She seemed to notice the change in Shen Tang's expression and grew wary as well. "Why are you looking at me like that, honored guest?"
"Lady Shen resembles an old acquaintance of mine."
The woman before her really did look like someone.
"An old acquaintance?"
Shen Tang said, "Mm."
She saw her every day in the mirror.
"This too is a fated encounter." The proprietress gently stroked her face, already marked by the years. Constant travel had made her age faster than her peers; fine lines had appeared at the corners of her eyes, and threads of white had quietly surfaced among her temple hair. "The rain won't stop anytime soon. If you're not in a hurry, honored guest, why not sit down and rest your feet?"
"Then I'll trouble you."
"You're too polite, honored guest. You've come to patronize my little shop—how could that be troubling me? As for tea, do you have any preference?"
Shen Tang shook her head and said she didn't know much about tea, leaving the recommendation to the proprietress.
The proprietress recommended the shop's signature tea.
Shen Tang asked, "May I ask Lady Shen's family name?"
"The surname Shen."
A tea-shop proprietress surnamed Shen, whose appearance resembled the original.
With the two clues stacked together, Shen Tang couldn't help recalling an incident from many years ago. During the Battle of Northern Desert, Gu Chi and Liao Jia had traveled as envoys to Gao Country, and on their return, they had entered a roadside tea shop.
That proprietress had looked exactly like the original.
Judging by their ages, the two should be about the same age.
Could they be the same person?
Shen Tang watched the proprietress prepare the tea with nimble hands and feet, then took the initiative to start a conversation. "Forgive my