Early on the Fourth Month, Eighth Day, Zongzhi and Run'er dressed with Rain Swallow and A Xiu's help. Twelve-year-old Zongzhi and ten-year-old Run'er both wore children's hairstyles, with bangs level with their brows and loose locks hanging to their shoulders. Zongzhi wore an exquisite white Silk Jacket, with a jade tablet at his waist; his face was like the radiant moon, his lips red and his teeth white. Run'er was slender, dressed in a long figured-silk skirt embroidered with cloud-riding patterns. Her features were like a painting, her little face as though carved from fine mutton-fat jade. Her cheeks still held some baby fat, pink and utterly adorable, and her two large, limpid eyes blinked beneath long, thick lashes, once and then again-
Qingzhi came up and said, "Zongzhi, Run'er, come downstairs for breakfast. We're going to Lingyin Temple to offer incense today, so we must leave early."
Run'er said in her clear voice, "Elder Brother and I remember perfectly. Grandmother told Uncle Chou before that he must go to Lingyin Temple every year on the Fourth Month, Eighth Day, Buddha's Birthday, to offer incense and worship the Buddha. Uncle Chou is in Qiantang now and can't come back, so Mother must go to Lingyin Temple in his place to offer incense and fulfill his vow, and add oil to his Longevity Lamp."
Zongzhi and Run'er went down to the ground floor, where their mother, Ding Youwei, was already waiting for them. Ding Youwei wore her hair in looped buns and a long skirt embroidered with longevity patterns. Her skin was smooth and delicate, like fine Yue porcelain, lustrous and glowing. With her slender waist, graceful neck, and willowy figure, she looked like a beauty of twenty or so.
After the three had finished breakfast, Lai Fu and his son