One day after lunch — it was round about the Midwash of the third month, as our forefathers, who measured the passage of time by their infrequent ablutions, were wont to say - Bao-yu set off for Drenched Blossoms Weir with the volumes of Western Chamber under his arm, and sitting down on a rock underneath the peach-tree which grew there beside the bridge, he took up the first volume and began, very attentively, to read the play. He had just reached the line
The red flowers in their hosts are falling
when a little gust of wind blew over and a shower of petals suddenly rained down from the tree above, covering his clothes, his book and all the ground about him. He did not like to shake them off for fear they got trodden underfoot, so collecting as many of them as he could in the lap of his gown, he carried them to the water’s edge and shook them in. The petals bobbed and circled for a while on the surface of the water before finally disappearing over the weir. When he got back he found that a lot more of them had fallen while he was away. As he hesitated, a voice behind him said,
‘What are you doing here?’
He looked round and saw that it was Dai-yu. She was carrying a garden hoe with a muslin bag hanging from the end of it on her shoulder and a garden broom in her hand.
‘You’ve come just at the right moment,’ said Bao-yu, smiling at her. ‘Here, sweep these petals up and tip them in the water for me! I’ve just tipped one lot in myself.’
‘It isn’t a good idea to tip them in the water,’ said Dai-yu. ‘The water you see here is clean, but farther on beyond the weir, where it flows past people’s houses, there are all sorts of muck and impurity, and in the end they get spoiled just the same. In that corner over there I’ve got a grave for the flowers, and what I’m doing now is sweeping them up and putting them in this silk bag to bury them there, so that they can gradually turn back into earth. Isn’t that a cleaner way of disposing of them?’
Bao-yu was full of admiration for this idea.
‘Just let me put this book somewhere and I’ll give you a hand.’
‘What book?’ said Dai-yu.
‘Oh... The Doctrine of the Mean and The Greater Learning,’ he said, hastily concealing it.
‘Don’t try to fool me!’ said Dai-yu. ‘You would have done much better to let me look at it in the first place, instead of hiding it so guiltily.’
‘In your case, coz, I have nothing to be afraid of,’ said Bao-yu; ‘but if I do let you look, you must promise not to tell anyone. It’s marvellous stuff. Once you start reading it, you’ll even stop wanting to eat!’
He handed the book to her, and Dai-yu put down her things and looked. The more she read, the more she liked it, and before very long she had read several acts. She felt the power of the words and their lingering fragrance. Long after she had finished reading, when she had laid down the book and was sitting there rapt and silent, the lines continued to ring on in her head.
‘Well,’ said Bao-yu, ‘is it good?’
Dai-yu smiled and nodded.
Bao-yu laughed:
‘How can I, full of sickness and of woe,
Withstand that face which kingdoms could o’erthrow?’
Dai-yu reddened to the tips of her ears. The eyebrows that seemed to frown yet somehow didn’t were raised now in anger and the lovely eyes flashed. There was rage in her crimson cheeks and resentment in all her looks.
‘You’re hateful!’ - she pointed a finger at him in angry accusal — ‘deliberately using that horrid play to take advantage of me. I’m going straight off to tell Uncle and Aunt!’
At the words ‘take advantage of me’ her eyes filled with tears, and as she finished speaking she turned from him and began to go. Bao-yu rushed after her and held her back:
‘Please, please forgive me! Dearest coz! If I had the slightest intention of taking advantage of you, may I fall into the water and be eaten up by an old bald-headed turtle! When you have become a great lady and gone at last to your final resting-place, I shall become the stone turtle that stands in front of your grave and spend the rest of eternity carrying your tombstone on my back as a punishment!’
His ridiculous declamation provoked a sudden explosion of mirth. She laughed and simultaneously wiped the tears away with her knuckles:
‘Look at you - the same as ever! Scared as anything, but you still have to go on talking nonsense. Well, I know you now for what you are:
“Of silver spear the leaden counterfeit”!’
‘Well! You can talk!’ said Bao-yu laughing. ‘Listen to you! Now I’m going off to tell on you!’
‘You needn’t imagine you’re the only one with a good memory,’ said Dai-yu haughtily. ‘I suppose I’m allowed to remember lines too if I like.’
Bao-yu took back the book from her with a good-natured laugh:
‘Never mind about all that now! Let’s get on with this flower-burying!’
And the two of them set about sweeping together the fallen flower-petals and putting them into the bag. They had just finished burying it when Aroma came hurrying up to them:
‘So there you are! I’ve been looking for you everywhere. Your Uncle She isn’t well and the young ladies have all gone over to visit him. Her Old Ladyship says you are to go as well. You’d better come back straight away and get changed!’
Bao-yu picked up his book, took leave of Dai-yu, and accompanied Aroma back to his room.
And there, for the moment, we shall leave him.
那日正當三月中浣，早飯後，寶玉攜了一套《會真記》，走到沁芳閘橋那邊桃花底下一塊石上坐著，展開《會真記》，從頭細看。正看到“落紅成陣”，隻見一陣風過，樹上桃花吹下一大鬥來，落得滿身滿書滿地皆是花片。寶玉要抖將不來，恐怕腳步踐踏了，隻得兜了那花瓣兒，來至池邊，抖在池內。那花瓣兒浮在水麵，飄飄蕩蕩，竟流出沁芳閘去了。回來隻見地下還有許多花瓣。寶玉正踟躕間，隻聽背後有人說道：“你在這裏做什麽？”寶玉一回頭，卻是黛玉來了，肩上擔著花鋤，花鋤上掛著紗囊，手內拿著花帚。寶玉笑道：“來的正好，你把這些花瓣兒都掃起來，撂在那水裏去罷。我才撂了好些在那裏了。”黛玉道：“撂在水裏不好，你看這裏的水幹淨，隻一流出去，有人家的地方兒什麽沒有?仍舊把花遭塌了。那畸角兒上我有一個花塚，如今把他掃了，裝在這絹袋裏，埋在那裏；日久隨土化了，豈不幹淨。”
寶玉聽了，喜不自禁，笑道：“待我放下書，幫你來收拾。”黛玉道：“什麽書？”寶玉見問，慌的藏了，便說道：“不過是《中庸》《大學》。”黛玉道：“你又在我跟前弄鬼。趁早兒給我瞧瞧，好多著呢！”寶玉道：“妹妹，要論你我是不怕的，你看了好歹別告訴人。真是好文章!你要看了，連飯也不想吃呢！”一麵說，一麵遞過去。黛玉把花具放下，接書來瞧，從頭看去，越看越愛，不頓飯時，已看了好幾出了。但覺詞句警人，餘香滿口。一麵看了，隻管出神，心內還默默記誦。寶玉笑道：“妹妹，你說好不好？”黛玉笑著點頭兒。寶玉笑道：“我就是個‘多愁多病的身’，你就是那‘傾國傾城的貌’。”黛玉聽了，不覺帶腮連耳的通紅了，登時豎起兩道似蹙非蹙的眉，瞪了一雙似睜非睜的眼，桃腮帶怒，薄麵含嗔，指著寶玉道：“你這該死的，胡說了!好好兒的，把這些淫詞豔曲弄了來，說這些混帳話，欺負我。我告訴舅舅、舅母去！”說到“欺負”二字，就把眼圈兒紅了，轉身就走。寶玉急了，忙向前攔住道：“好妹妹，千萬饒我這一遭兒罷!要有心欺負你，明兒我掉在池子裏，叫個癩頭黿吃了去，變個大忘八，等你明兒做了‘一品夫人’病老歸西的時候兒，我往你墳上替你駝一輩子碑去。”說的黛玉“撲嗤”的一聲笑了，一麵揉著眼，一麵笑道：“一般唬的這麽個樣兒，還隻管胡說。呸!原來也是個‘銀樣蠟槍頭’。”寶玉聽了，笑道：“你說說，你這個呢?我也告訴去。”黛玉笑道：“你說你會‘過目成誦’，難道我就不能‘一目十行’了？”寶玉一麵收書，一麵笑道：“正經快把花兒埋了罷，別提那些個了。”二人便收拾落花。
正才掩埋妥協，隻見襲人走來，說道：“那裏沒找到?摸在這裏來了!那邊大老爺身上不好，姑娘們都過去請安去了，老太太叫打發你去呢。快回去換衣裳罷。”寶玉聽了，忙拿了書，別了黛玉，同襲人回房換衣不提。
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