The heavy rain clouds had not yet claimed the entire sky. Through the gaps, the blue heavens looked freshly washed, making one hope a wind would come from beyond the sky and suddenly sweep away all the cloud and gloom.
Beneath the black clouds, Mount Bagong stood against blue sky and dark cloud alike, its overlapping emerald peaks as distinct as a painting. The mountains possessed a majestic stillness before the coming downpour. All mist had withdrawn, leaving the Forty-One Peaks plainly visible. In the distance, the Fei River and Huai River seemed motionless, their waters no longer flowing. Mountains and rivers lay in tranquil beauty, an extraordinary sight.
Mount Bagong in Shouchun had a fragrant herb found nowhere else. Its rich fragrance vanished entirely if it was transplanted elsewhere. Now, in late spring, the herb had reached maturity. Chen Caozhi and Xie Daoyun reined in their horses on a high slope and felt as though fragrance filled the mountains. Their mounts sought out the herb and chewed it, making its scent still sharper.
In high spirits, Xie Daoyun called out, "I once saw your handwritten copy of Huainan Honglie, Zizhong. There is a passage in its sixteenth scroll, Lessons from Mountains, that I dearly love. Do you know which lines?"
"Allow me to try to guess," Chen Caozhi said. He swiftly ran through the text of the sixteenth scroll in his mind, then said slowly, "Orchids grow in secluded valleys, and do not cease to give fragrance because no one wears them; boats lie upon rivers and seas, and do not cease to float because no one rides them; a gentleman practices righteousness, and does not desist because no one knows of it. Was it this passage?"
Xie Daoyun smiled, her grace captivating. Turning her head to gaze at