The Warning Voice (53 page)

‘Some people from the Zhen family have just arrived there, madam, with a lot of things. I think it's something secret they've come about. It probably wouldn't be very convenient for you to go there now.'

‘That's funny,' said You-shi. ‘I heard your master saying last night that he had read in the
Gazette
that the Zhens had been attainted. It said that there was a search and confiscation order on their estate and that the family were being brought under arrest to the capital for questioning. What can any of them be doing here?'

‘You may well ask, madam. It was some of the womenfolk we saw there. They were in a terrible state, very worried and frightened. I expect they are doing something they ought not to be.'

You-shi abandoned her idea of visiting Lady Wang and went back to see Li Wan, with whom she had been talking a little earlier when Xi-chun called her away. Li Wan had been visited in the meantime by her doctor; and as she was feeling much livelier than she had done for some days, she had remained sitting up after her visit. You-shi found her propped up on pillows and with the bedclothes pulled up round her, eager for conversation. Unfortunately You-shi, who had been so affable on her earlier visit, was now in no mood to talk and sat at Li Wan's bedside silent and preoccupied. Li Wan wondered if she was feeling hungry.

‘Have something to eat,' she said. ‘What would you like?' She turned to Candida. ‘What nice little snack have we got that we could offer Mrs Zhen?'

‘Please don't bother,' said You-shi. ‘You're hardly likely to have interesting snacks in the house after being an invalid for so many days. And in any case I'm not hungry.'

‘Someone sent me some rather good wheatmeal tea yesterday,' said Li Wan. ‘Why don't you try a bowl of that?'

She told Candida to mix some for her with sugar and boiling water. You-shi made no reply and continued to brood. The women and maids who had come with her tried to think of some means of distracting her.

‘You haven't done your face yet since this morning, madam,' said one of them. ‘Why not take this opportunity of having a wash?'

You-shi nodded. Li Wan at once sent Candida for her dressing-case and mirror. Candida offered You-shi the use of her own make-up.

‘Our mistress doesn't use make-up, Mrs Zhen. If you don't mind using my stuff, you're very welcome to some of this.'

‘It's true that
I
haven't got any,' said Li Wan, ‘but you ought to have borrowed some from one of the young ladies to lend her. Fancy offering her your own, and in front of everyone else! It's a good job it was Mrs Zhen. Some people would have been most offended.'

‘Oh, that's all right,' said You-shi, and began to wash. The maid with the basin bent down to hold it out to her.

‘Where are your manners, girl?' said Li Wan reprovingly, whereupon the maid at once went down on her knees.

‘Manners!' said You-shi. ‘The outward frills of respectability! Those are the things
our
servants are so good at. What they actually get up to doesn't bear much investigating.'

Li Wan realized that she must be referring to the events of the previous night.

‘Why do you say that?' she asked smilingly. ‘What has
who
got up to that doesn't bear investigating?'

‘Need you ask?' said You-shi. ‘You've not been so ill that you've lost the use of your faculties!'

Before Li Wan could reply, Bao-chai's arrival was announced. Li Wan and You-shi both called out to her to come in. You-shi, hurriedly wiping the water from her face, got up to welcome her and made her sit down with her at the side of the bed.

‘On your own?' she asked her. ‘Where are all the others?'

‘I don't know,' said Bao-chai. ‘I haven't seen them yet. Mother isn't very well today, and as her two senior maids are also both ill in bed and I don't trust any of the others, I thought I had better go and stay with her for a few days. At first I was going to tell Lady Jia and Aunt Wang, but then I thought that as this is rather a small matter and I shall in any case be coming back again as soon as Mother is better I wouldn't bother them but simply have a word about it with Cousin Wan.'

Li Wan and You-shi exchanged smiles and glances. Presently, when You-shi had finished her toilet, the three of them each had a bowl of wheatmeal tea.

‘I must send someone to see how your mother is and find out what she is suffering from,' said Li Wan. ‘I can't go in person, unfortunately, because I am ill myself. Don't worry about anything here. I'll send someone to look after your apartment while you are away. Do come back soon, though, or I shall be blamed for your going.'

‘Whyever should you be?' said Bao-chai. ‘There's nothing unusual about my going. You are not being asked to connive at a gaol-break. And incidentally, I don't see why it should be necessary to send anyone to my apartment. Why not simply invite Cousin Shi to stay with
you
for a few days? Wouldn't that be simpler?'

‘While we are on the subject, where
is
Cousin Shi?' said You-shi.

‘I sent her off just now to look for Cousin Tan,' said Bao-chai. ‘She was to bring Cousin Tan here so that I could explain to her about going to Mother's too.'

By coincidence ‘Miss Shi and Miss Tan' were at that very moment announced. As soon as they were seated, Bao-chai told Tan-chun about her intention of moving outside for a few days to look after her mother.

‘Very wise,' said Tan-chun. ‘But why only stay outside until Aunt is better? Why not move outside altogether?'

‘That's rather a strange way to talk,' said You-shi, laughing. ‘It's as though you wanted to drive our kinswoman out.'

‘Well, why not?' said Tan-chun bitterly. ‘Better be driven out now by me than by someone else later on. Kinsfolk are lucky. They don't
have
to stay here. Not like the members of this happy family – all glaring at each other like angry fighting-cocks, wondering which will be the first one to strike!'

You-shi laughed.

‘I think today must be my unlucky day. I seem to have caught all you young ladies in a thoroughly unpleasant mood.'

‘If you don't like the heat, you should stay away from the fire,' said Tan-chun. ‘Who's been upsetting you then?' She thought for a bit. ‘It's not likely to have been Cousin Feng. Not
this
time. So who was it?'

You-shi's vague answer evaded the question. Tan-chun knew that she was afraid to speak openly for fear of causing trouble.

‘Come on!' she said tauntingly. ‘Don't act the innocent! It's not high treason to tell us. No one's going to chop your head off. Look at me. Last night I slapped Wang Shan-bao's wife's face. That's an offence deserving hard labour at the very least, yet nothing's happened so far, bar a bit of muttering. I don't think anyone is going to give me a beating.'

‘Did you really slap her face?' Bao-chai asked incredulously.

Tan-chun treated them all to a lively account of what had happened, after which You-shi, seeing that there was no longer any point in concealment, proceeded to tell them about her recent encounter with Xi-chun.

‘Oh, she's always like that,' said Tan-chun. ‘It's her nature. Xi-chun is so peculiar, nothing the rest of us say or do is ever going to alter her. By the way' – she returned to the subject that was uppermost in her mind – ‘I made some inquiries first thing this morning to find out why nothing was happening. Apparently it's because Cousin Feng is ill again. I also sent someone to inquire about Wang Shan-bao's wife. It seems that she has been given a beating. For interfering.'

‘Quite right, too!' said You-shi and Li Wan. But Tan-chun took a more cynical view.

‘It would be a comparatively easy way of disarming suspicion. We must wait and see.'

You-shi and Li Wan looked thoughtful, but neither made any comment.

Shortly after this the maids came in to say that dinner was ready. Xiang-yun and Bao-chai went back to their apartment to pack, in preparation for their respective moves. Our narrative leaves them at this point.

You-shi and Tan-chun, after taking their leave of Li Wan, made their way to Grandmother Jia's apartment. The old lady was reclining on her couch listening, while Lady Wang told her about the Zhens: the offences they had been charged with, the confiscation of their property and their coming up to the capital now for questioning. Grandmother Jia was obviously much shaken by what she heard, but brightened up somewhat when You-shi and Tan-chun arrived.

‘Where have you both come from?' she asked them. ‘I suppose you know that Feng and Wan are
both
ill now? I wonder how they are today.'

‘They are both a little better,' said You-shi.

Grandmother Jia nodded and sighed.

‘I think we've heard enough about other people's troubles for the time being. It's time we started thinking about the arrangements for our Mid-Autumn party.'

‘The catering arrangements have all been made,' said Lady Wang. ‘It only remains for you to decide where you want it. I suppose the nights are getting too chilly now for us to have it out in the Garden.'

‘We can always put on a bit more clothing,' said Grandmother Jia. ‘Of course we must have it in the Garden. That's what the Garden is for.'

While they were speaking, some of the women came in carrying the dinner-table between them. Lady Wang and You-shi laid chopsticks and carried in the rice. When all was ready, Grandmother noticed that in addition to her own dishes there were two large food-boxes containing dishes from
the other apartments. It was a long-established custom that the occupants of other apartments should send her samples of what they were planning to eat that day themselves as a way of showing her their respect.

‘I've told you all a number of times to stop doing this,' she said. ‘Why won't you ever do as I say?'

‘These are only very ordinary things here,' said Lady Wang, referring to her own contribution. ‘It's one of my fast-days today, so I have only vegetarian dishes. I know you don't much like bean-curd fried in batter, which is one of the things I am having. The only thing of mine I think you might like is a salad pickle of chopped water-mallow in pepper sauce.'

‘That sounds rather nice,' said Grandmother Jia. ‘I think I'd like to try some of that.'

Faithful quickly took the saucer containing it out of the box and put it down in front of her. Bao-qin, having first apologized to each of her seniors for sitting down in their presence, took her place at one side of the table. Grandmother Jia said that Tan-chun should eat with her as well, whereupon Tan-chun too made her apologies and sat down. She sat at the other side of the table opposite Bao-qin. Scribe quickly fetched her a bowl and chopsticks. Meanwhile Faithful was pointing out the other dishes to Grandmother Jia.

‘I can't make out what these two here are. They are from Sir She. The stuff in this bowl is creamed chicken and bamboo. It's from Mr Zhen.'

She brought the bowl of sliced bamboo-shoot over and put it down on the table. Grandmother Jia made a couple of dips into it with her chopsticks. She ordered all the other dishes to be taken back to their senders.

‘Tell them thank you very much I've tried some, but not to send things to me any more. If I ever want anything, I shall let them know.'

The women made some reply and went off with the boxes.

‘Now bring me my rice-gruel and I'll have a bit of that,' said Grandmother Jia.

You-shi stepped forward with a bowl of gruel. It was made with red ‘Emperor' rice, she told her. After drinking
about half of it, Grandmother Jia ordered the other half to be taken to Xi-feng. She pointed to one of the dishes.

‘And this is for Patience.' She turned to You-shi. ‘I've finished. Now you can eat.'

‘Thank you,' said You-shi, but waited all the same until the old lady had rinsed her mouth and washed her hands and was walking up and down on Lady Wang's arm for her digestion before she ‘begged to be seated'. By this time Bao-qin and Tan-chun had finished eating. They got up as You-shi sat down, excusing themselves from keeping her company while she ate.

‘Oh,' said You-shi, ‘I'm not used to eating at a big table like this all on my own.'

‘Faithful and Amber can eat with you for company,' said Grandmother Jia.

‘Good!' said You-shi. ‘I was about to suggest that.'

‘I like to see people eating together,' said Grandmother Jia. She pointed to Butterfly. ‘Now here's a good girl. Why shouldn't
she
eat with you as well? Go on, child! Go and eat with your mistress. As long as you are here with me, it doesn't matter if you break the rules for once.'

‘Come on!' said You-shi to the maid encouragingly. ‘Don't pretend to be bashful!'

Grandmother Jia stopped walking up and down and stood with her hands clasped behind her back to watch them eat. It suddenly struck her that the rice being served was the plain white rice normally eaten by the servants and that You-shi, too, was eating it.

‘Why are you giving Mrs Zhen this stuff?' she asked them.

‘There isn't any of Your Old Ladyship's rice left,' said the maids. ‘You had an extra young lady eating with you today, don't forget.'

‘Meals are made to measure nowadays,' said Faithful. ‘We can't afford to be extravagant the way we used to be.'

‘There have been so many floods and droughts during the past few years,' said Lady Wang. ‘Our farms haven't been able to make up their quotas. These special kinds of rice are particularly hard to come by. We have had to start rationing them rather carefully.'

‘Even the cleverest housewife can't make rice-gruel without rice.' Grandmother Jia quoted the proverb amidst general laughter.

Faithful turned to address the women waiting outside the door.