"They said I could get into Cloud Lang Mountain."
"...All right." The shopkeeper gave him a thumbs-up.
The shopkeeper slipped the letter into an envelope. Just as he was about to seal it, he felt the envelope and suddenly said, "You're sending it just like this? Don't you think it feels a little empty?"
"Empty how?"
"Put a present in." The shopkeeper sighed. "Anything will do. It's the affection that counts."
That made sense, but after thinking for a moment, Pei Ye said, "Forget it. I don't have anything to give right now."
The shopkeeper produced an earring from beneath the counter and sighed. "Oh, well. Fate must have brought us together. I happen to have something here, left behind by my late wife. Gazing at it night after night, thinking of her, does no good. Better to give it to you. If it could bring a fine match to fruition, that would make a lovely tale."
"You're giving it to me?"
"Eight hundred copper coins."
"..."
"But you can write in your letter that it was a gift from a man whose marital strings have snapped-I can even add a couple of lines of poetry for you."
"A tiny little thing, just right to slip inside. Look, how pretty." The shopkeeper held up the little ornament. "I'm telling you in all sincerity, girls absolutely love this sort of thing."
Pei Ye sighed. "Shopkeeper, right now, you're just a pen."
"...All right." The shopkeeper pursed his lips, looking like Lü Dongbin bitten by a dog for his kindness, and pulled a small box from under the counter before tossing the earring inside.
In that fleeting glimpse, Pei Ye saw seven or eight identical ones inside.
Once that letter was sealed, Pei Ye took out the letter he had written to