After Xue Pan provoked Liu Xianglian at a banquet and was severely beaten, he felt too humiliated to remain in the capital. He then proposed to his mother, Xue Mu, that he wished to leave to conduct business with Zhang Dehui, a man of advanced age and virtue.

Xue Mu was unsure, but Baochai advised allowing him to go, reasoning that if his old habits resurfaced, there was little they could do, but if he were to truly change, it would indeed be a fortunate outcome.