'Is this a coarse thing?' Miao Yue exclaimed. 'Why, I'm making no outrageous statement when I say that I'm inclined to think that it is by no means certain that you could lay your hand upon any such coarse thing as this in your home!'
''Do in the country as country people do,' the proverb says,' Pao-yue laughingly rejoined. 'So when one gets in a place like this of yours, one must naturally look down upon every thing in the way of gold, pearls, jade and precious stones, as coarse rubbish!'
This sentiment highly delighted Miao Yue. So much so, that producing another capacious cup, carved out of a whole bamboo root, which with its nine curves and ten rings, with twenty knots in each ring, resembled a coiled dragon, 'Here,' she said with a face beaming with smiles, 'there only remains this one! Can you manage this large cup?'
'I can!' Pao-yue vehemently replied, with high glee.
'Albeit you have the stomach to tackle all it holds,' Miao Yue laughed, 'I haven't got so much tea for you to waste! Have you not heard how that the first cup is the 'taste'-cup; the second 'the stupid-thing-for- quenching- one's-thirst,' and the third 'the drink-mule' cup? But were you now to go in for this huge cup, why what more wouldn't that be?'
At these words, Pao-ch'ai, Tai-yue and Pao-yue simultaneously indulged in laughter. But Miao-yue seized the teapot, and poured well-nigh a whole cupful of tea into the big cup. Pao-yue tasted some carefully, and found it, in real truth, so exceptionally soft and pure that he extolled it with incessant praise.
'If you've had any tea this time,' Miao-Yue pursued with a serious expression about her face, 'it's thanks to these two young ladies; for had you come alone, I wouldn't have given you any.'
'I'm well aware of this,' Pao-yue laughingly rejoined, 'so I too will receive no favour from your hands, but simply express my thanks to these two cousins of mine, and have done!'
'What you say makes your meaning clear enough!' Miao-yue said, when she heard his reply.
'Is this rain water from last year?' Tai-yue then inquired.
'How is it,' smiled Miao Yue sardonically, 'that a person like you can be such a boor as not to be able to discriminate water, when you taste it? This is snow collected from the plum blossom, five years back, when I was in the P'an Hsiang temple at Hsuean Mu. All I got was that flower jar, green as the devil's face, full, and as I couldn't make up my mind to part with it and drink it, I interred it in the ground, and only opened it this summer. I've had some of it once before, and this is the second time. But how is it you didn't detect it, when you put it to your lips? Has rain water, obtained a year back, ever got such a soft and pure flavour? and how possibly could it be drunk at all?'
Tai-yue knew perfectly what a curious disposition she naturally had, and she did not think it advisable to start any lengthy discussion with her. Nor did she feel justified to protract her stay, so after sipping her tea, she intimated to Pao-ch'ai her intention to go, and they quitted the apartment.
Pao-yue gave a forced smile to Miao Yue. 'That cup,' he said, 'is, of course, dirty; but is it not a pity to put it away for no valid reason? To my idea it would be preferable, wouldn't it? to give it to that poor old woman; for were she to sell it, she could have the means of subsistence! What do you say, will it do?'
Miao Yue listened to his suggestion, and then nodded her head, after some reflection. 'Yes, that will be all right!' she answered. 'Lucky for her I've never drunk a drop out of that cup, for had I, I would rather have smashed it to atoms than have let her have it! If you want to give it to her, I don't mind a bit about it; but you yourself must hand it to her! Now, be quick and clear it away at once!'
'Of course; quite so!' Pao-yue continued. 'How could you ever go and speak to her? Things would then come to a worse pass. You too would be contaminated! If you give it to me, it will be all right.'
Miao Yue there and then directed some one to fetch it and to give it to Pao-yue. When it was brought, Pao- yue took charge of it. 'Wait until we've gone out,' he proceeded, 'and I'll call a few servant-boys and bid them carry several buckets of water from the stream and wash the floors; eh, shall I?'
'Yes, that would be better!' Miao Yue smiled. 'The only thing is that you must tell them to bring the water, and place it outside the entrance door by the foot of the wall; for they mustn't come in.'
'This goes without saying!' Pao-yue said; and, while replying, he produced the cup from inside his sleeve, and handed it to a young waiting-maid from dowager lady Chia's apartments to hold. 'To-morrow,' he told her, 'give this to goody Liu to take with her, when she starts on her way homewards!'
By the time he made (the girl) understand the charge he entrusted her with, his old grandmother issued out and was anxious to return home. Miao Yue did not exert herself very much to induce her to prolong her visit; but seeing her as far the main gate, she turned round and bolted the doors. But without devoting any further attention to her, we will now allude to dowager lady Chia.
She felt thoroughly tired and exhausted. To such a degree, that she desired Madame Wang, Ying Ch'un and her sisters to see that Mrs. Hsueeh had some wine, while she herself retired to the Tao Hsiang village to rest. Lady Feng immediately bade some servants fetch a bamboo chair. On its arrival, dowager lady Chia seated herself in it, and two matrons carried her off hemmed in by lady Feng, Li Wan and a bevy of servant-girls, and matrons. But let us now leave her to herself, without any additional explanations.
During this while, Mrs. Hsueeh too said good bye and departed. Madame Wang then dismissed Wen Kuan and the other girls, and, distributing the eatables, that had been collected in the partition-boxes, to the servant-maids to go and feast on, she availed herself of the leisure moments to lie off; so reclining as she was, on the couch, which had been occupied by her old relative a few minutes back, she bade a young maid lower the portiere; after which, she asked her to massage her legs.
'Should our old lady yonder send any message, mind you call me at once,' she proceeded to impress on her mind, and, laying herself down, she went to sleep.
Pao-yue, Hsiang-yuen and the rest watched the servant-girls take the partition-boxes and place them among the rocks, and seat themselves some on boulders, others on the turf-covered ground, some lean against the trees, others squat down besides the pool, and thoroughly enjoy themselves. But in a little time, they also perceived Yuean Yang arrive. Her object in coming was to carry off goody Liu for a stroll, so in a body they followed in their track, with a view of deriving some fun. Shortly, they got under the honorary gateway put up in the additional grounds, reserved for the imperial consort's visits to her parents, and old goody Liu shouted aloud: 'Ai-yoh! What! Is there another big temple here!'
While speaking, she prostrated herself and knocked her head, to the intense amusement of the company, who were quite doubled up with laughter.
'What are you laughing at?' goody Liu inquired. 'I can decipher the characters on this honorary gateway. Over at our place temples of this kind are exceedingly plentiful; and they've all got archways like this! These characters give the name of the temple.'
'Can you make out from those characters what temple this is?' they laughingly asked.
Goody Liu quickly raised her head, and, pointing at the inscription, 'Are'nt these,' she said, 'the four characters 'Pearly Emperor's Precious Hall?''
Everybody laughed. They clapped their hands and applauded. But when about to chaff her again, goody Liu experienced a rumbling noise in her stomach, and vehemently pulling a young servant-girl, and asking her for a couple of sheets of paper, she began immediately to loosen her garments. 'It won't do in here!' one and all laughingly shouted out to her, and quickly they directed a matron to lead her away. When they got at the north-east corner, the matron pointed the proper place out to her, and in high spirits she walked off and went to have some rest.
Goody Liu had taken plenty of wine; she could not too touch yellow wine; she had, what is more, drunk and eaten so many fat things that in the thirst, which supervened, she had emptied several cups of tea; the result was that she unavoidably got looseness of the bowels. She therefore squatted for ever so long before she felt any relief. But on her exit from the private chamber, the wind blew the wine to her head. Besides, being a woman well up in years, she felt, upon suddenly rising from a long squatting position, her eyes grow so dim and her head so giddy that she could not make out the way. She gazed on all four quarters, but the whole place being covered with trees, rockeries, towers, terraces, and houses, she was quite at a loss how to determine her whereabouts, and where each road led to. She had no alternative but to follow a stone road, and to toddle on her way with leisurely step. But when she drew near a building, she could not make out where the door could be. After searching and searching, she accidentally caught sight of a bamboo fence. 'Here's another trellis with flat bean plants creeping on it!' Goody Liu communed within herself. While giving way to reflection, she skirted the flower-laden hedge, and discovering a
