The Debt of Tears

  Suddenly two cats started wailing to each other on the roof above her head. The words Bao-yu had spoken to her that afternoon came flashing into her mind. She felt an involuntary racing of the heart, her ears burned. Making a determined effort to compose herself, she went back into her meditation room and sat down again on her couch. Her efforts were in vain. Something was overpowering her. She felt ten thousand horses stampeding through her head. The couch itself seemed to start swaying, and her body seemed to leave the Hermitage. She was surrounded by handsome young noblemen, all asking for her hand in marriage. There were matchmakers hustling her towards a bridal carriage against her will. Then the scene changed again. Now she was being kidnapped. A gang of ruffians with swords and clubs was threatening her, mauling her. She started screaming for help.

  By now the old nuns and lay-sisters were wide awake, and had come hurrying into the hall with candles to discover the cause of the disturbance. They found her lying on the ground, with her arms outstretched, frothing at the mouth. She was woken from this apparent coma, only to fix her eyes into a rigid stare and cry out, her cheeks burning a fierce crimson:

  ‘Buddha is my Protector! Don’t touch me, you ruffians!’

  The women were too scared to do anything but call out:

  ‘Wake up! Wake up! We’re here now!’

  ‘I want to go home!’ replied Adamantina. ‘Who’ll be my friend and take me home?’

  ‘But this is your home!’

  While the others stayed talking to her, one of the nuns was sent to pray at the shrine of the Goddess of Mercy. She shook the bamboo-box of tallies kept by the altar, and on consulting the relevant passage in the divination-book read that the Yin spirit of the south-west corner had been offended.

  ‘Of course!’ exclaimed one of the others, when she reported back. ‘The south-west corner of the Garden was originally uninhabited, so it would be sure to contain a high concentration of Yin essence.’

  Some busied themselves making soup, others brought water. One of the nuns, who had come with Adamantina from the South and was for that reason closer and more devoted to her than the others, sat next to her on the couch and put her arms protectively round her. Adamantina turned her head:

  ‘Who’s that?’

  ‘It’s only me.’

  Adamantina looked at her curiously for a minute.

  ‘Oh it really is!’ she cried, and flung her arms round the nun, sobbing hysterically. ‘Oh Mother, save me, or I’m going to die!’

  The nun called out to her in an attempt to bring her to her senses, and began to massage her gently. The old women brought in tea, and they sat up together till dawn when finally Adamantina dozed off. The nun sent for the doctor, and several doctors came and took her pulses. There were as many differing diagnoses as there were doctors. Excessive worry damaging the spleen; phlogistic intrusion into the haematic system; offence caused to an evil spirit; a combination of internal and external chill. None of these seemed conclusive. Finally a doctor came whose first question after reading her pulses was:

  ‘Did the young lady practise meditation?’

  The women informed him that it was a regular thing with her.

  ‘And did this illness develop quite suddenly last night?’

  ‘Yes, it did.’

  ‘Indubitably a case of heat in the cardiac orb affording entrance to a vagrant evil spirit.’

  ‘Will she be all right?’

  ‘Luckily the meditation does not seem to have been too far advanced and the spirit was therefore not able to penetrate too deeply. She will most probably recover.’

  He wrote out a prescription for the Dephlogistication of the Cardiac Orb, after one dose of which Adamantina began to show signs of improvement.

  News of her attack soon spread, and it became a subject of gossip for the lads in town. ‘All that chastity and religion was bound to be too much for a girl of her age. Especially such an attractive, lively thing… Sooner or later she’ll get soft on some lucky fellow and run away.’

  A few days later Adamantina was slightly better. But her concentration seemed to have gone and she often found herself drifting off into a dreamlike state.

  The news did not reach Xi-chun for a few days. She was sitting in her room when Landscape came hurrying in.

  ‘Miss, have you heard what’s happened to Sister Adamantina?’

  ‘No – what is it?’

  ‘I heard Miss Xing and Mrs Zhu talking about it yesterday. Remember that day she was here playing Go? Apparently that very night she had a fit. She was talking about bandits trying to carry her away and all sorts of other strange things. She still hasn’t quite recovered. Don’t you think it’s peculiar?’

  Xi-chun thought silently to herself:

  ‘So for all her fastidious purity, Addie’s worldly karma is still not complete. If only I had been born into a different family! If only I were free to become a nun! I would never be tempted by evil spirits. I know I would be able to subdue every unholy thought and achieve total detachment from the world and all its entanglements.’

  With this thought she experienced a sudden sense of illumination, which she tried to express in the following gātha:

  Since at first there was no space,

  Things can have no proper place.

  From Void all comes;

  To Void must all return.

  She told a maid to light some incense, and meditated for a while. Then she took down her Go Handbook and began looking through it, studying the tactics of such famous Go Masters of old as Kong Rong and Wang Ji-xin. There was ‘Crab Wrapped in Lotus Leaves’, and ‘Golden Oriole Strikes Hare’; but she found neither of these very impressive, and ‘Corner Kill in Thirty Six Moves’ she found too hard to understand and harder still to remember. It was ‘Dragon-chain of Ten Galloping Horses’ that really caught her fancy. She was still working it out, when she heard someone come into the courtyard and call out:

  ‘Landscape!’

  But to know who this visitor was, you must turn to the next chapter.

  Chapter 88

  Bao-yu gratifies his grandmother by praising a fatherless child

  Cousin Zhen rectifies family discipline by chastising two unruly servants

  Xi-chun was puzzling over her Go Handbook when she heard someone calling outside:

  ‘Landscape!’

  She recognized the voice as Faithful’s. Landscape went out into the courtyard, and reappeared with Faithful, followed by a younger maid carrying a small parcel wrapped in yellow silk.

  ‘What’s that?’ asked Xi-chun, her curiosity aroused. Faithful explained.

  ‘Next year is Her Old Ladyship’s eighty-first birthday, and since eighty-one is nine times nine, she has pledged herself to hold a nine-day mass, and to have three thousand six hundred and fifty-one copies made of the Sutra of the Immaculate Diamond. That has all been handed out to copyists. But there is a popular saying: “If the Diamond Sutra is the outer shell of the magic, its core is the Sutra of the Heart of Wisdom.” In other words, to enhance one’s merit, one should slip in a Heart Sutra too. So now Her Old Ladyship wants copies of that as well, and because of its greater importance as scripture and its connection with Our Lady of Mercy, she wants three hundred and sixty-five copies to be done by the young ladies and young mistresses of the family. Apart from Mrs Lian, who’s too busy running the household, and can’t write anyway, all the ladies that can write at all are being given a share in this act of piety and devotion, even Mrs Zhen and Mr Zhen’s other ladies in the Eastern Mansion. Of course, everyone in the inner family will be expected to take part.’

  Xi-chun nodded.

  ‘Sutra-copying is one thing I can do with conviction. Leave it there, will you? Would you like some tea?’ Faithful deposited the little package on the table, and sat down with Xi-chun, while Landscape poured her a cup of tea.

  ‘Will you be doing some copying too?’ asked Xi-chun with a smile.

  ‘Don’t tease, Miss!’ answered Faithful. ‘Three or
four years ago I might have, perhaps. But I’m so out of practice now. When did you last see me with a brush in my hand?’

  ‘But think of the merit you’d acquire.’

  ‘I’ve already seen to that,’ replied Faithful. ‘Every day, after settling Her Old Ladyship down to sleep, I’ve been saying Lord Buddha’s name and counting my “Buddha Rice”. I’ve been collecting the rice-grains for more than three years and putting them by for just such an occasion as this, to dedicate them to Buddha and add my contribution, my little act of charity and devotion, to Her Old Ladyship’s.’

  ‘It sounds as if when Lady Jia becomes Our Lady of Mercy,’ said Xi-chun, ‘you’ll have to be her inseparable companion, the Dragon King’s daughter!’

  ‘Oh no, Miss!’ protested Faithful. ‘That’s too grand for me. It is true though, I could never serve anyone but Her Old Ladyship. I must be bound to her by some karma from a past life.’

  With these words Faithful rose to leave, bidding the younger maid untie the little parcel, and exhibiting its contents to Xi-chun.

  ‘This roll of plain paper is to be used for the sutra. And while you write,’ she went on, handing her a bundle of Tibetan incense-sticks, ‘you are to light one of these.’

  Xi-chun nodded, and Faithful returned with the other maid to Grandmother Jia’s apartment, where she reported on her errand and stood watching the game of backgammon that was in progress between the old lady and Li Wan. Li Wan with her next throw removed several of Grandmother Jia’s pins to the bar, and Faithful had difficulty in keeping a straight face.

  They were presently distracted from their game by the arrival of Bao-yu, carrying in each hand a little bamboo-splint cage containing crickets.

  ‘I heard you weren’t sleeping very well, Grannie,’ he said, ‘so I brought you these to help you relax.’

  Grandmother Jia laughed.

  ‘You naughty boy! Just because your father’s not at home…’

  When he protested his innocence, Grandmother Jia asked:

  ‘Why aren’t you at school then? What are you up to with those things anyway?’

  ‘They weren’t my idea, Grannie,’ explained Bao-yu. ‘What happened was that a day or two ago Huan and Lan each had a couplet to complete in class, and as Huan got stuck, I whispered something to help him out. When he recited it, the Preceptor was impressed and praised him highly for it. Huan bought me the crickets as a thank-you present. I should like to give them to you.’

  ‘Hasn’t that boy been doing any work, for heaven’s sake!’ exclaimed Grandmother Jia. ‘Surely he can manage a couplet on his own? If not, then he deserves a good spanking from the Preceptor. It might teach him a thing or two. As for you, have you forgotten the state you got into when your father was at home and asked you for a few lines of verse? Don’t you go getting too full of yourself now. What a little rascal that Huan is! To go begging for help, and then look around for a nice present to butter you up with! He certainly seems precocious enough when it comes to cheating – he should be ashamed of himself! Heaven alone knows how he’ll turn out when he grows up…’

  A ripple of laughter spread through the room.

  ‘But tell me about young Lan,’ went on Grandmother Jia. ‘How did he manage? As the youngest, strictly speaking he should have been helped by Huan…’

  Bao-yu detected the note of sarcasm in her voice and laughed.

  ‘Oh no! He didn’t need any help. He could manage on his own.’

  ‘I don’t believe you!’ said Grandmother Jia. ‘It was you at your tricks again, I’ll be bound. Hark at you! A camel among sheep! Just because you’re so grown-up now, and so good at your compositions…’

  Bao-yu smiled.

  ‘No, seriously, Lan managed perfectly well on his own. The Preceptor was very pleased and said he had a brilliant future ahead of him. If you don’t believe me, Grannie, send for him and test him yourself.’

  ‘If that is the truth,’ said Grandmother Jia, ‘then I am overjoyed to hear it. But I have a feeling that you are making it all up. If he really can do such things at his age, he may well distinguish himself when he grows up.’

  She looked at Li Wan, and thought of Lan’s father Jia Zhu.

  ‘What a consolation that would be for your elder brother’s death,’ she went on, addressing Bao-yu again. ‘And what a well-earned reward for all his mother’s efforts in bringing him up! In time he will be a pillar of support to the family, as his father would have been!’

  The thought brought tears to her eyes. Li Wan was also moved, but seeing the old lady becoming somewhat emotional, she checked her own tears and said with a brave smile:

  ‘Whatever good fortune we may enjoy, Grannie, we owe it all to you. I only pray that Lan will live up to your expectations and bring fortune to the whole family. His progress should be a source of joy. Please don’t go upsetting yourself.’

  She turned to Bao-yu.

  ‘And please don’t you go giving him exaggerated ideas of his achievements, Bao. He is only a child, remember. He may take you seriously and not realize that you are only trying to encourage him; and then he will become proud and conceited and never do well.’

  ‘Well said, my dear,’ commented Grandmother Jia. ‘But remember too that he is still very young and should not be driven too hard. Children only have a certain amount of strength. Push them too soon and you can ruin them. Then they may never be able to study properly, and all your efforts will have been in vain.’

  Li Wan could contain herself no longer and burst into floods of tears. As she was hurriedly drying her eyes, Jia Huan and Jia Lan came into the room to pay their evening respects to Grandmother Jia. Lan then greeted his mother and returned to stand respectfully at his great-grandmother’s side.

  ‘I have just been hearing from your uncle Bao,’ said Grandmother Jia, ‘how well you did with your couplet, and what praises you won from the Preceptor.’

  Lan smiled modestly. Faithful now came over to say that dinner was ready.

  ‘I want to invite Mrs Xue,’ said Grandmother Jia, and Amber promptly sent a maid over to Lady Wang’s apartment. Bao-yu and Jia Huan withdrew from the room, while Li Wan’s maid Candida and the younger maids came forward to clear away the backgammon pieces. Li Wan stayed to wait on Grandmother Jia, and Jia Lan stood at his mother’s side.

  ‘The two of you can stay to dinner with me,’ said Grandmother Jia.

  ‘Yes Grandmother,’ replied Li Wan. A minute or two later dinner was brought in, and the maid returned from Lady Wang’s apartment with the following message:

  ‘Her Ladyship says that Mrs Xue will not be able to come. She was only over on a short visit and went home after lunch.’

  Grandmother Jia told Jia Lan to occupy the seat next to her. Our narrative omits any further details of that evening’s meal. After dinner, when she had washed her hands and rinsed her mouth, Grandmother Jia reclined on her couch and chatted idly with her granddaughter-in-law and great-grandson. A junior maid came in and asked Amber to say that Mr Zhen (who, in the temporary absence of Jia Zheng and Jia Lian, had that day been supervising business at Rong-guo House) was waiting outside to pay his evening respects.

  Tell him that I have been informed,’ said Grandmother Jia, ‘but that he need not bother to come in. He can go home and rest. He must be tired after the day’s work.’

  The maid relayed this to the old women outside, Cousin Zhen was informed, and returned to Ning-guo House.

  *

  The following day he came over again to Rong-guo House, to see to the day’s business. After the pages on the gate had produced a series of miscellaneous matters for his attention, it was reported by another page that the farm-bailiff had arrived with the seasonal produce. Cousin Zhen asked to see the inventory, which was presented to him by the page, and he proceeded to read through the various items, mostly fresh fruit, with some game and vegetables.

  ‘Who usually looks after this department?’ asked Cousin Zhen.

  ‘Zhou Rui, sir.’

/>   Zhou Rui was summoned and Cousin Zhen instructed him:

  ‘Check through all the items on this list and have them delivered. Have a copy made for my reference. And tell the kitchen to cook some extra dishes when they are preparing lunch for the servants. The bailiff is to have something to eat before he goes, and the usual tip.’

  ‘Yes sir.’

  Zhou Rui told the servants to carry the goods into Xi-feng’s courtyard, and gave instructions for them to be checked against the inventory. Then he went off, only to reappear shortly afterwards before Cousin Zhen:

  ‘Excuse me sir, have you checked the entries yet?’

  ‘Do you think I have time to do that?’ replied Cousin Zhen impatiently. ‘I have given you the list and leave the matter entirely in your hands.’

  ‘I have checked all the items through to the best of my ability sir, and everything seems in order. But perhaps you would like to send for the bailiff, as you have a copy yourself, to make sure the list is genuine…’

  ‘What a lot of fuss over a bit of fruit!’ exclaimed Cousin Zhen. ‘It’s really not that important. I take your word for it.’

  At this moment Bao Er came into the room and kotowed to Cousin Zhen. (This Bao Er, it may be remembered, was the servant who had in the past been useful to both Cousin Zhen and Jia Lian. On this occasion he had come over for the day to assist Cousin Zhen.)

  ‘I beg to be released, sir,’ he said, ‘and put back on external duties.’