A Beauty's Smile

I've started a new collection of short stories, Fragrant Blossoms in an Ancient Scented Box, and included this little story in it. Please support me, everyone. Mwah. A line of butterflies, a small black-ink hand, "Flowers fade, leaving tiny green apricots. When swallows fly, green waters wind around homes. The willow catkins on the branches grow fewer still. Where in the world is there no fragrant grass? A swing within the wall, a road beyond it. A passerby outside, a beauty laughing within. Her laughter fades from hearing, the sounds grow quiet. A loving heart is vexed by one without affection." My name is Shen Rou. Like many young ladies raised in sheltered households, my life revolved around the Four Books and Five Classics, the Women's Admonitions, needlework and embroidery, or admiring flowers, teasing birds, and writing a few poems lamenting spring and autumn. When I turned fifteen and came of age, my aunt-by-marriage gathered up my loose hair and pinned it with a hairpin that gleamed with a faint, cold light. I knew that before long, I would likely follow my mother's path: marry a man of "virtue and talent," support my husband and raise our children, and live an ordinary life. But then I met him, Li Xun, the fourth prince. I could no longer tell whether it was love or hatred, love or power. Theme: