Seafood has to be eaten fresh, for it is quick to spoil. Often only a fine line divides freshness from rankness, and Xue Baocha has a different view of the "inner life" of the crab. She complains: "When wine cannot wash away its rankness, we resort to chrysanthemum; to ward off its coldness, ginger is required."
講究新鮮的水產，往往也最容易走味變腥，鮮與腥也就往往一線之隔，對大閘蟹的「皮裡春秋」，薛寶釵就另有看法：酒未滌腥還用菊，性防積冷定須薑。