"But it's better for us to proceed on our way, for the more questions
you ask, the nicer they get."

"What's there in this that you can't tell me?" asked Ts'ui Lue, "But I
know all about it, so there's no need for you to keep me on pins and
needles."

Hsiang-yuen blurted out laughing. "What do you know?" she said.

"That you, Miss, are Yang, and that I'm Yin," answered Ts'ui Lue.

Hsiang-yuen produced her handkerchief, and, while screening her mouth
with it, burst out into a loud fit of laughter.

"What I say must be right for you to laugh in this way," Ts'ui Lue
observed.

"Perfectly right, perfectly right!" acquiesced Hsiang-yuen.

"People say," continued Ts'ui Lue, "that masters are Yang, and that
servant-girls are Yin; don't I even apprehend this primary principle?"

"You apprehend it thoroughly," responded Hsiang-yuen laughingly. But
while she was speaking, she espied, under the trellis with the cinnamon
roses, something glistening like gold. "Do you see that? What is it?"
Hsiang-yuen asked pointing at it.

Hearing this, Ts'ui Lue hastily went over and picked up the object. While
scrutinising it, she observed with a smile, "Let us find out whether
it's Yin or Yang!"