"Is gender important?" Yan Huaishi replied, his eyes smiling knowingly. "Other countries have very open-minded people. Third Uncle brought me to the Pu Country before when I was ten, and I remember seeing men and women dancing down the thoroughfares; now that was a sight."
"Really?" Hua Qiong replied, enchanted by Yan Huaishi's expression. "I'd like to see that."
As Yan Huaishi continued speaking spiritedly, Hua Qiong' eyes lingered on the beads of weary sweat on Yan Huaishi's face. Her heart softened and she took out her handkerchief and leaned over to wipe his brow.
Yan Huaishi was still happily declaiming when Hua Qiong surprised him, a fine wrist before his eyes and a sudden fragrance in his nose as soft cloth brushed gently over his face. Yan Huaishi's heart skipped a beat and before he knew it, he had pulled back.
