Part 2, Chapter 1 Summary

Two years later, Lin's cousin Liang Meng, who is a widower, contacts him, asking for help finding a wife, as he would like to remarry. The previous summer, Lin had returned home and again asked for a divorce. Shuyu agreed, but when they got to court, she could not stop crying; she then changed her mind. Manna is disappointed, as always, and undergoing a personality change. She is becoming more quarrelsome with others as Lin returns to placidity. People call Manna a "typical old maid" and he feels badly for her, but doesn't know what to do other than try for a divorce again the next summer.

When Lin gets his cousin's letter, it occurs to him that Manna could find another boyfriend outside of the hospital. He decides he can let her go, that it would be best, and tells...