"I'll have this on you for the rest of my life," the maid said, smiling and dangling the strand of hair before him. "Everything will be all right if all goes well between us. Otherwise I'll drag this out and show it to her."
"Put it away carefully and don't ever let her find it," Chia Lien importuned. Then catching Patience off guard, he snatched the hair from her, saying, "It's safest out of your hands and destroyed."
"Ungrateful brute," Patience said with a pretty pout. [...] In his tussle with Patience Chia Lien began to feel the fire of passion burn within him. Patience now looked prettier than ever with her pouted lips and her provocative scolding. He tried again to put his arms around her and make love to her, but Patience wriggled free and fled from the room. "You shameless little wanton," Chia Lien said. "You get one all excited and then run away."
Standing outside the window, Patience retorted, "Who's trying to get you excited? You only think of your pleasure. What's going to happen to me when she finds out?"
"Don't be afraid of her," Chia Lien said. "One of these days I'll get good and mad and give that jealous vinegar jar a good and proper beating and teach her who is master. She spies on me as if I were a thief. It's all right for her to talk and laugh with the men of the family, but she grows suspicious if she sees me so much as look at another woman."
[...] As they were thus talking through the window, Phoenix entered the court. "Why are you standing outside and talking through the window?" she asked Patience. "Can't you go inside and talk?"
"That's what I say," Chia Lien said from the room. "She acts as if I were a tiger about to devour her."
"I don't want to be in the room with him when there is no one else around," Patience said.
"I should think that would be the best time," Phoenix said, with a sly smile.
"Was that remark meant for me?" Patience said.
"Who else could it be for?" Phoenix said.
"Don't make me say things that would be unpleasant to hear," Patience said and walked off without even holding up the door curtain for her mistress. Phoenix lifted the curtain herself and entered the room, saying, "The girl has gone mad! She is actually trying to have the last word with me..."
Wang Chi-chen
