so much as smiled at him. He ever listened attentively to the women who had spoken to him, but they had never mentioned anything of a suggestive nature. Ah! That was one of the detestable characteristics of the other sex: all of them purposely put on a false modesty.
On one particular day, Ah Q was pounding rice by the day at the home of the Venerable Mr. Chao; he had taken his evening rice and was sitting in the kitchen, smoking dried tobacco. Had he been working elsewhere, he would have returned to his home after evening rice, but the Chao household had its dinner early. Although it was an established rule that no lamps be lighted and that all should retire after the meal, exceptions to the rule, however, had been made: first, at the time when the Venerable Mr. Chao's eldest son had not yet attained the rank of Hsiu-t'sai, he was permitted to light the lamp to study his books; second, when Ah Q came to do odd jobs, he was allowed to light the lamp to pound rice. Because of this last exception to the rule, Ah Q sat in the kitchen, smoking dried tobacco prior to continuing to pound the rice.
Amah Wu, the sole female servant of the Chao household, having washed the dishes, sat down upon a long bench and was talking inconsequentials with Ah Q.
