The meal was over, but the dishes had not been cleared away. Cloud felt she could never describe the object successfully without giving an illustration. When asked how long, she picked up an ivory chopstick and replied, "The length of this chopstick." When asked how thick, she picked up a teacup and replied, "The size of this teacup." When asked how hard, she pointed to a bowl of bean curd and replied, "As hard as that bean curd," a reply that sent her listeners into fits of laughter.
"In that case it's awfully soft," they said. "What's the use of its being so big if it's like bean curd?"
"You're wrong there," said Cloud. "There is nothing in the world that's harder then bean curd. It's harder than metal, for metal, hard as it is, melts on contact with fire, whereas bean curd gets harder and harder the longer it's exposed to heat. That object of his is the same, it gets harder with sex, not softer, which is why I compared it to bean curd."
"We don't believe such a treasure exists," said the sisters. "You're overdoing it."
"Far from it. I haven't even told you all of its strengths. It has two other marvelous qualities apart from those I have mentioned, but if I tried to describe them, you'd be even more skeptical. You'll just have to wait until you're having sex with him and can experience them yourselves."
"Do tell us," chorused the sisters. "Never mind whether we believe you."
But Cloud was not about to reveal his qualities so easily. She let the sisters become more and more agitated before finally giving them a systematic account of Vesperus's ability to get larger and hotter, an account that stirred up the sisters' passions and brought a flush to their cheeks and ears. They longed for him to walk in that very moment so that they could drag him off to bed without a word of greeting and put his extraordinary talents to the test. Unfortunately the maid had still not returned, although she had been gone a long time.
The reason for the delay was that Vesperus was not at home. The maid waited inside Cloud's room, where she was spotted by Satchel, who climbed through the gap in the wooden wall and had a long and heavy session with her. When Vesperus returned, she threw the letter over and received his reply, which she duly brought back.
The three women squeezed together to read it. They saw that he had understood Cloud's intention and, instead of writing a letter, had merely added a second couplet:
All prepared is the sesame food;
Restrain your hunger when we meet.
Now that their night's pleasure was assured, the sisters were eager to go in and arrange their beds, fold the covers, bathe and perfume themselves, and await his lovemaking. Cloud stopped them.
"Don't run away so quickly. Let's get tonight's order settled now, lest we make a spectacle of ourselves with a scramble at the last minute."
Lucky Pearl was well aware that Cloud, having slept with him several nights, ought to give up her place, in which case it would be her turn; this was no time to apply the seniority rule. Instead of saying this, however, she gave a calculated display of deference. "But you set the rules just now, from senior to junior, and it goes without saying that you'll be first. What is there left to discuss?"
"By rights we ought to do it like that," said Cloud, "but a different principle should apply tonight. As the saying goes, 'He who enters first is host, he who enters last is guest.' I've slept with him several nights already and would have to be considered the host. Let's use the host-guest principle tonight and switch to the seniority system after you've both slept with him. That's definitely the right solution, so let's have no false modesty. There's just one question still to be settled: with me out of consideration, he should naturally begin with Pearl. But are you going to take a whole night each or will you divide the night between you? Talk it over and let me know."
But the sisters just looked at one another and said nothing. "We're too embarrassed," said Lucky Pearl after some time. "You're the eldest, you decide."
"A whole night is more satisfying," said Cloud, "but it would be hard on the one who has to wait. It might be better if you took half the night each."
She offered this as a suggestion only, because she wanted them to accept it before she converted it into a ruling. To her surprise, each of them had reservations that she could not bring herself to express. Again neither said anything.
"I know what your silence means," said Cloud. "The one who goes first is afraid he won't put himself out for her but will reserve his strength for the second party, so she won't agree. And the one who goes last is afraid she'll get someone who has shot his bolt and lost his edge, so she won't agree. Let me put it to you straight: he is a match for several women."
She turned first to Lucky Pearl. "Even if you have him the whole night, you'll still get only half a night of the real thing. Well before midnight comes around I'm afraid you'll beg to be excused. You'll end up handing him on anyway."
Then she turned to Lucky Jade. "'The wine affects the last guest to arrive just as much as the first,' as the saying goes. Moreover, his particular winepot tastes especially good toward the bottom. There's no need for you to be suspicious of each other, so let's do it that way."
Now that she had guessed their thoughts, the sisters resolved their doubts and agreed: "We'll do as you say."
The arrangements complete, Cloud told a maid to stand by the door. They hadn't long to wait before Vesperus was ushered in.
As he entered, the sisters affected a maidenly confusion and withdrew a step or two, leaving Cloud to receive him. Vesperus gave a deep bow in greeting her, then straightened up. "Please ask the young ladies to come forward and be introduced," he said. Cloud led them forward to meet him, gripping one girl's arm with each hand.
After the introductions Lucky Pearl called to the maid to bring tea. "There's no need to order tea," said Cloud. "He's been longing for you two so badly that he's quite bitter, so give him some of the nectar in your mouths instead of tea." As she spoke, she took the girls' hands and placed them in Vesperus's. Embracing both girls, Vesperus popped his tongue first into Lucky Pearl's mouth and let her suck it and then into Lucky Jade's and let her do the same. Then he brought all three mouths together to form the character pin, [77] after which he took both tongues into his own mouth and sucked them.
It was getting late and Lucky Jade was worried lest her time with him be delayed, so she hurried out to the kitchen and urged the maids to get supper on the table.
"Let's go to bed," said Vesperus. "It's late."
"But we haven't had our sesame food yet," said Lucky Pearl. "How can you talk of bed?"
"I drank your nectar just now. That will do nicely instead."
They were still joking as the food was brought in. Vesperus sat in the place of honor, with Cloud opposite him and Pearl and Jade on either side. They had finished their supper and were about to clear the dishes away when Vesperus pulled Cloud aside.
"Tell me, what are the sleeping arrangements for tonight?" he asked.
"I've settled it all for you," she said. "The first half of the night you'll be with Pearl, the second with Jade."
"And what about yourself?"
"Oh, I'll take the middle half," said Cloud, dissembling.
"That'll be fine, too."
"That too sounds a little odd. You're surely not implying that I'm being unfair, like someone who keeps the middle part of the fish for himself and leaves the head and tail to others, so that they complain of getting all the bones! In that case why not put all your energy into the first and last parts and cut back in the middle?"