Waiting for a Fragrant Soul, Wu’er Receives a Misplaced Love; Repaying a Debt of Fate, Yingchun Returns to the True Source

Baochai called Xiren and questioned her closely about the reason for Baoyu’s grief. Fearing that if Baoyu grieved too much he would fall ill, she took the occasion of casual talk and said, ostensibly to Xiren but intending Baoyu, who was in the outer room, to hear: “In this world, even if two people shared deep love in life, once one dies each goes their own way, and they are no longer as they were in life. The living may cling in foolish devotion, but the dead know nothing of it. Besides, Miss Lin was said to have left as an immortal. In her eyes, mortals are all foul and commonplace; why would she wish to remain in the mortal world? It is only the living who let their imaginations run wild, and so invite unclean influences to disturb them.” Baochai spoke to Xiren, but in truth she was speaking for Baoyu in the outer room to hear. Xiren understood and joined in: “Of course there is no such thing. If Miss Lin’s soul were still in the garden, since we were so close to her, why have we never once dreamed of her?” Baoyu heard them outside and thought carefully: “That......