Even as he said these words, a servant entered to announce that Commissioner Zhao had indeed already passed through the inner gate, and Jia Zheng hurried out into the courtyard to receive him. Zhao soon came into sight, smiling but silent, and walked straight on and up into the hall. He was followed by five or six of his aides, some of whom were known to Jia Zheng, but although Jia Zheng greeted them, none of them said a word in reply. Jia Zheng could only follow them helplessly back into the hall and ask them to be seated. Some of the guests were acquainted with Zhao, but he passed them by with his head in the air and ignored everyone except Jia Zheng, whom he eventually took by the hand and engaged in vague small-talk, smiling inscrutably all the while. The guests scented trouble in the air, and either sneaked out into the private apartments at the back of the mansion, or stood stock-still where they were, in an attitude of apprehensive respect.
Jia Zheng managed to maintain an anxious smile, and was about to attempt a response to one of Zhao’s pleasantries when a flustered servant entered the hall and announced:
‘His Highness the Prince of Xi-ping!’
Jia Zheng hurried out once again, to find the prince already entering the courtyard. Commissioner Zhao moved smartly forward ahead of Jia Zheng to salute the prince, and then gave his own aides their orders:
‘His Royal Highness has now arrived; take your men and post yourselves at the front and rear gates of the mansion.’
Zhao’s aides went off to do his bidding, while Jia Zheng and the other menfolk, filled with foreboding by this sinister turn of events, fell to their knees and kowtowed before the Prince of Xi-ping. The prince raised Jia Zheng with both hands and said with a reassuring smile:
‘I would not intrude on you at such a time did I not have special reasons: I am entrusted with an Imperial Edict for your brother, Sir She. But I see that we have come upon you in the midst of a private gathering, and as it would hardly be fitting to proceed while your friends and relatives are still present, I would ask them to leave. Only the members of your own household need remain behind.’
‘A most gracious gesture, I am sure,’ interposed Commissioner Zhao sharply. ‘But His Highness supervising operations at Ning-guo House is, I believe, taking this matter a little more seriously, and has already ordered every gate to be sealed.’
The guests learned from this that both mansions were in some sort of trouble, and began to fear that they themselves were trapped as well. The prince, however, seemed unperturbed, and announced smilingly:
‘Gentlemen, please consider yourselves free to leave. Send for some of my men to escort them out,’ he continued, addressing Zhao, ‘and tell your own officers that these are all guests and are not to be hindered or subjected to any kind of search, but are to be let through without delay.’
As soon as they heard this, the guests vanished like a puff of smoke, leaving only Jia She, Jia Zheng and the immediate family, who stood there trembling and pale with fear. Shortly afterwards, constables swarmed in and stationed themselves at every doorway, thereby denying freedom of movement to masters and servants alike. Zhao turned to the prince, his face positively venomous:
‘Will Your Highness be so good as to read the Edict, so that we can proceed with our task?’
The constables hitched up their robes, rolled up their sleeves, and stood smartly to attention to hear the Edict. The prince began his preamble with great deliberation:
‘I am hereby instructed by His Majesty to proceed with Commissioner Zhao Quan of the Embroidered Jackets and to search, and take a complete inventory of, the property of Jia She.’
Jia She cowered prostrate on the ground as the prince mounted the terrace and, facing south, began the proclamation of the Edict proper:
‘ “Hearken! Inasmuch as Our subject Jia She has connived with a provincial official and has used his influence to persecute a defenceless citizen, he has shown himself unworthy of Our favour, has disgraced his ancestors, and is to be deprived of his hereditary rank. By Imperial Decree.” ’
‘Arrest him!’ barked Zhao. ‘Take the others away and put them under close guard!’
This referred to the other Jia menfolk present – Jia Zheng, Jia Lian, Cousin Zhen, Jia Rong, Jia Qiang, Jia Zhi and Jia Lan. Bao-yu had somehow managed to slip out to Grandmother Jia’s apartment earlier, on the pretext of some indisposition or other, while Jia Huan hardly ever put in an appearance at such social gatherings.
Zhao also told his aides to issue the junior officers and constables with their orders at once: they were to divide up and search the mansion room by room, taking a detailed inventory as they went along. These orders, and the brisk matter-of-fact efficiency with which they were delivered, had a devastating impact on the morale of the Jia family, young and old alike. They looked at one another in terror as they were led away, while Zhao’s constables and personal lackeys began rubbing their hands in gleeful anticipation.
‘I understand,’ said the Prince of Xi-ping, ‘that Sir Zheng and Sir She maintain separate establishments. Since the Edict only empowers us to search Sir She’s property, the other apartments should be locked and sealed, until such time as I have received further instructions from His Majesty.’
Zhao rose to his feet.
‘Your Highness, I should inform you that in point of fact Jia She and Jia Zheng do not maintain separate establishments. On the contrary, I am given to understand that the affairs of both branches of Rong-guo House are managed by one person, Jia Lian, who is the son of Sir She and the nephew of Sir Zheng. It is therefore imperative that we search the entire mansion.’
The prince was silent, and Zhao continued:
‘In view of this, I shall personally direct the search of the residences of both Jia She and Jia Lian.’
‘There is no hurry,’ said the prince. ‘Send word to the inner apartments first, and give the ladies time to withdraw. A few minutes’ delay is neither here nor there.’
But even as he was speaking, Zhao’s men, who had already led away the Jia menfolk, were dividing up into search parties and had begun their work, each taking one of the Jia servants to act as guide.
‘Let there be no rowdy behaviour now!’ cried the prince. ‘I shall be along presently to supervise the proceedings myself.’
He rose to his feet in a dignified manner, and addressed his own attendants:
‘Not one of you is to move. Wait here, and later we shall inspect the inventory together.’
Almost immediately one of Zhao’s men returned from the search and knelt before him:
‘Your Highness, restricted garments and skirts for palace use, and many other prohibited items, have been found in the inner apartments. I have given orders that these are not to be moved, pending Your Highness’s instructions.’
Presently another search party returned and pressed before the prince:
‘Two chests of property deeds found in the eastern side-compound, and one chest of promissory notes – all bearing illegal rates of interest!’
‘Usurers!’ hissed Zhao. ‘They deserve to lose everything. Take a seat, Your Highness, and allow me to order the immediate confiscation of the entire contents of the mansion. We can report to the throne for the necessary authorization afterwards.’
At that moment an aide-de-camp came in to speak to the prince:
‘The soldiers at the gate have sent word that the Prince of Bei-jing is here, as the special emissary of His Majesty, and will deliver a second Edict. You are requested to go out and receive him.’
Zhao welcomed this news.
‘It was just my luck,’ he thought to himself, ‘to have been lumbered with this first prince! Now he’s being replaced, and I should be able to get down to business!’
He went out to the front courtyard, to find the Prince of Bei-jing already facing south, and delivering the new Edict.
‘ “For the Edification of Zhao Quan, Commissioner of the Embroidered Jackets. Hearken! The men under Zhao’s command are to arrest no one, with the exception of Jia She,
who is to be held for questioning. The Prince of Xi-ping will supervise all other aspects of the investigation according to Our Instructions.” ’
The Prince of Xi-ping was delighted. He sat down with the Prince of Bei-jing, and told Zhao to take Jia She with him and return to his yamen. The search parties, having learned of the arrival of the new prince, had all congregated once more in the courtyard. They were most disappointed to hear that Zhao was being removed from the scene, and stood around, disconsolately waiting for their new orders. The Prince of Bei-jing selected two of the more honest-looking officers and a dozen or so of the older constables to stay behind, and dismissed all the others.
‘I was just beginning to get extremely annoyed with old Zhao,’ said the Prince of Xi-ping. ‘You arrived with that second Edict in the nick of time. If you’d been much later, I’m afraid it would have gone badly for the Jias.’
‘I heard at court,’ replied the Prince of Bei-jing, ‘that you had been entrusted with the original Edict, and that the investigation was in your hands, and I must say I was greatly relieved. I knew I could depend on you to see that things did not get out of hand. But I hadn’t bargained on that old rogue Zhao. Tell me, where are Sir Zheng and young Bao-yu? I do hope these men have not been creating too much havoc.’
‘Jia Zheng and the other gentlemen are being held under guard in the servants’ quarters,’ he was informed by the officers. ‘The men have turned the entire house upside-down in the course of their search.’
The Prince of Bei-jing turned to one of them:
‘Bring Sir Zheng here at once. I wish to speak to him.’
Jia Zheng was brought in, and fell to his knees, tearfully pleading for mercy. The Prince of Bei-jing stood up, took him by both hands and said:
‘My friend, set your mind at rest.’
When the prince went on to inform him of the new Edict, Jia Zheng wept with emotion, and faced in a northerly direction to kowtow his thanks to the throne. Then he came forward again to receive any further instructions. It was the Prince of Xi-ping who continued:
‘My friend, when Commissioner Zhao was here just now, his constables reported having found prohibited items of clothing, and promissory notes bearing excessive rates of interest. It will be hard to gloss all this over. The clothes were no doubt intended for Her Grace’s use – that I can state quite plausibly in my report. But these promissory notes – what are we to say about them? I think you, Zheng, had better go now with one of the officers and give him a complete account of all Sir She’s property. It is essential that you conceal nothing, or you will only make things worse for yourself.’
‘How could I dare to conceal anything!’ replied Jia Zheng. ‘But I beg to inform Your Highness that our family estate has never been formally divided between my brother and myself; individually we own only whatever we happen to have in our apartments.’
‘Very well,’ said the princes. ‘Proceed on that basis, and declare whatever is in Sir She’s compound.’
The officers were instructed to execute this task in an orderly and civilized fashion, and departed with Jia Zheng.
Let us return to Grandmother Jia’s apartments, where the ladies had been holding a party of their own that day. Bao-yu had come to join them, and Lady Wang asked him if he ought not to be with the men, for fear of angering his father. Xi-feng was also present, despite her illness, and she replied somewhat croakily on Bao-yu’s behalf:
‘I’m sure Bao-yu wasn’t afraid of the company, Aunt Wang, and I’m sure he wasn’t shirking his responsibilities. He just thought there were plenty of men to wait on the guests outside, and that he would be better employed helping us here – which is reasonable enough. If Uncle Zheng needs an extra hand, you can always send Bao-yu over later.’
Grandmother Jia laughed:
‘Fengie may be ill, but she still has a tongue in her head!’
The party was warming up and the conversation becoming quite merry, when suddenly one of Lady Xing’s maidservants came running in, screeching:
‘Your Old Ladyship! Your Ladyships! The most terr … terrible thing has happened! Hundreds of bandits in big boots and hats have broken into the house, turned all the trunks and boxes upside down and started stealing our things!’
The ladies stared at her dumbfounded. Next, Patience hurried into the room, her hair dishevelled, dragging Qiao-jie by the hand and sobbing hysterically:
‘Lord have mercy on us! I was having my meal with Qiao-jie when Brightie was brought in, his hands tied behind his back. “Hurry, miss,” he told me, “go inside and tell Their Ladyships to hide. The prince is on his way in to search the house!” I nearly died of fright. I went into our apartment to rescue a few of the more important things, and ran into a gang of ruffians who pushed me out of their way. You’d better hurry and collect together all the clothes and things you’ll need before it’s too late.’
Lady Xing and Lady Wang were utterly flabbergasted; Xi-feng listened wide-eyed as Patience told her tale, and then slumped onto the floor with her head thrown back; Grandmother Jia burst into floods of tears before Patience had even finished, and was too distraught to utter a word. The whole room was in this state of total disarray, and the servants were falling over each other in their panic, when suddenly more cries were heard from outside:
‘Ladies to withdraw! His Highness the Prince is approaching!’
Bao-chai and Bao-yu stood watching helplessly, as the maids and old nannies scrambled in every direction. The next they knew, Jia Lian came running in, panting:
‘All is well! The prince has saved the day!’
They wanted to ask him what had happened, but Jia Lian was himself too infected by the general hysteria to be of any service as an informant. First he caught sight of Xi-feng lying unconscious on the floor, and cried out in alarm; then he saw that Grandmother Jia had also fainted from shock, and feared the worst for her. Patience succeeded in bringing Xi-feng round, and with the help of one of the maids helped her up onto her feet; while Grandmother Jia, when she finally regained consciousness, lay down sobbing on the kang, struggling for breath, as though she might faint again at any moment. Li Wan did her best to comfort her, and Jia Lian himself was at last sufficiently composed to tell them of the events that had taken place, and of the kindness shown them by the two princes – though he withheld the news of Jia She’s arrest, which he was afraid might prove too great a shock for Grandmother Jia and Lady Xing. He then went to examine the condition of his own apartment, and found chests and cupboards broken open and ransacked. There was almost nothing left. He stared around him aghast, and tears sprang to his eyes. He heard his name called outside, and went out to find Jia Zheng with the two princes and the officer taking the inventory. The items were being called out one by one:
One Longevity Buddha in aloeswood
One Goddess of Mercy, ditto
One Buddha plinth
Rosary-beads in aloeswood, two strings
Golden Buddhas, one set
Nine gold-plated bronze mirrors
Jade Buddhas, three
Longevity and the Eight Immortals, a set of jade figurines
Four Ru-yi sceptres – two in gold and jade, two in aloeswood
Antique porcelain vases and jars, seventeen
Fourteen chests containing antique objets d’art and mounted scrolls
One large jade jar
Two small ditto
Large jade circular dishes, two pairs
Two large glass folding-screens
Two small kang screens
Four large dishes in glass
Four jade dishes
Two agate ditto
Four large dishes in solid gold
Gold bowls, six pairs
Eight bowls with pattern in gold inlay
Gold spoons, forty
Large silver bowls, sixty
Silver dishes, sixty
Ivory chopsticks with triple gold inlay, four bundles
Gold-plated jugs with handles, twelve
Small spittoons, three pairs
Two saucers
Silver cups and saucers, one hundred and sixty
Black fox-furs, eighteen
Sables, fifty-six
Russet fox-furs, forty-four
White ditto, forty-four
Mongolian lynx-skins, twelve
Partly tailored Yunnan fox-skins, twenty-five
Sea-otter skins, twenty-six
Seal-skins, three
Tiger-skins, six
Brown-and-black striped fox-furs, three
Otter-skins, twenty-eight
Red astrakhan-skins, forty
Black astrakhan-skins sixty-three
Partly tailored musquash-skins, twenty
Mongolian suslik, twenty-four squares
‘Swansdown’ velvet, four rolls
Grey squirrel-skins, two hundred and sixty-three
Japanese damask silk, thirty-two lengths
Imported worsted, thirty lengths
Serge, thirty-three lengths
Velveteen, forty lengths
Plain satin, one hundred and thirty bolts
Gauze silk, one hundred and eighty bolts
Corded silk-crêpe, thirty-two bolts
Bombasine and camlets, twenty-two rolls each
Tibetan yak’s serge, thirty bolts
Dragon-robe satin, eighteen bolts
Cottons, assorted colours, thirty bundles
Sundry fur garments, one hundred and thirty-two
Various garments, padded, lined, unlined, gauze and silk – three hundred and forty
Nine pairs of belt-buckles
Items in brass and pewter, over five hundred
Clocks and watches, eighteen
Court chaplets, nine strings of one hundred and eight bands
Pearls, thirteen strings
Gold head-dresses, complete with jewels and precious stones, one hundred and twenty-three
Cushion covers and arm-rest covers in Imperial yellow satin, three sets
Palace dresses and skirts, eight sets
Two girdles in ‘mutton-fat’ white jade
Yellow satin, twelve bolts
Substandard silver, seven thousand taels
Pure gold, one hundred and fifty-two taels