Smoky Slope Street. Willow Lane.
The dark, reserved carriage stopped outside a small courtyard. The young page, Zhao Ruyi, stepped forward and lightly knocked on the door. The vermilion wooden door opened at once. Seeing the page, the pretty maid who opened it brightened with joy and asked, "Ruyi, has Master returned?"
"Yes. Miss hasn't retired yet, has she?" Zhao Ruyi asked. As he spoke, he had already stepped aside and invited Gu Qinglin, who had alighted from the carriage, into the courtyard.
"Not yet. Miss is painting. Today she was practicing the Ink Line Method Master taught her last time, but she just couldn't get it right and has been fuming at herself." The maid was sharp-minded and naturally knew what she ought to say to please her master.
Sure enough, a gratified smile appeared on Gu Qinglin's face. "The Ink Line Method is one of the three most difficult line techniques in the art of painting, ranking alongside the Iron Wire Golden Hook Method and the Dot Line Forest Method. It took me several years to master it back then, yet Shu Huai actually wants to learn it in a single night?"
"Master, Miss is only worried that she'll paint badly and be called stupid by you." Seeing that her master was pleased, the maid said with a giggle.
"Shu Huai is the cleverest woman I've ever met. How could she be stupid?" Gu Qinglin declared loudly, deliberately making sure his beautiful concubine inside the room could hear him.
Sure enough, beneath the moonlight, a girl in white stood in the doorway.
Her features were as lovely as a painting, her bearing as refined as an orchid. Standing quietly there, she did not dazzle or overwhelm the eye, yet she exuded a beauty that soothed the heart and