By the time Lin Chen left, the moon over Enchanting Song Star had climbed to the middle of the sky.
He had walked a long way before looking back. The lights beneath the veranda of the Lord's Mansion still shone, and a figure stood in the moonlight, watching him leave without turning away for a long time.
A little while later, he returned.
He could not say exactly when he had changed his mind.
Perhaps it was that glimmer in Xidi's eyes, poised to fall yet still lingering as she raised her cup beneath the moon. Or perhaps the three-hundred-year-old wine was simply too mellow and rich, its warmth mingling with the night breeze until he suddenly felt that a night like this should not be brought to a hasty close.
He retraced his steps and sat beneath the veranda again.
Seeing him return, Xidi's pink eyes widened slightly for an instant, then curved into two crescents. Without a word, she lifted the wine jar and filled another cup for him.
The amber wine rippled beneath the crystal lamp. As she passed him the cup, her fingertips brushed his, but she did not draw them away.
"What brought you back?" she asked, her voice seemingly softened by the wine.
Lin Chen accepted the cup without rushing to drink. "It felt like too much of a loss to leave just like that. You still owe me plenty of stories. Start telling them now."
Xidi gave a soft little hum, as though she was a little surprised, yet also as though she had known all along that he would stay.
She smoothed her skirt, then simply slid down from the veranda pillar and sat on a stone step closer to Lin Chen, cradling the wine jar, their knees almost touching.
Her long