73 YUN XING TONG Yes, that’s it . HANDMAIDEN No wonder I sensed it … time has stopped in this place … Sir Yun, you must have really loved her … and yet why did you say that she went away before you married the Mistress of the House … YUN XING TONG Because the Mistress of the House was no longer the same woman that I fell in love with, but even then I still loved her … Handmaiden looks deep into Yun Xing Tong’s eyes, and finds that he seems as hard and cold as a slab of marble . HANDMAIDEN What happened … ? YUN XING TONG I think you know, you’re going to be a woman yourself . But I want to tell your Master something; on the last night she was alive, she called out my name before she died … SQUIRE I know . YUN XING TONG How did you know? SQUIRE Hear it from the older servants all the time … YUN XING TONG Very well, I suppose I don’t need to keep it anymore . She died while I was taking my Imperial Civil Service Examinations . For one week or so the best doctors were trying to heal her, but none of them could do a thing though they said that they tried their best . Maybe it was that she herself wanted to die . So she willed herself into it, and no one could stop her … (Beat) So what could I do? I gave the order that all the clocks in the house be stopped . It was the best way to hold a funeral service for her … HANDMAIDEN Why were you not by her side, Sir Yun? She was the greatest love of your life till then … YUN XING TONG