As for him, he was standing where the lantern lights grew dim, staring blankly like a fool

Listening to the verse the woman recited and looking into her eyes, Xiao Mo froze for a moment.

Her crystal-clear eyes stirred Xiao Mo's heart. An inexplicable guilt and remorse quietly took root within him, along with an emotion he could neither name nor explain, leaving him unsure where to begin.

"What is it, young master? Have you never heard this poem?" Yan Ruxue covered her cherry lips with her sleeve and smiled softly.

"I have, but I never expected it to be that particular line."

Xiao Mo came back to his senses and shook his head with a smile.

This poem had not only existed in the China of his previous life; it existed here as well.

Except here, "Longing" had been written by the Prime Minister of the Yun Kingdom, one of the human dynasties, and was widely known.

"So this poem really is difficult to guess," Yan Ruxue said.

Xiao Mo merely smiled without saying anything. He knew she was actually trying to spare his pride.

"Let's try twice more, or people will laugh at us," Xiao Mo suggested.

"All right," Yan Ruxue agreed. "May I do the guessing this time?"

"Of course."

After that, Xiao Mo and Yan Ruxue took turns guessing a few more poems. Both answered correctly, and in the end, they won two boxes of pastries.

Before long, Miss Sisi, the celebrated virtuoso of the Zhen Tea House, arrived.

Xiao Mo and Yan Ruxue sat down near a window, sipping tea and eating pastries as they listened to Miss Sisi play the zither.

Listening to the music and watching the people coming and going below, Xiao Mo's thoughts could not help drifting.

Much of the gloom of being confined deep within the palace seemed to dissolve all at once.

"Say, if the one