Danmei Society for the Egregious Misuse of Chinese Poetry and Literature

Is this reference to Lin Shu an entirely idle remark, or is Zhou Xuanqing feeling out the possibilities. I was recently involved in a discussion of this in relation to the drama. Feeling out possibilities was a popular opinion, even to the extent that the scholar recognized they could be the same person. In the novel, I'm not sure it's as clearly that because the scholar turns away, grief-stricken after saying that young man will never return.