Volume Three: "Dream of Three Lifetimes Beneath the Moon" - A Frost-edged Blade Strikes the Autumn Wind; Who Has a Wrong to Right?

After pleading every which way and all but wearing out his tongue, Xing Yan finally persuaded the little maid Ying'er to deliver his verse to Lady Rui. Once he had sent the girl off, he breathed a sigh of relief. The matter that had weighed on his mind for days could at last be brought to a conclusion.

Surely Lady Rui would understand the meaning of the four lines he had written. From what he had heard of her, Xing Yan felt that this woman, counted among the Four Beauties of Flower Moon House, was no shallow beauty with nothing beneath the surface. She should be able to hear the notes beyond the strings of his verse.

"Can gourd leaves bear lovers across the stream? Deliverance need not come aboard mercy's boat!..." With nothing else to do, the boy could not help reciting his verse several more times.

Yet amid his satisfaction with the recitation, a little doubt crept in.

Er... are the words "deliverance" a little too blunt? Could they offend Lady Rui? Hmm... probably not. Those words came from the couplet hanging outside the house, after all. Everyone here knows that couplet, and Lady Rui is generous enough not to take offense over it.

Ha... perhaps once she understands, she'll even come and ask me about it in detail? Then I'll have a chance to tell her every last thing I've been wondering about!

At this thought, Xing Yan grew quite delighted. The simple-hearted boy firmly believed that once his verse arrived, it would awaken Sister Rui from her lingering dream.

He might have been sitting upright before his desk, holding his special edition of the Upper Clarity Scripture and solemnly swaying his head as he read, but in truth, every bit of his attention was fixed on the door!

Creak...

Just as waiting was beginning to make him anxious, the door sounded at precisely the right moment.

Apparently Lady Rui really was a quick-witted woman. She had not kept him waiting long.

Hearing the door, Xing Yan hurriedly looked up. Ah, who else could the woman entering be but Lady Rui?

Surely she had come to ask him about the circumstances behind his verse!

Full of enthusiasm, Xing Yan quickly put down his scripture and started to rise in welcome-

Only to hear an unexpected smack as Lady Rui, who had entered without saying a word, slapped a sheet of hemp paper down before him!

Only then did Xing Yan, who had been brimming with delight, realize something was wrong. Looking closely, he saw that the sheet beneath Lady Rui's fair hand was the very verse he had just asked Ying'er to deliver!

When he looked up at her face, he discovered that this normally dignified, composed woman now looked as though her features had been coated in frost.

At the sight, Xing Yan sighed inwardly.

Now I know... things haven't gone as hoped.

"Hitherto I read..." no words came; instead, the boy hastened to gather his thoughts. Before he could rise from his bewilderment, Lady Rui, silent since entering, spoke.

"Young Master Zhang, I have read your verse and am returning it." She paused, then added:

"From now on, please refrain from composing such scurrilous gossip to sully my eyes and ears!"

Her voice was bleak and cold, and she was plainly very angry.

"Hm?"

At this reproach, Xing Yan was utterly at sea. Unable to understand what Lady Rui meant, he wondered:

Scurrilous gossip?... Where did that come from?... Wind, wind... ah! At last, Xing Yan understood.

Doesn't that expression mean my words are drifting on the wind-empty claims without any proof? And that word "wind" carries a hint of frivolous teasing, too...

Realizing this, Xing Yan hurried to defend himself.

"Sister Rui, please don't misunderstand! Those four lines I offered you weren't meant to offend you in any way! I-I only wanted to warn you... I only heard that Young Master Hu has-has begun spending your..."

"Enough!"

The boy's anxious, rather incoherent explanation was only halfway out when Lady Rui sharply interrupted him.

"What passes between my dear Hu and me is no business of anyone else!"

At this point, Lady Rui realized that her tone might have been too harsh. Judging by his behavior, this young Master Zhang probably meant well.

With that thought, the renowned Lady Rui of Flower Moon House recovered a little from her anger. Softening her voice, she addressed the bewildered boy before her.

"Young Master Zhang, of course I understood the meaning of your verse. But there are things you do not know. My dear Hu..."

Here, a faint blush rose to Lady Rui's icy cheeks.

"Young Master Hu is utterly devoted to me, his heart filled with true affection! Heaven and the sun can bear witness to his love. How could I allow anyone to utter so much as half a word slandering him? I appreciate your good intentions, young master, but please never say another word of this kind!"

Without waiting for the boy to offer a defense, she turned and swept away with a flick of her sleeve!

Only then did Xing Yan realize that all his painstaking efforts had been wasted.

It seems I thought far too simply of this matter, Xing Yan reflected, unable to avoid reproaching himself.

Yet beneath his disappointment, he remained puzzled.

Why couldn't Lady Rui bear to hear even a little of my advice?

Faced with an outcome utterly unlike what he had expected, the boy sat there blankly, unable to make sense of it no matter how he pondered.

After a while, a breeze from somewhere gently lifted the sheet of verse lying on the desk before him. It drifted and spun, gradually floating out of his sight, until there was no telling where it had fallen...

In truth, just as Lady Rui had said, there really were things Xing Yan "did not know." Her supposedly unexpected reaction was not strange in the least.

Though Xing Yan was gifted with innate wisdom and a quick, perceptive mind, he was, after all, only a boy of sixteen. In matters of love between men and women, he remained thoroughly ignorant.

How could the subtle feelings of romantic attachment be understood merely by reading more books of rites, music, and poetry?

Thus, Xing Yan's hope that a few short words of warning could lead Lady Rui back from her mistaken path was naive indeed. She and Hu Shi'an were presently in the full heat of mutual affection. Moreover, Lady Rui was steadfast by nature, and had tied the slender thread of her love firmly to her beloved.

After all, however renowned Lady Rui might be for dignity and self-restraint, she was still a courtesan. As the saying went, nights in the pleasure houses were cold, and the roads of the courtesans' quarter slippery. For all the bustling carriages and horses, all the splendor before her now, once a few more years had passed and her beauty withered and faded, how could the word "loneliness" alone describe the misery of spending the latter half of her life helpless and alone?

Thus, the only escape for a woman of the pleasure houses was to find someone dependable before her beauty faded, someone to whom she could entrust the rest of her life. It was the most respectable-and perhaps the only proper-way out for any courtesan!

But how many men who ordinarily came to carouse in such places could be trusted with a sincere heart? Those amorous patrons rode through the courtesans' quarter only for amusement and relief from their weariness. Who among them would truly be willing to spend good money buying a girl's freedom? Even those young men who, momentarily bewitched by beauty, promised to redeem a woman often failed to withstand all the supposedly upright talk and public criticism.

One could therefore imagine how Lady Rui felt. Having finally met a devoted young gentleman willing to rescue her from this pit of fire, how could she fail to give him her unwavering love? Moreover, Hu Shi'an was not merely handsome and charming. He was considerate and understanding as well-a fine match rarely found in this world.

It could be said that this young Master Hu, now a frequent visitor to gambling houses, was, in Lady Rui's eyes, a flawless figure carved from jade. He was her entire world! At such a time, she was deaf despite having ears and blind despite having eyes. How could she hear even half a word of unwelcome advice?

Perhaps, in her eyes, Xing Yan was merely a boy separated from childhood by a paper-thin wall.

Thus, although Xing Yan could not quite understand Lady Rui's reaction, it was entirely natural and reasonable.

As the boy sat brooding, he heard the door again. Looking up, he saw the little maid Ying'er sidling into the room once more. She caught hold of him and began asking question after question.

After delivering the verse to Lady Rui, the little maid had watched her face darken like still water as she read it. Though Lady Rui said nothing, Ying'er had already sensed trouble: surely something in Brother Xing Yan's verse had offended her. Worried, the girl had followed and waited nearby. Once Lady Rui left, she came inside to ask whether Lady Rui had reprimanded him.

Hearing Ying'er's kind inquiries, Xing Yan, though still feeling stifled and upset, followed her lead and gave a few hesitant replies.

Yet even as they talked, the boy's thoughts were elsewhere.

Looking at the little girl who was still trying so hard to comfort him, Xing Yan suddenly realized how deeply he missed Ju Ying, the girl who had worked with him in such perfect accord more than a month ago...

Ju Ying, Ju Ying...

At the sudden thought of that girl, Xing Yan could not help repeating her name several times in his heart.

Ju Ying's adorable manner, her soft words and gentle smile, gradually emerged in his mind. Her two faces, so different in beauty yet equally charming whether smiling or pouting, swayed before his eyes, alternating.

His mind left unsettled by the matter of Lady Rui, Xing Yan felt something stir within him, as though the thought of Ju Ying had given him an inspiration. But it was only a fleeting glimmer. When he tried to seize it, the idea eluded his grasp.

Oh, forget it! Why wear myself out thinking about it?

Xing Yan laughed at himself and joked inwardly, and his spirits grew much lighter.

Xing Yan shook his head at himself. Maybe it was because I made too much of everything. As the saying goes, all was quiet under heaven until a fool stirred up trouble for himself. To think I've played the fool for once-or wasn't I one already? Ha!

Xing Yan laughed at himself and joked inwardly, and his spirits grew much lighter.

His life seemed to have returned to its former course: a little dull, but quite pleasant.

By now, Xing Yan had also persuaded the kindly women in the house to sew him a rough cloth cover fitted to his nameless old sword. He used it as a sheath, putting away the ancient blade with its rather quarrelsome temperament.

When strolling idly through the streets, Xing Yan imitated the swagger of wandering heroes and sons of aristocratic clans, carrying his newly found old sword slantwise across his back for show. He was still a boy at heart, after all, and thought it made him look impressively formidable. It was rather fun!

Of course, the sword was not merely an ornament. In his spare time, Xing Yan also went to the Ji Family School to learn a little swordsmanship from Master Ji.

The Ji Family School did not confine itself entirely to rites, music, poetry, and books. It also touched upon archery and charioteering, and Old Scholar Ji's lessons had always included swordsmanship. Schools of the time placed considerable emphasis on embracing a broad range of learning, so such a curriculum was nothing unusual.

Naturally, the swordsmanship taught by the venerable Master Ji could never be a blood-soaked art of killing. When the old man practiced, his movements were dignified and graceful, perfectly balanced between swift and slow. With his flowing beard and fluttering sleeves, he looked rather like an immortal from afar. Perhaps "sword dance" would have been a more fitting name for Master Ji's swordsmanship.

Whatever one called it, however, practicing it did strengthen the body and loosen the muscles and joints. Thus, the students never tired of learning it.

In the past, Xing Yan's family had been too poor to afford a proper blade, so he had made do with a mock sword carved from bamboo or wood. Though his movements with the wooden sword looked convincing enough, it never felt quite right in his hand. As he grew older, he became embarrassed to practice with something so much like a toy. Thus, he had not attended the swordsmanship lessons for a long time.

Now the boy had happened upon this old sword. Though plain and crude in appearance, it was at least a real blade. Whenever he had some free time, he happily trotted off to study swordsmanship with Master Ji. It was quite a good way to pass the hours.

That afternoon, in an open patch of the garden behind Flower Moon House, Xing Yan once again practiced the sequence Master Ji had recently taught him. Finishing and coming to a halt, he felt rather hot, so he pressed the blade against his cheek and enjoyed the pleasant coolness flowing from it.

Ha! If I'd laid this sword against that fellow Chen Kui's neck that day on Poyang Lake, wouldn't it have worked even better? Hahaha!

Feeling the blade's coolness, Xing Yan could not resist this outrageous thought. Ah, the memory of that night, when he and young Ju Ying had worked seamlessly together to intimidate the wicked Head Constable Chen, remained vivid before his eyes...

"Ah!"

The moment he recalled it, something suddenly stirred in Xing Yan's heart!

At last, the boy understood what that elusive thought had been-the one that had hovered in his mind these past few days, faintly present yet impossible to grasp.

...Since gentle persuasion won't work with Lady Rui, why don't I use my old trick again?!

Though Xing Yan's attempt to admonish Lady Rui through his verse had failed, everything seemed calm again on the surface. Inwardly, however, the boy, who hated evil as bitterly as an enemy, could not let the matter rest. Though he devised a thousand reasons to put it aside, his perceptive mind could never persuade itself that Young Master Hu treated Sister Rui with sincere affection. Xing Yan simply could not deceive himself.

It was often so: believing certain things might benefit a person greatly, and so one desperately wanted to believe them. Yet those were precisely the things one could not bring oneself to believe!

Though Lady Rui had spoken to him so harshly that day, Xing Yan was easygoing by nature and bore no grudge. Instead, whenever he imagined Sister Rui ending up deceived, losing both her lover and her money, he thought of how terribly she would suffer!

Thus, though outwardly he carried on as before, inwardly Xing Yan kept pondering how to find a way that would satisfy both sides and awaken Lady Rui, who still trusted that heartless man without the slightest doubt, as soon as possible.

Now, at last, he seemed to have found a thread to follow.

Inspired by that old incident on Poyang Lake, the boy seemed suddenly freed of his burden. He glanced at Lady Rui's quarters not far away, laughed, and swung the sword in his hand hard through the autumn wind. Then he turned and left.

Behind the boy, the last yellow leaf hanging alone from an autumn branch seemed unable to withstand the season's blade-sharp killing chill any longer. Helplessly, it fell from its lofty perch and, caught in the bleak autumn wind, fluttered away...