Hsueeh P'an promptly administered himself a slap on the mouth. "How you
lack the faculty of hearing!" he exclaimed. "You are not to say a word
more!"

"A girl is glad,"

Yuen Erh then resumed:

When her lover cannot brook to leave her and return home.
A maiden is joyful,
When hushing the pan-pipe and double pipe, a stringed instrument she
thrums.

At the end of her effusion, she at once began to sing:

"T'is the third day of the third moon, the nutmegs bloom;
A maggot, lo, works hard to pierce into a flower;
But though it ceaseless bores it cannot penetrate.
So crouching on the buds, it swing-like rocks itself.
My precious pet, my own dear little darling,
If I don't choose to open how can you steal in?"

Finishing her song, she drank the "opening cup," after which she added:
"the delicate peach-blossom," and thus complied with the exigencies of
the rule.

Next came Hsueeh P'an. "Is it for me to speak now?" Hsueeh P'an asked.

"A maiden is sad..."