As jia baoyu， Xue Baoqin， Xing youyanand Ping'er had birthdays on the same day， the young ladies held a hilarious¹ drinking party in the hall of the peony garden for them. When it was Xiangyun's turn to compose a verse amid a drinking game， she made fun of the service maids by saying， holding a duck head in hand， "This ya tou (referring to the duck head in hand) is not that ya tou (referring to the service maids around， as both are homophones in Chinese)， for this ya tou has applied² no hair oil…." Everybody roared with laughter. Some service maids protested， laughing， "You made fun of us， so you have to drink another cup. Let's pour a full cup her…." As the party went on drinkers' games continued with ceaseless laughter and people suddenly noticed that Xiangyun had disappeared. While they looked this way and that， a serice maid rushed in laughing， "Young ladies. Hurry to have a look at the Lady Xiangyun. She's sleeping on the stone bench over there." The group tiptoed over， and sure enough， saw Xiangyun sleeping soundly. Fallen flowers scattered³ on her body， her hair and her face. Her fan had dropped on the ground aside. Bees danced in the air around her. Under her head was a make-shift pillow of peony flowers wrapped with her handkerchief. Amid laughter service girls gently woke her up and helped her-she was still mumbling⁴ something drunkenly-get inside the room.

贾宝玉、薛宝琴、邢岫烟、平儿四人同一天过生日。众小姐带上自己的丫头们借机在芍药栏中红香圃三间小敞厅内饮酒行令，一时敞厅内热闹非凡。轮到香云说酒令时，她想拿丫头们取笑，他喝了一口酒，夹了一个鸭头，举起来说："这鸭头不是那丫头，头上没有桂花油。"众人笑了起来，惹得晴雯等一帮丫头说："云姑娘拿我们开心，快罚她喝酒。"大家都来敬酒，一时猜拳行令，呼三喝四，过了一会，大家突然发现湘云不见了，比各处去找。不一会，一个小丫头笑嘻嘻跑来说："姑娘们。快去看看，云姑娘吃醉了，在山石后面石凳上睡着了。"众人听后，便轻轻走过去，果然看到湘云在石凳上已入梦乡，四面的芍药花飞落了一身，满身满头都是花瓣。扇子落在地上，也被花瓣埋了一半。一群蜜蜂蝴蝶在她周围飞舞。湘云枕着用手帕抱着花瓣的枕头。众人看了又是爱，又是笑，忙上来产妇。湘云仍酒醉不醒，还嘟嘟噜噜地说着，众人笑着推醒她，用这湘云回屋里去了。