the face! and while every one else seemed so cool, he was in such a flurry that he actually perspired! And yet, at this moment, he happens once again to have a memory!'
At these words, Tai-yue laughed. 'O-mi-to-fu!' she exclaimed. 'You are indeed my very good cousin! But you've also (to Pao-yue) come across your match. And this makes it clear that requital and retribution never fail or err.'
She had just reached this part of her sentence, when in Pao-yue's rooms was heard a continuous sound of wrangling; but as what transpired is not yet known, the ensuing chapter will explain.
CHAPTER XX.
Wang Hsi-feng with earnest words upbraids Mrs. Chao's jealous notions.
Lin Tai-yue uses specious language to make sport of Shih Hsiang-yuen's
querulous tone of voice.
But to continue. Pao-yue was in Tai yue's apartments relating about the rat-elves, when Pao-ch'ai entered unannounced, and began to gibe Pao-yue, with trenchant irony: how that on the fifteenth of the first moon, he had shown ignorance of the allusion to the green wax; and the three of them then indulged in that room in mutual poignant satire, for the sake of fun. Pao-yue had been giving way to solicitude lest Tai-yue should, by being bent upon napping soon after her meal, be shortly getting an indigestion, or lest sleep should, at night, be completely dispelled, as neither of these things were conducive to the preservation of good health, when luckily Pao-ch'ai walked in, and they chatted and laughed together; and when Lin Tai-yue at length lost all inclination to dose, he himself then felt composed in his mind. But suddenly they heard clamouring begin in his room, and after they had all lent an ear and listened, Lin Tai-yue was the first to smile and make a remark. 'It's your nurse having a row with Hsi Jen!' she said. 'Hsi Jen treats her well enough, but that nurse of yours would also like to keep her well under her thumb; she's indeed an old dotard;' and Pao-yue was anxious to go over at once, but Pao-ch'ai laid hold of him and kept him back, suggesting: 'It's as well that you shouldn't wrangle with your nurse, for she's quite stupid from old age; and it's but fair, on the contrary, that you should bear with her a little.'
'I know all about that!' Pao-yue rejoined. But having concluded this remark, he walked into his room, where he discovered nurse Li, leaning on her staff, standing in the centre of the floor, abusing Hsi Jen, saying: 'You young wench! how utterly unmindful you are of your origin! It's I who've raised you up, and yet, when I came just now, you put on high airs and mighty side, and remained reclining on the stove-couch! You saw me well enough, but you paid not the least heed to me! Your whole heart is set upon acting like a wily enchantress to befool Pao-yue; and you so impose upon Pao-yue that he doesn't notice me, but merely lends an ear to what you people have to say! You're no more than a low girl bought for a few taels and brought in here; and will it ever do that you should be up to your mischievous tricks in this room? But whether you like it or not, I'll drag you out from this, and give you to some mean fellow, and we'll see whether you will still behave like a very imp, and cajole people or not?'
Hsi Jen was, at first, under the simple impression that the nurse was wrath for no other reason than because she remained lying down, and she felt constrained to explain that 'she was unwell, that she had just succeeded in perspiring, and that having had her head covered, she hadn't really perceived the old lady;' but when she came subsequently to hear her mention that she imposed upon Pao-yue, and also go so far as to add that she would be given to some mean fellow, she unavoidably experienced both a sense of shame and injury, and found it impossible to restrain herself from beginning to cry.
Pao-yue had, it is true, caught all that had been said, but unable with any propriety to take notice of it, he thought it his duty to explain matters for her. 'She's ill,' he observed, 'and is taking medicines; and if you don't believe it,' he went on, 'well then ask the rest of the servant-girls.'
Nurse Li at these words flew into a more violent dudgeon. 'Your sole delight is to screen that lot of sly foxes!' she remarked, 'and do you pay any notice to me? No, none at all! and whom would you like me to go and ask; who's it that doesn't back you? and who hasn't been dismounted from her horse by Hsi Jen? I know all about it; but I'll go with you and explain all these matters to our old mistress and my lady; for I've nursed you till I've brought you to this age, and now that you don't feed on milk, you thrust me on one side, and avail yourself of the servant-girls, in your wish to browbeat me.'
As she uttered this remark, she too gave way to tears, but by this time, Tai-yue and Pao-ch'ai had also come over, and they set to work to reassure her. 'You, old lady,' they urged, 'should bear with them a little, and everything will be right!' And when nurse Li saw these two arrive, she hastened to lay bare her grievances to them; and taking up the question of the dismissal in days gone by, of Hsi Hsueeh, for having drunk some tea, of the cream eaten on the previous day, and other similar matters, she spun a long, interminable yarn.
By a strange coincidence lady Feng was at this moment in the upper rooms, where she had been making up the account of losses and winnings, and upon hearing at the back a continuous sound of shouting and bustling, she readily concluded that nurse Li's old complaint was breaking forth, and that she was finding fault with Pao-yue's servants. But she had, as luck would have it, lost money in gambling on this occasion, so that she was ready to visit her resentment upon others. With hurried step, she forthwith came over, and laying hold of nurse Li, 'Nurse,' she said smiling, 'don't lose your temper, on a great festival like this, and after our venerable lady has just gone through a day in excellent spirits! You're an old dame, and should, when others get up a row, still do what is right and keep them in proper order; and aren't you, instead of that, aware what good manners imply, that you will start vociferating in this place, and make our dowager lady full of displeasure? Tell me who's not good, and I'll beat her for you; but be quick and come along with me over to my quarters, where a pheasant which they have roasted is scalding hot, and let us go and have a glass of wine!' And as she spoke, she dragged her along and went on her way. 'Feng Erh,' she also called, 'hold the staff for your old lady Li, and the handkerchief to wipe her tears with!' While nurse Li walked along with lady Feng, her feet scarcely touched the ground, as she kept on saying: 'I don't really attach any value to this decrepid existence of mine! and I had rather disregard good manners, have a row and lose face, as it's better, it seems to me, than to put up with the temper of that wench!'
Behind followed Pao-ch'ai and Tai-yue, and at the sight of the way in which lady Feng dealt with her, they both clapped their hands, and exclaimed, laughing, 'What piece of luck that this gust of wind has come, and dragged away this old matron!' while Pao-yue nodded his head to and fro and soliloquised with a sigh: 'One can neither know whence originates this score; for she will choose the weak one to maltreat; nor can one see what girl has given her offence that she has come to be put in her black books!'
Scarcely had he ended this remark, before Ch'ing Wen, who stood by, put in her word. 'Who's gone mad again?' she interposed, 'and what good would come by hurting her feelings? But did even any one happen to hurt her, she would have pluck enough to bear the brunt, and wouldn't act so improperly as to involve others!'
Hsi Jen wept, and as she, did so, she drew Pao-yue towards her: 'All through my having aggrieved an old nurse,' she urged, 'you've now again given umbrage, entirely on my account, to this crowd of people; and isn't this still enough for me to bear but must you also go and drag in third parties?'
When Pao-yue realised that to this sickness of hers, had also been superadded all these annoyances, he promptly stifled his resentment, suppressed his voice and consoled her so far as to induce her to lie down again to perspire. And when he further noticed how scalding like soup and burning like fire she was, he himself watched by her, and reclining by her side, he tried to cheer her, saying: 'All you must do is to take good care of your ailment; and don't give your mind to those trifling matters, and get angry.'
'Were I,' Hsi Jen smiled sardonically, 'to lose my temper over such concerns, would I be able to stand one moment longer in this room? The only thing is that if she goes on, day after day, doing nothing else than clamour in this manner, how can she let people get along? But you rashly go and hurt people's feelings for our sakes; but they'll bear it in mind, and when they find an opportunity, they'll come out with what's easy enough to say, but what's not pleasant to hear, and how will we all feel then?'
While her mouth gave utterance to these words, she could not stop her tears from running; but fearful, on the other hand, lest Pao-yue should be annoyed, she felt compelled to again strain every nerve to repress them. But in a short while, the old matrons employed for all sorts of duties, brought in some mixture of two drugs; and, as Pao-yue noticed that she was just on the point of perspiring, he did not allow her to get up, but readily taking it up to her, she immediately swallowed it, with her head still on her pillow; whereupon he gave speedy directions to the young servant-maids to lay her stove-couch in order.
