Chapter 79

薛文起悔娶河东吼

贾迎春误嫁中山狼

Daiyu has appeared; Baoyu blushes as she praises his elegy. They discuss it further, and decide on some alterations. Talk of death gives Daiyu premonitory dread. She warns Baoyu that he is to be expected at Lady Xing’s the next day – Yingchun’s betrothal has been decided. They part, Daiyu coughing.

Jia She is marrying Yingchun into a Datong army family, to their son Sun Shaozu 孙绍祖. He is very eligible, but Grandmother Jia doesn’t share She’s enthusiasm and Zheng positively hates the family, thinking that they lack breeding. Baoyu is appalled to find that the marriage is to be quick, and Yingchun is to move out of the Garden immediately. He walks in a Yingchun’s old part of the Garden, which seems neglected, composing a poem. He sees Caltrop; Pan is back, so she is no longer at liberty. He is to get married, to the daughter of the Xias, a rich, famous family about to die out, who are old friends of the Xues. Caltrop is excited, but Baoyu worried for her standing. She leaves, and he feels even more desolate. He doesn’t sleep well that night, and the cumulative effect of illness and weeks of shocks and grief lays him up for a month. He is then ordered to take a hundred days of convalescence, during which he gets very bored and comes up with wild and inventive ways of amusing himself and the maids. He hears about Yingchun and Pan’s wedding with some despondency.

Caltrop, meanwhile, decides to ignore Baoyu and devote herself to planning the wedding. She has built great expectations for the new wife Xia Jingui 夏金桂, who she believes will be gracious, educated, beautiful and a good companion. Jingui – who refuses to allow maids to use the syllables ‘jin’ or ‘gui’, which rules out ‘cassia’, which is her name’s meaning – soon works out what sort of man Pan is, and exploits her advantage. After a drunken argument, Jingui refuses to eat or drink and falls ill. He is admonished by Aunt Xue and humbles himself before Jingui, who thereafter presses her advantage further, planning to dominate Pan, Aunt Xue and eventually Baochai completely. Baochai observes this and aims to keep her in check; Jingui is ready for a fight, and despite Caltrop’s warmness, Jingui (who has taken against Caltrop) questions Baochai’s intelligence in giving her the name ‘Caltrop’. Caltrop defends Baochai.