Dowager lady Chia, nee Shih, does away with rotten old customs.
Wang Hsi-feng imitates in jest (the dutiful son), by getting herself
up in gaudy theatrical clothes.
Chia Chen and Chia Lien had, we will now explain, secretly got ready large baskets of cash, so the moment they heard old lady Chia utter the word 'tip,' they promptly bade the pages be quick and fling the money. The noise of the cash, running on every side of the stage, was all that fell on the ear. Dowager lady Chia thoroughly enjoyed it.
The two men then rose to their feet. The pages hastened to lay hold of a silver kettle, newly brought in with fresh wine, and to deposit it in Chia Lien's hands, who followed Chia Chen with quick step into the inner rooms. Chia Chen advanced first up to 'sister-in-law' Li's table, and curtseying, he raised her cup, and turned round, whereupon Chia Lien quickly filled it to the brim. Next they approached Mrs. Hsueeh's table, and they also replenished her cup.
These two ladies lost no time in standing up, and smilingly expostulating. 'Gentlemen,' they said, 'please take your seats. What's the use of standing on such ceremonies?'
But presently every one, with the exception of the two ladies Mesdames Hsing and Wang, quitted the banquet and dropping their arms against their bodies they stood on one side. Chia Chen and his companion then drew near dowager lady Chia's couch. But the couch was so low that they had to stoop on their knees. Chia Chen was in front, and presented the cup. Chia Lien was behind, and held the kettle up to her. But notwithstanding that only these two offered her wine, Chia Tsung and the other young men followed them closely in the order of their age and grade; so the moment they saw them kneel, they immediately threw themselves on their knees. Pao-yue too prostrated himself at once.
Hsiang-yuen stealthily gave him a push. 'What's the use of your now following their lead again and falling on your knees?' she said. 'But since you behave like this, wouldn't it be well if you also went and poured wine all round?'
Pao-yue laughed. 'Hold on a bit,' he rejoined in a low tone, 'and I'll go and do so.'
So speaking, he waited until his two relatives had finished pouring the wine and risen to their feet, when he also went and replenished the cups of Mesdames Wang and Hsing.
'What about the young ladies?' Chia Chen smilingly asked.
'You people had better be going,' old lady Chia and the other ladies unanimously observed. 'They'll, then, be more at their ease.'
At this hint Chia Chen and his companions eventually withdrew. The second watch had not, at the time, yet gone. The play that was being sung was: 'The eight worthies look at the lanterns,' consisting of eight acts; and had now reached a sensational part.
Pao-yue at this stage left the feast and was going out. 'Where are you off to?' inquired his grandmother Chia. 'The crackers outside are dreadful. Mind, the lighted pieces of paper falling from above might burn you.'
Pao-yue smiled. 'I'm not going far,' he answered. 'I'm merely going out of the room, and will be back at once.'
Dowager lady Chia directed the matrons to 'be careful and escort him.'
Pao-yue forthwith sallied out; with no other attendants however than She Yueeh, Ch'iu Wen and several youthful maids.
'How is it,' his grandmother Chia felt obliged so ask, 'that I don't see anything of Hsi Jen? Is she too now putting on high and mighty airs that she only sends these juvenile girls here?'
Madame Wang rose to her feet with all haste. 'Her mother,' she explained, 'died the other day; so being in deep mourning, she couldn't very well present herself.'
Dowager lady Chia nodded her head assentingly. 'When one is in service,' she smilingly remarked, 'there should be no question of mourning or no mourning. Is it likely that, if she were still in my pay, she wouldn't at present be here? All these practices have quite become precedents!'
Lady Feng crossed over to her. 'Had she even not been in mourning to-night,' she chimed in with a laugh, 'she would have had to be in the garden and keep an eye over that pile of lanterns, candles, and fireworks, as they're most dangerous things. For as soon as any theatricals are set on foot in here, who doesn't surreptitiously sneak out from the garden to have a look? But as far as she goes, she's diligent, and careful of every place. Moreover, when the company disperses and brother Pao-yue retires to sleep, everything will be in perfect readiness. But, had she also come, that bevy of servants wouldn't again have cared a straw for anything; and on his return, after the party, the bedding would have been cold, the tea-water wouldn't have been ready, and he would have had to put up with every sort of discomfort. That's why I told her that there was no need for her to come. But should you, dear senior, wish her here, I'll send for her straightway and have done.'
Old lady Chia lent an ear to her arguments. 'What you say,' she promptly put in, 'is perfectly right. You've made better arrangements than I could. Quick, don't send for her! But when did her mother die? How is it I know nothing about it?'
'Some time ago,' lady Feng laughed, 'Hsi Jen came in person and told you, worthy ancestor, and how is it you've forgotten it?'
'Yes,' resumed dowager lady Chia smiling, after some reflection, 'I remember now. My memory is really not of the best.'
At this, everybody gave way to laughter. 'How could your venerable ladyship,' they said, 'recollect so many matters?'
Dowager lady Chia thereupon heaved a sigh. 'How I remember,' she added, 'the way she served me ever since her youth up; and how she waited upon Yuen Erh also; how at last she was given to that prince of devils, and how she has slaved away with that imp for the last few years. She is, besides, not a slave-girl, born or bred in the place. Nor has she ever received any great benefits from our hands. When her mother died, I meant to have given her several taels for her burial; but it quite slipped from my mind.'
'The other day,' lady Feng remarked, 'Madame Wang presented her with forty taels; so that was all right.'
At these words, old lady Chia nodded assent. 'Yes, never mind about that,' she observed. 'Yuan Yang's mother also died, as it happens, the other day; but taking into consideration that both her parents lived in the south, I didn't let her return home to observe a period of mourning. But as both these girls are now in mourning, why not allow them to live together? They'll thus be able to keep each other company. Take a few fruits, eatables, and other such things,' continuing she bade a matron, 'and give them to those two girls to eat.'
'Would she likely wait until now?' Hu Po laughingly interposed. 'Why, she joined (Hsi Jen) long ago.'
In the course of this conversation, the various inmates partook of some more wine, and watched the theatricals.
But we will now turn our attention to Pao-yue. He made his way straight into the garden. The matrons saw well enough that he was returning to his rooms, but instead of following him in, they ensconced themselves near the fire in the tea-room situated by the garden-gate, and made the best of the time by drinking and playing cards with the girls in charge of the tea. Pao-yue entered the court. The lanterns burnt brightly, yet not a human voice was audible. 'Have they all, forsooth, gone to sleep?' She Yueeh ventured. 'Let's walk in gently, and give them a fright!'
Presently, they stepped, on tiptoe, past the mirrored partition-wall. At a glance, they discerned Hsi Jen lying on the stove-couch, face to face with some other girl. On the opposite side sat two or three old nurses nodding, half asleep. Pao-yue conjectured that both the girls were plunged in sleep, and was just about to enter, when of a sudden some one was heard to heave a sigh and to say: 'How evident it is that worldly matters are very uncertain! Here you lived all alone in here, while your father and mother tarried abroad, and roamed year after year from east to west, without any fixed place of abode. I ever thought that you wouldn't have been able to be with them at their last moments; but, as it happened, (your mother) died in this place this year, and you could, after all, stand by her to the end.'
'Quite so!' rejoined Hsi Jen. 'Even I little expected to be able to see any of my parents' funeral. When I broke the news to our Madame Wang, she also gave me forty taels. This was really a kind attention on her part. I hadn't nevertheless presumed to indulge in any vain hopes.'
Pao-yue overheard what was said. Hastily twisting himself round, he remarked in a low voice, addressing
