Wu Zuzhi simply sighed, "What a pity."
Wu Qingshu called out to him, and he stopped talking, embarrassed.
After dinner, Qian Yixiu returned to Xiangxue Courtyard and went straight to her bedroom, where the warm air and gentle incense dispelled the chill from her body. She took out a cinnabar-lacquered flower-engraved box from the drawer of her vanity, containing more than half a box full of items. These were gifts from Uncle Liang and letters he had written to her over the years, including toys, palace flowers, combs, and the recent "Uncle Liang" doll. These objects bore witness to the growth of her body from a six-year-old child to a fourteen-year-old maiden. The salutations on the letters changed as well: little girl, girl, Yixiu. The content too, from playful teasing with a little child to heartfelt talks with a young adult, and then to his bold confessions as she grew up.