Deep, deep the courtyard where spring's hue is lo…

The lady of the Tang household, Su Wanning, had always carried herself with grace and decorum, keeping the entire estate in impeccable order. Among the servants was a man named Qin Ye, a drifter from some distant region who had been taken in by the master, Gu Yanzhi, and put to work cleaning the stables. Su Wanning had never thought much of him, finding him coarse and ill-mannered. Yet somehow, Qin Ye had been granted special permission and assigned to attend to her personal quarters. The past two days, with Gu Yanzhi away at the academy, only Su Wanning and Qin Ye remained in the compound, and a subtle, tentative tension crept through the courtyard like a tangled vine, quietly taking root.