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Meanwhile, seeing that he had gone past the gate, Fragrance thought he had lost his way and was using the gap between her thighs as a vulva, and she began to giggle.

"What are you doing down there?" she asked.

"Making love. Surely you know that?"

"No, I'm afraid you're doing it wrong. We never used to do it that way."

"It's perfectly all right. You must have been doing it wrong. This will bring you pleasure, believe me."

After he had thrust for a while, the inside of her thighs began to feel slippery and Quan knew that the spring floods had arrived. Worried that the fluid would now make things so slippery that he would slide off somewhere else instead of entering her, he parted her legs, caught one of her hands, and put his penis into it.

"You're right," he said, "I was doing it all wrong before and now I can't find the right place. Please show me."

Jade Scent drew up her vulva and placed the glans directly over it. "Now it's in the right place. Give it a try, then I'll let go."

"Wait a moment," said Quan. "Hold on until it's inside the gate."

Jade Scent knew what she was about, and when he said this, she used the other hand as well, encircling his penis with both hands like an outer wall to make sure it entered. Quan thrust forward, beginning at the outer wall and then gradually penetrating a fraction further each time until, after twenty or more thrusts, that penis of his, over eight inches long and too large to be grasped in the hand, had entered all the way.

Observing that he was an expert in sexual technique, Jade Scent felt even more loving. Clasping him tightly, she asked, "Dearest one, how is it you're so sophisticated when you've had no experience with women? My husband had affairs and went to brothels all the time, and yet he was never as gentle and considerate as you are. Oh, I could love you to death!"

Receiving this accolade so soon after assuming his duties, Quan naturally redoubled his efforts. This was no time to rest on his laurels. He feared she would scorn him as weak if he thrust too slowly and as violent if he went too fast, so he proceeded neither too fiercely nor too gently, neither too slowly nor too fast, until she was totally incapable of uttering a word of praise, let alone an accolade-at which point he stopped. Jade Scent had never in her life experienced such a thrill. From then on nothing would do but that he come to her every night.

At first they kept Ruyi in ignorance, but then it occurred to them that they could not go on doing so forever and that they might as well tell her now and act openly. Fearing she might be jealous, Jade Scent went to great lengths to make up to her. In name they were mistress and maid, but in fact they were more like wife and concubine. Sometimes one of them slept with him all night and at other times they shared him, changing places at midnight. And there were even a few festive occasions when they all slept together, and Quan, unsure who was the mistress and who the maid, would cry out darling indiscriminately on reaching his climax.

His original motive had been revenge. He had hoped to seduce Jade Scent, sleep with her for a few months, and then leave. He could not afford to become captivated and waste his powers so badly with constant sex that she would be the one taking revenge. But it is always hard to free ourselves from a predestined enemy. He had slept several years with Fragrance without having any children, but the very first time he slept with Jade Scent, she became pregnant. She did not realize it at first, but after two or three months she began to suffer morning sickness and knew well enough. They tried desperately to find a medicine that would induce a miscarriage, but without success.

"My death will be on your head," sobbed Jade Scent. "You know the kind of man my father is. A word out of place, and he rants and raves. You surely don't imagine he'll let me get away with something as bad as this? When he finds out, I'll die anyway. Far better to die now and spare myself the agony." She tried to hang herself then and there, while Quan pleaded with her to stop.

"If you want me to go on living," she retorted, "you'll have to think of a plan to get me away from here to some distant place where we can escape all our troubles and live together as husband and wife. Furthermore the child I'm carrying, whether it's a boy or a girl, is your flesh and blood, too, and if we can get away, it won't have to be drowned at birth. You'll be saving two lives, not just one. Well, what do you say?"

Quan recognized the force of her argument and agreed. At first they were going to leave Ruyi in the dark, but they feared she might find out about their plans and reveal them, so they had to include her. They packed up their most necessary clothes, waited until Master Iron Door was asleep, and then opened the main gate and fled. But if you are wondering where they went and what became of them, you will have to read on until you come to Chapter Eighteen.

CRITIQUE

On finishing this chapter some readers will charge the author with bias, claiming that his retribution is inconsistent with respect to exhortation and admonition. Whereas Vesperus, as an adulterer, deserves to have a wanton for a wife, Master Iron Door, as a virtuous man, does not deserve a daughter who elopes. If the Lord of Heaven is going to admonish us against vice, surely he will also exhort us to virtue!

You are mistaken, say I. This type of requital does indeed demonstrate the Lord's infallibility. During the course of his life, Master Iron Door never makes a single friend, or even meets anyone-behavior that can only be described as misanthropic. And on top of that there is the evil of his stinginess. Take, for example, such harsh and mean-spirited actions as allowing his tenants only one year rent-free on new land, when custom dictates three years, and constantly calling his tenants in to do his household chores for no pay. How can he be allowed to escape ultimate retribution? That is why the man who holds himself aloof will not flourish in the long run. When carried to extremes, such aloofness results in an untold amount of misanthropic behavior and harsh, mean-spirited rule, which is why the man who holds himself aloof offends against Heavenly tranquility and does not flourish. This is a matter to which the superior man should pay careful attention. If the author punishes vice, but does so too gently, how are people ever going to learn? The traditional advice on reading-that we consider a book in all its aspects, not just one-applies in this case.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Three allies gallantly discuss nocturnal revels, And two sisters evenly divide a night of pleasure.

Lyric:

So swift, alas, the springtime night!
Of the lords of time I ask a boon.
I'll trade ten thousand white jade suns
For a single, pearl-bright moon.
It hangs afar, like a flowered mirror,
And lights pink cheeks and raven hair.
If no one stirs, we'll lie here still,
And the pain of parting never bear.

The full story of Honest Quan's vengeance is not yet over, but the greater part of it has been told, and the rest will be given after a brief interval. Let us now take up again the merry tale of Vesperus's triumphs. We may as well let him carry his enjoyments to the limit before they come back to confound him.

That night, as he held Cloud in his arms, he learned that all three beauties were her relatives and that the two younger ones were particularly close to her. But the night was short and every moment precious because of their desire to make love, so he never did ask the women's names, their husbands' sobriquets, or where they lived. Not until his visit the next night did he make good the omission.