Early on the ninth day of the fifth month, Zhang Tongyun was in the small garden at the Gu Residence, watching the maids tend the flowers and plants. The two pots of prized pure-hearted orchids were in full bloom, their leaves like green swords, their flower stems long and laden with blossoms, their fragrance rich and sweet. Zhang Tongyun planned to paint them and send the painting to Gushu for Gu Kaizhi to see, but painting alone seemed lonely. She wanted to invite Wei Rui to admire the flowers and paint with her, passing the long summer days. Yet the person she had sent to the Lu Residence the previous evening had returned to say that Young Lady Lu could go nowhere lately and had to remain at home-
Zhang Tongyun knitted her delicate brows and thought, Wei Rui has been confined by her uncle again. Master Chen is not even in Jiankang, so why is she forbidden to go out again? She could still come out last month-
Since Wei Rui could not leave the residence, Zhang Tongyun prepared to visit her at the Lu Residence, along with her aunt Zhang Wenwan and the two-month-old young master Lu. She would take the two pots of pure-hearted orchids as well. Although the Lu Residence had many rare flowers and exotic plants, it might not have summer orchids finer than these.
Just then, a steward of the Gu Residence brought in an unfamiliar maid, saying that Zhu Yingtai, Master Gu's colleague at the Western Headquarters, had a letter from Master Gu to deliver personally to the younger Madam Gu.
Zhang Tongyun knew that Zhu Yingtai was a military adviser at the Western Headquarters. Two months earlier, Gu Kaizhi had traveled to Gushu with Chen Caozhi, Zhu Yingtai, and the others. But