Volume Ii Part 76 (1/2)
”That worthy cousin of yours,” Hsiang-lien rejoined, ”is as bad as ever, and were I to stay any longer, trouble would inevitably arise. So it's as well that I should clear out of his way.”
Pao-yu communed with himself for a time. ”In that case,” he then observed, ”it's only right, that you should retire. But if you really be bent upon going on a distant tour, you must absolutely tell me something beforehand. Don't, on any account, sneak away quietly!”.
As he spoke, the tears trickled down his cheeks.
”I shall, of course, say good-bye to you,” Liu Hsiang-lien rejoined.
”But you must not let any one know anything about it!”
While uttering these words, he stood up to get away. ”Go in at once,” he urged, ”there's no need to see me off!”
Saying this, he quitted the study. As soon as he reached the main entrance, he came across Hsueh P'an, bawling out boisterously, ”Who let young Liu-erh go?”
The moment these shouts fell on Liu Hsiang-lien's ear, his anger flared up as if it had been sparks spurting wildly about, and he only wished he could strike him dead with one blow. But on second consideration, he pondered that a fight after the present festive occasion would be an insult to Lai Shang-jung, and he perforce felt bound to stifle his indignation.
When Hsueh P'an suddenly espied him walking out, he looked as delighted as if he had come in for some precious gem. With staggering step he drew near him. Clutching him with one grip, ”My dear brother,” he smirked.
”where are you off to?”
”I'm going somewhere, but will be back soon,” Hsiang-lien said by way of response.
”As soon as you left,” Hsueh P'an smiled, ”all the fun went. But pray sit a while! If you do so, it will be a proof of your regard for me!
Don't flurry yourself. With such a senior brother as myself to stand by you, it will be as easy a job for you to become an official as to reap a fortune.”
The sight of his repulsive manner filled the heart of Hsiang-lien with disgust and shame. But speedily devising a plan, he drew him to a secluded spot. ”Is your friends.h.i.+p real,” he smiled, ”or is it only a sham?”
This question sent Hsueh P'an into such raptures that he found it difficult to check himself from gratifying his longings. But glancing at him with the corner of his eye, ”My dear brother,” he smiled, ”what makes you ask me such a thing? If my friends.h.i.+p for you is a sham, may I die this moment, before your very eyes.”
”Well, if that be so,” Hsiang-lien proceeded, ”it isn't convenient in here, so sit down and wait a bit. I'll go ahead, but come out of this yourself by and bye, and follow me to my place, where we can drink the whole night long. I've also got there two first-rate young fellows who never go out of doors. But don't bring so much as a single follower with you, as you'll find, when you get there, plenty of people ready at hand to wait on you.”
So high did this a.s.signation raise Hsueh P'an's spirits that he recovered, to a certain extent, from the effects of wine. ”Is it really so?” he asked.
”How is it,” Hsiang-lien laughed, ”that when people treat you with a sincere heart, you don't, after all, believe them?”
”I'm no fool,” eagerly exclaimed Hsueh P'an, ”and how could I not believe you? But since this be the case, how am I, who don't even know the way, to find your whereabouts if you are to go ahead of me?”
”My place is outside the northern gate.” Hsiang-lien explained. ”But can you tear yourself away from your home to spend the night outside the city walls?”
”As long as you're there,” Hsueh P'an said, ”what will I want my home for?”
”If that be so,” Hsiang-lien resumed, ”I'll wait for you on the bridge outside the northern gate. But let us meanwhile rejoin the banquet and have some wine. Come along, after you've seen me go; they won't notice us then.”
”Yes!” shouted Hsueh P'an with alacrity as he acquiesced to the proposal.
The two young fellows thereupon returned to the feast, and drank for a time. Hsueh Pan, however, could with difficulty endure the suspense. He kept his gaze intent upon Hsiang-lien; and the more he pondered within himself upon what was coming, the more exuberance swelled in his heart.
Now he emptied one wine-kettle; now another; and, without waiting for any one to press him, he, of his own accord, gulped down one drink after another, with the result that he unconsciously made himself nearly quite tipsy. Hsiang-lien then got up and quitted the room, and perceiving every one off his guard, he egressed out of the main entrance. ”Go home ahead,” he directed his page Hsing Nu. ”I'm going out of town, but I'll be back at once.”
By the time he had finished giving him these directions, he had already mounted his horse, and straightway he proceeded to the bridge beyond the northern gate, and waited for Hsueh P'an. A long while elapsed, however, before he espied Hsueh P'an in the distance, hurrying along astride of a high steed, with gaping mouth, staring eyes, and his head, banging from side to side like a pedlar's drum. Without intermission, he glanced confusedly about, sometimes to the left, and sometimes to the right; but, as soon as he got where he had to pa.s.s in front of Hsiang-lien's horse, he kept his gaze fixed far away, and never troubled his mind with the immediate vicinity.
Hsiang-lien felt amused and angry with him, but forthwith giving his horse also the rein, he followed in his track, while Hsueh P'an continued to stare ahead.
Little by little the habitations got scantier and scantier, so pulling his horse round, (Hsueh P'an) retraced his steps. The moment he turned back, he unawares caught sight of Hsiang-lien, and his spirits rose within him, as if he had got hold of some precious thing of an extraordinary value. ”I knew well enough,” he eagerly smiled, ”that you weren't one to break faith.”