Hung Lou Meng - book 1 | Page 8

of a turban in
tatters, while his clothes were the worse for wear. But in spite of his
poverty, he was naturally endowed with a round waist, a broad back, a
fat face, a square mouth; added to this, his eyebrows were swordlike,
his eyes resembled stars, his nose was straight, his cheeks square.
This servant girl turned away in a hurry and made her escape.
"This man so burly and strong," she communed within herself, "yet at
the same time got up in such poor attire, must, I expect, be no one else
than the man, whose name is Chia Yü-ts'un or such like, time after time
referred to by my master, and to whom he has repeatedly wished to
give a helping hand, but has failed to find a favourable opportunity.
And as related to our family there is no connexion or friend in such
straits, I feel certain it cannot be any other person than he. Strange to
say, my master has further remarked that this man will, for a certainty,
not always continue in such a state of destitution."
As she indulged in this train of thought, she could not restrain herself
from turning her head round once or twice.
When Yü-ts'un perceived that she had looked back, he readily
interpreted it as a sign that in her heart her thoughts had been of him,
and he was frantic with irrepressible joy.
"This girl," he mused, "is, no doubt, keen-eyed and eminently shrewd,
and one in this world who has seen through me."
The servant youth, after a short time, came into the room; and when
Yü-ts'un made inquiries and found out from him that the guests in the
front parlour had been detained to dinner, he could not very well wait
any longer, and promptly walked away down a side passage and out of
a back door.
When the guests had taken their leave, Shih-yin did not go back to

rejoin Yü-ts'un, as he had come to know that he had already left.
In time the mid-autumn festivities drew near; and Shih-yin, after the
family banquet was over, had a separate table laid in the library, and
crossed over, in the moonlight, as far as the temple and invited Yü-ts'un
to come round.
The fact is that Yü-ts'un, ever since the day on which he had seen the
girl of the Chen family turn twice round to glance at him, flattered
himself that she was friendly disposed towards him, and incessantly
fostered fond thoughts of her in his heart. And on this day, which
happened to be the mid-autumn feast, he could not, as he gazed at the
moon, refrain from cherishing her remembrance. Hence it was that he
gave vent to these pentameter verses:
Alas! not yet divined my lifelong wish, And anguish ceaseless comes
upon anguish I came, and sad at heart, my brow I frowned; She went,
and oft her head to look turned round. Facing the breeze, her shadow
she doth watch, Who's meet this moonlight night with her to match?
The lustrous rays if they my wish but read Would soon alight upon her
beauteous head!
Yü-ts'un having, after this recitation, recalled again to mind how that
throughout his lifetime his literary attainments had had an adverse fate
and not met with an opportunity (of reaping distinction), went on to rub
his brow, and as he raised his eyes to the skies, he heaved a deep sigh
and once more intoned a couplet aloud:
The gem in the cask a high price it seeks, The pin in the case to take
wing it waits.
As luck would have it, Shih-yin was at the moment approaching, and
upon hearing the lines, he said with a smile: "My dear Yü-ts'un, really
your attainments are of no ordinary capacity."
Yü-ts'un lost no time in smiling and replying. "It would be presumption
in my part to think so," he observed. "I was simply at random humming
a few verses composed by former writers, and what reason is there to

laud me to such an excessive degree? To what, my dear Sir, do I owe
the pleasure of your visit?" he went on to inquire. "Tonight," replied
Shih-yin, "is the mid-autumn feast, generally known as the full-moon
festival; and as I could not help thinking that living, as you my worthy
brother are, as a mere stranger in this Buddhist temple, you could not
but experience the feeling of loneliness. I have, for the express purpose,
prepared a small entertainment, and will be pleased if you will come to
my mean abode to have a glass of wine. But I wonder whether you will
entertain favourably my modest invitation?" Yü-ts'un, after listening to
the proposal, put forward no refusal of any sort; but remarked
complacently: "Being the