The Crab-Flower Club

  ‘She hasn’t got time,’ said Patience, laughing. ‘She’s sent me to ask if you’ve got any crabs left. She says she didn’t get a proper chance to eat any earlier on, and as she hasn’t got time to come here herself, would I ask you, if you’ve still got any, to let me take a few back for her.’

  ‘We’ve got plenty left,’ said Xiang-yun, and gave orders for ten of the largest to be put in a box for her to take.

  ‘Pick as many as you can with the round “navels”,’ said Patience to the old servant who was departing to do Xiang-yun’s bidding.

  Li Wan tried to make Patience sit down with them, but she refused.

  ‘You shall sit down!’ said Li Wan, eyeing her skittishly; and taking her by the hand, she drew her down beside her and held a cup of wine up to her lips so that she was forced to drink. Patience gulped down a mouthful of it and then rose again to go.

  ‘I won’t let you go!’ said Li Wan. ‘The only person you ever take any notice of is that precious Feng of yours; you think you don’t need to obey me; but you shall.’ She turned to the old woman, now waiting in readiness with the box of crabs, and told her to go on ahead with them and tell Xi-feng that Patience was being detained. The old woman went away.

  She returned a short while after, still carrying the box, with a message.

  ‘Mrs Lian says thank you very much, and she hopes you didn’t think her greedy for asking. She’s put some caltrop-cakes and some chicken-fat rolls in the box, that have just been sent her by the elder Lady Wang. She thought you and the young ladies might like to try them.’

  There was a further message for Patience:

  ‘Mrs Lian says she thought she sent you to fetch something for her, not to stay here and amuse yourself. Anyway, she says, tell her not to drink too much.’

  ‘Oh,’ said Patience, laughing, ‘and what will happen to me if I do?’

  As if in defiance of her mistress’s instructions, she fell to eating and drinking with great gusto. Li Wan meanwhile encircled her waist in an affectionate embrace.

  ‘What a pity that so distinguished-looking a young woman should have been born to so humble a fate!’ said Li Wan. ‘It’s you who should have been the mistress. You would have made such a good lady. No one who didn’t know would ever take you for a maid.’

  Patience, who had continued eating and drinking with Bao-chai and Xiang-yun while Li Wan was saying this, now turned round and looked at her with a giggle.

  ‘Stop it, Mrs Zhu! You’re tickling me!’

  ‘Aiyo!’ said Li Wan. ‘What’s this great hard thing here?’

  ‘Keys,’ said Patience.

  ‘Keys?’ said Li Wan. ‘What has your mistress got so precious that you need to carry keys round all the time? Do you know what I tell people about you? I tell them: Just as you can’t imagine a Tripitaka going off to India to fetch the scriptures without his white horse or a Liu Zhi-yuan conquering the Empire without a Spirit of the Melon Fields to give him his armour, so you can’t imagine a Wang Xi-feng without a Patience alongside helping her. You are your mistress’s master-key. What does she need to make you carry these things around with you for?’

  Patience laughed embarrassedly.

  ‘You are making fun of me, Mrs Zhu. I’m afraid you’ve had too much to drink.’

  ‘No, it’s true,’ said Bao-chai. ‘Whenever we start gossiping about personalities, we nearly always end up by agreeing what exceptional people you and the other chief maids are. And all exceptional in your own different ways, too – that’s what’s so interesting.’

  ‘It’s almost as though Nature had in each case designed the mistress and the maid to suit each other,’ said Li Wan. ‘Take Grandmother and Faithful, for example. Grandmother would be completely lost without Faithful. Who in the family from Lady Wang downwards would ever dare answer Grandmother back? Yet Faithful does. And what’s more, Grandmother will listen to her. And look at all the things that Grandmother has. No one else could ever remember them the way that Faithful can. Just think how Grandmother would be plundered and cheated if Faithful weren’t there to look after them. And on top of it all, she’s a very fair person. She’ll often put in a good word for someone. And though she has so much influence with Grandmother, she never, never uses it to do anyone else down.’

  Xi-chun smiled.

  ‘Yesterday when Grannie was talking about Faithful she said, “She’s better than all you grandchildren!” ’

  ‘Faithful’s a good sort,’ said Patience. ‘I don’t consider myself in her class at all.’

  ‘Mother’s Suncloud is a good, honest soul,’ said Bao-yu.

  ‘She certainly is,’ said Tan-chun. ‘She’s got a mind of her own, though. You know what a Holy Buddha Mother is: she doesn’t notice a half of what goes on around her. But Suncloud does. And she is the one who always has to remind Mother about everything. She even knows about outside matters. When Father is at home, it’s Suncloud who has to remind Mother about them when she forgets.’

  ‘I don’t know about Mother and Suncloud,’ said Li Wan, ‘but what about this young gentleman here?’ She pointed to Bao-yu. ‘Can you imagine the sort of state he would be in if he hadn’t got his Aroma to look after him? And Feng too. Even though she’s a regular Tyrant King, she still needs her Patience in order to be so efficient, just as much as the real Tyrant King needed his two strong arms in order to be able to lift up those hundredweight tripods.’

  ‘There were four of us when I first came here with Mrs Lian,’ said Patience, ‘but the others all either died or left. I’m the only one who’s stayed with her all along.’

  ‘You’re lucky then,’ said Li Wan. ‘And Feng is lucky, too. When I first came here to Mr Zhu, I had several maids, too, but – I don’t know why it was, for I’m sure you wouldn’t call me a hard mistress – they were always dissatisfied. So when Mr Zhu died, I took advantage of their being still young to get rid of them all. If only I’d had a dependable girl like you that I could have kept on with me, I shouldn’t feel quite so helpless now.’

  Her eyes began to redden as she said this, and she seemed about to cry.

  ‘Oh, come now!’ said the others. ‘There’s no need to upset yourself. If you’re going to be like this, we might just as well break up the party.’

  They did in fact begin washing their hands then and presently decided to go off in a body to pay their duty calls on Grandmother Jia and Lady Wang. Meanwhile the old women and maids busied themselves with sweeping out the pavilion and stacking and washing up the cups and dishes.

  Aroma left in the company of Patience. On the way back she asked Patience into Green Delights. She made her sit down and invited her to take tea, but Patience declined, saying that she would drop in another time, and rose to go. Aroma had something to ask her, however, and called after her as she was going.

  ‘What’s happened to this month’s allowances?’ she said. ‘Even Her Old Ladyship’s and Her Ladyship’s people haven’t had theirs yet.’

  Patience spun round when she heard this and came back again.

  ‘Don’t ask me about that, please!’ she said in a low, agitated voice, after first glancing round to make sure that no one else was present. ‘Whatever it is, you’ll only have another day or two to wait, I promise you.’

  Aroma was amused to see her so agitated.

  ‘Why, what’s the matter? Why should you be in such a state about it?’

  Patience dropped her voice even lower.

  ‘Mrs Lian has already put the money for this month’s allowances out at interest. She’s waiting for the interest on some of her other loans to pay your allowances with. It’s all right for me to tell you this, but whatever you do, don’t let anyone else know about it!’

  Aroma laughed.

  ‘But she’s not short of money, she’s got plenty. What does she want to go giving herself all this extra worry for?’

  ‘She’s certainly not short of money,’ said Patience. ‘Just in the few years since she started doing this, the amount
she has got out on loan must have grown to several hundred times the original premium. And she doesn’t spend all of her own allowance, either. Whenever she’s got nine or ten taels saved up out of it, she invests them too. Why, just her profits alone after she’s deducted the allowances from the interest must be in the region of a thousand taels a year.’

  ‘You and your mistress are a nice pair, I must say!’ said Aroma. Keeping the rest of us short while you use our money to feather your own nests with! ’

  ‘That’s most unfair!’ said Patience indignantly. ‘Any way, I’m sure you can’t really be short of money.’

  ‘Not myself, it’s true,’ said Aroma. ‘In any case, I haven’t got anything to spend it on. I was thinking more of my young gentleman. I like to keep some by me in case he ever needs any.’

  ‘Look, if you’re in urgent need of money, I’ve got a few taels put by myself that I can let you have,’ said Patience. ‘You can have them as an advance on this month’s allowance, if you like.’

  ‘I don’t really need any at the moment,’ said Aroma, ‘but may I take you up on your offer if I ever do?’

  ‘Of course,’ said Patience, and left without further ceremony.

  Outside the courtyard gate a maid from Xi-feng’s was looking for her.

  ‘The Mistress wants to see you about something.’

  ‘What has she got so urgent that she has to keep pestering me like this?’ said Patience. ‘I’ve just had Mrs Zhu all over me to make me stay and talk to her. It’s not as if I’d run away.’

  ‘Better ask her yourself,’ said the girl. ‘It wasn’t my idea to fetch you.’

  ‘Cheeky devil!’ said Patience, and continued on her way.

  When she got there, however, it was not Xi-feng she found waiting for her, but the old countrywoman she had admitted on a previous occasion as a suppliant, Grannie Liu, with her little grandson Ban-er. They were sitting in the side room on the kang with Zhang Cai’s wife and Zhou Rui’s wife on either side of them, while maids were emptying sacks of jujubes, melons and other farm produce on the floor below. The company rose hurriedly to their feet as Patience entered. Grannie Liu, who recognized her from her last visit, scrambled down from the kang and greeted her at once as ‘Miss Patience’ without any of the previous time’s confusion.

  ‘The family all send their regards, Miss. They’d have come themselves long since to see you and pay their respects to their Aunt Lian, only they’ve been too busy with the farm-work. Anyways, they’ve had a good harvest this year, thanks be, and it’s been a good year for the fruit and vegetables. This here that I’ve brought is the first pickings. We didn’t like to sell them, because we wanted our first-fruits to go to Mrs Lian and the young ladies. We thought that mayhap eating the rarities of earth and sea every day of their lives they might sometimes tire of delicate food and fancy a bit of plain country stuff for a change. Anyway, there you are! It’s a poor gift, but it’s given with a warm heart!’

  ‘It’s very good of you to have brought it,’ said Patience, and begged her to be seated, sitting down herself as she did so. She invited Zhou Rui’s wife and Zhang Cai’s wife to be seated as well, and ordered one of the junior maids to pour tea.

  Mesdames Zhou and Zhang chaffed her on her appearance.

  ‘You’ve got the spring in your face, Miss. Your eyes are all red.’

  Patience laughed.

  ‘I know. I don’t drink normally, but today Mrs Zhu and the young ladies got hold of me and just forced it down me. I was made to drink, against my will. That’s why my face is so red.’

  ‘Well I don’t know,’ said Zhang Cai’s wife. ‘Here’s me just dying for a drink, but nobody offers me one. Next time anyone invites you, Miss, you must take me with you.’

  The others laughed.

  ‘I saw those crabs this morning,’ said Zhou Rui’s wife. ‘Great big things. There couldn’t have been more than two or three to a catty. And I should think altogether there must have been seventy or eighty catties in those hampers. Even so,’ she said reflectively, ‘there probably wouldn’t have been enough for all the staff to have some.’

  ‘Lots of them didn’t,’ said Patience. ‘It was only the top ones that got one or two crabs to themselves. The rest of them only got a taste – some of them not even that.’

  ‘Good crabs like that are selling at a pennyweight a catty this year,’ said Grannie Liu. ‘If one catty is a pennyweight, fifty catties is two taels ten, and another thirty is one and ten; ten and two is twelve and twice ten is a tael, that’s thirteen, and then there’s the wine and the other dishes. It couldn’t have cost less than twenty taels in all. Bless us and save us! that’d keep a farmer and his family for a year!’

  ‘I take it you’ve already seen Mrs Lian,’ said Patience.

  ‘Yes,’ said Grannie Liu. ‘She told us to wait.’

  She glanced through the open window as she said this and noticed that the day was drawing on towards evening.

  ‘It’s getting dark earlier these days,’ she said. ‘We’d better be on our way. We don’t want to find the city gates shut, or we shall be in a proper pickle.’

  ‘Just wait while I slip over and find out what the Mistress is up to,’ said Zhou Rui’s wife. She left the room and was gone for some considerable time. When she eventually returned, she was full of smiles.

  ‘It’s Grannie’s lucky day,’ she said. ‘She’s struck lucky with both of them.’

  ‘How do you mean?’ said Patience.

  ‘Well,’ said Zhou Rui’s wife, ‘Mrs Lian was with Her Old Ladyship when I got there, so I went up to her and told her on the side that Grannie wanted to go now to make sure of getting to the gates in time. “Oh,” she said, “she came such a long way with all that stuff. If it’s getting late, she’d better spend the night here and leave tomorrow morning.” Well, that was one piece of luck; but that’s nothing to what followed, because Her Old Ladyship had overheard this and asked her who this “Grannie Liu” was, and when Mrs Lian told her, she said, “Oh, I’ve been just longing for someone with a bit of age and experience to talk to! Bring her here! Introduce her to me!” Now that really was a stroke of luck!’ She urged Grannie Liu to leave her place on the kang and go over to the other apartment; but the old countrywoman was seized with a sudden attack of shyness.

  ‘Look at me! Dear soul, I’m in no fit state to see her now! Tell her I’ve already left!’

  ‘Go on, you go and see her!’ said Patience. ‘It’ll be all right. Our old lady is always very nice to poor or elderly people She’s not the least bit pretentious or stuck-up like some I could mention. If you’re nervous about meeting high-ups, Mrs Zhou and I will go with you to give you confidence.’

  She proceeded, with Mrs Zhou’s assistance, to conduct the old woman to her interview.

  When they saw Patience coming out of the courtyard, the pages on duty at the gate stood up, and two of them came running up to her.

  ‘Miss! Miss!’

  ‘What’s it this time?’ said Patience.

  ‘I’ve been waiting to catch you for hours, Miss,’ said the first of the boys. ‘My ma’s took ill and I’ve got to go and fetch the doctor for her. Will it be all right if I take the night off?’

  ‘You’re a nice lot!’ said Patience. ‘It’s my belief that you’ve got it all worked out between you so that one of you gets a holiday every day. And instead of telling the Mistress properly, as you’re supposed to do, you come round to me with these sad stories and make me take the responsibility. When Stoppo did this the other day, the Master called for him while he was still away and I got into trouble by speaking up for him. The Master accused me of doing favours. And now you want to do the same thing.’

  ‘His ma really is ill, Miss,’ said Zhou Rui’s wife. ‘I’m sure it would be in order for you to let him go.’

  ‘All right, then. But mind you’re back first thing tomorrow,’ Patience told the boy. ‘Now you heard that, didn’t you? First thing. Because I’ve got work for you to do. No
lying in bed until you can feel the sun on your backside! And I want you to take a message to Brightie for me on the way. Tell him the Mistress says that if he hasn’t handed in the rest of that interest by tomorrow, she won’t ask him for it again, because she’ll know that he’s keeping it for himself.’

  The boy promised to deliver the message and scampered off, delighted to be released.

  By the time Patience and her charges arrived at Grandmother Jia’s apartment, all the young denizens of Prospect Garden had for some time been assembled there in attendance, so that as Grannie Liu entered the room, she was confronted by a bevy of unfamiliar young ladies, all resplendent in ornaments of pearl and kingfisher, like a bed of beautiful flowers, none of which she could give a name to. In their midst a venerable old lady reclined on a couch. A young woman, pretty as a picture and dressed in silk and satin from top to toe, sat behind her, gently pounding her legs. Xi-feng, the only person there she could recognize, was standing to one side of her, evidently in the midst of telling her something amusing. Deducing that the old lady on the couch must be Grandmother Jia, Grannie Liu hurried up to her and made her an antique curtsey.

  ‘Your servant, my lady!’

  Grandmother Jia inclined herself politely from the couch and asked Zhou Rui’s wife to bring up a chair for her to sit on. Ban-er, bashful as ever, would not attempt a greeting.

  ‘Now, old kinswoman,’ said Grandmother Jia, ‘and what would your age be?’

  ‘Seventy-five this year,’ said Grannie Liu.

  Grandmother Jia turned round to the others present.

  ‘That’s several years older than me. Fancy still being so fit and lively! Heaven only knows what I shall be like at that age!’

  Grannie Liu laughed.

  ‘I was born for a hard life, d’ye see, just as Your Ladyship was born for a soft one. We couldn’t all be like Your Ladyship, or there’d be no one to do the farming.’

  ‘Are your eyes and teeth still good?’ Grandmother Jia asked her.

  ‘All bar a back tooth on the left-hand side that’s getting a bit loose this year.’