this is an episode from the novel a dream of red mansions1. just as the whole family was busy prepasring the *rthday ceremony for jia zheng, jia was summoned（传唤，召集） to report to the imperial court. his family did not know why and felt uneasy about it. the family members waited for quite a while before the butler（男管家） came back to say that jia yuangchun (jia zheng's eldest2 daughter) was conferred the title of highest-ranking imperial concu*ne（妾，*） .the emperor had granted that yuangchun would pay a visit to her parents at the upcoming lantern festival. the jia family relaxed after hearing the news. in order to welcome the homecoming imperial concu*ne, the jia family became busier and built a garden of grand views for the occasion.
on the day of the lantern festival, jia zheng's mother led all members of her clan3 to wait by the main entrance to the garden. accompanied by a swarm4 of（大群） imperial maids, yuanchun came back on a sedan chair（轿子） which was draped with an embroidery5（刺绣） of a phoenix6 and tiny gold bells. eight men carried the sedan chair on their shoulders. the imperial concu*ne was shown around the garden, in which there were pavilions with gorgeously painted beams and pilars. there were also patches of bamboos and strangely-shaped stones. the trees in the garden were decorated with flowers made of silk cloth while lanterns made of conches and clams7 were placed aside a pond. the garden was decorated so majestically8 that *n yuanchun thought it to be too luxurious9.
after yuanchun was seated, jia zheng's mother and madam wang (yuangchun's grandmother and mother) met with her. ther faced one another in silence: the mother and grandmother couldn't speak a word; they just sobbed11. yuanchun finally said: "it is not easy for me to come back from a place where i can see no family members. but now that i'm back, you just sob10 away and have nothing to say to me. i'd better return to the palace. i don't know when i will be allowed to come home again." after that, all continued to cry.
after the banquet（盛宴） was ready, yuanchun was marshaled to her seat. the imperial concu*ne invited her sisters and bao yu to recite poems, and she bestowed12 gifts to *ryone at the bable. when the time came to leave, yuanchun held the hands of her grandmothed that they not squander13（浪费） noney on her next homecoming, if there was one .the imperial concu*ne then turned away from her parents and left mournfully.
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