The Warning Voice (6 page)

Thither, then, at six o'clock each morning the two sisters-in-law repaired and sat there until noon while a stream of stewardesses and serving women trooped in and out reporting on their duties and asking for their instructions.

To begin with, when the servants heard that Li Wan would be managing the household on her own, all of them were secretly pleased. She was known to be a kind, easy-going sort of person who disliked giving punishments, and with her in command they felt sure that it would be much easier than usual to get away with things. Even the addition of Tan-chun did not materially alter these expectations. Tan-chun was young and unmarried and, so far as one could judge, a quiet and docile girl. They foresaw no trouble from that quarter and were, as a consequence, inclined to take liberties in her presence that they would not have dared to do with Xi-feng.
Within only a few days of her arrival, however, they had begun to sense, from the way in which she handled one or two of the matters that were brought to her attention, that though quieter-spoken than Xi-feng and of a much more equable disposition, she yielded nothing to her in thoroughness.

By coincidence it happened that about this time a dozen or more important events – promotions, demotions, marriages, deaths and the like – occurred in rapid succession among the group of aristocratic and official families connected by matrimonial or other ties with the Ning-guo and Rong-guo Jias, and for days on end Lady Wang's time was taken up with visits of condolence or felicitation. Some responsible person was needed to stand in for her while she was away; so while Li Wan and Tan-chun spent all their mornings in the office, Bao-chai spent hers in Lady Wang's apartment, only leaving it when her aunt got home from her visiting. At night the three young guardians spent whatever time could be spared from their sewing patrolling the Garden in sedans, escorted by the old women of the watch. Working together in this way they soon came to feel that they had evolved a system of supervision more careful even than Xi-feng's – a view amply borne out by the grumbles of the domestics themselves:

‘No sooner is the Terror of the Seas put out of action than along come these three Scourges of the Mountains to take her place. Nowadays you can't even take time off for a quiet drink of a night or a little game of cards!'

A day came when Lady Wang was due to attend a luncheon at the Marquis of Jin-xiang's. Li Wan and Tan-chun, after an early toilet, had attended her to the gate and seen her off. They had just got back to their office and were enjoying a morning cup of tea when Wu Xin-deng's wife came in to report:

‘Mrs Zhao's brother, Zhao Guo-ji, died yesterday. I told Her Ladyship and she said I was to report it to you.'

Having delivered this brief communiqué, she stood in silence, her arms held stiffly at her sides, waiting for a reply. A number of stewardesses who were waiting their turn to report, pricked up their ears at this mention of Tan-chun's natural mother and waited with interest to see what the two young deputies would decide. If their decision was a good one,
they would in future treat them with respect; but if it was one in which there was the slightest possibility of picking holes, not only would they not respect them, but afterwards, when they got back outside, they would have many a good laugh at their expense.

The behaviour of Wu Xin-deng's wife on this occasion was quite deliberate. If it had been Xi-feng that she was reporting to, she would have demonstrated her efficiency by making one or two helpful suggestions, having armed herself beforehand with some precedents for Xi-feng to choose from; but as it was only Li Wan and Tan-chun, one of whom she despised for her softness and the other for her youth, she merely stated her business and left them to flounder unaided.

Tan-chun turned questioningly to Li Wan.

‘When Aroma's mother died recently, didn't they give her forty taels?' said Li Wan after thinking for a bit. ‘I suppose we'd better give her forty taels.'

‘Yes ma'am,' said Wu Xin-deng's wife, and taking up a tally, went hurrying off to collect the money.

‘Just a minute!' Tan-chun called out after her.

Wu Xin-deng's wife returned – a trifle reluctantly it could be observed.

‘Don't collect that money yet,' said Tan-chun. ‘There's something I want to ask you. Of the old women in Lady Jia's apartment who used to be chamber-wives when my grandfather was alive, some must have been home-reared and some must have been bought outside. There's a different scale for the two kinds, isn't there? How much do the home-reared ones get when someone in their family dies and how much do the ones from outside get? Give us one or two examples so that we have something to go on.'

Not having prepared herself for such a question, Wu Xin-deng's wife was unable to answer it. She covered up for herself, all smiles:

‘It's not a very important matter. Just give what you think. No one's going to question your decision.'

Tan-chun smiled back:

‘Now you are talking nonsense. Suppose I said, “Give her a hundred taels”? No, we have to give what is right: otherwise,
quite apart from the fact that
you
will all laugh at us, how am I going to face Mrs Lian when I next see her?'

‘Very good then, I'll go and look up the old accounts,' said Wu Xin-deng's wife. ‘I can't at the moment remember.'

‘You've been working here all these years and you can't remember?' said Tan-chun. ‘I think you are trying to make things difficult for us. I can't believe that you have to go off and look things up when Mrs Lian asks you a question. If you do, all I can say is that she is not such a strict mistress as she is supposed to be; in fact, I should say that she was a rather indulgent one. All right, hurry up and fetch the accounts then! If this matter is delayed, it isn't your negligence that will be blamed but our incompetence.'

Blushing to the roots of her hair, Wu Xin-deng's wife hurried off to do as she was bidden. The other women gasped and stuck their tongues out in surprise. Reporting on other matters continued in her absence.

After a little while she returned with the account-books. On examination Tan-chun found two instances of home-reared concubines receiving twenty taels and two of ‘outsiders' receiving forty taels. She also found an instance of an outsider receiving a hundred taels and one of an outsider receiving sixty; but in each case a note explaining special circumstances had been made against the entry: in the first case the body of a parent had had to be conveyed in its coffin for interment in another province and the extra sixty taels was to cover the cost of transport; in the second case the extra twenty taels was for the purchase of a plot of ground for burial. Tan-chun handed Li Wan the relevant account to look at, while at the same time informing Wu Xin-deng's wife of her decision:

‘Give her twenty taels. And leave these accounts with us, so that we can have a good look at them.'

Wu Xin-deng's wife went off once more.

The next thing that happened was that Aunt Zhao came stalking in. Li Wan and Tan-chun invited her to be seated, but Aunt Zhao was in no mood for polite preliminaries.

‘Everyone in this family tramples on me,' she said, addressing herself to Tan-chun. ‘Don't you think that
you
at least might stick up for me?'

She began crying messily, the abundant moisture seeming to come as much from her nostrils as from her eyes.

‘Who are you complaining about?' said Tan-chun. ‘I really don't understand you.
Who's
been trampling on you? If you would tell me, perhaps I might be able to “stick up” for you.'

‘You have, for a start,' said Aunt Zhao. ‘That doesn't leave me anyone to turn to, does it?'

Tan-chun leaped to her feet:

‘I shouldn't dream of trampling on you.'

Li Wan, too, stood up and made some soothing remark or other. But Aunt Zhao was not to be placated:

‘Sit down both of you, and listen to me. I've given the best years of my life to this family – years and years and years. I've borne two children for them, you and your brother. And now, after all that, I'm not even to be treated as well as Aroma. What sort of face does that leave me with? What sort of face does it leave
you
with – never mind me?'

Tan-chun laughed mirthlessly:

‘Oh
that
'
s
what this is about! The simple answer to that is that I have to follow the rules.'

She sat down again, opened up the account-book and, holding it out for Aunt Zhao to see, read the relevant entries out to her.

‘These regulations were laid down by the ancestors for everyone to follow.
I
can't suddenly go altering them. It isn't just Aroma. It will be exactly the same if one day Huan has a chamber-wife from outside. If someone in her family dies, then, as an outsider, she will get exactly the same amount as Aroma did. It has nothing to do with who is more important than whom. It isn't a matter of prestige at all. Zhao Guo-ji was Lady Wang's bondservant. That means that he belongs to the “home-reared” class. The rules lay down a certain scale of payments for that class. All I have done is to follow the rules. I am sure that Zhao Guo-ji must approve and be grateful to the ancestors and Lady Wang for their generosity. If he doesn't – if he thinks he is being unfairly treated – then all I can say is that he is stupid and ungrateful and one can't really care very much
what
he thinks. As regards face, it makes no difference to me whether Lady Wang gives him everything
she's got or nothing at all. And I really do think that while she is away you might try to compose yourself a bit and not go working yourself up into such a state. Although Lady Wang is so good to me, I am constantly worried that you will spoil everything with your perpetual trouble-making. If I'd been a boy I should have left home long ago and done something to show myself worthy of her kindness; but as I am a girl, I have to stay at home and never say a word out of turn. I believe she realizes this, and because she thinks highly of me she has entrusted me with this managing job as a means of proving myself. But before I have had a chance to do anything, you have to come along and start making things difficult for me. If Lady Wang gets to hear of it, she will probably conclude that the job is too hard for me and take it away again. That would be a
real
loss of face – for you as well as for me.'

Tan-chun's shoulders began to shake as she said this and she ended up by bursting into tears.

Aunt Zhao did not really have an answer to what Tan-chun had said, so she tried another tack.

‘If Lady Wang is so fond of you, you ought to use your position to give us a helping hand. The fact is, though, you are so anxious to keep in her good books that you forget about us altogether.'

‘Of course I don't forget about you,' said Tan-chun. ‘But what do you mean by giving you a “helping hand”? A good mistress will always be favourable to those who try hard and make themselves useful, and a good servant doesn't need any “helping hand” in order to keep in her favour.'

Li Wan hovered between them, still trying to act the peacemaker:

‘Please don't be angry, Mrs Zhao. You mustn't blame Tan-chun. I'm sure she's most anxious to give you all the help she can; but you could hardly expect her to say so.'

‘Don't talk such stuff, Wan!' said Tan-chun impatiently. ‘Help
whom
, for goodness sake? Whoever heard of the young mistress in a family
helping
the servants? Their private interests are no concern of mine, as you perfectly well know.'

‘We're not talking about “servants”, we're talking about
me
,' said Aunt Zhao angrily. ‘If you hadn't been in charge now, I'd never have asked you. At this particular moment you happen to be in charge here. Very well. Your mother's brother has just died. If you decide to give an extra twenty or thirty taels towards his funeral, Her Ladyship isn't going to stop you, is she? Of course she isn't. We all know what a good, kind person Her Ladyship is. It's mean, tight-fisted people like you interfering that stop her being generous. I simply don't know what you're worried about. It isn't
your
money you're spending. I'd been hoping that one of these days when you grew up and got married you'd be able to do our Zhao family a bit of good. But not you! You're in such a hurry to find a higher branch to perch on, you've forgotten the nest even before your feathers are full-grown!'

Tan-chun went white, and for a moment anger deprived her of her breath. When she regained it she broke into louder sobs.

‘Who is this “mother's brother”? The only mother's brother I know about is the one who has just been appointed Inspector-General of Armies in the Nine Provinces. I'm sure I always try to show respect where it is due, but no one ever told me that I ought to think of Zhao Guo-ji as my uncle. If so, how is it that he always stood up for Huan and walked behind him on his way to school in the mornings? Why didn't he insist on being treated as an uncle by Huan? But what's the point? Everyone knows it was you who bore me. Two or three months never go by without your making a scene about something or other just to give yourself an opportunity of proclaiming the fact. And
you
talk about face! It's a good job I understand your little game. If I were a simple-minded person and not very sure of my position, it would have driven me distracted long ago.'

The ever more agitated attempts at peace-making by Li Wan and continuing gabble of complaint from Aunt Zhao which followed this outburst were suddenly interrupted by a call from the women outside:

‘Here's Miss Patience with a message from Mrs Lian.'

At once Aunt Zhao fell silent. She advanced fawningly on Patience as she entered:

‘Is your mistress any better, Patience? I've been meaning to go round and see her, but I just haven't had the time.'