The grand spectacle of Maple Clouds and Evening was almost here, yet not quite.
The annoying cicadas had at least fallen silent.
But beneath the heavy curtain of night, no matter how red the maples were, they appeared dark.
Earl of Peaceful Joy's residence was brilliantly lit. The riot of colors that lasted through the night here did not pale beside the gold-devouring dens of Linzi City.
Those who abandoned themselves to pleasure found it difficult to be happy anymore.
But drowning in wine and dreams was still better than waking to endure torment.
"The peach blossoms in the courtyard have bloomed!" a beautiful concubine cried in delighted surprise.
Earl of Peaceful Joy, who had been pursing his lips in search of those plump ones, suddenly lost all interest.
He turned impatiently toward the courtyard. "What are you here for? In the middle of the night—don't let people get the wrong idea!"
The seasons had long since become muddled.
Somehow, a spring breeze had come to the courtyard.
The old peach tree transplanted from Guiyi had originally lost all its branches, yet now it stood in full bloom, laden with lavish color.
Beneath the tree stood a man from whom one could not tear one's eyes away.
He wore silk robes embroidered with great crimson blossoms. On an ordinary person, such sumptuous attire would inevitably seem gaudy and vulgar, but his radiant beauty utterly overwhelmed it instead. He looked like a landscape painting: "He Smiles Among the Flowers."
The beautiful concubines gathered around Earl of Peaceful Joy all had strange lights flickering in their eyes. They wished they could bore their gazes through his silk robes and see what ravines lay beneath those collarbones.
"Go, all of you, go!" Earl of Peaceful Joy, several times fatter than he had been