The chapter opens with a description of the red bean, a plant native to the south-east of China. The narrator tells us that he cannot return to his mother's native land because people there plant red beans in honor of their loved ones. He hopes that he will be able to find someone worthy of his love, but he knows that the commander treats him well, so he doesn't have to look for him anymore. He tells the servants to come and take his coat off, and he tells them to shake his head and shake his hand. They do, and the narrator tells them that the jade artist and the painter designed the scene in which the two men are seen. The jade artist, he says, has the "most seductive eyes" in the world, while the painter is dull and "as bright as the moon." The narrator says that the painter and the jade craftsman did not believe him, because they have not yet met him. He asks the servants if they have been lying to him, and they tell him that they have.