"But by then, she was no longer herself."
Bajie asked, "What do you mean?"
Jade Flute raised his head and glanced at him.
"Her face was the same, and her voice was still hers."
"But the moment I saw her, I felt something was wrong. She wasn't Pipa."
"And when she saw us, she wasn't the least bit surprised."
"She just stood there, her face full of joy, as though she had been waiting for us for a long time."
Jade Flute said slowly, "She didn't ask where we had been all those years, or why it had taken us so long to find her."
"Instead, she asked whether we had seen that river on our way there."
"Master's expression changed at once. He asked, 'Did you put what's in that river there?'"
"Pipa smiled even more happily when she heard that. She nodded and said, 'Yes.'"
"'That river is called the Mother-Child River. I created it. If you drink from it, you'll conceive a child, just as I did before. You'll give birth to a daughter.'"
"Master and I exchanged a glance. We didn't believe her. We only thought... she had gone even madder."
"Master asked her, 'What are you doing?'"
"But Pipa didn't answer. She only looked at Master."
"Then she asked, 'Didn't you say I could never have a child? Then do you know what this place is?'"
"Master said nothing."
"So she told us herself. This was the Daughter Kingdom she had created. There were only women here, no men, but they could still have children."
"'There's no need to wait for some man to give his approval.'"
"'And certainly no need to beg him.'"
At this point, Jade Flute looked at the Queen.
"Neither Master nor I understood at the time."
"But Master wasn't in