Shangguan Yan nodded, a flicker of approval flashing through her eyes. "Not bad. That is exactly it."
Wang Xian added, "Like you, I do not like either of those flavors. They are both too heavy, too bitter, too saddening."
"If I had to choose, I would rather lean against the railing atop a small bridge tower, watching peach blossoms drift down in a fluttering shower, losing myself in the realm of countless peach blossoms and forgetting what day or year it is..."
Shangguan Yan took a deep breath. It was a long, long breath, as though she were calming the turbulence in her heart.
She looked at Tang Feng on the second floor, and the corners of her lips slowly rose as she smiled.
She ignored Ye Hongxiu before her, who was holding a wine cup and watching her with deep eyes.
She also ignored Li Xiangxiang beside her, whose face was grave and whose lips were pressed together slightly, as if she were savoring some complicated flavor.
Instead, she smiled at the unseen person in the void. "They say spring flowers do not last long once gone, yet that touch of spring breeze upon one's face, with all its myriad charms, is the hardest thing to forget!"
"Flowers bloom and fall in their own time, but that feeling, that state of mind, can remain in one's heart for a long, long time."
Even though Shangguan Yan had no chance of tasting a pot of Peach Blossom Brew, she could still feel the spring breeze brushing against her face through Wang Xian's words, feel the mood of old friends at her side.
It was a kind of warmth, a kind of comfort, something that made one want to cry yet unable to stop smiling.
That was enough.
Sometimes, merely knowing