Morning clouds and evening rain, a whole night entwined in love-the fragrant sensuality, the tender enchantment, the deep passion and moist intimacy could not be recounted in detail.
The dozen or so maids and serving women from the Lu and Xie clans waiting beneath the library had initially been on tenterhooks, fearing that the phoenix and his two mates upstairs might cause further trouble. Instead, the waves remained calm, autumn whispered softly, and the moonlit night deepened.
Duan Chu looked at Zanhua, then at Liu Xu on the Xie side. Everyone wore a smile, and their tense spirits immediately relaxed. Yes, how wonderful-the crisis had passed. Yet thinking any further made them blush again-
Duan Chu and Zanhua had agreed that one would sleep through the first half of the night and the other through the second, ready whenever they were summoned upstairs. The Xie maids Liu Xu and Yinfeng divided their duties in the same way, and two serving women were also on duty. Around the beginning of the Mao hour, dawnlight appeared along the eastern horizon. Day was almost breaking. One serving woman hurried to the kitchen to order water prepared for the newlyweds' baths, while the other, an experienced woman, told Duan Chu and Liu Xu to carry up the two brides' undergarments and intimate skirts on exquisite lacquer trays. What the women had worn last night plainly needed changing-
Duan Chu asked, "What about Master Chen? Doesn't Master Chen need a change too?"
The serving woman paused, then laughed. "Master Chen? Never mind him. We only look after our own young ladies."
Duan Chu snickered and carried the two women's clothes upstairs with Liu Xu. They tiptoed to the bedchamber, only to find the door bolted from within. They remembered leaving it ajar last night after