Plum Garden.
Old Man Lu Xingkong stood by the study window, watching two snow doves in the garden squawk and fight over food among the branches. The snow dove with the red mark on its forehead had somehow found an earthworm, while the other, marked with black, eyed it hungrily and pounced again and again, trying to snatch the worm away. They went back and forth, pecking at eyes and tearing feathers, fighting so fiercely that neither could gain the upper hand.
Old Butler Lu Shu pushed open the door and walked in. He lifted the little copper stove bubbling over the silver-whiskered charcoal, filled Lu Xingkong's teacup with boiling water, and said, "Master, admiring the snow again? Come to think of it, this year's snow is strange. Not only has it fallen heavily, but it hasn't stopped for several days. I hear quite a few of the pines and cypresses on West Mountain have been crushed. This is a once-in-a-century snow disaster."
Lu Xingkong pointed at the two snow doves fighting to their hearts' content, utterly unconcerned with the spectators watching and commenting, and said, "Look. Doesn't the Lu Clan resemble that snow dove?"
Old Butler Lu walked over, narrowed his eyes, and studied them for a while before asking, "Master, which one do you mean?"
"The red-crowned snow dove found an earthworm, drawing the black-crowned snow dove over to fight for it. The battle is fierce, with the two birds pecking at each other for nearly a hundred exchanges. Tell me, at this point, should the red-crowned snow dove surrender and hand over the earthworm in its beak, or fight to the bitter end, defending both its dignity and its claim to the earthworm no matter what?" Lu Xingkong asked in a low voice.
"Master, isn't the answer