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Unable to contradict his mother directly, he changes the subject. “I’m going to the Ministry today and won’t be home for lunch.”
    “The Ministry? But you’ve barely been home one day.”
    “I have been gone for over three months. There are sure to be questions they wish to consult me on …”
    “Surely they can do without you for a few more days.”
    It is typical of his mother to belittle his role at the Ministry; this reminds him of his annoyance that she let Baoyu stay home from school yesterday. “How many days of school did Baoyu miss while I was away?”
    She stares at him, as if offended by the question. “How should I know?”
    “I’m simply asking for a rough estimate.”
    “I have no idea.”
    He takes a deep breath, trying to control his anger. “I told Baoyu before I left that he must stop missing school. The Exams are barely six months away.”
    “What a fuss about missing a few days of school! Didn’t the schoolmaster tell us that when Baoyu sets his mind to it, not one of the boys in the whole school can match him in quickness?”
    “He told us that years ago, and Baoyu has apparently still not seen fit to ‘set his mind to it.’ ”
    “He still has all of the fall and winter to study.”
    “I’m afraid you don’t understand, Mother. It takes years of hard work to prepare for the Exams. He can’t just cram for a few months. Don’t you remember how hard Zhu studied before he passed—”
    He sees that she is not even looking at him, apparently absorbed in thought, and breaks off.
    After a moment, she says, “There is something about Baoyu I want to talk to you about. You know Baoyu’s body servant Pearl?”
    “Yes, but—”
    “She’s a good girl, and very devoted to him. I’ve been thinking of making her his chamber wife.”
    “Chamber wife! What does he need a chamber wife for?” He raises his voice despite himself.
    “He is nearly nineteen. He has natural desires, like any other man. Why not give him a chamber wife, so he can—”
    “We can betrothe him after he passes the Exams, like we did for Zhu.” Unfortunately Zhu died of a sudden illness before the wedding could take place.
    “Zhu passed when he was sixteen. Baoyu is already a grown man. It’s wrong to expect him not to feel attracted to girls, especially living in the Inner Quarters with them—”
    He pounces on this, interrupting her. “I’ve never thought that heshould continue to live inside. It’s improper, and people are beginning to gossip about it—”
    “It’s just like you, to want to deprive me of the company of my favorite grandson, just because of what people say. He’s the only one who keeps me amused now that I’m too old to be of use to anyone.”
    The West Ocean clock in the outer room bongs, giving him an excuse to cut off the familiar argument. “I must go. I said that I would drop Baoyu off at school on the way to the Ministry. We’ll talk of this another time.”
    When he arrives at the stable yard, his already frayed temper is tried further when he finds Baoyu is not there. He sends a page to call him, and waits in the carriage for several minutes before Baoyu appears.
    “Hurry up! You’ll be late for school!” he cries, as Baoyu climbs in beside him. It is the first time since he arrived home that he has been alone with his son. “What did you study while I was gone?” he asks, as the coachman whips up the horses and the carriage finally trundles out through a side gate into the streets.
    “Mencius.”
    “Tell me what Mencius says about dutifulness and self-preservation.”
    “ ‘Fish is what I want; bear’s paw is what I want,’ ” Baoyu begins. “ ‘If I cannot have both, I would rather take bear’s paw than fish. Life is what I want; dutifulness is also what I want. If I cannot have both, I would rather take dutifulness than life. On the one hand, though life is what I want, there is something I want more than life …’ ”
    The glibness with which