Before nightfall, Li Yuan left the Cui residence.  0

Back at the manor, Yao Jue teased her mistress merrily, “My lady, that Mister Li is truly gifted. He likened you to the lotus flower and himself to its leaves—lotus and leaves, naturally made for each other. Without one, the other is incomplete. If he can’t wed you, he’ll wither away to death in sorrow.”  2

Cui Huayin said nothing, merely stood and took a sheet of paper, writing down the verses Li Yuan had just recited. At the top, she added the words A Gift For Huayin.2

Once she finished copying it, she looked troubled, her emotions shifting between a strange flicker of excitement and an equally strange sense of aversion.  1

“Hah…” Yao Jue said dramatically, clutching her chest in mock despair. “Truly enough to break one’s heart.”  0

Cui Huayin let her maid carry on. She rarely had any liveliness in her life; in a way, this counted as...0