Summer days were long and nights short. Before anyone knew it, the east had brightened to the pale white of a fish's belly, and footsteps and faint voices sounded outside the window:
"Were you fooling me? I already followed my heart, but nothing changed..."
"What do you mean, nothing changed? You soaked the sheets..."
"Pah! Who's talking about that? I mean my martial arts."
"That means you still haven't seen through it. You'll have to keep at it..."
"What more do you want from me? I've already ridden roughshod over Jingtang's head..."
The room's doors and windows were shut tight, its bed curtains lowered. Embroidered shoes and a dress sat beside the bed.
Hua Qingzhi lay quietly on her pillow, a thin quilt covering her up to her collarbones. After a night's rest, the tipsy flush had faded from her cheeks, restoring her usual serene grace.
Hearing the faint movements outside, Hua Qingzhi's eyelashes stirred, and she slowly opened her eyes. First she stared blankly at the top of the bed. Only after taking a little time to recover did she gently exhale and rub her slightly dizzy forehead, wanting to get up.
But she had barely sat up when she discovered that the thin quilt had slipped down, leaving her chest chilly...
?!
Hua Qingzhi looked down, discovered that she was completely naked, and hurriedly lay back down. Clutching the quilt with both hands, she pulled it up beneath her neck, her eyes slightly panicked as she swiftly recalled the events of the past two days:
How did I end up sleeping here? What is this place...
*I drank with Senior Lu on the road, and we talked about so many things, from poetry and songs to renowned writers through the ages. There was nothing Senior Lu didn't