Only in the latter half of the night did a crescent moon rise. The lamplight indoors kept its chilly, limpid light outside the window lattice. Beside the small ebony table, a brazier, square outside and round within, gave off searing heat. Crowded together, the chunks of black charcoal burned a dusky red, much like the color of roses, occasionally giving a dry, sharp crackle.
A few dozen black and white stones lay scattered across the Chinese torreya wood board on the ebony table. The two people seated across the patterned board spent little time studying the game and more time gazing silently at each other. They would part at dawn; neither had the heart for the leisurely contest of Go.
Xie Daoyun rubbed her chin with her fingers and said, "Pardon me." She undid the cap ribbons beneath her chin and set her lacquered gauze cap beside the stone bowl. "The autumn wind was strong on the road, so I tied the ribbons tightly. They left a deep mark."
Chen Caozhi smiled at Xie Daoyun's masculine topknot. He had seen her luxuriant long hair at Cao'e Pavilion, when her young maid Liu Xu had been helping her change back into women's clothes. He said, "How many more times will you be able to dress as a man, Brother Yingtai?"
Xie Daoyun lowered her voice, abandoning the heavily nasal Luoyang accent. Her voice was like a flute, mellow and low. "When you come to Jiankang, I will still come to see you dressed as a man."
Chen Caozhi thought, In Wuyi Lane in Jiankang, the Wang and Xie families live next door to one another. If I visit Xie Xuan, will his cousin Zhu Yingtai appear? He said, "I won't be able to go to Jiankang for a while. My uncle