35.
Lord Gan is still in mourning for his father but he learned that archery was allowed so he has taken up gambling while playing at archery and many other men have come to enjoy this sport with him. The men are drinking & complaining about lack of money and the women who control household spending. The wind becomes gusty & it sounds like there is a a person crying in the Hall of Ancestors. They are all scared [This is an ill omen].
The next evening is the Moon festival. Everyone goes to look at the Moon from a high point, open to the sky. It seems like this was a specially constructed pavilion & it is quite lovely. Daiyu & Baochai decide to go down to the lakeshore & compose poems.
Daiyu says: those who seek perfection must give up joy. [I think she has said this before, but no one else responds to her statement. Perhaps no one else believes in seeking perfection.] Baoyu has to compose a poem & his father gives him some restrictions (no using jade, ice, bright, moon). Huan has to write a poem also. His father thinks neither of the two boys poems are good (ignoring the ancient formats) but Lord Shih (his uncle) likes Huan’s poem & praises him [the first time anyone has said something nice about him].
Grandma sends all the men away at 10 PM. The two girls each come up with good lines & the Nun appears and tells them there is nothing more to write tonight, those two lines are perfect. Someone is playing a flute in the night? [Apparently Moon festival is also the time for husband & wife to have sex.] Grandma finally decides to go to bed at 2 AM.
The maid Chess is married off & sent away. she isn’t happy but there is nothing her mistress can do.
36.
Baoyu’s mother gets rid of Baoyu’s maid Skybright. She also gets rid of several other maids and searches all Baoyu’s possessions, including items from the girls. Baoyu is, as usual, in state of mental breakdown. Aroma understands that Baoyu is very upset about Skybright being fired. Aroma says “Tian sha dao’ = The will of Heaven or Heaven only knows. Baoyu says he knew something bad was going to happen because half of the crabapple tree died in the spring.
Aroma upbraids him for saying such a thing: “I can’t believe an educated man would say such nonsense! What does a tree have to do with human beings?“
Baoyu is not dissuaded & says “Everything in this world has feelings. Plants are just like humans, and they are most responsive to people who appreciate them.” Baoyu then talks about the famous tree at the tomb of Confucius & the cypress at Zhuge Liang’s shrine, & a juniper at Yue Fei’s grave. He says the trees withered in times of chaos and flourished when China was stable. [Interesting that he puts Zhuge & Yue Fei in the same category as Confucius. FYI: Zhuge’s shrine is located in Chengdu.]
He goes on to talk of flowers at Yang Guifei’s pavilion, & rhododendrons of Duan Chenglou (who?) and the grass on Wang Zhaojun’s grave.
Nuns from the Water-moon temple & the Earth-mother nunnery came to visit, as was customary following Moon festival. They said they were happy to take the fired girls.
Baoyu goes to visit Skybright at her home. She is not feeling well. The house she is in is revolting to Baoyu. She says she will not live another week. Baoyu takes off her silver bracelets [Why?]. She cuts off her long fingernails & gives them to Baoyu. She implies that she should have seduced Baoyu when she had the chance. Too late now. [We never see her again, the claim is she died but I doubt it.]
Aroma asks where he went & he lies to her. The Narrator claims Aroma has NOT been sleeping with Baoyu since she got promoted, saying “she has been taking herself seriously”. [Again, we have a new writer who had different ideas about morality than Cao Xue Qin.] That night the ghost of Skybright appears to Baoyu.
Baoyu’s mother goes to see Grandma who tells her that she likes Skybright & doesn’t agree that she should have been fired. Grandma says “Baoyu is a very odd person, I don’t know if he will ever listen to his wife or Chamber maid. His desire to spend all his time with the young women is so strange. one would guess he wants to romance them but no. I guess he was a girl in his past life & wrongly reincarnated as a boy.” [Again, we have a new writer with different attitudes towards the characters. In the part written by Cao Xue Qin, Baoyu was quite interested in having sex with several of the maid servants.]
Xifeng says “Since your words often come true, I beg that you call me a fairy from now on, so I can become one & live in heaven.” [Fairy is the wrong translation, she wishes to be a demi-goddesses].
Baochai is going back home as she is going to matched for marriage soon. Baoyu’s mother is concerned.
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