Ever since she dreamed about seeing the young scholar with willow twig in hand, the young mistress couldn’t help but immersing in her dreamland, unable to extricate herself. She couldn’t get the young man and the time they spent at the Peony Pavilion out of her mind. Gradually, she became so depressed and disconnected from her life that she didn’t feel like eating and sleeping.
The maid began to worry about her mistress. As Liniang grew thinner, Chunxiang confronted her.
“Ever since we returned from the garden that day, you seemed to have lost your appetite. You have lost so much weight. If it goes on like this, I’m afraid you may lose much of your beauty, too.”
Completely unaware of her weight loss, the young mistress was taken aback by the word. She rushed to the mirror to see for herself and was startled by the frail image of the girl she saw looking back at her.
“I was such a beauty, coquettish and exquisite, and have never expected I would look so haggard,” the young mistress sighed. “I must hurry and have my portrait painted now or no one will ever know how pretty I once was.”
With that she asked Chunxiang to bring her silk scroll, ink and brush pen. When the maid brought these items Liniang began to paint her own portrait out of the reflection in the mirror. She showed the finished work to the maid who gasped in admiration. “You are so talented! The picture looks so real, just like your shadow. But there’s one thing missing.”
“What is it?” asked the young mistress.
“There ought to be a young man beside you. If you marry to a fine husband and a portrait of you two would be hanging on the wall. Wouldn’t that be great?”
At this, the young mistress smiled. “Can I tell you a secret? Without waiting for an answer, she rushed on. “I met someone in the garden last time I was there.”
“What? How? I didn’t see anyone”.
“I met him in my dream”.
“How did he look like?”
“He was a young scholar with a willow twig in his hand,” the young mistress told her maid. “He asked me to compose a poem. Maybe that means the man I am going to marry has anything to do with the willow tree and is surnamed Liu (a homonym for "willow" in Chinese)?” I didn’t even have a chance to talk to him, not even responded when he asked me about the poem. What if I write a poem and put it on the portrait of me?”
“That’s a great idea,” agreed the maid.
She pondered for a while then started to write a poem over the portrait.
She is a dignified lady if seen from nearby and a dancing fairy from afar.
If you want to meet this goddess of the moon, she can be found by the willow or close to the plum.
After she completed her poem, the young mistress drew a slender and graceful willow tree behind her. She put down the brush pen and sighed.
“For centuries women either got married early and had their portraits painted by their husbands, or the painted self-portrait and gave them to their lovers,” Miss Du said sadly. “I have painted my self-portrait and inscribed a on it but who should I give the painting to?” At this she started to cry.
The following morning she awoke terribly sick. After several days and no sign of recovery, her mother went to the maid and asked her what had happened. Chunxiang told her everything including the walk through the garden and Liniang’s dream. The old lady was shocked and believed that a ghost had bewitched her daughter. The lord was furious when he heard this.
“I hired a tutor to teach and restrain your daughter. How could you have allowed her to run around like so? As the mother, you are to blame for failing to properly discipline your daughter.”
“You’re not blaming me for this. She is old enough to be married and I’ve wanted to find her a husband for some time now. If she’d been married she would have never gotten sick like this.”
“Our daughter is too young to get married now. The most important thing for her is to become well-educated and reasonable. It’s too early to her to know about sex. I don’t think our daughter is seriously sick. I have sent someone for Old Chen who has studied medicine to make a diagnosis. She will be alright once he prescribes something for her.”
