Wang Xifeng's Power

A look at how powerful she really is

Wang Xifeng’s Power

This segment of chapter 14 shows us a little bit more of Wang Xifeng’s power. Cao Xueqin does a brilliant job of showing us the power that Wang Xifeng has over the household budget without spending a lot of time explaining it to us.

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My Translation

After Wang Xifeng had finished eating, a maid from the Ningguo Mansion came to collect one of the symbols. She needed to procure some lamp oil and paper offerings.

“I thought for sure you’d come today to pick it up,” said Wang Xifeng with a smile. “Did you forget about it? If you had completely forgotten about it, you would have had to cover the cost yourself. All the better for me!”

“Of course I’d forgotten about it!” smiled the woman. “I just remembered it a moment ago. If I had been one step late, I wouldn’t have been able to collect it.” And she took the symbol and left.

A little while later, the symbols had been handed over and were tallied up. Qin Zhong saw this and said with a smile, “Both of the mansions use the same symbols. What if somebody secretly made one by themselves and used it to take out silver? What would you do?”

“If it’s like that,” smiled Wang Xifeng, “then there would be no law and order left in the world!”

“Well, then how come nobody from our household ever comes to get a symbol for supplies?” asked Baoyu.

“You’re still asleep when they come to collect them,” replied Xifeng. “But tell me, when are you finally going to start your evening classes?”

“I wish I could start today,” replied Baoyu. “But they’ve been so slow at getting the study ready. There’s nothing I can do.”

“Well, if you ask me nicely,” said Xifeng with a smile, “I guarantee I can speed things up.”

“You’re no use,” replied Baoyu. “When it’s time for them to work on it, they’ll start working on it.”

“But they need the supplies to do the work,” replied Xifeng. “And, if I didn’t give them the matching symbol to get the supplies, they’d be in a difficult situation!”

After she said this, Baoyu got close to Xifeng and started to ask her for the tally. “Dear Fengjie,” he said. “Give them the symbol so they can get the supplies and fix up the room!”

“I’m so tired that my body is aching,” replied Xifeng. “How can I put up with your torment? Don’t worry about it. They just took the symbol to get the wallpaper and paste today. Do you really think they need to be ordered to get it done? Do you think they’re stupid?”

Baoyu was unconvinced, and so Xifeng had Caiming show him the record in the register.

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Translation Critique

Hawkes

Hawkes translates the difficult 都便宜了我 as “That would have suited me down to the ground!” It’s a somewhat effective way of dealing with a passage that is really not easy to translate into English.

I think Hawkes makes a mistake when it comes to Xifeng telling Baoyu to stop pestering her. The Chinese says “今兒才領了裱糊紙去了。他們該要的，還等叫去呢？可不傻了？” which means something like “They were just here to get the tally for the wallpaper and paste today. Do you think they really need to be ordered to get their work done? Do you think they’re stupid?” Hawkes translates it like this:

They’ve just been round to see about paper for the windows. It would loo pretty stupid if you were to send them off for something they have already got.

There seems to be a fundamental misunderstanding here of what Wang Xifeng is saying. She’s trying to tell Jia Baoyu that she can arrange the order of events so that his room will have priority over everything else, and that she can do this by simply handling who gets the necessary symbol at what time. Baoyu seems to think that she’s saying she’ll prevent the workers from working on his study at all, which is why she tells him that they just came to get the wallpaper and paste. She’s telling him that there’s no reason for her to order them on what to do; rather, she can control them simply by controlling the flow of supplies.

Yang

The Yangs translate 你請我請兒，包管就快了 as “If you treat me, I’ll speed things up.” This is also a possible translation of the passage, though I don’t think Wang Xifeng is actually asking Jia Baoyu to treat her to something; after all, she now controls all the finances of both households. This is why I think it’s better to interpret this passage as something more like “if you ask me nicely.”

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Chinese Text

鳳姐飯畢，就有寧府一個媳婦來領牌，為支取香燈。鳳姐笑道：「我算著你今兒該來支取。想是忘了？要終久忘了，自然是你包出來，都便宜了我！」那媳婦笑道：「何嘗不是忘了！方才想起來。再遲一步，也領不成了。」說畢，領牌而去。

一時登記交牌。秦鍾因笑道：「你們兩府裡都是這牌，倘別人私造一個，支了銀子去，怎麼好？」鳳姐笑道：「依你說，都沒王法了！」寶玉因道：「怎麼咱們家沒人來領牌子支東西？」鳳姐道：「他們來領的時候，你還做夢呢。我且問你，你們多早晚才念夜書呢？」寶玉道：「巴不得今日就念才好。只是他們不快給收拾書房，也是沒法兒。」鳳姐笑道：「你請我請兒，包管就快了。」寶玉道：「你也不中用。他們該做到那裡的時候，自然有了。」鳳姐道：「就是他們做，也得要東西，擱不住我不給對牌，是難的！」寶玉聽說，便挨向鳳姐身上，立刻要牌，說：「好姐姐！給他們牌，好支東西去收拾。」鳳姐道：「我乏的身上生痛，還擱的住你這麼揉搓？你放心罷，今兒才領了裱糊紙去了。他們該要的，還等叫去呢？可不傻了？」寶玉不信，鳳姐便叫彩明查冊子給他看。

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Translation Notes

The phrase 要終久忘了，自然是你包出來，都便宜了我 is actually pretty difficult to understand. The thing is that nobody could take any of the supplies without the 領牌, which is the official seal or tally or symbol needed to pick things up to have them officially drawn against the budget for funeral expenses. If the maid had forgotten to pick up the 領牌 for the supplies, there would have been no way to get them from the official account. Wang Xifeng here is implying that she would have needed to pay for them herself outside on the open market (自然是你包出來), and then remarking that she’d save the expense in the household budget (都便宜了我).

你請我請兒 is kind of an odd phrase to understand. 請 seems to be used as a verb twice, and I think the 兒 at the end of the second repetition is softening the meaning somewhat. This is why it means something like “if you were to ask nicely,” or “if you were to kindly ask me.”

不中用 means unfit or incapable.

擱不住 means to be unable to stand or unable to endure

揉搓 means to torment or torture