|
Pao-yue and Tai-yue make use of some beautiful passages from the Record of the Western Side-building to bandy jokes. The excellent ballads sung in the Peony Pavilion touch the tender heart of Tai-yue. Soon after the day on which Chia Yuan-chun honoured the garden of Broad Vista with a visit， and her return to the Palace， so our story goes， she forthwith desired that Tan-chun should make a careful copy， in consecutive order， of the verses， which had been composed and read out on that occasion， in order that she herself should assign them their rank， and adjudge the good and bad. And she also directed that an inscription should be engraved on a stone， in the Broad Vista park， to serve in future years as a record of the pleasant and felicitous event; and Chia Cheng， therefore， gave orders to servants to go far and wide， and select skilful artificers and renowned workmen， to polish the stone and engrave the characters in the garden of Broad Vista; while Chia Chen put himself at the head of Chia Jung， Chia Ping and others to superintend the work. And as Chia Se had， on the other hand， the control of Wen Kuan and the rest of the singing girls， twelve in all， as well as of their costumes and other properties， he had no leisure to attend to anything else， and consequently once again sent for Chia Chang and Chia Ling to come and act as overseers. On a certain day， the works were taken in hand for rubbing the stones smooth with wax， for carving the inscription， and tracing it with vermilion， but without entering into details on these matters too minutely， we will return to the two places， the Yu Huang temple and the Ta Mo monastery. The company of twelve young bonzes and twelve young Taoist priests had now moved out of the Garden of Broad Vista， and Chia Cheng was meditating upon distributing them to various temples to live apart， when unexpectedly Chia Chs mother， nee Chou，who resided in the back street， and had been at the time contemplating to pay a visit to Chia Cheng on this side so as to obtain some charge， be it either large or small， for her son to look after， that he too should be put in the way of turning up some money to meet his expenses with，came， as luck would have it， to hear that some work was in hand in this mansion， and lost no time in driving over in a curricle and making her appeal to lady Feng. And as lady Feng remembered that she had all along not presumed on her position to put on airs， she willingly acceded to her request， and after calling to memory some suitable remarks， she at once went to make her report to madame Wang： These young bonzes and Taoist priests， she said， can by no means be sent over to other places; for were the Imperial consort to come out at an unexpected moment， they would then be required to perform services; and in the event of their being scattered， there will， when the time comes to requisition their help， again be difficulties in the way; and my idea is that it would be better to send them all to the family temple， the Iron Fence Temple; and every month all there will be to do will be to depute some one to take over a few taels for them to buy firewood and rice with， thats all， and when theres even a sound of their being required uttered， some one can at once go and tell them just one word come， and they will come without the least trouble! | 
