Chapter Ten: Rekindling Old Affections, a Second Heavenly Punishment — The Jade Emperor Summons His Generals to Make Uproar in the Cloud-Brocade Palace

It is told that while the Celestial Granddaughter and the Twelfth Golden Youth were speaking together, tears fell unbidden from her eyes. Each felt the weight of old affection pressing upon the heart. The Golden Youth sought to console her, saying: "Celestial Granddaughter, you need not grieve so. I have spent thirteen years in the mortal world, and my appointed term has now come round to its end. The Jade Emperor has issued a decree and dispatched the Golden Star of the West — the Elder Tai Bai — to summon me back to the Heavenly Terrace. That we should chance upon one another like this and share our sufferings with each other is no small thing. As for you, Celestial Granddaughter, you have laboured at your loom in the Cloud-Brocade Palace for many a long year, and have not yet escaped the sea of bitterness. When I come before the Jade Emperor, I shall say what needs to be said." As he spoke, he took his handkerchief and gently wiped away her tears. The Celestial Granddaughter said: "Since you are going to the Heavenly Court, I imagine you will appear before the Jade Emperor at the morning audience tomorrow, together with the Golden Star of the West and the Golden Bull Star. If the Jade Emperor should have compassion on the two of us, it would truly be the fulfilment of a bond written in the stars." The Golden Youth smiled and replied: "Heaven itself has ordained our fate — it will not allow us to bear this undeserved wrong. For now, pray return to the Cloud-Brocade Palace, Celestial Granddaughter. Once I receive the imperial decree tomorrow, I shall naturally repay the love that has been kept waiting. We part here for a little while." So saying, the two immortals, their hearts mingled with grief and joy alike, each departed to their own abode.

The Golden Youth returned to the Heavenly General's Travelling Palace and, entering the inner chamber, found the Golden Star of the West and the Golden Bull Star still sleeping. He did not disturb them, but crept quietly to a couch and lay down. In a little while dawn broke and the red sun rose in the east. The three stellar lords washed their faces and rinsed their mouths with sweet dew. The Golden Star of the West said: "The hour is not early — let us make haste to report and receive our orders." The three immortals left the Travelling Palace and rode their clouds directly toward the Hall of Penetrating Brightness. Before long they arrived outside the palace gates, descended from their cloud-mounts, entered through the gate together, and advanced to the foot of the steps before the Hall of Penetrating Brightness. The Jade Emperor had not yet ascended to his throne. All the civil and martial stellar officials stood before the Platform of Ranks, awaiting his ascent. Presently the golden bell rang three times, the Jade Emperor mounted to the jewelled seat, and all the immortal officials prostrated themselves upon the golden steps and cried "Ten thousand years!" When the ceremony of obeisance was completed, the Emperor bade them rise and each returned to his station. Only the Golden Star of the West, the Golden Bull Star, and the Golden Youth remained prostrate and did not rise. The Golden Star of the West memorialised: "Your servant received the imperial edict and descended to the mortal world to summon back the Golden Bull Star and the Twelfth Golden Youth. They are now brought before Your Majesty — we await Your Majesty's august command." The Jade Emperor heard this memorial and replied: "You received the edict and descended to the mortal world without thought of hardship, managing the whole affair with thoroughness and care. Your merit is most praiseworthy — I hereby confer upon you the office of Protector of Flowers and Guardian of Affections." The Golden Star of the West gave thanks for the imperial favour. The Emperor continued: "The Golden Bull Star descended to the mortal realm to aid and accompany the Golden Youth in his suffering, demonstrating the utmost loyalty. I hereby confer upon him the title of Great King of the Golden Bull." The Golden Bull Star expressed gratitude for this great grace. The Jade Emperor then turned to the Golden Youth and said: "In former years you defied my edict and made sport of the Celestial Granddaughter, for which you were banished to the mortal dust to suffer for thirteen years. I take pity on you now and have commanded the Golden Star of the West to summon you back to the Heavenly Court. Since you have come to recognise your fault and resolve to mend your ways, hereafter you must be more circumspect and not fall back into your old errors. I now yield to the wishes you have held since your time among mortals, and grant you in marriage to the one of your heart's desire, that both your wishes may be fulfilled." The Golden Youth could only express his gratitude and withdraw. The Emperor then commanded the Golden Star of the West: "You shall carry my decree to the Cloud-Brocade Palace on the eastern bank of the Heavenly River, deliver it to the Holy Mother of Cloud-Brocade, and release the Celestial Granddaughter therefrom. She is then to go to the Numinous Algae Palace on the western bank of the Heavenly River to perform the wedding rites. Thereafter she shall continue her duties and is not to abandon her post. Husband and wife shall be of one accord." The Golden Star of the West received the edict. The Emperor also addressed the Golden Bull Star: "Great King of the Golden Bull, you shall return to the Palace of Dipper and Bull to rest, and shall be summoned when there is need." The Great King of the Golden Bull received the edict, withdrew from the hall, mounted a propitious cloud, and flew directly to the western Palace of Dipper and Bull. We set his story aside for the moment.

Meanwhile, the Golden Star of the West waited for the Jade Emperor to retire from court and return to the Palace of Jade Purity, then went out through the palace gates together with the Golden Youth, took leave of the various stellar divinities, mounted his cloud, and returned by the Way of No Dust to the Heavenly General's Travelling Palace on the western bank of the Heavenly River. Back in the inner chamber, the Golden Star of the West gave his instructions: "Golden Youth, wait here a moment. I shall go to the Cloud-Brocade Palace on the eastern bank of the Heavenly River to proclaim the imperial edict to the Holy Mother of Cloud-Brocade and secure the release of the Celestial Granddaughter the Weaving Maid. I shall then bring her here at once, and you two shall be reunited as husband and wife." The Golden Youth, upon hearing this, was filled with boundless joy and bowed in gratitude, saying: "Elder Immortal, your kindness in bringing this about is a grace I shall carry to the end of my days — never shall I forget it." The Golden Star of the West said: "Golden Youth, what need is there for such words? The spirit of the immortals is rooted in compassion, and besides, there is the imperial decree to carry out — there is no need for such humility. Today is moreover the seventh day of the seventh month, a most auspicious day by the heavenly calendar — fitting enough for a reunion. You may arrange things here in the chamber so that all will be ready before evening falls." So saying, the Golden Star of the West walked out through the palace gates, rode his propitious cloud across the Heavenly River, and arrived at the Cloud-Brocade Palace on the eastern bank. He descended from his cloud, entered the great hall, and presented himself before the Holy Mother of Cloud-Brocade, reading aloud the imperial edict. The Holy Mother knelt to receive the edict, then invited the Golden Star of the West to take a seat, and the two of them together lamented a while over the fates of the Golden Youth and the Celestial Granddaughter and exchanged a few words more before he took his leave. He then went to the Numinous Algae Palace on the western bank of the Heavenly River and informed the Golden Youth of all that had transpired. The Golden Youth was overjoyed and kept his hands and feet busily at work. He arranged a crystal immortal bed, a curtained canopy of brocade, quilts of red cloud-silk, duck-down pillows in the shape of mandarin ducks, dragon-scale mattresses, jade stepping-stones, and tables, chairs, and decorative screens all set out with perfect order. The door of the chamber was hung with a curtain of cranes in the wind, and above the doorway was a horizontal plaque bearing the words: "A Pair Made in Heaven." When the Golden Star of the West saw that all preparations were complete and that his presence was no longer required, he offered a few words of counsel and took his leave. We set his story aside here.

Before long the sun tilted toward the west and the jade rabbit rose in the east. The Holy Mother of Cloud-Brocade issued orders to her immortal handmaidens: "Tell the Celestial Granddaughter to set aside her weaving, make herself beautiful, and dress herself in her finest. This evening she is to be sent to the Heavenly General's Travelling Palace on the western bank of the Heavenly River, for the reunion of husband and wife." The handmaiden received the command, went to the weaving chamber, and delivered the news to the attendant immortal ladies and to the Celestial Granddaughter herself. The Celestial Granddaughter was filled with delight, rose from her loom, and began to dress her hair and adorn herself. When all was prepared, dusk had already come. The handmaiden took the Celestial Granddaughter by the arm and escorted her up to the hall to pay her respects and take leave of the Holy Mother, then they passed out of the palace together, mounted a red cloud, and flew directly toward the Numinous Algae Palace on the western bank of the Heavenly River. They descended from the cloud, and the handmaiden escorted her into the inner chamber. The Golden Youth had already been standing at the foot of the steps for some time, waiting to receive the Celestial Granddaughter with all due reverence and ceremony. As she approached, he stepped forward and took her hand, and they entered the chamber together, where he offered tea and fruits and celestial delicacies. The Celestial Granddaughter cast a glance about her and saw:

The bed and curtains and quilts, all arranged with perfect order;

The paintings, the zither, the chess-board, all gleaming and new.

Nothing like those days in the mortal world, tending cattle in the dust —

Now at last the wish to see her love, born of the weaving chamber, was fulfilled.

How true it is that extremity of sorrow gives way to joy;

May this love be long, and the tender feeling grow still deeper.

The Celestial Granddaughter looked about with a quiet smile. She took off her crown and formal robes, bade the handmaiden withdraw, and settled down to rest. We need say no more of that. The Golden Youth and the Celestial Granddaughter thus became husband and wife, sharing beneath the brocade curtains an affection as lasting as heaven and earth, exchanging words of devotion too numerous to be fully told. From that time on their hearts were as one, and they swore to face life and death together. Even were this author to take up his writing brush, he could not adequately describe what passed between them — and indeed, how close is the bond between husband and wife, and who but they can fully know it? Still less should one speak lightly of a celestial lady and a Golden Youth of the Jade Emperor's court. Such is the author's disclaimer.

From the time that the Golden Youth and the Celestial Granddaughter became husband and wife, they could not bear to be parted, and lingered day after day in the Numinous Algae Palace. Now, the Golden Youth had been one of the attendant youths before the Jade Emperor's throne. Since being banished to the mortal world, thirteen years had passed. Though he had now been elevated back to the Heavenly Court and permitted to be reunited with his wife — which was a mark of the Jade Emperor's tender favour — it must be said that the Celestial Granddaughter was originally one of the immortal maidens of the Queen Mother of the West at Jade Pool, and now that she had become the Golden Youth's wife, it was proper that she should go to offer her respectful gratitude to those who had brought the match about. Yet so lost were they in the joy of marriage that they forgot the duties that Heaven required of them. When the Holy Mother of the Jade Pool learned that the Golden Youth had ascended to the Heavenly Court and had married the Celestial Granddaughter, and that neither of them had yet come to pay their respects, it was plain to her that mortal attachments still gripped their hearts and that they remained unwilling to come to their senses. This could not but stir the Holy Mother's wrath. She commanded her handmaidens to prepare her carriage and set out for the Hall of Penetrating Brightness to lay the matter before the Jade Emperor in person. She emerged from the palace gate, mounted her Six-Cloud Carriage, and drifted through the air until she arrived at the palace gate, where she descended from the carriage. Supported by her handmaidens, with Saffron-Turbaned Warriors following behind, she proceeded to the Hall of Penetrating Brightness. As the Holy Mother of the Jade Pool was calling upon the Emperor, they met in the side hall of the Palace of Jade Purity. The Jade Emperor, seeing her arrive, knew something was afoot and received her in the side hall. When the Holy Mother had completed the ceremony of obeisance, she memorialised: "By Your Majesty's gracious decree, the Golden Youth and the Celestial Granddaughter were reunited in marriage — a decree issued in the spirit of your sage and benevolent heart. Yet since their reunion they have given themselves to pleasure without restraint, with no sign of repentance. Moreover, the Golden Youth is the Twelfth Golden Youth who attends before Your Majesty's throne, and the Celestial Granddaughter is Your Majesty's own granddaughter through the immortal lineage, the seventh of the Seven Immortal Maidens of the Jade Pool Palace. Even after their wedding, they ought each to attend to their proper duties — why should love be accounted duty? Your servant therefore comes before Your Majesty to seek an imperial ruling." The Jade Emperor heard this memorial and was greatly angered. He decreed: "What you have memorialised is entirely correct. I have myself often inquired into their conduct, but my ministers all claim to know nothing. These two, in their insatiable desire, are truly guilty beyond pardon! Retire for now to the Jade Pool, and I shall dispatch Heavenly Soldiers of the Jade Pool to arrest them and bring them before me."

On what happened next, we must wait for the following chapter to tell.