‘And how did you reply to this, sir?’ he asked Jia Zheng.
‘I replied most deliberately that the former Grand Preceptor Jia Hua hailed from Yunnan, whereas the Jia who was at present Mayor of the Metropolitan Prefecture was a Chekiang man.
‘His Majesty’s second question concerned the Jia Fan recently impeached by the Soochow censor. He asked me if this man also belonged to my family. I kowtowed and replied that he did. A cloud seemed to pass over His Majesty’s countenance, and he said: “A disgraceful affair, for a man to let his own household servants run riot and lay their hands on the wives of innocent citizens!” I did not dare utter a word. “What relation of yours is this Jia Fan?” “A distant one, Your Majesty,” I hastily replied. His Majesty gave a sound of disapproval and told me to withdraw. Altogether, I think you will agree, a most alarming experience!’
‘Certainly an astonishing coincidence that these two other cases should have come up at the same time as yours,’ concurred the others.
‘The cases in themselves are not so very remarkable,’ replied Jia Zheng. ‘But the fact that both the gentlemen concerned belong to the Jia clan certainly bodes ill for us. I suppose in a way it’s only to be expected: our clan is, after all, a large one, and over the centuries has spread itself throughout the entire Empire.
‘There may be no scandal at present involving our branch of the family directly, but I fear that after this the name Jia will be very much in the forefront of His Majesty’s mind. Not a prospect I view with relish, I must say.’
‘Come, you have nothing to fear,’ the others reassured him. ‘Remember, the truth will always prevail.’
‘I should dearly like to retire from public life altogether,’ said Jia Zheng. ‘But alas, I can hardly plead old age, and the hereditary family titles are an obligation that neither branch of the family can relinquish.’
‘Now that you are reinstated at the Board of Works, sir,’ put in Jia Yu-cun, ‘I think you will find life a great deal less fraught with difficulty.’
‘Metropolitan posts may be less troublesome in principle,’ replied Jia Zheng, ‘but since I have now served twice in the provinces, there’s no saying what unpleasantness may still lie in store for me.’
‘We all hold your integrity in the highest esteem,’ the others reassured him again. ‘And your brother’s character is beyond reproach. However, you could perhaps be a little stricter with your nephew and the younger generation.’
‘It is true, I have spent far too little time at home,’ said Jia Zheng. ‘And I have not kept a sufficiently careful watch on my nephew’s behaviour. It is something I have been uneasy about myself. Since you have raised this issue, and since I know you to be well disposed towards my family, I would be obliged if you could be a little more specific. Tell me, for example, have you heard of any irregularities in my nephew Zhen’s family at Ning-guo House?’
‘We have only heard,’ they replied, ‘that he has somehow managed to fall foul of several Vice-Presidents, not to mention a few eunuch chamberlains at the Palace. It is nothing to worry about unduly as yet, but you should perhaps warn him to be a little more circumspect in future.’
When the conversation was over, the ministers saluted Jia Zheng and took their leave. Jia Zheng returned home, and was welcomed at the main gate by a full turn-out of the younger male Jias. He enquired first after Grandmother Jia, and then they each greeted him in turn, dropping one knee to the ground, and followed him into the mansion. Lady Wang and the other ladies had assembled for a formal welcome in the Hall of Exalted Felicity, after which Jia Zheng went to pay his respects to Grandmother Jia in her private apartment. He told her all his news, and when she asked about Tan-chun, gave her a detailed account of the wedding.
‘I had to leave at short notice, and was unable to celebrate the Double Ninth festival with her. But although I did not see her then myself, some of her husband’s family came to visit me and told me that she was getting on very well there. Her father-in-law and mother-in-law both send you their regards. They said that they might be moving to the capital this winter or next spring, which would certainly be most welcome. But since these recent coastal disturbances, I very much doubt if they will be able to move so soon.’
Grandmother Jia had at first been most upset by the news of Jia Zheng’s demotion and return to the capital: apart from anything else it would mean that Tan-chun, who was living so far away from home, would be even more isolated from the family. But when Jia Zheng explained the favourable outcome of his audience with the Emperor, and set her mind at rest about Tan-chun, she cheered up considerably, and a smile could be seen on her face when she told him he could leave. Jia Zheng went next to see his brother, and then the younger men, and it was agreed that they would worship at the family ancestral shrine first thing the following day.
These duties performed, Jia Zheng retreated to his private apartment, where he spoke with Lady Wang and his other womenfolk, and then with Bao-yu, Jia Lan and Jia Huan. To his relief he observed a considerable improvement in Bao-yu, who seemed plumper and healthier than at the time of his departure for Kiangsi. He still knew nothing of the boy’s mental derangement, and this discernible outward improvement was a source of some satisfaction to him and a welcome antidote to his own anxieties. He dismissed any reservations he still had about the way in which Grandmother Jia had handled the wedding. Bao-chai too, he noticed, seemed more mature and poised than ever, while young Lan was growing into a fine, cultured young man. Jia Zheng was visibly pleased by what he saw. The only blot on the landscape was Jia Huan. He did not seem to have changed in the slightest, and still failed to arouse in his father any flicker of paternal affection or pride.
After a silence lasting several minutes Jia Zheng suddenly seemed to think of something.
‘There seems to be one person missing.’
Lady Wang knew he must be thinking of Dai-yu, whose death she had refrained from mentioning in any of her letters; and as she did not wish to spoil the pleasure of his homecoming by breaking the news to him now, she replied that illness had prevented Dai-yu from being present. This act of deception cut Bao-yu to the quick, but he did his utmost to appear composed, out of respect for his father.
Lady Wang invited all the children and grandchildren to the welcoming feast, and they drank to the Master’s return. Xi-feng, although she was strictly the daughter-in-law of Jia She and Lady Xing, was also present by virtue of her role as manageress of the household, helping Bao-chai to pour the wine. Jia Zheng cut the party short, saying that after one more round they should all retire. The servants were also dismissed, with instructions to call on him the next day, after the ancestral sacrifice.
Jia Zheng and Lady Wang were at last alone and able to talk together. Lady Wang was still reluctant to broach any serious topic; when Jia Zheng referred to her brother Wang Zi-teng’s death, she did her best not to appear too distressed; and when he mentioned Xue Pan’s fresh calamities, her only comment was that he had brought them upon himself. At an opportune moment however she broke the news of Dai-yu’s death, which seemed to come as a great shock to Jia Zheng, and to affect him deeply. Tears stole down his cheeks, and he sighed several times. Lady Wang herself could no longer contain her tears. Suncloud and her other maids who were standing close by gave her dress a discreet tug, and she quickly composed herself and steered the conversation towards a more cheerful subject. Soon afterwards they went to bed.
Early next morning, a ceremony was performed in the ancestral shrine, in the presence of all the young male members of the family, and afterwards Jia Zheng received Cousin Zhen and Jia Lian in the gallery at the side of the shrine, where he asked them for a report of the household accounts, which Cousin Zhen supplied, albeit in a highly selective form.
‘As I have only just returned home,’ commented Jia Zheng, ‘I do not intend to subject you to an inquisition now, Zhen. But let me say this: while I have been away, I have heard it said that you have been allowing standards to slip. You must exe
rcise the utmost diligence and caution. You are older than the other members of your generation, and should set an example to the younger ones. There must be no offence caused to people outside. And that applies to you too, Lian. This is no routine homecoming homily. I have my reasons for warning you. There are things I have heard. I repeat: you must both be more careful in future.’
Cousin Zhen and Jia Lian were by now bright red in the face, and all they could muster was a feeble, ‘Yes, sir.’ Jia Zheng did not pursue the matter any further, but went in to his own reception hall, where all the menservants were waiting for him; thence he proceeded to the inner apartments, to be welcomed by all the maids and serving-women. But we will not describe these events in any great detail.
Our story returns to Bao-yu, and to the occasion on the previous day when he had been secretly so upset to hear Lady Wang speak of Dai-yu’s ‘illness’. Jia Zheng had finally granted him permission to leave the family gathering, and he returned to his apartment. He arrived, having cried most of the way there, to find Bao-chai and Aroma chatting together, and went off at once into an outer room to be on his own and nurse his grief in private. Bao-chai told Aroma to take him some tea, and then decided to go out herself and join him, surmising that he was nervous of an impending confrontation with his father, when his failure to make any progress in his studies would be discovered (and no doubt punished). It was therefore her duty to offer him some comfort. Bao-yu turned the misunderstanding to his advantage:
‘It’s all right. You can go to bed. I just need some time to concentrate and collect my thoughts. Lately my memory has been so poor, and there will be trouble if I make a fool of myself in front of Father. You go to sleep. Aroma can sit up and keep me company for a bit.’
Bao-chai thought it advisable to humour him, and nodded her assent. As soon as she was out of the way, Bao-yu went to find Aroma, and whispered in her ear:
‘Please will you ask Nightingale to come and see me? There’s something I need to speak to her about. You must explain to her how things really are. Maybe then she’ll stop being so angry with me.’
Aroma: ‘I thought I heard you say you wanted time to concentrate and collect your thoughts. But now look at you! What kind of concentration is this? Whatever you want to ask her can wait till tomorrow, surely?’
Bao-yu: ‘But I have this evening free. Tomorrow who knows what may happen? I may be sent for by Father, and then I won’t have a moment to myself. Dear Aroma! Go and do as I say, please!’
Aroma: ‘You know perfectly well she won’t come unless Mrs Bao sends for her.’
Bao-yu: ‘She might do, if you were to explain things to her first.’
Aroma: ‘But what do you want me to say?’
Bao-yu: Surely by now you know what my feelings are, and why Nightingale has turned against me. It’s all because of Dai-yu. It’s all a big misunderstanding. You must convince Nightingale that I’m not the faithless monster she takes me for, that it’s you and the others who have made me seem like one to her!’
As he said this, he glanced towards the inner room, and pointing in that direction, continued:
‘I never wanted to marry her. It was forced on me by Grandmother and the rest. It was all a trick. It was they who drove Dai-yu to her death. They were to blame. If only I could have seen her once before she died and been able to tell her the truth! Instead, she died thinking that I had betrayed her! You heard yourself what Cousin Tan said; with her dying breath Dai-yu spoke of me with bitterness and resentment. That’s why Nightingale has set herself so violently against me – out of loyalty to her mistress.
‘Do you think I’m heartless? Think back to Skybright’s death. Skybright was only my maid, and not as dear to me as Dai-yu; but even so, when she died I wrote a funeral ode for her and made an offering to her spirit – there’s no need to keep it a secret from you any longer. Dai-yu witnessed it with her own eyes. Now she herself is dead; and is she to be ranked lower than Skybright? But I haven’t been able to make her an offering of any kind. Won’t her spirit see this as further proof of my heartlessness? Won’t she feel greater bitterness towards me than ever?’
Aroma: ‘I don’t understand. If you want to write an ode and make an offering, then go ahead. Who’s stopping you?’
Bao-yu: ‘I’ve wanted to ever since I’ve been better. But somehow I seem to have lost all inspiration. For another person I might have been content with something uninspired. But for Dai-yu nothing but the very purest and the very best will do. That’s why I must see Nightingale. I want to ask her what she can tell me of her mistress’s feelings; I want to find out exactly how she came by that knowledge. I can remember what it was like before I fell ill. I can remember Dai-yu’s feelings towards me then. But from that time onwards, everything becomes a blur in my mind. Didn’t you tell me that her health had improved? Then why did death come so quickly? What did she say when I didn’t visit her, while she was still well? And then when I fell ill, did she ever say why she never came to see me? I managed to get her belongings brought over here, but Mrs Bao won’t let me touch them. I don’t understand why.’
Aroma: ‘Because she’s afraid it will only upset you. Why else?’
Bao-yu: ‘I don’t believe that. There must be more to it. Then again, if Dai-yu cared about me, or missed me, why did she burn her poems before she died? Surely she would have left them for me as a memento? It’s all so confusing. And what about the music that was heard in the air when she died? She must have become a fairy, or risen to heaven in the form of an immortal. If it comes to that, I don’t even know if she’s really dead. I’ve only seen the coffin; how can I be sure that she is still inside it?’
Aroma: ‘Honestly! You get more ridiculous with every word! Are you trying to suggest that she could have been put in the coffin while she was still alive, and then somehow climbed out of it?’
Bao-yu: ‘No. I meant something quite different. You see, if humans achieve immortality, there are two ways in which they can depart from this world: either they go in the flesh, in their earthly form, or they may discard their bodies, and their etheric body is then magically transported to another realm. Oh, Aroma, please help me! Tell Nightingale to come!’
Aroma: ‘You’ll have to wait till I’ve had a chance to explain all this to her properly. Then, if she agrees to come, well and good. If not, I can see I shall have to try again and have another long talk with her, and even after that, supposing she does come, she probably won’t be prepared to say much to you. If you want my advice, you should at least wait till tomorrow. In the morning when Mrs Bao goes in to see Her Old Ladyship I’ll have a word with Nightingale. We might get somewhere that way. I’ll come back as soon as I’ve spoken to her and tell you how it went.’
Bao-yu: ‘I suppose you’re right. But you don’t know how impatient I feel.’
At this point, Musk appeared:
‘Mrs Bao says, it’s already well past midnight, and will you go in to bed now, Mr Bao. Aroma must have got carried away chatting to you, and forgotten the time …’
‘Goodness, it is late!’ exclaimed Aroma. ‘Time to go to sleep. If there’s anything else, it can wait till the morning.’
Bao-yu rose reluctantly to go in to the bedroom, whispering in Aroma’s ear as he passed by:
‘Be sure not to forget tomorrow, whatever you do!’
‘Of course I won’t!’ said Aroma with a smile.
‘You two at it again!’ said Musk, touching her cheek at Aroma in a saucy fashion. Then, to Bao-yu: ‘Why don’t you just go straight to Mrs Bao and tell her that you’d like to sleep with Aroma? Then the two of you can carry on “talking” till dawn. None of us will interfere, you needn’t worry.’
Bao-yu raised his hand:
‘That is quite uncalled for, Musk!’
‘Little hussy!’ said Aroma heatedly. ‘Always having your little dig! You’d better look out! One of these days I’ll rip that nasty little tongue of yours out of your mouth for good!’ Turning to Bao-yu, she continu
ed:
‘Now see what you’ve done! This is all your fault. Keeping me up talking like this till one o’clock in the morning …’
She escorted him into his room and then went her separate way to bed.
Bao-yu was unable to sleep that night, and in the morning was still preoccupied with the same gloomy thoughts.
The new day began with an announcement from outside:
‘The Master’s family and friends have expressed a wish to hold a theatre-party to welcome him home. The Master however is insistent that plays would be inappropriate on this occasion; instead he will give a simple party at home, to which all family and friends are invited. The date has been set fot the day after tomorrow. This is the preliminary announcement.’
To learn who was invited, please read the next chapter.
Chapter 105
The Embroidered Jackets raid Ning-guo House
And Censor Li impeaches the Prefect of Ping-an
The day of the reception arrived. Jia Zheng was busily entertaining his guests in the Hall of Exalted Felicity, when Lai Da the steward hurried in to report that a Commissioner Zhao was outside, with a detachment of the Embroidered Jackets, the Imperial secret police:
‘He says he is making a social call, and when I asked for his visiting card he told me there was no need for any such formality, as he was on the best of terms with you, sir. Then he got down from his carriage and started walking straight in. I beg you, sir, to go out with the young masters and receive him at once.’
‘I’ve never had anything to do with this Zhao,’ mused Jia Zheng. ‘I wonder what can have brought him here? And at such an inconvenient hour. I can hardly abandon my guests to entertain him; and yet if I do not invite him in it will seem uncivil …’
He stood there thinking the matter over to himself, and Jia Lian urged him to hurry: ‘If you wait much longer, Uncle, they will be upon us.’