Suddenly, Wen Kexing stood up without a word, turned and left, chasing after Zhou Zishu, leaving the three of them to glance at each other. Gu Xiang swallowed, and whispered, “My master is desperate, now.”

Cao Weining shook his head, sighing, “It is truly ‘When the wind and rain comes in the night, who knows how many tears are shed…[11]’ Ever since the ancient times, the single word “love” has always inflicted the deepest wounds, but what can we do about it?”

Zhang Chengling thought, what else can I say? So he remained silent, and lowered his head to continue eating.

That beautiful woman brought Zhou Zishu to a narrow alley, turning left and right around corners, until they entered a courtyard, in which a few plum trees, out of flowering season, were planted. She pushed open the door of the house, and a faint perfumed scent wafted out. Raising the bead curtain, she leant half her weight on the door frame, asking delicately, “Why, aren’t you going to enter?”

Following her gaze, Zhou Zishu surveyed the inside of the room. From the open door, he could see the vague outlines of a folding screen and a bed, the dresser slanted in a corner, and a woman’s long dress hanging by the bronze mirror. The rouge box was uncapped, her makeup box in a mess--so the legendary tender, enticing land of women was no more than this.

Zhou Zishu smiled as he shook his head. “This humble one is a sleazy man, how can I enter a maiden’s boudoir so easily?”

The beautiful woman laughed. “You’ve become a gentleman all of a sudden. Will you still not come in, even if I invite you in?”

Zhou Zishu smiled again, lowering his head to look at the tip of his shoe, and said, “May this miss forgive me. Even if this humble one had the additional courage of another man’s, I dare not enter this house that has ‘Rouge’s Grave’ incense burning; if I enter standing, I’ll have to be carried out as a corpse.”

The corner of the beautiful woman’s mouth stiffened slightly, but she immediately smiled thereafter. “You men, doesn’t the saying go ‘Die under the peony[12], and even your ghost will be a womanizing one?’ Why is it that you’ve already followed me here, but fail at this juncture?”