红楼梦Chapter13_小升初阅读_小升初-查字典英语网

红楼梦Chapter13

the news of the death of the wife of his eldest grandson reached Chia Ching; but as he himself felt sure that， at no distant date， he would ascend to the regions above， he was loth to return again to his home， and so expose himself to the contamination of the world， as to completely waste the meritorious excellence acquired in past days. For this reason， he paid no heed to the event， but allowed Chia Chen a free hand to accomplish the necessary preparations.

Chia Chen， to whom we again revert， was fond of display and extravagance， so that he found， on inspection of coffins， those few made of pine-wood unsuitable to his taste; when， strange coincidence， Hsueeh Pan came to pay his visit of condolence， and perceiving that Chia Chen was in quest of a good coffin： In our establishment， he readily suggested， we have a lot of timber of some kind or other called Chiang wood， which comes from the Tieh Wang Mount， in Huang Hai; and which made into coffins will not rot， not for ten thousand years. This lot was， in fact， brought down， some years back， by my late father; and had at one time been required by His Highness I Chung， a Prince of the royal blood; but as he became guilty of some mismanagement， it was， in consequence， not used， and is still lying stored up in our establishment; and another thing besides is that theres no one with the means to purchase it. But if you do want it， you should come and have a look at it.