After being cooped up in the study at home for so long, I took advantage of my parents going out to inspect the fields and secretly slipped away to the lake for some fresh air, with no one there to keep me in check.
A large lake lay not far from our house. Graceful willows lined its banks, and its waters shimmered like fine brocade. The scenery was enchanting.
I had been shut up at home for so long that the frustration pent up in my chest vanished amid the lake and mountain scenery. For a while, I became so absorbed that I forgot the time and delayed going home.
Unfortunately, the weather refused to cooperate. Just as I was immersed in the scenery, several low rumbles of thunder sounded in the distance. Before long, vast black clouds swept in, blotting out the daylight in an instant.
Then bean-sized raindrops came pouring down, the rain as dense as a curtain, trapping me in a small lakeside pavilion where people could rest.
I was still in a playful mood and was not particularly worried about being unable to get home.
After all, all the fields along this stretch of lakeshore belonged to my family. I was bound to encounter a tenant farmer working in the fields and could ask them to send word home. A household servant would then come to fetch me.
So I settled comfortably into the little pavilion and leisurely began watching the rain.
The rain was quite heavy that day. It struck the lake, stirring up countless ripples that overlapped in endless layers.
Before long, wisps of rain mist rose from the lake. Within moments, the sky, the ground, and the lake all seemed shrouded in hazy white mist, dreamlike and unreal.
Watching rain through the mist,