Page:Frank Owen - The Scarlett Hill, 1941.djvu/111

RV 106 (THE PEAR GARDEN) Ming Huang had sent him as a very special present. Thereafter in a single night, Chêng's hair turned black once more. This marriage had been a happy one, for it had been determined in a precedent-shattering fashion. Li believed that his daughters would be happiest if they chose their own husbands without parental interference. Therefore he arranged a gauze screen in his home behind which his daughters might hide, and observe without being seen, while he invited young men to his house, ostensibly on affairs of state, actually to see if they might prove to be son-in-law material. So far, the ruse had worked but once, and Li was worried. The other five girls were pleasing to the eye, but the eyes of no young men as yet had been pleasing to them. As is the custom of fathers, Li believed they were exceptionally lovely. Would one of them suit the Emperor? Several times Ts'ui Lin had dined at his home. But now he scratched his ears and pondered, but made no mention of the five who waited at the House of Li.

Li was vexed, but he did not show it. Court etiquette prevented him from suggesting that his own daughters might be the answer to the puzzle. He was amazed that they had not enchanted Ts'ui Lin. That set him to wondering. After all, maybe it was best to consult Lan Jen.

Even though his mind was made up, he delayed acting until the "breeze was full of spring, and heaven drove the plough-star forward turning its handle to the east." RV 106 (106)