Chapter 78

老学士闲征姽婳词

痴公子杜撰芙蓉诔

Lady Wang tells Grandmother Jia about the actresses and having sent Skybright away for being consumptive; Lady Jia regrets this. They discuss the virtues of Skybright and Aroma as concubines for Baoyu, and Baoyu’s worrying preference for female company. Later, Lady Wang accompanies Xifeng back; she hasn’t taken the ginseng, but is much better. They wonder why Baochai left without saying anything, and whether Baoyu has offended her. They summon Baochai; she asks to move out entirely, but they invite her back instead. She explains about her mother’s illness, and thinks that they would be pleased to reduce the number of inhabitants in the Garden. Baoyu enters; he is back from the party with a number of presents from the literary gentlemen. He then goes with Huan and Lan to tell Grandmother Jia about the party too. He is impatient to find out about Skybright; walking back, he loses Ripple and Musk and questions two junior maids. One tells him that Aroma had sent Mamma Song, who saw that she was dying. The other maid realises what he wants to hear and improvises a tale about going to see Skybright; she says that she called out for Baoyu, and that she was to become a flower spirit in charge of hibiscus. Baoyu is delighted with this, and runs to Skybright’s cousin’s house. It is locked; as a consumptive, she has already been taken for cremation. Walking back, he goes to see Daiyu and Baochai, neither of whom are in, and he reflects on the number of people the Garden has lost. He is summoned by his father, who is regaling the literary gentlemen with a historical tale about a romantic Prince who made a certain beautiful Miss Lin a colonel. She then dies avenging his death in battle. They agree that she is an admirable figure and poetic subject. A summary is written, and, mimicking a recent Court event, Zheng asks the three boys to write a poem each based on it. Lan and Huan finish quickly and receive some praise, but not from Zheng. Baoyu has chosen to compose in a very different style; the literary gentlemen give whoops of admiration as he recites, while Zheng is more critical, not least as he keeps changing his mind. His final poem is long, but admired by all (except Zheng), and they are sent away.

Baoyu, still grieving, gazes at hibiscus bushes by the lake, and decides to prepare a small ceremony for Skybright. After composing and writing out a lengthy elegy to the spirit of the hibiscus, he then reads it out by the hibiscus bushes, followed by an invocation. He makes some offerings of tea and flowers. He lingers, but turning to leave, his little maid thinks she sees Skybright’s ghost.