid hold of horsewhips, and they all rushed forward like a hive of bees.
Chia Jui was driven to a state of exasperation; now he kept this one in check, and the next moment he reasoned with another, but who would listen to his words? They followed the bent of their inclinations and stirred up a serious disturbance.
Of the whole company of wayward young fellows, some there were who gave sly blows for fun's sake; others there were who were not gifted with much pluck and hid themselves on one side; there were those too who stood on the tables, clapping their hands and laughing immoderately, shouting out: 'Go at it.'
The row was, at this stage, like water bubbling over in a cauldron, when several elderly servants, like Li Kuei and others, who stood outside, heard the uproar commence inside, and one and all came in with all haste and united in their efforts to pacify them. Upon asking 'What's the matter?' the whole bevy of voices shouted out different versions; this one giving this account, while another again another story. But Li Kuei temporised by rebuking Ming Yen and others, four in all, and packing them off.
Ch'in Chung's head had, at an early period, come into contact with Chin Jung's pole and had had the skin grazed off. Pao-yue was in the act of rubbing it for him, with the overlap of his coat, but realising that the whole lot of them had been hushed up, he forthwith bade Li Kuei collect his books.
'Bring my horse round,' he cried; 'I'm going to tell Mr. Chia Tai-ju that we have been insulted. I won't venture to tell him anything else, but (tell him I will) that having come with all propriety and made our report to Mr. Chia Jui, Mr. Chia Jui instead (of helping us) threw the fault upon our shoulders. That while he heard people abuse us, he went so far as to instigate them to beat us; that Ming Yen seeing others insult us, did naturally take our part; but that they, instead (of desisting,) combined together and struck Ming Yen and even broke open Ch'in Chung's head. And that how is it possible for us to continue our studies in here?'
'My dear sir,' replied Li Kuei coaxingly, 'don't be so impatient! As Mr. Chia Tai-ju has had something to attend to and gone home, were you now, for a trifle like this, to go and disturb that aged gentleman, it will make us, indeed, appear as if we had no sense of propriety: my idea is that wherever a thing takes place, there should it be settled; and what's the need of going and troubling an old man like him. This is all you, Mr. Chia Jui, who is to blame; for in the absence of Mr. Chia Tai-ju, you, sir, are the head in this school, and every one looks to you to take action. Had all the pupils been at fault, those who deserved a beating should have been beaten, and those who merited punishment should have been punished! and why did you wait until things came to such a pass, and didn't even exercise any check?'
'I blew them up,' pleaded Chia Jui, 'but not one of them would listen.'
'I'll speak out, whether you, worthy sir, resent what I'm going to say or not,' ventured Li Kuei. 'It's you, sir, who all along have after all had considerable blame attached to your name; that's why all these young men wouldn't hear you! Now if this affair is bruited, until it reaches Mr. Chia Tai-ju's ears, why even you, sir, will not be able to escape condemnation; and why don't you at once make up your mind to disentangle the ravelled mess and dispel all trouble and have done with it!'
'Disentangle what?' inquired Pao-yue; 'I shall certainly go and make my report.'
'If Chin Jung stays here,' interposed Ch'in Chung sobbing, 'I mean to go back home.'
'Why that?' asked Pao-yue. 'Is it likely that others can safely come and that you and I can't? I feel it my bounden duty to tell every one everything at home so as to expel Chin Jung. This Chin Jung,' he went on to inquire as he turned towards Lei Kuei, 'is the relative or friend of what branch of the family?'
Li Kuei gave way to reflection and then said by way of reply: 'There's no need whatever for you to raise this question; for were you to go and report the matter to the branch of the family to which he belongs, the harmony which should exist between cousins will be still more impaired.'
'He's the nephew of Mrs. Huang, of the Eastern mansion,' interposed Ming Yen from outside the window. 'What a determined and self-confident fellow he must be to even come and bully us; Mrs. Huang is his paternal aunt! That mother of yours is only good for tossing about like a millstone, for kneeling before our lady Lien, and begging for something to pawn. I've no eye for such a specimen of mistress.'
'What!' speedily shouted Li Kuei, 'does this son of a dog happen to know of the existence of all these gnawing maggots?' (these disparaging facts).
Pao-yue gave a sardonic smile. 'I was wondering whose relative he was,' he remarked; 'is he really sister- in-law Huang's nephew? well, I'll go at once and speak to her.'
As he uttered these words, his purpose was to start there and then, and he called Ming Yen in, to come and pack up his books. Ming Yen walked in and put the books away. 'Master,' he went on to suggest, in an exultant manner, 'there's no need for you to go yourself to see her; I'll go to her house and tell her that our old lady has something to ask of her. I can hire a carriage to bring her over, and then, in the presence of her venerable ladyship, she can be spoken to; and won't this way save a lot of trouble?'
'Do you want to die?' speedily shouted Li Kuei; 'mind, when you go back, whether right or wrong, I'll first give you a good bumping, and then go and report you to our master and mistress, and just tell them that it's you, and only you, who instigated Mr. Pao-yue! I've succeeded, after ever so much trouble, in coaxing them, and mending matters to a certain extent, and now you come again to continue a new plan. It's you who stirred up this row in the school-room; and not to speak of your finding, as would have been the proper course, some way of suppressing it, there you are instead still jumping into the fire.'
Ming Yen, at this juncture, could not muster the courage to utter a sound. By this time Chia Jui had also apprehended that if the row came to be beyond clearing up, he himself would likewise not be clear of blame, so that circumstances compelled him to pocket his grievances and to come and entreat Ch'in Chung as well as to make apologies to Pao-yue. These two young fellows would not at first listen to his advances, but Pao-yue at length explained that he would not go and report the occurrence, provided only Chin Jung admitted his being in the wrong. Chin Jung refused, at the outset, to agree to this, but he ultimately could find no way out of it, as Chia Jui himself urged him to make some temporising apology.
Li Kuei and the others felt compelled to tender Chin Jung some good advice: 'It's you,' they said, 'who have given rise to the disturbance, and if you don't act in this manner, how will the matter ever be brought to an end?' so that Chin Jung found it difficult to persist in his obstinacy, and was constrained to make a bow to Ch'in Chung.
Pao-yue was, however, not yet satisfied, but would insist upon his knocking his head on the ground, and Chia Jui, whose sole aim was to temporarily smother the affair, quietly again urged Chin Jung, adding that the proverb has it: 'That if you keep down the anger of a minute, you will for a whole life-time feel no remorse.'
Whether Chin Jung complied or not to his advice is not known, but the following chapter will explain.
CHAPTER X.
Widow Chin, prompted by a desire to reap advantage, puts up
temporarily with an insult.
