After three months of living in Perpetual’s house, Violet and Magic Gourd are desperate to find a way to escape. Their situation is difficult because Perpetual has hidden Violet’s jewelry, and the women fear that if they run away, they’ll be immediately captured. Violet tries to remain on good terms with Perpetual even though his behavior toward her becomes increasingly abusive. He starts beating her routinely and then apologizing afterward. Magic Gourd observes, “Cruel men are addicted to the other person’s fear. Once they taste it, they have to feed it” (641).

Perpetual disappears for weeks at a time, presumably to manage his business concerns. Violet suspects that he goes to the peak of the mountain, which is said to be haunted. A Buddhist shrine at the top may be the place where Perpetual hides his stolen wealth.

His second wife, Pomelo, befriends Violet and Magic Gourd. She tells them of two concubines who tried to escape before. One of them drowned in the river. The other, whose name is Charm, found one of Perpetual’s poems that contained coded directions to reach the top of the mountain. She escaped but promised to write to Pomelo if she ever found refuge.