As dusk spread over the gray tiles, Su Wantang sat before the bronze mirror, pinning a flower in her hair. The Suiyu on her Golden Dangle Hairpin trembled slightly with her movements, reflecting in the mirror with a ripple in her eyes, looking just as she had at fifteen when she first met Pei Zhaoning amidst the fine, misty apricot blossom rain.
Back then, she was the youngest daughter of the Su family, held on horseback by her eldest brother as they crossed Zhuque Avenue. Suddenly, a gust of wind swept away her paper kite, which got stuck on the vermilion palace wall by the road. Standing on tiptoe to reach it, she was entirely unaware of her skirt hems becoming stained with mud and dust.
"Is the young lady trying to reach this?" a clear, bright male voice came from above. Lifting her head, she saw a young man leaning casually against the palace wall, his dark brocade robe dyed amber by the setting light, holding her paper kite in his hand. When the young man jumped down, the jade pendant at his waist chimed crisply, startling the copper bells at the eaves and throwing her heartbeat into disarray.
Chapter 202