The early summer cicadas' chirping had barely begun to rise from the gnarled locust tree branches of the General's Mansion when the first chorus was startled to a halt by Liu Shi, who had burst out of Xie Fang Yuan. Her jade armor gripped Matchmaker Liu's arm tightly, her fingertips practically digging into her cracked flesh. Her voice, three times sharper than the treetops' chirping, was shrill: "Didn't I tell you to bring Li the Butcher from the east city to your house within three days? It's already the fifth day! Do you think I'm just talking nonsense?"

Matchmaker Liu grimaced in pain, rubbing her bruised arm and shrinking back. The velvet flower in her bun had been pulled askew against her temple by Liu. "My dear lady! Do you think you're just buying groceries? The whole city is hearing—" She glanced around warily, lowering her voice to lean closer to Liu's ear, "that the eldest lady had a dream from a fairy the other night, and that the fate of her marriage would depend on solving a riddle!"

"Solve the puzzle?" Liu's high-pitched voice shook the leaves of the locust tree above her head, and a few sparrows that had just landed flapped their wings and flew away in fright. "What is that little bitch Chen Weiwan up to again? Could it be that because the Seventh Prince looked at her a few more times, she dared to bring up the gods?" Her jade armor scraped against the copper ring of the corner door, making a harsh sound.

Meanwhile, beneath the wisteria trellis in Tinglan Courtyard, Chen Weiwan was fiddling with corn in a parrot's food jar with bamboo chopsticks. The caged green parrot tilted its head to peck at the food, its iridescent tail feathers dancing in the dappled sunlight. Suddenly, Chuntao came running in breathlessly, the newly pinned jasmine hairpin wafting a delicate fragrance as she moved. "Miss! Matchmaker Liu just came out of Xiefang Courtyard. That old, wicked woman, Liu, pinched her arm until it was blue!"

Chen Weiwan laughed so hard she collapsed, her chopsticks clanging into the food jar, startling the parrot and making it flutter its wings. She held her belly, which hurt from laughter, and rubbed her knuckles against the carved bamboo bars of the parrot's cage. "Did you really believe it? I was just deliberately talking in my sleep last night in the kitchen, mumbling to the cook, 'Gods sent me dreams, marriages are destined,' and I didn't expect the news to spread faster than wings."

"Young lady, you really know how to have fun!" Chun Tao put on the jasmine hairpin that the Seventh Prince had sent her this morning, and the pearls and jade made a clear sound when they clashed. "Now the gatekeepers in the front yard are all guessing what tricky riddle you have come up with. Even the young master of the Grand Tutor's Mansion has sent someone to ask!"

Chen Weiwan teased the parrot, watching the curl of its tail as it pecked at food. Suddenly, she pulled a piece of plain paper from her sleeve. On it, in her deliberately shaky left-handed handwriting, were four lines of a doggerel poem, the ink still wet: "Take this, and have the concierge post it at the entrance of the mansion. It will say that whoever solves this puzzle...this young lady will 'consider it.'"

Chun Tao took the plain paper and looked at it. She slapped her thigh with joy, and her silken hair dropped to the ground. "Miss," she said, "your poem—'From afar, the mountains are vibrant; from near, the water is silent. Spring fades, the flowers remain; people approach, the birds remain unstartled'—isn't that the answer to the riddle that even the children in the private school next door know?"

"Hush!" Shen Weiwan covered her mouth, her eyes curved into crescents with a smile, "We have to make Liu think it's an incomparable problem. It's best to find an illiterate butcher to show off. Then..." She imagined the scene of Liu bringing an illiterate person to her door, and laughed so hard that her shoulders shook and tears came out. "Puff - didn't you see the Wang Baiwan that Liu found last time? He was pockmarked and lame. Who knows what kind of funny guy she'll find this time!"

Three days later, on the streets of Beijing, the riddle at the gate of the General's Mansion became a hotter topic than even the storytelling in the teahouses. The storyteller in the "Tingfeng Tower" banged his gavel, sending water splattering in the teacups: "Ladies and Gentlemen! Did you know that the eldest daughter of the General's Mansion has set a riddle to find a husband? Whoever solves it will win her hand!"

"Tell me quickly! What kind of puzzle is so precious?" The tea drinkers in the front row slammed their hands on the table and started to make a noise, with tea stains splashing onto the blue cloth gown of the man sitting next to them.

"Listen carefully—" the gentleman shook his head, his folding fan swishly unfolding. "From afar, the mountains are vibrant; from near, the water flows silently. Spring fades, the flowers remain; people approach, the birds remain unstartled!"

Before he could finish his words, a beggar sipping his remaining tea in the corner suddenly slammed his broken bowl on the table and said, "Isn't the answer to this riddle 'painting'? I've seen it in the City God Temple!" The whole room was in an uproar. Several elegant gentlemen were so angry that they blew their beards and glared. The storyteller was so angry that he slammed his wake-up stick on the table and said, "How dare you interrupt me, beggar! You're ruining my storytelling!"

Meanwhile, in Xiefang Courtyard, Liu was pinning a red flower onto the dirty clothes of Wang the Butcher, a greasy rag in her hand. The butcher, a burly fellow with pig's blood on his sleeves, grinned, revealing a dazzling gold tooth. "Don't worry, Madam! It's just a 'painting,' right? Matchmaker Liu taught us everything yesterday!"

Liu squinted at him, her jade armor scraping against the grease on his collar. "It's not enough to just know the answer! Chuntao said the young lady added something else... a couplet?" She scratched her head, the pearl pendant on her hairpin dazzling. "It seems to be something like 'divine marriage divinely predicted,' and we need to find the second line..."

Butcher Wang wiped his greasy face and waved his hand nonchalantly: "Isn't it just a couplet? When I'm butchering pigs, I often hear the scholar next door muttering! The second line is right... It's 'A sharp butcher knife can kill a pig'! How neat!"

Liu's mouth twitched when she heard this, but she still stuffed him with a silver ingot: "After the matter is done, there are still ten taels! If you let that bitch Shen Weiwan marry you, I will reward you with a live pig!"

It was three quarters past three in the afternoon, the sun at its zenith. Butcher Wang arrived at the general's residence, arms swung, his butcher's voice clattering the doorknob: "The answer is 'painting'! I've solved it! Chen Weiwan, come out and marry me!"

The onlookers burst into laughter, and a child pointed at his greasy hair and shouted, "Damn butcher!" Chuntao, peeking through the crack in the door, was so amused that she turned and ran towards Tinglan Courtyard, her skirt sweeping the moss off the steps. "Miss! Liu really brought a butcher with her! He's got a face full of flesh and gold teeth!"

Shen Weiwan was threading her needle at an embroidery frame. Hearing this, she thrust the needle into the canvas, the thread gleaming in the sunlight. She adjusted her moon-white skirt, the jasmine hairpin at her temples trembling slightly with her movements. As she reached the door, she deliberately widened her eyes, revealing a perfectly measured surprise. "My dear warrior... are you sure the answer is 'painting'?"

My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It will be even more exciting later!