话说凤姐儿自贾琏送黛玉往扬州去后，心中实在无趣， 每到晚间，不过和平儿说笑一回，就胡乱睡了。
Xifeng found life excessively dull after her husband's departure with Daiyu for Yangzhou.She passed the evenings as best she could chatting with Pinger before retiring listlessly to bed.
这日夜间，正和平儿灯下拥炉倦绣，早命浓薰绣被，二人睡下，屈指算行程该到何处，不知不觉已交三鼓。
One evening, tired of embroidering, she sat nursing her hand-stove by the lamp and told the maid to warm her embroidered quilt early, after which they both went to bed.When the third watch sounded they were still reckoning on their fingers the stage+Jia Lian must have reached on his journey.
凤姐方觉星眼微朦，恍惚只见秦氏从外走来，含笑说道："婶婶好睡啊!我今日回去，你也不送我一程。
And Xifeng's eyelids were drooping drowsily when to her astonishment in came Keqing.“How you love to sleep, aunt!”cried Keqing playfully. “I'm going home today, yet you won't even see me one stage of the way.
还有一件心愿未了，非告诉婶婶，别人未必中用。”
Besides, there's something I'd like done which it's no use my entrusting to anyone else.”
凤姐听了，恍惚问道："有何心愿？
-^+1“Just leave it to me,” replied Xifeng, rather puzzled. -
秦氏道："婶婶，你是个脂粉队里的英雄，连那些束带顶冠的男子也不能过你，你如何连两句俗语也不晓得？
“You're such an exceptional woman, aunt, that even men in official belts and caps are no match for you.Is it possible you don't know the saying
秦氏道：“婶娘，你是个脂粉队里的英雄，连那些束带顶冠的男子也不能过你。
'Tell me, Auntie,' said Qin-shi, ‘how is it that you who are such a paragon among women that even strong men find more than their match in
你如何连两句俗语也不晓得？
you can yet be ignorant of the simple truths expressed in homely proverbs?”
常言‘月满则亏，水满则溢。’
Take this one:The full moon smaller grows,Full water overflows.
又道是，‘登高必跌重。’
Or this:The higher the climb, the harder the fall.
如今我们家赫赫扬扬，已将百载，一日倘或乐极生悲，若应了那句‘树倒猢狲散’的俗语，岂不虚称了一世诗书旧族了？”
Our house has now enjoyed nearly a century of dazzling success.Suppose one day“joy at its height engenders sorrow”.
And suppose that, in the words of another proverb, “when the tree falls, the monkeys scatter”.
Will not our reputation as one of the great, cultured households of the age then turn into a hollow mockery?”
凤姐听了此话，心胸不快，十分敬畏，忙问道：“这话虑的极是，但有何法可以永保无虞？”
Qin-shi's question made Xi-feng feel uneasy, though at the same time inspiring a deep respect in her for her niece's foresight.'You are quite right to show concern,'she said.'Is there any means by which we can keep permanently out of danger?”
即如今日诸事都妥，只有两件未妥，若把此事如此一行，则后日可保永全了。”
All's well at present except for two things.Take care of them and the future will be secure.
‘否极泰来’，荣辱自古周而复，岂人力所能常保的？
'“The extreme of adversity is the beginning of prosperity” --- and the reverse of that saying is also true.Honour and disgrace follow each other in an unending cycle.
No human power can arrest that cycle and hold it permanently in one position.
但如今能于荣时筹画下将来衰时的世业，亦可以常远保全了。
What you can do, however, is to plan while we are still prosperous for the kind of heritage that will stand up to the hard times when they come.
即如今日，诸事俱妥，只有两件未妥，若把此事如此一行，则后日可保无患了。”
'At the moment everything seems well looked after; but in fact there are still two matters that have not been properly taken care of.
If you will deal with them in the way that I shall presently suggest, you will be able to face the future without fear of calamity.”
合同族中长幼，大家定了则例，日后按房掌管这一年 的地亩、钱粮、祭祀、供给之事。
“Let the whole family, old and young alike, draw up rules whereby each branch of the family will take it in turn to manage the land, income and sacrifices for a year.
秦氏道：“目今祖茔虽四时祭祀，只是无一定的钱粮；第二，家塾虽立，无一定的供给。
'Though the seasonal offerings at the ancestral burial-ground are at present regularly attended to,'said Qin-shi, ‘no special income has been set aside to pay for them.
That is the first matter.The second matter concerns the clan school.
There again, there is no fixed source of income.
依我想来，如今盛时固不缺祭祀供给，但将来败落之时，此二项有何出处？
Obviously there will be no lack of funds either for the seasonal offerings or for the school as long as we enjoy our present prosperity.
But where is the money for them coming from in the future, when the family has fallen on hard times?”
莫若依我定见，趁今日富贵，将祖茔附近多置田庄、房舍、地亩，以备祭祖、供给之费皆出自此处。
'I am convinced that the only way of dealing with these two matters is to invest now, while we are still rich and powerful, in as much property as possible―land, farms, and houses―in the area around the burial-ground, and to pay for the seasonal offerings and the running of the school entirely out of the income from this property.
将家塾亦设于此。
Moreover the school itself ought to be situated on it.
合同族中长幼，大家定了则例，日后按房掌管这一年的地亩钱粮、祭祀供给之事。
The whole clan, old and young alike, should be convened and a set of regulations drawn up whereby each family is made to administer the estate and look after the financing of the seasonal offerings and the clan school for one year in turn.
如此周流，又无争竞，也没有典卖诸弊。
By making the responsibility rotate in a fixed order you will remove the possibility of quarrels about it and also lessen the danger of the property getting mortgaged or sold.
便是有罪，己物可以人官，这祭祀产业连官也不入的。
'Then even if the clan gets into trouble and its possessions are confiscated, this part of its property, as charitable estate, will escape confiscation;