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? 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.
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. 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.
She would have liked to tell Pei-Hang to go about his business, but she knew if the red cord had really been tied between his foot and Yun-Ying's, it would not be safe to do that.
"Come inside," she said at last; "I'll see what I can promise."
The inside of the hut was fragrant with the scent of herbs which were strewn all over the floor, and on a wooden stool in the middle lay a broken pestle and mortar.
"Now," said Yun-Ying's mother, "on this stool I pound magic drugs given to me by the Genii; but my pestle and mortar is broken. I want a new one."
"That I can easily buy in Chang-ngan," replied Pei-Hang.
"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."