The snow had fallen for an entire day, and scattered flakes were still drifting down that night. Looking down from the third floor of the fortified manor, one could see a thick blanket of snow on the ancestral hall's roof. In the circular courtyard, a snow-free path had been swept out from each of the four buildings to the east, south, west, and north. The four paths converged near the manor's main gate-
Beyond the Fortified Manor's eaves, distant mountains and nearby trees were all a boundless white. Higher still lay the vast, infinite night sky, profound and deep.
After supper, Chen Caozhi stood in the upstairs corridor for a little while at his leisure, then went to his mother's room to talk. Since his return at noon, his fourth uncle had come and spoken with him for nearly half a day, leaving him no chance for a proper talk with his mother.
Mother Chen Lady Li was frail and sensitive to the cold. She had retired early to her large, four-screen curtained bed and lay half reclining beneath a thick quilt. The braided ties that fastened the curtains hung down from the canopy's valance. Run'er sat beside her grandmother, reaching out to touch them lightly as she played.
Chen Caozhi and Zongzhi sat on the edge of a chest before the large bed, while Yinggu, Xiao Chan, and Qingzhi sat attending nearby. A bronze ox lamp with two wicks stood on a low table before the bed, its light soft and yellow. After staring at the wicks for a long time, one would see rings of rainbow-colored halos-
Chen Caozhi told his mother about visiting Ding Clan Villa the previous night and seeing his sister-in-law, Ding Youwei. Zongzhi and Run'er were terribly envious, saying that they had not seen