Xie Chengjun first met Mu Siyun in the spring rain of Jiangnan. She stood at the bow of a painted pleasure boat, holding an oiled-paper umbrella, the hem of her lake-blue skirt damp with mist, looking like a fairy stepped right out of the *Goddess of Luoshui*. Leaning against the carved railing, he tossed a lotus seed toward her. She lifted her eyes, her gaze rippling like spring water, but instantly snapped open her round silk fan with a crisp *crack*, hiding the lower half of her hibiscus face.
"Young Master Xie is acting the rake again." Her voice was coated with the sweet, soft tones of the Wu dialect, yet laced with a thousand miles of aloof chill. That was when he remembered she was the legitimate daughter of the Suzhou Textile Bureau, while he was merely a capital playboy idling away his time following his father on a regional post. Yet the inked bamboo on that round silk fan was far too enchanting; in a trance, he half-chanted, "Bamboo shadows rock the window in disorder..." She paused, the corner of her fan lifting slightly: "Lotus fragrance drifts into the sleeve in purity."
For the next three months, he kept watch outside the painted boat every day, trading leaves of gold for half a stanza of her poetry or a single tune. She would always say, "Young Master, do not waste your time," yet when he climbed a wall and fell to injure himself, she secretly added calming poria mushrooms to his medicine. On the Mid-Autumn Festival night, he brought her a Liuli cup tribute-…
Chapter 44