Mrs. Hsüeh and her daughter were sitting one day, at noon, in Madame Wang's quarters, together with Lin Tai-yü and the other girls, when lady Feng found an opportunity and broached the topic with Madame Wang. "Ever since," she said, "sister Chin Ch'uan-erh's death, there has been one servant less in your ladyship's service. But you may possibly have set your choice upon some girl; if so, do let me know who it is, so that I may be able to pay her her monthly wages."
This reminder made Madame Wang commune with her own self. "I fancy," she remarked; "that the custom is that there should be four or five of them; but as long as there are enough to wait upon me, I don't mind, so we can really dispense with another."
"What you say is, properly speaking, perfectly correct," smiled lady Feng; "but it's an old established custom. There are still a couple to be found in other people's rooms and won't you, Madame, conform with the rule? Besides, the saving of a tael is a small matter."
After this argument, Madame Wang indulged in further thought. "Never mind," she then observed, "just you bring over this allowance and pay it to me. And there will be no need to supply another girl. I'll hand over this tael to her younger sister, Yü Ch'uan-erh, and finish with it. Her elder sister came to an unpleasant end, after a long term of service with me; so if the younger sister, she leaves behind in my employ, receives a double share, it won't be any too excessive."
Lady Feng expressed her approval and turning round she said smilingly to
Yü Ch'uan-erh: "I congratulate you, I congratulate you!"
Yü Ch'uan-erh thereupon crossed over and prostrated herself.
"I just want to ask you," Madame Wang went on to inquire, "how much Mrs.
Chao and Mrs. Chou are allowed monthly?"
"They have a fixed allowance," answered lady Feng, "each of them draws two taels. But Mrs. Chao gets two taels for cousin Chia Huan, so hers amounts in all to four taels; besides these, four strings of cash."
"Are they paid in full month after month?" Madame Wang inquired.
Lady Feng thought the question so very strange that she hastened to exclaim by way of reply: "How are they not paid in full?"