Before long, the lame old man opened the door again, welcomed in Lü Yue, who had pasted on two tiny mustaches, and led him into the courtyard.
The main hall of the Zhang Residence, where guests were received, was fairly spacious. Unfortunately, the owners did not know how to arrange it, leaving it exceedingly plain and empty. The most refined thing in the room was probably the literary couplet pasted on the north wall.
What made Lü Yue laugh and cry was that, in one corner, there was even a wooden sword rack—apparently for children to play with. They had completely treated this place for receiving guests as a place for children to romp about.
What puzzled Lü Yue was that the room stood empty, without a soul in sight. He had no idea what game they were playing.
The lame old man saw Lü Yue's confusion and tried his best to tug his lips into a smile, adopting a gentle manner.
"The Zhang couple have been here for several years, and this is the first time a neighbor has come to visit. They specifically went to change into more presentable clothes, so as not to neglect a guest."
Lü Yue waited patiently for several minutes before he finally saw a man and a woman enter, leading a child of around eleven or twelve by the hand.
The couple should not have been very old, certainly not past forty, but their faces were dark and their skin coarse. They looked far older than their actual age, and the hands hidden beneath their sleeves were covered in calluses worn up through labor.
Still, it was clear that both husband and wife had been quite handsome in their youth, outstanding figures in their own right.
As for the child they held between