The melancholy memory of the lute’s music left Yingying with no appetite. She simply sat there sighing and groaning throughout the day. Zhang Sheng was tortured as well. After he finished playing he returned to his room and was left to heartbrokenly consider a future without Yingying. With this on his mind, as well as the chill he caught while out in the garden, he fell seriously ill. When Yingying heard he was sick, she called Hongniang over.
“I have a favor to ask of you. Scholar Zhang is seriously ill. Would you please go visit him for me? While you’re there, ask him if he has anything to say to me.”
“I can’t go, my lady. If Madame found out about this, she’ll surely lay the blame on me.”
“Please, I’m asking you sincerely, my dear sister.”
“I just can’t, this is serious. If something happened or someone discovered I was there, I would be in big trouble and wouldn’t have any way out of it. I won’t go.”
Yingying bowed low to the ground, “Please, sister, go for me.”
Hongniang smiled, “Enough, enough. I’ll go, but only for you. And what do you wish me to say when I see him?”
Yingying had no reply to this question.
Hongniang thought for a moment and said, “When I get there I’ll say something like this: my young mistress is also ill. Misery loves company. You should tell her what’s on your mind; if the two of you share the same feelings, then you should both recover in no time.”
“Who told you to tell him this? Just go have a look and hear what he has to say, then come back and tell me.”
Hongniang left for the reading rooms of the western chamber where Zhang Sheng stayed. She didn’t knock the door, but instead walked up to the window and poked a small hole through the window paper with her finger, to first see what he was doing in his room. Through the small hole, she saw Zhang Sheng lying still in bed, fully dressed. The quilt and all his clothes were badly wrinkled, indicating the young bachelor had no one to look after him. When she saw his face, all pale and sunken from fever, she felt sorry for him and blamed it all on Madame Cui for breaking her promise and separating the two young lovers.
Hongniang gave the door a light knock and then stepped inside. Seeing her, Zhang Sheng felt both happy and grieved. He knew who had sent her, and this knowledge reassured him of Yingying’s feelings for him and filled his body with warmth. But he could not be sure how long this warmth would last. Regardless, this sign from Yingying gave him a window into her heart and filled the longing he had felt for her in the past few days. What’s more, he immediately began to feel his strength recover.
Seeing Zhang Sheng looking so sick, Hongniang advised him to see a doctor.
“No doctor can cure my illness. Madame Cui broke her promise, and now I suffer a broken heart. If I should now die, it shall be from unfulfilled desire. How is Yingying now?”
“My young mistress is not well. She fell ill upon hearing the news of your fever. I hope you won’t blame her, she has her own affliction talk and is a victim, too.”
“Please, if you have pity for me, you must help me. I want to write a letter for you to take to your mistress.”
“I can’t, she may fall out with me if I take back a letter. She’ll scold me for my recklessness and destroy the letter, and then what would you do?
Zhang Sheng implored Hongniang to help in this simple task, promising her money and silk for her kindness.
“Though I am a young girl like me ignorant of the world I have no desire for your treasures. However, you saved her life and for this I’m grateful. If it can help alleviate your grief, I’ll take the risk for you. Now, put your brush pen to paper and I’ll take care of the delivery.”
Zhang Sheng was immediately cheered by these words. He soon finished his letter and a poem to go along with it.
“Finished already? You’re quite a speedy scribbler. What’d you write? Read it out to me.”
Zhang Sheng began reading, “This letter is from Zhang Sheng who presents his regards to Miss Cui. I have not heard from you since our parting the other day, and since then my heart has been filled with sorrow and indignation. Madame Cui rewarded my good deed with a broken pledge. I was forced to surrender the marriage I had been promised, and to part from you. Not a moment passes that I don’t miss you, and my only wish now is that I could grow a pair of wings and fly to you at this very instant. But there is nothing I can do – not even speak with you. All I am left to do is pouring out my longing to you onto these empty walls that surround me. These past days I have become very ill, and the sickness only increases as my heart swells for you. Today you sent Hongniang to visit and give me the opportunity to write you a few lines expressing my feelings. If you have pity on me, please write back and give some comfort to this wounded heart of mine.” He then read his poem:
With lovesickness growing day by day,
I play the lute thinking away,
Spring comes together with joy,
Can you still silent remain?
Love is not to be refrained, You should not stand by that praise insincere.
Take a good look at the moonlight,
And my heart is just like the shadow of a flower under your feet.
Hongniang could not exactly understand the meaning of his poem, but she clearly heard its harmony and knew that he was a rather talented young scholar. Furthermore, his show of concern for her mistress will surely warm her heart, and she knew Yingying would be moved upon reading it.
“Don’t worry, I’ll deliver this letter. Don’t be too discouraged
– you should put your career first. Get over your broken heart for it will only hurt your future potential.” “Thank you for your kind words, I will never forget about my career.” “Well, I’ll go give this to her. Take good care of yourself and wait here for me to bring back some good news.”
Zhang Sheng made repeated expressions of his gratitude when seeing Hongniang off. He now regarded her as an angel who could relieve him from this terrible suffering.
Hongniang carefully concealed the letter and went back to Madame Cui’s bedroom first, staying there until the Madame went to bed. Knowing that Yingying awaited her, but afraid that she might already be asleep, she tiptoed into her young mistress’s room.
