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In the other, an additional twenty taels had been allowed, as a burial-place had to be purchased at the time. T'an Ch'un handed the accounts to Li Wan for her perusal. "Give her twenty taels," readily suggested T'an Ch'un. "Leave these accounts here for us to examine minutely." Wu Hsin-teng's wife then walked away. But unexpectedly Mrs. Chao entered the hall.
When the time came to prepare the lights, Pao-yue had a couple of mouthfuls of soup to eat, but he felt so drowsy and heavy that he fell asleep. Presently, Chou Jui's wife, Wu Hsin-teng's wife and Cheng Hao-shih's wife, all of whom were old dames who frequently went to and fro, heard that Pao-yue had been flogged and they too hurried into his quarters. Hsi Jen promptly went out to greet them.
If we dilly-dally another day, they won't run you people down for your coarse-mindedness, but we will seem to have been driven to our wits' ends!" Wu Hsin-teng's wife got quite scarlet in the face. Promptly twisting herself round, she quitted the hall; while the whole bevy of married women stretched out their tongues significantly. During her absence, other matters were reported.
"What shall we do?" T'an Ch'un asked Li Wan. Li Wan reflected for a while. "The other day," she rejoined, "that Hsi Jen's mother died, I heard that she was given forty taels. So now give her forty taels as well and have done!" Upon hearing this proposal, Wu Hsin-teng's wife eagerly expressed her acquiescence, by uttering a yes; and taking over the permit she was going on her way at once.
Now if any of them died at home, how much was allowed them? And how much was allotted to such as died outside? Tell us what was given in either case for our guidance." As soon as Wu Hsin-teng's wife was asked this question, every detail bearing on the subject slipped from her memory. Hastily forcing a smile, "This is," she replied, "nothing of any such great consequence.
Wu Hsin-teng's wife had thus devised an experiment in her own mind.
On the day that Madame Wang was going to a banquet at the mansion of the Marquis of Chin Hsiang, Li Wan and T'an Ch'un arranged their coiffure and performed their ablutions at an early hour; and after waiting upon her until she went out of doors, they repaired into the hall and installed themselves in their seats. But just as they were sipping their tea, they espied Wu Hsin-teng's wife walk in.
"Well, in that case," laughed Wu Hsin-teng's wife, "I'll go and look up the old accounts. I can't recollect anything about them just at this moment." "You're quite an old hand in the management of affairs," T'an Ch'un observed with a significant smile, "and can't you remember, but come instead to perplex us?
But in a little while, Wu Hsin-teng's wife returned with the old accounts. On inspection, T'an Ch'un found that for a couple of secondary wives, who had lived in the establishment, twenty-four taels had been granted, and that for two, whose quarters had been outside, forty taels had in each case been allowed.
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