The Western Chamber – Sequel XXVІІІ

Before long, Junrui could no longer rise from his bed. The imperial physician, the most eminent doctor in the land, was sent for. The physician examined the young man, shook his head, and pronounced ominously: "This is an ailment which it is beyond my art." He then departed, shaking his head.

The following morning, through glazed eyes and half-open lids, Junrui gazed wearily out of the window, and saw that the sky was clearing, as a spring breeze swept away the clouds. A flock of magpies darted among the branches of the tree in the courtyard. Junrui suddenly remembered that he had seen a spider spinning a web in a corner of the window the day before. Both of these things were supposed to be signs of the imminent advent of good news.

"Sir!" A clear call startled him out of his reverie. He blinked, and saw the messenger he had dispatched to the Pujiu Temple standing at the foot of his bed and offering him a parcel and a letter. Feverishly tearing open the envelope, Junrui started to read the letter. As he did so, the brightness returned to his eyes, his hands stopped trembling, and he sat up in bed for the first time in weeks.

He then opened the parcel, examined the contents piece by piece, and chuckled. The first item was an undergarment. "This means that when I wear it next to my skin Yingying is beside me in spirit," he murmured. The next item was a sash. "Aha! This means that when I wear it tightly bound around my waist, I am keeping her firmly in my heart." The next item was a pair of socks: "To prevent my feet leading me into the arms of another." The lute he interpreted as a reminder of the music that first expressed his love for her. "The jade hairpin means that she is afraid that I might forsake her now that I have achieved success and fame, and the bamboo flute means that she asks me not to forget her longing and the tears that keep her sleeves wet."

Junrui donned the undergarment, and immediately felt a warm current flowing through his entire body. In a flash, he was well again. Such is the power of love!

But the road to true love is one of the rockiest highways in the world. The happy couple had forgotten all about Zheng Heng, to whom the late Prime Minister Cui had betrothed Yingying.

Zheng Heng had learned all about the attempt by Sun Feihu to abduct Yingying, and how her mother had betrothed her to Junrui when the latter contrived to save them from the bandits. At first, he was confident that he could get rid of an unknown threadbare scholar like Junrui without any trouble whatsoever. But when he found out that Junrui had passed the imperial examination, and was now the Number One Scholar, he became alarmed. He hurried to the seat of Hezhong Prefecture. He was reluctant to go straight to the Pujiu Temple and face his aunt. So he first found an inn where he could stay, and then sent a servant to fetch Hong Niang and hear how things stood from her.