While the two of them played around, Chen Wei next-door had been perking her ears to listen in. She stomped on the ground and griped bitterly: “I really don’t get it. She’s only a tawdry girl who knows no shame. How can those men be so beguiled by her?”
To be considered beautiful in this era, one must firstly have fair skin, she must secondly carry an impression of purity, and she must thirdly possess frailty and femineity. Chen Rong’s looks were too striking, her figure too voluptuous. It couldn’t be helped that she would be branded ‘tawdry’ by virtue of her sensuous beauty.
Nurse Ping arranged a table filled with meat and wine in the courtyard.
Holding Chen Rong’s hand, the young man carelessly sat down and reached for a cup of wine. After a sip, he handed it to Chen Rong and said, “Let’s get drunk tonight.”
Chen Rong only smiled wordlessly. Nurse Ping softly laughed from the side: “That won’t do. My mistress isn’t yet betrothed.”