THE DREAM OF THE RED CHAMBER (HUNG LOW MENG.) A CHINESE NOVEL LITERALLY TRANSLATED CHAPTER II. In which Mrs. Kia dies at Yangchow and Leng Tze Hsing relates the fortunes of the house of Jung. ÈNG-SU immediately went out on hearing that a summons from the 'magistracy had come, and commenced to make enquiries. The messengers would answer no questions, however, and continued to ask for Shih Yin. Fêng-su told them that his name was Fêng, and said that his son-in-law Shih Yin had left home a year or two before. The messengers replied that they did not care about the name, but would take Fêng with them to report to his worship. Then to the great alarm and dismay of the household, who could not understand the affair at all, they surrounded Fêng-su and carried him away. About ten o'clock in the evening, Fêng-su returned home, and in reply to the questions of his family, anxious to hear the whole story from beginning to end, he said, "This new magistrate is an old acquaintance of my son-in-law, and seeing the handmaiden Chiao Hsing at the gateway, he concluded that some changes must have taken place and so sent to summon me. He was greatly moved when I told him the misfortunes which had come upon us, and when I told him in answer to his enquiry that Ying Leen was lost upon the Feast of Lanterns, his worship told me to set my mind at rest, as he would institute an official search, which could not fail to result in her recovery. He talked with me for some time and when I came away he gave me two taels of silver." Mrs. Chen (Shih Yin's wife) passed a night of agitation and sleeplessness on hearing the recital. Early the next morning Yü Tsun, (for the magistrate was no other than the student whom Shih Yin's assistance had enabled to reach Peking,) sent a messenger with two packages of silver and four pieces of silk to Mrs. Chen as a testimony of gratitude; and a private letter beside addressed to Fêng-su, requesting him to speak to Mrs. Chen and prevail upon her to give Chiao Hsing to him as second wife. Delighted beyond measure and anxious to comply with his worship's request, Fêng-su went at once to his daughter and urged her to assent. The same evening Chiao Hsing was carried into the magistracy of Yu Tsun, on whose delight there is no need to dwell. More money was sent to Fêng-su, and presents to Mrs. Chen, so that she might live in quiet and comfort until her daughter could be recovered. Now this handmaiden was the same who had turned her head in order to glance at Yu Tsun, and it was indeed a strange and unforeseen destiny that thus brought the two together by an accidental glance. Still less was it to be foreseen that this handmaiden's fate and fortune were so happy that before she had been a year in Yü Tsun's household, she gave birth to a son, and a few months afterwards Yu Tsun's principal wife suddenly dying, she became at once the mistress of the household. "A back-thrown glance by happy chance ordained And straightway rank and comfort are attained." On being provided with funds by Shih Yin, Yü Tsun set out at once for the capital, where in the examination he obtained the degree of Doctor and was entered on the list of candidates for provincial appointment. Now that he was appointed magistrate of the district of which we speak, it was seen that, although his ability was really very great, he was avaricious and tyrannical, supercilious and arrogant. By his colleagues he was regarded with universal dislike and suspicion, and in less than a year he was impeached by his superiors and charged with being of a malevolent and grasping disposition; with having disregarded the rules of right and propriety; of openly bidding for a reputation for purity and uprightness, while he was secretly engaged in crafty and rapacious schemes, which caused much disturbance in the neighbourhood and rendered him odious to the people. The decision of the Throne, upon consideration of the impeachment, directed that he should be dismissed from his post. The arrival of the Imperial rescript was welcomed with joy by every official in the province. Sorely grieved and vexed, Yu Tsun showed no trace of his troubles in his countenance, but preserved his usual smiling face. After having handed over his official business, he gathered up his savings and sending his wife and household to his native place to rest in quiet, he determined to amuse himself by visiting, at his leisure, all places of interest or note within the empire. Now it chanced that Yu Tsun found himself one day at Wei Yang, and he heard there that the Salt Comptroller for the year was Lin Ju Hai, a scholar who had taken a high degree at a previous examination and had held a high office in the censorate. He was a native of Soochow, and had only recently been appointed to the post of Censor and Comptroller of the Salt Gabelle. Ju Hai's ancestors had been ennobled at first for three generations, but subsequently by the extreme bounty of e Throne, the title was extended to Ju Hai's father. As to Ju Hai, he had entered on official life, through the usual curriculum of literary examination, his family, though of hereditary rank and distinction, being also given to the cultivation of letters. Unfortunately the Lin family was limited in number and although there were several collateral branches, Ju Hai was without any intimate or closely connected relatives. At this time, Ju Hai was about forty years old and had been blessed with only one son, who |