Was it real? Was it not?
Was it a dream? An illusion?
Turning to see that radiant smile and those delicately arched brows amid a roomful of moonlight, Xing Yan thought for an instant that he was dreaming!
"Xueyi..."
At their reunion, though he had ten thousand things to say, he dared not utter a single syllable. He had called that name so many times in his heart and in his dreams, yet now that she truly stood before him, he could only hold his breath, afraid to let the slightest sound escape lest this beautiful dream dissolve. Xing Yan dared not speak, and wished that all creation would fall silent, that the breeze outside would pause and the summer insects in the grass would cease their songs, that everything would grow quiet so this lovely dream could unfold undisturbed.
The still night was soundless, moonlight brimming over her brows. Its pure white glow made the tender young woman still more enchanting, yet also less real, as though truth and illusion, dream and waking, had become one. While the hall master stood stunned, the graceful beauty froze as well, her breath fragrant as orchids, her words poised but unspoken. Though her heart was full of things to tell him, meeting that gaze she had missed for so long brought everything to a halt. Her mind went blank, and she no longer knew what to do.
They gazed at each other without speaking, tears alone shimmering in their eyes. All sounds had ceased; only the moonlight danced. In that stillness which forgot heaven and earth, longing surged and gathered like floodwater in one heart. At last, when he heard that familiar, shy, choking call of "Hall master," it struck him like thunder and lightning. The embankment of his reason collapsed in