The sun and moon turned a hundred times, and withered leaves carpeted the ground in red.
The blue-and-white town in Jiangnan took on another shade of fading sunset and withered decay.
The grass had yellowed, and weeping willows stretched thousands upon thousands of slender branches into the river, letting the flowing water carry willow leaves away, one by one.
Small boats rocked as they parted the floating leaves, slowly passing beneath one small stone bridge after another. Each time the boatmen passed beneath a bridge, they ducked.
Whenever a small boat passed beneath the pavilion, someone would often look up at the white-clad figure above and sigh with regret.
Everyone in this little Jiangnan town knew that not long after Provincial Graduate Su married, his wife had suddenly vanished.
Since then, Su White-Clad One had stayed in the pavilion, either painting or playing chess alone.
Up in the pavilion, Su Jingyan still sat there. The wind blew willow leaves down outside, and quite a few had already settled on his spotless white Confucian Robe.
There was no telling how many games he had played alone on that chessboard.
Playing alone required him to switch constantly between the roles and positions of the two opposing sides, yet he seemed to have two personalities to begin with, and it cost him no mental effort at all.
One played with carefree abandon; the other's moves carried boundless Confucian spirit.
When the game ended, Su Jingyan sat in a daze for a long time. He had lost again.
He turned to glance at the view outside and sighed... another season had passed.
...Ning Baixue still had not returned.
Someone drifted into the pavilion. Looking at Su Jingyan, who had sat there listlessly for so long, the visitor heaved a deep sigh. "Amitabha..."
"Young friend,