"My thanks to you, Eunuch." She bowed slightly toward the Eunuch, then turned to follow the Palace Maid through the crowd.
As she entered the throng of people, she saw groups of three to five, noblewomen leading their daughters as they weaved through the crowd, or clusters of friends covering their mouths in giggles. Feng Xuxu passed through the garden to the Plum Forest, and looking at the white plum blossoms on the branches, she recited a line from Lun Meipo's poetry without thinking, "The plum and the snow vie for the beauty of spring, neither willing to submit, as the literati struggle to capture their essence. Yet the plum concedes three parts white to the snow, while the snow admits to the plum's superior scent."
