Chapter 73

A window casement has fallen; Aunt Zhao organises for it to be fixed. Her maid Magpie 小鹊 has hurried to Baoyu’s to let him know that she overheard Zheng and Aunt Zhao talking about something involving him. This makes him very uncomfortable, and he decides that the only solution is to revise his texts. It is soon clear that there is too much he doesn’t know, and he is merely getting himself into a more fraught state. The senior maids look after him, but the junior maids, obliged to stay awake but with no role, keep dropping off, causing Skybright indignation. Parfumée enters having seen an intruder; he cannot be found, but Skybright takes the opportunity of the panic to get Baoyu off his duties the next day because of the shock. The next day, Grandmother Jia is angry to find out about the intruder; Tanchun suggests that security is lax because Xifeng has been ill and the guards have become lax and gamble. The ill Xifeng gives a dressing down to Lin Zhixiao’s wife and the chief stewardesses, and Grandmother Jia orders them to find out who are the gambling ringleaders. They are soon found, and the three principal organisers beaten and dismissed. One of them is Yingchun’s nurse; Yingchun is humiliated and tries to get her off, with no luck.

Leaving Grandmother Jia’s, Lady Xing spots one of Lady Jia’s maids, Simple 傻大姐 who is young, stupid and has very big feet, smiling and holding a colourful object. It is an embroidered purse, on one side of which is an erotic scene. Lady Xing is shocked and confiscates it; she is puzzled by its origin. She goes to Yingchun’s to rebuke her about her nurse, and goes on to compare her unfavourably to Tanchun – also a chamber wife’s daughter - in every respect, before leaving for Grandmother Jia’s again. Yingchun argues with her maid Tangerine 绣桔 about her nurse, who Tangerine and Lady Xing believe to have been taking her property (particularly a pearl and gold phoenix) and pawning it for gambling money. Tangerine wants to tell Xifeng; this disturbs the nurse’s daughter-in-law, who overhears the conversation. She rushes in and confesses that the nurse took it, but intends to redeem and return it. Yingchun refuses to appeal for her again and Tangerine rebukes her, causing an argument about money. To stop the fuss and fighting, Yingchun declares that she will tell Lady Xing that she has just lost the phoenix. This upsets Tangerine further, as she expects to take the blame; Chess joins the argument. Meanwhile, Baochai, Daiyu, Baoqin and Tanchun arrive to check on Yingchun; Tanchun’s presence breaks up the argument, but she overhears some snippets and quizzes Yingchun about the phoenix. The daughter-in-law rushes back in to explain, but Tanchun politely suggests that she go to Xifeng and save some face. Patience arrives on cue, arranged by Tanchun. The daughter-in-law bounds up to Patience, and is rebuked for her bad manners and leaves. Tanchun explains the situation to Patience, and coldly asks her if Xifeng is trying to undermine her, Yingchun and Xichun. She turns to Yingchun, who is reading, and expresses at some length her desire to let the situation rest and not exacerbate by interfering, which amuses the others.