"I don't want one ever," Tuen declared. "I would much rather just belong to the Viceroy always."
"How stupid you are," Ta-ta said impatiently. "Of course you must be sold to someone. I never knew a woman over fifteen who did not have a mother-in-law."
But Tuen cried pleadingly to Wang:
"Oh, don't let them sell me again. Indeed, indeed, I don't want to have any other master."
"I am afraid someone will see you and want to marry you, and if they offer him a good price the Viceroy will not be a fool and refuse it," Wang said sadly. "You are getting to be a woman now, and you are good to look at, and for that reason someone is sure to want you."
This prospect filled Tuen with dismay, and that night she cried herself to sleep.