Verifying Her Own Judgment

"Mr. Luo, snow water is cold," Ning Xiaohe said.

"Tea doesn't have to be brewed with hot water." Luo Wen lifted the cup and took a sip. His expression gave no indication whether he liked it or not, but he took two sips, not one. That meant he found it acceptable.

Lu Chi sat on a stone stool and watched them. Luo Wen sat on the steps drinking tea, while Ning Xiaohe crouched beside the basin, watching snow melt into water. The wintersweet branches were bare, without flowers or leaves, but the shadows they cast on the ground in the sunlight were beautiful—fine and dense, like a painting slowly drawn in ink.

He took out the piece of mutton from his sleeve, unwrapped the oil paper, broke off a small piece, and put it into his mouth. The mutton had gone cold, but the flavor remained—salty, savory, with a faint scent of spices.

The Third Prince was treating them tomorrow, he thought. He did not know whom they would meet there, why the Third Prince wanted to see them, or what Luo Wen would say to him. He could not figure any of it out, but he felt that was all right.

He wrapped up the remaining mutton and tucked it back into his sleeve. Then he stood, walked to the door of his room, pushed it open, and went inside. The shadow of the wintersweet in the courtyard shifted from east to west. The sky changed from gray-white to pale gold, and the sun slowly sank, dyeing every roof of Cloud-Resting Cottage orange-red.

More than half the snow in the basin had melted. There was more water now and less snow. Ning Xiaohe lifted the basin to inspect it, then set it down again. It could only be bottled