By the time Xie Xuan returned to the Xie Clan mansion on Wuyi Lane, darkness had fallen completely. Far away in the eastern sky, a half-moon lay veiled in clouds, its clear light faint. Xie Xuan stood before the gatehouse for a long while, listening to the Qinhuai River gurgle and murmur softly through the dark night. Looking both ways, he found the long stretch of Wuyi Lane deserted and quiet, and the Wang-Xie Residences held more shadow than lamplight-
A gate servant from the Xie Residence came out carrying a lantern. Xie Xuan told him not to disturb Fourth Paternal Uncle Xie Wan yet, and went straight to the rear courtyard. Passing through the Listening to the Rain Long Corridor, he reached the little courtyard where his elder sister, Xie Daoyun, lived. Weeping willows drooped gracefully inside and outside its walls. It was now the middle of the fourth month; the roses his sister had planted herself should have been in full bloom, their fragrance washing over him on the evening breeze-
"Zheng-zheng, cong-cong-"
Slow, elegant notes from a seven-string zither drifted out through the flower shadows beyond the curtain. The harmonics rang clear and limpid, the open strings lingering endlessly. It was Ji Zhongsan's famous piece, "Long Clarity."
Xie Daoyun had obtained this piece from Chen Caozhi. Xie Xuan knew that Chen Caozhi had also adapted Ji Kang's zither pieces "Long Clarity" and "Short Clarity" for the vertical flute; he had heard Chen Caozhi play them in Wu Commandery. Now he could not help thinking, If Elder Sister's Banana-Leaf Zither and Chen Zizhong's Keting Flute played this "Long Clarity" together, surely it would be exquisite?
Another open-string note hummed on and on, and his elder sister Xie Daoyun's voice suddenly rang out from within the courtyard:
"Has A'e