Xue Baoqin's New Poems on Ancient Sites; A Quack Doctor Recklessly Uses Drastic Medicine

When the others heard that Baoqin had taken the ancient sites she had passed through in the various provinces as subjects and written ten quatrains on them, each secretly hinting at some object, they all said this was naturally novel and ingenious. They vied with one another to look, and saw written:

Red Cliff: Poem on an Ancient Site, No. 1

The Red Cliff sank and buried, the water does not flow;
Only names remain, carried on empty boats.
A roaring blaze, the sad wind cold;
Countless heroic souls wander within.

Jiaozhi: Poem on an Ancient Site, No. 2

Bronze cast, golden bells shake order and law;
Their sound spreads overseas to the Rong and Qiang.
Ma Yuan’s merit was great indeed;
No need to speak of Zhang Liang and his iron flute.

Mount Zhong: Poem on an Ancient Site, No. 3

Fame and gain—when did they ever attend you?
For no reason you were summoned out into the dust.
Entanglements are mostly hard to break off;
Do not resent others’ frequent mockery.

Huaiyin: Poem on an Ancient Site, No. 4

A strong man must guard against vicious dogs;
The rank of King of Qi was settled only when the coffin closed.
Tell the world not to despise him lightly:
For one meal’s kindness, he remembered even in death.

Guangling: Poem on an Ancient Site, No. 5

Cicadas shrill, crows roost—in a blink it passes;
How fares the scene on the Sui embankment now?
Only because it won the name of romance
Has it drawn so much gossip and so many tongues.

Peach Leaf Ferry: Poem on an Ancient Site, No. 6

Withered grass and idle flowers reflect in the shallow pool;
Peach branches and peach leaves are always parted.
Of the Six Dynasties’ beams and pillars, so many were like this;
A small portrait hangs empty, inscribed on the wall.

Green Tomb: Poem on an Ancient Site, No. 7

Black waters vast and mute, choking, do not flow;
Ice-cold strings are plucked to the end of sorrow in the tune.
The Han court’s system is truly lamentable;
The worthless trees should blush with eternal shame.

Mawei: Poem on an Ancient Site, No. 8

Lonely, traces of rouge soak into the gleam of sweat;
In a moment tenderness was consigned to the Eastern Ocean.
Only because a trace of romance remained
Does her clothing and coverlet still hold fragrance today.

Puzhou Temple: Poem on an Ancient Site, No. 9

Little Red’s bones are meanest and her body lightest;
Secretly tucked away, secretly carried, forcibly matched.
Though the lady often hangs her up,
She has already seduced him to go with her.

Plum Blossom Monastery: Poem on an Ancient Site, No. 10

Not beside the plum, but beside the willow;
Who within will pick up the portrait of the fair?
Do not recall that Chunxiang will come at reunion;
Once parted in the west wind, another year passes.

When the others had read them, they all exclaimed at their strangeness and excellence. Baochai was the first to speak: “The first eight are all based on history. The last two cannot be verified, and we do not quite understand them. It would be better to write two others instead.” Daiyu quickly stopped her: “Cousin Baochai, you are being too rigid and artificial. These two cannot be verified in the histories, and though we have never read those unofficial tales and do not know the details, can it be that we have never seen even two operas? Even a three-year-old child knows them, let alone us.” Tanchun said, “That is exactly right.” Li Wan added, “Besides, she has actually been to those places. These two stories cannot be verified, but from ancient times to now, errors have been passed down as errors, and busybodies have deliberately invented ancient sites to fool people. For example, when we came to the capital that year, we saw three or four tombs of Lord Guan alone. Lord Guan’s life and deeds are all well documented—how could he have so many tombs? Naturally, later people revered him for what he was in life, and perhaps out of that reverence they contrived these things. When I looked in the Comprehensive Geography, there were not only many tombs of Lord Guan; for many famous people since ancient times there are many tombs, and even more unverifiable ancient sites. Now these two poems cannot be verified, but in storytelling and opera, and even in fortune-telling slips, there are notes and explanations. Old and young, men and women, in common speech and on everyone’s lips, all know and speak of them. Besides, this is not like reading the songs of The Western Chamber or The Peony Pavilion—no one need fear it is a wicked book. There is no harm at all; just keep them.” Hearing this, Baochai let the matter drop. They all guessed for a while, but no one guessed correctly.

Winter days are short. Before they knew it, it was again time for supper in the front, and they all came to eat. Someone reported to Lady Wang: “Xiren’s brother, Hua Zifang, has come. He says his mother is seriously ill and wants to see her daughter. He has come to beg a favor and take Xiren home for a visit.” Lady Wang said, “They are mother and daughter; how could I not allow her to go?” She at once called Xifeng and told her, instructing her to use her own judgment in arranging it.

Xifeng agreed and returned to her room. She told Zhou Rui’s wife to go and tell Xiren the reason. She also instructed Zhou Rui’s wife: “Call one of the married women who goes out with people. You two, plus two little maids, will go with Xiren. Outside, assign four older men to follow the carriage. Get one large carriage for you to ride in, and one small carriage for the maids.” Zhou Rui’s wife agreed and was about to go when Xifeng added, “Xiren is sensible. Tell her this from me: she is to wear a few good-colored clothes and make a big bundle of clothes to take. The bundle wrapper must be a good one, and she must take a good hand-warmer. Before she leaves, tell her to come and see me first.” Zhou Rui’s wife agreed and went.

After a while, Xiren indeed came, dressed and ready, with two maids and Zhou Rui’s wife carrying the hand-warmer and clothes bundle. Xifeng saw that Xiren wore several gold hairpins and pearl bracelets, quite splendid, and that she had on a peach-pink jacket with a hundred-child pattern, lined with silver squirrel, an onion-green padded skirt with coiled-gold and colored embroidery, and outside a black satin jacket with gray squirrel. Xifeng laughed: “These three garments are all your mistress’s. It is good that she rewarded you with them. But this jacket is too plain. It will be cold to wear now; you should wear one with long fur.” Xiren laughed: “My mistress only gave me this gray squirrel one, and another silver squirrel one. She said she would give me a long-fur one at New Year, but I have not got it yet.” Xifeng laughed: “I have a long-fur one. I dislike the fur; it has worn badly, and I was just going to have it altered. Well, let me give it to you to wear for now. When your mistress has one made for you at New Year, I will make another, just as if you had returned mine.” Everyone laughed: “You always talk like that. Year in and year out you secretly make up for your mistress’s shortfalls with your own money. You really cannot say how much you have paid out. How could anyone settle accounts with her? Yet now you talk this stingy talk to tease us.” Xifeng laughed: “How could my mistress think of all these things? After all, this is not a matter of proper business. If I did not look after it, it would reflect on all of us. I may as well suffer a little myself and dress everyone decently. I would rather get a good name. If one of them looked like a burnt roll, people would laugh at me first and say that in running the household I had turned people into beggars.” Hearing this, everyone sighed and said, “Who is as wise as you, Mistress? Above, you are considerate of your mistress; below, you care for the servants.” As she spoke, Xifeng ordered Pinger to bring out the sapphire-blue kesi silk jacket with eight roundels and sky-horse fur that she had worn the day before, and gave it to Xiren. Then she looked at the bundle; there was only one ink-splashed flower-patterned silk wrapper lined with pale red, containing two half-worn padded jackets and a fur jacket. Xifeng ordered Pinger to bring out a jade-colored silk-lined woolen wrapper, and also to wrap up a snow cloak.

Pinger went and brought them out: one was a slightly worn crimson felt cloak, and one was crimson camlet. Xiren said, “One is already too much.” Pinger laughed: “You take the crimson felt one. And bring this one out too and have it sent to Miss Xing. Yesterday, with such heavy snow, everyone had one—either crimson felt or camlet or feathers—more than ten red garments, set off against the snow, so neat. Only she was wearing that old felt cape, which made her look all the more hunched and shrunken, quite pitiable. Now give her this one.” Xifeng laughed: “My things—she gives them away on her own! I have not enough to spend on myself, and now you are at it too—better and better!” Everyone laughed: “This is all because you have always been filial to your mistress and kind to those below you. If you were usually stingy, caring only for things and not for servants, how would the girl dare to do this?” Xifeng laughed: “So the only one who knows my heart, even a little, is her.” Then she again instructed Xiren: “If your mother recovers, well and good. If she is dying, just stay there. Send someone back to tell me, and I will send someone else with bedding for you. Do not use their bedding and toilet things.” She also instructed Zhou Rui’s wife: “You naturally know the rules here; I need not tell you.” Zhou Rui’s wife answered, “We know. When we get there, we will have their people withdraw. If she stays, we will certainly ask for one or two inner rooms.” With that, she went out with Xiren, ordered lanterns to be prepared, and got into the carriage to go to Hua Zifang’s house. Of this no more.

Meanwhile Xifeng called two matrons from Happy Red Court and instructed them: “Xiren probably will not be coming home. You know which of the senior maids are sensible. Assign two of them to keep night watch in Baoyu’s room. You must look after things carefully and not let Baoyu run wild.” The two matrons went. After a while they came back and said, “We have assigned Qingwen and Sheyue to the room. We four were already taking turns supervising the night watch.” Xifeng nodded: “At night urge him to sleep early; in the morning urge him to rise early.” The old matrons agreed and returned to the garden. Soon Zhou Rui’s wife sent word back to Xifeng: “Xiren’s mother has already been laid out. She cannot return.” Xifeng reported this to Lady Wang and sent someone to Grand View Garden to fetch Xiren’s bedding and toilet case.

Baoyu watched as Qingwen and Sheyue packed everything properly and sent it off. Afterward, Qingwen and Sheyue removed their makeup and changed their skirts and jackets. Qingwen sat wrapped on the warming frame. Sheyue laughed: “Don’t play the young lady today. I advise you to move a little.” Qingwen said, “When all of you are gone, I will move soon enough. As long as you are here, I will enjoy myself while I can.” Sheyue laughed: “Good sister, I will make the bed. You lower the cover over the dressing mirror and fasten the catch at the top. You are taller than I am.” As she spoke, she went to make Baoyu’s bed. Qingwen sighed and laughed: “I had just got warm, and you come to bother me.” Baoyu was sitting brooding, wondering whether Xiren’s mother was alive or dead. Hearing Qingwen say this, he got up himself, went out, lowered the mirror cover, fastened the catch, and came back laughing: “You two get warm. It is all done.” Qingwen laughed: “I will never get warm. I just remembered the hot-water bottle has not been brought.” Sheyue said, “How thoughtful of you! She usually does not want a hot-water bottle. The warming frame here is warm, not like the cold kang in that room. We can do without it today.” Baoyu laughed: “That is all very well, but if you two both sleep up there, there will be no one outside by me. I am rather frightened and will not sleep all night.” Qingwen said, “I will be here. Sheyue can sleep on the outside.” As they spoke, it was already the second watch. Sheyue had already let down the curtains, moved the lamp, lit incense, and waited on Baoyu to lie down. The two then slept.

Qingwen stayed on the warming frame, and Sheyue slept outside the warm chamber. After the third watch, Baoyu, in his sleep, called for Xiren. He called twice, and no one answered. He woke up and remembered that Xiren was not at home, and he laughed at himself. Qingwen had already woken and called Sheyue, laughing: “Even I am awake, and you are right beside him and did not know. You are really like a stiff corpse.” Sheyue turned over, yawned, and laughed: “He called Xiren. What has that to do with me?” Then she asked what he wanted. Baoyu wanted tea. Sheyue got up quickly, wearing only a small red silk padded jacket. Baoyu said, “Put on my jacket before you go. Be careful not to catch cold.” Hearing this, Sheyue reached back and put on the sable-lined warm jacket Baoyu wore when he got up at night. She went down, washed her hands in the basin, first poured a cup of warm water and took the large rinsing cup. Baoyu rinsed his mouth. Then she took a teacup from the tea rack, rinsed it with warm water, poured half a cup of tea from the warm pot, and handed it to Baoyu. She rinsed her own mouth and drank half a cup. Qingwen laughed: “Good sister, give me a sip too.” Sheyue laughed: “You are getting more and more shameless.” Qingwen said, “Good妹妹, tomorrow night you do not move, and I will wait on you all night. How is that?” Hearing this, Sheyue had to wait on her to rinse her mouth and poured half a cup of tea for her. Sheyue laughed: “You two do not sleep. Talk a while. I am going out for a walk and will come back.” Qingwen laughed: “There is a ghost outside waiting for you.” Baoyu said, “There is certainly a bright moon outside. We will talk. You just go.” As he spoke, he coughed twice.

Sheyue opened the back door, lifted the felt curtain, and looked. It was indeed a beautiful moonlit night. After she went out, Qingwen wanted to frighten her for fun. Relying on being stronger than the others and not fearing the cold, she did not put on a cloak, but wearing only her small jacket, she tiptoed down from the warming frame and followed her out. Baoyu laughed and urged her: “Mind you catch cold. This is no joke.” Qingwen only waved her hand and went out the door. The moonlight was like water. Suddenly a light breeze blew, and she felt it pierce her skin and bone. Her hair stood on end. She thought to herself, “No wonder people say you must not let wind hit a heated body. This cold is really severe.” She was just about to frighten Sheyue when she heard Baoyu call loudly from inside: “Qingwen has gone out!” Qingwen hurried back in and laughed: “Who would have frightened her to death? You are the one who always fusses like an old woman.” Baoyu laughed: “It is not that I fear she would be frightened. First, it is bad for you to catch cold. Second, if she were caught off guard and screamed, and if she woke the others, they would not say we were playing; they would say Xiren had only been gone one night and already you were seeing ghosts and spirits. Come and tuck in my covers on this side.” Qingwen came over and tucked them in. When she reached in to warm them, Baoyu laughed: “What cold hands! I told you you would catch cold.” He saw that Qingwen’s cheeks were like rouge. He touched them and found them cold too. Baoyu said, “Get into the covers quickly and warm up.” Before he finished, the door creaked, and Sheyue came in laughing nervously: “I got a real fright. In the shadows behind the rockery, I saw something crouching. I was just about to cry out when it turned out to be that big golden pheasant. It saw me and flew into the light, and then I saw it clearly. If I had shouted rashly, it would have stirred everyone up.” As she spoke, she washed her hands and laughed again: “Why did I not see Qingwen go out? She must have gone to frighten me.” Baoyu laughed: “This is not she; she is here warming herself. If I had not called out quickly, she really would have given you a fright.” Qingwen laughed: “I did not even need to frighten her. This little wretch had already frightened herself.” As she spoke, she went back into her own covers. Sheyue said, “Did you really go out dressed so lightly and nimbly, like a performer?” Baoyu laughed: “She certainly did.” Sheyue said, “You cannot even pick a good day to die! If you had stood outside a moment, would your skin not have frozen and cracked?” Then she lifted the copper cover from the brazier, used the ash shovel to bury the charcoal again, put two pieces of plain incense on top, replaced the cover, trimmed the lamp behind the screen, and only then lay down.

Because Qingwen had been cold and then warm again, she sneezed twice. Baoyu sighed: “What did I say? You have caught a chill after all.” Sheyue laughed: “She was complaining she felt unwell this morning and ate nothing all day. Now she still will not take care of herself, and she has to tease people. If she is ill tomorrow, she will have only herself to blame.” Baoyu asked, “Is your head hot?” Qingwen coughed twice and said, “It is nothing. How could I be so delicate?” As she spoke, the chiming clock on the curio shelves in the outer room struck twice. The old matron on night duty in the outer room coughed twice and said, “Girls, go to sleep. Talk tomorrow.” Baoyu then whispered, laughing: “Let us stop talking, or we will make them talk again.” With that, they all slept.

When they rose the next day, Qingwen indeed felt somewhat stuffy in the nose, heavy in voice, and too listless to move. Baoyu said, “Do not make a fuss! If my mistress knows, she will make you move home to rest. Home is all very well, but it is colder there. Better stay here. You lie down in the inner room, and I will have someone call a doctor to come quietly through the back gate and take a look.” Qingwen said, “Even so, you must tell Madam Li. Otherwise, when the doctor comes and people ask, what will be said?” Baoyu found this reasonable and called an old matron: “Go back to Madam Li and say that Qingwen has just caught a slight chill, not a serious illness. Xiren is not at home. If she goes home to rest, there will be even fewer people here. Have a doctor sent for to come quietly through the back gate to look at her. Do not report it to my mistress.” The old matron went. After a while she returned: “Madam Li knows. She says if two doses of medicine cure her, well and good. If not, she had better go out. The weather is bad now. If she infects others, that is a small matter; the young ladies’ health is important.” Qingwen was lying in the warm chamber, coughing. Hearing this, she said angrily, “How could I have plague? Afraid I will infect others! Once I leave here, I hope none of you ever have a headache or fever again as long as you live.” She was about to get up. Baoyu quickly pressed her back and laughed: “Do not be angry. This is her responsibility. She is only afraid that if my mistress knows, she will be blamed. She just said it in passing. You are always quick to anger; now your liver fire is naturally high.”

Just then someone announced the doctor had come. Baoyu went over and hid behind the bookshelf. Two or three old matrons from the back gate brought in a doctor. The maids here all withdrew. Three or four old matrons let down the large red embroidered curtain over the warm chamber, and Qingwen put one hand out from behind it. The doctor saw that on this hand there were two fingernails fully three inches long, still stained bright red from balsam dye. He quickly turned his head away. An old matron hurriedly covered it with a handkerchief. The doctor then felt her pulse. He rose and went to the outer room and said to the matrons: “The young lady’s illness is an external infection with internal stagnation. The weather has been bad lately. It counts as a mild cold. Fortunately, the young lady usually eats little, and the wind-cold is not severe. It is only that her blood and qi were originally weak, and she has caught a little. Two doses of medicine to disperse it will do.” With that, he went out with the women.

By this time Li Wan had already sent word to the people at the back gate and to the maids everywhere to withdraw. The doctor saw only the garden scenery and did not see a single girl. When he left the garden gate, he sat in the duty room of the page boys who guarded the gate and wrote a prescription. The old matron said, “Do not go yet, sir. Our young master is fussy and may have more to say.” The doctor said quickly, “Just now it was not a young lady, but a young gentleman? That room looked exactly like a boudoir, and the curtain was let down. How could it be a young gentleman?” The old matron laughed quietly: “My good sir, no wonder the page boys said a new doctor had been invited today. You really do not know our household. That room belongs to our young master. The person was a maid in his room, a senior maid. What young lady? If it were a young lady’s boudoir and the young lady were ill, would you have been able to go in so easily?” With that, she took the prescription inside.

Baoyu looked at it. It contained perilla, platycodon, saposhnikovia, and schizonepeta, and after that immature bitter orange and ephedra. Baoyu said, “Damned, damned! He treats girls the same as he treats us. How can that do? No matter what internal stagnation she has, how can she tolerate immature bitter orange and ephedra? Who invited him? Send him away quickly! Get a familiar doctor.” The old woman said, “Whether the medicine is good or not, we do not understand. It would be easy enough now to send a page boy to ask Doctor Wang to come. But this doctor was not invited through the steward’s office, and the carriage and horse fee must be paid.” Baoyu said, “How much should we give him?” The woman said, “It would not look good to give too little. It must be one tael of silver to be proper for a house like ours.” Baoyu said, “How much do you give Doctor Wang when he comes?” The woman laughed: “When Doctor Wang and Doctor Zhang usually come, they are not paid. We only send a large gift at the four festivals; that is the fixed annual practice. This man has come once as a newcomer, so he must be given one tael.” Hearing this, Baoyu told Sheyue to fetch silver. Sheyue said, “Mistress Hua may not know where it is kept.” Baoyu said, “I often see her take money from the mother-of-pearl cabinet. I will look with you.” So the two went to the room where Baoyu kept things, opened the mother-of-pearl cabinet. The upper shelf held brushes, ink, fans, incense cakes, purses of various colors, sashes, and such things. The lower shelf had several strings of cash. They opened a drawer and saw a small winnowing basket with several pieces of silver and a small steelyard. Sheyue took a piece of silver and lifted the steelyard, asking Baoyu, “Which is the one-tael mark?” Baoyu laughed: “You ask me? How funny. You have become a newcomer.” Sheyue laughed too and wanted to ask someone else. Baoyu said, “Just pick a large piece and give it to her. We are not doing business. Why calculate?” Hearing this, Sheyue put down the steelyard, picked a piece, weighed it in her hand, and laughed: “This piece is probably one tael. Better too much than too little. Otherwise that poor fellow will laugh at us, not saying we do not know the steelyard, but saying we are stingy.” The old woman stood outside on the step and laughed: “That is half of a five-tael ingot. This piece is at least two taels. We have no shears now. Girl, put this piece away and pick a smaller one.” Sheyue had already closed the cabinet and came out, laughing: “Who is going to look again? If there is extra, take it.” Baoyu said, “Just hurry and tell Mingyan to ask Doctor Wang to come.” The old woman took the silver and went to arrange it.

Soon Mingyan indeed brought Doctor Wang. After feeling the pulse, he described the illness much as the other had, but in his prescription there was no immature bitter orange or ephedra. Instead there were angelica, tangerine peel, white peony, and others, and the amounts were somewhat reduced. Baoyu was delighted: “This is the right medicine for girls. Even if it disperses, it must not be too strong. Last year when I was ill, it was typhoid with internal food stagnation. He examined me and still said I could not tolerate drastic medicines like ephedra, gypsum, and immature bitter orange. Compared with you, I am like an old poplar that has grown for decades in a wild graveyard, and you are like the white crab-apple blossom Jia Yun brought me in autumn, just then opening. If even I cannot tolerate certain medicines, how can you?” Sheyue and the others laughed: “Are there only poplars in a wild graveyard? Are there no pines and cypresses? I dislike poplars most. Such a big, clumsy tree, with only a few leaves, and even without a breath of wind it rattles. You compare yourself to it—that is too vulgar.” Baoyu laughed: “I dare not compare myself to pine and cypress. Even Confucius said, ‘Only when the year turns cold do we know that pine and cypress are the last to wither.’ So these two are lofty and elegant. Only someone shameless would compare himself to them.”

As he spoke, the old woman brought the medicine. Baoyu ordered the silver pot for decocting medicine to be found and put on the brazier. Qingwen said, “It would be better to have it decocted in the tea room. If the medicine smell gets into this room, how can we stand it?” Baoyu said, “The smell of medicine is more elegant than all flower and fruit scents. Immortals gather and refine medicine; lofty recluses gather and prepare medicine. It is the finest thing. I was just thinking this room has everything except the scent of medicine. Now it is complete.” As he spoke, he had already ordered it put on to simmer. He also told Sheyue to prepare some things and send an old matron to see Xiren and urge her not to cry too much. When all was arranged, he went to the front to pay his respects and eat with Grandmother Jia and Lady Wang.

Just then Xifeng was discussing with Grandmother Jia and Lady Wang: “The days are short and cold. It would be better if from now on our elder sister-in-law took the young ladies and ate in the garden. When the days are longer and warmer, it will be no trouble to go back and forth again.” Lady Wang laughed: “That is a good idea. Wind and snow make it convenient. It is not good to eat and then catch cold, or to come empty-stomached and fill up on cold wind. Better use the five large rooms inside the back garden gate. There are women on night duty there anyway. Pick two women cooks and have them prepare meals just for the sisters. Fresh vegetables are supplied by regular allowance; draw them from the steward’s office, or ask for money or goods. As for pheasant, river deer, roe deer, and other game, just give them a share.” Grandmother Jia said, “I was thinking the same, but I feared adding another kitchen would make more trouble.” Xifeng said, “It is not much trouble. The allowance is the same; what is added here is subtracted there. Even if it costs a little more effort, the young ladies should not be exposed to cold wind. Others may be able to stand it, but how can Cousin Lin? Even Cousin Bao cannot stand it, let alone the other young ladies.” Grandmother Jia said, “That is exactly what I mean. Last time I wanted to mention it, but I saw you had too many important matters. Now these things have come up besides…”