| The Wang brothers deliberate...: |
As she was speaking, a cat under the table crawled up Mr. Yan's leg, and he gave it a kick. The frightened cat shot into the bedroom and jumped onto the canopy of the bed.
Then they heard a great crash. Something had fallen from the top of the bed and smashed the wine vat on the floor. Taking a candle they hurried in to look, and found that the silly cat had knocked off a piece of the bedstead, bringing down a big wicker basket full of dates which had fallen in the wine. Now the dates were scattered on the ground, the basket lying on its side; and it took the two of them to right it. Then, under the dates, they discovered paper packages containing five hundred taels of silver.
「I knew she couldn't have spent all that silver,」 said Mr. Yan with a sigh. 「This must be what she saved over the years. She wanted to keep it in readiness for whenever I might need money in a hurry. But where is she now?」
He shed tears again, and called servants to sweep the floor while he and his new wife put a plateful of the dates on the table before the shrine and, kneeling there, wept again. Because of this, Mr. Yan did not go out to pay New Year visits, but stayed at home weeping from time to time, feeling out of sorts and in low spirits. |
