As Dai-yu entered the room she saw a silver-haired old lady advancing to meet her, supported on either side by a servant. She knew that this must be her Grandmother Jia and would have fallen on her knees and made her kotow, but before she could do so her grandmother had caught her in her arms and pressing her to her bosom with cries of ‘My pet!’ and ‘My poor lamb!’ burst into loud sobs, while all those present wept in sympathy, and Dai-yu felt herself crying as though she could never stop. It was some time before those present succeeded in calming them both down and Dai-yu was at last able to make her kotow.
Grandmother Jia now introduced those present.
‘This is your elder uncle’s wife, Aunt Xing. This is your Uncle Zheng’s wife, Aunt Wang. This is Li Wan, the wife of your Cousin Zhu, who died.’
Dai-yu kowtowed to each of them in turn.
‘Call the girls!’ said Grandmother Jia. ‘Tell them that we have a very special visitor and that they need not do their lessons today.’
There was a cry of ‘Yes ma’am’ from the assembled maids, and two of them went off to do her bidding.
Presently three girls arrived, attended by three nurses and five or six maids.
The first girl was of medium height and slightly plumpish, with cheeks as white and firm as a fresh lychee and a nose as white and shiny as soap made from the white goose-fat. She had a gentle, sweet, reserved manner. To look at her was to love her.
The second girl was rather tall, with sloping shoulders and a slender waist. She had an oval face under whose well-formed brows large, expressive eyes shot out glances that sparkled with animation. To look at her was to forget all that was mean or vulgar.
The third girl was undersized and her looks were still somewhat babyish and unformed.
All three were dressed in identical skirts and dresses and wore identical sets of bracelets and hair ornaments.
Dai-yu rose to meet them and exchanged curtseys and introductions. When she was seated once more, a maid served tea, and a conversation began on the subject of her mother: how her illness had started, what doctors had been called in, what medicines prescribed, what arrangements had been made for the funeral, and how the mourning had been observed. This conversation had the foreseeable effect of upsetting the old lady all over again.
‘Of all my girls your mother was the one I loved the best,’ she said, ‘and now she’s been the first to go, and without my even being able to see her again before the end. I can’t help being upset!’ And holding fast to Dai-yu’s hand, she once more burst into tears. The rest of the company did their best to comfort her, until at last she had more or less recovered
Everyone’s attention now centred on Dai-yu. They observed that although she was still young, her speech and manner already showed unusual refinement. They also noticed the frail body which seemed scarcely strong enough to bear the weight of its clothes, but which yet had an inexpressible grace about it, and realizing that she must be suffering from some deficiency, asked her what medicine she took for it and why it was still not better.
‘I have always been like this,’ said Dai-yu. ‘I have been taking medicine ever since I could eat and been looked at by ever so many well-known doctors, but it has never done me any good. Once, when I was only three, I can remember a scabby-headed old monk came and said he wanted to take me away and have me brought up as a nun; but of course, Mother and Father wouldn’t hear of it. So he said, “Since you are not prepared to give her up, I am afraid her illness will never get better as long as she lives. The only way it might get better would be if she were never to hear the sound of weeping from this day onwards and never to see any relations other than her own mother and father. Only in those conditions could she get through her life without trouble.” Of course, he was quite crazy, and no one took any notice of the things he said. I’m still taking Ginseng Tonic Pills.’
‘Well, that’s handy,’ said Grandmother Jia. ‘I take the Pills myself. We can easily tell them to make up a few more each time.’
She had scarcely finished speaking when someone could be heard talking and laughing in a very loud voice in the inner courtyard behind them.
‘Oh dear! I’m late,’ said the voice. ‘I’ve missed the arrival of our guest.’
‘Everyone else around here seems to go about with bated breath,’ thought Dai-yu. ‘Who can this new arrival be who is so brash and unmannerly?’
Even as she wondered, a beautiful young woman entered from the room behind the one they were sitting in, surrounded by a bevy of serving women and maids. She was dressed quite differently from the others present, gleaming like some fairy princess with sparkling jewels and gay embroideries.
Her chignon was enclosed in a circlet of gold filigree and clustered pearls. It was fastened with a pin embellished with flying phoenixes, from whose beaks pearls were suspended on tiny chains.
Her necklet was of red gold in the form of a coiling dragon. Her dress had a fitted bodice and was made of dark red silk damask with a pattern of flowers and butterflies in raised gold thread.
Her jacket was lined with ermine. It was of a slate-blue stuff with woven insets in coloured silks.
Her under-skirt was of a turquoise-coloured imported silk crêpe embroidered with flowers.
She had, moreover,
eyes like a painted phoenix,
eyebrows like willow-eaves,
a slender form,
seductive grace;
the ever-smiling summer face
of hidden thunders showed no trace;
the ever-bubbling laughter started
almost before the lips were parted.
‘You don’t know her,’ said Grandmother Jia merrily. ‘She’s a holy terror this one. What we used to call in Nanking a “peppercorn”. You just call her “Peppercorn Feng”. She’ll know who you mean!’
Dai-yu was at a loss to know how she was to address this Peppercorn Feng until one of the cousins whispered that it was ‘Cousin Lian’s wife’, and she remembered having heard her mother say that her elder uncle, Uncle She, had a son called Jia Lian who was married to the niece of her Uncle Zheng’s wife, Lady Wang. She had been brought up from earliest childhood just like a boy, and had acquired in the schoolroom the somewhat boyish-sounding name of Wang Xi-feng. Dai-yu accordingly smiled and curtseyed, greeting her by her correct name as she did so.
Xi-feng took Dai-yu by the hand and for a few moments scrutinized her carefully from top to toe before conducting her back to her seat beside Grandmother Jia.
‘She’s a beauty, Grannie dear! If I hadn’t set eyes on her today, I shouldn’t have believed that such a beautiful creature could exist! And everything about her so distingué! She doesn’t take after your side of the family, Grannie. She’s more like a Jia. I don’t blame you for having gone on so about her during the past few days—but poor little thing! What a cruel fate to have lost Auntie like that!’ and she dabbed at her eyes with a handkerchief.
‘I’ve only just recovered,’ laughed Grandmother Jia. ‘Don’t you go trying to start me off again! Besides, your little cousin is not very strong, and we’ve only just managed to get her cheered up. So let’s have no more of this!’
In obedience to the command Xi-feng at once exchanged her grief for merriment.
‘Yes，of course. It was just that seeing my little cousin here put everything else out of my mind. It made me want to laugh and cry all at the same time. I’m afraid I quite forgot about you, Grannie dear. I deserve to be spanked, don’t I?’
She grabbed Dai-yu by the hand.
‘How old are you dear? Have you begun school yet? You mustn’t feel home sick here. If there’s anything you want to eat or anything you want to play with, just come and tell me. And you must tell me if any of the maids or the old nannies are nasty to you.’
Dai-yu made appropriate responses to all of these questions and injunctions.
Xi-feng turned to the servants.
‘Have Miss Lin’s things been brought in yet? How many people did she bring with her? You’d better hurry up and get a couple of rooms swept out for them to rest in.’
While Xi-feng was speaking, the servants brought in tea and various plates of food, the distribution of which she proceeded to supervise in person.
Dai-yu noticed her Aunt Wang questioning Xi-feng on the side:
‘Have this month’s allowances been paid out yet?’
‘Yes. By the way, just now I went with some of the women to the upstairs storeroom at the back to look for that satin. We looked and looked, but we couldn’t find any like the one you described yesterday. Perhaps you misremembered.’
‘Oh well, if you can’t find it, it doesn’t really matter,’ said Lady Wang. Then, after a moment’s reflection, ‘You’d better pick out a couple of lengths presently to have made up into clothes for your little cousin here. If you think of it, send someone round in the evening to fetch them!’
‘It’s already been seen to. I knew she was going to arrive within a day or two, so I had some brought out in readiness. They are waiting back at your place for your approval. If you think they are all right, they can be sent over straight away.’
Lady Wang merely smiled and nodded her head without saying anything.
The tea things and dishes were now cleared away, and Grandmother Jia ordered two old nurses to take Dai-yu round to see her uncles; but Uncle She’s wife, Lady Xing, hurriedly rose to her feet and suggested that it would be more convenient if she were to take her niece round herself.
‘Very well,’ said Grandmother Jia. ‘You go now, then. There is no need for you to come back afterwards.’
So having, together with Lady Wang, who was also returning to her quarters, taken leave of the old lady, Lady Xing went off with Dai-yu, attended across the courtyard as far as the covered way by the rest of the company.
黛玉方進房，隻見兩個人扶著一位鬢發如銀的老母迎上來。黛玉知是外祖母
了，正欲下拜，早被外祖母抱住，摟入懷中，“心肝兒肉”叫著大哭起來。當下侍
立之人無不下淚，黛玉也哭個不休。眾人慢慢解勸，那黛玉方拜見了外祖母。賈母
方一一指與黛玉道：“這是你大舅母。這是二舅母。這是你先前珠大哥的媳婦珠大
嫂子。”黛玉一一拜見。賈母又叫：“請姑娘們。今日遠客來了，可以不必上學去。”
眾人答應了一聲，便去了兩個。不一時，隻見三個奶媽並五六個丫鬟，擁著三位姑
娘來了。第一個肌膚微豐，身材合中，腮凝新荔，鼻膩鵝脂，溫柔沉默，觀之可親。
第二個削肩細腰，長挑身材，鴨蛋臉兒，俊眼修眉，顧盼神飛，文彩精華，見之忘
俗。第三個身量未足，形容尚小。其釵環裙襖，三人皆是一樣的妝束。黛玉忙起身
迎上來見禮，互相廝認，歸了坐位。丫鬟送上茶來。不過敘些黛玉之母如何得病，
如何請醫服藥，如何送死發喪。不免賈母又傷感起來，因說：“我這些女孩兒，所
疼的獨有你母親。今一旦先我而亡，不得見麵，怎不傷心！”說著攜了黛玉的手又
哭起來。眾人都忙相勸慰，方略略止住。
眾人見黛玉年紀雖小，其舉止言談不俗，身體麵貌雖弱不勝衣，卻有一段風流
態度，便知他有不足之症。因問：“常服何藥?為何不治好了？”黛玉道：“我自
來如此，從會吃飯時便吃藥，到如今了，經過多少名醫，總未見效。那一年我才三
歲，記得來了一個癩頭和尚，說要化我去出家。我父母自是不從，他又說：‘既舍
不得他，但隻怕他的病一生也不能好的!若要好時，除非從此以後總不許見哭聲，
除父母之外，凡有外親一概不見，方可平安了此一生。’這和尚瘋瘋癲癲說了這些
不經之談，也沒人理他。如今還是吃人參養榮丸。”賈母道：“這正好，我這裏正
配丸藥呢，叫他們多配一料就是了。”
一語未完，隻聽後院中有笑語聲，說：“我來遲了，沒得迎接遠客！”黛玉思
忖道：“這些人個個皆斂聲屏氣如此，這來者是誰，這樣放誕無禮？”心下想時，
隻見一群媳婦丫鬟擁著一個麗人從後房進來。這個人打扮與姑娘們不同，彩繡輝
煌，恍若神妃仙子。頭上戴著金絲八寶攢珠髻，綰著朝陽五鳳掛珠釵，項上戴著赤
金盤螭纓絡圈，身上穿著縷金百蝶穿花大紅雲緞窄?襖，外罩五彩刻絲石青銀鼠
褂，下著翡翠撒花洋縐裙。一雙丹鳳三角眼，兩彎柳葉掉梢眉，身量苗條，體格風
騷，粉麵含春威不露，丹唇未啟笑先聞。黛玉連忙起身接見。賈母笑道：“你不認
得他：他是我們這裏有名的一個潑辣貨，南京所謂‘辣子’，你隻叫他‘鳳辣子’
就是了。”黛玉正不知以何稱呼，眾姊妹都忙告訴黛玉道：“這是璉二嫂子。”黛
玉雖不曾識麵，聽見他母親說過：大舅賈赦之子賈璉，娶的就是二舅母王氏的內侄
女；自幼假充男兒教養，學名叫做王熙鳳。黛玉忙陪笑見禮，以“嫂”呼之。
這熙鳳攜著黛玉的手，上下細細打量一回，便仍送至賈母身邊坐下，因笑道：
“天下真有這樣標致人兒!我今日才算看見了!況且這通身的氣派竟不像老祖宗的
外孫女兒，竟是嫡親的孫女兒似的，怨不得老祖宗天天嘴裏心裏放不下。隻可憐我
這妹妹這麽命苦，怎麽姑媽偏就去世了呢！”說著便用帕拭淚。賈母笑道：“我才
好了，你又來招我。你妹妹遠路才來，身子又弱，也才勸住了，快別再提了。”熙
鳳聽了，忙轉悲為喜道：“正是呢!我一見了妹妹，一心都在他身上，又是喜歡，
又是傷心，竟忘了老祖宗了，該打，該打！”又忙拉著黛玉的手問道：“妹妹幾歲
了?可也上過學?現吃什麽藥?在這裏別想家，要什麽吃的、什麽玩的，隻管告訴我。
丫頭老婆們不好，也隻管告訴我。”黛玉一一答應。一麵熙鳳又問人：“林姑娘的
東西可搬進來了?帶了幾個人來?你們趕早打掃兩間屋子，叫他們歇歇兒去。”說話
時已擺了果茶上來，熙鳳親自布讓。又見二舅母問他：“月錢放完了沒有？”熙鳳
道：“放完了。剛才帶了人到後樓上找緞子，找了半日也沒見昨兒太太說的那個。
想必太太記錯了。”王夫人道：“有沒有，什麽要緊。”因又說道：“該隨手拿出
兩個來給你這妹妹裁衣裳啊。等晚上想著再叫人去拿罷。”熙鳳道：“我倒先料著
了。知道妹妹這兩日必到，我已經預備下了，等太太回去過了目，好送來。”王夫
人一笑，點頭不語。
當下茶果已撤，賈母命兩個老嬤嬤帶黛玉去見兩個舅舅去。維時賈赦之妻邢氏
忙起身笑回道：“我帶了外甥女兒過去，到底便宜些。”賈母笑道：“正是呢。你
也去罷，不必過來了。”那邢夫人答應了，遂帶著黛玉和王夫人作辭，大家送至穿
堂。
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