One Life, One Incarnation, Beautiful Bones

16

Chapter 5.3 - The Tune of Old (3)

The she and he of the past had once been separated by their teacher-disciple relationship, separated by her betrothal, arranged even prior to her birth, to someone else. From when she was age seven to seventeen, her knowledge of the four arts of the qin[1], chess[2], calligraphy, and painting; her behavior and how she conducted herself in society; and even every book, every line of poem or lyric she knew was a result of his teaching. From when she was naïve and unaware of the world to when it was all so deeply integrated into her very being, like it had penetrated into her bone and blood.

Beauty is offered, a soul is given in return[3]. [Love expressed even in silence.]

A mind bewitched by love.

She used ten years to truly understand the meaning of those two lines.

"Tired?" Zhousheng Chen suddenly asked her.

Shi Yi shook her head. "I was just thinking about something." Worried that he might ask further, she quickly added, "Stuff from work."

After finding out that he did not have any work or family commitments, she deliberately told him that she had worked very late the previous night and was rather tired. The two of them spent the entire day in her home. There were plenty of things available to pass the time, and he chose Go. The way he held his stones was very attractive, and also very familiar.

Sometimes, Shi Yi would pretend to be deliberating over the game and quietly steal glances at him as he played.

She surmised, he was probably aware of what she was doing, but he simply allowed her to do it.

He brought her to what would be their new home.

The yard was small and the house was three levels. The interior décor gave a sense that it was like a piece of white notepaper, with colors that were not vibrant but carried a calming atmosphere. From the instant she walked in, she would instinctively lower her voice every time she spoke. She suddenly wondered, if it was anyone else and not herself as his fiancée, would that person feel that everything he did was inharmonious -- a feeling that he was inharmonious with the era?

For her, she had never felt there was anything uncomfortable with him.

As the person who was about to become his betrothed, it stood to reason that she should be involved in everything. Zhousheng Chen did not believe he was entitled to dictate everything, and even something like the wooden block watercolor imprint[4] that was to be used on the invitations, he personally brought to her to have a look and to ask her which type of calligraphic script she preferred. When they were discussing this, it was during the break in between his conversation with his aides.

On a dark brown desktop, there lay a row of wooden block carvings, and beside each of the carvings was a long strip of xuan paper[5].

He had instructed people to carve her name onto the blocks and then imprint it onto the paper. In fact, she recognized each one of the calligraphy styles that were there in front of her, and even knew the stories behind each of them. She asked him, "Normally, which one do you like to use?"

"The older generation holds in esteem styles of the Tang dynasty and likes the uprightness and properness of regular script[6], but specifically which calligrapher's style, that comes down to personal preference."

She nodded. Of the four great masters of regular script[7], only Zhao Mengfu was of the Yuan dynasty. Without hesitation, she eliminated in her mind that particular strip of paper.

Then, she very accurately pulled out the remaining three calligrapher's styles and placed them before the two of them.

She, however, did not notice the slight hint of surprise in Zhousheng Chen's eyes. He had not expected that she could so accurately recognize each calligrapher's script.