The Red Chamber Read Free Page B

almost seventeen, he has not outgrown his fondness for tormenting his sister and cousins.
    He catches sight of her. “What are you doing here so early?”
    “I came to look for my mother’s pills. Why don’t you help me?”
    He follows her into Granny’s front room, empty at this hour. She climbs onto the kang , rummaging beneath pillows and bolsters.
    A moment later he holds up an embroidered drawstring purse from the other side of the kang . “Is this it?”
    “Yes,” she says, relieved. She crawls towards him, putting out her hand. “Thank you.”
    He puts it behind his back. “What will you give me for it?”
    She hates how he always tries to take advantage of another person’s weakness. She looks at his receding chin, his rodent-like eyes, so unlike Baoyu’s. Her temper rises, but she says pleasantly, “Please, Huan. My mother has a headache.”
    “All the more reason you should be willing to give me something for it.”
    “Come on, Huan,” she says, more sharply. She usually makes a special effort to be kind to him, to show that she does not hold his birth against him, but today she has no patience for his teasing.
    Baoyu comes in, with his light step. Huan tries to conceal the purse in his sleeve.
    Seeing the situation at a glance, Baoyu puts out his hand. “Give it to me, Huan.”
    “Why should I?”
    “Because I’ll make you if you don’t.” Baoyu probably outweighs Huan by six or seven jin , and is as graceful as Huan is awkward.
    After a moment, Huan flings the purse at Baoyu and slinks out of the room.
    She tries to hide her rush of pleasure at being alone with Baoyu. She notices that, unlike Huan, he is wearing stay-at-home clothes, a slightly worn blue gown, and thick-soled red slippers instead of boots. “Aren’t you going to school today?”
    “I asked Granny to let me stay home so I could greet our new cousin.”
    “Huan is going.”
    He gives her a look, which clearly says that if Huan is too stupid to getout of going to school, it isn’t his fault. He climbs onto the kang to give her the purse.
    “Thank you.” She reaches out her hand, but just as she is about to take the purse, he puts it behind his back.
    She laughs. “Now don’t you start!”
    His brilliant black eyes are alight with mischief.
    She lunges at him. Quickly, he transfers the purse to the other hand. She tries to grab it from the other side, and he switches it back. As she tussles with him for possession of it, sometimes her hand or shoulder brushes against his chest. This kind of contact, even between cousins, is highly improper. She glances nervously towards the door to make sure no one is coming. She lunges again, laughing and out of breath, more and more wildly. Finally, rather than dodging her, he lets her crash full into his chest, and puts his arms around her.
    She cannot breathe. She feels a hot blush rising to her face, and lowers her eyes. She feels his arms around her, his chest against hers. She knows she should push him away. She has known him ever since she and her mother would visit from Nanjing when she was a little girl. But when she and her mother moved to the Capital for good last year, he was no longer the naughty bright-eyed little boy she remembered. He had grown so handsome and poised that it made her catch her breath.
    “Let me go,” she says, but he only holds her tighter. “Give me the purse.” She glances shyly up at him. His face, with its bold, laughing eyes, is only inches from hers.
    “What will you give me for it?” he whispers.
    “You’re as bad as Huan!”
    “What will you give me for it?” he repeats.
    “Nothing,” she whispers back.
    He holds her tighter, lowers his head. Is he going to kiss her?
    There is the scuffle of feet on the verandah outside the door curtain. They jump apart.
    Xifeng comes in, and Baochai can tell from the mockery in her brilliant eyes that she has guessed, if not seen, what was going on.
    “Now, Baoyu, what have you been doing to make