The Lu Residence's Double-Shafted Carriage was spacious and splendid, with a faint fragrance of flowers, as though it had passed through vast groves of flowering trees to reach this place. Chen Caozhi and Lu Weiwei sat facing each other within arm's reach, their bodies swaying gently with the jolting carriage. Outside the window, the scenery of New Pavilion slipped steadily behind them; if they listened closely, they could hear the great river flowing in the distance-
Chen Caozhi gathered Lu Weiwei's hands in his palms, feeling their delicate softness and warmth. With a gentle tug, he drew them against his chest, bringing Weiwei's upper body leaning toward him. Her eyes opened wide, her expression overcome with bashfulness, and she called softly, "Master Chen-"
From very close by, Chen Caozhi studied this gentle young woman with whom he had shared physical intimacy and a pledge to grow old together. After half a year apart, she looked a little thinner, her chin a little more pointed, her eyes as clear as ever. Looking carefully, he saw her exquisite willow-leaf brows occasionally draw into a slight frown before smoothing again. Those must have been the traces left by worry day and night. This young woman, so besotted with flowers, had tasted deeply of the turmoil and oppression of worldly affairs, and now possessed a mature beauty that made her all the more precious-
For some reason, Chen Caozhi felt there was a shadow of his sister-in-law Ding Youwei in Weiwei's expression. Perhaps it was because Weiwei, like his sister-in-law Ding Youwei, was gentle yet stubborn by nature. Weiwei and his sister-in-law Ding Youwei had taken almost the same road, though Weiwei's was harder still-
Thinking this, Chen Caozhi felt he had badly wronged Weiwei by letting her suffer so many grievances. If she