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He therefore was exceedingly unhappy, in his own mind, when, as luck would have it, on this day, which was the fourth day of the first seven, Tai Ch'uean, a eunuch of the Palace of High Renown, whose office was that of Palace Overseer, first prepared sacrificial presents, which he sent round by messengers, and next came himself in an official chair, preceded by criers beating the gong, to offer sacrificial oblations.
The young attendant signified his obedience, and Tai Ch'uean thereupon took his leave. Chia Chen did all he could to detain him, but with no success; so that he had no alternative but to escort him as far as the entrance of the Mansion.
Chia Chen promptly received him, and pressed him into a seat; and when they adjourned into the Hall of the Loitering Bees, tea was presented. Chia Chen had already arrived at a fixed purpose, so that he seized an opportunity to tell him of his wish to purchase an office for Chia Jung's advancement. Tai Ch'uean understood the purport of his remark.
Chia Chen lost no time in bidding some one write the statement on red paper, which Tai Ch'uean found, on perusal, to record that Chia Jung was a graduate, by purchase, of the District of Chiang Ning, of the Ying T'ien Prefecture, in Chiang Nan; that Chia Tai-hua, his great grandfather, had been Commander-in-Chief of the Metropolitan Camp, and an hereditary general of the first class, with the prefix of Spiritual Majesty; that his grandfather Chia Ching was a metropolitan graduate of the tripos in the Ping Ch'en year; and that his father Chia Chen had inherited a rank of nobility of the third degree, and was a general, with the prefix of Majestic Intrepidity.
"If you were to go and pay it at the Board," observed Tai Ch'uean; "you are sure to suffer loss; so that it would be better if you just weighed exactly one thousand taels and sent them over to my place; for then an end will be put to all trouble." Chia Chen was incessant in his expression of gratitude.
"It is, I presume," he added smilingly, "that the funeral rites should be a little more sumptuous." "My worthy sir," eagerly rejoined Chia Chen, "your surmise on that score is perfectly correct." "The question," explained Tai Ch'uean, "comes up at an opportune moment; for there is just at present a good vacancy.
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