| | 說楔子敷... : |
王冕見天色晚了，牽了牛回去。自此，聚的錢不買書了，託人向城裏買些胭脂鉛粉之類，學畫荷花。初時畫得不好，畫到三個月之後，那荷花，精神、顏色無一不像，只多著一張紙，就像是湖裏長的；又像纔從湖裏摘下來，貼在紙上的。鄉間人見畫得好，也有拿錢來買的。王冕得了錢，買些好東好西，孝敬母親。一傳兩，兩傳三，諸暨一縣都曉得是一個畫沒骨花卉的名筆，爭著來買。到了十七八歲，不在秦家了，每日畫幾筆畫，讀古人的詩文，漸漸不愁衣食，母親心裏歡喜。 |
| In which an introductory...: |
Wang Mian saw that it was growing late, and led the buffalo back. After that, Wang Mian no longer spent his savings on books, but asked someone to buy paints for him in the city, and learnt to paint lotus flowers. At first he did not do too well, but after three months he succeeded in capturing the very essence and shades of colour of the lotus. Though he painted on paper, his flowers seemed to be growing in the water, or as if freshly plucked from the lake and placed on a scroll. When the villagers saw how well he painted, some even bought his pictures. And when Wang Mian had money he bought good things for his mother. One person told another, until the whole of Zhuji County knew that he was a famous flower painter, and people vied with each other in their eagerness to buy. By the time he was eighteen he had stopped working for Old Qin, and spent every day doing some painting or reading old poems and essays. By degrees he no longer had to worry about his livelihood, and his mother was happy. |
| | 說楔子敷... : |
彼此爭論了一番，秦老整治晚飯與他喫了；又暗叫了王冕出去問母親秤了三錢二分銀子，送與翟買辦做差錢，方纔應諾去了，回覆知縣。 |
| In which an introductory...: |
They argued for some time. Then Old Qin prepared supper for the bailiff, and while he was eating told Wang Mian secretly to ask his mother for a little silver as messenger's fee. Only then did Zhai consent to go back. |
| | 王秀才議... : |
正要退堂，見兩個人進來喊冤，知縣叫帶上來問。一個叫做王小二，是貢生嚴大位的緊鄰。去年三月內，嚴貢生家一口纔過下來的小豬，走到他家去，他慌送回嚴家。嚴家說：豬到人家，再尋回來，最不利市，押著出了八錢銀子，把小豬就賣與他。這一口豬在王家已養到一百多斤，不想錯走到嚴家去，嚴家把豬關了。小二的哥子王大走到嚴家討豬。嚴貢生說，豬本來是他的：「你要討豬，照時值估價，拿幾兩銀子來，領了豬去。」王大是個窮人，那有銀子，就同嚴家爭吵了幾句；被嚴貢生幾個兒子，拿拴門的閂，趕麵的杖，打了一個臭死，腿都打折了，睡在家裏。所以小二來喊冤。 |
| The Wang brothers deliberate...: |
He was just about to leave, when two men came in to appeal to him, and he ordered them to approach for questioning. The first was called Wang Er, and he lived next door to Senior Licentiate Yan. In the third month of the previous year the Yan family's sucking pig had strayed into the Wangs' yard, but the Wangs had returned it immediately. Yan said, 「To take a pig back like this means very bad luck.」 He forced the Wangs to buy it for eighty cents of silver. They had fattened it up till it weighed over a hundred catties, when it wandered into the Yans' yard by mistake. The Yan family shut it up, and when Wang's elder brother went to ask for it, Senior Licentiate Yan said, 「It's my pig, and if you want it you must pay me the market price for it.」 Wang was a poor man—how could he find the money? But when he started to argue, Yan's sons took the bolt of the door and a rolling-pin and beat him within an inch of his life. He was lying at home now with a broken leg, so his younger brother had come to lodge a complaint. |
| | 王秀才議... : |
自此，嚴監生的病，一日重似一日，再不回頭。諸親六眷都來問候。五個姪子穿梭的過來陪郎中弄藥。到中秋已後，醫生都不下藥了。把管莊的家人都從鄉裏叫了上來。病重得一連三天不能說話。晚間擠了一屋的人，桌上點著一盞燈。嚴監生喉嚨裏痰響得一進一出，一聲不倒一聲的，總不得斷氣，還把手從被單裏拿出來，伸著兩個指頭。大姪子上前來問道：「二叔，你莫不是還有兩個親人不曾見面？」他就把頭搖了兩三搖。二姪子走上前來問道：「二叔，莫不是還有兩筆銀子在那裏，不曾吩咐明白？」他把兩眼睜的溜圓，把頭又狠狠搖了幾搖，越發指得緊了。奶媽抱著哥子插口道：「老爺想是因兩位舅爺不在跟前，故此記念。」他聽了這話，把眼閉著搖頭。那手只是指著不動。趙氏慌忙揩揩眼淚，走近上前道：「爺，別人都說的不相干，只有我曉得你的意思！」只因這一句話，有分教：爭田奪產，又從骨肉起戈矛；繼嗣延宗，齊向官司進詞訟。不知趙氏說出甚麼話來，且聽下回分解。 |
| The Wang brothers deliberate...: |
From that time onward Mr. Yan sank daily. All his relatives came to ask how he was, his five nephews taking it in turn to help the doctors administer cordials. But after the Mid-Autumn Festival the doctors stopped prescribing medicine, and all the stewards and servants were summoned back from the estates.
For three days Mr. Yan hovered between life and death, too weak to speak. On the evening of the third day an oil lamp was lit on his table, and the room was crowded with relatives. They could hear the beginning of the death-rattle in his throat; but he refused to die. He took his hand from beneath the quilt and stretched out two fingers.
The eldest nephew stepped up to the bed and asked, 「Do you mean that there are two relatives who haven't come, uncle?」
Yan shook his head.
The second nephew stepped forward and asked, 「Do you mean there are still two lots of silver you haven't told us about, uncle?」
Yan stared hard at him, shook his head even more vehemently, and held out his fingers more earnestly than ever.
The wet-nurse, who was carrying his son, put in, 「The master must be thinking of the two uncles who aren't here.」
But when he heard this, he closed his eyes and shook his head. Only his fingers did not move.
Then the new wife hastily stepped forward, dabbing at her eyes. 「They're all wide of the mark,」 she said. 「I'm the only one who knows what you mean.」
But to know what it was, you must read the chapter which follows. |
