CHAPTER 4 The Bottle-gourd girl meets an unfortunate young man And the Bottle-gourd monk settles a protracted lawsuit
卻說黛玉同姐妹們至王夫人處，見王夫人正和兄嫂處的來使計議家務，又說姨母家遭人命官司等語。因見王夫人事情冗雜，姐妹們遂出來，至寡嫂李氏房中來了。
When Dai-yu and the girls went to call on Lady Wang, they found her in the midst of discussing family affairs with the messengers from her elder brother and his wife and heard talk of their aunt’s family in Nanking being involved in a case of manslaughter. Since Lady Wang was obviously preoccupied with this matter, the girls went off to call on Li Wan.
原來這李氏即賈珠之妻。珠雖夭亡，幸存一子，取名賈蘭，今方五歲，已入學攻書。這李氏亦係金陵名宦之女，父名李守中，曾為國子祭酒。族中男女無不讀詩書者。至李守中繼續以來，便謂「女子無才便是德」，故生了此女，不曾叫他十分認真讀書，只不過將些《女四書》、《列女傳》讀讀，認得幾個字，記得前朝這幾個賢女便了。卻以紡績女紅為要，因取名為李紈，字宮裁。所以這李紈雖青春喪偶，且居處於膏粱錦繡之中，竟如槁木死灰一般，一概無聞無見；惟知侍親養子，閒時陪侍小姑等針黹誦讀而已。今黛玉雖客居於此，已有這幾個姑嫂相伴，除老父之外，餘者也就無庸慮及了。
Li Wan’s husband Jia Zhu had died young, but fortunately not without issue. He left her a son called Jia Lan who was now’ just five years old and had already begun his schooling. Like most of the Jia women, Li Wan was the daughter of a distinguished Nanking official. Her father, Li Shou-zhong, had been a Director of Education. Up to Li Shou-zhong’s time, all members of the clan, including the women, had been given a first-class education; but when Li Shou-zhong became head of the family, he founded his educational policy for girls on the good old maxim ‘a stupid woman is a virtuous one’ and, when he had a daughter of his own, refused to let her engage in serious study. She was permitted to work her way through The Four Books for Girls and Lives of Noble Women, so that she might be able to recognize a few characters and be familiar with some of the models of female virtue of former ages; but overriding importance was to be attached to spinning and sewing, and even her name ‘Wan’, which means a kind of silk, was intended to symbolize her dedication to the needle. Thanks to her upbringing, this young widow living in the midst of luxury and self-indulgence was able to keep herself like the ‘withered tree and dead ashes’ of the philosopher, shutting out everything that did not concern her and attending only to the duties of serving her husband’s parents and bringing up her child. Whatever leisure this left her was devoted to her little sister-in-law and cousins, accompanying them at their embroidery or hearing them recite their lessons. With such gentle companions to console her, Dai-yu, though a stranger and far from home, soon had nothing apart from her old father that she need worry about.
如今且說賈雨村授了應天府，一到任，就有件人命官司詳至案下，卻是兩家爭買一婢，各不相讓，以致毆傷人命。彼時雨村即傳原告來審，那原告道：「被打死的乃是小人的主人。因那日買了個丫頭，不想係拐子拐來賣的。這拐子先已得了我家的銀子，我家小主人原說第三日方是好日，再接入門。這拐子又悄悄的賣與了薛家，被我們知道了，去找拿賣主，奪取丫頭。無奈薛家原係金陵一霸，倚財仗勢，眾豪奴將我小主人竟打死了。凶身主僕已皆逃走，無有蹤跡，只剩了幾個局外的人。小人告了一年的狀，竟無人作主。求太老爺拘拿凶犯，以扶善良，存歿感激大恩不盡！」
Let us now turn to the affairs of Jia Yu-cun, newly installed in the yamen at Ying-tian-fu. No sooner had he arrived at his new post than a case involving manslaughter was referred to his tribunal. It concerned two parties in dispute over the purchase of a slave-girl. Neither had been willing to give way to the other, and in the ensuing affray one of the parties had been wounded and had subsequently died. After reading the papers in the case, Yu-cun summoned the plaintiff for questioning and received from him the following account of what had happened:
‘The murdered man was my master, Your Honour. Although he did not realize it at the time, the girl he purchased had been kidnapped by the man who was selling her. My master paid him in advance, and arranged to receive the girl into his house three days from the date of purchase, the third day being a lucky day. The kidnapper, having already pocketed my young master’s money, then quietly went off and sold her again to Xue. When we found this out, we went along to seize him and to collect the girl. ‘But unfortunately this Xue turned out to be a powerful Nanking boss, who evidently thought that by money and influence he could get away with anything. He set a crowd of his henchmen on to my young master and beat him up so badly that he died.
‘Xue and his henchmen have now disappeared without trace, leaving only a few retainers who were not involved in the crime. But though it is a year since I first brought this charge, no one has yet done anything to help me. I beseech Your Honour to arrest the criminals and to uphold the course of justice! Both the living and the dead will be everlastingly grateful to you if you do!’
雨村聽了大怒道：「那有這等事！打死人竟白白的走了？拿不來的？」便發籤差公人立刻將凶犯家屬拿來拷問。只見案旁站著一個門子，使眼色不令他發籤。雨村心下狐疑，只得停了手，退堂至密室，令從人退去。只留這門子一人伏侍。門子忙上前請安。笑問：「老爺一向加官進祿，八九年來，就忘了我了？」雨村道：「我看你十分眼熟，但一時總想不起來。」門子笑道：「老爺怎麼把出身之地竟忘了？老爺不記得當年葫蘆廟裡的事麼？」
‘This is monstrous!’ said Yu-cun in a towering rage. ‘Am I to understand that a man can be beaten to death and the murderer walks off scot-free with nobody lifting a finger to arrest him?’ and he took up a warrant and was on the point of sending his runners to seize the murderer’s dependants and bring them to court so that they might be put to the torture, when he observed one of the ushers signaling to him with his eyes not to issue the warrant. His resolution somewhat shaken, he put it down again and adjourned to his private chambers, dismissing everyone except the usher, whom he ordered to remain behind in attendance.
When they were alone together the usher, with a broad smile on his face, came forward and touched his hand and knee to the ground in the Manchu salute.
‘Your Honour has gone a long way up in the world during these past eight or nine years! I don’t expect you would remember me!’
‘Your face is certainly familiar,’ said Yu-cun, ‘but for the moment I simply can’t place it.’ The usher smiled again. ‘Has Your Honour forgotten the place you started from? Do you remember nothing of the old times in Bottle-gourd Temple?’
雨村大驚，方想起往事。原來這門子本是葫蘆廟裡一個小沙彌，因廟被火燒之後，無處安身，想這件生意倒還輕省，耐不得寺院淒涼，遂趁年紀輕蓄了髮，充當門子。雨村那裡想得是他？便忙攜手，笑道：「原來還是故人。」因賞他坐了說話，這門子不敢坐。雨村笑道：「你我也算貧賤之交了，此係私室，但坐不妨。」門子纔斜簽著坐下。
With a start of recognition, Yu-cun remembered. The usher had been a little novice in the temple where he once lodged finding himself homeless after the fire, and bethinking himself that a post in a yamen was a fine, gentlemanly way of earning a living, and being furthermore heartily sick of the rigours of monastic life, the little novice had taken advantage of his youth to grow his hair again and get himself a post as an usher. Small wonder that Yu-cun had failed to recognize him! ‘Ah, so it was an old acquaintance!’ said Yu-cun, grasping him warmly by the hand and urging him to sit down for a chat. But the usher would not be seated.
‘Come,’ said Yu-cun, ‘as a friend of my early, hard-up days you are entitled to. After all, this is a private room. Why not?’ The usher permitted himself to perch one of his haunches sideways on the edge of a chair.
雨村道：「方才何故不令發籤？」門子道：「老爺榮任到此，難道就沒抄一張本省的『護官符』來不成？」雨村忙問：「何為『護官符』？」門子道：「如今凡作地方官的，都有一個私單，上面寫的是本省最有權勢極富貴的大鄉紳名姓，各省皆然。倘若不知，一時觸犯了這樣的人家，不但官爵，只怕連性命也難保呢。－－所以叫做『護官符』。方纔所說的這薛家，老爺如何惹得他！他這件官司，並無難斷之處，從前的官府都因礙著情分臉面，所以如此。」一面說，一面從順袋中取出一張抄的「護官符」來，遞與雨村。看時，上面皆是本地大族名宦之家的俗諺口碑，云：
‘Tell me,’ said Yu-cun, ‘why did you stop me issuing that warrant just now?’ ‘Your Honour is new to this post. Surely you must have provided yourself before you left with a copy of the Mandarin’s Life-Preserver for this province?’ ‘What is the Mandarin’s Lift-Preserver?’ Yu-cun inquired curiously. ‘Nowadays every provincial official carries a private hand-list with the names of all the richest, most influential people in his area. There is one for every province. They list those families which are so powerful that if you were ever to run up against one of them unknowingly, not only your job, but perhaps even your life might be in danger. That’s why they are called “life-preservers”.
‘Now take this Xue you were dealing with just now. Your Honour couldn’t possibly try conclusions with him! Why do you suppose this case has remained unsettled for so long? It’s a straightforward enough case. The reason is simply that none of your predecessors dared touch it because of the unpleasantness and loss of face it would have caused them.’ While he was speaking he had been fishing for a copy of the Mandarin’s Lift-Preserver in his pocket. This he now presented to Yu-cun for his inspection. It contained a set of doggerel verses in which were listed the big families and most powerful magnates of the area in which he was working. It went some-thing like this:
賈不假，白玉為堂金作馬。
阿房宮，三百里，住不下金陵一個史。
東海缺少白玉床，龍王來請金陵王。
豐年好大雪，珍珠如土金如鐵。
Shout hip hurrah For the Nanking Jia!
They weigh their gold out By the jar.
The Ah-bang Palace Scrapes the sky, But it could not house The Nanking Shi.
The King of the Ocean Goes along, When he’s short of gold beds, To the Nanking Wang.
The Nanking Xue So rich are they, To count their money Would take all day…
雨村尚未看完，忽聞傳點報：「王老爺來拜。」雨村忙具衣冠出去迎接，有頓飯工夫方回來。問這門子，門子道：「這四家皆連絡有親，一損俱損，一榮俱榮。今告打死人之薛，就是『豐年大雪』之『薛』。不單靠這三家，他的世交親友在都在外的本也不少。老爺如今拿誰去？」雨村聽說，便笑問門子道：「這樣說來，卻怎麼了結此案？你大約也深知這凶犯躲的方向了？」
Before Yu-cun had time to read further, a warning chime from the inner gate and a shout outside the door announced the arrival of a Mr Wang on an official call. Yu-cun hastily donned the hat and robe of office which he had temporarily laid aside and went out to meet the visitor. About the length of time it would take to eat a meal elapsed before he returned and resumed his conversation with the usher.
‘Those four families,’ said the usher in answer to a question from Yu-cun, ‘are all closely connected with each other. A loss for one is a loss for all. A gain for one is a gain for all. The Xue who has been charged with the manslaughter is one of the “Nanking Xue so rich are they”. Not only can he count on the support of the other three Nanking families, he also has any number of family friends and connections of his own both at the capital and in the provinces. Now who are you going to arrest?’
‘That’s all very well,’ said Yu-cun with an uneasy laugh, ‘but how am I going to settle this case? Incidentally, I assume you know perfectly well where the criminal is hiding?’
門子笑道：「不瞞老爺說，不但這凶犯躲的方向，並這拐賣的人我也知道，死鬼買主也深知道。待我細說與老爺聽：這個被打死的乃是一個小鄉宦之子，名喚馮淵，父母俱亡，又無兄弟，守著些薄產度日。年紀十八九歲，酷愛男風，不好女色。這也是前生冤孽：可巧遇見這丫頭，他便一眼看上了，立意買來作妾，立誓不近男色，也不再娶第二個了。所以鄭重其事，必得三日後方過門。誰知這拐子又偷賣與薛家。他意欲捲了兩家的銀子逃去，誰知又走不脫，兩家拿住，打了個半死，都不肯收銀，只要領人。那薛公子便喝令下人動手，將馮公子打了個稀爛。抬回去，三日竟死了。這薛公子原已擇定日子要上京的，既打了人，奪了丫頭，他便沒事人一般，只管帶了家眷走他的路，並非為此而逃。這人命些些小事，自有他弟兄奴僕在此料理。－－這且別說，老爺可知這被賣的丫頭是誰？」雨村道：「我如何曉得？」門子冷笑道：「這人還是老爺的大恩人呢！他就是葫蘆廟旁住的甄老爺的女兒，小名英蓮的。」雨村駭然道：「原來是他！聽聞他自五歲被人拐去，怎麼如今纔賣呢？」
‘I wouldn’t deceive Your Honour,’ replied the usher with a grin, ‘not only do I know where the criminal has gone but I also know who the kidnapper is and all about the poor devil who was killed. Let me tell you the whole story.
‘The man who was killed was a poor country squire’s son called Feng Yuan. His father and mother were both dead and he had no brothers. He lived off the income of a very small estate. He was eighteen or nineteen when he died. He was a confirmed queer and not interested in girls. Which shows that the whole business must have been fated, because no sooner did he set eyes on this girl than he at once fell in love with her—swore he would never have anything more to do with boys and never have any other woman but her. That was the idea of this waiting three days before she came to him. To make it seem more like a wedding and less like a sale. ‘What he couldn’t foresee, of course, was that the kidnapper would use this interval to resell her on the sly to Xue, hoping to pocket the money from both parties and then do a flit. Only he didn’t get away with it. The two parties nabbed him before he could disappear and beat the daylights out of him. Both refused to take back their money, and both insisted that they wanted the girl. It was at this point that our young friend Xue called for his roughs to get to work on Feng Yuan. They beat him till he was hardly recognizable. Then they picked him up and carried him home. He died three days later.
‘Now long before any of this happened, young Xue had made arrangements for a journey to the capital. So after killing Feng and carrying off the girl, he set off with his family, calm as you please, on the appointed day. There was no question of his running away because of the killing. In his eyes a trifling matter like taking another man’s life was something for his junior clansmen or the servants to clear up in his absence.
‘But never mind him. Who do you think the slave-girl is?’ ‘How in the world should I know?’ said Yu-cun. The usher smiled maliciously. ‘You ought to, Your Honour! She is your great benefactress Ying-lian, the little daughter of Mr Zhen, who used to live next door to Bottle-gourd Temple.’
‘Good gracious!’ said Yu-cun in astonishment. ‘I had heard that she was kidnapped at the age of five. But how did she come to be sold so long after the kidnapping?’
門子道：「這種拐子，單拐幼女，養至十二三歲，帶至他鄉轉賣。當日這英蓮，我們天天哄他玩耍，極相熟的，所以隔了七八年，雖模樣兒出脫的齊整些，然大概相貌未改，所以認得。且他眉心中原有米粒大的一點胭脂痣，從胎裡帶來的。偏這拐子又租了我的房子居住。那日，拐子不在家，我也曾問他。他是被打怕了的，萬不敢說，只說拐子是他的親爹，因無錢還債，纔賣的。再四哄他，他又哭了，只說：『我原不記得小時的事！』這可無疑了。那日馮公子相看了，兌了銀子，因拐子醉了，英蓮自歎說：『我今日罪孽可滿了！』後又聽見三日後纔過門，他又轉有憂愁之態。我又不忍，等拐子出去，叫內人去解勸他：『這馮公子必待好日期來接，可知必不以丫鬟相看。況他是個絕風流人品，家裡頗過得，素性又最厭惡堂客，今竟破價買你，後事不言可知。只耐得三兩日，何必憂悶？』他聽如此說，方略解些，自謂從此得所。誰料天下竟有這等不如意事！第二日，他偏又賣與了薛家。若賣與第二家還好，這薛公子的混名：人稱他『獃霸王』，最是天下第一個弄性尚氣的人，而且使錢如土，只打了個落花流水，生拖死拽，把個英蓮拖去，如今也不知死活。這馮公子空喜一場，一念未遂，反花了錢，送了命，豈不可歎！」
‘This type of kidnapper specializes in kidnapping very young girls and rearing them until they are twelve or thirteen for sale in other parts of the country. When she was little we used to play with Ying-lian at the temple nearly every day, so I knew her very well; and when I saw her again, even though it was after an interval of seven or eight years, I could tell it was her. She’d grown into a little woman in the meantime, but her features were still the same; and to confirm it there was a tiny red birthmark right in the middle of her brow which I remembered.
‘By a strange coincidence the kidnapper had rented one of my rooms, and one day when he was out I put it to her who she was. But she said she was scared of being beaten and nothing would induce her to talk. She just kept insisting that the kidnapper was her real father, selling her because he had no money to pay his debts with. I kept on at her, cajoling and persuading, and in the end she broke down and cried. Said she didn’t remember anything about her childhood. But there’s no doubt in my mind. It’s her, all right. ‘The day young Feng met her and paid out the money for her, the kidnapper got drunk, and she opened up to me a bit. She was feeling very relieved. She said, “Today I think my tribulations are at last coming to an end.” But then later, when she heard that she wasn’t to be installed until after another three days, she began to look worried and despondent again. I felt truly sorry for her, and sent the wife round to have a talk with her while the kidnapper was out and give her a bit of encouragement.
‘The wife said to her, “Mr Feng’s insistence on waiting three days before taking you in shows that he doesn’t intend to treat you like a servant. Besides,” she said, “he’s a very nice, handsome gentleman, and quite comfortably off. Normally he doesn’t like the fair sex, yet here he is spending everything he has on your purchase. You can tell from that,” she said, “how much he must care for you. You only have to be patient for another day or two,” she said. “You’ve no cause to be downcast.”
‘Well, that seemed to cheer her up a bit, and she began to feel that life was going to be worth living. ‘But only the day after that, by the most accursed stroke of bad luck which no one could possibly have foreseen, she was sold to Xue. Now if it had been anyone else, it wouldn’t have mattered so much, but this young Xue, whose nickname is the Oaf King, is the world’s most bad-tempered bully; and having spent money like water on buying the girl only to find that she wasn’t willing, he knocked her about until she was half unconscious and dragged her off with him more dead than alive. Whether she’s alive or dead now, I have no idea. ‘And young Feng is really to be pitied! After a brief moment of happiness, before anything had come his way, he spent all his money and laid down his life for nothing!’
雨村聽了也歎道：「這也是他們的孽障，遭遇亦非偶然。不然，這馮淵如何偏只看上了這英蓮！這英蓮受了拐子這幾年折磨，纔得了個路頭，且又是個多情的，若果聚合了，倒是件美事，偏又生出這段事來！這薛家縱比馮家富貴，想其為人，自然姬妾眾多，淫佚無度，未必及馮淵定情於一人。這正是夢幻情緣，恰遇一對薄命兒女。且不要議論他，只目今這官司如何判斷纔好？」
Yu-cun sighed sympathetically. ‘Their meeting cannot have been coincidental. It must have been the working out of some destiny. An atonement. Otherwise, how is one to account for Feng Yuan’s sudden affection for that particular girl? ‘And Ying-lian, after all those years of ill-treatment at the hands of her kidnapper, suddenly seeing a road to freedom opening in front of her for she was a girl of feeling, and there is no doubt that they would have made a fine couple if they had succeeded in coming together—and then for this to have happened! ‘And even though Xue may be far wealthier and better-placed than Feng was, a man like that is sure to have numbers of concubines and paramours and to be licentious and debauched in his habits quite incapable of concentrating all his affections on one girl as Feng Yuan would have done.
‘A real case of an ideal romance on the one hand and a pair of unlucky young things on the other adding up to make a tragedy!
‘But a truce to this discussion of other people’s affairs! Let us rather consider how this case is to be settled!’
門子笑道：「老爺當年何其明決！今日何反成個沒主意的人了？小的聽聞老爺補陞此任係賈府王府之力。此薛蟠即賈府之親，老爺何不順水行舟，做個人情，將此案了結？日後也好去見賈王二公。」雨村道：「你說的何嘗不是！但事關人命，蒙皇上隆恩，起復委用，正竭力圖報之時，豈可因私枉法？我是實不忍為的！」門子聽了冷笑道：「老爺說的自是正理，但如今世上是行不去的！豈不聞古人說的『大丈夫相時而動』？又說『趨吉避凶者為君子』？依老爺這話，不但不能報效朝廷，亦且自身不保。還要三思為妥。」
‘Your Honour used to be decisive enough in the old days,’ said the usher with a smile. ‘What has become of your old resolution today? Now, I was told that your promotion to this post was due to the combined influence of the Jias and the Wangs; and this Xue Pan is related to the Jias by marriage. Why not trim your sails to the wind in your handling of this case? Why not make a virtue of necessity by doing them a favour which will stand you in good stead next time you see them?’
‘What you say is, of course, entirely correct,’ said Yu-cun. ‘But there is, after all, a human life involved in this case; and you have to remember that I have only just been restored to office by an act of Imperial clemency. I really cannot bring myself to pervert justice for private ends at the very moment when I ought to be doing my utmost to show my gratitude.’ The usher smiled coldly. ‘What Your Honour says is no doubt very right and proper, but it won’t wash. Not the way things are in the world today! Haven’t you heard the old saying “The man of spirit shapes his actions to the passing moment”? And there’s another old saying: “It is the mark of a gentleman to avoid what is inauspicious”. If you were to act in accordance with what you have just said, not only would you not be able to show your gratitude to the Emperor, but also you would probably put your own life in danger. If I were you, I should think very carefully before you do anything.’
雨村低了頭，半日說道：「依你怎麼著？」門子道：「小人已想了個很好的主意在此。老爺明日坐堂，只管虛張聲勢，動文書，發籤拿人。凶犯自然是拿不來的，原告固是不依，老爺只將薛家族人及奴僕人等拿幾個來拷問。小的在暗中調停，令他們報個『暴病身亡』，合族中及地方上共遞一張保呈，老爺只說善能扶鸞請仙，堂上設了乩壇，令軍民人等只管來看。老爺便說：『乩仙批了，死者馮淵與薛蟠原係夙孽，今狹路相遇，原應了結。今薛蟠已得了無名之病，被馮淵的魂魄追索而死。其禍皆由拐子而起，除將拐子按法處治外，餘不累及……』等語。小人暗中囑咐拐子，令其實招。眾人見乩仙批語與拐子相符，自然不疑了。薛家有的是錢，老爺斷一千也可，五百也可，與馮家作燒埋之費。那馮家也無甚要緊的人，不過為的是錢，有了銀子也就無話了。－－老爺細想，此計如何？」雨村笑道：「不妥，不妥。等我再斟酌斟酌，壓服得口聲纔好。」二人計議已定。
Yu-cun lowered his head in thought. After a very long pause he asked, ‘What do you think I ought to do?’ ‘I’ve thought of a very good solution,’ said the usher. ‘When you open court tomorrow, you should make a great display of authority. Send out writs, issue warrants for arrest, and so forth. You won’t, of course, be able to arrest the culprits, and the plaintiffs will certainly not allow the matter to rest there; so what you do then is to arrest some of Xue’s clansmen and servants for questioning. But in the meantime I shall have got to work on them on the side and arranged for them to report that Xue has died of sudden illness. This can be supported by the affidavits of the whole Xue clan and the people living in the neighbourhood.
‘Then Your Honour has it put about that you have a gift for the planchette. You have an altar set up in the court and a planchette board installed on it and you issue an open invitation to any members of the public who want to to attend a séance.
Then you say, “The spirit control gives judgment as follows: ‘“The dead man, Feng Yuan, owed a debt of karma to Xue Pan from a former life and ‘meeting his enemy in a narrow way’, paid for it with his life. The sudden, unexplained illness which struck down Xue Pan was caused by the vengeful ghost of Feng Yuan come to claim its own. Since the tragedy was entirely due to the behaviour of the kidnapper, the kidnapper should be dealt with according to the full rigour of the law; but apart from him, all other parties are exonerated…” and so on and so forth.
‘I shall secretly instruct the kidnapper to make a full confession, and when the public see that the judgment given by the planchette tallies with the confession made by the kidnapper, they will naturally have no suspicions.
‘Then you award the Fengs compensation to cover funeral expenses and so on. And since the Xues are rolling in money, you can say anything you like. Five hundred, a thousand—it doesn’t matter. There’s no one of any importance on the Feng side, and in any case they’re mainly in this for the money. So once they have got their compensation, they shouldn’t give you any further trouble.
‘What about that for a plan, Your Honour? You just think it over!’
Yu-cun laughed. ‘Too risky! Let me turn it over in my mind a little longer. The main thing is to think of something that will stop people talking.’ And with this observation the two men concluded their discussion.
至次日坐堂，勾取一干有名人犯，雨村詳加審問。果見馮家人口稀少，不過賴此欲得些燒埋之銀；薛家仗勢倚情，偏不相讓，故致顛倒未決。雨村便徇情枉法，胡亂判斷了此案，馮家得了許多燒埋銀子，也就無甚話說了。雨村便疾忙修書二封與賈政並京營節度使王子騰，不過說「令甥之事已完，不必過慮」等語。此事皆由葫蘆廟內沙彌新門子所出，雨村又恐他對人說出當日貧賤時的事來，因此，心中大不樂意。後來到底尋了他一個不是，遠遠的充發了纔罷。
At next day’s session a group of well-known associates of the wanted man were brought in and subjected by Yu-cun to careful questioning. It emerged, as the usher had said, that the Fengs were few in number and had brought this action solely in the hope of gaining some compensation, and that it was only because the Xues had, with the arrogance of the very rich and very powerful, refused to pay a penny, that the case had been brought to a standstill.
By a judicious bending of the law to suit the circumstances, Yu-cun managed to arrive at some sort of judgment whereby the plaintiffs received substantial compensation and went off tolerably well satisfied. He then hurriedly drafted and sent off two letters, one to Jia Zheng and one to Wang Zi-teng, Commandant, Metropolitan Barracks, in which he merely stated that their ‘nephew’s affair had been settled and there was no further cause for concern’.
Fearful that the now usher and quondam novice of Bottle-gourd Temple might talk to others about the days when he was an obscure and impoverished student, Yu-cun for some time went about in great discomfort of mind. Finally, however, he managed to catch him out in some misdemeanour or other and have him drafted for military service on a frontier outpost, after which he felt able to breathe freely again.
當下言不著雨村。且說那買了英蓮打死馮淵的那薛公子亦係金陵人氏，本是書香繼世之家。只是如今這薛公子幼年喪父，寡母又憐他是個獨根孤種，未免溺愛縱容些，遂致老大無成。且家中有百萬之富，現領著內帑錢糧，採辦雜料。這薛公子，學名薛蟠，表字文起，性情奢侈，言語傲慢；雖也上過學，不過略識幾個字，終日惟有鬥雞走馬，遊山玩水而已。雖是皇商，一應經紀世事全然不知，不過賴祖父舊日的情分，戶部掛個虛名，支領錢糧，其餘事體自有夥計老家人等措辦。寡母王氏乃現任京營節度使王子騰之妹，與榮國府賈政的夫人王氏是一母所生的姊妹，今年方五十上下，只有薛蟠一子。還有一女比薛蟠小兩歲，乳名寶釵，生得肌骨瑩潤，舉止嫻雅。當時他父親在日，極愛此女，令其讀書識字，較之乃兄竟高十倍。自父親死後，見哥哥不能安慰母心，他便不以書字為念，只留心針黹家計等事，好為母親分憂代勞。近因今上崇尚詩禮，徵採才能，降不世之隆恩，除聘選妃嬪外，在世宦名家之女，皆得親名達部，以備選擇為公主郡主入學陪侍，充為才人贊善之職。自薛蟠父親死後，各省中所有的買賣承局總管夥計人等，見薛蟠年輕，不諳世事，便趁時拐騙起來，京都幾處生意漸亦銷耗。薛蟠素聞得都中乃第一繁華之地，正思一游，更趁此機會，一來送妹待選，二來望親，三來親自入部銷算舊賬，再計新支，－－其實只為遊覽上國風光之意。
But now no more of Yu-cun. Let us turn instead to Young Xue, the man who purchased Ying-lian and had Feng Yuan beaten to death. He was a native of Nanking and came of a refined and highly cultivated family, but having lost his father in infancy and been, as sole remaining scion of the stock, excessively indulged by a doting widowed mother, he had grown up into a useless lout. The family was immensely wealthy. As one of the official Court Purveyors they received money from the Privy Purse with which to make purchases for the Imperial Household.
Xue Pan, to give him his full name, was a naturally extravagant young man with an insolent turn of speech. He had been educated after a fashion, but could barely read and write. He devoted the greater part of his time to cock-fighting, horse-racing, and outings to places of scenic interest. Though an Imperial Purveyor, he was wholly innocent of business skill and savoir-faire; and though, for his father’s and grandfather’s sake, he was allowed to register at the Ministry and receive regular payments of grain and money, everything else was looked after for him by the clerks and factors of the family business.
Xue Pan’s widowed mother was a younger half-sister of Wang Zi-teng, at that time Commandant of the Metropolitan Barracks, and younger sister of Lady Wang, the wife of Jia Zheng of the Rong mansion. She was now around fifty and had only the one son. Besides Xue Pan she had a daughter two years his junior called Bao-chai, a girl of flawless looks and great natural refinement. While her father was still alive she had been his favourite and had been taught to read and write and construe all of which she did ten times better than her oafish brother; but when he died and her brother proved incapable of offering their mother any comfort, she laid aside her books and devoted herself to needlework and housewifely duties in order to take some of the burden off her mother’s shoulders.
The well-known interest always shown by our present sovereign in literature and the arts, and the widespread recruitment of talent that this has stimulated, had recently, at the time of which we speak, led to an unprecedented act of
Imperial grace whereby daughters of hereditary officials and distinguished families, apart from the possibility of being recruited to the Imperial seraglio by the customary procedures, were permitted to have their names sent in to the Ministry for selection as study-companions, with the rank and title of Maid of Honour or Lady-in-waiting, of the Imperial princesses and the daughters of princes of the blood.
This circumstance, coupled with the fact that, since the death of his father, the managers, clerks, and factors of the family business in its various agencies throughout the provinces had profited from Xue Pan’s youth and ignorance of affairs to feather their own nests at the firm’s expense, and even the family’s enterprises in the capital, of which there were several, had shown a gradual falling-off, provided Xue Pan, who had long heard of the rich pleasures of the metropolis and was agog to taste them, with excuses for realizing his cherished ambition, viz:
1.They must go to the capital because he had to present his sister to the Ministry for selection.
2. They must go to the capital to look up their kinsfolk there.
3. They must go to the capital so that he might clear his accounts with the Ministry and take receipt of a new installment of funds. (Needless to say, the sole substantial reason for going to the capital, Xue Pan’s desire to see the sights, was unexpressed.)
因此，早已打點下行裝細軟以及饋送親友各色土物人情等類，正擇日起身，不想偏遇著那拐子重賣英蓮。薛蟠見英蓮生得不俗，立意買了作妾，又遇馮家來奪，因恃強喝令豪奴將馮淵打死。便將家中事務一一囑託了族中人並幾個老家人，自己同著母親妹子竟自起身，長行去了。人命官司，他卻視為兒戲，自謂花上幾個錢，沒有不了的。
Accordingly, their baggage had long been packed and souvenirs of Nanking for their friends and relations in the capital long been selected and a date for their departure long been decided on, when Xue Pan encountered the kidnapper and Ying-lian and, as Ying-lian was an uncommonly attractive slave-girl, resolved to purchase her and make her his concubine. Then Feng and his servants came to seize the girl and Xue Pan, confident in his superior forces, shouted the command to his attendant roughs which was to have such fatal consequences for poor Feng Yuan. Entrusting everything to his clansmen and a few old and trusty retainers, he then proceeded to depart according to schedule, in company with his mother and sister, on the long journey to the capital, accounting the charge of manslaughter a mere bagatelle which the expenditure of a certain amount of coin could confidently be expected to resolve.
在路上不計其日。那日已將入都，又聽見母舅王子騰陞了九省統制，奉旨出都查邊，薛蟠心中暗喜道：「我正愁進京去有舅舅管轄，不能任意揮霍；如今陞了出去，可知天從人願！」因和母親商議道：「偺們京中雖有幾處房舍，只是這十來年沒人居住，那看守的人未免偷著租賃給人住，須得先著人去打掃收拾纔好。」他母親道：「何必如此招搖？偺們這次進京去，原該先拜望親友，或是在你舅舅處，或是你姨父家。他兩家的房舍極是寬敞的，偺們且住下，再慢慢兒的著人去收拾，豈不消停些？」薛蟠道：「如今舅舅正陞了外省去，家裡自然忙亂起身，偺們這會子反一窩一拖的奔了去，豈不沒眼色呢？」他母親道：「你舅舅雖陞了去，還有你姨父家。況這幾年來，你舅舅姨娘兩處每每帶信捎書接偺們來。如今既來了，你舅舅雖忙著起身，你賈家的姨娘未必不苦留我們。偺們且忙忙的收拾房子，豈不使人見怪？你的意思，我早知道了：守著舅舅姨母住著，未免拘緊了，不如各自住著，好任意施為。既然如此，你自去挑所宅子去住；我和你姨娘姊妹們別了這幾年，卻要廝守幾日。我帶了你妹子投你姨娘家去，你道好不好？」薛蟠見母親如此說，情知扭不過，只得吩咐人夫，一路奔榮國府而來。
Of the journey our story gives no record, except to say that on the last day, when they were about to enter the capital, they heard news that Xue Pan’s uncle Wang Zi-teng had just been promoted C.-in-C. Northern Provinces with instructions to leave the capital on a tour of frontier inspection. The news secretly delighted Xue Pan. ‘Just as I was worrying about Uncle cramping my style when we got to the capital and preventing me from having a really good fling,’ he reflected, ‘the old boy obligingly gets himself popped out of the way. Fortune is on my side!’
He then proceeded to reason as follows with his mother: ‘We’ve got several houses in the capital, but it’s all of ten years since anyone has been to stay in them, so you can bet that the housekeepers will have let all the rooms out on the sly. We shall have to send someone on ahead to get things straightened out for us.’
‘Why ever should we go to any such trouble?’ said his mother. ‘I thought the main purpose of our coming here in the first place was to see our relations. There must be lots and lots of spare room at your Uncle Wang’s and at your Uncle Jia’s place. Surely it would be much more sensible to stay with one of them first? There will be plenty of time to send our people to get a place of our own ready after we are there.’
‘But Uncle’s just been promoted to the Northern Provinces,’ Xue Pan expostulated. ‘They will all be making frantic preparations for him to go. What sort of stupid idiots shall we look like if we come scooting along with all our bag and baggage just at the very moment when he wants to leave?’ ‘Suppose your Uncle Wang has been promoted to another place,’ said his mother. ‘There is still your Uncle Jia. Besides, Uncle Wang and Auntie Jia have for years been sending us letters inviting us to come and stay with them. Now that we are here, even though Uncle Wang is busy getting ready to go, Auntie Jia will probably be only too glad to have us. I’m sure she would be most offended if we were to go rushing off to get our own house ready. ‘But I know perfectly well what’s in your mind. You think that if we are staying with your uncle or aunt you will be too restricted, and that if we were living in our own place you would be freer to do just as you liked. Very well then. Why don’t you go off and choose a house for yourself to live in and let me and your sister go to Auntie’s without you? I haven’t seen her or the girls for years and years, and I intend to spend a few days with them now we are here.’ Experience taught Xue Pan that his mother was in an obstinate mood and not to be shaken from her purpose, so he resignedly gave orders to the porters to make straight for the Rong mansion.
那時王夫人已知薛蟠官司一事虧賈雨村就中維持了，纔放了心。又見哥哥陞了邊缺，正愁少了娘家的親戚來往，略加寂寞。過了幾日，忽家人報：「姨太太帶了哥兒姐兒合家進京，在門外下車了。」喜的王夫人忙帶了人接出大廳來，將薛姨媽等接了進去。姊妹們暮年相見，悲喜交集，自不必說。敘了一番契闊，又引著拜見賈母，將人情土物各種酬獻了。合家俱廝見過。又治席接風。
Lady Wang had just breathed a sigh of relief on learning that the affair of Xue Pan’s manslaughter charge had been retrieved through the good offices of Jia Yu-cun, when the news that her elder brother had been promoted to a frontier post plunged her once more in gloom at the prospect of losing her main source of contact with the members of her own family. Several days passed in despondency, and then suddenly the servants announced that her sister, bringing her son and daughter and all her household with her, had arrived in the capital and was at that very moment outside the gate dismounting from her carriage.
Delightedly she hurried with her women to the entrance of the main reception hall and conducted Aunt Xue and her party inside. The sudden reunion of the two sisters was, it goes without saying, an affecting one in which joy and sorrow mingled. After an exchange of information about the years of separation, and after they had been taken to see Grandmother Jia and made their reverence to her, and after the gifts of Nanking produce had been presented and everyone had been introduced to everyone else, there was a family party to welcome the new arrivals.
薛蟠拜見過賈政賈璉，又引著見了賈赦賈珍等。賈政便使人進來對王夫人說：「姨太太已有了年紀，外甥年輕不知庶務，在外住著，恐怕又要生事。偺們東南角上梨香院那一所十來間房，白空閒著，叫人請了姨太太和姐兒哥兒住了甚好。」王夫人原要留住。賈母也就遣人來說：「請姨太太就在這裡住下，大家親密些。」薛姨媽正欲同居一處，方可拘緊些兒子；若另住在外邊，又恐縱性惹禍。遂忙應允，又私與王夫人說明：「一應日費供給一概都免，方是處常之法。」王夫人知他家不難於此，遂亦從其自便。從此後，薛家母女就在梨香院住了。
Xue Pan, meanwhile, had paid his respects to Jia Zheng and Jia Lian and been taken to see Jia She and Cousin Zhen. Jia Zheng now sent a servant round to Lady Wang with the following message:
‘Your sister is getting on in years and our nephew is very young and seems rather inexperienced and, I fear, quite capable of getting into a scrape again if they are going to live outside. Pear Tree Court in the north-east corner of our property is lying completely unoccupied at the moment and has quite a sizeable amount of room in it. Why not invite your sister and her children to move in there?’
Lady Wang had wanted all along to ask her sister to stay. Grandmother Jia had sent someone round to tell her that she should ‘ask Mrs Xue to stay with us here, so that we can all be close to one another.’ And Aunt Xue for her own part had been wanting to stay so that some sort of check could be kept on her son. She was sure that if they were to be on their own somewhere else in the city his unbridled nature would precipitate some fresh calamity. She therefore accepted the invitation with alacrity, privately adding the proviso that she could only contemplate a long stay if it was on the understanding that they were themselves to be responsible for all their expenses. Lady Wang knew that money was no problem to them, so she readily consented, and Aunt Xue and her children proceeded there and then to move into Pear Tree Court.
原來這梨香院乃當日榮公暮年養靜之所，小小巧巧，約有十餘間房舍，前廳後舍俱全。另有一門通街，薛蟠的家人就走此門出入。西南有一角門，通一夾道，出了夾道便是王夫人正房的東院了。每日或飯後，或晚間，薛姨媽便過來，或與賈母閒談，或與王夫人相敘。寶釵日與黛玉迎春姊妹等一處，或看書下棋，或做針黹，倒也十分相安。只是薛蟠起初原不欲在賈府中居住，生恐姨父管束，不得自在；無奈母親執意在此，且賈宅中又十分殷勤苦留，只得暫且住下，一面使人打掃出自家的房屋，再移居過去。誰知自來此間，住了不上一月，賈宅族中凡有的子姪俱已認熟了一半，凡是那些紈袴氣習者，莫不喜與他來往。今日會酒，明日觀花，甚至聚賭嫖娼，無所不至，引誘的薛蟠比當日更壞了十倍。雖說賈政訓子有方，治家有法，一則族大人多，照管不到；二則現在族長乃是賈珍，彼乃寧府長孫，又現襲職，凡族中事，都是他掌管；三則公私冗雜，且素性瀟灑，不以俗務為要，每公暇之時，不過看書著棋而已。況這梨香院相隔兩層房舍，又有街門別開，任意可以出入，所以這些子弟們竟可以放意暢懷的鬧。因此，薛蟠遂將移居之念漸漸打滅了。
This Pear Tree Court had been the Duke of Rong-guo’s retreat during the last years of his life. Its buildings totalled not much more than ten frames; but though small and charming, it was complete in every respect, with a little reception room in the front and all the usual rooms and offices behind. It had its own outer door on to the street, through which Xue Pan and the menservants could come and go, and another gate in the south-west corner giving on to a passage-way which led into the courtyard east of Lady Wang’s compound.
Through this passage-way Aunt Xue would now daily repair, either after dinner or in the evening, to gossip with Grandmother Jia or reminisce with her sister, Lady Wang. Bao-chai for her part spent her time each day in great contentment, reading or playing Go or sewing with Dai-yu and the three girls.
The only dissatisfied member of the party – to begin with, at any rate—was Xue Pan. He had not wanted to stay in the Jia household, fearing that his uncle’s control would prevent him from enjoying himself, but what with his mother’s obstinacy and the insistence of the Jias themselves, he was obliged to acquiesce in settling there for the time being, contenting himself with sending some of his people to clean up one of their houses outside so that he would be able to move there later on.
But, to his pleasant surprise, he discovered that the young males of the Jia establishment, half of whom he was already on familiar terms with before he had been there a month, were of the same idle, extravagant persuasion as himself and thought him a capital fellow and boon companion. And so he found himself meeting them for a drinking-party one day, for theatre-going the next, on a third day perhaps gambling with them or visiting brothels. For there were no limits to the depravity of their pleasures, and Xue Pan, who was bad enough to start with, soon became ten times worse under their expert guidance.
It was not that Jia Zheng was a slack disciplinarian, incapable of keeping his house in order; but the clan was so numerous that he simply could not keep an eye on everyone at once. And in any case the nominal head of the family was not Jia Zheng but Cousin Zhen who, as eldest grandson of the senior, Ning-guo branch, had inherited the founder’s office and emoluments and was therefore officially in charge of all the clan’s affairs.
Besides, Jia Zheng was kept busy with public and private business of his own and, being by nature a quiet, retiring man who attached little importance to mundane affairs, tended to use whatever leisure time he had for reading and playing Go.
Then again, the Pear Tree Court was two courtyards away from Jia Zheng’s compound and had its own private door onto the street by which Xue Pan could come and go as he pleased, so that he and his young cronies could enjoy themselves to their heart’s content with no one being any the wiser. Under these agreeable Circumstances Xue Pan gradually abandoned all thought of moving out.
日後如何，下回分解。
But as to the outcome of these capers: that will be told in a later chapter.
MeTime 