Chapter 33

手足眈眈小动唇舌

不肖种种大承笞挞

Lady Wang gives Golden’s mother the dresses and jewellery. Baoyu, who is moping after having been rebuked by his mother regarding Golden, is castigated by his father – he cannot reply. The Prince of Zhongshun’s chamberlain arrives to see Jia Zheng, looking for the actor Bijou who has gone missing – he understands that he has been spending time with Baoyu. Baoyu is summoned, and begs ignorance, saying that the chamberlain must have been misinformed. The chamberlain asks after the provenance of his red cummerbund; he tells the chamberlain that Bijou has recently bought a villa in Fort Redwood, and he goes to look for him there. Jia Zheng is furious. While escorting the chamberlain out, he sees Jia Huan running, and is furious with him; this is exacerbated when Huan says that it is because he saw the drowned girl’s body. This is the first Zheng has heard about Golden – he feels disgraced and summons Lai Da and Jia Lian. Jia Huan tells Zheng that Baoyu tried to rape Golden, beating her when she refused, and she killed herself. Zheng is seething, causing his literary guests to leave quickly, and summons Baoyu, rope, and heavy bamboo. Baoyu, waiting for his return, tried that he is to be beaten over Bijou via a passing old woman, but she proved to be near-deaf. He is fetched by Zheng’s pages before he can pass on the message. On arrival, Zheng orders the pages to gag him and beat him to death. When the pages don’t beat hard enough, Zheng takes over. The literary gentlemen return to remonstrate, with no luck, but they send word to Lady Wang. When she arrives, Zheng’s beating redoubled, with Baoyu seemingly unconscious. A tearful Lady Wang appeals to him, saying that no doubt he deserved it, but Zheng shouldn’t get so excited, and that Grandmother Jia would be inconsolable if Baoyu died. Zheng objects – he considers himself unfilial by having produced such a monster, and is constantly thwarted in his attempts to discipline him – he picks up the rope to finish Baoyu off. Lady Wang stops him – she is nearly fifty, and he is her only son. By killing him, he would be rendering her childless, so she asks to be killed first. Zheng collapses, weeping. When examining Baoyu’s lifeless body, she recalls her first son Zhu 贾珠, now deceased, causing his widow, Li Wan 李纨 – who has arrived with the other girls hearing of the commotion – to break down. Grandmother Jia arrives, rebuking Zheng for being a bad son, and calling a carriage to take her, Lady Wang and Baoyu to Nanjing. Baoyu is carried out (with Lady Wang wailing about Zhu, now wishing Baoyu had died in his stead, and rebuking a now softened Zheng for going too far) and taken to Green Delights, while Aroma and Tealeaf discuss what could have happened, including the rumour that Jia Huan revealed to Zheng about Golden and that Xue Pan must have let it be known about Bijou.