"After all the difficulty we've had in meeting," Pao-yü remarked, "wouldn't it be better were you and I to go away together in the evening?"
"That worthy cousin of yours," Hsiang-lien rejoined, "is as bad as ever, and were I to stay any longer, trouble would inevitably arise. So it's as well that I should clear out of his way."
Pao-yü communed with himself for a time. "In that case," he then observed, "it's only right, that you should retire. But if you really be bent upon going on a distant tour, you must absolutely tell me something beforehand. Don't, on any account, sneak away quietly!".
As he spoke, the tears trickled down his cheeks.
"I shall, of course, say good-bye to you," Liu Hsiang-lien rejoined.
"But you must not let any one know anything about it!"
While uttering these words, he stood up to get away. "Go in at once," he urged, "there's no need to see me off!"
Saying this, he quitted the study. As soon as he reached the main entrance, he came across Hsüeh P'an, bawling out boisterously, "Who let young Liu-erh go?"
The moment these shouts fell on Liu Hsiang-lien's ear, his anger flared up as if it had been sparks spurting wildly about, and he only wished he could strike him dead with one blow. But on second consideration, he pondered that a fight after the present festive occasion would be an insult to Lai Shang-jung, and he perforce felt bound to stifle his indignation.
When Hsüeh P'an suddenly espied him walking out, he looked as delighted as if he had come in for some precious gem. With staggering step he drew near him. Clutching him with one grip, "My dear brother," he smirked. "where are you off to?"
"I'm going somewhere, but will be back soon," Hsiang-lien said by way of response.