A fine rain, soft as butter, silently soaked Gaolin County.
A passenger boat slowly drew up to the dock.
Chen Qing wore a green robe and held an ordinary oil-paper umbrella.
Standing at the bow, he gazed at the county town's outline, both familiar and somewhat strange. His heart was filled with emotion.
Several years had passed, yet it felt as though a lifetime had gone by.
The boat gave a slight tremor as it settled against the gangplank.
Chen Qing disembarked with the sparse crowd of passengers. Without alerting anyone, he was like an ordinary wanderer returning home, slowly blending into the county town's hazy rain.
Following the address Wu Manqing had left in her earlier letter, he passed through streets and alleys until he arrived before a quiet, elegant courtyard in the Inner City.
White walls, black tiles, vermilion gates left slightly ajar—it was worlds apart from the dilapidated fishing boats clustered together at Yazi Bay in his memories.
This was the residence Wu Manqing had arranged for Madam Han in the Inner City.
Chen Qing took a deep breath of air fragrant with damp grass and trees, then gently pushed open the courtyard gate.
The courtyard was not large, but everything within it was arranged in perfect order.
Several early-summer flowers grew in the corner, their petals beaded with rain, making them appear all the more delicate and lovely.
The main hall's door stood open. A familiar figure sat with her back to the entrance on a low stool by the window, mending a garment intently by daylight.
Those movements were still the image most deeply etched into his memory.
Perhaps hearing the gate open, Madam Han paused with her needle and thread, then turned her head in puzzlement.
When her gaze fell upon the tall figure