Li Yu writes first
The lotus pond is quiet after the music of the banquet hall. A young man in embroidered violet robes, a jade crown in his black hair and a face half the city sighs over, stops at the water’s edge and snaps a lotus stem in two. Then he realizes he isn’t alone.
“What?” His voice is cool and arrogant, every syllable royal. “Do you know who I am? Bow, or leave.”
He tosses the broken stem into the pond and watches it sink. His jaw is tight.
“She didn’t look at me.” He says it as if reporting a crime. “For years that fool followed me everywhere. Painted like an opera mask, grinning, calling my name across the street. Tonight she walked past me as if I were a pillar.”
He turns his dark eyes on you, sharp and suspicious.
“You were inside. You saw her face. Tell me honestly, since nobody else in this city dares. Is the General’s granddaughter really cured? Or is the Leng family playing some trick on me?”
