The hall was filled with women, who fled to right and left.  The statue of Kwan-yin was covered with necklaces and pieces of embroidery.  She was represented holding a child in her arms, while four or five babies clung to her robe.  The altar and the walls were covered with votive offerings, chiefly consisting of embroidered slippers.  Candles beyond number were held in branches of candlesticks.  The hall was filled with the smoke of incense.  To the left was the immortal Chang who gives us children.  To the right was the “Officer of the Star of Extended Longevity.”

Wang bowed before the goddess.  Then he went to visit the penitents’ cells.  Each ceiling was painted over with flowers, a carpet covered each floor and the bed, the table and the chairs were spotlessly clean.

He examined the cells carefully all over and found no crack.  Not a mouse, not even an ant could have entered in.  He went out in perplexity and, after the usual formalities, again stepped into his palankeen, which was accompanied to the gate by all the bonzes.

Thinking to the right and musing to the left, as the proverb says, the Governor suddenly conceived a plan.  As soon as he arrived at the palace, he summoned one of his secretaries, and said to him: 

“Go and find me two harlots, and clothe them as honest women.  Give one of them a box of black ink and the other a box of vermilion paste, and send them to pass the night at the monastery.  If any one approaches them, let them mark his head with the red and the black.  I shall go myself to-morrow morning to examine the matter.  Above all, let this thing be kept the closest secret.”

The secretary at once went to seek out two public women of his acquaintance.  One was named Mei-chieh, and the other Wan-erh.  He took them to his house, explained the Governor’s orders to them, and clothed them as matrons of good family.  He summoned two palankeens, which he caused the sham penitents to enter, and himself conducted the procession to the monastery.  He left the women in their cells, and came back to inform the monk on duty.

After his departure, a little novice brought tea to the present visitors, who were more than ten in number.  Who would have thought of troubling to examine the two new arrivals?

At the sounding of the first watch, all the cells were locked.  The members of the various families took up their positions before the doors.  The bonzes shut themselves into their own apartments.

When Mei-chieh found herself alone, she put her little box of vermilion near the pillow, turned up the lamp, undressed herself, and lay upon the bed.  But she was unable to sleep for thinking of her mission, and continually kept looking through the bed curtains.

The second watch sounded.  On every side the sounds of human life were silenced, and all things were still.  Suddenly she heard, under the floor, this noise:  Ko-Ko.  She sat up, thinking it was a rat, and saw a part of the floor move to one side.  A shaven head appeared, and was quickly followed by the whole body.  It was a bonze.  Mei-chieh was astounded, and thought: