中国经典 hóng lóu mèng A Dream of Red Mansions   》 shí huí  lóng cuì 'ān chá pǐn méi huā xuě  hóng yuàn jié huáng chóng CHAPTER XLI.      cáo xuě qín Cao Xueqin    gāo 'ě Gao E


     CHAPTER XLI.
  huà shuō liú lǎo lǎo liǎng zhǐ shǒu zhe shuō dào huā 'ér luò liǎo jié guā。 " zhòng rén tīng liǎo hōng táng xiào lái shì chī guò mén bēiyīn yòu dòu xiào dào:“ shí gào shuō de shǒu jiǎo bènyòu liǎo jiǔzǎi shī shǒu liǎo zhè bēiyòu tóu de bēi lái biàn shī liǎo shǒudiào liǎo xià 'ài zhòng rén tīng liǎoyòu xiào láifèng jiě 'ér tīng shuōbiàn máng xiào dào:“ guǒ zhēn yào tóu de jiù liǎo lái yòu xiān shuō xiàzhè tóu de detādōu shì tàodìng yào chī biàn tào fāng shǐ 。” liú lǎo lǎo tīng liǎo xīn xià dào:“ fāng cái guò shì huà xiào 'érshuí zhī guǒ zhēn jìng yòu shí cháng zài cūn zhuāng xiāng shēn jiā guò jīn bēi yín bēi dǎo jiàn guòcóng lái méi jiàn yòu tóu bēi zhī shuōòshì liǎoxiǎng shì xiǎo hái men shǐ de wǎn 'ér guò kuāng duō liǎng wǎnbié guǎn héng shù zhè jiǔ shuǐ 'ér shìdeduō diǎn fáng。” xiǎng biàn shuō:“ lái zài shāng liàng。” fèng jiě nǎi mìng fēng 'ér:“ dào qián miàn jiān shū jià shàng yòu shí zhú gēn tào bēi lái。 " fēng 'ér tīng liǎodāyìng cái yào yuān yāng xiào dào:“ zhī dào zhè shí bēi hái xiǎokuàng qiě cái shuō shì tóu dezhè huì yòu liǎo zhú gēn de láidǎo hǎo kàn men de huáng yáng gēn zhěng kōu de shí tào bēi láiguàn shí xià 。” fèng jiě 'ér xiào dào:“ gèng hǎo liǎo。” yuān yāng guǒ mìng rén láiliú lǎo lǎo kànyòu jīng yòu jīng de shì lián shí āi xiǎo fēn xià lái de xiǎo pén shí xiǎo de hái yòu shǒu de bēi liǎng de shì diāo lòu jué shān shuǐ shù rén bìng yòu cǎo yìnyīn máng shuō dào:“ liǎo xiǎo de lái jiù shì liǎozěn me zhè yàng duō? " fèng jiě 'ér xiào dào:“ zhè bēi méi yòu de men jiā yīn méi yòu zhè liàng desuǒ méi rén gǎn shǐ lǎo lǎo yàohǎo róng xún liǎo chū lái dìng yào 'āi chī biàn cái shǐ 。 " liú lǎo lǎo de máng dào:“ zhè gǎnhǎo nǎi nǎiráo liǎo 。” jiǎ xuē wáng rén zhī dào shàng liǎo nián de rénjìn máng xiào dào:“ shuō shì shuōxiào shì xiào duō chī liǎozhǐ chī zhè tóu bēi 。 " liú lǎo lǎo dào:“ ēmítuófó hái shì xiǎo bēi chī zhè bēi shōu zhe dài liǎo jiā màn màn de chī 。 " shuō de zhòng rén yòu xiào láiyuān yāng zhǐ mìng rén mǎn zhēn liǎo bēiliú lǎo lǎo liǎng shǒu pěng zhe jiǎ xuē dào:“ màn xiē yào qiàng liǎo。” xuē yòu mìng fèng jiě 'ér liǎo càifèng jiě xiào dào:“ lǎo lǎo yào chī shénmeshuō chū míng 'ér lái jiān liǎo wèi 。” liú lǎo lǎo dào:“ zhī shénme míng 'éryàng yàng dōushì hǎo de。” jiǎ xiào dào:“ qié xiǎng jiān xiē wèi 。” fèng jiě 'ér tīng shuō yán jiān xiē qié xiǎng sòng liú lǎo lǎo kǒu zhōngyīn xiào dào:“ men tiān tiān chī qié cháng cháng men de qié nòng de kǒu kǒu。” liú lǎo lǎo xiào dào:“ bié hǒngwǒ liǎoqié páo chū zhè wèi 'ér lái liǎo men yòng zhǒng liáng shízhǐ zhǒng qié liǎo。” zhòng rén xiào dào:“ zhēn shì qié men zài hǒngnǐ。 " liú lǎo lǎo chà dào:“ zhēn shì qié bái chī liǎo bàn nǎi nǎi zài wèi xiēzhè kǒu juéjué。 " fèng jiě 'ér guǒ yòu jiān liǎo xiē fàng kǒu nèiliú lǎo lǎo jiáo liǎo bàn xiào dào:“ suī yòu diǎn qié xiāngzhǐ shì hái xiàng shì qié gào shì shénme nòng de nòng zhe chī 。” fèng jiě 'ér xiào dào:“ zhè nán cái xià lái de qié liǎozhǐ yào jìng ròuqiē chéng suì dīng yòng yóu zhà liǎozài yòng ròu bìng xiāngjùnxīn sǔn xiāng gān gān guǒ qiē chéng dīng yòng tānɡ wēi gānjiāng xiāng yóu shōuwài jiā zāo yóu bànshèng zài guàn fēng yányào chī shí chū láiyòng chǎo de guā bàn jiù shì。” liú lǎo lǎo tīng liǎoyáo tóu shé shuō dào:“ de dǎo shí lái zhǐ lái pèi guài dào zhè wèi 'ér! " miàn shuō xiào miàn màn màn de chī wán liǎo jiǔhái zhǐ guǎn wán bēifèng jiě xiào dào:“ hái shì xīngzài chī bēi 。” liú lǎo lǎo máng dào:“ liǎo jiù zuì liǎo yīn wéi 'ài zhè yàng fànkuī zěn me zuò liǎo。” yuān yāng xiào dào:“ jiǔ chī wán liǎodào zhè bēi shì shénme de? " liú lǎo lǎo xiào dào:“ yuàn niàn rèn men zài zhè jīn mén xiù de rèn tóu men chéng jiā shù lín zuò jiē fāngkùn liǎo zhěn zhe shuì liǎo kào zhe zuòhuāng nián jiān 'è liǎo hái chī yǎn jīng tiān tiān jiàn ěr duǒ tiān tiān tīng kǒu 'ér tiān tiān jiǎng suǒ hǎo dǎi zhēn jiǎ shì rèn deràng rèn rèn。 " miàn shuō miàn duān xiáng liǎo bàn dào:“ men zhè yàng rén jiā duàn méi yòu jiàn dōng róng de tóu men shōu zhe liǎo diān zhe zhè bēi zhòngduàn shì yáng zhè dìng shì huáng sōng de。” zhòng rén tīng liǎohōng táng xiào lái
   zhǐ jiàn zǒu lái qǐng wèn jiǎ shuō:“ niàn mendōu dào liǎo 'ǒu xiāng xièqǐng shì xiàjiù yǎn hái shì zài děng huì ? " jiǎ máng xiào dào:“ shì dǎo wàng liǎo menjiù jiào men yǎn 。” dāyìng liǎo shízhǐ tīng xiāo guǎn yōu yángshēng bìng zhèng zhí fēng qīng shuǎng zhī shí shēng chuān lín shuǐ 'ér lái rán shǐ rén shén xīn kuàngbǎo xiān jìn zhù lái zhēn liǎo bēi kǒu yǐn jìn yòu zhēn shàngcái yào yǐnzhǐ jiàn wáng rén yào yǐnmìng rén huàn nuǎn jiǔbǎo lián máng jiāng de bēi pěng liǎo guò láisòng dào wáng rén kǒu biānwáng rén biàn jiù shǒu nèi chī liǎo liǎng kǒu shí nuǎn jiǔ lái liǎobǎo réng guī jiù zuòwáng rén liǎo nuǎn xià láizhòng rén jiē chū liǎo xuē láijiǎ máng mìng fèng 'èr rén jiē guò lái:“ ràng zuò liǎo jiā cái biàn。” wáng rén jiàn shuōfāng jiāng fèng jiě guī zuòjiǎ xiào dào:“ jiā chī shàng liǎng bēijīn zhuóshí yòu 。 " shuō zhe qíng bēi ràng xuē yòu xiàng xiāng yún bǎo chāi dào:“ jiě mèi liǎng chī bēi mèi mèi suī huì chī bié ráo 。 " shuō zhe gān liǎoxiāng yúnbǎo chāidài yědōu gān liǎodāng xià liú lǎo lǎo tīng jiàn zhè bān yīnyuèqiě yòu yòu liǎo jiǔyuè de shǒu dǎo láibǎo yīn xià guò lái xiàng dài xiào dào:“ qiáo liú lǎo lǎo de yàng 。” dài xiào dào:“ dāng shèng zòubǎi shòu shuài jīn cái niú 'ěr。” zhòng jiě mèi xiào liǎo
   zhǐxuē chū xiào dào:“ jiā de jiǔ xiǎng yědōu yòu liǎoqiě chū sǎnsǎn zài zuò 。” jiǎ zhèng yào sǎnsǎn shì jiā chū suí zhe jiǎ yóu wánjiǎ yīn yào dài zhe liú lǎo lǎo sàn mènsuì xié liǎo liú lǎo lǎo zhì shān qián shù xià pán huán liǎo bàn shǎngyòu shuō zhè shì shénme shùzhè shì shénme shízhè shì shénme huāliú lǎo lǎo de lǐng huìyòu xiàng jiǎ dào:“ shuí zhī chéng dàn rén zūn guìlián què 'ér shì zūn guì depiān zhè què 'ér dào liǎo men zhè biàn jùn liǎo huì shuō huà liǎo。” zhòng rén jiěyīn wèn shénme què 'ér biàn jùn liǎohuì jiǎng huàliú lǎo lǎo dào:“ láng xià jīn jià shàng zhàn de máo hóng zuǐ shì yīng 'ér shì rèn de lóng hēi lǎo guā zěn me yòu cháng chū fèng tóu lái huì shuō huà 。” zhòng rén tīng liǎo xiào jiāng lái
   shí zhǐ jiàn huán men lái qǐng yòng diǎn xīnjiǎ dào:“ chī liǎo liǎng bēi jiǔdǎo 'è jiù liǎo zhè lái jiā suí biàn chī xiē 。” huán biàn tái liǎo liǎng zhāng láiyòu duān liǎo liǎng xiǎo pěng jiē kāi kàn shí lǎo dāndān”, yòu zuò”。 xiāng chuán lǎo 。, měi nèi liǎng yàngzhè nèi yàng shì 'ǒu fěn guì táng gāo yàng shì sōng ráng 'é yóu juàn nèi yàng shì cùn lái de xiǎo jiǎo 'érjiǎ yīn wèn shénme xiàn 'ér men máng huí shì páng xiè dejiǎ tīng liǎozhòu méi shuō:“ zhè yóu deshuí chī zhè ! " yàng shì nǎi yóu zhà de xiǎo miàn guǒ huānyīn ràng xuē chīxuē zhǐ jiǎn liǎo kuài gāojiǎ jiǎn liǎo juǎnzǐzhǐ cháng liǎo chángshèng de bàn huán liǎoliú lǎo lǎo yīn jiàn xiǎo miàn guǒ líng lóng tòubiàn jiǎn liǎo duǒ dān huā yàng de xiào dào:“ men zuì qiǎo de jiě 'ér men néng jiǎo chū zhè me zhǐ de lái yòu 'ài chīyòu shěbùdé chībāo xiē jiā gěi men zuò huā yàng dǎo hǎo。” zhòng réndōu xiào liǎojiǎ dào:“ jiā sòng tán xiān chèn chī zhè 。” bié rén guò jiǎn rén 'ài chī de liǎng diǎn jiù liǎoliú lǎo lǎo yuán céng chī guò zhè xiē dōng qiě zuò de xiǎo qiǎo xiǎn pán duī de bǎn 'ér měi yàng chī liǎo xiējiù liǎo bàn pán shèng defèng jiě yòu mìng cuán liǎo liǎng pán bìng cuán pán wén guān děng chī jiàn nǎi bào liǎo jiě 'ér lái jiā hǒngtā wán liǎo huì jiě 'ér yīn bào zhe yóu wán de jiàn bǎn 'ér bào zhe shǒubiàn yào shǒu huán hǒngtā jiě 'ér děng biàn liǎozhòng rén máng yóu liǎo bǎn 'érjiāng bǎn 'ér de shǒu hōng guò lái cái bǎn 'ér yīn wán liǎo bàn shǒu yòu liǎng shǒu zhuā zhe xiē guǒ chīyòu jiàn zhè yóu yòu xiāng yòu yuángèng jué hǎo wánqiě dāng qiú zhe wán jiù yào shǒu liǎo
   dāng xià jiǎ děng chī guò cháyòu dài liǎo liú lǎo lǎo zhì lóng cuì 'ān láimiào máng jiē liǎo jìn zhì yuàn zhōng jiàn huā fán shèngjiǎ xiào dào:“ dào shì men xiū xíng de rénméi shì cháng cháng xiū bié chù yuè hǎo kàn。” miàn shuō miàn biàn wǎng dōng chán táng láimiào xiào wǎng ràngjiǎ dào:“ men cái chī liǎo jiǔ ròu zhè tóu yòu chōng liǎo zuì guò men zhè zuò zuò de hǎo chá lái men chī bēi jiù liǎo。” miào tīng liǎománg pēng liǎo chá láibǎo liú shén kàn shì zěn me xíng shìzhǐ jiàn miào qīn pěng liǎo hǎi táng huā shì diāo tián jīn yún lóng xiàn shòu de xiǎo chá pán miàn fàng chéng yáo cǎi xiǎo gài zhōngpěng jiǎ jiǎ dào:“ chī liù 'ān chá。” miào xiào shuō:“ zhī dàozhè shì lǎo jūn méi。” jiǎ jiē liǎoyòu wèn shì shénme shuǐmiào xiào huí " shì jiù nián juān de shuǐ。” jiǎ biàn chī liǎo bàn zhǎnbiàn xiào zhe liú lǎo lǎo shuō:“ cháng cháng zhè chá。” liú lǎo lǎo biàn kǒu chī jìnxiào dào:“ hǎo shì hǎojiù shì dàn xiēzài 'áo nóng xiē gèng hǎo liǎo。” jiǎ zhòng réndōu xiào láirán hòu zhòng réndōu shì guān yáo tuō tāi tián bái gài wǎn
   miào biàn bǎo chāi dài de jīn èr rén suí chū bǎo qiāoqiāo de suí hòu gēn liǎo láizhǐ jiàn miào ràng 'èr rén zài 'ěr fáng nèibǎo chāi zuò zài shàngdài biàn zuò zài miào de tuán shàngmiào xiàng fēng shàng shàn gǔn liǎo shuǐlìng pào chábǎo biàn zǒu liǎo jìn láixiào dào:“ piān men chī chá 。” èr réndōu xiào dào:“ yòu gǎn liǎo lái chá chīzhè bìng méi de。” miào gāng yào bēizhǐ jiàn dào shōu liǎo shàng miàn de chá zhǎn láimiào máng mìng:“ jiāng chéng yáo de chá bēi bié shōu liǎo zài wài tóu 。” bǎo huì zhī wéi liú lǎo lǎo chī liǎo xián zàng yào liǎoyòu jiàn miào lìng chū liǎng zhǐ bēi lái bàng biān yòu 'ěrbēi shàng juān zhe " " sān hòu yòu yīháng xiǎo zhēn shì " jìn wáng kǎi zhēn wán ", yòu yòu " sòng yuán fēng nián yuè méi shān shì jiàn " yīháng xiǎo miào biàn zhēn liǎo bǎo chāi zhǐ xíng 'ér xiǎo yòu sān chuí zhū zhuàn juān zhe " diǎn "。 miào zhēn liǎo dài réng jiāng qián fān cháng chī chá de zhǐ dǒu lái zhēn bǎo bǎo xiào dào:“ cháng yán shì píng děng liǎng jiù yòng yàng wán zhēn jiù shì liǎo。” miào dào:“ zhè shì shì shuō kuáng huàzhǐ jiā wèi zhǎo de chū zhè me lái 。” bǎo xiào dào:“ shuōsuí xiāng xiāng’, dào liǎo zhè rán jīn zhū bǎo gài biǎn wéi liǎo。” miào tīng shuōshí fēn huān suì yòu xún chū zhǐ jiǔ shí huán bǎi 'èr shí jié pán qiú zhěng diāo zhú gēn de chū láixiào dào:“ jiù shèng liǎo zhè chī de liǎo zhè hǎi? " bǎo de máng dào:“ chī de liǎo。” miào xiào dào:“ suī chī de liǎo méi zhè xiē chá zāo wén bēi wéi pǐnèr bēi shì jiě de chǔn sān bēi biàn shì yǐn niú yǐn luó liǎo’。 chī zhè hǎi biàn chéng shénme? " shuō de bǎo chāidài bǎo xiào liǎomiào zhí zhǐ xiàng hǎi nèi zhēn liǎo yuē yòu bēibǎo chī liǎoguǒ jué qīng shǎng zàn juémiào zhèng dào:“ zhè zāo chī de chá shì tuō liǎng lái liǎo shì gěi chī de。” bǎo xiào dào:“ shēn zhī dào de lǐng de qíngzhǐ xiè 'èr rén biàn shì liǎo。 " miào tīng liǎofāng shuō:“ zhè huà míng bái。” dài yīn wèn:“ zhè shì jiù nián de shuǐ? " miào lěng xiào dào:“ zhè me rénjìng shì rénlián shuǐ cháng chū láizhè shì nián qián zài xuán pán xiāng zhù zheshōu de méi huā shàng de xuěgòng liǎo guǐ liǎn qīng de huā wèng wèngzǒng shěbùdé chīmái zài xiàjīn nián xià tiān cái kāi liǎo zhǐ chī guò huízhè shì 'èr huí liǎo zěn me cháng chū lái nián juān de shuǐ yòu zhè yàng qīng chīde。” dài zhī tiān xìng guài hǎo duō huà hǎo duō zuòchī wán chábiàn yuē zhe bǎo chāi zǒu liǎo chū lái
   bǎo miào péi xiào dào:“ chá bēi suī rán zàng liǎobái liào liǎo shuō jiù gěi pín mài liǎo dào shǐ 。” miào tīng liǎoxiǎng liǎo xiǎng děngdōu rénde fàn chóu zhī zhōngmèng qīn qīnshì rénbìng jiāng zhīdiǎn tóu shuō dào:“ zhè liǎoxìng 'ér bēi shì méi chī guò deruò shǐ guò jiù suì liǎo néng gěi yào gěi guǎn zhǐ jiāo gěi kuài liǎo 。” bǎo xiào dào:“ rán shuō huà shòu shòu yuè lián zàng liǎozhǐ jiāo jiù shì liǎo。” miào biàn mìng rén lái bǎo bǎo jiē liǎoyòu dào:“ děng men chū liǎo jiào xiǎo yāo 'ér lái tǒng shuǐ lái ? " miào xiào dào:“ zhè gèng hǎo liǎozhǐ shì zhǔ mentái liǎo shuǐ zhǐ zài shān mén wài tóu qiáng gēn xiàbié jìn mén lái。” bǎo dào:“ zhè shì rán de。” shuō zhebiàn xiù zhe bēi jiǎ fáng zhōng xiǎo tóu zheshuō:“ míng liú lǎo lǎo jiā gěi dài 。” jiāo dài míng báijiǎ jīng chū lái yào huí miào shèn liúsòng chū shān ménhuí shēn biàn jiāng mén liǎo zài huà xià
   qiě shuō jiǎ yīn jué shēn shàng juànbiàn mìng wáng rén yíng chūn mèi péi liǎo xuē chī jiǔ biàn wǎng dào xiāng cūn lái xiē fèng jiě máng mìng rén jiāng xiǎo zhú tái láijiǎ zuò shàngliǎng tái fèng jiě wán zhòng huán wéi suí liǎo zài huà xiàzhè xuē jiù chūwáng rén wén guān děng chū jiāng cuán sàn zhòng huán men chī biàn chéng kōng xiē zhesuí biàn wāi zài fāng cái jiǎ zuò de shàngmìng xiǎo tóu fàng xià lián láiyòu mìng chuí zhe tuǐfēn :“ lǎo tài tài yòu xìn jiù jiào 。” shuō zhe wāi zhe shuì zhe liǎo
   bǎo xiāng yún děng kàn zhe huán men jiāng cuán zài shān shí shàng yòu zuò zài shān shí shàng de yòu zuò zài cǎo xià de yòu kào zhe shù de yòu bàng zhe shuǐ dedǎo shí fēn nào shí yòu jiàn yuān yāng lái liǎoyào dài zhe liú lǎo lǎo chù guàngzhòng rén yědōu gǎn zhe xiào shí lái zhì " xǐngqīn bié shù " de pái fāng xiàliú lǎo lǎo dào:“ ài zhè hái yòu miào 。” shuō zhebiàn xià tóuzhòng rén xiào wān liǎo yāoliú lǎo lǎo dào:“ xiào shénmezhè pái lóu shàng wǒdōu rèn men zhè yàng de miào zuì duōdōushì zhè yàng de pái fāng jiù shì miào de míng 。” zhòng rén xiào dào:“ rèn zhè shì shénme miào? " liú lǎo lǎo biàn tái tóu zhǐ dào:“ zhè shì huáng bǎo diàn ? " zhòng rén xiào de pāi shǒu jiǎohái yào xiàoliú lǎo lǎo jué nèi zhèn luàn xiǎngmáng de zhe xiǎo tóuyào liǎo liǎng zhāng zhǐ jiù jiě zhòng rén yòu shì xiàoyòu máng " zhè shǐ ! " máng mìng dài liǎo dōng běi shàng liǎo zhǐ fāngbiàn zǒu kāi xiē
   liú lǎo lǎo yīn liǎo xiē jiǔ huáng jiǔ xiāng qiě chī liǎo duō yóu yǐn shí duō liǎo wǎn chá miǎn tōng xiè lái chíxīn wài ”, fǎn duì ”、“ tài wéi wàn běn yuánrèn wéi réndūn liǎo bàn fāng wán chū láijiǔ bèi fēng jìnqiě nián mài zhī réndūn liǎo bàn tiān shēnzhǐ jué yǎn huā tóu huànbiàn chū jìng wàngjiē shì shù shān shí lóu tái fáng shèquè zhī chù shì wǎng de liǎozhǐ rèn zhe tiáo shí màn màn de zǒu lái zhì dào liǎo fáng shè gēn qiányòu zhǎo zhe ménzài zhǎo liǎo bàn jiàn dài zhú liú lǎo lǎo xīn zhōng cǔn dào:“ zhè yòu biǎn dòu jià 。” miàn xiǎng miàn shùn zhe huā zhàng zǒu liǎo lái liǎo yuè dòng mén jìn zhǐ jiàn yíng miàn yòu dài shuǐ chízhǐ yòu chǐ kuānshí tóu 'àn miàn liú qīng shuǐ liú wǎng biān liǎoshàng miàn yòu kuài bái shí héng jià zài shàng miànliú lǎo lǎo biàn shí guò shùn zhe shí yǒng zǒu zhuǎn liǎo liǎng wān zhǐ jiàn yòu fáng mén shì jìn liǎo fáng ménzhǐ jiàn yíng miàn hái 'érmǎn miàn hán xiào yíng liǎo chū láiliú lǎo lǎo máng xiào dào:“ niàn men diū xià lái liǎoyào pèng tóu pèng dào zhè lái。” shuō liǎozhǐ jué hái 'ér liú lǎo lǎo biàn gǎn lái de shǒu, " dōng " shēngbiàn zhuàng dào bǎn shàng tóu pèng de shēng téng qiáo liǎo qiáoyuán lái shì huà 'érliú lǎo lǎo cǔn dào:“ yuán lái huà 'ér yòu zhè yàng huó chū lái de。 " miàn xiǎng miàn kàn miàn yòu yòng shǒu què shì píng dediǎn tóu tàn liǎo liǎng shēng zhuǎn shēn fāng liǎo xiǎo ménmén shàng guà zhe cōng huā ruǎn liánliú lǎo lǎo xiān lián jìn tái tóu kànzhǐ jiàn miàn qiáng líng lóng tòuqín jiàn píng jiē tiē zài qiáng shàngjǐn lóng shā zhàojīn cǎi zhū guānglián xià cǎi de zhuānjiē shì záo huājìng yuè yǎn huā liǎozhǎo mén chū yòu ménzuǒ jià shūyòu jià pínggāng cóng píng hòu liǎo mén zhuǎn zhǐ jiàn qìngjiā cóng wài miàn yíng liǎo jìn láiliú lǎo lǎo chà máng wèn dào:“ xiǎng shì jiàn zhè méi jiā kuī zhǎo lái wèi niàn dài jìn lái de? " qìngjiā zhǐ shì xiào hái yánliú lǎo lǎo xiào dào:“ hǎo méi jiàn shì miànjiàn zhè yuán de huā hǎo jiù méi huó dài liǎo tóu。” qìngjiā biàn xīn xià rán xiǎng :“ cháng tīng guì rén jiā yòu zhǒng chuān jìngzhè bié shì zài jìng tóu 。” shuō shēn shǒu zài kàn shì miàn diāo kōng tán bǎn jiāng jìng qiàn zài zhōng jiānyīn shuō:“ zhè jīng lán zhù zǒu chū ? " miàn shuō miàn zhǐ guǎn yòng shǒu zhè jìng yuán shì yáng kuò kāi liú lǎo lǎo luàn zhī jiān qiǎo biàn zhuàng kāi xiāo yǎn guò jìng chū mén láiliú lǎo lǎo yòu jīng yòu mài chū lái jiàn yòu zuì jīng zhì de chuáng zhàng shí yòu dài liǎo fēn zuìyòu zǒu liǎobiàn zuò zài chuáng shàngzhǐ shuō xiē xiē chéng wàng shēn yóu qián yǎng hòu deméng lóng zhe liǎng yǎn wāi shēn jiù shuì shú zài chuáng shàng
   qiě shuō zhòng rén děng jiànbǎn 'ér jiàn méi liǎo lǎo lǎo de liǎozhòng réndōu xiào dào:“ bié shì diào zài máo liǎokuài jiào rén qiáo qiáo。” yīn mìng liǎng zhǎohuí lái shuō méi yòuzhòng rén chù sōu xún jiàn rén dào :“ shì zuì liǎo liǎo shùn zhe zhè tiáo wǎng men hòu yuàn liǎoruò jìn liǎo huā zhàng dào hòu fáng mén jìn suī rán pèng tóuhái yòu xiǎo tóu men zhī dàoruò jìn huā zhàng zài wǎng nán shàng ruò rào chū hái hǎoruò rào chū gòu rào huí hǎo de qiě qiáo qiáo 。” miàn xiǎng miàn huí láijìn liǎo hóng yuàn biàn jiào rénshuí zhī fáng xiǎo tóu tōu kōng wán liǎo
   rén zhí jìn liǎo fáng ménzhuǎn guò jǐn К jiù tīng de hān léimáng jìn láizhǐ wén jiàn jiǔ chòu mǎn qiáozhǐ jiàn liú lǎo lǎo zhā shǒu jiǎo de yǎng zài chuáng shàng rén zhè jīng xiǎohuāng máng gǎn shàng lái jiāng méi huó de tuī xǐng liú lǎo lǎo jīng xǐngzhēng yǎn jiàn liǎo rénlián máng lái dào:“ niàn shī cuò liǎobìng méi nòng zàng liǎo chuáng zhàng。” miàn shuō miàn yòng shǒu dǎn rén kǒng jīng dòng liǎo rénbèi bǎo zhī dào liǎozhǐ xiàng yáo shǒu jiào shuō huàmáng jiāng dǐng nèi zhù liǎo sān bǎi xiāngréng yòng zhào zhào shàngxiē shōu shí shōu shísuǒ céng 'ǒu máng qiāoqiāo de xiào dào:“ xiāng gānyòu suí chū lái。” liú lǎo lǎo gēn liǎo rénchū zhì xiǎo tóu men fáng zhōngmìng zuò liǎoxiàng shuō dào:“ jiù shuō zuì dǎo zài shān shí shàng liǎo dǔn 'ér。” liú lǎo lǎo dāyìng zhī dàoyòu liǎng wǎn chá chīfāng jué jiǔ xǐng liǎoyīn wèn dào:“ zhè shì xiǎo jiě de xiù fángzhè yàng jīng zhì jiù xiàng dào liǎo tiān gōng de yàng。” rén wēi wēi xiào dào:“ zhè meshì bǎo 'èr de shì。” liú lǎo lǎo xià de gǎn zuò shēng rén dài cóng qián miàn chū jiàn liǎo zhòng rénzhǐ shuō zài cǎo xià shuì zhe liǎodài liǎo lái dezhòng réndōu huì jiù liǎo
   shí jiǎ xǐng liǎojiù zài dào xiāng cūn bǎi wǎn fànjiǎ yīn jué lǎn lǎn de chī fànbiàn zuò liǎo zhú xiǎo chǎng jiàohuí zhì fáng zhōng xiē xué pài · tuán mìng fèng jiě 'ér děng chī fàn mèi fāng jìn yuán láiyào zhī duān de héng héng


  Chia Pao-yue tastes tea in the Lung Ts'ui monastery. Old goody Liu gets drunk and falls asleep in the I Hung court.
   Old goody Liu, so the story goes, exclaimed, while making signs with both hands,
   "The flower dropped and a huge melon formed;"
   to the intense amusement of all the inmates, who burst into a boisterous fit of laughter. In due course, however, she drank the closing cup. Then she made another effort to evoke merriment. "To speak the truth to-day," she smilingly observed, "my hands and my feet are so rough, and I've had so much wine that I must be careful; or else I might, by a slip of the hand, break the porcelain cups. If you have got any wooden cups, you'd better produce them. It wouldn't matter then if even they were to slip out of my hands and drop on the ground!"
   This joke excited some more mirth. But lady Feng, upon hearing this speedily put on a smile. "Well," she said, "if you really want a wooden one, I'll fetch you one at once! But there's just one word I'd like to tell you beforehand. Wooden cups are not like porcelain ones. They go in sets; so you'll have to do the right thing and drink from every cup of the set."
   "I just now simply spoke in jest about those cups in order to induce them to laugh," old goody Liu at these words, mused within herself, "but, who would have thought that she actually has some of the kind. I've often been to the large households of village gentry on a visit, and even been to banquets there and seen both gold cups and silver cups; but never have I beheld any wooden ones about! Ah, of course! They must, I expect, be the wooden bowls used by the young children. Their object must be to inveigle me to have a couple of bowlfuls more than is good for me! But I don't mind it. This wine is, verily, like honey, so if I drink a little more, it won't do me any harm."
   Bringing this train of thought to a close, "Fetch them!" she said aloud. "We'll talk about them by and bye."
   Lady Feng then directed Feng Erh to go and bring the set of ten cups, made of bamboo roots, from the book-case in the front inner room. Upon hearing her orders, Feng Erh was about to go and execute them, when Yuean Yang smilingly interposed. "I know those ten cups of yours," she remarked, "they're small. What's more, a while back you mentioned wooden ones, and if you have bamboo ones brought now, it won't look well; so we'd better get from our place that set of ten large cups, scooped out of whole blocks of aspen roots, and pour the contents of all ten of them down her throat?"
   "Yes, that would be much better," lady Feng smiled.
   The cups were then actually brought by a servant, at the direction of Yuean Yang. At the sight of them, old goody Liu was filled with surprise as well as with admiration. Surprise, as the ten formed one set going in gradation from large to small; the largest being amply of the size of a small basin, the smallest even measuring two of those she held in her hand. Admiration, as they were all alike, engraved, in perfect style, with scenery, trees, and human beings, and bore inscriptions in the 'grass' character as well as the seal of the writer.
   "It will be enough," she consequently shouted with alacrity, "if you give me that small one."
   "There's no one," lady Feng laughingly insinuated, "with the capacity to tackle these! Hence it is that not a soul can pluck up courage enough to use them! But as you, old dame, asked for them, and they were fished out, after ever so much trouble, you're bound to do the proper thing and drink out of each, one after the other."
   Old goody Liu was quite taken aback. "I daren't!" she promptly demurred. "My dear lady, do let me off!"
   Dowager lady Chia, Mrs. Hsueeh and Madame Wang were quite alive to the fact that a person advanced in years as she was could not be gifted with such powers of endurance, and they hastened to smilingly expostulate. "To speak is to speak, and a joke is a joke, but she mayn't take too much," they said; "let her just empty this first cup, and have done."
   "O-mi-to-fu!" ejaculated old goody Liu. "I'll only have a small cupful, and put this huge fellow away, and take it home and drink at my leisure."
   At this remark, the whole company once more gave way to laughter. Yuean Yang had no alternative but to give in and she had to bid a servant fill a large cup full of wine. Old goody Liu laid hold of it with both hands and raised it to her mouth.
   "Gently a bit!" old lady Chia and Mrs. Hsueeh shouted. "Mind you don't choke!"
   Mrs. Hsueeh then told lady Feng to put some viands before her. "Goody Liu!" smiled lady Feng, "tell me the name of anything you fancy, and I'll bring it and feed you."
   "What names can I know?" old goody Liu rejoined. "Everything is good!"
   "Bring some egg-plant and salt-fish for her!" dowager lady Chia suggested with a smile.
   Lady Feng, upon hearing this suggestion, complied with it by catching some egg-plant and salt-fish with two chopsticks and putting them into old goody Liu's mouth. "You people," she smiled, "daily feed on egg-plants; so taste these of ours and see whether they've been nicely prepared or not."
   "Don't be making a fool of me!" old goody Liu answered smilingly. "If egg-plants can have such flavour, we ourselves needn't sow any cereals, but confine ourselves to growing nothing but egg-plants!"
   "They're really egg-plants!" one and all protested. "She's not pulling your leg!"
   Old goody Liu was amazed. "If these be actually egg-plants," she said, "I've uselessly eaten them so long! But, my lady, do give me a few more; I'd like to taste the next mouthful carefully!"
   Lady Feng brought her, in very deed, another lot, and put it in her mouth. Old goody Liu munched for long with particular care. "There is, it's true, something about them of the flavour of egg-plant," she laughingly remarked, "yet they don't quite taste like egg-plants. But tell me how they're cooked, so that I may prepare them in the same way for myself."
   "There's nothing hard about it!" lady Feng answered smiling. "You take the newly cut egg-plants and pare the skin off. All you want then is some fresh meat. You hash it into fine mince, and fry it in chicken fat. Then you take some dry chicken meat, and mix it with mushrooms, new bamboo shoots, sweet mushrooms, dry beancurd paste, flavoured with five spices, and every kind of dry fruits, and you chop the whole lot into fine pieces. You then bake all these things in chicken broth, until it's absorbed, when you fry them, to finish, in sweet oil, and adding some oil, made of the grains of wine, you place them in a porcelain jar, and close it hermetically. At any time that you want any to eat, all you have to do is to take out some, and mix it with some roasted chicken, and there it is all ready."
   Old goody Liu a shook her head and put out her tongue. "My Buddha's ancestor!" she shouted. "One wants about ten chickens to prepare this dish! It isn't strange then that it has this flavour!"
   Saying this, she quietly finished her wine. But still she kept on minutely scrutinizing the cup.
   "Haven't you yet had enough to satisfy you?" lady Feng smiled. "If you haven't, well, then drink another cup."
   "Dreadful!" eagerly exclaimed old goody Liu. "I shall be soon getting so drunk that it will be the very death of me. I was only looking at it as I admire pretty things like this! But what a trouble it must have cost to turn out!"
   "Have you done with your wine?" Yuan Yang laughingly inquired. "But, after all, what kind of wood is this cup made of?"
   "It isn't to be wondered at," old goody Liu smiled, "that you can't make it out Miss! How ever could you people, who live inside golden doors and embroidered apartments, know anything of wood! We have the whole day long the trees in the woods as our neighbours. When weary, we use them as our pillows and go to sleep on them. When exhausted, we sit with our backs leaning against them. When, in years of dearth, we feel the pangs of hunger, we also feed on them. Day after day, we see them with our eyes; day after day we listen to them with our ears; day after day, we talk of them with our mouths. I am therefore well able to tell whether any wood be good or bad, genuine or false. Do let me then see what it is!"
   As she spoke, she intently scanned the cup for a considerable length of time. "Such a family as yours," she then said, "could on no account own mean things! Any wood that is easily procured, wouldn't even find a place in here. This feels so heavy, as I weigh it in my hands, that if it isn't aspen, it must, for a certainty, be yellow cedar."
   Her rejoinder amused every one in the room. But they then perceived an old matron come up. After asking permission of dowager lady Chia to speak: "The young ladies," she said, "have got to the Lotus Fragrance pavilion, and they request your commands, as to whether they should start with the rehearsal at once or tarry a while."
   "I forgot all about them!" old lady Chia promptly cried with a smile. "Tell them to begin rehearsing at once!"
   The matron expressed her obedience and walked away. Presently, became audible the notes of the pan-pipe and double flute, now soft, now loud, and the blended accents of the pipe and fife. So balmy did the breeze happen to be and the weather so fine that the strains of music came wafted across the arbours and over the stream, and, needless to say, conduced to exhilarate their spirits and to cheer their hearts. Unable to resist the temptation, Pao-yue was the first to snatch a decanter and to fill a cup for himself. He quaffed it with one breath. Then pouring another cup, he was about to drain it, when he noticed that Madame Wang too was anxious for a drink, and that she bade a servant bring a warm supply of wine. "With alacrity, Pao-yue crossed over to her, and, presenting his own cup, he applied it to Madame Wang's lips. His mother drank two sips while he held it in his hands, but on the arrival of the warm wine, Pao-yue resumed his seat. Madame Wang laid hold of the warm decanter, and left the table, while the whole party quitted their places at the banquet; and Mrs. Hsueeh too rose to her feet.
   "Take over that decanter from her," dowager lady Chia promptly shouted to Li Wan and lady Feng, "and press your aunt into a seat. We shall all then feel at ease!"
   Hearing this, Madame Wang surrendered the decanter to lady Feng and returned to her seat.
   "Let's all have a couple of cups of wine!" old lady Chia laughingly cried. "It's capital fun to-day!"
   With this proposal, she laid hold of a cup and offered it to Mrs. Hsueeh. Turning also towards Hsiang-yuen and Pao-ch'ai: "You two cousins!" she added, "must also have a cup. Your cousin Lin can't take much wine, but even she mustn't be let off."
   While pressing them, she drained her cup. Hsiang-yuen, Pao-ch'ai and Tai-y ue then had their drink. But about this time old goody Liu caught the strains of music, and, being already under the influence of liquor, her spirits became more and more exuberant, and she began to gesticulate and skip about. Her pranks amused Pao-yue to such a degree that leaving the table, he crossed over to where Tai-yue was seated and observed laughingly: "Just you look at the way old goody Liu is going on!"
   "In days of yore," Tai-yue smiled, "every species of animal commenced to dance the moment the sounds of music broke forth. She's like a buffalo now."
   This simile made her cousins laugh. But shortly the music ceased. "We've all had our wine," Mrs. Hsueeh smilingly proposed, "so let's go and stroll about for a time; we can after that sit down again!"
   Dowager lady Chia herself was at the moment feeling a strong inclination to have a ramble. In due course, therefore, they all left the banquet and went with their old senior, for a walk. Dowager lady Chia, however, longed to take goody Liu along with her to help her dispel her ennui, so promptly seizing the old dame's hand in hers, they threaded their way as far as the trees, which stood facing the hill. After lolling about with her for a few minutes, "What kind of tree is this?" she went on to inquire of her. "What kind of stone is this? What species of flower is that?"
   Old goody Liu gave suitable reply to each of her questions. "Who'd ever have imagined it," she proceeded to tell dowager lady Chia; "not only are the human beings in the city grand, but even the birds are grand. Why, the moment these birds fly into your mansion, they also become beautiful things, and acquire the gift of speech as well!"
   The company could not make out the drift of her observations. "What birds get transformed into beautiful things and become able to speak?" they felt impelled to ask.
   "Those perched on those gold stands, under the verandah, with green plumage and red beaks are parrots. I know them well enough!" Goody Liu replied. "But those old black crows in the cages there have crests like phoenixes! They can talk too!"
   One and all laughed. But not long elapsed before they caught sight of several waiting-maids, who came to invite them to a collation.
   "After the number of cups of wine I've had," old lady Chia said, "I don't feel hungry. But never mind, bring the things here. We can nibble something at our leisure."
   The maids speedily went off and fetched two teapoys; but they also brought a couple of small boxes with partitions. When they came to be opened and to be examined, the contents of each were found to consist of two kinds of viands. In the one, were two sorts of steamed eatables. One of these was a sweet cake, made of lotus powder, scented with sun-flower. The other being rolls with goose fat and fir cone seeds. The second box contained two kinds of fried eatables; one of which was small dumplings, about an inch in size.
   "What stuffing have they put in them?" dowager lady Chia asked.
   "They're with crabs inside," 'hastily rejoined the matrons.
   Their old mistress, at this reply, knitted her eyebrows. "These fat, greasy viands for such a time!" she observed. "Who'll ever eat these things?"
   But finding, when she came to inspect the other kind, that it consisted of small fruits of flour, fashioned in every shape, and fried in butter, she did not fancy these either. She then however pressed Mrs. Hsueeh to have something to eat, but Mrs. Hsueeh merely took a piece of cake, while dowager lady Chia helped herself to a roll; but after tasting a bit, she gave the remaining half to a servant girl.
   Goody Liu saw how beautifully worked those small flour fruits were, made as they were in various colours and designs, and she took, after picking and choosing, one which looked like a peony. "The most ingenious girls in our village could not, even with a pair of scissors, cut out anything like this in paper!" she exclaimed. "I would like to eat it, but I can't make up my mind to! I had better pack up a few and take them home and give them to them as specimens!"
   Her remarks amused every one.
   "When you start for home," dowager lady Chia said, "I'll give you a whole porcelain jar full of them; so you may as well eat these first, while they are hot!"
   The rest of the inmates selected such of the fruits as took their fancy, but after they had helped themselves to one or two, they felt satisfied. Goody Liu, however, had never before touched such delicacies. These were, in addition, made small, dainty, and without the least semblance of clumsiness, so when she and Pan Erh had served themselves to a few of each sort, half the contents of the dish vanished. But what remained of them were then, at the instance of lady Feng, put into two plates, and sent, together with a partition-box, to Wen Kuan and the other singing girls as their share.
   At an unexpected moment, they perceived the nurse come in with Ta Chieh-erh in her arms, and they all induced her to have a romp with them for a time. But while Ta Chieh-erh was holding a large pumelo and amusing herself with it, she casually caught sight of Pan Erh with a 'Buddha's hand.' Ta Chieh would have it. A servant-girl endeavoured to coax (Pan-Erh) to surrender it to her, but Ta Chieh-erh, unable to curb her impatience, burst out crying. It was only after the pumelo had been given to Pan-Erh, and that the 'Buddha's hand' had, by dint of much humouring, been got from Pan Erh and given to her, that she stopped crying.
   Pan Erh had played quite long enough with the 'Buddha's hand,' and had, at the moment, his two hands laden with fruits, which he was in the course of eating. When he suddenly besides saw how scented and round the pumelo was, the idea dawned on him that it was more handy for play, and, using it as a ball, he kicked it along and went off to have some fun, relinquishing at once every thought of the 'Buddha's hand.'
   By this time dowager lady Chia and the other members had had tea, so leading off again goody Liu, they threaded their way to the Lung Ts'ui monastery. Miao Yue hastened to usher them in. On their arrival in the interior of the court, they saw the flowers and trees in luxuriant blossom.
   "Really," smiled old lady Chia, "it's those people, who devote themselves to an ascetic life and have nothing to do, who manage, by constant repairs, to make their places much nicer than those of others!"
   As she spoke, she wended her steps towards the Eastern hall. Miao Yue, with a face beaming with smiles, made way for her to walk in. "We've just been filling ourselves with wines and meats," dowager lady Chia observed, "and with the josses you've got in here, we shall be guilty of profanity. We'd better therefore sit here! But give us some of that good tea of yours; and we'll get off so soon as we have had a cup of it."
   Pao-yue watched Miao Yue's movements intently, when he noticed her lay hold of a small tea-tray, fashioned in the shape of a peony, made of red carved lacquer, and inlaid with designs in gold representing a dragon ensconced in the clouds with the character 'longevity' clasped in its jaws, a tray, which contained a small multicoloured cup with cover, fabricated at the 'Ch'eng' Kiln, and present it to his grandmother.
   "I don't care for 'Liu An' tea!" old lady Chia exclaimed.
   "I know it; but this is old 'Chuen Mei,'" Miao Yue answered with a smile.
   Dowager lady Chia received the cup. "What water is this?" she went on to inquire.
   "It's rain water collected last year;" Miao Yue added by way of reply.
   Old lady Chia readily drank half a cup of the tea; and smiling, she proffered it to goody Liu. "Just you taste this tea!" she said.
   Goody Liu drained the remainder with one draught. "It's good, of course," she remarked laughingly, "but it's rather weak! It would be far better were it brewed a little stronger!"
   Dowager lady Chia and all the inmates laughed. But subsequently, each of them was handed a thin, pure white covered cup, all of the same make, originating from the 'Kuan' kiln. Miao Yue, however, soon gave a tug at Pao-ch'ai's and Tai-yue's lapels, and both quitted the apartment along with her. But Pao-yue too quietly followed at their heels. Spying Miao Yue show his two cousins into a side-room, Pao-ch'ai take a seat in the court, Tai-yue seat herself on Miao Yue's rush mat, and Miao Yue herself approach a stove, fan the fire and boil some water, with which she brewed another pot of tea, Pao-yue walked in. "Are you bent upon drinking your own private tea?" he smiled.
   "Here you rush again to steal our tea," the two girls laughed with one accord. "There's none for you!"
   But just as Miao Yue was going to fetch a cup, she perceived an old taoist matron bring away the tea things, which had been used in the upper rooms. "Don't put that 'Ch'eng' kiln tea-cup by!" Miao Yue hastily shouted. "Go and put it outside!"
   Pao-yue understood that it must be because old goody Liu had drunk out of it that she considered it too dirty to keep. He then saw Miao Yue produce two other cups. The one had an ear on the side. On the bowl itself were engraved in three characters: 'calabash cup,' in the plain 'square' writing. After these, followed a row of small characters in the 'true' style, to the effect that the cup had been an article much treasured by Wang K'ai. Next came a second row of small characters stating: 'that in the course of the fourth moon of the fifth year of Yuan Feng, of the Sung dynasty, Su Shih of Mei Shan had seen it in the 'Secret' palace.
   This cup, Miao Yue filled, and handed to Pao-ch'ai.
   The other cup was, in appearance, as clumsy as it was small; yet on it figured an engraved inscription, consisting of 'spotted rhinoceros cup,' in three 'seal' characters, which bore the semblance of pendent pearls. Miao Yue replenished this cup and gave it to Tai-yue; and taking the green jade cup, which she had, on previous occasions, often used for her own tea, she filled it and presented it to Pao-yue.
   "'The rules observed in the world,' the adage says, 'must be impartial,'" Pao-yue smiled. "But while my two cousins are handling those antique and rare gems, here am I with this coarse object!"
   "Is this a coarse thing?" Miao Yue exclaimed. "Why, I'm making no outrageous statement when I say that I'm inclined to think that it is by no means certain that you could lay your hand upon any such coarse thing as this in your home!"
   "'Do in the country as country people do,' the proverb says," Pao-yue laughingly rejoined. "So when one gets in a place like this of yours, one must naturally look down upon every thing in the way of gold, pearls, jade and precious stones, as coarse rubbish!"
   This sentiment highly delighted Miao Yue. So much so, that producing another capacious cup, carved out of a whole bamboo root, which with its nine curves and ten rings, with twenty knots in each ring, resembled a coiled dragon, "Here," she said with a face beaming with smiles, "there only remains this one! Can you manage this large cup?"
   "I can!" Pao-yue vehemently replied, with high glee.
   "Albeit you have the stomach to tackle all it holds," Miao Yue laughed, "I haven't got so much tea for you to waste! Have you not heard how that the first cup is the 'taste'-cup; the second 'the stupid-thing-for- quenching-one's-thirst,' and the third 'the drink-mule' cup? But were you now to go in for this huge cup, why what more wouldn't that be?"
   At these words, Pao-ch'ai, Tai-yue and Pao-yue simultaneously indulged in laughter. But Miao-yue seized the teapot, and poured well-nigh a whole cupful of tea into the big cup. Pao-yue tasted some carefully, and found it, in real truth, so exceptionally soft and pure that he extolled it with incessant praise.
   "If you've had any tea this time," Miao-Yue pursued with a serious expression about her face, "it's thanks to these two young ladies; for had you come alone, I wouldn't have given you any."
   "I'm well aware of this," Pao-yue laughingly rejoined, "so I too will receive no favour from your hands, but simply express my thanks to these two cousins of mine, and have done!"
   "What you say makes your meaning clear enough!" Miao-yue said, when she heard his reply.
   "Is this rain water from last year?" Tai-yue then inquired.
   "How is it," smiled Miao Yue sardonically, "that a person like you can be such a boor as not to be able to discriminate water, when you taste it? This is snow collected from the plum blossom, five years back, when I was in the P'an Hsiang temple at Hsuean Mu. All I got was that flower jar, green as the devil's face, full, and as I couldn't make up my mind to part with it and drink it, I interred it in the ground, and only opened it this summer. I've had some of it once before, and this is the second time. But how is it you didn't detect it, when you put it to your lips? Has rain water, obtained a year back, ever got such a soft and pure flavour? and how possibly could it be drunk at all?"
   Tai-yue knew perfectly what a curious disposition she naturally had, and she did not think it advisable to start any lengthy discussion with her. Nor did she feel justified to protract her stay, so after sipping her tea, she intimated to Pao-ch'ai her intention to go, and they quitted the apartment.
   Pao-yue gave a forced smile to Miao Yue. "That cup," he said, "is, of course, dirty; but is it not a pity to put it away for no valid reason? To my idea it would be preferable, wouldn't it? to give it to that poor old woman; for were she to sell it, she could have the means of subsistence! What do you say, will it do?"
   Miao Yue listened to his suggestion, and then nodded her head, after some reflection. "Yes, that will be all right!" she answered. "Lucky for her I've never drunk a drop out of that cup, for had I, I would rather have smashed it to atoms than have let her have it! If you want to give it to her, I don't mind a bit about it; but you yourself must hand it to her! Now, be quick and clear it away at once!"
   "Of course; quite so!" Pao-yue continued. "How could you ever go and speak to her? Things would then come to a worse pass. You too would be contaminated! If you give it to me, it will be all right."
   Miao Yue there and then directed some one to fetch it and to give it to Pao-yue. When it was brought, Pao-yue took charge of it. "Wait until we've gone out," he proceeded, "and I'll call a few servant-boys and bid them carry several buckets of water from the stream and wash the floors; eh, shall I?"
   "Yes, that would be better!" Miao Yue smiled. "The only thing is that you must tell them to bring the water, and place it outside the entrance door by the foot of the wall; for they mustn't come in."
   "This goes without saying!" Pao-yue said; and, while replying, he produced the cup from inside his sleeve, and handed it to a young waiting-maid from dowager lady Chia's apartments to hold. "To-morrow," he told her, "give this to goody Liu to take with her, when she starts on her way homewards!"
   By the time he made (the girl) understand the charge he entrusted her with, his old grandmother issued out and was anxious to return home. Miao Yue did not exert herself very much to induce her to prolong her visit; but seeing her as far the main gate, she turned round and bolted the doors. But without devoting any further attention to her, we will now allude to dowager lady Chia.
   She felt thoroughly tired and exhausted. To such a degree, that she desired Madame Wang, Ying Ch'un and her sisters to see that Mrs. Hsueeh had some wine, while she herself retired to the Tao Hsiang village to rest. Lady Feng immediately bade some servants fetch a bamboo chair. On its arrival, dowager lady Chia seated herself in it, and two matrons carried her off hemmed in by lady Feng, Li Wan and a bevy of servant-girls, and matrons. But let us now leave her to herself, without any additional explanations.
   During this while, Mrs. Hsueeh too said good bye and departed. Madame Wang then dismissed Wen Kuan and the other girls, and, distributing the eatables, that had been collected in the partition-boxes, to the servant-maids to go and feast on, she availed herself of the leisure moments to lie off; so reclining as she was, on the couch, which had been occupied by her old relative a few minutes back, she bade a young maid lower the portiere; after which, she asked her to massage her legs.
   "Should our old lady yonder send any message, mind you call me at once," she proceeded to impress on her mind, and, laying herself down, she went to sleep.
   Pao-yue, Hsiang-yuen and the rest watched the servant-girls take the partition-boxes and place them among the rocks, and seat themselves some on boulders, others on the turf-covered ground, some lean against the trees, others squat down besides the pool, and thoroughly enjoy themselves. But in a little time, they also perceived Yuean Yang arrive. Her object in coming was to carry off goody Liu for a stroll, so in a body they followed in their track, with a view of deriving some fun. Shortly, they got under the honorary gateway put up in the additional grounds, reserved for the imperial consort's visits to her parents, and old goody Liu shouted aloud: "Ai-yoh! What! Is there another big temple here!"
   While speaking, she prostrated herself and knocked her head, to the intense amusement of the company, who were quite doubled up with laughter.
   "What are you laughing at?" goody Liu inquired. "I can decipher the characters on this honorary gateway. Over at our place temples of this kind are exceedingly plentiful; and they've all got archways like this! These characters give the name of the temple."
   "Can you make out from those characters what temple this is?" they laughingly asked.
   Goody Liu quickly raised her head, and, pointing at the inscription, "Are'nt these," she said, "the four characters 'Pearly Emperor's Precious Hall?'"
   Everybody laughed. They clapped their hands and applauded. But when about to chaff her again, goody Liu experienced a rumbling noise in her stomach, and vehemently pulling a young servant-girl, and asking her for a couple of sheets of paper, she began immediately to loosen her garments. "It won't do in here!" one and all laughingly shouted out to her, and quickly they directed a matron to lead her away. When they got at the north-east corner, the matron pointed the proper place out to her, and in high spirits she walked off and went to have some rest.
   Goody Liu had taken plenty of wine; she could not too touch yellow wine; she had, what is more, drunk and eaten so many fat things that in the thirst, which supervened, she had emptied several cups of tea; the result was that she unavoidably got looseness of the bowels. She therefore squatted for ever so long before she felt any relief. But on her exit from the private chamber, the wind blew the wine to her head. Besides, being a woman well up in years, she felt, upon suddenly rising from a long squatting position, her eyes grow so dim and her head so giddy that she could not make out the way. She gazed on all four quarters, but the whole place being covered with trees, rockeries, towers, terraces, and houses, she was quite at a loss how to determine her whereabouts, and where each road led to. She had no alternative but to follow a stone road, and to toddle on her way with leisurely step. But when she drew near a building, she could not make out where the door could be. After searching and searching, she accidentally caught sight of a bamboo fence. "Here's another trellis with flat bean plants creeping on it!" Goody Liu communed within herself. While giving way to reflection, she skirted the flower-laden hedge, and discovering a moonlike, cavelike, entrance, she stepped in. Here she discerned, stretching before her eyes a sheet of water, forming a pond, which measured no more than seven or eight feet in breadth. Its banks were paved with slabs of stone. Its jadelike waves flowed in a limpid stream towards the opposite direction. At the upper end, figured a slab of white marble, laid horizontally over the surface. Goody Liu wended her steps over the slab and followed the raised stone-road; then turning two bends, in the lake, an entrance into a house struck her gaze. Forthwith, she crossed the doorway, but her eyes were soon attracted by a young girl, who advanced to greet her with a smile playing upon her lips.
   "The young ladies," goody Liu speedily remarked laughing, "have cast me adrift; they made me knock about, until I found my way in here."
   But seeing, after addressing her, that the girl said nothing by way of reply, goody Liu approached her and seized her by the hand, when, with a crash, she fell against the wooden partition wall and bumped her head so that it felt quite sore. Upon close examination, she discovered that it was a picture. "Do pictures really so bulge out!" Goody Liu mused within herself, and, as she exercised her mind with these cogitations, she scanned it and rubbed her hand over it. It was perfectly even all over. She nodded her head, and heaved a couple of sighs. But the moment she turned round, she espied a small door over which hung a soft portiere, of leek-green colour, bestrewn with embroidered flowers. Goody Liu lifted the portiere and walked in. Upon raising her head, and casting a glance round, she saw the walls, artistically carved in fretwork. On all four sides, lutes, double-edged swords, vases and censers were stuck everywhere over the walls; and embroidered covers and gauze nets, glistened as brightly as gold, and shed a lustre vying with that of pearls. Even the bricks, on the ground, on which she trod, were jadelike green, inlaid with designs, so that her eyes got more and more dazzled. She tried to discover an exit, but where could she find a doorway? On the left, was a bookcase. On the right, a screen. As soon as she repaired behind the screen, she faced a door; but, she then caught sight of another old dame stepping in from outside, and advancing towards her. Goody Liu was wonderstruck. Her mind was full of uncertainty as to whether it might not be her son-in-law's mother. "I expect," she felt prompted to ask with vehemence, "you went to the trouble of coming to hunt for me, as you didn't see me turn up at home for several days, eh? But what young lady introduced you in here?" Then noticing that her whole head was bedecked with flowers, old goody Liu laughed. "How ignorant of the ways of the world you are!" she said. "Seeing the nice flowers in this garden, you at once set to work, forgetful of all consequences, and loaded your pate with them!"
   However, while she derided her, the other old dame simply laughed, without making any rejoinder. But the recollection suddenly flashed to her memory that she had often heard of some kind of cheval-glasses, found in wealthy and well-to-do families, and, "May it not be," (she wondered), "my own self reflected in this glass!" After concluding this train of thoughts, she put out her hands, and feeling it and then minutely scrutinising it, she realised that the four wooden partition walls were made of carved blackwood, into which mirrors had been inserted. "These have so far impeded my progress," she consequently exclaimed, "and how am I to manage to get out?"
   As she soliloquised, she kept on rubbing the mirror. This mirror was, in fact, provided with some western mechanism, which enabled it to open and shut, so while goody Liu inadvertently passed her hands, quite at random over its surface, the pressure happily fell on the right spot, and opening the contrivance, the mirror flung round, exposing a door to view. Old goody Liu was full of amazement as well as of admiration. With hasty step, she egressed. Her eyes unexpectedly fell on a most handsome set of bed-curtains. But being at the time still seven or eight tenths in the wind, and quite tired out from her tramp, she with one jump squatted down on the bed, saying to herself: "I'll just have a little rest." So little, however, did she, contrary to her expectations, have any control over herself, that, as she reeled backwards and forwards, her eyes got quite drowsy, and then the moment she threw herself in a recumbent position, she dropped into a sound sleep.
   But let us now see what the others were up to. They waited for her and waited; but they saw nothing of her. Pan Erh got, in the absence of his grandmother, so distressed that he melted into tears. "May she not have fallen into the place?" one and all laughingly observed. "Be quick and tell some one to go and have a look!"
   Two matrons were directed to go in search of her; but they returned and reported that she was not to be found. The whole party instituted a search in every nook and corner, but nothing could be seen of her.
   "She was so drunk," Hsi Jen suggested, "that she's sure to have lost her way, and following this road, got into our back-rooms. Should she have crossed to the inner side of the hedge, she must have come to the door of the backhouse and got in. Nevertheless, the young maids, she must have come across, must know something about her. If she did not get inside the hedge, but continued in a south westerly direction, she's all right, if she made a detour and walked out. But if she hasn't done so, why, she'll have enough of roaming for a good long while! I had better therefore go and see what she's up to."
   With these words still on her lips, she retraced her footsteps and repaired into the I Hung court. She called out to the servants, but, who would have thought it, the whole bevy of young maids, attached to those rooms, had seized the opportunity to go and have a romp, so Hsi Jen straightway entered the door of the house. As soon as she turned the multicoloured embroidered screen, the sound of snoring as loud as peals of thunder, fell on her ear. Hastily she betook herself inside, but her nostrils were overpowered by the foul air of wine and w..d, which infected the apartment. At a glance, she discovered old goody Liu lying on the bed, face downwards, with hands sprawled out and feet knocking about all over the place. Hsi Jen sustained no small shock. With precipitate hurry, she rushed up to her, and, laying hold of her, lying as she was more dead than alive, she pushed her about until she succeeded in rousing her to her senses. Old goody Liu was startled out of her sleep. She opened wide her eyes, and, realising that Hsi Jen stood before her, she speedily crawled up. "Miss!" she pleaded. "I do deserve death! I have done what I shouldn't; but I haven't in any way soiled the bed."
   So saying, she swept her hands over it. But Hsi Jen was in fear and trembling lest the suspicions of any inmate should be aroused, and lest Pao-yue should come to know of it, so all she did was to wave her hand towards her, bidding her not utter a word. Then with alacrity grasping three or four handfuls of 'Pai Ho' incense, she heaped it on the large tripod, which stood in the centre of the room, and put the lid back again; delighted at the idea that she had not been so upset as to be sick.
   "It doesn't matter!" she quickly rejoined in a low tone of voice with a smile, "I'm here to answer for this. Come along with me!"
   While old goody Liu expressed her readiness to comply with her wishes, she followed Hsi Jen out into the quarters occupied by the young maids. Here (Hsi Jen) desired her to take a seat. "Mind you say," she enjoined her, "that you were so drunk that you stretched on a boulder and had a snooze!"
   "All right! I will!" old goody Liu promised.
   Hsi Jen afterwards helped her to two cups of tea, when she, at length, got over the effects of the wine. "What young lady's room is this that it is so beautiful?" she then inquired. "It seemed to me just as if I had gone to the very heavenly palace."
   Hsi Jen gave a faint smile. "This one?" she asked. "Why, it's our master Secundus', Mr. Pao's bedroom."
   Old goody Liu was quite taken aback, and could not even presume to utter a sound. But Hsi Jen led her out across the front compound; and, when they met the inmates of the family, she simply explained to them that she had found her fast asleep on the grass, and brought her along. No one paid any heed to the excuse she gave, and the subject was dropped.
   Presently, dowager lady Chia awoke, and the evening meal was at once served in the Tao Hsiang Ts'un. Dowager lady Chia was however quite listless, and felt so little inclined to eat anything that she forthwith got into a small open chair, with bamboo seat, and returned to her suite of rooms to rest. But she insisted that lady Feng and her companions should go and have their repast, so the young ladies eventually adjourned once more into the garden.
   But, reader, you do not know the sequel, so peruse the circumstances given in detail in the next chapter.



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【选集】hóng lóu chūn mèng
huí  zhēn shì yǐn mèng huàn shí tōng líng  jiǎ cūn fēng chén huái guī xiù CHAPTER I. 'èr huí  jiǎ rén xiān shì yáng zhōu chéng  lěng xīng yǎn shuō róng guó CHAPTER II.
sān huí jiǎ cūn yín yuán jiù zhí  lín dài pāo jìn jīng CHAPTER III. huí mìng piān féng mìng láng  sēng luàn pàn 'àn CHAPTER IV.
huí yóu huàn jìng zhǐ shí 'èr chāi  yǐn xiān láo yǎn hóng lóu mèng CHAPTER V. liù huí jiǎ bǎo chū shì yún qíng  liú lǎo lǎo jìn róng guó CHAPTER VI.
huí sòng gōng huā jiǎ liǎn fèng  yàn níng bǎo huì qín zhōng CHAPTER VII. huí tōng líng jīn yīng wēi   tàn bǎo chāi dài bàn hán suān CHAPTER VIII.
jiǔ huí liàn fēng liú qíng yǒu jiā shú  xián wán tóng nào xué táng CHAPTER IX. shí huí  jīn guǎ tān quán shòu   zhāng tài lùn bìng qióng yuán CHAPTER X.
shí huí qìng shòu chén níng pái jiā yàn  jiàn fèng jiǎ ruì yín xīn CHAPTER XI. shí 'èr huí  wáng fèng shè xiāng   jiǎ tiān xiáng zhèng zhào fēng yuè jiàn CHAPTER XII.
shí sān huí  qín qīng fēng lóng jìn wèi  wáng fèng xié níng guó CHAPTER XIII. shí huí  lín hǎi juān guǎn yáng zhōu chéng  jiǎ bǎo běi jìng wáng CHAPTER XIV.
shí huí  wáng fèng jiě nòng quán tiě jiàn   qín jīng qīng mán tóu 'ān CHAPTER XV. shí liù huí  jiǎ yuán chūn cái xuǎn fèng zǎo gōng  qín jīng qīng yāo shì huáng quán CHAPTER XVI.
shí huí  guān yuán shì cái duì 'é  róng guó guī shěng qìng yuán xiāo CHAPTER XVII. shí huí  zhū lián miǎn zhōng qín  nuò xiāng guǎn cái yǒng CHAPTER XVIII.
shí jiǔ huí  qíng qiē qiē liáng xiāo huā jiě   mián mián jìng shēng xiāng CHAPTER XIX. 'èr shí huí  wáng fèng zhèng yán dàn   lín dài qiào xuè jiāo yīn CHAPTER XX.
'èr shí huí  xián rén jiāo chēn zhēn bǎo   qiào píng 'ér ruǎn jiù jiǎ liǎn CHAPTER XXI. 'èr shí 'èr huí  tīng wén bǎo chán   zhì dēng jiǎ zhèng bēi chèn CHAPTER XXII.
'èr shí sān huí  xiāng miào tōng   dān tíng yàn jǐng fāng xīn CHAPTER XXIII. 'èr shí huí  zuì jīn gāng qīng cái shàng xiá  chī 'ér xiāng CHAPTER XXIV.
dì   I   [II]   [III]   [IV]   [V]   yè

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