'My dear sister,' Pao-yue hastily advised her, 'don't wound your heart! I'm quite ready to express my apologies on behalf of that pair!'
'What business is that of yours?' P'ing Erh smiled.
'We cousins, whether male or female, are all alike.' Pao-yue smilingly argued. 'So when they hurt any one's feelings, I apologise for them; it's only right that I should do so. What a pity;' he continued, 'these new clothes too have been stained! But you'll find your sister Hua's costumes in here, and why don't you put one on, and take some hot wine and spurt it over yours and iron them out? You might also remake your coiffure.'
Speaking, he directed the young maids to draw some water for washing the face and to heat an iron and bring it.
P'ing Erh had ever heard people maintain that all that Pao-yue excelled in was in knitting friendships with girls. But Pao-yue had so far been loth, seeing that P'ing Erh was Chia Lien's beloved secondary wife, and lady Feng's confidante, to indulge in any familiarities with her. And being precluded from accomplishing the desire upon which his heart was set, he time and again gave way to vexation. When P'ing Erh, however, remarked his conduct towards her on this occasion, she secretly resolved within herself that what was said of him was indeed no idle rumour. But as he had anticipated every one of her wants, and she saw moreover that Hsi Jen had, for her special benefit, opened a box and produced two articles of clothing, not much worn by her, she speedily drew near and washed her face.
Pao-yue stood by her side. 'You must, dear girl, also apply a little cosmetic and powder,' she smiled; 'otherwise you'll look as if you were angry with lady Feng. It's her birthday, besides; and our old ancestor has sent some one again to come and cheer you up.'
Hearing how reasonable his suggestions were, P'ing Erh readily went in search of powder; but she failed to notice any about, so Pao-yue hurriedly drew up to the toilet-table, and, removing the lid of a porcelain box made at the 'Hsuean' kiln, which contained a set of ten small ladles, tuberose-like in shape, (for helping one's self to powder with), he drew out one of them and handed it to P'ing Erh. 'This isn't lead powder,' he smiled. 'This is made of the seeds of red jasmine, well triturated, and compounded with suitable first class ingredients.'
P'ing Erh emptied some on the palm of her hand. On examination, she really found that it was light, clear, red and scented; perfect in all four properties; that it was easy to apply evenly to the face, that it kept moist, and that it differed from other kinds of powder, ordinarily so rough. She subsequently noticed that the cosmetic too was not spread on a sheet, but that it was contained in a tiny box of white jade, the contents of which bore the semblance of rose-paste.
'The cosmetic one buys in the market isn't clean;' Pao-yue remarked smilingly. 'Its colour is faint as well. But this is cosmetic of superior quality. The juice was squeezed out, strained clear, mixed with perfume of flowers and decocted. All you need do is to take some with that hair-pin and rub it on your lips, that will be enough; and if you dissolve some in a little water, and rub it on the palm of your hand, it will be ample for you to cover your whole face with.'
P'ing Erh followed his directions and performed her toilette. She looked exceptionally fresh and beautiful. A sweet fragrance pervaded her cheeks. Pao-yue then cut, with a pair of bamboo scissors, a stalk, with two autumn orchids, which had blossomed in a flower pot, and he pinned it in her side-hair. But a maid was unexpectedly seen to enter the room, sent by Li Wan to come and call her, so she quitted his quarters with all possible despatch.
Pao-yue had not so far been able to have his wishes to revel in P'ing Erh's society gratified. P'ing Erh was furthermore a girl of a high grade, most intelligent, most winsome, and unlike that sort of vulgar and dull-minded beings, so that he cherished intense disgust against his fate.
The present occasion had been the anniversary of Chin Ch'uan-erh's birth, and he had remained, in consequence, plunged in a disconsolate frame of mind throughout the whole day. But, contrary to his expectations, the incident eventually occurred, which afforded him, after all, an opportunity to dangle in P'ing Erh's society and to gratify to some small degree a particle of his wish. This had been a piece of good fortune he so little expected would fall to his share during the course of his present existence, that as he reclined on his bed, his heart swelled with happiness and contentment. Suddenly, he reflected that Chia Lien's sole thought was to make licentious pleasures the means of gratifying his passions, and that he had no idea how to show the least regard to the fair sex; and he mused that P'ing Erh was without father or mother, brothers or sisters, a solitary being destined to dance attendance upon a couple such as Chia Lien and his wife; that Chia Lien was vulgar, and lady Feng haughty, but that she was gifted nevertheless with the knack of splendidly managing things; and that (P'ing Erh) had again to-day come across bitter sorrow, and that her destiny was extremely unfortunate.
At this stage of his reverie, he began to feel wounded and distressed. When he rose once more to his feet, he noticed that the wine, which she had spurted on the clothes, she had a few minutes back divested herself of, had already half dried, and, taking up the iron, he smoothed them and folded them nicely for her. He then discovered that she had left her handkerchief behind, and that it still bore traces of tears, so throwing it into the basin, he rinsed it and hung it up to dry, with feelings bordering on joy as well as sadness. But after a short time spent in a brown study, he too betook himself to the Tao Hsiang village for a chat; and it was only when the lamps had been lit that he got up to take his leave.
P'ing Erh put up in Li Wan's quarters for the night. Lady Feng slept with dowager lady Chia, while Chia Lien returned at a late hour to his home. He found it however very lonely. Yet unable to go and call his wife over, he had no alternative but to sleep as best he could for that night. On the morrow, he remembered, as soon as he opened his eyes, the occurrence of the previous day, and he fell a prey to such extreme unhappiness that he could not be conscience-stricken enough.
Madame Hsing pondered with solicitude on Chia Lien's drunken fit the day before. The moment therefore it was light, she hastily crossed over, and sent for Chia Lien to repair to dowager lady Chia's apartments. Chia Lien was thus compelled to suppress all timidity and to repair to the front part of the mansion and fall on his knees at the feet of his old senior.
'What was the matter?' inquired old lady Chia.
'I really had too much wine yesterday,' Chia Lien promptly answered with a forced smile. 'I must have given you a fright, worthy ancestor, so I come to-day to receive condign punishment.'
'You mean fellow!' shouted dowager lady Chia, spitting at him disdainfully. 'You go and glut yourself with spirits, and, not to speak of your not going to stretch yourself like a corpse and sleep it off, you contrariwise start beating your wife! But that vixen Feng brags away the whole day long, as if she were a human being as valiant as any tyrant, and yet yesterday she got into such a funk that she presented a woeful sight! Had it not been for me, you would have done her bodily harm; and what would you feel like now?'
Chia Lien was at heart full of a sense of injury, but he could not master sufficient courage to say anything in his own defence. The only course open to him was therefore to make a confession of fault.
'Don't lady Feng and P'ing Erh possess the charms of handsome women?' dowager lady Chia resumed. 'And aren't you yet satisfied with them that you must, of a day, go slyly prowling and gallavanting about, dragging indiscriminately into your rooms frowsy and filthy people? Is it for the sake of this sort of wenches that you beat your wife and belabour the inmates of your quarters? You've nevertheless had the good fortune of starting in life as the scion of a great family; and do you, with eyes wide open, bring disgrace upon your own head? If you have any regard for me, well, then get up and I'll spare you! And if you make your apologies in a proper manner to your wife and take her home, I'll be satisfied. But if you don't, just you clear out of this, for I won't even presume to have any of your genuflexions!'
Chia Lien took to heart the injunctions that fell on his ear. Espying besides lady Feng standing opposite to him in undress, her eyes swollen from crying, and her face quite sallow, without cosmetic or powder, he thought her more lovable and charming than ever. 'Wouldn't it be well,' he therefore mused, 'that I should make amends, so that she and I may be on friendly terms again and that I should win the good pleasure of my old ancestor?'
At the conclusion of his reflections, he forthwith put on a smile. 'After your advice, venerable senior,' he said, 'I couldn't be so bold as not to accede to your wishes! But this is shewing her more indulgence than ever!'
'What nonsense!' exclaimed dowager lady Chia laughingly. 'I am well aware that with her extreme decorum she couldn't hurt any one's susceptibilities. But should she, in the future, wrong you in any way, I shall, of course, take the law into my own hands and bid you make her submit to your authority and finish.'
Chia Lien, at this assurance, crawled up and made a bow to lady Feng. 'It was really my fault, so don't be angry, lady Secunda,' he said.
