Hongniang went to Yingying’s room and bid the young lady to come join her mother at dinner. Yingying had been waiting for this moment, but when it finally came she was overcome by a sudden shyness.
“Who is at the table now?” she asked in feigned ignorance.
“No strangers, just your mother and Scholar Zhang.”
“I’m suddenly feeling slightly ill. Please tell them I can’t come.”
Hongniang noticed that Yingying was constantly sizing herself up in the mirror as she spoke of her sudden ‘illness’. She began to tease her.
“Well, if you’re not feeling well, just lie down and rest. I’ll tell them that you won’t be joining them.”
“Wait! I… I think perhaps it’d be better if I at least go and have a quick look.”
Yingying took another long look at herself in the mirror, bringing a knowing smile to Hongniang’s face.
“Dear sister, you are a beautiful young lady. Scholar Zhang is beyond happiness to have you for his wife! Now hurry along, or that foolish scholar will grow impatient.”
Yingying left her room and approached the dinner table with a coy smile on her face, her ivory white skin shining brilliantly. Upon seeing her enter, Zhang Sheng felt as if he was in a dream, before Madame Cui’s words abruptly awoke him.
“My child, come and bow to your brother.”
Zhang Sheng’s heart sunk. He knew what this meant - things had taken a sudden turn for the worse. But he couldn’t open his mouth. Hongniang was completely taken aback, and thought she could have misheard her mother. Madame Cui’s words stopped Yingying in her tracks. She knew how her mother was and realized she had already made up her mind not to honor her promise.
Seeing Yingying standing there dumbfounded, Madame Cui urged her on, “Come along, my dear child. Make a toast to your kind brother.”
Yingying felt as if she was lost in a mist, unaware of even her hands that help up the cup in a toast. Zhang Sheng shrank into his chair, not knowing what to say. He drank down the cup Yingying handed him, but didn’t taste a thing. Yingying found him pitiable and pathetic. The atmosphere had suddenly become icy cold.
None of this escaped Madame Cui. She knew what they were thinking and how terrible her daughter must feel. But she had made up her mind.
“Hongniang, the Mademoiselle is not feeling well. Take her back to her room and help her rest,” she ordered.
After Yingying left, Zhang Sheng turned to Madame Cui.
“Please excuse me Madame, I am not much of a drinker and must say goodbye and take my leave now. But first, I must ask you something. When the bandits besieged the temple you made a promise in front of everyone that whosoever could defeat the bandits would have Yingying as his wife. I came forward, summoned the general, and saved everyone from certain disaster. I had thought that you would keep your promise and approve my marriage to your daughter this very night. Yet, you ask that I call her my sister and she call me her brother?”
“Zhang Sheng, you did indeed save us from the calamity. But my deceased husband had betrothed Yingying to my nephew Zheng Heng. We came to the temple to stay only a short time, waiting for Scholar Zheng Heng to come escort the late Prime Minister’s coffin and us back to our hometown. If I allowed you to wed Yingying, what would I tell Scholar Zheng Heng? You’ll receive my gratitude in gold and silver and marry a girl. You’re such a talented and handsome young gentleman who won’t have
any trouble finding a well-matched girl to make your wife.”
Zhang Sheng felt the rage slowly boiling up in his stomach.
“I care not for your gold or your silver! As you are clearly determined to break your promise, I must bid my farewell.”
Sensing that she was in the wrong and seeing Zhang Sheng’s rising anger, Madame Cui loudly announced that he was drunk and ordered Hongniang to help him back to his room.
Zhang Sheng plodded slowly back to his room. Though she felt sorry for him, Hongniang couldn’t help but reproach him.
“Just look how sauced you are. If you can’t handle alcohol, then maybe you shouldn’t drink so much!”
“I’m not the least bit drunk – my current state is from a broken heart. Yingying and I were in love at first sight. When she was in danger, I called the general to rescue her. I had thought our marriage would be announced tonight, and went to this dinner with my heart in the clouds. But Madame changed her mind, and has ground my heart into the dirt. How can she separate us so? Who can possibly fathom my suffering? Who knows such pain as I do now?”
Zhang Sheng’s laments went on and on. Seeing him like this, Hongniang felt pity and tried to comfort him.
“I understand that you’re suffering terribly, but just imagine what Yingying must be going through as well. Listen, I have a plan. I see you have a lute there, and no doubt you’re a skilled musician. Yingying loves the sound of the lute. Tonight, when she goes into the garden to burn incense, you will be waiting on the other side of the garden wall. I’ll cough to signal that she’s there, and then you can express how you feel in your heart by playing the lute. She will understand.”
