蓮:I never noticed how my name looks like the word for sword. You are definitely……talented. Calligraphy demands the same control as fencing. It all lies in the wrist.
玉:I wouldn’t know, maybe it does. Let’s sit.
蓮:Thank you for receiving me. I’m told you’re nearing your wedding day. I imagine you’re spending a lot of time getting ready.
玉:I’m hardly lifting a finger at all. I’m not even thinking about it. My parents are arranging everything. We become acquainted with Lu Yin Pei when we first got here. My mother says the Lu clan is very powerful and highly ranked, and that my marring one of them will help father’s career a great deal.
蓮:Entering such a noble house, I should think, it’s a great honor.
玉:Yes, but……I wish that I were like the exciting heroes in the stories I read, characters like Li Mu Bai and yourself. I suppose I’m happy to be marrying, but when the choice is yours, if you choose a certain like and when you’re free to choose whom to love, and how to love him, that’s real happiness.
蓮:Think so? I shall tell you a story.
玉:Is Li Mu Bai in it?
蓮:And me, yes. I was once also engaged to be married.
玉:You were?
蓮:His name was Meng Si Zhao. He and Li Mu Bai were bound by oath. And one winter day, they ran into a trap. Meng rescued Li Mu Bai. And in doing so, he was killed. And so I became very close to Mu Bai. And as we shared adventures, our feelings grew stronger. But after Meng's sacrifice, how could we dishonor his memory? So you see, I would life your freedom as well, and yet I have never been allowed it.
玉:But don't blame yourselves for it. The way that Meng died is horrible. That's how things happen.
蓮:I am a woman who, as all women, is bound by tradition. I do not know how it is with the aristocracy, but it weighs a lot on me.
玉:Please, let's just be women. I would like us as sisters, I really want us be friends and be equal.
蓮:Alright. Then as one sister to another, let me say I sincerely wish you the happiest of marriages.