That year, at the Mid-Autumn Palace Banquet
The hall was full of finely dressed young men, all of them common and unremarkable.
I kept my head down, wolfing down lotus-root and mandarin fish soup.
Then Prince Xiaoyao, Qin Xiao, entered the hall
Amid all the clamor, he alone was cool and aloof, like an immortal descended from the heavens into the mortal world.
I went up to serve him tea, disguised as a maid. He didn’t even look up.
“Seen enough?”
Later, I often asked him, “Did you really see me that night at the banquet?”
He always just smiled without answering.
Until one day, I found this on the last page of his journal
“She asked if I fell for her at first sight. How could I not?”
“That night, the whole hall was ablaze with splendor. Everyone looked at me with either fear or pity.”
“Only her eyes shone like two little suns,”
“and in them, plain as day, were the words, ”
“This man is mine.”
