[Chapter Summary]
The Lady of the Liu family, Liu Yanyu, tried to save the young master Huangfu Shaohua from her half-brother’s scheme. Furthermore, she proposed to be his concubine to prove her words’ reliability. The young master consented and gave her his folded fan, and the commandery mistress gave him her handkerchief.
The young master did not go back to the garden of the Liu mansion but to the nearby temple, where the monks had known he would come and welcomed him. Later, the servant Jiang Jinxi set the fire, and the whole Xiaochun Courtyard was burnt into ruins. Although no dead body was found in the wreck, the Huangfu family and the Meng family were devastated by the news. Huangfu Shaohua’s father, Huangfu Jing, rushed to the Liu mansion to investigate the incident, and he interrogated Jiang Jinxi. Fortunately, he found out that his son was still alive, and the good news came as a relief to both the Huangfu and the Meng family.
The poem goes:
The unfaithful daughter of the royal family
Saving the young master for the right reason
With the help of nurse Jiang
She finally won the promise from the brilliant young man
Suddenly there was a tinkling of the curtain hook outside the hall
The silhouette of a person flashed in front of the red pane window
Almost age of fifty, she was half an old lady
Salt and pepper hair, a sincere and wrinkled face
Hair1 pulled into a hollow bun
She wore a tawny dress with black trim
Looking back in the hall, she called:
“My dear lady, please come quickly into the Xiaochun Courtyard”
Without finishing her words, the curtain hook clinked again
A girl in the flower of her youth with the beauty of jade came gently in
So, how did she look?
Ebony hair adorned with jewels and gold hairpins
An emerald phoenix pressed against her temple with a pearl tassel in its mouth
Her face pink as the most delicate flower in bloom
And fragrant cheeks glistening like jade with a dab of rouge
A pair of phoenix eyes clear as the autumn’s water
Crescent eyebrows reflecting distant mountains
Her cherry red lips remained closed without speaking a word
Her waist, a slender willow under her light garment
Only fingertips could be faintly seen through the light sleeves
But her feet were completely hidden under the swaying fairy skirt
Her enchanting figure was unlike any other ordinary girl’s
Her grace and posture like the jade deity
Stepping back as she first entered through the bamboo curtain
Looking even shyer with the light from the candle dancing on her face
There she stood, gorgeously near the door
A sense of grace emitting from her naturally
The young master was astonished at first glance
Quickly he walked outside, adjusting his garments
Inquiring: “Why do my dearest guests come to visit?
Please do let me know your secret reasons2
I was moved by how kind and righteous Brother Liu is
To have me in the garden tonight for a stay
If discussing serious matters, we should abide by the teachings
How dare I show an act of indecency—at the witness of the stars and the moon?
Under the candlelight, the young master bowed as he inquired
Gorgeous girl—a hint of poppy red bloomed on her cheeks
She secretly peeked at his face through her beautiful eyes
What a—handsome and graceful young man he was
Purple robes draping his body, sleeves swinging
Jade belt around the waist, buckling the two jade rings
His cheeks were glory red from the wine
His brows were greenish-black, as if coated by the rising mist
Tall as the pillar of the sky which could reach the sun
The majestic look of power sufficient to illicit a bow from a king
Standing there in the study greeting her politely
Just one glance would make him worthy of adoration
As soon as seeing him, the beauty was pleasantly surprised
Delighted that such destiny had been set by the grace of the heavens
Her jade hand slightly pushed Jiang the wet nurse
This nanny—smiling while walking up to him and started speaking
“Ah! You must be young Master Huangfu, aren’t you? Our commandery mistress is here now. Please come over and greet each other”
Yanyu walked up with her head down
Bowed deeply as she met the brilliant young man
Young Master Shaohua quicky responded with a cupped-hand salute
Delighted and surprised, he opened his mouth:
“Being someone from your allied family3, I am being so rude
Please do let me know the reason why you, the distinguished, came”
The wet nurse said, “Please allow me to report to our mistress”
And quickly came up to arrange the armchairs
“Young master and dear lady, please, both take a seat
So that I can express our sincere thoughts”
The lady and the young master had just taken their seats
When Nanny Jiang gently closed the door of the study
Walking over to the young man after she turned around
Her face grew more serious as she started speaking:
“My dearest young master—ever since the day of competing to win the robe
The hatred and regret of our heir has never vanished
Because his marriage request was turned down
The rage grew wilder and kept burning until today
Although a decent relationship was maintained with you, my honored guest
Nothing but sharp daggers were behind the artificial smile and politeness
Today he invited you to stay overnight in our garden
But who could have known he—would use evil tricks to harm the hero
He ordered my own son Jinxi
To go so far as to burn you to death at midnight
My son dreamed of an old man days ago
The man with white beard—warning of fishy schemes taking place
He said, ‘Never do anything that harms the heavenly principle
If you go against your conscience, you will never be spared’
After waking, my son searched himself but could find no fault
But when the time came—he realized the dream was talking about tonight
My son understands his instincts from a young age
He follows the teachings of us parents in every matter
He refused to act before consulting his mother
Pretending to obey while anxiety ate from the inside
Until hearing the truth from our young lady
Did he believe the existence of heavens’ plans
Young master—our Lady was born of a concubine
The madam is her father’s only wife, her lawful mother
She is now fifteen years of age
Living in seclusion with the blessed name Yanyu
She has not yet chosen a talented young man as her future husband
Simply because—her birth mother went to the nether world and lost her power
But it is still our young lady’s great fortune
To have her birth mother coming into her dream
She said—“a man of honor will be staying in the house tonight
But early in the night4 he will be placed in great danger
You should take him as your future partner
Promise you will never miss this wonderful young man
He will eventually be crowned as a noble prince
And he will shine with the talent of both literature and military
If you treat him as merely a stranger
I am afraid—the whole family will be left with no good”
Our young lady was confused by this unusual dream
She was about to tell me more under the candlelight
But, my son happened to arrive revealing his secret
Hearing these, I, the old lady, was delighted
I informed the commandery mistress and finished our discussion
Sending Jinxi—to calm everyone in the outer compartment
Fortunately, none of the masters were there
Together with the young lady—we came tonight to the study”
“Ahem5, young master!”
“How could one alter the destiny set by the heavens
We are thus here to entrust the young lady to you
Our intention was never about selfish elopement
But of the irrefusable command of the mother
Regret is not for tonight, not one single word
Please do not doubt us my dearest young master
Meeting for the first time in Xiaochun Courtyard
In the future you two will become a great couple of husband and wife
I just hope that—you will not forget about the commandery mistress when you achieve wealth and honor
So that she will not be—waiting miserably for you at lonely nights behind the gauze curtain”
The wet nurse had stated the reasons for their visit
Hearing these, the young master was even more confused
[1] The original text is wusi 烏絲 [black hair], but it contradicts with the previous sentence saying that her appearance is cangcang 蒼蒼 [ashy grey]. Given Nanny Liu’s age (nearly fifty), the ashy grey image suites her more. The use of wusi here may probably simply being a literary trope and for the rhythm. [2] In traditional Chinese society, unmarried women were kept separate with men other than their direct relatives. Therefore, here Shaohua is shocked to see Yanyu, an unmarried young girl, come to visit him in the midnight, and is sure there must be something so urgent that they have to come. [3] The original text is tongjia 通家 [allied family], which first appears in Chapter 2. Because Shaohua is from the Huangfu family who befriends with Liu family for generations, he is now apologizing for not recognizing Yanyu, the mistress of the Liu family, and speculating that Yanyu and her nanny are coming with misbehavior. [4] The original text is chugeng 出更 [the first geng], referring to the time between 7:00 to 9:00 pm. See the entries sangeng and Chinese zodiac time. [5] Sound of deliberately coughing.
“This disturbed—Zhanghua, the brilliant and talented young miss”
it’s Changhua, not Zhanghua, FYI.
While the twins are called 長華 and 少華, probably to proununce it as Zhang 長 would be a good contrast to Shao 少?
Yes, I agree logically, yet in fact when we pronounce it in a name, it’s not pleasant to the ears, especially from girls’ point of view. Just like this character 少，when it is used as a name, it’s usually pronounced as shào (falling tone)， not shǎo (falling-rising tone). FYI.
Interesting thoughts! But isn’t that when meaning “younger,” we pronounce it as shào in modern Chinese?
Sorry to reply late.
Yes, when we mean “younger”, a semantic division from “fewer, lesser”, it naturally acquires an independent pronunciation so as to distinguish itself from other not so good meanings, it’s a case of how a habit practiced by most people naturally becomes a custom witnessed in pronunciation and recorded by the independent entry in the dictionary.
But some practices we do silently and don’t publicize through books.
In nomenclature, Chinese parents tend to choose the words with a proper meaning and the best pronunciation combined if possible for our children, so in this case, semantically, 长means “elder” and pronounces as “zhang”, but in phonetics, “chang” is much more pleasing to the ears, don’t you agree? (e.g. Chang’e嫦娥，we’re very familiar with this legendary figure and the pronunciation “Chang” habitually becomes mellifluous in our stereotype.)
In this name长华, “zhang” it’s a faithful translation in phonetics to indicate her family position as the elder sister, but if we can make both ends meet, viz, in semantics and phonetics, this character can acquire both the best meanings, by merely adopting the more preferable pronunciation, isn’t it more a satisfactory choice?
A novel is like the author’s child, and those supporting characters are no less important than Meng Li-jun, the heroine in this novel, I hope each of them can be treated in the best way possible. But this is just my humble opinion. I’m not much of a debater, but a tolerably good listener and counsellor. I hope this project can be perfected in every way possible. Looking forward to the day when it is completed.
Have a nice day.
“For what reason are you doom to die in the fire?”
this “doom” should be “doomed”?