In the rear courtyard, Xie An's wife, Liu Dan, heard recorder music as ethereal as the music of immortals and exclaimed in surprise, "Has Huan Yewang come to visit?" Taking two elderly maids with her, she hurried along the Rain-Listening Corridor to the front courtyard. She entered the main hall through a side door, lifted a hanging curtain, and looked through the inner curtain. The player was not Huan Yi, but a handsome young man in the bloom of youth, his bearing elegant and his spirit clear, just like Xie An when she had first met him. Greatly surprised, Lady Xie asked an attendant quietly, "Who is this young man?"
The attendant replied, "Chen Caozhi of Qiantang."
Lady Xie's heart stirred. She had long known that Chen Caozhi of Qiantang was A'e's good friend, and had also heard of the Lu Clan Lady's anguished love for him. She simply had not expected him to be such a handsome man of pure, austere beauty, without a trace of powder or rouge about him, and able to play such beautiful music besides. She immediately asked, "Where is Daoyun?"
The attendant pointed to the small room on the left. "Lady Daoyun is over there."
Lady Xie nodded and stepped lightly into the small room off the side hall. Xie Daoyun knelt on a rush mat beside the curtain, a banana-leaf zither laid across her knees. Her slender fingers stroked its strings, and she seemed lost in thought. By then, the recorder beyond the curtain had fallen silent-
Seeing the third mistress arrive, the two maids standing behind Xie Daoyun, Liu Xu and Yinfeng, hastened to greet her, but Lady Xie Liu Dan stopped them. Lady Xie Liu Dan quietly knelt beside Xie Daoyun and smiled at this niece she loved best. Yes, there