The Dream of the Red Chamber (Selection)

  "After you've had tea," old lady Chia thereupon said to Hsiang-yün, "you'd better rest a while and then go and see your sisters-in-law. Besides, it's cool in the garden, so you can walk about with your cousins."

  Hsiang-yün expressed her assent, and, collecting the three rings, she wrapped them up, and went and lay down to rest. Presently, she got up with the idea of paying visits to lady Feng and her other relatives. Followed by a whole bevy of nurses and waiting-maids, she repaired into lady Feng's quarters on the off side. She bandied words with her for a while and then coming out she betook herself into the garden of Broad Vista, and called on Li Kung-ts'ai. But after a short visit, she turned her steps towards the I Hung court to look up Hsi Jen. "You people needn't," she said, turning her head round, "come along with me! You may go and see your friends and relatives. It will be quite enough if you simply leave Ts'ui Lü to wait upon me."

  Hearing her wishes, each went her own way in quest of aunts, or sisters-in-law. There only remained but Hsiang-yün and Ts'ui Lü.

  "How is it," inquired Ts'ui Lü, "that these lotus flowers have not yet opened?"

  "The proper season hasn't yet arrived," rejoined Shih Hsiang-yün.

  "They too," continued Ts'ui Lü, "resemble those in our pond; they are double flowers."

  "These here," remarked Hsiang-yün, "are not however up to ours."

  "They have over there," observed Ts'ui Lü, "a pomegranate tree, with four or five branches joined one to another, just like one storey raised above another storey. What trouble it must have cost them to rear!"

  "Flowers and plants," suggested Shih Hsiang-yün, "are precisely like the human race. With sufficient vitality, they grow up in a healthy condition."

  "I can't credit these words," replied Ts'ui Lü, twisting her face round. "If you maintain that they are like human beings, how is it that I haven't seen any person, with one head growing over another."

  This rejoinder evoked a smile from Hsiang-yün. "I tell you not to talk," she cried, "but you will insist upon talking! How do you expect people to be able to answer every thing you say! All things, whether in heaven or on earth come into existence by the co-operation of the dual powers, the male and female. So all things, whether good or bad, novel or strange, and all those manifold changes and transformations arise entirely from the favourable or adverse influence exercised by the male and female powers. And though some things seldom seen by mankind might come to life, the principle at work is, after all, the same."

  "In the face of these arguments," laughed Ts'ui Lü, "everything, from old till now, from the very creation itself, embodies a certain proportion of the Yin and Yang principles."

  "You stupid thing!" exclaimed Hsiang-yün smiling, "the more you talk, the more stuff and nonsense falls from your lips! What about everything embodying a certain proportion of the principles Yin and Yang! Besides, the two words Yin and Yang are really one word; for when the Yang principle is exhausted, it becomes the Yin; and when the Yin is exhausted, it becomes Yang. And it isn't that, at the exhaustion of the Yin, another Yang comes into existence; and that, at the exhaustion of the Yang, a second Yin arises."

  "This trash is sufficient to kill me!" ejaculated Ts'ui Lü. "What are the Yin and Yang? Why, they are without substance or form! But pray, Miss, tell me what sort of things these Yin and Yang can be!"

  "The Yin and Yang," explained Hsiang-yün, "are no more than spirits, but anything affected by their influence at once assumes form. The heavens, for instance, are Yang, and the earth is Yin; water is Yin and fire is Yang; the sun is Yang and the moon Yin."

  "Quite so! quite so!" cried out Ts'ui Lü, much amused by these explanations, "I've at length attained perception! It isn't strange then that people invariably call the sun 'T'ai-yang.' While astrologers keep on speaking of the moon as 'T'ai-yin-hsing,' or something like it. It must be on account of this principle."

  "O-mi-to-fu!" laughed Hsiang-yün, "you have at last understood!"

  "All these things possess the Yin and Yang; that's all right." T'sui Lü put in. "But is there any likelihood that all those mosquitoes, flees and worms, flowers, herbs, bricks and tiles have, in like manner, anything to do with the Yin and Yang?"

  "How don't they!" exclaimed Hsiang-yün. "For example, even the leaves of that tree are distinguished by Yin and Yang. The side, which looks up and faces the sun, is called Yang; while that in the shade and looking downwards, is called Yin."

  "Is it really so!" ejaculated T'sui Lü, upon hearing this; while she smiled and nodded her head. "Now I know all about it! But which is Yang and which Yin in these fans we're holding."

  "This side, the front, is Yang," answered Hsiang-yün; "and that, the reverse, is Yin."

  Ts'ui Lü went on to nod her head, and to laugh. She felt inclined to apply her questions to several other things, but as she could not fix her mind upon anything in particular, she, all of a sudden, drooped her head. Catching sight of the pendant in gold, representing a unicorn, which Hsiang-yün had about her person, she forthwith made allusion to it. "This, Miss," she said smiling, "cannot likely also have any Yin and Yang!"

  "The beasts of the field and the birds of the air," proceeded Hsiang-yün, "are, the cock birds, Yang, and the hen birds, Yin. The females of beasts are Yin; and the males, Yang; so how is there none?"

  "Is this male, or is this female?" inquired Ts'ui Lü.

  "Ts'ui!" exclaimed Hsiang-yün, "what about male and female! Here you are with your nonsense again."

  "Well, never mind about that," added Ts'ui Lü, "But how is it that all things have Yin and Yang, and that we human beings have no Yin and no Yang?"

  Hsiang-yün then lowered her face. "You low-bred thing!" she exclaimed. "But it's better for us to proceed on our way, for the more questions you ask, the nicer they get."

  "What's there in this that you can't tell me?" asked Ts'ui Lü, "But I know all about it, so there's no need for you to keep me on pins and needles."

  Hsiang-yün blurted out laughing. "What do you know?" she said.

  "That you, Miss, are Yang, and that I'm Yin," answered Ts'ui Lü.

  Hsiang-yün produced her handkerchief, and, while screening her mouth with it, burst out into a loud fit of laughter.

  "What I say must be right for you to laugh in this way," Ts'ui Lü observed.

  "Perfectly right, perfectly right!" acquiesced Hsiang-yün.

  "People say," continued Ts'ui Lü, "that masters are Yang, and that servant-girls are Yin; don't I even apprehend this primary principle?"

  "You apprehend it thoroughly," responded Hsiang-yün laughingly. But while she was speaking, she espied, under the trellis with the cinnamon roses, something glistening like gold. "Do you see that? What is it?" Hsiang-yün asked pointing at it.

  Hearing this, Ts'ui Lü hastily went over and picked up the object. While scrutinising it, she observed with a smile, "Let us find out whether it's Yin or Yang!"

  So saying, she first laid hold of the unicorn, belonging to Shih Hsiang-yün, and passed it under inspection.

  Shih Hsiang-yün longed to be shown what she had picked up, but Ts'ui Lü would not open her hand.

  "It's a precious gem," she smiled. "You mayn't see it, Miss. Where can it be from? How very strange it is! I've never seen any one in here with anything of the kind."

  "Give it to me and let me look at it," retorted Hsiang-yün.

  Ts'ui Lü stretched out her hand with a dash. "Yes, Miss, please look at it!" she laughed.

  Hsiang-yün raised her eyes. She perceived, at a glance, that it was a golden unicorn, so beautiful and so bright; and so much larger and handsomer than the one she had on. Hsiang-yün put out her arm and, taking the gem in the palm of her hand, she fell into a silent reverie and uttered not a word. She was quite absent-minded when suddenly Pao-yü appeared in the opposite direction.

  "What are you two," he asked smiling, "doing here in the sun? How is it you don't go and find Hsi Jen?"

  Shih Hsiang-yün precipitately concealed the unicorn. "We were
just going," she replied, "so let us all go together."

  Conversing, they, in a company, wended their steps into the I Hung court. Hsi Jen was leaning on the balustrade at the bottom of the steps, her face turned to the breeze. Upon unexpectedly seeing Hsiang-yün arrive she with alacrity rushed down to greet her; and taking her hand in hers, they cheerfully canvassed the events that had transpired during their separation, while they entered the room and took a seat.

  "You should have come earlier," Pao-yü said. "I've got something nice and was only waiting for you."

  Saying this, he searched and searched about his person. After a long interval, "Ai-ya!" he ejaculated. "Have you perchance put that thing away?" he eagerly asked Hsi Jen.

  "What thing?" inquired Hsi Jen.

  "The unicorn," explained Pao-yü, "I got the other day."

  "You've daily worn it about you, and how is it you ask me?" remarked Hsi Jen.

  As soon as her answer fell on his ear, Pao-yü clapped his hands. "I've lost it!" he cried. "Where can I go and look for it!" There and then, he meant to go and search in person; but Shih Hsiang-yün heard his inquiries, and concluded that it must be he who had lost the gem. "When did you too," she promptly smiled, "get a unicorn?"

  "I got it the other day, after ever so much trouble;" rejoined Pao-yü, "but I can't make out when I can have lost it! I've also become quite addle-headed."

  "Fortunately," smiled Shih Hsiang-yün, "it's only a sort of a toy! Still, are you so careless?" While speaking, she flung open her hand. "Just see," she laughed, "is it this or not?"

  As soon as he saw it, Pao-yü was seized with unwonted delight. But, reader, if you care to know the cause of his delight, peruse the explanation contained in the next chapter.

  Chapter XXXII

  *

  Hsi Jen and Hsiang-yün tell their secret thoughts. Tai-yü is infatuated with the living Pao-yü.

  While trying to conceal her sense of shame and injury Chin Ch'uan is driven by her impetuous feelings to seek death.

  But to resume our narrative. At the sight of the unicorn, Pao-yü was filled with intense delight. So much so, that he forthwith put out his hand and made a grab for it. "Lucky enough it was you who picked it up!" he said, with a face beaming with smiles. "But when did you find it?"

  "Fortunately it was only this!" rejoined Shih Hsiang-yün laughing. "If you by and bye also lose your seal, will you likely banish it at once from your mind, and never make an effort to discover it?"

  "After all," smiled Pao-yü, "the loss of a seal is an ordinary occurrence. But had I lost this, I would have deserved to die."

  Hsi Jen then poured a cup of tea and handed it to Shih Hsiang-yün. "Miss Senior," she remarked smilingly, "I heard that you had occasion the other day to be highly pleased."

  Shih Hsiang-yün flushed crimson. She went on drinking her tea and did not utter a single word.

  "Here you are again full of shame!" Hsi Jen smiled. "But do you remember when we were living, about ten years back, in those warm rooms on the west side and you confided in me one evening, you didn't feel any shame then; and how is it you blush like this now?"

  "Do you still speak about that!" exclaimed Shih Hsiang-yün laughingly. "You and I were then great friends. But when our mother subsequently died and I went home for a while, how is it you were at once sent to be with my cousin Secundus, and that now that I've come back you don't treat me as you did once?"

  "Are you yet harping on this!" retorted Hsi Jen, putting on a smile. "Why, at first, you used to coax me with a lot of endearing terms to comb your hair and to wash your face, to do this and that for you. But now that you've become a big girl, you assume the manner of a young mistress towards me, and as you put on these airs of a young mistress, how can I ever presume to be on a familiar footing with you?"

  "O-mi-to-fu," cried Shih Hsiang-yün. "What a false accusation! If I be guilty of anything of the kind, may I at once die! Just see what a broiling hot day this is, and yet as soon as I arrived I felt bound to come and look you up first. If you don't believe me, well, ask Lü Erh! And while at home, when did I not at every instant say something about you?"

  Scarcely had she concluded than Hsi Jen and Pao-yü tried to soothe her. "We were only joking," they said, "but you've taken everything again as gospel. What! are you still so impetuous in your temperament!"

  "You don't say," argued Shih Hsiang-yün, "that your words are hard things to swallow, but contrariwise, call people's temperaments impetuous!"

  As she spoke, she unfolded her handkerchief and, producing a ring, she gave it to Hsi Jen.

  Hsi Jen did not know how to thank her enough. "When;" she consequently smiled, "you sent those to your cousin the other day, I got one also; and here you yourself bring me another to-day! It's clear enough therefore that you haven't forgotten me. This alone has been quite enough to test you. As for the ring itself, what is its worth? but it's a token of the sincerity of your heart!"

  "Who gave it to you?" inquired Shih Hsiang-yün.

  "Miss Pao let me have it." replied Hsi Jen.

  "I was under the impression," remarked Hsiang-yün with a sigh, "that it was a present from cousin Lin. But is it really cousin Pao, that gave it to you! When I was at home, I day after day found myself reflecting that among all these cousins of mine, there wasn't one able to compare with cousin Pao, so excellent is she. How I do regret that we are not the offspring of one mother! For could I boast of such a sister of the same flesh and blood as myself, it wouldn't matter though I had lost both father and mother!"

  While indulging in these regrets, her eyes got quite red.

  "Never mind! never mind!" interposed Pao-yü. "Why need you speak of these things!"

  "If I do allude to this," answered Shih Hsiang-yün, "what does it matter? I know that weak point of yours. You're in fear and trembling lest your cousin Lin should come to hear what I say, and get angry with me again for eulogising cousin Pao! Now isn't it this, eh!"

  "Ch'ih!" laughed Hsi Jen, who was standing by her. "Miss Yün," she said, "now that you've grown up to be a big girl you've become more than ever openhearted and outspoken."

  "When I contend;" smiled Pao-yü, "that it is difficult to say a word to any one of you I'm indeed perfectly correct!"

  "My dear cousin," observed Shih Hsiang-yün laughingly, "don't go on in that strain! You'll provoke me to displeasure. When you are with me all you are good for is to talk and talk away; but were you to catch a glimpse of cousin Lin, you would once more be quite at a loss to know what best to do!"

  "Now, enough of your jokes!" urged Hsi Jen. "I have a favour to crave of you."

  "What is it?" vehemently inquired Shih Hsiang-yün.

  "I've got a pair of shoes," answered Hsi Jen, "for which I've stuck the padding together; but I'm not feeling up to the mark these last few days, so I haven't been able to work at them. If you have any leisure, do finish them for me."

  "This is indeed strange!" exclaimed Shih Hsiang-yün. "Putting aside all the skilful workers engaged in your household, you have besides some people for doing needlework and others for tailoring and cutting; and how is it you appeal to me to take your shoes in hand? Were you to ask any one of those men to execute your work, who could very well refuse to do it?"

  "Here you are in another stupid mood!" laughed Hsi Jen. "Can it be that you don't know that our sewing in these quarters mayn't be done by these needleworkers."

  At this reply, it at once dawned upon Shih Hsiang-yün that the shoes must be intended for Pao-yü. "Since that be the case," she in consequence smiled; "I'll work them for you. There's however one thing. I'll readily attend to any of yours, but I will have nothing to do with any for other people."

  "There you are again!" laughed Hsi Jen. "Who am I to venture to trouble you to make shoes for me? I'll tell you plainly, however, that they are not mine. But no matter whose they are, it is anyhow I who'll be the recipient of your favour; that is sufficient."

  "To speak the truth," rejoined Shih Hsiang-yün, "you
've put me to the trouble of working, I don't know how many things for you. The reason why I refuse on this occasion should be quite evident to you!"

  "I can't nevertheless make it out!" answered Hsi Jen.

  "I heard the other day," continued Shih Hsiang-yün, a sardonic smile on her lip, "that while the fan-case, I had worked, was being held and compared with that of some one else, it too was slashed away in a fit of high dudgeon. This reached my ears long ago, and do you still try to dupe me by asking me again now to make something more for you? Have I really become a slave to you people?

  "As to what occurred the other day," hastily explained Pao-yü smiling, "I positively had no idea that that thing was your handiwork."

  "He never knew that you'd done it," Hsi Jen also laughed. "I deceived him by telling him that there had been of late some capital hands at needlework outside, who could execute any embroidery with surpassing beauty, and that I had asked them to bring a fan-case so as to try them and to see whether they could actually work well or not. He at once believed what I said. But as he produced the case and gave it to this one and that one to look at, he somehow or other, I don't know how, managed again to put some one's back up, and she cut it into two. On his return, however, he bade me hurry the men to make another; and when at length I explained to him that it had been worked by you, he felt, I can't tell you, what keen regret!"

  "This is getting stranger and stranger!" said Shih Hsiang-yün. "It wasn't worth the while for Miss Lin to lose her temper about it. But as she plies the scissors so admirably, why, you might as well tell her to finish the shoes for you."

  "She couldn't," replied Hsi Jen, "for besides other things our venerable lady is still in fear and trembling lest she should tire herself in any way. The doctor likewise says that she will continue to enjoy good health, so long as she is carefully looked after; so who would wish to ask her to take them in hand? Last year she managed to just get through a scented bag, after a whole year's work. But here we've already reached the middle of the present year, and she hasn't yet taken up any needle or thread!"