Hsi-jen's spitting blood worries Pao-yu, so he secretly sends for Doctor Wang (so as not to alarm the entire household). Doctor Wang says that His-jen has had a contusion and prescribes some pills for her recovery.
Next day, in a gloomy mood, Pao-yu criticizes his maid Ching-wen for dropping his fan and breaking it; the two quarrel, and during the argument Ching-wen ridicules Hsi-jen's ambition to be a concubine. Later, when Hsi-jen tries to make peace between them, Pao-yu threatens to fire Ching-wen. Hsi-jen tries to reconcile them, but Ching-wen argues with her and exposes Hsi-jen's ambitions openly. Pao-yu threatens again to fire Ching-wen, and Hsijen tries to pacify Pao-yu again. As a result, Pao-yu offers to let Ching-wen tear up as many fans as possible — just to win her smile again.
This episode illustrates how rebellious Ching-wen is. Her character and personality are in sharp contrast with Hsi-jen's. Ching-wen looks down on her rulers' "authority." That's why she sympathizes with Pao-yu. However, when Pao-yu puts on the airs of a master, she defies him and dares to fight for her own rights. Her tendency to hate conniving people is revealed when she exposes Hsi-jen's ambitions. Of course, Ching-wen's tearing up fans is not good, but her behavior is only another example of the fact that she is influenced by the wasteful, aristocratic examples that she sees all around her.
When Pao-yu's cousin Shih Hsiang-yun comes to visit the Chia family and to see Pao-yu, in particular, we see that both of them still like to play pranks and create mischief, as they did when they were young. After giving Hsi-jen and the other maids some gifts, Hsiang-yun explains why she brought them herself (instead of sending a page). Her cleverness makes Pao-yu praise her as "still such a talker." Out of jealousy, Tai-yu says, "Even if she couldn't talk, her golden unicorn could." Tai-yu knows that Pao-yu has already purchased a golden unicorn for Hsiang-yun, one which he got from Yuan-chun.
Chapter 32 begins with Hsiang-yun teasingly reprimanding Pao-yu for losing the gold unicorn, comparing losing a unicorn to losing an official seal. To Hsiang-yun's surprise, Pao-yu says that losing an official seal is nothing. Hsiang-yun then advises Pao-yu to associate with officials more frequently and learn something about world affairs and administrative matters; in addition, she praises Pao-chai as the best, most good-natured, and most tolerant girl among all her cousins. Pao-yu retorts immediately, sarcastically remarking that "people with such worldly wisdom like yours will be corrupted here." Pao-yu then tells Hsiang-yun frankly the reason why he feels such an attachment for Tai-yu: Tai-yu never talks disgusting nonsense.
