The twenty-eighth day of the first month, Jinghe Year Fifteen.
The morning mist had just dispersed. The canal lay like a ribbon of silk, its ripples shimmering.
Suzhou rested beside the water, the towers and pavilions of a thousand households reflected in its depths.
Outside Chang Gate, beside a willow-lined bank, a painted pleasure boat lay moored.
Its hull was lacquered crimson and traced with gold, its pierced carvings exquisitely wrought.
Inside the cabin, a pearl curtain hung half-raised, revealing indistinct, shifting figures.
A young servant in blue stood at the bow, holding a calling card and craning his neck as though awaiting honored guests.
On the bank, Wei Nisheng and Zhang Zai arrived together.
Zhang Zai looked up at the painted boat and could not help stopping.
Several bronze bells hung from the eaves, chiming in the breeze like fragments of jade falling onto a platter.
The cabin window stood half-open, revealing a corner of a brocade curtain.
Mandarin ducks playing in water were embroidered upon it, the stitches so fine that the birds seemed ready to come alive.
"Ten miles of bustling streets stretch on; beneath the moon, upon the bridge, one gazes at immortals."
Zhang Zai softly recited the Tang poet's lines and shook his head, his voice tinged with emotion.
"Zi'an, I grew up in Xi'an Prefecture. All I ever saw were the loess plateau and the muddy waters of the Wei River.
Only now, seeing this boat, do I realize that Jiangnan's lavish beauty could reach such heights."
"Zihou, what you're seeing isn't Jiangnan."
Wei Nisheng stood with his hands behind his back, a faint smile on his face.
"It's Eunuch Li's Jiangnan."
Zhang Zai paused, then understood and said no more.
A man of the Inner Court.
Before Wei Zi arrived, Li Jin