design, he gave her a thrashing, which so exasperated Chin Ch'uan-erh
that she threw herself into the well and committed suicide...."

Before however he could conclude his account, Chia Cheng had been
incensed to such a degree that his face assumed the colour of silver
paper. "Bring Pao-yue here," he cried. While uttering these orders, he
walked into the study. "If any one does again to-day come to dissuade
me," he vociferated, "I shall take this official hat, and sash, my home
and private property and surrender everything at once to him to go and
bestow them upon Pao-yue; for if I cannot escape blame (with a son like
the one I have), I mean to shave this scanty trouble-laden hair about my
temples and go in search of some unsullied place where I can spend the
rest of my days alone! I shall thus also avoid the crime of heaping,
above, insult upon my predecessors, and, below, of having given birth to
such a rebellious son."

At the sight of Chia Cheng in this exasperation, the family companions
and attendants speedily realised that Pao-yue must once more be the cause
of it, and the whole posse hastened to withdraw from the study, biting
their fingers and putting their tongues out.

Chia Cheng panted with excitement. He stretched his chest out and sat
bolt upright on a chair. His whole face was covered with the traces of
tears. "Bring Pao-yue! Bring Pao-yue!" he shouted consecutively. "Fetch a
big stick; bring a rope and tie him up; close all the doors! If any one
does communicate anything about it in the inner rooms, why, I'll
immediately beat him to death."

The servant-boys felt compelled to express their obedience with one
consent, and some of them came to look after Pao-yue.