After the Mid-Autumn Festival, the weather in the southern lands was still rather hot, but the breezes blowing across the countryside had gradually grown cool. Passing a village shaded by ginkgo trees, Xing Yan noticed that among the half-yellow, half-green trees, an occasional one had already turned entirely yellow, its foliage brilliant beneath the azure sky. Seeing those trees full of pale gold, he felt that autumn was gradually drawing near.
As they passed one of those autumn trees, a gust sometimes swept across the ground, sending its yellow leaves fluttering down to mingle with those blown up from below, like hundreds upon thousands of yellow butterflies dancing in the air.
As they strolled beneath the trees, several yellow leaves settled on their heads and shoulders. After brushing off his own leaves, Xing Yan reached to remove the two caught in Qiong Rong's hair, only to see the little girl cover her hair and lean away. Qiong Rong said these leaves looked just like the fan-shaped silk ornaments they had seen at the market last time, and would surely look lovely in her hair. For the next stretch of road, she held herself stiffly upright and tiptoed carefully along-until she suddenly forgot all about them and ran off to chase a big yellow dog passing by.
Wandering leisurely through the countryside in the eighth and ninth months, they passed an unknown number of villages and rivers, and before they realized it, more than ten days had gone by. Along the way, Qiong Rong remained as innocent as ever, and Xueyi as gentle and tender. With these two girls beside him, one lively and the other quiet, Xing Yan felt that his journey down the mountain to gain experience was nothing like the lonely, tedious affair his fellow disciples on Mount