Colin Huehns | December 2022 | London
(We continue on what we left off from the previous issue of Vantage – Part II of Chapter 28.)
They heard Baoyu make his spoken contribution: “My daughter is sorrowful, as in her youth she has already long guarded her empty maidenly bower. My daughter is anxious, and regrets asking her betrothed to seek conferral of an aristocratic title. My daughter is happy, and facing the mirror applies early morning make-up and her face is beautiful. My daughter is joyful, and on the swing frame, the garments of springtime are flimsy.” Everyone heard this and said: “Good!” Xue Pan alone raised his face and shook his head, declaring: “Not good! A forfeit is required!” Everyone asked: “Why should he suffer a forfeit?” Xue Pan said: “I couldn’t understand a word he was saying. How can he not be given a forfeit?” Yun’er pinched Xue Pan and, smiling, said: “You just think quietly about your own contribution, and when it comes to your turn, if you have nothing to say, then it will be you who suffers a forfeit.” Thereupon, she took her pipa and attentively accompanied Baoyu, who sang:
Shed without end are the blood and tears of love’s longing, and they throw their red beans.1 Forever blooming are the spring willow and spring flowers, and they suffuse the painted tower. Sleeping fitfully at a gauze window, after the wind and rain of dusk, both new anxiety and old anxiety cannot be forgot. Unable to swallow jade grain and golden wine, they choke the gullet. Illuminated without end are the water chestnut flowers, and in the mirror, figure and visage are thin and wan. Cannot be undone are knitted brows that suffer unlit the watches of the night. Ah! Just like unscreened vistas of verdant mountains, secret and hidden, or unceasingly flowing green waters, ancient and remote.
Having finished singing, everyone called out together in appreciation and Xue Pan said: “It doesn’t scan.” Baoyu drank up his cup and, taking a slice of pear in his fingers, gave: “Rain falls on the pear flowers, tightly close the door.”2 And thus he completed his contribution to the drinking game.
Next in the sequence was Feng Ziying, whose spoken contribution was: “My daughter is happy: her first childbirth gave her a pair of twin sons for her to bring up. My daughter is joyful: she goes secretly to the flower garden and catches cicadas. My daughter is sorrowful: someone has been infected by an illness and is at death’s door. My daughter is anxious: a great gale has blown over the tower where she combed her hair and applied her make-up.” Having spoken, he raised his winecup and sang:
You are my sweetheart; you are full of emotion; you are a cunning and weird mischievous imp; you are an immortal spirit not yet invigorated. You trust nothing that I say, and only because I have had you enquire secretly and in exquisite detail do you know whether I am fond of you or not.
Having finished singing, he drank up his glass and said: “The cock’s crow, and on the thatched cottage, the dawn moon.”3 His contribution was complete.
Next in the succession was Yun’er. Yun’er made her contribution thus: “My daughter is sorrowful: in the future and for the rest of her life, on whom shall she rely?” Xue Pan laughed and said: “My baby-love! As long as your Elder Master Xue is here, what is there to be afraid of?” Everyone said: “Don’t confuse her! Don’t confuse her!” Yun’er also said: “My daughter is anxious: when will her mother take a rest from hitting and cursing her?” Xue Pan said: “A while ago, I saw your mother and urged her to stop hitting you.” Everyone said: “Once again, saying too much. Award a forfeit of 10 cups.” Xue Pan immediately slapped himself on the face in rebuke and said: “In one ear and out the other. I shouldn’t be allowed to speak any more.” Yun’er also said: “My daughter is happy: her paramour has not abandoned her and is still at her home. My daughter is joyful: she has stopped playing the xiao flute and is playing stringed instruments.” When she had finished speaking, she sang:
Cardamom flowers open on the third day of the third month, and an insect tries to probe into one. After probing for a long while, it doesn’t manage to probe inside and instead climbs onto the flower and swings back and forth there. “Little meatie-sweetie-pie; if I haven’t opened,” says the flower, “how can you probe inside?”
When she had finished singing, she drank up her cup and said: “The peach trees are luxuriant.”4 Her contribution complete, next in succession was Xue Pan.
1 Red beans 紅豆. These are seeds of the tree acacia confusa 相思樹. The literal translation of the name of this tree is “love’s longing tree”, and in classical Chinese poetry, its seeds have come to be synonymous with the emotion thus indicated, as Baoyu and his circle were undoubtedly aware. One of the most celebrated citations of “red beans” is in a poem titled “Love’s Longing” 《相思》 by the Tang dynasty poet Wang Wei 王維 (701–761):
Red beans are born of the Southern Country [South-East Asia] 紅豆生南國
When spring comes, send several branches 春來發幾枝
I desire you, my beloved, to pluck a few more 原君多採擷
These fruits are most symbolic of love’s longing 此物最相思
2 This phrase, whose original Chinese is 雨打梨花深閉門, is the opening line of an eponymous poem by Tang Yin 燙印 (1470–1524) to the lyric song rhythm and rhyme scheme (詞牌) “A Snip of Plum Blossom” 《一剪梅》.
3 This phrase, whose original Chinese is 雞聲茅店月, is the third line of a short poem called “On the Shang Mountain, an early journey” 《商山早行》by Wen Tingyun 溫庭筠 (812–866).
4 This phrase, in Chinese 桃之夭夭, is the well-known first line of the sixth poem “Luxuriant Peaches” 〈桃夭〉of “Songs of the South of the Zhou State” 〈周南〉, the first subsection of the ancient Book of Songs.
Xue Pan said: “What I want to say is: My daughter is sorrowful –” Having said this, for a long while he didn’t carry on and say the next bit. Feng Ziying laughed and said: “Why was she sorrowful? Quickly carry on.” Xue Pan was immediately rattled to the extent that his eyes lit up like little bells, and he said: “My daughter is sorrowful –” And also coughing a couple of times, he eventually said: “My daughter is sorrowful, as the man to whom she has been given in marriage is a stick-at-nought turtlehead.” When everyone had heard this, they burst out in raucous laughter. Xue Pan said: “What are you laughing at? Isn’t what I’ve said true? If a daughter were given in marriage to a man who turned out to be a good-for-nothing tortoise-head, how could she not be wounded to the core?” By now, everyone was doubled up in laughter and said: “What you say is true! Carry on and say the next bit.” Xue Pan stared for a moment and then said: “My daughter is anxious –” Having said this sentence, once more he didn’t continue. Everyone said: “Anxious about what?” Xue Pan said: “From her maidenly bower has emerged a monkey-satyr.” Everyone laughed, ha-ha-ha: “A forfeit! A forfeit! We could forgive the first one, but this one is completely unacceptable.”
So saying, they wanted to pour out the wine. Baoyu said: “His contribution is nonetheless acceptable as it rhymes.” Xue Pan said: “The presiding official of the drinking game has now performed his task correctly, so what are you complaining about!” When everyone had heard this, they let the matter rest. Yun’er, laughing, said: “The next two lines will be more difficult; let me do them for you.” Xue Pan said: “Stuff and nonsense! Do you really think that I have nothing good up my sleeve? Listen to me finish speaking. My daughter is happy: the decorated candles of the nuptial chamber, the next morning, are too exhausted to get up.” When everyone heard this, they were astonished and said: “This line is not elegant and respectable at all.” When everyone heard his subsequent contribution, looking askance, they said: “Kill him! Kill him! Quickly get on with singing.” Xue Pan sang: “A mosquito buzzes heng-heng-heng.” Everyone was dumbfounded and said: “What sort of a qu ballad is this?” Xue Pan then sang: “A pair of flies buzzes weng-weng-weng.” Everyone said: “Enough! Enough! Enough!” Xue Pan said: “Whether or not you want to listen, this is a fresh qu ballad that is called ‘The heng-heng rhyme’. If you can’t be bothered to listen and exempt me from the classical quotation, then I won’t sing anything either.” Everyone said: “You’re exempted, but don’t get in the way of other people.”
Thereupon Jiang Yuhan said: “My daughter is sorrowful: her husband has left and has not returned. My daughter is anxious: she hasn’t enough money to buy sweet osmanthus oil. My daughter is happy: an auspicious omen of merged heads joined in a double-wick is cast in a lamp’s flower-shaped wax residue. My daughter is joyful: a husband sings, a wife follows, truly harmoniousness combined.” Having finished speaking, he sang:
Happily, you were born with a hundred coquettish prettinesses. In sooth, just like a living immortal spirit that has left the azure heavens. Passing through your youth, in age simply young. For a luan female phoenix and a feng male phoenix to be so matched is truly an ingenious coincidence. Ah! Looking at the Milky Way high aloft; listening to the striking of the drum at the drum tower; scraping the wick of a silver lamp, entering together the lovers’ drapes, and all is quiet.
Having finished singing, he drank up his glass and, smiling, said: “My knowledge of poetical lines, either of the shi or ci genres, is extremely limited, but, thankfully, I saw a poetic couplet yesterday and happened to remember this line and, by coincidence, the object in question can be found at the table.” Having finished speaking, he drank up his wine, took a bloom of sweet osmanthus and recited: “The flowery ether assails a person until he is aware that the day is warm.”
5 Shi 詩.
6 Ci 詞. Sometimes translated as “lyric song”.
7 This phrase, in Chinese 花氣襲人知晝暖, is the third line of a poem by Lu You 陸游 (1125–1210) called “When living in a Rural Village, Letters are Happiness” 《村居書喜》. The third and fourth characters of the line 襲人 are identical to the name of Baoyu’s chief maidservant and confidante Xiren. She is not herself present, and Jiang Yuhan is referring to the osmanthus bloom that is.
Everyone agreed that his contribution was complete. Xue Pan jumped up once more and shouted: “Incredible! Incredible! Forfeit! Forfeit! There is no ‘darling’ at this table; how can you start talking about a ‘darling’?” Jiang Yuhan interjected quickly: “When was a ‘darling’ mentioned?” Xue Pan said: “You are persisting in being disingenuous! Say the poetic line once more.” Jiang Yuhan had no choice but to recite it another time. Xue Pan said: “This ‘assails a person’, if it is not a ‘darling’, then what is it? If you don’t believe me, then ask him?” When he had finished speaking, he pointed at Baoyu. Baoyu became extremely embarrassed and said: “Elder Brother Xue, how many bowls should the forfeit be?” Xue Pan said: “Forfeit! Forfeit!” So saying, he seized the wine and drank it up in one go. Feng Ziying and Jiang Yuhan asked him what the reason was. Yun’er then told them, and Jiang Yuhan hurriedly stood up and acknowledged his guilt. Everyone said: “He who is ignorant does not commit a crime.”
A little later, Baoyu left the table to answer a call of nature. Jiang Yuhan followed him out and the two of them stood under the eaves of the veranda. Jiang Yuhan once more admitted his fault. Baoyu, on seeing that he looked winsome and gentle, found himself extremely attached to him, and so, grasping his hand tightly, suggested: “When you have an idle moment, do come along to our residence. I have something, too, that I would like to ask you: in your theatrical troupe, is there someone called Qiguan’er,8 who has recently become famous throughout the land? Sadly, unlike everyone else, I am the only person who hasn’t had the good fortune to catch sight of him.” Jiang Yuhan smiled and said: “That was my childhood name.” Baoyu heard this and couldn’t help but stamp his foot in happiness, and laughing, said: “Joybells! Joybells! As expected, his name hasn’t gone into circulation without due cause. Today, we meet for the first time, but what is to happen from this?”
After thinking for a moment, he took out a fan from his sleeve, detached a circular jue9 jade pendant hanging from it, and presented it to Qiguan’er, saying: “Just a small token of no significance, but one which indicates, to some extent, the friendship of this moment.” Qiguan received it and, smiling, said: “Earning my pittance without labouring for it – how could I possibly deserve this? That said, I too have obtained a strange and rare item here, and today I got up early and tied it on; it is also spanking new and modestly sufficient to express some of my own warm feelings.” And, having finished speaking, he lifted his clothes and undid a large and long red sweat-cloth that had been tied to his undergarments and gave it to Baoyu, saying: “This cloth was presented in tribute by the Queen of Fragrant Manjistha Land. In the summer, if tied next to the skin, it produces a fragrance by which no globules of sweat are produced thereby. Yesterday, it was given to me by the King of the Northern Stillness,10 and today I chose to wear it. Were it someone other than you, I would, most certainly, not be willing to present it to them. Second Master, please take off your own sweat-cloth that you have tied on yourself and tie it onto me instead.”
Baoyu heard what was said and with joy that he could not restrain, immediately received it, and he took off his own, a long sweat-cloth decorated with horsetail pine, and gave it to Qiguan. The two of them had just tied theirs appropriately when they heard a loud shout: “I have got you now!” And they saw that Xue Pan had come bounding out, and he pulled at the two of them and said: “Putting your wine down and not drinking it, you two have escaped from the table and come out; what are you doing? Quickly bring them out for me to have a look.” The two of them said: “It’s nothing really.” Xue Pan could not bear to let things alone, so it was left to Feng Ziying to emerge and smooth the incident over. They went back and sat drinking wine, and it was not until evening that they dispersed.
Baoyu returned to his courtyard, loosened his clothes, and drank some tea. When Xiren noticed that the pendant that had dangled from the fan was no more, she asked him: “Where has it gone?” Baoyu said: “I lost it while riding.” Xiren did not discuss the matter further. When it came to the time to go to sleep, she noticed that at his waist was tied a large and long blooddrop-red sweat-cloth, so she guessed the substance of the matter and thereupon said: “As you now have good cloth to tie your trousers with, give that cloth, which was mine anyway, back to me.” Baoyu heard what was said and remembered that the cloth had first been Xiren’s, and that he shouldn’t have given it to anyone else. He regretted this deep in his heart but couldn’t bring himself to reveal anything and could only smile and say: “I will recompense you with another.” Xiren heard this and, nodding her head and sighing, said: “I knew that, once again, you had done something like this; you shouldn’t give my things to those rascals. The problem is you haven’t any notion in your mind of the value of anything.” She still wanted to say more but feared that he might vomit up the wine he had drunk, so she kept her peace and went to sleep. For the whole night, there were no more words said.
8 Qiguan’er 琪官兒. 琪: a type of beautiful jade; 官: an official; 兒: a diminutive suffix.
9 Jue 玦.
10 The King of the Northern Stillness. 北靜王. 北: north; 靜: stillness; 王: king. A fictional king created by Cao Xueqin for The Dream of the Red Chamber.
It was fully daylight the next day when she awoke, and she saw Baoyu, who laughed and said: “If you had been robbed during the night, you wouldn’t have known a thing. Look at your trousers.” Xiren bent her head and looked and could see that the sweat-cloth that Baoyu had tied on himself yesterday was now tied at her own waist, and she realised that Baoyu had exchanged them during the night; hurriedly, in a moment, she took it off and said: “I don’t cherish this bauble; take it quickly away.” When Baoyu saw that she was in this mood, he had to smooth oil tactfully on troubled waters for a while. Xiren had no choice but to tie it back on for the time being. When this was all over and Baoyu had gone out, she finally undid it for good and threw it into an empty box, exchanging it for another, which she tied on.
Baoyu did not engage in any more discussion on the matter. Thereupon, he asked: “Yesterday, what happened here?” Xiren answered, saying: “Second Lady [Sister Feng] sent someone to get Xiaohong. She had originally wanted to wait for you to come back, but as I thought that the matter was urgent, I decided to take it in hand and sent her along.” Baoyu said: “You did absolutely the right thing! I had already known about this, and it wasn’t necessary to wait for me.” Xiren also said: “Yesterday, the Imperial Concubine11 [Jia Yuanchun,12 Baoyu’s elder sister] despatched Eunuch Xia13 from the palace to present 120 liang of silver and ordered him to perform the ceremony of Peaceful Wine Libation14 for the supplication of the wind and rain for three days at the Pure Empty Daoist Temple on the first three days of the lunar year,15 and for opera to be sung as a form of offering, and for Elder Master Zhen16 [Jia Zhen, elder patriarch of the Jia family] to lead the entire cohort of masters to kneel in front of burning incense, paying obeisance to Buddha; funds were also apportioned for the ceremonials of the Duanwu17 festival.”
11 Imperial Concubine 貴妃.
12 Jia Yuanchun 賈元春. 元春: first – spring.
13 Eunuch Xia 夏太監. His full name is Xia Shouzhong 夏守忠. 守忠: abides by – loyalty.
14 Peaceful Wine Libation 平安醮.
15 Pure Empty Daoist Temple 清虛觀.
16 Elder Master Zhen 珍大爺. His name is Jia Zhen 賈珍. 珍: cherish.
17 Duanwu 端午. Now known as the Dragon Boat Festival. It takes place on the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese lunar calendar.
So saying, she ordered maidservants to come and take out the gifts that had been given yesterday, and these were two top quality circular decorated “palace” fans, two strings of red musk beads, two lengths of gauze silk cloth adorned with fern-like patterns, and one bamboo mat decorated with cotton-rose designs. On seeing them, Baoyu was so overjoyed that he could not control himself, and he asked: “The presents that the others received, were they the same as these?” Xiren said: “Venerable Supreme Lady also got two ‘fragrant-jade’ ruyi18 sceptres and an amber pillow. Elder Master19 [Jia Zheng], Supreme Lady [Lady Wang], and Aunt Supreme Lady20 [Aunt Xue] also got a fragrant-jade ruyi sceptre each. Miss Bao received the same as you. Miss Lin [Daiyu] and Second Miss [Yingchun,21 another cousin of the Jia family], Third Miss [Tanchun], and Fourth Miss [Xichun] only received a fan and a few pearls each and nothing else. Greater Lady22 [Li Wan] and Second Lady [Wang Xifeng] both received four silken gauzes, two laces, two perfume pouches and two ingot-shaped medicinal preparations.”
Baoyu heard this and, laughing, said: “What is the reason for this? how is it that Miss Lin has not been treated the same as me, but Elder Sister Bao has been? Is it possible that news has not reached you correctly and you are mistaken?” Xiren said: “The gifts were taken out yesterday, and all listed carefully one-by-one on slips of paper; how could there be any mistake? Yours were in Venerable Supreme Lady’s room, and I went to get them. Venerable Supreme Lady has said: you are to go to court at daybreak at the fifth watch tomorrow to express gratitude for these kindnesses.” Baoyu said: “To pay such a visit is simply a matter of course.” So saying, he summoned Zijuan [Daiyu’s maidservant]:23 “Take these to your young lady’s quarters and say that I got them yesterday, and that she should keep whatever takes her fancy.” Zijuan assented and took them away with her. After a short while, she came back and said: “Miss said: ‘They also got some things yesterday, so Second Master should keep his.’” When Baoyu heard this said, he ordered that they be received back and put away.
Having just washed his face and come outside, and wishing to go to Mother Jia’s quarters to pay respectful greetings and enquire whether all was at peace, on seeing Daiyu coming towards him, Baoyu hurried up to her and, smiling, said: “I asked you to accept my things, so how could you not accept them?” Daiyu had long since put behind her the heartfelt matter that had annoyed her regarding Baoyu yesterday and was only thinking of what might happen today, so she said: “I am not fated to enjoy a happy enough life that would prohibit me from accepting them and so can’t compare with Miss Bao; but regarding ‘gold’, ‘jade’, and whatnot, we are no more than simple waifs and strays in the wilderness for whom such items are out of place.” When Baoyu heard her bring up the two words “gold” and “jade”, he couldn’t help but feel suspicious and nonplussed, and so he said: “Other than those who might say ‘gold’ this or ‘jade’ that, if such a thought were to take root in my heart, let Heaven execute me and the earth obliterate me, and for 10,000 generations let me not be reincarnated as humankind!”
18 Ruyi 흔雷.
19 Elder Master 일爺. His name is Jia Zheng 賈漣. 漣: government
20 Aunt Supreme Lady 駑格格. Also called Aunt Xue 機駑媽.
21 Yingchun短뉴: welcome – spring.
22 Greater Lady 댕켈켈. An appellation used for Li Wan 쟀紈, who married into the Jia family. 紈: a type of fine silk.
23 Zijuan 凜鵑: purple – cuckoo.
When Daiyu heard these words of his, she realised that suspicion had moved his heart, and hurriedly she also laughed and said: “How vacuous! With no cause whatsoever, what sort of a vow are you making? Who is paying any attention to gold or jade!” Baoyu said: “The matters of my heart are difficult for me to say to you, but in later days you will become familiar with them as a natural matter of course. Other than the three people – Venerable Supreme Lady, Elder Master, and Supreme Lady – the fourth is you, little sister. To have a fifth person, I would have to make another vow.” Daiyu said: “No need for you to make a vow; I am acutely aware that there is a ‘little sister’ in your heart, but you only have to see an ‘elder sister’ and you forget your ‘little sister’.” Baoyu said: “You are oversensitive! I am not like that!” Daiyu said: “Yesterday, when that girl Bao[chai] didn’t complete your lie for you, why did you ask it of me? If it had been me, I don’t know what you would have been like!” She was just saying this when she saw Baochai coming over from her quarters, and Baoyu and Daiyu parted.
Baochai had clearly seen what was going on, but she pretended that she hadn’t noticed, and, lowering her head, passed by, until she came to Lady Wang’s quarters, where she sat down for a while; after this she went to Mother Jia’s place and saw that Baoyu was already there. Because Baochai’s mother had once mentioned to Lady Wang that “the golden lock pendant [worn by Baochai] was given by a monk, and it simply awaited the arrival of jade [Baoyu: jewel – jade] in later days for it to be joined in matrimony,” she always kept her distance from Baoyu. Yesterday, when she saw the items gifted by Yuanchun and found that only hers were the same as Baoyu’s, her heart was even more confounded. Thankfully, Baoyu had been softly entrapped by one such Daiyu, and in heart and mind all he cared about was her, so Baochai no longer debated the matter in her mind. At this juncture, she saw Baoyu, smiling, say: “Elder Sister Bao, can I take a look at the string of musk beads that you are wearing?” It so happened that she was wearing one of these wound around her left wrist, and when she realised that Baoyu was asking her about it, she had no choice but to take it off.
Baochai’s flesh was naturally pudgy and smooth, so for a moment she could not take it off. From next to her, Baoyu saw her snow-white arm and involuntarily found himself feeling envious. He thought to himself secretly and darkly: “If these arms were on Miss Lin’s body, I might perhaps have a chance to stroke them; but instead, they are on her body, so I resent my lack of fortune.” Suddenly, he called to mind the matter of “gold and jade”, and looking at Baochai’s appearance, all he could see was a face like a silver ewer, eyes like moist plums, lips that needed no adornment to show their redness, and eyebrows that needed no painting to appear jadeite-green, and that she possessed a demeanour the exuded its own alluring prettiness, different from that of Daiyu, and for a moment he was entranced.
Baochai took off the string of beads and gave them to him, but he was so bewitched that he forgot to take them. She could see that he was standing stock still and was entranced, and so she felt embarrassed and got up and threw down the string of beads. Turning round and about to leave, she saw Daiyu stepping over the threshold, so jealous that it was as if she was biting on a satin handkerchief in her mouth, but smiling nonetheless. Baochai said: “You can’t even withstand the wind blowing, so how is it you are standing once again in a draughty opening?” Daiyu smiled and said: “It wasn’t that I hadn’t come into the room, but because I heard a cry coming out of the sky, I went out to have a look and saw that it was a dumbstruck goose.” Baochai said: “Where is this dumbstruck goose? I want to see it.” Daiyu said: “When I came out, it let out a cry tei’er and flew away.” While she was uttering this, she flicked her satin handkerchief right in Baoyu’s face. Before Baoyu was aware of it, it hit him in the eyes, and he yelped ai-yo. If you would like to know the consequences of this, they will be explained in the next chapter.
About the Author: Dr Colin Huehns studied violin with Emanuel Hurwitz. His first experience in music from outside the Western Classical tradition came at King’s College, Cambridge, when he wrote a dissertation on the music of Hunza Valley and Gilgit, Pakistan, an interest which culminated in a PhD thesis awarded by Cambridge University for “Music in Northern Pakistan” in 1992.
He studied composition at the Royal Academy of Music and has remained active as a composer. Following a three-year British Academy Research Fellowship at Cambridge, Colin spent three years as a student at the Xi’an Music Conservatoire, studying the erhu with the distinguished virtuoso Jin Wei.
Since returning to the UK in 1999, he has taught electives in non-Western, traditional, and folk music at the Academy. He has also taught electives, which include learning the erhu, and Chinese and British members of the dulcimer family. As well as continuing to play the viol, viola, violin, rebec, Renaissance fiddle, and various dulcimers, his main teaching, research, performance, and composition interests now centre on his Chinese instruments, which include some 20 different members of the erhu, yangqin, and Mongolian horsehead fiddle families.
Colin’s erhu performances have included recitals in Munich, Leeds, Cambridge and Edinburgh, but he is particularly proud of having recorded two CDs of erhu music written especially for him.