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 and I could conquer the world." And Cheng Chang would reply, "It is nothing, Honorable Master."

Strengthened and made bold by Cheng Chang's roast duck and perhaps by a sip of the stuff called sam shu (which is fire and madness in a bottle), Ching Chung one day went a-courting. Before a body could say "Chang wang li chao" (about the same as "Jack Robinson"), the beauteous lady, Li Kuan, was pledged to be Ching Chung's bride. Whereat, the happy groom to be, who had always proclaimed that a bachelor's life was the only life, promptly changed the burden of his song and declared that all old bachelors should be boiled in rancid bean oil and used as candles to lighten the darkness. And, no doubt, he was very right.

Said master to cook: "Cheng Chang, why don't you follow the excellent example that I have set and take unto yourself a bride? There's Pang Tzu, a buxom lady, and wealthy. Why not marry Pang Tzu?" So Cheng Chang answered, "Very well then,