The rain in Qingzhu Courtyard always falls before and after the Waking of Insects.
Shen Qing resigned from her marriage to Lin Mo for three years. Her husband traveled around all year round. The only person who always accompanied him in the courtyard was Lu Jinghan, the disciple adopted by his master. She watched the young man grow from a skinny child to a sword-browed and starry-looking figure. She mended his sword uniform and bandaged his wounds, thinking it was just the mistress's ordinary care for the younger generation.
But I don't know since when, the boy's eyes changed when he looked at her.
When practicing his sword, he would deliberately go under her window. When handing out medicine, his fingertips would always seem to touch, and even her casual mention of her preferences would be solemnly remembered by him. The gaze was so hot, like a burning wild fire, that it made her, the "Master's Wife", panic, and she just wanted to retreat and dodge.
"Master's wife, I am no longer a child."
When the seventeen-year-old Lu Jinghan blocked her on a rainy night, clutching the sword tassels she had embroidered with her own hands, and emotions that she could not understand surged in his eyes, Shen Qingci was shocked to realize that the ethics of master and apprentice in the Qingzhu Courtyard had already been torn open by a quietly growing heartbeat.
The begonias under the eaves bloomed and withered again and again. Should she abide by her status and suppress this undue throbbing into the dust? Or... In the young man's burning eyes, admit that his mind has been messed up for a long time?
A tug-of-war about ethics and heartbeat unfolds quietly with the sound of rain in the quiet Qingzhu Courtyard.
