The waiter took a step forward to welcome them to the teahouse, "Are there two of you?"
Lan Zhihui nodded slowly while lifting her skirt slightly to go up the stairs.
"Were there two young masters who entered the teahouse just now?" Qinxiang asked.
"There were. Do you know them?" asked the waiter.
Yes, we do. May I know where the young masters are seated?"
"Surely. They're in the Jingzhu Room upstairs. I'll show you the way," he answered.
A few people in the group stopped off on the second floor, where they found Xiao Lie standing in front of a window in the corridor, gazing wistfully at a grove of blossoming trees behind the teahouse.
Ah, what a delight to the eye. The blossoms were covered with freshly fallen snow. In the sunlight, the snowflakes had melted into water droplets atop six petals of the flowers, sparkling like shattered glass on the pavement.