A show of steel, his hand on his sword

Rongqing Hall

Led by Lin Zhixiao, Jia Heng entered the courtyard and stopped beneath the central stone steps. With his hand resting on his sword, he looked up and saw a plaque of dark wood and burnished gold hanging above the doors of the three-bay main hall, engraved with the calligraphy of a renowned master.

This plaque differed from the one in Rongxi Hall, the Jia Family's main reception hall at the front of the estate, where the men received visiting officials. That inscription had been written by Taizu of the Great Han himself.

As the original Dream of the Red Chamber stated, Madam Wang generally sat, entertained, and rested not in Rongxi Hall's main chamber, but in the three side rooms to its east.

"Wait here a moment, Master Heng. I'll announce you to the old madam." As an elderly serving woman lifted the bamboo curtain, Lin Zhixiao stepped over the threshold, entered the hall, and went around several screens to report to Lady Jia.

Lady Jia was seated on a raised kang, with several small dishes and a bowl of jade-green rice porridge on the tea table. Yuanyang attended her at her side; plainly, she had just finished breakfast.

To her left, Jia Zhen and his wife You-shi sat in a row of Yellow Rosewood chairs. Jia Rong stood beside Jia Zhen, serving him with lowered brows and submissive eyes, scarcely daring to breathe.

Jia Zhen's face was ashen, his gaze dark and venomous. Overnight, much of the swelling and redness had faded, but the five finger marks had only grown clearer.

Jia Heng had measured his blows. When he struck Lai Sheng, he knocked out the man's molars, but his slap to Jia Zhen had injured only the flesh, not the bone. Even an examination would find little to establish an injury.

Closer to the front, Jia Lian and Feng-jie were talking off to one side.

Behind the screens, Jia Baoyu, Yingchun, Tanchun, Xi, and Daiyu were also speaking in low voices.

Baoyu was supposed to meet the tutor his father had recently hired that day. Apart from Daiyu, the three Chun sisters had come partly to pay their respects to Lady Jia and had not yet left, and partly to watch the spectacle of Baoyu... going back to school.

Whether they also meant to stay with the old madam and enjoy the commotion, however, no one knew.

Tanchun was still young, but she had slender shoulders, a narrow waist, and a tall, graceful figure. Her bright eyes and elegant brows lent spirit to every glance. She laughed. "Once you go this time, Second Brother, won't a few years among books be enough to put your name on the golden list and make you the top scholar?"

Baoyu wore a jeweled purple-gold crown securing his hair and a red band across his forehead. A rueful smile appeared on his face, fair as the silver moon at Mid-Autumn. "I'm only going to meet this Mr. Zhao. I hear he has quite a temper. He's a Lecturer at the Imperial College, some sort of deeply learned scholar. Father says he has exacting standards... I only hope he finds me wanting."

His father had worn himself sick over Baoyu's schooling. Even the tutor originally engaged to teach him his first lessons had been a provincial examination graduate.

But Baoyu fished for three days and left his nets drying for two, until the tutor lost his temper and complained to his father. In anger, his father had beaten Baoyu's palms, only to leave Lady Jia so distressed that she sent the tutor away.

Then his studies had been put off for more than half a year.

Now his father had hired Instructor Zhao from the Imperial College, though whether the man would accept Baoyu was another matter.

Daiyu wore a pale lotus-purple gauze dress with a front opening embroidered with plum blossoms, and held a spotless white handkerchief. Beneath two brows like wisps of smoke, her autumn-water eyes shimmered in her delicate oval face, as though holding the misty rain of the Xiao and Xiang rivers. Covering her mouth, she laughed. "Just beware of Uncle hardening his heart and sending you to the Imperial College. When the Lecturers and school inspectors start beating your palms there, you can cry for your sisters all you like—no one will save you."

She was referring to the embarrassing incident when Baoyu had called out for his sisters while his palms were being beaten.

At this, Tanchun and Yingchun giggled too, the young girls trembling with laughter like flowering branches.

Teased by Daiyu, Baoyu grew a little embarrassed and smiled.

Daiyu's bright eyes shone as she looked steadily at Baoyu and said softly, "I only hope you rein in your temper a little and don't call them parasites of the state and thieves of official stipends. You'll anger Uncle again."

Her concern showed in those words. After all, they were cousins who had grown up together, childhood companions from their earliest years.

Baoyu smiled and changed the subject. "Let's not talk about that. Sister Lin, Second Sister, Third Sister, Fourth Sister, do you know what happened with this Jia Heng yesterday?"

Tanchun raised her finely shaped brows, a thoughtful look in her almond eyes. "I heard a few scraps last night. It seems Cousin Zhen from the Eastern Mansion wanted to steal Master Heng's marriage."

Tanchun was clever and quick-witted, with an intelligence she kept tucked away. Although she had heard only fragments from behind the screen the day before, she had managed to draw a few conclusions.

Baoyu said, "Third Sister, you haven't heard what Master Heng did at the Green and Red Pavilion last night. Amid the clamorous dust of the mortal world, he drew his sword in anger and cleaved it in two with one stroke! He had the bearing of a knight-errant of old, just like someone in a play. I wonder what an extraordinarily dashing figure he must be."

Daiyu and Tanchun exchanged a glance, knowing that Second Master Bao's foolish obsession had struck again.

In Baoyu's mind, Jia Heng had already become a wandering swordsman in a worn blue robe, carrying three feet of shining steel and speaking out against injustice.

Of course, his later close friendships with men such as Liu Xianglian also showed Baoyu's romantic, literary streak. He disliked coarse warriors like Sun Shaozu, but cherished lovely visions of handsome, elegant swordsmen with blade-shaped brows and clear, bright eyes.

Daiyu glanced at Xi and said softly, "But he still shouldn't hit people, especially at... Hmm, what sort of place is the Green and Red Pavilion?"

"The Green and Red Pavilion is..." Jia Baoyu was just about to explain.

But Tanchun glared at him and scolded, "Is that the sort of place you ought to mention, Second Brother? Mind you don't soil Sister Lin's ears."

Of the three Chun sisters, this girl had the most expansive, forthright temperament and the sharpest tongue. Her voice rang clear as shattered jade.

Baoyu realized his mistake and hastily raised a hand to cover his mouth.

Only gentle, quiet Yingchun drew her brows together. Confusion appeared on her face, her cheeks like freshly peeled lychees and her nose smooth as goose fat. She asked softly, "Cousin Zhen from the Eastern Mansion was beaten?"

Baoyu, Tanchun, and Daiyu: "..."

So you weren't here yesterday, then?

Xi ate cherries at the side, her face expressionless, as though the others were not discussing her own elder brother.

The little girl was small in stature but not in bearing. She wore a pale red gauze dress, and her little face was fair and rosy, her pink lips still framed by a trace of baby fat.

It was difficult to connect this tiny, adorable figure with the little nun she would later become: "Alas, a daughter of embroidered chambers and noble gates, lying alone beside a dim lamp and an ancient Buddha." When Granny Liu called her Miss Xi, she would wear a resolute expression and speak of "false families or true families."

Just then, Lin Zhixiao's voice came from the main hall. "Old madam, Jia Heng has arrived."

Jia Zhen first gave a cold snort and brought the teacup he was lifting down toward the table with a bang, but abruptly remembered that he was in Lady Jia's rooms and set it down on the table.

You-shi, whose beautiful face looked faintly drawn, perhaps from insufficient sleep the night before, raised her head and looked toward the screens.

She seemed to want to see just what sort of callow brat this Jia Heng was, daring to tell her husband to divorce her.

Feng-jie and Jia Lian sat to one side, waiting quietly.

"Let him in," Lady Jia said indifferently, wiping her mouth.

Yuanyang instructed the maids to remove the jade-green rice porridge and small dishes, then moved behind Lady Jia to massage Old Madam's shoulders.

Lin Zhixiao went to pass on the summons. Beneath the eaves, a young servant said, "Master Heng, the old madam calls you inside."

Jia Heng nodded and was about to stride proudly in, his hand on his sword.

Lin Zhixiao's wife, a middle-aged woman of around forty, wore a broad smile on her faintly lined face. "Master Heng, weapons aren't permitted in Rongqing Hall."

As she spoke, she turned and glared at Lin Zhixiao, thinking, What is this wretched old man doing? How could he let Jia Heng come in armed? What if he attacks someone and frightens the old madam?

Jia Heng glanced at Lin Zhixiao's wife and sneered inwardly. "A sword is a gentleman's weapon," he said in a deep voice. "Our Jia family rose through military merit, with both the Duke of Ningguo and Duke of Rongguo beneath one roof. What scene has the old madam not witnessed? Are the men of the Jia Family now forbidden even to wear swords as they go about their lives?"

The Jia Family's residence was neither the White Tiger Command Hall nor Daming Palace. Besides, if war smoke one day engulfed a troubled world, he might yet enter the imperial hall with sword and shoes, with roads cleared and travelers halted for his passage.

Of course, this was also a show of steel.

An awkward look crossed Lin Zhixiao's wife's face. She glanced at her husband, only to find him equally helpless.

"If the old madam forbids it, then I shall call another day," Jia Heng declared.

With that, he turned and left, his hand on his sword, without a backward glance.