CHAPTER 3 Lin Ru-hai recommends a private tutor to his brother-in-law And old Lady Jia extends a compassionate welcome to the motherless child
卻說雨村回頭看時，不是別人，乃是當日同僚一案參革的張如圭。他係此地人，革後家居。今打聽得都中奏准起復舊員之信，他便四下裡尋情找門路，忽遇見雨村，故忙道喜。二人見了禮，張如圭便將此信告知雨村。雨村歡喜。忙忙敘了兩句，遂作別各自回家。冷子興聽得此言，便忙獻計，令雨村央求林如海，轉向都中去央煩賈政。
When Yu-cun turned to look, he was surprised to see that it was Zhang Ru-gui, a former colleague who had been cashiered at the same time and for the same reason as himself. Zhang Ru-gui was a native of these parts, and had been living at home since his dismissal. Having just wormed out the information that a motion put forward in the capital for the reinstatement of ex-officials had been approved, he had been dashing about ever since, pulling strings and soliciting help from potential backers, and was engaged in this activity when he unexpectedly ran into Yu-cun. Hence the tone of his greeting. As soon as they had finished bowing to each other, Zhang Ru-gui told Yu-cun the good news, and after further hurried conversation they went their separate ways. Leng Zi-xing, who had overheard the news, proposed a plan. Why should not Yu-cun ask his employer Lin Ru-hai to write to his brother-in-law Jia Zheng in the capital and enlist his support on his, Yu-cun’s, behalf?
- wormed out: to try and get information
- dashing: attractive in a confident, exciting, and stylish way
- soliciting: to try to obtain by usually urgent requests or pleas
- backer: someone who gives financial support to something
雨村領其意而別，回至館中，忙尋邸報看真確了。次日，面謀林如海。如海道：「天緣湊巧：因賤荊去世，都中家岳母念及小女無人依傍，前已遣了男女船隻來接，因小女未曾大痊，故未及行，此刻正思送女進京。因向蒙教誨之恩，未經酬報，遇此機會，豈有不盡心圖報之理！弟已預籌之，修下薦書一封，託內兄務為周全，方可稍盡弟之鄙誠。即有所費，弟於內家信中寫明，不勞吾兄多慮。」雨村一面打恭，謝不釋口，一面又問：「不知令親大人現居何職？只怕晚生草率，不敢進謁。」如海笑道：「若論舍親，與尊兄猶係一家，乃榮公之孫。大內兄現襲一等將軍之職，名赦，字恩侯。二內兄名政，字存周，現任工部員外郎。其為人謙恭厚道，大有祖父遺風，非膏粱輕薄之流，故弟致書煩託。否則不但有污尊兄清操，即弟亦不屑為矣。」雨村聽了，心下方信了昨日子興之言，於是又謝了林如海。如海又說：「擇了出月初二日小女入都，吾兄即同路而往，豈不兩便？」雨村唯唯聽命，心中十分得意。如海遂打點禮物並餞行之事，雨村一一領了。
Yu-cun agreed to follow this suggestion, and presently the two friends separated. Back in his quarters, Yu-cun quickly hunted out a copy of the Gazette, and having satisfied himself that the news was authentic, broached the matter next day with Lin Ru-hai. ‘It so happens that an opportunity of helping you has just presented itself,’ said Ru-hai. ‘Since my poor wife passed on, my mother-in-law in the capital has been worried about the little girl having no one to look after her, and has already sent some of her folk here by barge to fetch her away.
- authentic: If something is authentic, it is real, true, or what people say it is
- broached: to begin a discussion of something difficult
- barge: a long boat with a flat bottom
The only reason she has so far not gone is that she has not been quite recovered from her illness. I was, however, only just now thinking that the moment to send her had arrived. And as I have still done nothing to repay you for your kindness in tutoring her for me, you may be sure that now this opportunity has presented itself I shall do my very best to help you. ‘As a matter of fact, I have already made a few arrangements. I have written this letter here entrusting my brother-in-law with your affair, explaining my indebtedness to you and urging him to see it properly settled. I have also made it quite clear in my letter that any expenses which may be involved are to be taken care of; so you have nothing to worry about on that account.’Yu-cun made an elaborate bow to his patron and thanked him profusely.
- indebtedness: the condition of owing money, or the amount of money owed
- elaborate: containing a lot of careful detail or many detailed parts
- profusely: in large amounts
He then ventured a question. ‘I am afraid I do not know what your relation’s position is at the capital. Might it not be a little embarrassing for a person in my situation to thrust himself upon him?’ Ru-hai laughed. ‘You need have no anxiety on that score. My brothers-in-law in the capital are your own kinsmen. They are grandsons of the former Duke of Rong-guo. The elder one, Jia She, is an hereditary official of the First Rank and an honorary colonel; the younger one, Jia Zheng, is an Under Secretary in the Ministry of Works. He takes very much after his late grandfather: a modest, generous man, quite without the arrogance of the pampered aristocrat.
- colonel: an officer of high rank in the army or air force
- arrogance: the quality of being unpleasantly proud and behaving as if you are more important than, or know more than, other people
- pampered: given special treatment that makes you feel as comfortable as possible or gives you whatever you want
- aristocrat: a class of people who hold high social rank:
That is why I have addressed this letter to him. If I did not have complete confidence in his willingness to help you, I should not have put your honour at risk by soliciting him; nor, for that matter, should I have taken the trouble to write the letter.’ Yu-cun now knew that what Zi-xing had told him was the truth and he thanked Lin Ru-hai once again. ‘I have fixed the second day of next month for my little girl’s journey to the capital,’ said Ru-hai. ‘If you cared to travel with her, it would be convenient for both of us.’ Yu-cun accepted the suggestion with eager deference. Everything, he thought to himself, was turning out very satisfactorily. Ru-hai for his part set about preparing presents for his wife’s family and parting gifts for Yu-cun, all of which Yu-cun in due course took charge of.
- eager: wanting very much to do or have something, especially something interesting or enjoyable
- deference: respect and politeness
那女學生原不忍離親而去，無奈他外祖母必欲其往，且兼如海說：「汝父年已半百，再無續室之意；且汝多病，年又極小，上無親母教養，下無姊妹扶持：今去依傍外祖母及舅氏姊妹，正好減我內顧之憂，如何不去？」黛玉聽了，方灑淚拜別，隨了奶娘及榮府中幾個老婦，登舟而去。雨村另有一隻船，帶了兩個小童，依附黛玉而行。
At first his little pupil could not be persuaded to part from her father; but her grandmother was insistent that she should go, and Ru-hai added his own reasons. ‘I’m half a century old now, my dear, and I have no intention of taking a second wife; so there will be no one here to act as a mother to you. It isn’t, either, as if you had sisters who could help to take care of you. You know how often you are poorly. And you are still very young. It would be a great weight off my mind to know that you had your Grandmother Jia and your uncles’ girls to fall back on. I really think you ought to go.’ After this Dai-yu could only take a tearful leave of her father and go down to the boat with her nurse and the old women from the Rong mansion who had been sent to fetch her. There was a separate boat for Yu-cun and a couple of servant-boys to wait on him, and he too now embarked in the capacity of Dai-yu’s escort.
一日，到了京都，雨村先整了衣冠，帶著童僕，拿了「宗姪」的名帖，至榮府門上投了。彼時賈政已看了妹丈之書，即忙請入相會。見雨村相貌魁偉，言談不俗。且這賈政最喜的是讀書人，禮賢下士，拯溺救危，大有祖風，況又係妹丈致意，因此優待雨村，更又不同，便極力幫助。題奏之日，謀了一個復職。不上兩月，便選了金陵應天府，辭了賈政，擇日到任去了。不在話下。
In due course they arrived in the capital, and Yu-cun, dressed in his best and with the two servant-boys at his heels, betook himself to the gate of the Rong mansion and handed in his visiting-card, on which he had been careful to prefix the word ‘kinsman’ to his own name. By this time Jia Zheng had already seen his brother-in-law’s letter, and accorded him an interview without delay. Yu-cun’s imposing looks and cultivated speech made an excellent impression on Jia Zheng, who was in any case always well-disposed towards scholars, and preserved much of his grandfather’s affability with men of letters and readiness to help them in any sort of trouble or distress. And since his own inclinations were in this case reinforced by his brother-in-law’s strong recommendation, the treatment he extended to Yu-cun was exceptionally favourable. He exerted himself on his behalf to such good effect that on the very day his petition was presented Yu-cun’s reinstatement was approved, and before two months were out he was appointed to the magistracy of Ying-tian-fu in Nanking. Thither, having chosen a suitable day on which to commence his journey, and having first taken his leave of Jia Zheng, he now repaired to take up his duties. But of him, for the time being, no more.
且說黛玉自那日棄舟登岸時，便有榮府打發轎子並拉行李的車輛伺候。這黛玉嘗聽得母親說他外祖母家與別人家不同，他近日所見的這幾個三等的僕婦，吃穿用度，已是不凡，何況今至其家。因此步步留心，時時在意，不多說一句話，不多行一步路，恐被人恥笑了去。自上了轎，進了城，從紗窗向外瞧了一瞧，其街市之繁華，人煙之阜盛，自非別處可比。又行了半日，忽見街北蹲著兩個大石獅子，三間獸頭大門，門前列坐著十來個華冠麗服之人。正門不開，只東西兩角門有人出入。正門之上有一匾，匾上大書「敕造寧國府」五個大字。
On the day of her arrival in the capital, Dai-yu stepped ashore to find covered chairs from the Rong mansion for her and her women and a cart for the luggage ready waiting on the quay. She had often heard her mother say that her Grandmother Jia’s home was not like other people’s houses. The servants she had been in contact with during the past few days were comparatively low-ranking ones in the domestic hierarchy, yet the food they ate, the clothes they wore, and everything about them was quite out of the ordinary. Dai-yu tried to imagine what the people who employed these superior beings must be like. When she arrived at their house she would have to watch every step she took and weigh every word she said, for if she put a foot wrong they would surely laugh her to scorn.
Dai-yu got into her chair and was soon carried through the city walls. Peeping through the gauze panel which served as a window, she could see streets and buildings more rich and elegant and throngs of people more lively and numerous than she had ever seen in her life before. After being carried for what seemed a very great length of time, she saw, on the north front of the east-west street through which they were passing, two great stone lions crouched one on each side of a triple gateway whose doors were embellished with animal-heads. In front of the gateway ten or so splendidly dressed flunkeys sat in a row. The centre of the three gates was closed, but people were going in and out of the two side ones. There was a board above the centre gate on which were written in large characters the words:
NING-GUO HOUSE Founded and Constructed by Imperial Command
黛玉想道：「這是外祖的長房了。」又往西不遠，照樣也是三間大門，方是榮國府，卻不進正門，只由西角門而入。轎子抬著走了一射之地，將轉彎時，便歇了轎，後面的婆子也都下來了。另換了四個眉目秀潔十七八歲的小廝上來抬著轎子，眾婆子步下跟隨。至一垂花門前落下，眾小廝俱肅然退出，眾婆子上前打起轎簾，扶黛玉下了轎。
Dai-yu realized that this must be where the elder branch of her grandmother’s family lived. The chair proceeded some distance more down the street and presently there was another triple gate, this time with the legend RONG-GUO HOUSE above it. Ignoring the central gate, her bearers went in by the western entrance and after traversing the distance of a bow-shot inside, half turned a corner and set the chair down. The chairs of her female attendants which were following behind were set down simultaneously and the old women got out. The places of Dai-yu’s bearers were taken by four handsome, fresh-faced pages of seventeen or eighteen. They shouldered her chair and, with the old women now following on foot, carried it as far as an ornamental inner gate. There they set it down again and then retired in respectful silence. The old women came forward to the front of the chair, held up the curtain, and helped Dai-yu to get out.
黛玉扶著婆子的手，進了垂花門。兩邊是超手遊廊，正中是穿堂，當地放著一個紫檀架子大理石屏風。轉過屏風，小小三間廳房，廳後便是正房大院。正面五間上房，皆是雕梁畫棟。兩邊穿山遊廊廂房，掛著各色鸚鵡畫眉等雀鳥。台階上坐著幾個穿紅著綠的丫頭，一見他們來了，都笑迎上來，道：「剛纔老太太還念著呢，可巧就來了。」於是三四人爭著打簾子。一面聽得人說：「林姑娘來了！」
passed through the ornamental gate into a courtyard which had balustraded loggias running along its sides and a covered passage-way through the center. The foreground of the courtyard beyond was partially hidden by a screen of polished marble set in an elaborate red sandalwood frame. Passing round the screen and through a small reception hall beyond it, they entered the large courtyard of the mansion’s principal apartments. These were housed in an imposing five-frame building resplendent with carved and painted beams and rafters which faced them across the courtyard. Running along either side of the courtyard were galleries hung with cages containing a variety of different-coloured parrots, cockatoos, white-eyes, and other birds. Some gaily-dressed maids were sitting on the steps of the main building opposite. At the appearance of the visitors they rose to their feet and came forward with smiling faces to welcome them. ‘You’ve come just at the right time! Lady Jia was only this moment asking about you.’ Three or four of them ran to lift up the door-curtain, while another of them announced in loud tones, ‘Miss Lin is here!’
黛玉方進房，只見兩個人扶著一位鬢髮如銀的老母迎上來。黛玉知是外祖母，正欲下拜，早被外祖母抱住，摟入懷中，「心肝兒肉」叫著大哭起來。當下侍立之人無不落淚，黛玉也哭個不休。待眾人慢慢勸解住了，那黛玉方拜見了外祖母，賈母方一一指與黛玉道：「這是你大舅母。這是二舅母。這是你先前珠大哥的媳婦珠大嫂子。」黛玉一一拜見了。賈母又叫：「請姑娘們來。今日遠客來了，可以不必上學去。」眾人答應了一聲，便去了兩個。
Each hand resting on the outstretched hand of an elderly attendant, Dai-yu As Dai-yu entered the room she saw a silver-haired old lady advancing to meet her, supported on either side by a servant. She knew that this must be her Grandmother Jia and would have fallen on her knees and made her kotow, but before she could do so her grandmother had caught her in her arms and pressing her to her bosom with cries of ‘My pet!’ and ‘My poor lamb!’ burst into loud sobs, while all those present wept in sympathy, and Dai-yu felt herself crying as though she could never stop. It was some time before those present succeeded in calming them both down and Dai-yu was at last able to make her kotow. Grandmother Jia now introduced those present. ‘This is your elder uncle’s wife, Aunt Xing. This is your Uncle Zheng’s wife, Aunt Wang. This is Li Wan, the wife of your Cousin Zhu, who died.’ Dai-yu kowtowed to each of them in turn. ‘Call the girls!’ said Grandmother Jia. ‘Tell them that we have a very special visitor and that they need not do their lessons today.’
不一時，只見三個奶媽並五六個丫鬟擁著三位姑娘來了：第一個，肌膚微豐，身材合中，腮凝新荔，鼻膩鵝脂，溫柔沉默，觀之可親；第二個，削肩細腰，長挑身材，鴨蛋臉兒，俊眼修眉，顧盼神飛，文彩精華，見之忘俗；第三個，身量未足，形容尚小。其釵環裙襖，三人皆是一樣的粧束。黛玉忙起身迎上來見禮，互相廝認。歸了坐位，丫鬟送上茶來。不過敘些黛玉之母如何得病，如何請醫服藥，如何送死發喪。不免賈母又傷感起來，因說：「我這些女孩兒，所疼的獨有你母親，今一旦先我而亡，不得見面，怎不傷心！」說著，攜了黛玉的手，又哭起來。眾人都忙相勸慰，方略略止住。
There was a cry of ‘Yes ma’am’ from the assembled maids, and two of them went off to do her bidding. Presently three girls arrived, attended by three nurses and five or six maids. The first girl was of medium height and slightly plumpish, with cheeks as white and firm as a fresh lychee and a nose as white and shiny as soap made from the white goose-fat. She had a gentle, sweet, reserved manner. To look at her was to love her.
The second girl was rather tall, with sloping shoulders and a slender waist. She had an oval face under whose well-formed brows large, expressive eyes shot out glances that sparkled with animation. To look at her was to forget all that was mean or vulgar.
The third girl was undersized and her looks were still somewhat babyish and unformed. All three were dressed in identical skirts and dresses and wore identical sets of bracelets and hair ornaments. Dai-yu rose to meet them and exchanged curtseys and introductions. When she was seated once more, a maid served tea, and a conversation began on the subject of her mother: how her illness had started, what doctors had been called in, what medicines prescribed, what arrangements had been made for the funeral, and how the mourning had been observed. This conversation had the foreseeable effect of upsetting the old lady all over again. ‘Of all my girls your mother was the one I loved the best,’ she said, ‘and now she’s been the first to go, and without my even being able to see her again before the end. I can’t help being upset!’ And holding fast to Dai-yu’s hand, she once more burst into tears. The rest of the company did their best to comfort her, until at last she had more or less recovered.
眾人見黛玉年紀雖小，其舉止言談不俗，身體面貌雖弱不勝衣，卻有一段風流態度，便知他有不足之症。因問：「常服何藥？為何不治好了？」黛玉道：「我自來如此，從會吃飯時便吃藥到如今了。經過多少名醫，總未見效。那一年，我纔三歲，聽說來了一個癩頭和尚，說要化我去出家，我父母自是不從。他又說：『既捨不得他，但只怕他的病一生也不能好的！若要好時，除非從此以後總不許見哭聲，除父母之外，凡有外親一概不見，方可平安了此一生。』這和尚瘋瘋癲癲說了這些不經之談，也沒人理他。如今還是吃人參養榮丸。」賈母道：「這正好，我這裡正配丸藥呢，叫他們多配一料就是了。」
Everyone’s attention now centred on Dai-yu. They observed that although she was still young, her speech and manner already showed unusual refinement. They also noticed the frail body which seemed scarcely strong enough to bear the weight of its clothes, but which yet had an inexpressible grace about it, and realizing that she must be suffering from some deficiency, asked her what medicine she took for it and why it was still not better. ‘I have always been like this,’ said Dai-yu. ‘I have been taking medicine ever since I could eat and been looked at by ever so many well-known doctors, but it has never done me any good. Once, when I was only three, I can remember a scabby-headed old monk came and said he wanted to take me away and have me brought up as a nun; but of course, Mother and Father wouldn’t hear of it. So he said, “Since you are not prepared to give her up, I am afraid her illness will never get better as long as she lives. The only way it might get better would be if she were never to hear the sound of weeping from this day onwards and never to see any relations other than her own mother and father. Only in those conditions could she get through her life without trouble.” Of course, he was quite crazy, and no one took any notice of the things he said. I’m still taking Ginseng Tonic Pills.’ ‘Well, that’s handy,’ said Grandmother Jia. ‘I take the Pills myself. We can easily tell them to make up a few more each time.’
一語未完，只聽後院中有笑語聲，說：「我來遲了，沒得迎接遠客！」黛玉思忖道：「這些人個個皆斂聲屏氣如此，這來者是誰，這樣放誕無禮？……」心下想時，只見一群媳婦丫鬟擁著一個麗人從後房門進來。這個人打扮與姑娘們不同：彩繡輝煌，恍若神妃仙子。頭上戴著金絲八寶攢珠髻，綰著朝陽五鳳掛珠釵；項上戴著赤金盤螭纓絡圈；身上穿著縷金百蝶穿花大紅雲緞窄裉襖，外罩五彩刻絲石青銀鼠褂；下著翡翠撒花洋縐裙。一雙丹鳳三角眼，兩彎柳葉弔梢眉。身量苗條，體格風騷。粉面含春威不露，丹唇未啟笑先聞。
She had scarcely finished speaking when someone could be heard talking and laughing in a very loud voice in the inner courtyard behind them. ‘Oh dear! I’m late,’ said the voice. ‘I’ve missed the arrival of our guest.’ ‘Everyone else around here seems to go about with bated breath,’ thought Dai-yu. ‘Who can this new arrival be who is so brash and unmannerly?
’ Even as she wondered, a beautiful young woman entered from the room behind the one they were sitting in, surrounded by a bevy of serving women and maids. She was dressed quite differently from the others present, gleaming like some fairy princess with sparkling jewels and gay embroideries. Her chignon was enclosed in a circlet of gold filigree and clustered pearls. It was fastened with a pin embellished with flying phoenixes, from whose beaks pearls were suspended on tiny chains.
Her necklet was of red gold in the form of a coiling dragon. Her dress had a fitted bodice and was made of dark red silk damask with a pattern of flowers and butterflies in raised gold thread. Her jacket was lined with ermine. It was of a slate-blue stuff with woven insets in coloured silks. Her under-skirt was of a turquoise-coloured imported silk crêpe embroidered with flowers.
She had, moreover, eyes like a painted phoenix, eyebrows like willow-eaves, a slender form, seductive grace; the ever-smiling summer face of hidden thunders showed no trace; the ever-bubbling laughter started almost before the lips were parted.
黛玉連忙起身接見。賈母笑道：「你不認得他。他是我們這裡有名的一個『潑辣貨』，南京所謂『辣子』你只叫他鳳辣子就是了。」黛玉正不知以何稱呼，眾姊妹都忙告訴黛玉道：「這是璉二嫂子。」黛玉雖不曾識面，聽見他母親說過：「大舅賈赦之子賈璉娶的就是二舅母王氏的內姪女，自幼假充男兒教養，學名叫做王熙鳳。」黛玉忙陪笑見禮，以「嫂」呼之。
‘You don’t know her,’ said Grandmother Jia merrily. ‘She’s a holy terror this one. What we used to call in Nanking a “peppercorn”. You just call her “Peppercorn Feng”. She’ll know who you mean!’ Dai-yu was at a loss to know how she was to address this Peppercorn Feng until one of the cousins whispered that it was ‘Cousin Lian’s wife’, and she emembered having heard her mother say that her elder uncle, Uncle She, had a son called Jia Lian who was married to the niece of her Uncle Zheng’s wife, Lady Wang. She had been brought up from earliest childhood just like a boy, and had acquired in the schoolroom the somewhat boyish-sounding name of Wang Xi-feng. Dai-yu accordingly smiled and curtseyed, greeting her by her correct name as she did so.
這熙鳳攜著黛玉的手，上下細細打量一回，便仍送至賈母身邊坐下，因笑道：「天下真有這樣標致人兒！我今日纔算看見了！況且這通身的氣派竟不像老祖宗的外孫女兒，竟是個嫡親的孫女兒似的。怨不得老祖宗天天嘴裡心裡放不下。－－只可憐我這妹妹這麼命苦：怎麼姑媽偏就去世了呢！」說著，便用手帕拭淚。賈母笑道：「我纔好了，你又來招我。你妹妹遠路纔來，身子又弱，也纔勸住了。快別再提了。」
Xi-feng took Dai-yu by the hand and for a few moments scrutinized her carefully from top to toe before conducting her back to her seat beside Grandmother Jia. ‘She’s a beauty, Grannie dear! If I hadn’t set eyes on her today, I shouldn’t have believed that such a beautiful creature could exist! And everything about her so distingu !She doesn’t take after your side of the family, Grannie. She’s more like a Jia. I don’t blame you for having gone on so about her during the past few days but poor little thing! What a cruel fate to have lost Auntie like that!’ and she dabbed at her eyes with a handkerchief. ‘I’ve only just recovered,’ laughed Grandmother Jia. ‘Don’t you go trying to start me off again! Besides, your little cousin is not very strong, and we’ve only just managed to get her cheered up. So let’s have no more of this!’
熙鳳聽了，忙轉悲為喜道：「正是呢。我一見了妹妹，一心都在他身上，又是歡喜，又是傷心，竟忘了老祖宗了。該打，該打。」又忙拉著黛玉的手問道：「妹妹幾歲了？可也上過學？現吃什麼藥？在這裡別想家。要什麼吃的，什麼玩的，只管告訴我。丫頭老婆們不好，也只管告訴我。」黛玉一一答應。一面熙鳳又問人：「林姑娘的東西可搬進來了？帶了幾個人來？你們趕早打掃兩間下房，讓她們去歇歇。」
In obedience to the command Xi-feng at once exchanged her grief for merriment. ‘Yes of course. It was just that seeing my little cousin here put everything else out of my mind. It made me want to laugh and cry all at the same time. I’m afraid I quite forgot about you, Grannie dear. I deserve to be spanked, don’t I?’ She grabbed Dai-yu by the hand. ‘How old are you dear? Have you begun school yet? You mustn’t feel home sick here. If there’s anything you want to eat or anything you want to play with, just come and tell me. And you must tell me if any of the maids or the old nannies are nasty to you.’ Dai-yu made appropriate responses to all of these questions and injunctions. Xi-feng turned to the servants. ‘Have Miss Lin’s things been brought in yet? How many people did she bring with her? You’d better hurry up and get a couple of rooms swept out for them to rest in.’
說話時，已擺了茶果上來。熙鳳親自佈讓。又見二舅母問他：「月錢放完了沒有？」熙鳳道：「放完了。剛纔帶了人到後樓上找緞子，找了半日，也沒見昨兒太太說的那個，想必太太記錯了。」王夫人道：「有沒有，什麼要緊！」因又說道：「該隨手拿出兩個來給你這妹妹裁衣裳啊。等晚上想著再叫人去拿罷。」熙鳳道：「我倒先料著了。知道妹妹這兩日必到，我已經預備下了，等太太回去過了目好送來。」王夫人一笑，點頭不語。
While Xi-feng was speaking, the servants brought in tea and various plates of food, the distribution of which she proceeded to supervise in person. Dai-yu noticed her Aunt Wang questioning Xi-feng on the side: ‘Have this month’s allowances been paid out yet?’ ‘Yes. By the way, just now I went with some of the women to the upstairs storeroom at the back to look for that satin. We looked and looked, but we couldn’t find any like the one you described yesterday. Perhaps you misremembered.’ ‘Oh well, if you can’t find it, it doesn’t really matter,’ said Lady Wang. Then, after a moment’s reflection, ‘You’d better pick out a couple of lengths presently to have made up into clothes for your little cousin here. If you think of it, send someone round in the evening to fetch them!’ ‘It’s already been seen to. I knew she was going to arrive within a day or two, so I had some brought out in readiness. They are waiting back at your place for your approval. If you think they are all right, they can be sent over straight away.’ Lady Wang merely smiled and nodded her head without saying anything.
當下茶果已撤，賈母命兩個老嬤嬤帶黛玉去見兩個舅舅去。賈赦之妻邢氏忙起身笑回道：「我帶了外甥女兒過去，到底便宜些。」賈母笑道：「正是呢。你也去罷，不必過來了。」
The tea things and dishes were now cleared away, and Grandmother Jia ordered two old nurses to take Dai-yu round to see her uncles; but Uncle She’s wife, Lady Xing, hurriedly rose to her feet and suggested that it would be more convenient if she were to take her niece round herself. ‘Very well,’ said Grandmother Jia. ‘You go now, then. There is no need for you to come back afterwards.’
那邢夫人答應了，遂帶著黛玉和王夫人作辭。大家送至穿堂垂花門前。早有眾小廝拉過一輛翠幄清油車來，邢夫人攜了黛玉坐上。眾婆子放下車簾，方命小廝們抬起，拉至寬處，駕上馴騾，出了西角門，往東過榮府正門，入一黑油漆大門內，至儀門前，方下了車。邢夫人挽著黛玉的手進入院中。黛玉度其處必是榮府中之花園隔斷過來的。進入三層儀門，果見正房廂房遊廊，悉皆小巧別致，不似那邊的軒峻壯麗，且院中隨處之樹木山石皆好。及進入正室，早有許多艷粧麗服之姬妾丫鬟迎著。
So having, together with Lady Wang, who was also returning to her quarters, taken leave of the old lady, Lady Xing went off with Dai-yu, attended across the courtyard as far as the covered way by the rest of the company. A carriage painted dark blue and hung with kingfisher-blue curtains had been drawn up in front of the ornamental gateway by some pages. Into this Aunt Xing ascended hand in hand with Dai-yu. The old women pulled down the carriage blind and ordered the pages to take up the shafts, the pages drew the carriage into an open space and harnessed mules to it, and Dai-yu and her aunt were driven out of the west gate, eastwards past the main gate of the Rong mansion, in again through a big black-lacquered gate, and up to an inner gate, where they were set down again. Holding Dai-yu by the hand, Aunt Xing led her into a courtyard in the middle of what she imagined must once have been part of the mansion’s gardens. This impression was strengthened when they passed through a third gateway into the quarters occupied by her uncle and aunt; for here the smaller scale and quiet elegance of the halls, galleries and loggias were quite unlike the heavy magnificence and imposing grandeur they had just come from, and ornamental trees and artificial rock formations, all in exquisite taste, were to be seen on every hand. As they entered the main reception hall, a number of heavily made-up and expensively dressed maids and concubines, who had been waiting in readiness, came forward to greet them.
邢夫人讓黛玉坐了，一面令人到外書房中請賈赦。一時回來說：「老爺說了：『連日身上不好，見了姑娘，彼此傷心，暫且不忍相見。勸姑娘不必傷懷想家，跟著老太太和舅母是和家裡一樣的。姐妹們雖拙，大家一處作伴，也可以解些煩悶。或有委屈之處，只管說，別外道了纔是。』」
Aunt Xing asked Dai-yu to be seated while she sent a servant to call Uncle She. After a considerable wait the servant returned with the following message: ‘The Master says he hasn’t been well these last few days, and as it would only upset them both if he were to see Miss Lin now, he doesn’t feel up to it for the time being. He says, tell Miss Lin not to grieve and not to feel homesick. She must think of her grandmother and her aunts as her own family now. He says that her cousins may not be very clever girls, but at least they should be company for her and help to take her mind off things. If she finds anything at all here to distress her, she is to speak up at once. She mustn’t feel like an outsider. She is to make herself completely at home.’
黛玉忙站起身來一一答應了，再坐一刻，便告辭。邢夫人苦留吃過飯纔去，黛玉笑回道：「舅母愛惜賜飯，原不應辭，只是還要過去拜見二舅舅，恐去遲了不恭。異日再領，望舅母容諒。」邢夫人笑道：「這倒是了。」遂命兩個嬤嬤用方纔坐來的車送過去。於是黛玉告辭。邢夫人送至儀門前，又囑咐了眾人幾句，眼看著車去了方回來。
Dai-yu stood up throughout this recital and murmured polite assent whenever assent seemed indicated. She then sat for about another quarter of an hour before rising to take her leave. Her Aunt Xing was very pressing that she should have a meal with her before she went, but Dai-yu smilingly replied that though it was very kind of her aunt to offer, and though she ought really not to refuse, nevertheless she still had to pay her respects to her Uncle Zheng, and feared that it would be disrespectful if she were to arrive late. She hoped that she might accept on another occasion and begged her aunt to excuse her. ‘In that case, never mind,’ said Lady Xing, and instructed the old nurses to see her to her Uncle Zheng’s in the same carriage she had come by. Dai-yu formally took her leave, and Lady Xing saw her as far as the inner gate, where she issued a few more instructions to the servants and watched her niece’s carriage out of sight before returning to her rooms.
一時，黛玉進入榮府，下了車，只見一條大甬路，直接出大門來。眾嬤嬤引著，便往東轉彎，走過一座東西穿堂，向南大廳之後，至儀門內大院落。上面五間大正房，兩邊廂房，鹿頂耳門鑽山，四通八達，軒昂壯麗，比各處不同。黛玉便知這方是正內室。進入堂屋，抬頭迎面先見一個赤金九龍青地大匾，匾上寫著斗大三個字是「榮禧堂」。後有一行小字：「某年月日書賜榮國公賈源」，又有「萬機宸翰」之寶。大紫檀雕螭案上設著三尺多高青綠古銅鼎，懸著待漏隨朝墨龍大畫。一邊是鏨金彝，一邊是玻璃盆。地下兩溜十六張楠木圈椅。又有一副對聯，乃是烏木聯牌，鑲著鏨金字跡，道是：「座上珠璣昭日月，堂前黼黻煥煙霞。」下面一行小字是：「世教弟勳襲東安郡王穆蒔拜手書。」
Presently they re-entered the Rong mansion proper and Dai-yu got down from the carriage. There was a raised stone walk running all the way up to the main gate, along which the old nurses now conducted her. Turning right, they led her down a roofed passage-way along the back of a south-facing hall, then through an inner gate into a large courtyard. The big building at the head of the courtyard was connected at each end to galleries running through the length of the side buildings by means of ‘stag’s head’ roofing over the corners. The whole formed an architectural unit of greater sumptuousness and magnificence than anything Dai-yu had yet seen that day, from which she concluded that this must be the main inner hall of the whole mansion. High overhead on the wall facing her as she entered the hall was a great blue board framed in gilded dragons, on which
was written in large gold characters
THE HALL OF EXALTED FELICITY
with a column of smaller characters at the side giving a date and the words ‘…. written for Our beloved Subject, Jia Yuan,.Duke of Rong-guo’, followed by the Emperor’s private seal, a device containing the words ‘kingly cares’ and ‘royal brush’ in archaic seal-script. A long, high table of carved red sandalwood, ornamented with dragons, stood against the wall underneath. In the centre of this was a huge antique bronze ding, fully a yard high, covered with a green patina. On the wall above the ding hung a long vertical scroll with an ink-painting of a dragon emerging from clouds and waves, of the kind often presented to high court officials in token of their office. The ding was flanked on one side by a smaller antique bronze vessel with a pattern of gold inlay and on the other by a crystal bowl. At each side of the table stood a row of eight yellow cedar-wood armchairs with their backs to the wall; and above the chairs hung, one on each side, a pair of vertical ebony boards inlaid with a couplet in characters of gold:
(on the right-hand one) May the jewel of learning shine in this house more effulgently than the sun and moon.
(on the left-hand one) May the insignia of honour glitter in these halls more brilliantly than the starry sky.
This was followed by a colophon in smaller characters: With the Respectful Compliments of your Fellow-
Student, Mu Shi, Hereditary Prince of Dong-an.
原來王夫人時常居坐宴息也不在這正室中，只在東邊的三間耳房內。於是嬤嬤們引黛玉進東房門來。臨窗大炕上鋪著猩紅洋毯，正面設著大紅金錢蟒引枕，秋香色金錢蟒大條褥。兩邊設一對梅花式洋漆小几：左邊几上擺著文王鼎，鼎旁匙箸香盒；右邊几上擺著汝窯美人觚，裡面插著時鮮花卉。地下面，西一溜四張大椅都搭著銀紅撒花椅搭，底下四副腳踏；兩邊又有一對高几，几上茗碗瓶花俱備。其餘陳設不必細說。
Lady Wang did not, however, normally spend her leisure hours in this main reception hall, but in a smaller room on the east side of the same building. Accordingly the nurses conducted Dai-yu through the door into this side apartment. Here there was a large kang underneath the window, covered with a scarlet Kashmir rug. In the middle of the kang was a dark-red bolster with a pattern of medallions in the form of tiny dragons, and a long russet-green seating strip in the same pattern. A low rose-shaped table of coloured lacquer-work stood at each side. On the left-hand one was a small, square, four-legged ding, together with a bronze ladle, metal chopsticks, and an incense container. On the right-hand one was a narrow-waisted Ru-ware imitation gu with a spray of freshly cut flowers in it. In the part of the room below the kang there was a row of four big chairs against the east wall. All had footstools in front of them and chair-backs and seat-covers in old rose brocade sprigged with flowers. There were also narrow side-tables on which tea things and vases of flowers were arranged, besides other furnishings which it would be superfluous to enumerate.
老嬤嬤讓黛玉上炕坐。炕沿上卻也有兩個錦褥對設。黛玉度其位次，便不上炕，只就東邊椅上坐了。本房的丫鬟忙捧上茶來。黛玉一面吃茶，一面打量這些丫鬟們，粧飾衣裙，舉止行動，果與別家不同。
The old nurses invited Dai-yu to get up on the kang; but guessing that the brocade cushions arranged one on each side near the edge of it must be her uncle’s and aunt’s places, she deemed it more proper to sit on one of the chairs against the wall below. The maids in charge of the apartment served tea, and as she sipped it Dai-yu observed that their clothing, make-up, and deportment were quite different from those of the maids she had seen so far in other parts of the mansion.
茶未吃了，只見一個穿紅綾襖青緞掐牙背心的丫鬟走來笑道：「太太說，請林姑娘到那邊坐罷。」老嬤嬤聽了，於是又引黛玉出來，到了東南三間小正房內。正面炕上橫設一張炕桌，上面堆著書籍茶具，靠東壁面西設著半舊的青緞靠背引枕。王夫人卻坐在西邊下首，－－亦是半舊青緞靠背坐褥－－見黛玉來了，便往東讓。黛玉心中料定這是賈政之位，因見挨炕一溜三張椅子上也搭著半舊的彈墨椅袱，黛玉便向椅上坐了。王夫人再三讓他上炕，他方挨王夫人坐下。王夫人因說：「你舅舅今日齋戒去了，再見罷。只是有一句話囑咐你：你三個姐妹倒都極好，以後一處念書，認字，學針線，或偶一頑笑，都有個儘讓的。我就只一件不放心：我有一個孽根禍胎，是家裡的『混世魔王』，今日因往廟裡還願去，尚未回來，晚上你看見就知道了。你只以後不要睬他，你這些姐姐妹妹都不敢沾惹他的。」
Before she had time to finish her tea, a smiling maid came in wearing a dress of red damask and a black silk sleeveless jacket which had scalloped borders of some coloured material. ‘The Mistress says will Miss Lin come over to the other side, please.’ The old nurses now led Dai-yu down the east gallery to a reception room at the side of the courtyard. This too had a kang. It was bisected by a long, low table piled with books and tea things. A much-used black satin back-rest was pushed up against the east wall. Lady Wang was seated on a black satin cushion and leaning against another comfortable-looking back-rest of black satin somewhat farther forward on the opposite side. Seeing her niece enter, she motioned her to sit opposite her on the kang, but Dai-yu felt sure that this must be her Uncle Zheng’s place. So, having observed a row of three chairs near the kang with covers of flower-sprigged brocade which looked as though they were in fairly constant use, she sat upon one of those instead. Only after much further pressing from her aunt would she get up on the kang, and even then she would only sit beside her and not in the position of honour opposite.
‘Your uncle is in retreat today,’ said Lady Wang. ‘He will see you another time. There is, however, something I have got to talk to you about. The three girls are very well-behaved children, and in future, when you are studying or sewing together, even if once in a while they may grow a bit high-spirited, I can depend on them not to go too far. There is only one thing that worries me. I have a little monster of a son who tyrannizes over all the rest of this household. He has gone off to the temple today in fulfillment of a vow and is not yet back; but you will see what I mean this evening. The thing to do is never to take any notice of him. None of your cousins dare provoke him.’
黛玉素聞母親說過，「有個內姪，乃啣玉而生，頑劣異常，不喜讀書，最喜在內幃廝混，外祖母又溺愛，無人敢管。」今見王夫人所說，便知是這位表兄，一面陪笑道：「舅母所說，可是那位啣玉而生的哥哥？在家時記得母親常說，這位哥哥比我大一歲，小名就叫寶玉，性雖憨頑，說待姊妹們卻是極好的。況我來了，自然和姊妹們一處，弟兄們是另院別房，豈有沾惹之理？」王夫人笑道：「你不知道原故。他和別人不同，自幼因老太太疼愛，原係和姐妹們一處嬌養慣了的。若姐妹們不理他，他倒還安靜些；若一日姐妹們和他多說了一句話，他心上一喜，便生出許多事來：所以囑咐你別理會他。他嘴裡一時甜言蜜語，一時有天沒日，瘋瘋傻傻，只休信他。」
Dai-yu had long ago been told by her mother that she had a boy cousin who was born with a piece of jade in his mouth and who was exceptionally wild and naughty. He hated study and liked to spend all his time in the women’s apartments with the girls, but because Grandmother Jia doted on him so much, no one ever dared to correct him. She realized that it must be this cousin her aunt was now referring to. ‘Do you mean the boy born with the jade, Aunt?’ she asked. ‘Mother often told me about him at home. She told me that he was one year older than me and that his name was Bao-yu. But she said that though he was very willful, he always behaved very nicely to girls. Now that I am here, I suppose I shall be spending all my time with my girl cousins and not in the same part of the house as the boys. Surely there will be no danger of my provoking him?’ Lady Wang gave a rueful smile. ‘You little know how things are here! Bao-yu is a law unto himself. Because your grandmother is so fond of him she has thoroughly spoiled him. When he was little he lived with the girls, so with the girls he remains now. As long as they take no notice of him, things run quietly enough. But if they give him the least encouragement, he at once becomes excitable, and then there is no end to the mischief he may get up to. That is why I counsel you to ignore him. He can be all honey-sweet words one minute and ranting and raving like a lunatic the next. So don’t believe anything he says.’
黛玉一一的都答應著。忽見一個丫鬟來說：「老太太那裡傳晚飯了。」王夫人忙攜了黛玉出後房門，由後廊往西出了角門，是一條南北甬路，南邊是倒座三間小小抱廈廳，北邊立著一個粉油大影壁，後有一個半大門，小小一所房屋。王夫人笑指向黛玉道：「這是你鳳姐姐的屋子，回來你好往這裡找他去。少什麼東西，只管和他說就是了。」這院門上也有幾個纔總角的小廝，都垂手侍立。
Dai-yu promised to follow her aunt’s advice. Just then a maid came in with a message that ‘Lady Jia said it was time for dinner’, whereupon Lady Wang took Dai-yu by the hand and hurried her out through a back door. Passing along a verandah which ran beneath the rear eaves of the hall they came to a corner gate through which they passed into an alley-way running north and south. At the south end it was traversed by a narrow little building with a short passage-way running through its middle. At the north end was a white painted screen wall masking a medium-sized gateway leading to a small courtyard in which stood a very little house. ‘That,’ said Lady Wang, pointing to the little house, ‘is where your Cousin Lian’s wife, Wang Xi-feng, lives, in case you want to see her later on. She is the person to talk to if there is anything you need.’ There were a few young pages at the gate of the courtyard who, when they saw Lady Wang coming, all stood to attention with their hands at their sides.
王夫人遂攜黛玉穿過一個東西穿堂，便是賈母的後院了，於是進入後房門。已有許多人在此伺候，見王夫人來，方安設桌椅。賈珠之妻李氏捧杯，熙鳳安箸，王夫人進羹。賈母正面榻上獨坐，兩旁四張空椅。熙鳳忙拉黛玉在左邊第一張椅子上坐下，黛玉十分推讓。賈母笑道：「你舅母和嫂子們是不在這裡吃飯的，你是客，原該這麼坐。」黛玉方告了坐，就坐了。賈母命王夫人也坐了。迎春姊妹三個告了坐方上來，迎春坐右手第一，探春左第二，惜春右第二。旁邊丫鬟執著拂塵漱盂巾帕。李紈鳳姐立於案旁佈讓。外間伺候的媳婦丫鬟雖多，卻連一聲咳嗽不聞。飯畢，各各有丫鬟用小茶盤捧上茶來。當日林家教女以惜福養身，每飯後必過片時方吃茶，不傷脾胃。今黛玉見了這裡許多規矩不似家中，也只得隨和著些。接了茶，又有人捧過漱盂來，黛玉也漱了口。又盥手畢，然後又捧上茶來，這方是吃的茶。
Lady Wang now led Dai-yu along a gallery, running from east to west, which brought them out into the courtyard behind Grandmother Jia’s apartments. Entering these by a back entrance, they found a number of servants waiting there who, as soon as they saw Lady Wang, began to arrange the table and chairs for dinner. The ladies of the house themselves took part in the service. Li Wan brought in the cups, Xi-feng laid out the chopsticks, and Lady Wang brought in the soup. The table at which Grandmother Jia presided, seated alone on a couch, had two empty chairs on either side. Xi-feng tried to seat Dai-yu in the one on the left nearer to her grandmother —an honour which she strenuously resisted until her grandmother explained that her aunt and her elder cousins’ wives would not be eating with them, so that, since she was a guest, the place was properly hers. Only then did she ask permission to sit, as etiquette prescribed. Grandmother Jia then ordered Lady Wang to be seated. This was the cue for the three girls to ask permission to sit. Ying-chun sat in the first place on the right opposite Dai-yu, Tan-chun sat second on the left, and Xi-chun sat second on the right. While Li Wan and Xi-feng stood by the table helping to distribute food from the dishes, maids holding fly-whisks, spittoons, and napkins ranged themselves on either side. In addition to these, there were numerous other maids and serving-women in attendance in the outer room, yet not so much as a cough was heard throughout the whole of the meal. When they had finished eating, a maid served each diner with tea on a little tray. Dai-yu’s parents had brought their daughter up to believe that good health was founded on careful habits, and in pursuance of this principle, had always insisted that after a meal one should allow a certain interval to elapse before taking tea in order to avoid indigestion. However, she could see that many of the rules in this household were different from the ones she had been used to at home; so, being anxious to conform as much as possible, she accepted the tea. But as she did so, another maid preferred a spittoon, from which she inferred that the tea was for rinsing her mouth with. And it was not, in fact, until they had all rinsed out their mouths and washed their hands that another lot of tea was served, this time for drinking.
賈母便說：「你們去罷，讓我們自在說說話兒。」王夫人遂起身，又說了兩句閒話兒，方引李鳳二人去了。賈母因問黛玉念何書，黛玉道：「剛念了《四書》。」黛玉又問姊妹們讀何書，賈母道：「讀什麼書！不過認幾個字罷了。」
Grandmother Jia now dismissed her lady servers, observing that she wished to enjoy a little chat with her young grand children without the restraint of their grown-up presence. Lady Wang obediently rose to her feet and, after exchanging a few pleasantries, went out, taking Li Wan and Wang Xi-feng with her. Grandmother Jia asked Dai-yu what books she was studying. ‘The Four Books,’ said Dai-yu, and inquired in turn what books her cousins were currently engaged on. ‘Gracious, child, they don’t study books,’ said her grandmother; ‘they can barely read and write!’
一語未了，只聽外面一陣腳步響，丫鬟進來報道寶玉來了。黛玉心想：「這個寶玉不知是怎樣個憊懶人呢。……」及至進來一看，卻是位青年公子。頭上戴著束髮嵌寶紫金冠，齊眉勒著二龍戲珠金抹額；一件二色金百蝶穿花大紅箭袖，束著五彩絲攢花結長穗宮絛，外罩石青起花八團倭緞排穗褂；登著青緞粉底小朝靴。面若中秋之月，色如春曉之花，鬢若刀裁，眉如墨畫，鼻如懸膽，睛若秋波。雖怒時而似笑，即瞋視而有情。項上金螭纓絡，又有一根五色絲絛，繫著一塊美玉。
While they were speaking, a flurry of footsteps could be heard outside and a maid came in to say that Bao-yu was back. ‘I wonder,’ thought Dai-yu, ‘just what sort of graceless creature this Bao-yu is going to be!’ The young gentleman who entered in answer to her un-spoken question had a small jewel-encrusted gold coronet on the top of his head and a golden headband low down over his brow in the form of two dragons playing with a large pearl. He was wearing a narrow-sleeved, full-skirted robe of dark red material with a pattern of flowers and butterflies in two shades of gold. It was confined at the waist with a court girdle of coloured silks braided at regular intervals into elaborate clusters of knotwork and terminating in long tassels. Over the upper part of his robe he wore a jacket of slate-blue Japanese silk damask with a raised pattern of eight large medallions on the front and with tasselled borders. On his feet he had half-length dress boots of black satin with thick white soles. As to his person, he had: a face like the moon of Mid-Autumn, a complexion like flowers at dawn, a hairline straight as a knife-cut, eyebrows that might have been painted by an artist’s brush, a shapely nose, and eyes clear as limpid pools, that even in anger seemed to smile, and, as they glared, beamed tenderness the while. Around his neck he wore a golden torque in the likeness of a dragon and a woven cord of coloured silks to which the famous jade was attached.
黛玉一見便吃一大驚，心中想道：「好生奇怪！倒像在那裡見過的？何等眼熟！……」只見這寶玉向賈母請了安，賈母便命：「去見你娘來。」即轉身去了。一回再來時，已換了冠帶。頭上周圍一轉的短髮，都結成小辮，紅絲結束，共攢至頂中胎髮，總編一根大辮，黑亮如漆，從頂至梢，一串四顆大珠，用金八寶墜腳。身上穿著銀紅撒花半舊大襖，仍舊戴著項圈、寶玉、寄名鎖、護身符等物；下面半露松綠撒花綾褲，錦邊彈墨襪，厚底大紅鞋。越顯得面如敷粉，唇若施脂，轉盼多情，語言若笑。天然一段風韻，全在眉梢；平生萬種情思，悉堆眼角。－－看其外貌是極好，卻難知其底細。後人有《西江月》二詞，批的極確。詞曰：無故尋愁覓恨，有時似傻如狂。縱然生得好皮囊，腹內原來草莽。潦倒不通世務，愚頑怕讀文章。行為偏僻性乖張，那管世人誹謗？又曰：富貴不知樂業，貧窮難耐淒涼。可憐辜負好時光，於國於家無望。天下無能第一，古今不肖無雙。寄言紈袴與膏粱：莫效此兒形狀！
Dai-yu looked at him with astonishment. How strange! How very strange! It was as though she had seen him somewhere before, he was so extraordinarily familiar. Bao-yu went straight past her and saluted his grandmother, who told him to come after he had seen his mother, whereupon he turned round and walked straight out again. Quite soon he was back once more, this time dressed in a completely different outfit. The crown and circlet had gone. She could now see that his side hair was dressed in a number of small braids plaited with red silk, which were drawn round to join the long hair at the back in a single large queue of glistening jet black, fastened at intervals from the nape downwards with four enormous pearls and ending in a jewelled gold clasp. He had changed his robe and jacket for a rather more worn-looking rose-coloured gown, sprigged with flowers. He wore the gold torque and his jade as before, and she observed that the collection of objects round his neck had been further augmented by a padlock-shaped amulet and a lucky charm. A pair of ivy-coloured embroidered silk trousers were partially visible beneath his gown, thrust into black and white socks trimmed with brocade. In place of the formal boots he was wearing thick-soled crimson slippers.
She was even more struck than before by his fresh complexion. The cheeks might have been brushed with powder and the lips touched with rouge, so bright was their natural colour. His glance was soulful, yet from his lips the laughter often leaped; a world of charm upon that brow was heaped; a world of feeling from those dark eyes peeped. In short, his outward appearance was very fine. But appearances can be misleading. A perceptive poet has supplied two sets of verses, to be sung to the tune of Moon On West River, which contain a more accurate appraisal of our hero than the foregoing descriptions.
Oft-times he sought out what would make him sad; Sometimes an idiot seemed and sometimes mad.
Though outwardly a handsome sausage-skin, He proved to have but sorry meat within.
A harum-scarum, to all duty blind, A doltish mule, to study disinclined;
His acts outlandish and his nature queer; Yet not a whit cared he how folk might jeer!
Prosperous, he could not play his part with grace, Nor, poor, bear hardship with a smiling face. So shamefully the precious hours he’d waste that both indoors and out he was disgraced. For uselessness the world’s prize he might bear; His gracelessness in history has no peer. Let gilded youths who every dainty sample Not imitate this rascal’s dire example!
卻說賈母見他進來，笑道：「外客沒見就脫了衣裳了？－－還不去見你妹妹呢。」寶玉早已看見了一個嬝嬝婷婷的女兒，便料定是林姑媽之女，忙來見禮。歸了座，細看時，真是與眾各別。只見：兩彎似蹙非蹙籠煙眉，一雙似喜非喜含情目。態生兩靨之愁，嬌襲一身之病。淚光點點，嬌喘微微。閒靜似嬌花照水，行動如弱柳扶風。心較比干多一竅，病如西子勝三分。
‘Fancy changing your clothes before you have welcomed the visitor!’ Grandmother Jia chided indulgently on seeing Bao-yu back again. ‘Aren’t you going to pay your respects to your cousin?’ Bao-yu had already caught sight of a slender, delicate girl whom he surmised to be his Aunt Lin’s daughter and quickly went over to greet her. Then, returning to his place and taking a seat, he studied her attentively. How different she seemed from the other girls he knew!
Her mist-wreathed brows at first seemed to frown, yet were not frowning;
Her passionate eyes at first seemed to smile, yet were not merry.
Habit had given a melancholy cast to her tender face; Nature had bestowed a sickly constitution on her delicate frame.
Often the eyes swam with glistening tears; Often the breath came in gentle gasps.
In stillness she made one think of a graceful flower reflected in the water; In motion she called to mind tender willow shoots caressed by the wind.
She had more chambers in her heart than the martyred Bi Gan; And suffered a tithe more pain in it than the beautiful Xi Shi.
寶玉看罷，笑道：「這個妹妹，我曾見過的。」賈母笑道：「又胡說了。你何曾見過？」寶玉笑道：「雖沒見過，卻看著面善，心裡倒像是舊相認識，恍若遠別重逢的一般。」賈母笑道：「好，好！這麼更相和睦了。」
Having completed his survey, Bao-yu gaved a laugh. ‘I have seen this cousin before.’ ‘Nonsense!’ said Grandmother Jia. ‘How could you possibly have done?’ ‘Well, perhaps not,’ said Bao-yu, ‘but her face seems so familiar that I have the impression of meeting her again after a long separation.’ ‘All the better,’ said Grandmother Jia. ‘That means that you should get on well together.’
寶玉便走向黛玉身邊坐下，又細細打量一番，因問：「妹妹可曾讀書？」黛玉道：「不曾讀書，只上了一年學，些須認得幾個字。」寶玉又道：「妹妹尊名？」黛玉便說了名。寶玉又道：「表字？」黛玉道：「無字。」寶玉笑道：「我送妹妹一字，莫若『顰顰』二字，極妙。」探春便道：「何處出典？」寶玉道：「《古今人物通考》上說：『西方有石名黛，可代畫眉之墨。』況這妹妹，眉尖若蹙，取這個字，豈不甚美？」探春笑道：「只怕又是杜撰！」寶玉笑道：「除了《四書》，杜撰的也太多呢。」因又問黛玉：「可有玉沒有？」眾人都不解。黛玉便忖度著「因他有玉，所以纔問我的」，便答道：「我沒有玉。你那玉也是件稀罕物兒，豈能人人皆有？」
Bao-yu moved over again and, drawing a chair up beside Dai-yu, recommenced his scrutiny. Presently: ‘Do you study books yet, cousin?’ ‘No,’ said Dai-yu. ‘I have only been taking lessons for a year or so. I can barely read and write.’ ‘What’s your name?’ Dai-yu told him. ‘What’s your school-name?’ ‘I haven’t got one.’ Bao-yu laughed. ‘I’ll give you one, cousin. I think “Frowner” would suit you perfectly.’ ‘Where’s your reference?’ said Tan-chun. ‘In the Encyclopedia of Men and Objects Ancient and Modern it says that somewhere in the West there is a mineral called “dai” which can be used instead of eye-black for painting the eyebrows with. She has this “dai” in her name and she knits her brows together in a little frown. I think it’s a splendid name for her!’
‘I expect you made it up,’ said Tan-chun scornfully. ‘What if I did?’ said Bao-yu. ‘There are lots of made-up things in books—apart from the Four Books, of course.’ He returned to his interrogation of Dai-yu. ‘Have you got a jade?’ The test of the company were puzzled, hut Dai-yu at once divined that he was asking her if she too had a jade like the one he was born with. ‘No,’ said Dal-yu. ‘That jade of yours is a very rare object. You can’t expect everybody to have one.’
寶玉聽了，登時發作起狂病來，摘下那玉，就狠命摔去，罵道：「什麼罕物！人的高下不識，還說靈不靈呢！我也不要這勞什子！」嚇的地下眾人一擁爭去拾玉。賈母急的摟了寶玉，道：「孽障！你生氣，要打罵人容易，何苦摔那命根子！」寶玉滿面淚痕，哭道：「家裡姐姐妹妹都沒有，單我有，我說沒趣兒；如今來了這個神仙似的妹妹也沒有，可知這不是個好東西。」賈母忙哄他道：「你這妹妹原有玉來著，因你姑媽去世時，捨不得你妹妹，無法可處，遂將他的玉帶了去：一則全殉葬之禮，盡你妹妹的孝心；二則你姑媽的陰靈兒也可權作見了你妹妹了。因此，他說沒有，也是不便誇張的意思啊。你還不好生帶上，仔細你娘知道！」說著，便向丫鬟手中接來，親與他帶上。寶玉聽如此說，想了一想，也就不生別論。
This sent Bao-yu off instantly into one of his mad fits. Snatching the jade from his neck he hurled it violently on the floor as if to smash it and began abusing it passionately. ‘Rare object! Rare object! What’s so lucky about a stone that can’t even tell which people are better than others? Beastly thing! I don’t want it!’ The maids all seemed terrified and rushed forward to pick it up, while Grandmother Jia clung to Bao-yu in alarm. ‘Naughty, naughty boy! Shout at someone or strike them if you like when you are in a nasty temper, but why go smashing that precious thing that your very life depends on?’ ‘None of the girls has got one,’ said Bao-yu, his face streaming with tears and sobbing hysterically. ‘Only I have got one. It always upsets me. And now this new cousin comes here who is as beautiful as an angel and she hasn’t got one either; so I know it can’t be any good.’ ‘Your cousin did have a jade once,’ said Grandmother Jia, coaxing him like a little child, ‘but because when Auntie died she couldn’t bear to leave her little girl behind, they had to let her take the jade with her instead. In that way your cousin could show her mamma how much she loved her by letting the jade be buried with her; and at the same time, whenever Auntie’s spirit looked at the jade, it would be just like looking at her own little girl again. ‘So when your cousin said she hadn’t got one, it was only because she didn’t want to boast about the good, kind thing she did when she gave it to her mamma. Now you put yours on again like a good boy, and mind your mother doesn’t find out how naughty you have been.’ So saying, she took the jade from the hands of one of the maids and hung it round his neck for him. And Bao-yu, after reflecting for a moment or two on what she had said, offered no further resistance.
當下奶娘來問黛玉房舍。賈母便說：「將寶玉挪出來，同我在套間暖閣裡，把林姑娘暫且安置在碧紗櫥裡。等過了殘冬，春天再給他們收拾房屋，另作一番安置罷。」寶玉道：「好祖宗！我就在碧紗櫥外的床上很妥當，又何必出來鬧的老祖宗不得安靜呢？」賈母想一想，說：「也罷了。」每人一個奶娘並一個丫頭照管，餘者在外間上夜聽喚。一面早有熙鳳命人送了一頂藕合色花帳並錦被緞褥之類。
At this point some of the older women came to inquire what room Dai-yu was to sleep in. ‘Move Bao-yu into the closet-bed with me,’ said Grandmother Jia, ‘and put Miss Lin for the time being in the green muslin summer-bed. We had better wait until spring when the last of the cold weather is over before seeing about the rooms for them and getting them settled permanently.’
‘Dearest Grannie,’ said Bao-yu pleadingly, ‘I should be perfectly all right next to the summer-bed. There’s no need to move me into your room. I should only keep you awake.’ Grandmother Jia, after a moment’s reflection, gave her consent. She further gave instructions that Dai-yu and Bao-yu were each to have one nurse and one maid to sleep with them. The rest of their servants were to do night duty by rota in the adjoining room. Xi-feng had already sent across some lilac-coloured hangings, brocade quilts, satin coverlets and the like for Dai-yu’s bedding.
黛玉只帶了兩個人來：一個是自己的奶娘王嬤嬤，一個是十歲的小丫頭，名喚雪雁。賈母見雪雁甚小，一團孩氣，王嬤嬤又極老，料黛玉皆不遂心，將自己身邊一個二等小丫頭，名喚鸚哥的，與了黛玉。亦如迎春等一般：每人除自幼乳母外，另有四個教引嬤嬤；除貼身掌管釵釧盥沐兩個丫頭外，另有四五個灑掃房屋來往使役的小丫頭。
Dai-yu had brought only two of her own people with her from home. One was her old wet-nurse Nannie Wang, the other was a little ten-year-old maid called Snowgoose. Considering Snowgoose too young and irresponsible and Nannie Wang too old and decrepit to be of much real service, Grandmother Jia gave Dai-yu one of her own maids, a body-servant of the second grade called Nightingale. She also gave orders that Dai-yu and Bao-yu were to be attended in other respects exactly like the three girls: that is to say, apart from the one wet-nurse, each was to have four other nurses to act as chaperones, two maids as body-servants to attend to their washing, dressing, and so forth, and four or five maids for dusting and cleaning, running errands and general duties.
當下王嬤嬤與鸚哥陪侍黛玉在碧紗櫥內；寶玉乳母李嬤嬤並大丫頭名喚襲人的陪侍在外面大床上。
These arrangements completed, Nannie Wang and Night-ingale accompanied Dai-yu to bed inside the tent-like summer-bed, while Bao-yu’s wet-nurse Nannie Li and his chief maid Aroma settled him down for the night in a big bed on the other side of the canopy.
原來這襲人亦是賈母之婢，本名蕊珠。賈母因溺愛寶玉，恐寶玉之婢不中使，素喜蕊珠心地純良，遂與寶玉。寶玉因知他本姓花，又曾見舊人詩句有「花氣襲人」之句，遂回明賈母，即把蕊珠更名襲人。
Like Nightingale, Aroma had previously been one of Grandmother Jia’s own maids. Her real name was Pearl. Bao-yu’s grandmother, fearful that the maids who already waited on her darling boy could not be trusted to look after him properly, had picked out Pearl as a girl of tried and conspicuous fidelity and put her in charge over them. It was Bao-yu who was responsible for the curious name ‘Aroma’. Discovering that Pearl’s surname was Hua, which means ‘Flowers’, and having recently come across the line The flowers’ aroma breathes of hotter days in a book of poems, he told his grandmother that he wanted to call his new maid ‘Aroma’, so ‘Aroma’ her name thenceforth became.
卻說這襲人倒有些癡處：伏侍賈母時，心中只有賈母；如今跟了寶玉，心中又只有寶玉了。只因寶玉性情乖僻，每每規諫，見寶玉不聽，心中著實憂鬱。是晚，寶玉李嬤嬤已睡了。他見裡面黛玉鸚哥猶未安歇，他自卸了粧，悄悄的進來，笑問：「姑娘怎麼還不安歇？」黛玉忙笑讓：「姐姐請坐。」襲人在床沿上坐了。鸚哥笑道：「林姑娘在這裡傷心，自己淌眼抹淚的說：『今兒纔來了，就惹出你家哥兒的狂病來。倘或摔壞了那玉，豈不是因我之過？』所以傷心。我好容易勸好了。」襲人道：「姑娘快別這麼著！將來只怕比這更奇怪的笑話兒還有呢。若為他這種行狀，你多心傷感，只怕你還傷感不了呢。快別多心！」黛玉道：「姐姐們說的，我記著就是了。」又敘了一回，方纔安歇。
Aroma had a certain dogged streak in her nature which had made her utterly devoted to Grandmother Jia as long as she was Grandmother Jia’s servant, but which caused her to become just as exclusively and single-mindedly devoted to Bao-yu when her services were transferred to him. Since she found his character strange and incomprehensible, her simple devotion frequently impelled her to remonstrate with him, and when, as invariably happened, he took not the least notice of what she said, she was worried and hurt. That night, when Bao-yu and Nannie Li were already asleep, Aroma could hear that Dai-yu and Nightingale on their side of the canopy had still not settled down, so, when she had finished taking down her hair and making herself ready for bed, she tiptoed through the muslin curtains and in a friendly way inquired what was the matter. Dai-yu invited her to sit down, and when she had seated herself on the edge of the bed, Nightingale proceeded to tell her what was troubling her new mistress.
‘Miss Lin is all upset. She has just been crying her eyes out because she says she only justy, and yet arrived here toda already she has started young hopeful off on one of his turns. She says if that jade had been really smashed, it would have been all her fault. That’s what she’s so upset about. I’ve had no end of a job trying to comfort her.’ ‘You mustn’t take on so, Miss,’ said Aroma. ‘You’ll see him do much stranger things than that before he’s finished. If you allow yourself to feel hurt every time he carries on like that, he will always be hurting you. Try not to be so sensitive; Miss!’
Dai-yu thanked her and promised to bear in mind what she had said, and after talking a little longer, they all settled down and went to sleep.
次早起來，省過賈母，因往王夫人處來。正值王夫人與熙鳳在一處拆金陵來的書信，又有王夫人的兄嫂處遣來的兩個媳婦兒來說話。黛玉雖不知原委，探春等卻曉得是議論金陵城中居住的薛家姨母之子－－表兄薛蟠，倚財仗勢打死人命，現在應天府案下審理。如今舅舅王子騰得了信，遣人來告訴這邊，意欲喚取進京之意。
Rising early next day, they visited Grandmother Jia to wish her a good morning and then went over to Lady Wang’s. They found her closeted with Wang Xi-feng, deep in discussion of a letter which had just arrived from Nanking, and attended by two women who had come with a message from Lady Wang’s elder brother and sister-in-law. Tan-chun and the girls told Dai-yu, who knew nothing of the matter under discussion, that they were talking about Xue Pan, the son of their Aunt Xue who lived in Nanking.
It seemed that Xue Pan, relying on wealth and family pull to protect him from the consequences, had taken another man’s life. The case was at present under investigation by the Ying-tian-fu yamen. Their uncle Wang Zi-teng had been informed of it, and had sent these messengers to the members of the family in the Rong mansion to suggest that they should invite Xue Pan to the capital.
畢竟怎的，下回分解。
But the outcome of this discussion will be dealt with in the following chapter.
MeTime 