Human Face Peach Blossom

I used to be a painter, famous in the capital for my paintings of beauties. That spring rain had just stopped, and she strayed into my courtyard holding a yellowed oil-paper umbrella. When the umbrella was raised, she revealed a pair of misty eyes. "Can you draw a portrait for me?" She asked, her sleeves stained with peach petals. Three months later, the portrait was completed, but she disappeared into the afternoon when peach blossoms were in full bloom in the city. In the past ten years, I have painted countless women, and her shadow is present in every painting. Until I was in an abandoned courtyard in Jiangnan and saw mottled inscriptions on the wall—— "We first met under the umbrella that year, and we meet again on paper in this life." The signature was actually four hundred years ago. This novel and its characters are purely fictitious. Any similarity is purely coincidental and should not be imitated.