On the third day of the third month, the Shangsi Festival, Lu Weiwei bathed early in the morning in her boudoir. Her maid Zanhua and two other maids picked orchid grass and peony petals from the Rear Garden and scattered them in the tub. Bathing with orchid grass and peonies was a Shangsi custom in the Three Wu, said to cleanse impurity and ward off ill fortune. For unmarried women, bathing with peonies on this day could also bring fulfillment in love. "Zhen and Wei" in the "Airs of Zheng" of the Book of Songs said: "The Zhen and the Wei, their waters flow in swelling streams. Young men and maidens hold orchid grass in their hands. The maiden says, 'Shall we go and see?' The young man says, 'I have already been.' 'Let us go and see again. Beyond the Wei, it is spacious and merry.' The young men and maidens tease one another, and give peonies as parting gifts." This was a poem depicting young men and women courting beside the river during the Shangsi Festival and presenting peonies when they parted. Now Duan Chu stood beside the tub, softly singing "Zhen and Wei" as she combed Lu Weiwei's hair with an exquisite bamboo comb. Her wet, long hair was black and luxuriant; with each stroke from root to tip, it became like gleaming black satin. The snowy skin of her shoulders and back resembled the canopy of an upright lotus leaf, over which droplets rolled without clinging-except that lotus leaves were green, while Lu Weiwei's skin was flawless white, beyond even mutton-fat white jade.
Duan Chu lightly touched the skin on Lu Weiwei's back with her left forefinger and clicked her tongue. "Little Lady, your skin is so tender. White and fine, and so smooth it slips