话说凤姐正与平儿说话，只见有人回说：“瑞大爷来了。”	Jia Rui's arrival was announced while Xi-feng and Patience were still talking about him.
凤姐命：“请进来罢。”	'Ask him in,' said Xi-feng.
贾瑞见请，心中暗喜。	Hearing that he was to be received, Jia Rui rejoiced inwardly.
见了凤姐，满面陪笑，连连问好。	He came into the room wreathed in smiles and overwhelmed Xi-feng with civilities.
凤姐儿也假意殷勤让坐让茶。	With feigned solicitude she pressed him to be seated and to take tea.
贾瑞见凤姐如此打扮，越发酥倒，因饧了眼问道：“二哥哥怎么还不回来？”	He became quite ecstatic at the sight of her informal dress. 'Why isn't Cousin Lian back yet?' he asked, staring with fascinated eyes.
凤姐道：“不知什么缘故。”	'I don't know what the reason can be,' said Xi-feng.
贾瑞笑道：“别是路上有人绊住了脚，舍不得回来了罢？”	'Could it be,' Jia Rui inquired archly, 'that Someone has detained him on his way home and that he can't tear himself away?'
凤姐道：“可知男人家见一个爱一个也是有的。”	'Men are all the same!' said Xi-feng. 'They have only to set eyes on a woman to begin another affair.'
贾瑞笑道：“嫂子这话错了，我就不是这样人。”	'Ah, there you are wrong!' said Jia Rui. 'I am not that sort of man.'
凤姐笑道：“像你这样的人能有几个呢，十个里也挑不出一个来！”	'But how many men are there like you?' said Xi-feng. 'I doubt you could find one in ten.'
贾瑞听了，喜的抓耳挠腮。	At this last remark Jia Rui positively scratched his ears with pleasure.
又道：“嫂子天天也闷的很。”	'You must find it very dull here on your own every day,' he said.
凤姐道：“正是呢。	'Yes, indeed!' said Xi-feng.
只盼个人来说话解解闷儿。”	'If only there were someone who could come and talk to me and help me to pass the time!'
贾瑞笑道：“我倒天天闲着。	'Well,' said Jia Rui, 'I am always free.
若天天过来替嫂子解解闷儿，可好么？”	How would it be if I were to come every day to help you pass the time?'
凤姐笑道：“你哄我呢!	'You must be joking!' said Xi-feng.
你那里肯往我这里来？”	'What would you want to come here for?'
贾瑞道：“我在嫂子面前，若有一句谎话，天打雷劈!	'I mean every word I say,' said Jia Rui. 'May I be struck by lightning if I don't!
只因素日闻得人说，嫂子是个利害人，在你跟前一点也错不得，所以唬住我了。 我如今见嫂子是个有说有笑极疼人的，我怎么不来?	True, there was a time when I should have been scared to come, because people always told me what a holy terror you were and how dangerous it was to cross you; but now I know that in reality you are all gentleness and fun, there is nothing that could stop me coming.
——死了也情愿。”	I would come now if it cost me my life.'
凤姐笑道：“果然你是个明白人，比蓉儿兄弟两个强远了。	'It's true then,' said Xi-feng, smiling delightedly. 'You really are an understanding sort of person --- so much more so than Rong or Qiang!
我看他那样清秀，只当他们心里明白，谁知竟是两个糊涂虫，一点不知人心。”	I used to think that since they were such handsome and cultured-looking young men they must be understanding as well, but they turned out to be stupid brutes without the least consideration for other people's feelings.'
贾瑞听这话，越发撞在心坎上，由不得又往前凑一凑，觑着眼看凤姐的荷包，又问：“戴着什么戒指？”	This little speech went straight to Jia Rui's heart, and unconsciously he began edging his seat nearer to Xi-feng's. He peered closely at an embroidered purse that she was wearing and expressed a strong interest in one of her rings.
凤姐悄悄的道：“放尊重些，别叫丫头们看见了。”	'Take care!' said Xi-feng in a low tone. 'The servants might see you!'
贾瑞如听纶音佛语一般，忙往后退。	Obedient to his goddess's command, Jia Rui quickly drew back again.
凤姐笑道：“你该去了。”	Xi-feng laughed. 'You had better go!'
贾瑞道：“我再坐一坐儿，好狠心的嫂子！”	'Ah no, cruel cousin! Let me stay a little longer!'
凤姐儿又悄悄的道：“大天白日人来人往，你就在这里也不方便。	'Even if you stay, it's not very convenient here in broad daylight, with people coming and going all the time.
你且去，等到晚上起了更你来，悄悄的在西边穿堂儿等我。”	Go away now and come hack later when it's dark, at the beginning of the first watch. You can slip into the gallery west of this apartment and wait for me there.'
贾瑞听了，如得珍宝，忙问道：“你别哄我。	Jia Rui received these words like someone being presented with a rare and costly jewel. 'Are you sure you're not joking?' he asked hurriedly.
但是那里人过的多，怎么好躲呢？”	'A lot of people must go through that way. How should we avoid being seen?'
凤姐道：“你只放心，我把上夜的小厮们都放了假，两边门一关，再没别人了。”	'Don't worry!' said Xi-feng. 'I'll give the watchmen a night off. When the side gates are closed, no one else can get through.'
贾瑞听了，喜之不尽，忙忙的告辞而去，心内以为得手。	Jia Rui was beside himself with delight and hurriedly took his leave, confident that the fulfilment of all he wished for was now in sight.
盼到晚上，果然黑地里摸入荣府，趁掩门时，钻入穿堂。 果见漆黑无一人来往，贾母那边去的门已倒锁了，只有向东的门未关。	Having waited impatiently for nightfall, he groped his way into the Rong-guo mansion just before they closed the gates and slipped into the gallery, now totally deserted—as Xi-feng had promised it would be—and black as pitch. The gate at the end of the alley-way opening on to Grandmother Jia's quarters had already been barred on the outer side; only the gate at the east end remained open.
贾瑞侧耳听着，半日不见人来。	For a long time Jia Rui listened intently, but no one came.
忽听‘咯噔’一声，东边的门也关上了。	Suddenly there was a loud slam and the gate at the east end, too, banged shut.
贾瑞急的也不敢则声，只得悄悄出来，将门撼了撼，关得铁桶一般。	Alarmed, but not daring to make a sound, Jia Rui stealthily crept out and tried it. It was locked—as tight as a bucket.
此时要出去亦不能了，南北俱是大墙，要跳也无攀援。	Now even if he wanted to get out he could not, for the walls on either side of the alley-way were too high to scale.
这屋内又是过堂风，空落落的，现是腊月天气，夜又长，朔风凛凛，侵肌裂骨，一夜几乎不曾冻死！	Moreover the gallery was bare and draughty and this was the midwinter season when the nights are long and the bitter north wind seems to pierce into the very marrow of the bones. By the end of the night he was almost dead with cold.
好容易盼到早晨，只见一个老婆子先将东门开了进来，去叫西门，贾瑞瞅他背着脸，一溜烟抱了肩跑出来。	When at last morning came, Jia Rui saw the gate at the east end open and an old woman pass through to the gate opposite and call for someone to open up. Still hugging himself against the cold, he sprinted out of the other gate while her back was towards him.
幸而天气尚早，人都未起，从后门一径跑回家去。	Fortunately no one was about at that early hour, and he was able to slip out of the rear entrance of the mansion and run back home unseen.
原来贾瑞父母早亡，只有他祖父代儒教养。	Jia Rui had lost both of his parents in infancy and had been brought up under the sole guardianship of his grandfather Jia Dai-ru.
那代儒素日教训最严，不许贾瑞多走一步，生怕他在外吃酒赌钱，有误学业。	Obsessed by the fear that once outside the house his grandson might indulge in drinking and gambling to the detriment of his studies, Dai-ru had subjected him since early youth to an iron discipline from which not the slightest deviation was tolerated.
今忽见他一夜不归，只料定他在外非饮即赌，嫖娼宿妓，那里想到这段公案? 因此也气了一夜。	Seeing him now suddenly absent himself a whole night from home, and being incapable, in his wildest imaginings, of guessing what had really happened, he took it as a foregone conclusion that he had been either drinking or gaming and had probably passed the night in some house of prostitution --- a supposition which caused the old gentleman to spend the whole night in a state of extreme choler.
贾瑞也捻着一把汗，少不得回来撒谎，只说：“往舅舅家去了，天黑了，留我住了一夜。”	The prospect of facing his grandfather on arrival made Jia Rui sweat. A lie of some sort was indispensable. 'I went to see Uncle yesterday,' he managed to say, 'and as it was getting dark, he asked me to stay the night.'
代儒道：“自来出门非禀我不敢擅出，如何昨日私自去了?	'I have always told you that you are not to go out of that gate without first informing me,' said his grandfather. 'Why then did you presume to go off on your own yesterday without saying a word to anybody?
据此也该打，何况是撒谎！”	That in itself would constitute sufficient grounds for chastisement. But in addition to that you are lying!'
因此发狠，按倒打了三四十板，还不许他吃饭，叫他跪在院内读文章，定要补出十天工课来方罢。	Thereupon he, forced him to the ground, and, with the utmost savagery, dealt him thirty or forty whacks with the bamboo, after which he forbade him to eat and made him kneel in the open courtyard with a book in his hand until he had prepared the equivalent of ten days' homework.
贾瑞先冻了一夜，又挨了打，又饿着肚子，跪在风地里念文章，其苦万状。	The exquisite torments suffered by Jia Rui, as he knelt with an empty stomach in the draughty courtyard reciting his homework after having already been frozen all night long and then beaten, can be imagined.
此时贾瑞邪心未改，再不想到凤姐捉弄他。	Yet even now his infatuation remained unaltered. It never entered his mind that he had been made a fool of.
过了两日，得了空儿，仍找寻凤姐。	And so two days later, as soon as he had some free time, he was back once more looking for Xi-feng.
凤姐故意抱怨他失信，贾瑞急的起誓。	She deliberately reproached him for having failed her, thereby so exasperating him that he swore by the most terrible oaths that he had been faithful.
凤姐因他自投罗网，少不的再寻别计令他知改，故又约他道：“今日晚上，你别在那里了，你在我这房后小过道儿里头那间空屋子里等我。	Seeing him hurl himself so willingly into the net, Xi-feng decided that a further lesson would be needed to cure him of his folly and proposed another assignation. 'Only tonight,' she said, 'don't wait for me in that place again. Wait in the empty room in the little passage-way behind this apartment.
——可别冒撞了！”	But mind you don't run into anybody.'
贾瑞道：“果真么？”	'Do you really mean this?' said Jia Rui.
凤姐道：“你不信就别来！”	'If you don't believe me, don't come!'
贾瑞道：“必来，必来!	'I'll come! I'll come!' said Jia Rui.
死也要来的。”	'Whatever happens, I shall be there.'
凤姐道：“这会子你先去罢。”	'Now I think you had better go.'
贾瑞料定晚间必妥，此时先去了。 凤姐在这里便点兵派将，设下圈套。	Confident of seeing her again in the evening, Jia Rui went off uncomplainingly, leaving Xi-feng time to muster her forces, brief her officers, and prepare the trap in which the luckless man was to be caught.
那贾瑞只盼不到晚，偏偏家里亲戚又来了，吃了晚饭才去，那天已有掌灯时候；又等他祖父安歇，方溜进荣府，往那夹道中屋子里来等着，热锅上蚂蚁一般。	Jia Rui waited for the evening with great impatience. By a stroke of bad luck some relations came on a visit and stayed to supper. It was already lamplight when they left, and Jia Rui then had to wait for his grandfather to settle down for the night before he could scuttle off to the Rong mansion and make his way to the room in the little passage-way where Xi-feng had told him to go. He waited there for her arrival with the frenzied agitation of an ant on a hot saucepan.
只是左等不见人影，右听也没声响，心中害怕，不住猜疑道：“别是不来了，又冻我一夜不成？”	Yet, though he waited and waited, not a human shape appeared nor a human sound was heard, and he began to be frightened and a little suspicious: 'Surely she won't fail me? Surely I shan't be made to spend another night in the cold...?'
正自胡猜，只见黑魆魆的进来一个人。	As he was in the midst of these gloomy imaginings, a dark figure glided into the room.
贾瑞便打定是凤姐，不管青红皂白，那人刚到面前，便如饿虎扑食、猫儿捕鼠的一般抱住，叫道：“亲嫂子，等死我了！” 说着，抱到屋里炕上就亲嘴扯裤子，满口里“亲爹”“亲娘”的乱叫起来。	Certain that it must be Xi-feng, Jia Rui cast all caution to the winds and, when the figure approached him, threw himself upon it like a hungry tiger seizing its prey or a cat pouncing on a harmless mouse. 'My darling, how I have waited for you!" he exclaimed, enfolding his beloved in his arms; and carrying her to the kang, he laid her down and began kissing her and tugging at her trousers, murmuring 'my sweetest darling' and 'my honey love' and other such endearments in between kisses.
那人只不做声，贾瑞便扯下自己的裤子来，硬帮帮就想顶入。	Throughout all of this not a single sound was uttered by his partner. Jia Rui now tore down his own trousers and prepared to thrust home his hard and throbbing member.
忽然灯光一闪，只见贾蔷举着个蜡台，照道：“谁在这屋里呢？”	Suddenly a light flashed --- and there was Jia Qiang holding aloft a candle in a candlestick which he shone around: 'Who is in this room?'
只见炕上那人笑道：“瑞大叔要肏我呢！”	At this the person on the kang gave a giggle: 'Uncle Rui is trying to bugger me!'
贾瑞不看则已，看了时真臊的无地可入。	Horrors! The sight he saw when he looked down made Jia Rui want to sink into the ground.
你道是谁?	
却是贾蓉。	It was Jia Rong!
贾瑞回身要跑，被贾蔷一把揪住道：“别走!	He turned to bolt, but Jia Qiang held him fast. 'Oh no you don't!
如今琏二婶子已经告到太太跟前，说你调戏他，他暂时稳住你在这里。	Auntie Lian has already told Lady Wang that you have been pestering her. She asked us to keep you here while she went to tell.
太太听见气死过去了，这会子叫我来拿你。	When Lady Wang first heard, she was so angry that she fainted, but now she's come round again and is asking for you to be brought to her.
快跟我走罢！”	Come along, then! Off we go!'
贾瑞听了，魂不附体，只说：“好侄儿! 你只说没有我，我明日重重的谢你！”	At these words Jia Rui's soul almost left its seat in his body. 'My dear nephew, just tell her that you didn't find me here!' he said. 'Tomorrow I will reward you handsomely.'
贾蔷道：“放你不值什么，只不知你谢我多少?	'I suppose I could let you go easily enough,' said Jia Qiang. 'The question is, how big would this reward be?
况且口说无凭，写一张文契才算。”	In any case, just saying that you will give me a reward is no good. I should want a written guarantee.'
贾瑞道：“这怎么落纸呢？”	'But I can't put a thing like this down in writing!'
贾蔷道：“这也不妨，写个赌钱输了，借银若干两，就完了。”	'No problem there,' said Jia Qiang. 'Just say that you've lost money gambling and have borrowed such and such an amount to cover your losses. That's all you need do.'
贾瑞道：“这也容易。”	'I could do that, certainly,' said Jia Rui.
贾蔷翻身出来，纸笔现成，拿来叫贾瑞写。 他两个做好做歹，只写了五十两银子，画了押，贾蔷收起来。 然后撕掳贾蓉。	Jia Qiang at once disappeared and reappeared only a moment later with paper and a writing-brush which had evidently been made ready in advance. Writing at his dictation Jia Rui was compelled, in spite of protests, to put down fifty taels of silver as the amount on the IOU. The document, having been duly signed, was at once pocketed by Jia Qiang, who then pretended to seek the connivance of Jia Rong.
贾蓉先咬定牙不依，只说：“明日告诉族中的人评评理。”	But Jia Rong feigned the most obdurate incorruptibility and insisted that he would lay the matter next day before a council of the whole clan and see that justice was done.
贾瑞急的至于磕头。	Jia Rui became quite frantic and kotowed to him.
贾蔷做好做歹的，也写了一张五十两欠契才罢。	Finally, under pressure from Jia Qiang and in return for another IOU for fifty taels of silver made out in his favour, he allowed his scruples to be overcome.
贾蔷又道：“如今要放你，我就担着不是。	'You realize, don't you,' said Jia Qiang, 'that I'm going to get into trouble for this?
	Now let's see.
老太太那边的门早已关了。 老爷正在厅上看南京来的东西，那一条路定难过去。	The gate leading to Lady Jia's courtyard was bolted some time ago, and Sir Zheng is at the moment in the main reception room looking at some stuff that has just arrived from Nanking, so you can't go through that way.
如今只好走后门。	The only way left would be through the back gate.
要这一走，倘或遇见了人，连我也不好。	The trouble is, though, that if you leave now, you might run into someone on the way, and then I should get into even worse trouble.
等我先去探探，再来领你。	You'd better let me scout around a bit first and come for you when the coast is clear.
这屋里你还藏不住，少时就来堆东西，等我寻个地方。”	In the meantime you can t hide here, though, because they will shortly be coming in to store the stuff from Nanking here. I'll find somewhere else for you.'
说毕，拉着贾瑞，仍息了灯，出至院外，摸着大台阶底下，说道：“这窝儿里好。	He took Jia Rui by the arm, and having first blown the candle out, led him into the courtyard and groped his way round to the underside of the steps which led up to the terrace of the central building. 'This hollow under the steps will do.
只蹲着，别哼一声。	Crouch down there, and don't make a sound!
等我来再走。”	You can go when I come for you.'
说毕，二人去了。	Jia Qiang and Jia Rong then went off leaving him to himself.
贾瑞此时身不由己，只得蹲在那台阶下。 正要盘算，只听头顶上一声响，哗喇喇一净桶尿粪从上面直泼下来，可巧浇了他一身一头。 贾瑞掌不住“嗳哟”一声，忙又掩住口，不敢声张，满头满脸皆是尿屎，浑身冰冷打战。	Jia Rui, by now a mere automaton in the hands of his captors, obediently crouched down beneath the steps and was just beginning a series of calculations respecting his present financial predicament when a sudden slosh! signalled the discharge of a slop-pail's stinking contents immediately above his head, drenching him from top to toe with liquid filth and causing him to cry out in dismay --- but only momentarily, for the excrement covered his face and head and caused him to close his mouth again in a hurry and crouch silent and shivering in the icy cold.
只见贾蔷跑来叫：“快走，快走！”	Just then Jia Qiang came running up: 'Hurry! hurry! You can go now.'
贾瑞方得了命，三步两步从后门跑到家中，天已三更，只得叫开了门。	At the word of command Jia Rui bounded out of his hole and sprinted for dear life through the rear gate and back to his own home. It was now past midnight, and he had to shout for someone to let him in.
家人见他这般光景，问：“是怎么了？” 少不得撒谎说：“天黑了，失脚掉在茅厕里了。”	When the servant who answered the gate saw the state he was in and asked him how it had happened, he had to pretend that he had been out in the darkness to ease himself and had fallen into the jakes.
一面即到自己房中更衣洗濯。 心下方想到凤姐玩他，因此发一回狠；再想想凤姐的模样儿标致，又恨不得一时搂在怀里。	Then rushing into his own room he stripped off his clothes and washed, his mind running all the time on how Xi-feng had tricked him. The thought of her trickery provoked a surge of hatred in his soul; yet even as he hated her, the vision of her loveliness made him long to clasp her to his breast.
胡思乱想，一夜也不曾合眼。	Torn by these violent and conflicting emotions, he passed the whole night without a single wink of sleep.
自此虽想凤姐，只不敢往荣府去了。	From that time on, though he longed for Xi-feng with unabated passion, he never dared to visit the Rong-guo mansion again.
贾蓉等两个常常来要银子，他又怕祖父知道。	Jia Rong and Jia Qiang, on the other hand, came frequently to his house to ask for their money, so that he was in constant dread of his grandfather finding out about the IOUs.
正是相思尚且难禁，况又添了债务，日间工课又紧；他二十来岁的人，尚未娶亲，想着凤姐不得到手，自不免有些“指头儿告了消乏”；更兼两回冻恼奔波：因此三五下里夹攻，不觉就得了一病：	Unable, even now, to overcome his longing for Xi-feng, saddled with a heavy burden of debt, harassed during the day time by the schoolwork set him by his exacting grandfather, worn-out during the nights by the excessive hand-pumping inevitable in an unmarried man of twenty whose mistress was both unattainable and constantly in his thoughts, twice frozen, tormented and forced to flee --- what constitution could withstand so many shocks and strains without succumbing in the end to illness?
心内发膨胀，口内无滋味，脚下如绵，眼中似醋，黑夜作烧，白日常倦，下溺遗精，嗽痰带血，诸如此症，不上一年都添全了。	The symptoms of Jia Rui's illness—a palpitation in the heart, a loss of taste in the mouth, a weakness in the hams, a smarting in the eyes, feverishness by night and lassitude by day, albumen in the urine and blood-flecks in the phlegm—had all manifested themselves within less than a year.
于是不能支持，一头躺倒，合上眼还只梦魂颠倒，满口胡话，惊怖异常。	By that time they had produced a complete breakdown and driven him to his bed, where he lay, with eyes tight shut, babbling deliriously and inspiring terror in all who saw him.
百般请医疗治，诸如肉桂、附子、鳖甲、麦冬、玉竹等药吃了有几十斤下去，也不见个动静。	Physicians were called in to treat him and some bushels of cinnamon bark, autumn root, turtle-shell, black leek and Solomon's seal must at one time and another have been infused and taken without the least observable effect.
倏又腊尽春回，这病更加沉重。	Winter went and spring came and Jia Rui's sickness grew even worse.
代儒也着了忙，各处请医疗治，皆不见效。	His grandfather Dai-ru was in despair. Medical advice from every quarter had been taken and none of it had proved effective.
因后来吃“独参汤”，代儒如何有这力量，只得往荣府里来寻。	The most recent advice was that the patient should be given a pure decoction of ginseng without admixture of other ingredients. So costly a remedy was far beyond Dai-ru's resources and he was obliged to go to the Rong-guo mansion to beg.
王夫人命凤姐秤二两给他。	Lady Wang ordered Wang Xi-feng to weigh out two ounces for him from their own supplies.
凤姐回说：“前儿新近替老太太配了药，那整的太太又说留着送杨提督的太太配药，偏偏昨儿我已经叫人送了去了。”	'The other day when we were making up a new lot of pills for Grandmother,' said Xi-feng, 'you told me to keep any of the remaining whole roots for a medicine you were sending to General Yang's wife. I sent her the medicine yesterday, so I am afraid we haven't any left.'
王夫人道：“就是咱们这边没了，你叫个人往你婆婆那里问问，或是你珍大哥哥那里有，寻些来，凑着给人家， 吃好了，救人一命，也是你们的好处。”	'Well, even if we haven't got any,' said Lady Wang, 'you can send to your mother-in-law's for some; and probably they will have some at your Cousin Zhen's. Between you you ought somehow or other to be able to raise enough to give him. If you can save a man's life by doing so, you will have performed a work of merit.'
凤姐应了，也不遣人去寻。	But though Xi-feng pretended to do as Lady Wang suggested, in fact she made no such inquiries.
只将些渣末凑了几钱，命人送去，只说：“太太叫送来的，再也没了。”	She merely scraped a few drams of broken bits together and sent them to Dai-ru with a message that 'Lady Wang had instructed her to send this, and it was all they had.'
然后向王夫人说：“都寻了来了，共凑了二两多，送去了。”	To Lady Wang, however, she reported that she had asked the others and altogether obtained more than two ounces of ginseng which she had sent to Dai-ru.
那贾瑞此时要命心急，无药不吃，只是白花钱，不见效。	Jia Rui now wanted desperately to live and eagerly swallowed every medicine that they offered him; but all was a waste of money, for nothing seemed to do him any good.
忽然这日有个跛足道人来化斋，口称专治冤孽之症。	One day a lame Taoist appeared at the door asking for alms and claiming to be able to cure retributory illnesses.
贾瑞偏偏在内听见了，直着声叫喊，说：“快去请进那位菩萨来救命！” 一面在枕头上磕头。	Jia Rui, who chanced to overhear him, called out from his bed: 'Quick, tell the holy man to come in and save me!' and as he called, he kotowed with his head on the pillow.
众人只得带进那道士来。	The servants were obliged to bring the Taoist into the bedroom.
贾瑞一把拉住，连叫“菩萨救我！”	Jia Rui clung to him tenaciously. 'Holy one, save me!' he cried out again and again.
那道士叹道：“你这病非药可医。	The Taoist sighed. 'No medicine will cure your sickness.
我有个宝贝与你，你天天看时，此命可保矣。”	However, I have a precious thing here that I can lend you which, if you will look at it every day, can be guaranteed to save your life.'
说毕，从搭裢中取出个正面反面皆可照人的镜子来，——背上錾着“风月宝鉴”四字，——递与贾瑞道：	So saying, he took from his satchel a mirror which had reflecting surfaces on both its sides. The words A MIRROR FOR THE ROMANTIC were inscribed on the back. He handed it to Jia Rui.
“这物出自太虚幻境空灵殿上，警幻仙子所制，专治邪思妄动之症，有济世保生之功。 所以带他到世上来，单与那些聪明俊秀、风雅王孙等照看。	'This object comes from the Hall of Emptiness in the Land of Illusion. It was fashioned by the fairy Disenchantment as an antidote to the ill effects of impure mental activity. It has life-giving and restorative properties and has been brought into the world for the contemplation of those intelligent and handsome young gentlemen whose hearts are too susceptible to the charms of beauty.
千万不可照正面，只照背面，要紧，要紧!	I lend it to you on one important condition: you must only look into the back of the mirror. Never, never under any circumstances look into the front.
三日后我来收取，管叫你病好。”	Three days hence I shall come again to reclaim it, by which time I guarantee that your illness will have gone.'
说毕，徉长而去。 众人苦留不住。	With that he left, at a surprising speed, ignoring the earnest entreaties of those present that he should stay longer.
贾瑞接了镜子，想道：“这道士倒有意思，我何不照一照试试？” 想毕，拿起那“宝鉴”来，向反面一照， 只见一个骷髅儿，立在里面。 贾瑞忙掩了，骂那道士：	'This is intriguing!' Jia Rui thought to himself when the Taoist gave him the mirror. 'Let me try looking into it as he says,' and holding it up to his face he looked into the back as instructed and saw a grinning skull, which he covered up hastily with a curse:
“混帐! 如何吓我!	'Silly old fool, to scare me like that! ---
我倒再照照正面是什么？”	But let me see what happens when I look into the other side!'
想着，便将正面一照，只见凤姐站在里面点手儿叫他。 贾瑞心中一喜，荡悠悠觉得进了镜子，与凤姐云雨一番，凤姐仍送他出来。	He turned the mirror round and looked, and there inside was Xi-feng beckoning to him to enter, and his ravished soul floated into the mirror after her. There they performed the act of love together, after which she saw him out again.
到了床上，“嗳哟”了一声，一睁眼，镜子从新又掉过来，仍是反面立着一个骷髅。	But when he found himself once more back in his bed he stared and cried out in horror: for the mirror, of its own accord, had turned itself round in his hand and the same grinning skull faced him that he had seen before.
贾瑞自觉汗津津的，底下已遗了一滩精。	He could feel the sweat trickling all over his body and lower down in the bed a little pool of semen that he had just ejaculated.
心中到底不足，又翻过正面来，只见凤姐还招手叫他，他又进去：如此三四次。	Yet still he was not satisfied, and turned the face of the mirror once more towards him. Xi-feng was there beckoning to him again and calling, and again he went in after her. He did this three or four times.
到了这次，刚要出镜子来，只见两个人走来，拿铁锁把他套住，拉了就走。	But the last time, just as he was going to return from the mirror, two figures approached him holding iron chains which they fastened round him and by which they proceeded to drag him away.
贾瑞叫道：“让我拿了镜子再走——”	He cried out as they dragged him: 'Wait! Let me take the mirror with me . . .!'
只说这句就再不能说话了。	Those were the last words he ever uttered.
旁边伏侍的人只见他先还拿着镜子照，落下来，仍睁开眼拾在手内，末后镜子掉下来，便不动了。	To those who stood around the bed and watched him while this was happening he appeared first to be holding up the mirror and looking into it, then to let it drop; then to open his eyes in a ghastly stare and pick it up again; then, as it once more fell from his grasp, he finally ceased to move.
众人上来看时，已经咽了气了，身子底下冰凉精湿遗下了一大滩精。	When they examined him more closely they found that his breathing had already stopped and that underneath his body there was a large, wet, icy patch of recently ejaculated semen.
这才忙着穿衣抬床， 代儒夫妇哭的死去活来，大骂道士：“是何妖道！” 遂命人架起火来烧那镜子。	At once they lifted him from the bed and busied themselves with the laying-out, while old Dai-ru and his wife abandoned themselves to a paroxysm of grief. They cursed the Taoist for a necromancer and ordered the servants to heap up a fire and cast the mirror upon the flames.
只听空中叫道：“谁叫他自己照了正面呢!	But just at that moment a voice was heard in the air saying, 'Who told him to look in the front?
你们自己以假为真，为何烧我此镜？”	It is you who are to blame, for confusing the unreal with the real! Why then should you burn my mirror?'
忽见那镜从房中飞出。 代儒出门看时，却还是那个跛足道人，喊道：“还我的‘风月宝鉴’来！”	Suddenly the mirror was seen to rise up and fly out of the room, and when Dai-ru went outside to look, there was the lame Taoist asking for it back.
说着，抢了镜子，眼看着他飘然去了。	He snatched it as it flew towards him and disappeared before Dai-ru's very eyes.
当下代儒没法，只得料理丧事，各处去报。	Seeing that there was to be no redress, Dai-yu was obliged to set about preparing for the funeral and began by announcing his grandson's death to everybody concerned.
三日起经，七日发引，寄灵铁槛寺后。	Reading of the sutras began on the third day and on the seventh the coffin was drawn in procession to temporary lodging in the Temple of the Iron Threshold to await future reburial.
一时贾家众人齐来吊问。	The various members of the Jia family all came in due course to offer their condolences.
荣府贾赦赠银二十两，贾政也是二十两，宁府贾珍亦有二十两，其馀族中人贫富不一，或一二两、三四两不等。	From the Rong-guo side Jia She and Jia Zheng each gave twenty taels of silver and from the Ning-guo side Cousin Zhen also gave twenty taels. The other members of the clan gave amounts varying from one to four taels according to their means.
外又有各同窗家中分资，也凑了二三十两。	A collection made among the parents of the dead man's fellow-students raised an additional twenty or thirty taels.
代儒家道虽然淡薄，得此帮助，倒也丰丰富富完了此事。	Although Dai-ru's means were slender, with so much monetary help coming in he was able to perform the whole business in considerable style.
谁知这年冬底，林如海因为身染重疾，写书来特接黛玉回去。	Towards the end of the year in which Jia Rui's troubles started Lin Ru-hai fell seriously ill and wrote a letter asking to see Dai-yu again.
贾母听了，未免又加忧闷，只得忙忙的打点黛玉起身。	Though Grandmother Jia was plunged into deepest gloom by the letter, she was obliged to prepare with all possible expedition for her granddaughter's departure.
宝玉大不自在，争奈父女之情，也不好拦阻。	And Bao-yu, though he too was distressed at the prospect of Dai-yu's leaving him, could scarcely seek to interfere in a matter affecting the natural feelings of a father and his child.
于是贾母定要贾琏送他去，仍叫带回来。	Grandmother Jia insisted that Jia Lian should accompany Dai-yu and see her safely there and back.
一应土仪盘费，不消絮说，自然要妥贴的。	The various gifts to be taken and the journey-money were, it goes without saying, duly prepared.
作速择了日期，贾琏同着黛玉辞别了众人，带领仆从，登舟往扬州去了。	A suitable day on which to commence the journey was quickly determined and Jia Lian and Dai-yu took leave of all the rest and, embarking with their attendants, set sail for Yangchow.
要知端的，且听下回分解。	If you wish for further details, you may learn them in the following chapter.