From that moment the flame of love was kindled in the bosom of On Yick. The possession of Hoo, the daughter of Tak Wo, became the one object of his dreams. Cupid has many ways of assailing men’s hearts, sometimes by the pressure of a hand, the dropping of a handkerchief, the tearing of a ball dress. So why not by the hurling of a live frog on a susceptible young man’s back? Love must exist as long as human beings tread this earth. So what matters it by what incident it was first engendered in each particular case!
The first day’s talking passed off satisfactorily, and the go-between came to On Yick’s mill the same evening and reported that Tak Wo was inclined to look with some favour on the proposition of an alliance between On Yick and his daughter. On was delighted, and having liberally rewarded the go-between, retired to his kang and soon fell into the happiest of dreams, in all of which Hoo, a frog, and a sandal-wood mill played important parts.
The idea of getting Hoo comfortably married was very pleasing to Tak Wo. He was a widower, and his daughter, although only sixteen, had repeatedly given him much anxiety. We can judge from the frog incident that Hoo sadly lacked that becoming reserve expected of a Chinese girl. Another instance of her want of conventionality is shown by the fact that she managed to conceal herself and overhear the conversation between her father and the go-between with regard to her proposed marriage.
Unlike On, Hoo had given no further thought to the frog and bare-back incident, but on overhearing the long conversation between her father and the go-between, she conceived a most violently passionate affection for On Yick.
Hoo was a girl of slightly unstable mental equilibrium, and of this her father was well aware from various unpleasant and hard-to-be-tolerated jokes that had been perpetrated at his expense by his daughter. Hence the anxiety of Tak Wo to rid himself of this daughter by a suitable marriage.
The idea of love and marriage supplied the just sufficient tilt to Hoo’s mental balance to upset the proverbial apple-cart; the result was that between romantic fancies, love for On Yick, and a nearly complete idleness, she became more or less a monomaniac. Her every idea centred on On Yick, but the small kink in her brain prevented her from doing the right thing at the right time.
The go-between and On Yick were now much occupied in deciding a suitable present to be sent to Tak Wo. Of course it was understood that Tak Wo would only retain a small portion of the gifts sent; still it was necessary to make as imposing a show as possible.
Eventually the coolies were hired and entrusted with the presents for the prospective father-in-law. These consisted of half a young pig, split from his nose to his tail, and varnished, two live geese, two white fowls, many cakes, a jar of preserved fruits, a thick bundle of incense sticks, and two bottles of samshu.
Tak Wo was delighted. He selected as many of the presents as were seemly and returned the balance to the miller, after rewarding the carriers with a few cash. The versatile Hoo was away from home when the presents arrived. Her brain was so engrossed with thoughts of her lover, and her desire to speak with him had so carried her away, that she had resolved on the unheard-of boldness of despatching him a letter. Being unable to write herself she had recourse to the village scribe, and in order to pay him for inditing the letter, she stole her father’s long tobacco-pipe with the brass bowl and jade mouthpiece. The letter was sent, and Hoo returned home, where she found her father good-tempered and smiling but uncommunicative. Two empty bottles near him may possibly have accounted for his beaming but reticent condition. So Hoo retired to sleep with her silly head filled with the pleasantest and most romantic dreams.
On Yick, on receipt of the letter, was at once seized with a great impatience for the advent of the go-between, as, being unable to read, he desired that highly educated person to convey the meaning of the epistle to his illiterate self. The go-between arrived, and already, from his friend the scribe, was acquainted with the contents of the letter which On Yick thrust into his hands. Having adjusted his brass-rimmed spectacles and cleared his throat, the go-between read as follows:—