"Fortress Besieged", a Modern Chinese Classic #2 Quiz

Answer: Hairpin

Ah Liu was for sure a scoundrel but Fang Hung-chien was really too easy in his relationship with Miss Pao. Though it was Miss Pao who took the initiative, Fang did desire a sexual experience with her. The next morning after they slept together, Ah Liu, the waiter in charge of Fang's cabin, found three hairpins on the bed which were left behind by Fang and Miss Pao carelessly and blackmailed them afterwards. And Fang's relationship with Miss Pao spoiled his love for Tang Hsiao-fu in the end.

Answer: The Two Items From the West Which Have Been Lasting in Chinese Society as a Whole

Principal Lv of the district's provincial high school asked Fang Hung-chien to deliver a speech to the students as a scholar back from overseas, on "A Reevaluation of the Influences of Western Civilization on Chinese History". Fang looked through many books carefully for the lecture material and did prepare some notes.

But the next morning he mistakenly wore his brother's gown and left the notes behind. So on the platform he changed impromptu to the topic of "The Two Items From the West Which Have Been Lasting in Chinese Society as a Whole". According to him, the two items are opium and syphilis, which made the audience roar with laughter.

The topic was of course very inappropriate and made the principal very angry.

Answer: He bought a new fur coat

Mrs. Chou, the mother of Fang's deceased fiancee, told him that someone was making a match for him with the daughter of a Mr. Chang. Fang didn't take the match very seriously but had to go to Mr. Chang's home to please Mr. and Mrs. Chou. On the way there he took a fancy to a new fur coat in the shop window.

It turned out that the girl didn't live up to his wishes for a girl friend, so he played mahjong with Mrs. Chang and won a lot of money, with which he bought his favorite fur coat.

Answer: Su Wen-wan herself

Below the poem was written ambiguously: "an old work copied for Wen-wan. Wang Er-kai", so Fang Hung-chien mistakenly thought the poem was a work of Wang Er-kai. Therefore he claimed the poem was cribbed. Later Tang Hsiao-fu informed him that the poem was in fact the work of Su Wen-wan herself.

Then Fang wrote a witty letter to Su, saying he had made the unfair accusation about the poem simply because "he had been vexed at seeing that such a beautiful piece of writing had been composed by none other than a vulgar common official".

The letter pleased Su Wen-wan very much and she told the truth to Fang by telephone. Naturally Fang feigned an alarm in his voice very well.

Answer: Western medicine

When Li's metal trunk arrived finally after two long-distance telephone calls, Li hurriedly opened it up to see if anything had been lost. Fang, Chao, Ku and Sun all crowded around to look at the inside of the trunk. To their surprise, the trunk was stuffed not only with cards but also with much Western medicine.

Afterwards Fang and Chao concluded after discussion that Li Mei-ting must take these medicines to the interior, where medicine was in short supply, to earn a profit. After they arrived at San Lu University, when Li Mei-ting found out that he had been deprived of the position of the chairman of the Department of Chinese Literature, he forced the school to buy all his medicine at a high price as a compensation.

Answer: He bought the diploma from an Irishman in New York, just as Fang Hung-chien had done

Han Hsueh-yu claimed he graduated from Carleton University and married an American from New York, two out-and-out lies. He bought the diploma from an Irishman, who, he said, was simply a swindler. His wife was not an American either but a White Russian so was not qualified to teach English as he wished.

But Mr. Han was definitely a better liar than Fang Hung-chien. Even in front of Fang who knew everything, he still claimed that the non-existent Carleton University was a good school. One would never think a liar could be so calm and unruffled.

Answer: She matched Fang to Miss Fan and Chao to Miss Liu

According to the book, "being a matchmaker and a mother are the two basic desires of a woman". Mrs. Wang took the mission of matching two couples wholeheartedly "like the unemployed finding work". However, the matchings didn't come to a fruitful end. Against the expectations of everyone, Chao Hsin-mei fell in love with Mrs. Wang simply because she looked and acted a little like Su Wen-wan, his former lover.

Answer: Sun Jou-chia

Sun Jou-chia was a girl good at calculating things. She devised some steps carefully so as to make Fang marry her in the end. Lu Hzu-hsiao courted her all along but she didn't like him. She made up a letter from her father, claiming that someone in San Lu University, who she said she suspected was Lu Tzu-Hsiao, was spreading a rumor about her and Fang to her family. Just at the moment Li Mei-ting and Lu Tzu-hsiao hurried toward them, she "gave a screech like an ambulance siren reduced several thousand times in magnitude and reached out to grab Hung-chien's right arm as though seeking his protection".

In front of these two nasty people, Fang Hung-chien admitted in spite of himself that he had fallen in love with Miss Sun and would marry her soon.

Answer: Sun Jou-chia

After they returned to Shanghai, Fang Hung-chien worked at the Sino-American News Agency while Sun Jou-chia worked in a large textile factory. Sun got good pay at the factory, twice as much as Fang did. Fang's parents were very unsatisfied with this. His father commented that Fang Hung-chien must be henpecked with his wife earning more than he did, while his mother said Sun Jou-chia should let their eldest son have her job at the factory.

Answer: Her auntie

Sun Jou-chia was not in very good terms with her own parents. The person closet to her was her aunt, a returned student from America. But the aunt felt Sun was mismatched, and was openly contemptuous of Fang's abilities and qualifications. Mama Li, her maid and her former wet nurse, often reported the couple's quarrels to the aunt although Sun Jou-chia asked her repeatedly not to do so.

But sometimes Sun herself did complain to her auntie about her marriage, which was once overheard by Fang Hung-chien and annoyed him very much.