Li Chia answered:
"The water-chestnuts meet at the caprice of the current. How should I not be glad of this offer?"
"Between the four seas all men are brothers."
Then Sun ordered his servant to come with him, sheltering Li Chia under a large parasol. The two men saluted each other again, landed on the bank and, after walking a little distance, found a wine pavilion.
Having entered, they chose seats by the window and sat down. The attendant brought them hot wine, Sun raised his cup to give the signal, and soon the two were conversing freely and had become friends. At length Sun leaned forward and said in a low voice:
"Last night a song arose from your honorable ship. Whose was that voice?"
Wishing to pose as a man of leisure making a journey, Li Chia at once told the truth:
"It was Tu Shih-niang, the famous singing girl of Peking."
"How comes a singing girl to belong to my brother?"
Li Chia then ingeniously told his story, and the other said: