A Song to Drown Rivers

It is spring, and preparations are being made for an enormous banquet. King Goujian and Fanli arrive, and Fuchai greets Goujian like a friend, not seeing the coldness in his eyes. Fanli appears to have drunk too much and asks to be excused. Fuchai asks Xishi to show Fanli to the guest quarters. Once they are alone, Fanli tells her he has missed her. He asks how she is and apologizes for putting her in such a dangerous position. This angers Xishi. He admits to being jealous and begs her to stop when she touches his neck, saying this is where Fuchai likes to be touched. He grabs her and presses her against the wall. He acknowledges that it must be hard, that she must want to go home. She says she wants him more than to go home. He admits he’s afraid of his feelings for her—Zixu lured him to the castle by telling him she’d been hurt, and he knew he should not have gone, but all his judgment goes away when it comes to her. She needs to go and makes him promise to come back.