As he listened to the hermit’s words, Jia Yu-cun found himself stroking his beard meditatively and heaving a long sigh.
‘May I ask, sir,’ he ventured, ‘whether the Ning and Rong houses will ever rise again to their former heights of prosperity?’
‘It is preordained that prosperity comes with virtue, and calamity with evil,’ replied Shi-yin. ‘At present in these two houses the virtuous have turned to the true path, while the wicked have at least repented of their ways. In time to come, orchid and cassia will bloom, and the family fortunes will indeed prosper again. This is natural and right.’
Yu-cun lowered his head in thought for a while, then suddenly laughed:
‘Yes! Of course! There is one among them called Lan (Orchid), who has recently passed his examinations. As for the cassia you mention, could this be in some way connected with what you said earlier about Bao-yu achieving academic distinction and leaving behind a creditable heir? Is his posthumous son a Jia Gui (Cassia) destined for glory?’
Shi-yin gave an inscrutable smile:
‘Time will show. It would be wrong to make predictions about this now.’
Yu-cun had still more questions to ask, but Shi-yin was clearly unwilling to provide any further replies. He told his boy to lay the table and bring in the food, and invited Yu-cun to eat with him. When they had finished their meal, Yu-cun was still curious, this time wanting to know the secrets of his own future; but his luck had run out.
‘Rest awhile, sir,’ said Shi-yin, ‘in my humble hermitage. I still have a duty to perform, and today is the day for its completion.’
This took Yu-cun by surprise:
‘In view of the exalted spiritual state you have achieved, I cannot conceive what karma can remain for you to fulfil?’
‘It concerns the love between a man and a woman.’
This amazed Yu-cun even more.
‘Pray explain, sir.’
‘There is something of which you are ignorant, my respected friend,’ replied Shi-yin. ‘My daughter Ying-lian was, as you know, kidnapped when she was a little girl. You yourself gave judgement in the case when you first held office. Now she is married to a certain Mr Xue and is about to give birth to his child. In so doing she will die. She will leave behind her a son to continue the Xue family’s ancestral rites. Now is the moment for her earthly life to cease, and I must be at hand to receive her spirit.’
With a shake of his sleeve Shi-yin was gone. Yu-cun began to feel very dozy and had soon fallen asleep in the little hermitage at Wake Ness Ferry by Rushford Hythe.
Shi-yin went to receive Caltrop’s soul across the threshold of death and to escort her to the Land of Illusion, there to be handed over to the Fairy Disenchantment and to have her name entered on the register. As he passed through the great archway he saw the monk and the Taoist drifting towards him, and approaching them he said:
‘Mahāsattva! Illuminate! My felicitations! Is the love karma fulfilled? Have all those souls involved been duly returned and entered in the registers?’
‘The karma is not yet complete,’ they replied. ‘But that senseless Block has already returned. Now all that remains is to restore it to its place of origin and to record the last instalment of its story. Then its little trip into the world will not have been in vain.’
Shi-yin clasped both hands together in salutation and took his leave. The monk and the Taoist continued on their way bearing the jade, until finally they came to the foot of Greensickness Peak and there, in the very place where Nu-wa had once smelted her fiery amalgam to repair the vault of Heaven, they carefully deposited their burden and each drifted off on his way.
An otherworldy tome recounts an otherworldly tale,
As Man and Stone become once more a single whole.
One day Vanitas the Taoist passed again by Greensickness Peak and saw the Stone ‘that had been found unfit to repair the heavens’, lying there still, with characters inscribed on it as before. He read the inscription through carefully again and noticed that a whole new section had been appended to the gātha with which the earlier version concluded. This new material provided several dénouements and tied up various loose ends in the plot, completing the overall design of fate that underlay the original story.
‘When I first saw this strange tale of Brother Stone’s I thought it worth publishing as a novel and copied it down for that purpose. But at the time it was unfinished; the cycle within it was incomplete. There was in the earlier version none of this material relating the Stone’s return to the source. I wonder when this rather admirable last instalment can have been added? From it the reader can indeed see that Brother Stone’s experience of life sharpened the edge of his spiritual perception, and brought him to a more complete awareness of the Tao. At the end he had no cause for remorse or regret. But with the passing of the years the characters of this new version of the inscription may wear away and be misread. I had better copy it down again in this complete form and find someone in the world with leisure on his hands to publish it and transmit its message: that things are not as they seem, that the extraordinary and the ordinary, truth and fiction, are all relative to each other. Perhaps my fellow humans whom the dream of life has ensnared may find in this tale an echo, may be summoned back by it to their true home; while free spirits of the high hills may find in the record of Brother Stone’s transformations, as in that older tale of the Migration of the Magic Mountain, a reflected light to quicken their own aspirations.’
So Vanitas copied it all down and slipping this new version into his sleeve took it off with him to the luxurious, opulent world of men, to seek out a suitable mortal for the task of publication. But all the men he encountered were either too busy establishing themselves in their careers, or else too preoccupied with their day-to-day survival, to have the leisure or inclination to prattle with a Stone. Then at last Vanitas came to the little hermitage at Wake Ness Ferry by Rushford Hythe; there he found a man asleep (from which he deduced him to be a man of leisure) and thought he would give him this Story of the Stone to read. But however many times he called out, he could not rouse him from his slumber. Eventually he heaved him up and gave him a good shake, and the man slowly opened his eyes. He skimmed through the book and let it fall from his hands, saying:
‘I have seen all this myself at first-hand. As far as I can see your record contains no errors. Allow me to tell you of a man who can transmit this story to the world or your behalf, and by so doing bring this strange affair to a proper conclusion.’
‘Whom do you mean?’ asked Vanitas eagerly.
‘You must wait until the year ___, the ___ day of the ___ month. At the ___ hour, you must go to a certain Nostalgia Studio, where you will find a certain Mr Cao Xue-qin. Just tell him: “Jia Yu-cun says …” and ask him to do such-and-such and so forth …’
Yu-cun dozed off again, and Vanitas made a careful note of his instructions. Sure enough, after an incalculable number of generations, an infinity of aeons, there was indeed a Nostalgia Studio and in it a Mr Cao Xue-qin, perusing the histories of bygone days. Vanitas did as he had been instructed; he repeated Yu-cun’s words and handed him the Story of the Stone to read. This Mr Cao smiled and said:
‘Rustic fiction indeed (Jia Yu Cun Yan) !’
‘How is it that you know the man, sir? May I deduce from this that you are willing to transmit this tale for him?’
‘You are aptly named Vanitas,’ exclaimed Cao. ‘You have a Nothing in your Belly, a very Vanity. These may be rustic words, but they contain no careless errors or nonsensical passages. It would be a pleasure to share this with a few like-minded friends, to help the wine down after a meal or to while away the solitude of a rainy evening by a lamplit window. No need for some self-important being to commend it or publish it. You in your insistence on ferreting out facts are like the man who dropped his sword in the water and thought to find it again by making a mark on the side of his boat; you are like a man playing a zither with the tuning-pegs glued fast.’
Vanitas lifted his head and guffawed at this, dropped the manuscript to the ground and went breezily on his way. As he went he said to himself:
‘So it was really all utter nonsense! Author, copyist and reader were alike in the dark! Just so much ink splashed for fun, a game, a diversion!’
A later reader of the manuscript added a four-line gātha, to expand a little on the author’s original envoi:
When grief for fiction’s idle words
More real than human life appears,
Reflect that life itself’s a dream
And do not mock the reader’s tears.
Characters in Volume 5
ADAMANTINA a genteel and eccentric young nun residing in Prospect Garden
AMBER maid of Grandmother Jia
AROMA principal maid of Bao-yu
AUNT XUE widowed sister of Lady Wang and mother of Xue Pan and Bao chai
AUNT ZHAO concubine of Jia Zheng and mother of Tan-chun and Jia Huan
AUNT ZHOU Jia Zheng’s other concubine
AUTUMN concubine given to Jia Lian by his father
BAN - ER see WANG BAN-ER
BAO-CHAI see XUE BAO-CHAI
BAO ER servant employed by Cousin Zhen
BAO-QIN see XUE BAO-QIN
BAO YIN domestic in employment of Jia Hua
BAO YONG Zhen family servant now employed by the Jias
BAO-YU see JIA BAO-YU
BIG JIAO an old retainer of the Ning-guo Jias
BIJOU stage name of JIANG YU-HAN
BRIGHTIE and BRIGHTIE’S WIFE couple employed by Xi-feng in her financial;
CALTROP Xue Pan’s chamber-wife; the kidnapped daughter of Zhen Shi-yin
CANDIDA maid of Li Wan
CASTA maid of Li Wan
CENSOR LI responsible for the impeachment of the magistrate of Ping-an
CHAI see XUE BAO-CHAI
CHENG RI-XING one of Jia Zheng’s literary gentlemen
COOK LIU in charge of the kitchen for Prospect Garden; mother of Fivey
COUSIN BAO (1) see JIA BAO-YU (2) see XUE BAO-CHAI
COUSIN CHAI see XUE BAO-CHAI
COUSIN DAI see LIN DAI-YU
COUSIN FENG see WANG XI-FENG
COUSIN KE see XUE KE
COUSIN LIAN see JIA LIAN
COUSIN LIN see LIN DAI-YU
COUSIN PAN see XUE PAN
COUSIN QIN see XUE BAO-QIN
COUSIN SHI see SHI XIANG-YUN
COUSIN TAN see JIA TAN-CHUN
COUSIN WAN see LI WAN
COUSIN XI see JIA XI-CHUN
COUSIN XUE see XUE PAN
COUSIN YING see JIA YING-CHUN
COUSIN YUN see SHI XIANG-YUN
COUSIN ZHEN son of Jia Jing; head of the senior (Ning-guo) branch of the Jia family
CRIMSON maid employed by Xi-feng
DAI see LIN DAI-YU
DAI LIANG foreman in charge of the granary at Rong-guo House
DAI-YU see LIN DAI-YU
DIME see NI ER
DISENCHANTMENT an important fairy
DOVE concubine of Cousin Zhen
DUKE OF AN-GUO, THE entrusted by the Emperor with pacification of the South
DUMBO see XING DE-QUAN
FAITHFUL principal maid of Grandmother Jia
FELICITY maid attendant on Xi-feng
FENG see WANG XI-FENG
FIVEY daughter of Cook Liu; taken on as one of Bao-yu’s maids
FROWNER see LIN DAI-YU
GAFFER LI proprietor of Li’s bar
GRANDMOTHER JIA née Shi; widow of Bao-yu’s paternal grandfather and head of the Rong-guo branch of the Jia family
GRANNIE LIU an old country-woman patronized by Wang Xi-feng and the Rong-guo Jias
HALF-IMMORTAL MAO fortune-teller and expert in The Book of Changes
HER GRACE see JIA YUAN-CHUN
HE SAN Zhou Rui’s adopted son, expelled from Rong-guo House
HU-SHI Jia Rong’s second wife
HUA ZI-FANG Aroma’s elder brother
HUAN see JIA HUAN
IMPERVIOSO Buddhist mahā sattva
JIA BAO-YU incarnation of the Stone; the eldest surviving son of Jia Zheng and Lady Wang of Rong-guo House
JIA DAI-HUA son of Duke of Ning-guo and father of Jia Jing
JIA DAI-RU the Preceptor, in charge of the Jia family school
JIA FAN hereditary noble of the third degree
JIA H-UA Grand Preceptor and Duke of Zhen-guo
JIA HUAN Bao-yu’s half-brother; the son of Jia Zheng and his concubine, ‘Aunt’ Zhao
JIA LAN Li Wan’s son
JIA LIAN son of Jia She and Lady Xing and husband of Wang Xi-feng
JIA QIANG a distant relation of the Ning-guo Jias patronized by Cousin Zhen
JIA QIAO-JIE little daughter of Jia Lian and Wang Xi-feng
JIA QIN a junior member of the clan employed by the Rong-guo Jias to look after the little nuns from Prospect Garden
JIA RONG son of Cousin Zhen and You-shi
JIA SHE Jia Zheng’s elder brother; father of Jia Lian and Ying-chun
JIA SI-JIE younger sister of Jia Qiong, made much of by Grandmother Jia
JIA TAN-CHUN daughter of Jia Zheng and ‘Aunt’ Zhao; half-sister of Bao yu and second of the ‘Three Springs’
JIA XI-CHUN daughter of Jia Ling and younger sister of Cousin Zhen; youngest of the ‘Three Springs’
JIA XI-LUAN younger sister of Jia Bin, made much of by Grandmother Jia
JIA YING-CHUN daughter of Jia She by a concubine; eldest of the ‘Three Springs’
JIA YU-CUN a careerist claiming relationship with the Jia family
JIA YUAN-CHUN daughter of Jia Zheng and Lady Wang and elder sister of Bao-yu; the Imperial Concubine, now dead
JIA YUN poor relation of the Rong-guo Jias, once employed by Xi-feng in Prospect Garden
JIA ZHENG Bao-yu’s father; the younger of Grandmother Jia’s two sons
JIA ZHI obscure junior member of the Jia clan occasionally present at family gatherings
JIA ZHU deceased elder brother of Bao-yu; husband of Li Wan and father of her son Jia Lan
JIANG YU-HAN a female impersonator, now turned actor-manager
JIN-GUI see XIA JIN-GUI
LADY JIA see GRANDMOTHER JIA
LADY WANG wife of Jia Zheng, and mother of Jia Zhu, Yuan-chun and Bao-yu
LADY XING wife of Jia She and mother of Jia Lian
LADY ZHEN wife of Zhen Ying-jia and mother of Zhen Bao-yu
LAI DA Chief Steward of Rong-guo House
LAI SHANG-RONG Lai Da’s son, educated and enabled to obtain ad vancement under the Jia family’s patronage
LAI SHENG Chief Steward of Ning-guo House
LANDSCAPE maid of Xi-chun
LENG ZI-XING an antique dealer; friend of Jia Yu-cun and son-in-law of Zhou Rui
LI GUI Nannie Li’s son; Bao-yu’s foster-brother and chief groom
LI QI Li Wan’s cousin; younger sister of Li Wen
LI TEN porter on Jia Zheng’s staff in the Kiangsi Grain Intendant’s yamen
LI WAN widow of Bao-yu’s deceased elder brother, Jia Zhu, and mother of Jia Lan
LI WEN Li Wan’s cousin; elder sister of Li Qi
LI XIAO magistrate of Soochow, responsible for charges brought against household of JIA FAN
LIN DAI-YU incarnation of the Crimson Pearl Flower; orphaned daughter of Lin Ru-hai and Jia Zheng’s sister, Jia Min; now dead
LIN ZHI-XIAO and LIN ZHI-XIAO’s WIFE domestics holding the highest position in the Rong household under Chief Steward Lai Da
LOVEY concubine of Cousin Zhen
MASTER BAO see JIA BAO-YU
MASTER ZHOU son of a wealthy family in Grannie Liu’s village
MISS BAO see XUE BAO-CHAI
MISS LIN see LIN DAI-YU
MISS QIAO-JIE see JIA QIAO-JIE
MISS SHI see SHI XIANG-YUN
MISS XING see XING XIU-YAN
MONGOL PRINCE, THE a tributary prince, almost tricked into buying Qiao-jie
MOO
NBEAM maid of XIA JIN-GUI, taken as concubine by XUE PAN
MOTHER MA a Wise Woman; Bao-yu’s godmother
MR LIAN see JIA LIAN
MR MEI son of Academician Mei (now deceased); betrothed to Xue Bao-qin
MR QIANG see JIA QIANG
MR QIN see JIA QIN
MR SUN see SUN SHAO-ZU
MR YUN See JIA YUN
MR ZHEN see COUSIN ZHEN
MRS LI Li Wan’s widowed aunt; mother of Li Qi and Li Wen
MRS LIAN see WANG XI-FENG
MRS XIA mother of Xia Jin-gui
MRS XUE see AUNT XUE
MRS YOU You-shi’s mother
MRS ZHANG née Wang; impoverished rustic, mother of Zhang San
MRS ZHAO see AUNT ZHAO
MRS ZHEN see YOU-SHI
MRS ZHOU see ZHOU RUI’S WIFE
MRS ZHU see LI WAN
MUSK maid of Bao-yu
MYSTERIOSO Taoist illuminate
NANNIE LI (1) Bao-yu’s former wet-nurse (2) Qiao-jie’s nurse
NANNIE LIU another of Qiao-jie’s nurses
NANNIE WANG Dai-yu’s former wet-nurse
NI ER ‘the Drunken Diamond’; gangster neighbour of Jia Yun
NIGHTINGALE principal maid of Dai-yu
ORIOLE principal maid of Bao-chai
PARFUMÉE ex-actress, now a nun at Water-moon Priory
PARROT maid of Grandmother Jia
PATIENCE chief maid and confidante of Wang Xi-feng
PEARL maid of Grandmother Jia
PERFECTA nun from the Convent of the Scattered Flowers
PRECEPTOR, THE see JIA DAI-RU
PRINCE OF BEI-JING, THE princely connection of the Jias, friendly with Bao-yu
PRINCE OF XI-PING, THE princely connection of the Jias
PROSPER maid of Aunt Xue
QIAO-JIE see JIA QIAO-JIE
QIN KE-QING first wife of Jia Rong, now deceased
QING-ER See WANG QING-ER
QIN-SHI see QIN KE-QING
QIU SHI-AN Eunuch Superintendent of the Inner Palace