t night in the nuptial chamber or to pass a civil service
examination. As for me, I’ve already experience both. But now there’s a still greater
blessing in store for me.”
His remark set the whole household laughing –except for his wife and the young
woman.
To the scholar’s wife all this was annoying. When she first heard of the young
woman’s pregnancy, she was pleased. Later, when she saw her husband lavishing
attentions on the young woman, she began to blame herself for being barren. Once, the
following spring, it happened that the young woman fell ill and was laid up for three days
with a headache. The scholar was anxious that she take a rest and frequently asked what
she needed. This made his wife angry. She grumbled for three days and said that the young
woman was malingering.
“She has been spoiled here and become stuck-up like a real concubine,” she said,
sneering maliciously, “always complaining about headaches or backaches. She must have
been quiet different before—like a bitch that has to go searching for food even she is going
to bear a litter of puppies! Now, with the old man fawning on her, she puts on airs!”
“Why so much fuss about having a baby?” said the scholar’s wife one night to the
kitchen-maid. “I myself was once with child for ten months, I just can’t believe she’s really
feeling so bad. Who knows what she’s going to have? It may be just a little toad! She’d
better not try to bluff me, throwing her weight around before the little thing is born. It’s
still nothing but a clot of blood! It’s really a bit too early for her to make such a fuss!”
The young woman who had gone to bed without supper was awakened by this torrent
of malicious abuse and burst into convulsive sobs. The scholar was also shocked by what
he heard—so much so that he broke into a cold sweat and shook with anger. He wanted to
go to his wife’s room, grab her by the hair and give her a good beating so as to work off his
feelings. But, somehow or other, he felt powerless to do so; his fingers trembled and his
arms ached with weariness. Sighing deeply, he said softly, “I’ve been too good to her. In
thirty years of married life, I’ve never slapped her face or given her a scratch. That’s why
she is so cocky.”
Then, crawling across the bed, he whispered to the young woman beside him,
“Now, stop crying, stop crying, let her cackle! A barren hen is always jealous! If you
manage to have a baby boy this time, I’ll give you two precious gifts—a blue jade ring and
a white jade…” leaving the last sentence unfinished, he turned to listen to his wife’s
jeering voice outside the room. He hastily took off his clothes, and, covering his head with
the quilt and nestling closer to the young woman, he said,
“I’ve a white jade…”
The young woman grew bigger and bigger around the waist. The scholar’s wife made
arrangements with a midwife, and when other people were around, she would busy herself ☉☉網☉文☉檔☉下☉載☉與☉在☉線☉閱☉讀☉
making baby’s clothes out of floral prints.
The hot summer had ended and the cool autumn breeze was blowing over the village.
The day finally came when the expectations of the whole household reached their climax
and everybody was agog. His heart beating faster than ever, the scholar was pacing the
courtyard, reading about horoscopes from an almanac in his hand as intently as if he
wanted to commit the whole book to memory. One moment he would look anxiously at the
room with its windows closely shut whence came the muffled groans of the cloudy sky,
and walk up to the kitchen-maid at the door to ask,
“How is everything now?”
Nodding, the maid would reply after a moment’s pause,
“It won’t be long now, it won’t be long now.”
He would resume pacing the courtyard and reading the almanac.
The suspense lasted until sunset. Then, when wisps of kitchen smoke were curling up
from the roofs and lamps were gleaming in the country houses like so many wild flowers
in spring, a baby boy w