"What poem is that?"
Wang Daiji held the other man's hand, looking somewhat hesitant. "Why does it sound a little off?"
"It's a rebellious poem from the previous dynasty." Zhang Xing gave a dry chuckle, answering fluently amid the wind. "When Southern Tang was in decline, someone called Zhou Shuren composed it somewhere in Jiangdong. Supposedly, after writing it, he joined the True Fire Sect, went up Mount Mao, and rebelled... according to experts' research, he was probably a scion of the Lu Clan, a second-rate distinguished family in Jiangdong, deliberately using Zhou Shuren as an alias... besides, what he meant was waiting in silence for thunder when ten thousand horses stood mute, whereas we heard thunder first and only then fell into thought. Quoting this poem has made a joke of us."
"No matter, no matter." Wang Daiji recovered and continued leaning against the railing, holding his hand and smiling. "'My boundless cares stretch into the vast universe'-what a splendid line... as for it being rebellious, even if it is, it's a rebellious poem from the previous dynasty, and Southern Tang at that. Are we not allowed to quote it carelessly a few hundred years later?"
As they spoke, another bolt of lightning tore through the night sky, dragon-shaped and suspended across the heavens, briefly illuminating their faces. Both men stopped their affected sentimentality and looked up together, waiting for the thunder...
Sure enough, only moments later, thunder rumbled again, shaking the universe, as though the nine heavens were enraged, or the Supreme One were displaying his might. Hearing it filled one with awe.
Even these two, practiced as they were at striking poses, could not help tightening their grip on each other's hands beneath the thunder.
After the thunder passed, both seemed lost in thought, but Wang Daiji