Beyond the willows, the sun slanted low, and autumn light shone on the water. Autumn at Chen Family Cove was so tranquil and beautiful that it seemed a peach-blossom paradise beyond the world. Along the western side of the Fortified Manor lay a large stretch of vegetable beds. At the turn of autumn and winter, the mustard greens, radishes, and cabbages were a lovely green, with cucumbers and autumn eggplants hanging in clusters. Lai Gui was drawing water to irrigate the garden, while his wife, Lady Zhao, drove a flock of large white geese back from the stream. They had only begun raising these geese the previous year and now had over thirty, with snowy feathers and long necks, honking as they came-
The great white geese strode past Chen Caozhi and Xie Xuan with their heads held high, their webbed feet rustling over the dirt like a troop of soldiers flaunting their might. Lady Zhao stopped and smiled as she curtsied to young Master Caozhi and his guest, then drove the white geese into the Fortified Manor.
Xie Xuan watched the white geese pass and said nothing for a long while, though his inner struggle was plain to see. At last, he asked, "Zizhong, you saw my elder sister at Dongshan last time, didn't you?"
Chen Caozhi thought, You knew that long ago. It seems that isn't what you want to ask. He nodded. "Yes. We sat for a while at Cao'e Pavilion."
Xie Xuan asked, "Then did you make my elder sister any promises?"
Chen Caozhi's dark, fine, thick brows drew together slightly. He turned his head to look into Xie Xuan's eyes and said, "I did make a promise-"
Xie Xuan's slanting brows slowly rose, his eyes narrowed, and a forbidding air came over his handsome face.