Wu Zhishen, when asked later, would insist that he was merely passing by, going from one teahouse to another in his long, often intoxicated, pointless and fruitless quest to find some clue that would lead him to the land of his desire.  He would also insist that he had no idea where he was at that particular moment, and certainly would give no more than a weary roll of his eyes in response to those who claimed otherwise.<br/><br/>(For tales there were, that a traveling scholar of ill repute had, while sleeping off his drink in the cheapest brothel and tea-house in the city, suddenly bolted upright out of a sound sleep, taken a wild swing at some spectral figure that only he could see, and cried out 'fie on thee, then, I'll save the girl if it will make you happy!  Now leave me alone!' before charging out into the night.)<br/><br/>Whatever the truth, he was remarkably close to the unfortunate incident about to happen when the other two nearly bumped into him...