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This was exactly what he wanted; for he knew that the yellow-faced mandarin was only the richest man in Chang-ngan, and that the richest man in China would have a far greater chance of marrying Yun-Ying. "Well, what next?" cried the eight Genii, when he had finished. "Will you take it on your shoulder or on your head?" "I will just carry it under my arm," replied Pei-Hang, easily.
All his dishes and plates are gold, and they say his drinking-cups are gold, set with diamonds." "He is old and wrinkled, like a little brown monkey," said Yun-Ying. "I don't want to marry him! And, besides, the Fairy of the Moon didn't tie my foot to his." "No, that's true enough," sighed her mother.
He had not the least idea where the home of the Genii was; but Yun-Ying took him out into the garden, and showed him, in the far distance, a range of snow-capped mountains, with one peak towering above the rest. "That is Mount Sumi," she said, "and it is there the Genii live, sitting on the snow-peaks, and looking down at the Lake of Gems."
"No; for it is a pestle and mortar of jade, and you can only get one like it by going to the home of the Genii, which is on a mountain above the Lake of Gems. If you will do that, and bring it back to me, you shall marry Yun-Ying." "Yes, I will do that," said Pei-Hang, after a moment's thought. "But I must see my parents first."
"And I will tell you mine," began Pei-Hang, but Yun-Ying stopped him, smiling. "Ah, I know yours, and all about you," she said. This surprised Pei-Hang very much; but he need not have been greatly astonished, for everyone in Chang-ngan knew that Pei-Hang was the handsomest and wisest and best loved pupil the wise Pin-Too had ever had.
And how do you come to know Yun-Ying?" asked the old woman peering and blinking at him, with her hand over her eyes, to shade them from the sun. And when she heard about the dream, and the red cord, and that Pei-Hang wanted to marry her daughter, she did not look at all pleased. "If I had two daughters you might have one of them, and welcome," she grumbled.
"I have heard my mother say," he said, "that when a boy is born, the Fairy of the Moon ties an invisible red cord round his right foot, and the other end of the cord round the foot of the girl-baby whom he is to marry." "That is quite true," said the maiden; "and this is an invisible cord to people who are awake. Now I will tell you my name, and remember it when you hear it again. It is Yun-Ying."
He! he! he!" he chuckled. And when Pei-Hang offered him three rubies, each as large as a pigeon's egg, if he would go away and forget all about Yun-Ying, he took them and went. Perhaps he knew that Yun-Ying's mother would not have much more to say to him, now that she had a chance of a son-in-law who scattered jewels about the grass like pearl barley.
Yun-Ying was dressed in white underneath, but her over-dress was bright blue, embroidered with beautiful flowers which she had worked herself; and she stood in the door of the hut, with a peach tree in full bloom over her head, making such a picture of youth and loveliness that Pei-Hang's heart seemed to jump up into his throat, and beat there fast enough to choke him. "Who are you?
For Pei-Hang was not by any means a bad match. His parents were well off, and he was their only child. But Yun-Ying was a very pretty girl, and a mandarin of Chang-ngan was anxious to make her his wife. "He is four times her age, it is true," said her mother, explaining this to Pei-Hang; "but he is very rich.
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