The Lover, Deluded by Love, Thinks of Travel; The Elegant Maid, in a Refined Gathering, Toils at Poetry

Now Xue Pan, hearing this, gradually calmed down. After three or five days, though the pain was better, the marks had not faded. He pretended to be ill at home, ashamed to face relatives and friends. Soon it was the tenth month. Among the shop assistants, there was one who had to settle the year’s accounts and go home, so a farewell dinner had to be given. Among them was Zhang Dehui, over sixty years old, who had been a manager in the Xue family pawnshop since childhood. He had two or three thousand taels of his own and was also going home this year, to return next spring. He remarked, “This year paper and incense are scarce; next year they will certainly be dear. Next year I will first send my eldest son up to look after the pawnshop, and before the Dragon Boat Festival I will buy some paper, incense, and fans on the way to sell. After customs and expenses, I can still make several times the profit.” Xue Pan heard this and thought to himself, “I have just been beaten and am ashamed to face people. I have been thinking of hiding for a year or half a year, but have......