A Resentful Heart Takes Offense; Faithful Maid Unwittingly Meets a Pair of Lovers

Jia Zheng returned to the capital. All his official business was finished, and the emperor granted him a month’s leave to rest at home. He was growing older, and his health was not what it had been. After several years of official service away from home, with partings of flesh and blood, he was delighted to have the family reunited in the mansion. He no longer concerned himself with household affairs, but read quietly; when weary, he played chess and drank with his retainers, and in the daytime he went into the inner quarters to enjoy the happiness of family life with his mother, wife, and children. This year the third day of the eighth month was the old lady’s eightieth birthday. With so many friends and relatives coming and going, they feared the banquet halls would not be large enough. Jia Zheng had early discussed it with Jia She, Jia Zhen, and Jia Lian: from the twenty-eighth of the seventh month to the fifth of the eighth month, the Rong and Ning Mansions would feast at the same time. The Ning Mansion would entertain male guests; the Rong Mansion would......