Written on Water by Eileen Chang

Author:Eileen Chang
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: New York Review Books
Published: 2023-05-02T00:00:00+00:00

Jia Zhen arrives with a letter from Miss You saying she has engaged a lawyer to sue Jia Lian for seducing and subsequently abandoning her. She has decided to blackmail him because he has recently “made a name for himself in officialdom and would not want his reputation besmirched.” Jia Lian is unable to come up with the money. “It looks as though the only recourse is to try to touch Jia Zhen for the funds. After all, he’s played his own part in all this. I’m fairly sure that he won’t want to refuse me.”

Because he’s afraid the debt will go unpaid, Jia Zhen transfers his wife’s own money to Jia Lian and invents a story that he’s borrowed it from another friend.

What comes next is a description of the First Lady Jia Yuanchun’s New Life Movement fashion show, the elopement of Qin Zhong and Sapientia, how Parfumée and Lotus join a song-and-dance troupe after having been ejected from the Jia household, how they become objects of desire for Jia Zhen, his son, and Bao-yu alike, plus the kidnapping of Qiao-jie, as well as Bao-yu’s demand that he be allowed to go abroad with Dai-yu. When this request is denied, he leaves home in protest, and only then do Grandmother Jia and Lady Wang finally cave in and give their consent to the arrangement:

Aroma instructed Bao-yu to go to Bao-chai’s apartment to say his farewells, but Bao-yu demurred, “Lately, Auntie Xue always sees to it that I feel uncomfortable in her presence.” With a twinge of regret, he asked Aroma, “Has Cousin Bao said anything? Does she blame me for what’s happened?” Aroma replied, “How should I know how things stand between the two of you?” Bao-yu . . . heaved a long sigh.

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