Jiao Xing Becomes Lucky

Chapter 2 of Dream of the Red Chamber begins

Jiao Xing Becomes Lucky

After the long and philosophic journey we had through the first chapter, chapter two is a lot more straight forward. Hopefully we’ll be able to get through it without too many long and winding poetic and philosophic diversions. Today we’ll see what happens when Jia Yucun returns to go after the maid he thinks is madly in love with him.

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Chinese Text

第二回 賈夫人仙逝揚州城　冷子興演說榮國府

卻說封肅聽見公差傳喚，忙出來陪笑啟問。那些人只嚷：「快請出甄爺來！」封肅忙陪笑道：「小人姓封，並不姓甄。只有當日小婿姓甄，今已出家一二年了。不知可是問他？」那些公人道：「我們也不知什麼『真』『假』！既是你的女婿，就帶了你去面稟太爺便了。」大家把封肅推擁而去。

封家各各驚慌，不知何事。至二更時分，封肅方回來，眾人忙問端的。「原來新任太爺姓賈，名化，本湖州人氏，曾與女婿舊交，因在我家門首看見嬌杏丫頭買線，只當女婿移住此間，所以來傳。我將緣故回明，那太爺感傷嘆息了一回，又問外孫女兒。我說：『看燈丟了。』太爺說：『不妨，待我差人去，務必找尋回來。』說了一回話，臨走又送我二兩銀子。」甄家娘子聽了，不覺感傷。一夜無話。

次日早有雨村遣人送了兩封銀子，四疋錦緞，答謝甄家娘子；又一封密書與封肅，託他向甄家娘子要那嬌杏作二房。封肅喜得眉開眼笑，巴不得去奉承太爺，便在女兒前一力攛掇，當夜用一乘小轎，便把嬌杏送進衙內去了。雨村歡喜，自不必言，又封百金贈與封肅。又送甄家娘子許多禮物，命其且自過活，以待訪尋女兒下落。

卻說嬌杏那丫頭便是當年回顧雨村的。因偶然一看，便弄出這段奇緣，也是意想不到之事。誰知他命運兩濟：不承望自到雨村身邊，只一年，便生一子；又半載，雨村嫡配忽染疾下世，雨村便將他扶作正室夫人。正是：「偶因一回顧，便為人上人。」

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Translation Notes

仙逝, literally “immortal departure,” means to pass away.

出家 means to leave home to become a monk or nun. Beginning students of Chinese usually run into this verb by accident. If you’re leaving home, you need to say 離開家; 出家, which might seem more obvious, only has this religious meaning. Similarly, if you’re returning home you need to say 回家; 去家 sounds a lot like 出家, and nobody really says it.

我們也不知什麼『真』『假』！ is one of those phrases rich with unintended irony. The soldiers, who stand in for the government itself, are unintentionally saying that they don’t know the difference between “truth” and “falsehood,” nor do they care. They use these words here to say that they don’t know the difference between the surname 甄 (Zhen) and the word 家 (used in 出家). 家, or course, could also be thought of as 賈, which is the surname of the family living in the Rongguo Mansion that we’re about to meet and is the major point of the book. Here, the clear implication is that the bureaucracy simply doesn’t care about the difference between “truth” and “falsehood,” and is really only concerned with getting tasks accomplished regardless of the cost or implications.

Notice, of course, that the officers completely ignore Feng Su’s statement that Zhen Shiyin is not present and that he went to become a monk. This is an indication that the state cannot understand transcendence or anything like it. The journey to tell “truth” from “falsehood” is something that is meaningless to the overall bureaucratic structure.

At the same time, however, their statement about “truth” and “falsehood” indicates that the distinction itself is likely illusory, or 幻. In a deeply ironic sense, the officers are absolutely right in their statement — but, of course, they are completely incapable of realizing it.

二更 would have been around 9 to 11 PM.

嬌杏 is the name of the maid we met earlier, the one that Jia Yucun (or Jia Hua) fell in love with. It literally means “charming apricot.” It’s a homophone for 僥倖, which means “by sheer luck” or “fortuitous.” And, as we’ll soon see, her fate is represented very well by this pun: she winds up rising out of sheer luck.

端的 here means the precise details; 回明 means to explain clearly in reply (i.e. 回答明白, or 回答清楚).

緣故 means “cause” or “reason”

不覺 here is tricky: it means “cannot help but” when followed by another verb. Mrs. Zhen was overcome with grief.

四疋錦緞 is probably about 40 meters of fancy silk fabric (or “brocade”). 1 疋 technically should be 4 丈 or about 13.3 meters, since one 丈 was about 3.33 meters. However, the actual length would vary; about 40 meters is probably correct. 錦緞 was fancy silk woven with colored threads, often of gold and silver, and was cloth worn by elites or given as high status gifts.

二房 means second branch of a family, and, by extension refers to a concubine.

眉開眼笑 – with raised eyebrows and smiling eyes – means to be extremely happy.

巴不得 means to eagerly look forward to. In this case, Feng Su is extremely anxious to curry favor (奉承) with Jia Yucun – and so he urges on (攛掇) his daughter.

衙 here is short for 衙門, which was the government office and magistrate’s headquarters.

自不必言 means “it goes without saying,” and is the same as 自不待言.

且自過活 literally means to get by (過活) on your own (自) for now (且).

下落 means whereabouts

嫡配 and 正室夫人 are essentially analogous terms. 嫡 means “first wife,” and 正室 refers to the “main chamber,” or the principal wife’s designated living quarters. In a sense, Jiao Xing was presiding as the first wife now that the actual first wife had passed on. There is a subtle criticism here; in fact, Jiao Xing is really the 假 (false) principal wife after the 真 (true) principal wife has passed on. Her status is entirely performative.

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Translation Critique

“His face wreathed with smiles” is how Hawkes translates 陪笑. It’s a strange translation. The Cambridge Dictionary tells me that Hawkes’ phrase means “smiling and looking extremely happy,” which seems a lot different from the “awkwardly” or “obligingly” smile in the Chinese.

Hawkes then completely ignores the 真 and 假 pun, probably because this would require a lengthy and somewhat awkward footnote explanation. Instead, he has the “runners” say “‘Feng’ or ‘Zhen’, it’s all the same to us.” It doesn’t work, even though there’s a rhyme in English. And it doesn’t work because the implications are completely lost.

Hawkes translates the name 嬌杏 as Lucky, making the connection immediately between the name Jiao Xing and the implied meaning 僥倖. As we go on, we’ll see that this helped Hawkes immensely as he translates various puns and references in the poetry. Of course, I prefer the additional step of explanation.

Hawkes translates the final poem as:

Sometimes by chance

A look or a glance

May one’s fortune advance

It’s a creative interpretation and works quite well.

Yang

The Yangs begin this chapter with a poem:

A verse says:

Who can guess the outcome of a game of chess?

Incense burned out, tea drunk — it’s still in doubt.

To interpret the signs of prosperity or decline

An impartial onlooker must be sought out.

I’m not sure where this poem comes from or what it refers to. It’s possible that it’s part of a commentary on Dream of the Red Chamber that we haven’t gotten to yet. There are no explanatory footnotes, and this is not in the 程乙本.

The Yangs completely ignore the 真 and 假 pun and just skip over that sentence.

嬌杏 is only referred to as Chiao-hsin (a transliteration of the name), and nothing is made of the secondary meaning.

The Yangs translate the final poem as:

A single chance hiatus

Raised her status.

This is the most unsatisfactory poetic translation I’ve seen yet. I honestly think most of my readers could do better.

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My Translation