"Yes, that's the name," Madame Wang laughed, "why, now, I too have become muddle-headed."
"You're not muddle-headed, mother," said Pao-yü, "it's the mention of
Chin kangs and Buddhas which confused you."
"Stuff and nonsense!" ejaculated Madame Wang. "What you want again is your father to whip you!"
"My father," Pao-yü laughed, "wouldn't whip me for a thing like this."
"Well, this being their name," resumed Madame Wang, "you had better tell some one to-morrow to buy you a few."
"All these drugs," expostulated Pao-yü, "are of no earthly use. Were you, mother, to give me three hundred and sixty taels, I'll concoct a supply of pills for my cousin, which I can certify will make her feel quite herself again before she has finished a single supply."
"What trash!" cried Madame Wang. "What kind of medicine is there so costly!"
"It's a positive fact," smiled Pao-yü. "This prescription of mine is unlike all others. Besides, the very names of those drugs are quaint, and couldn't be enumerated in a moment; suffice it to mention the placenta of the first child; three hundred and sixty ginseng roots, shaped like human beings and studded with leaves; four fat tortoises; full-grown polygonum multiflorum; the core of the Pachyma cocos, found on the roots of a fir tree of a thousand years old; and other such species of medicines. They're not, I admit, out-of-the-way things; but they are the most excellent among that whole crowd of medicines; and were I to begin to give you a list of them, why, they'd take you all quite aback. The year before last, I at length let Hsüeh P'an have this recipe, after he had made ever so many entreaties during one or two years. When, however, he got the prescription, he had to search for another two or three years and to spend over and above a thousand taels before he succeeded in having it prepared. If you don't believe me, mother, you are at liberty to ask cousin Pao-ch'ai about it."
At the mention of her name, Pao-ch'ai laughingly waved her hand. "I know nothing about it," she observed. "Nor have I heard anything about it, so don't tell your mother to ask me any questions."
"Really," said Madame Wang smiling, "Pao-ch'ai is a good girl; she does not tell lies."