Within the plain-colored curtains, Ding Youwei and her two maidservants knelt sewing beneath a celadon lamp, thick rush-woven mats beneath their knees. A bronze hand warmer stood on the small Walnut Wood table before them. Whenever their hands grew cold from sewing, mistress and maids would warm them over it for a while, tilting their heads to listen to the low howl of the cold wind outside and savoring the warmth of home on a winter night.
Ding Youwei finished sewing a small patterned-brocade jacket and skirt. A Xiu took them to look them over and exclaimed, "Your needlework is truly exquisite, my lady. The stitches are neat and fine, every thread fitting perfectly. Rain Swallow and I have studied cutting and sewing since childhood-nearly ten years now, surely-yet we cannot match your three years of learning."
Rain Swallow said, "How could the two of us compare with our lady? She is the cleverest and most deft-handed person I have ever met."
Ding Youwei smiled. "You praise me every time. Don't you tire of it?" She stretched out her fair, slender right hand over the bronze warmer and tilted her head to listen. "Clang, clang, clang. They're announcing the hour again. Ah, it is the hour of the pig!" She told A Xiu and Shi Rain Swallow, "Run'er and Zongzhi's New Year clothes are all finished. Both of you may go and rest."
As A Xiu put away the needles, thread, and sewing implements, she asked, "Young Master Caozhi should be back in the next day or two, shouldn't he? He can take these new clothes with him. I would so love to see how adorable little Miss Run'er looks in her brand-new jacket and skirt."
Rain Swallow said, "The north wind is blowing so fiercely. It may snow tonight,