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。
On the occasion of which we write she had sat beside the lamp with Patience until late into the evening; then, the bedding having been well warmed, the two women had gone to bed, where they lay until after midnight discussing the stages of Jia Lian's journey and attempting to calculate what point he was likely to have reached in it.
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？
“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
常言’月满则亏，水满则溢’；又道’是登高必跌重’。
that ‘the moon waxes only to wane, water brims only to overflow,' and ‘the higher the climb the harder the fall'?”
如今我们家赫赫扬扬，已将百载，一日倘或乐极悲生，若应了那句’树倒猢狲散’的俗语，岂不虚称了一世的诗书旧族了！"
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?”
但如今能于荣时筹画下将来衰时的世业，亦可谓常保永全了。
The only thing one can do is to make some provision for lean years in times of plenty.
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。”
All's well at present except for two things.Take care of them and the future will be secure.
凤姐便问何事，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，以备祭祀；供给之费，皆出自此处，将家塾亦设于此。
“I'd like to suggest that while we're still rich and noble we should invest in some farms and estates near our ancestral tombs to provide for sacrifices.The family school should be moved to the same place.
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.
便是有了罪，凡物可入官，这祭祀产业连官也不入的。
“Then even if the family property were confiscated because of some crime, the estate for ancestral worship would be exempted
便败落下来，子孙回家读书务农，也有个退步， 祭祀又可永久。
and when the family's fortunes are in decline, it will be a place where the young people can go to farm and study, as well as a means of maintaining the ancestral sacrifices in unbroken succession.
若目今以为荣华不绝，不思后日，终非长策。
“It would be very short-sighted not to take thought for the future in the belief that our present good fortune will last for ever.
眼见不日又有一件非常喜事，真是烈火烹油、鲜花若锦之盛。
Before long something marvelous is going to happen which will really ‘pour oil on the flames and add flowers to brocade.”
要知道，也不过是瞬息的繁华，一时的欢乐，万不可忘了那’盛筵必散’的俗语。
But it will be a glory as excessive and as transitory as a posy of fresh flowers pinned to an embroidered dress or the flare-up of spilt cooking-oil on a blazing fire.In the midst of that brief moment of happiness never forget that “even the best party must have an end”.
此时若不早为后虑，临期只恐后悔无益了。”
Take thought for the future before it is too late.”
只是我与婶婶好了一场，临别赠你两句话，须要记 着。”
However, for the sake of our brief friendship on this earth, I leave you these words as my parting gift.Be sure that you remember them well!
因念道：§三春去后诸芳尽，各自须寻各自门。
When the Three Springs have gone, the flowering time will end,And each one for himself as best he may must fend.”
凤姐还欲问时，只听二门上传出云板，连叩四下，正是丧音，将凤姐惊醒。
Xi-feng was about to ask her another question when she was interrupted by the sound of the iron chime-bar which hung in the inner gate.Four strokes.The signal of death!
She woke with a start
人回："东府蓉大奶奶没了。”
to hear a servant announcing,'Mrs Rong of the Ning-guo mansion is dead.”
彼时合家皆知，无不纳罕，都有些疑心。
By this time the entire household had heard the news.All seemed bewildered by it and all were in one way or another deeply distressed.