The mountain has trees, and the trees have branches. One zero seven anxious thoughts.

  Mei Lin and her entourage hastily dispersed, alighting from their carriages in front of the Hou Mansion. Zhang Yan suddenly called out to Tong Mei, "The clothes I brought back from Chang'an a few years ago, where are they now placed within the manor?"

  "Old clothes?" Xiangyun was slightly taken aback, "Changniangzi has grown up over the years and can no longer wear her old clothes. However, they haven't been discarded and should all be stored in the small storage room behind Lan courtyard."

  She nodded, walked through the corner gate of the inner courtyard, and didn't return to her residence. She quickly walked to the front of the backyard house, pulled it once, but the door was still tightly closed, only then did she see the copper lock on it.

  Worrying and busy, Zhang Guanjia came to fetch the key and opened the lock.

  Zhang Yan stood in front of the door for a moment before pushing it open.

  The small storage room was dimly lit, with boxes stacked up neatly, giving off a musty smell. As soon as she opened the door, she was hit with a wave of dust that made her cough several times. All the clothes, old items and decorations she had used since childhood were stored here, not one thing missing.

  She opened the trunk closest to her and rummaged through her old clothes, but found nothing in a moment, then slammed the lid shut with a bang and opened another trunk.

  "Girl," Jie You asked, "What are you looking for? Don't hesitate to say it out loud, and I'll help you find it with Tong Hua."

  "No." She held back her tears and shook her head, "I'll find it myself."

  However, after searching through all the boxes, she still couldn't find what she was looking for, and she couldn't help but feel anxious and surprised. She turned around and asked, "Tuo Mo, where is my sachet?" Tuo Mo jumped in surprise and asked blankly, "Which one?"

  She sniffled. "It was the sachet that Emperor's uncle gave me when we were in Chang Le Palace. I clearly remember putting it in the box, but why can't I find it?"

  "Oh, that one." Suddenly felt dizzy.

  "I thought it was a gift from the prince, not an ordinary old thing, so I picked it out specially." The girl's bedroom, the bed creaked as she stepped on it, and took out a crimson lacquer box from the top of the cabinet, opening it. "Mother doesn't usually pay attention to these small things, so she hasn't seen it, but isn't this it?"

  Zhang Yan took out a sachet from her box in a daze.

  For years, the embroidered pouch of Xianglian had faded into an old color. She placed the small golden and silver filigree perfume sachet at her nose tip to sniff lightly, the sachet floated gently. In between, the fragrance of the wild pampas grass had long dissipated, leaving only a faint scent that seemed to still linger between her eyebrows and in her heart.

  I went out the east gate for a stroll, and met you by chance amidst the clear dust. Thinking of you in your secluded chamber, I attend to your bedtime and hold your towel. As we have no pledge like the mulberry tree, I am forced to rely on this roadside meeting. Since I admire your beauty, and you also delight in my face, what makes our love so ardent? The twin golden bangles on our arms. What shows our affection is sincere? The pair of silver hairpins. What proves our love is true? The shining pearls in our ears. What makes our hearts beat as one? The fragrant sachet tied behind your elbow.

  If she had known the meaning of the sachet earlier, she would not have casually asked him for it that year.

  He was also slightly embarrassed. But he didn't want to go against his own will, so he reluctantly agreed.

  Now she cherishes the small perfume pouch he once gave her, reminiscing about their affection for each other.

  Zhang Yan turned her face away with a sad expression and instructed, "Tang Wei, Xiao You - you two go out first. I want to be alone for a while."

  It seemed as if all her energy had been exhausted in an instant. Zhang Yan suddenly became depressed, and her appetite also plummeted. However, after a few days, she began to lose weight.

  Lu Yuan said with concern, "You were too high-spirited those days before, and now you're too down in the dumps. How can your mood be so extreme?"

  "Mother," Zhang Yan comforted with a smile, leaning against the bed, "don't worry about me, I'm fine."

  "How can I not worry?" Lu Yuan sighed, "A Yan, you can't just stay cooped up in the house all day, go out and take a walk. Aren't you close with Si'er from the Sun family? Go visit her."

  Although she didn't want to go out, Zhang Yan also didn't want to disobey her mother's wishes, so she reluctantly brought the orchid and stood in front of the Sun family gate.

  A summer breeze blew by. Zhang Yan hugged her elbows.

  "Are you all right, girl?" asked Tong Xiu with concern, "It's already the end of May. How can you still feel cold?"

  "Probably just got off the car."

  As they spoke, Sun Wu came out of the mansion and smiled, "How did you suddenly come?"

  "Why not welcome?" She smiled and followed him into the house.

  "How come?"

  It's been over two years since I last set foot in here, and Sun Wu's bedroom is still furnished as it was back then. A faint scent of agarwood wafts through the air, sweet but not cloying. On the table in front of the bed lies a zither, its strings taut.

  "Have you just been playing the piano?" Zhang Yan plucked two strings and asked curiously.

  "Yes." Sun Wu smiled and ordered Xiao Mu to bring tea over.

  "I remember you came to my house a while back and said you had learned some new songs recently. How about playing them for me?"

  "I dare not disobey." Sun Wu nodded, sat in front of the piano, closed her eyes for a moment, and then began to play. Her music was ethereal and subtle, with sharp turns and countless changes, a thread of emotions flowing through it. Zhang Yan took a sip of tea, listened intently, and smiled, "The 'Thoughts Flowing Like a Stream' you're playing is indeed the sentiment of a young girl."

  "Yes." Sun Xuan stopped playing the zither and smiled, "The tune is called 'Thinking of Her'."

  The maiden's thoughts of spring were extremely in line with her current state of mind. Zhang Yan held a cup of tea, thinking vaguely, and even had some doubts as to whether Sun Xing had guessed her secret thoughts.

  No way. Even she herself just figured it out a few days ago.

  "This tune is quite unusual," she thought for a moment and said, "I've never heard it before, where did you learn it from?"

  "In the year when I was 15, a qin master came to our town. My father invited him to be my teacher, but he was too proud and refused to come. Later, he finally came, and I thought he was quite skilled, for example, this piece of music, he had written many like it."

  "A Yan, after you went to Chang'an, are you still practicing the guqin?" "Not really." Zhang Yan shook her head. "There's a lot going on in Chang'an and I have many friends, my mind is preoccupied, so I rarely play the guqin anymore. But hearing your guqin today makes me regret it, now your skills are much better than mine."

  Sun Wu smiled proudly.

  Zhang Yan suddenly thought of Lü Wei, the ninth daughter of the Lü family. The people of Chang'an were convinced that she would marry Liu Ying and become the Empress of the Han Dynasty. However, she resolutely abandoned her luxurious life and supreme honor to elope with a zither player.

  Although she didn't have a deep relationship with Lv Wei, who was proud and aloof, she could imagine her pride and arrogance. A woman like that would be willing to elope for the sake of a mere musician; it seemed that this musician had left her unable to control herself.

  This is also a kind of girl's sentimentality, like poetry and painting girl's sentimentality.

  Zhang Yan suddenly wanted to see He Zhen, who was known for having the best zither sound in the world. Unfortunately, he and Lü Wei had already gone far away, and their whereabouts were unknown.

  "Really?" She put down the tea in her hand and said, "Take me to meet your family's pianist, okay?"

  "This..." Sun Wu hesitated.

  "Is it good?" She shook Sun Wu's arm.

  "Alright." Sun Wu decided and replied, "You come with me."

  She got up, walked out of the building, entered the backyard from a corner door, and after walking through a long corridor, she saw a lush bamboo forest. In the bamboo forest, there was a bamboo house. Sun Wu walked to the front of the bamboo house, knocked on the door, "Master, I'm here to see you." "What are you coming back for?" A loud noise came from inside the house, as if something had been smashed to the ground. The young man's sharp voice scolded, "I told you before teaching you that playing the qin requires sincerity and respect. If you can put down your qin to entertain every Tom, Dick, and Harry who comes visiting, what's the point of learning to play it?"

  Sun Wu felt embarrassed and turned his head to whisper, "A Yan, don't mind, Master Mei has a bad temper."

  "It's okay," Zhang Yan hastily said, also somewhat embarrassed. "Si Fu." she called out.

  "Huh?" Sun Wu turned his head back.

  "It's nothing."

  Sun Wu smiled slightly and continued knocking on the door, "Master. The disciple has brought someone to see you."

  A sound of a bamboo pole knocking on the ground came from inside the room, and before long, two bamboo doors were pulled open with a creak. The one who opened the door was a young man in his twenties, whose face was not particularly handsome but had a very clear and bright temperament.

  "Come in." He said stiffly, and then felt his way to the bamboo pole and sat down on the main bed.

  Zhang Yan looked at the bamboo pole in his hand, then turned to look at Sun Rou. Sun Rou nodded to her. The two people sat down together, holding hands.

  "Master Mei is well." Zhang Yan bowed her head in greeting.

  "I'm not worthy of your courtesy," Mei Yun sidestepped, her expression stern. "My home only allows those with a musical heart to enter. No matter how noble your status is, if you don't have a heart that loves music, you'll only sully my home." Zhang Yan let out a giggle, and for some reason, she found the young man sitting at the head of the table, who was many years older than her, had an endearing quality to him. "Why did the gentleman allow me to enter?"

  "Because I want to tell you in person how much I despise people like you."

  Zhang Yan didn't get annoyed and calmly said, "How did you know what kind of person I am, sir?"

  Mei Yu "looked" at her and asked, "Can you play the piano?"

  "I know some."

  "He pointed to the piano stand in the right corner of the room, 'There are several pianos there, pick one and play a few notes.'"

  Zhang Yan walked to the piano rack and saw that each grid of the piano platform was wiped clean and shiny, with a distinctive piano placed on it. At first glance, she fell in love with the guqin on the top grid, which was painted a deep, heavy black color, with a clear and lovely shape. Zhang Yan carefully took it down and held it to her chest.

  "Fire away." Mei Yun said calmly.

  Zhang Yan bit her lip, knowing that she had a natural talent for the qin, but was lax in practice. She only managed to play a few pieces that she particularly liked with ease, and so chose one called "Flowing Springs" to play.

  Mei Yun listened for a while with a calm expression, and when Zhang Yan stopped playing the piano, he reluctantly praised, "Your spirituality is not bad, the melody is ordinary, but it's smooth and rich in jumping emotional changes."

  Zhang Yan proudly raised her chin.

  Mei Yun's face turned black, and she spoke again, striking a blow. "But the basic skills are very poor, not much better than a beginner."

  "Are you willing to come under my tutelage and learn the zither?" he asked solemnly. "With your aptitude, if you're willing to put in diligent effort, it'll only take two or three years for you to glimpse the realm of a master. Given time, it's not impossible that you could rival He Zhen."

  Zhang Yan smiled and pushed away Qin Yu, saying, "Thank you, Master, for your appreciation, but I'm a lazy person who loves to listen to the piano and appreciate it, yet can't calm down my mind to learn. Don't mention two or three years, even playing for a while is unbearable. I can only disappoint Master Mei's kindness."

  Mei Yun was rebuked by her, very displeased, and forced to put on a face, humming, "If you don't like it, then forget it, do you think I care?" He pointed at Sun Wu, "Like my disciple's comprehension is better than yours, the 'Worry' she played before becoming an apprentice was extremely spirited. However," he said with some doubt, "after that, although she studied diligently, this kind of brilliance could no longer be seen."

  With a loud crash, Zhang Yan's teacup nearly slipped from her grasp and fell onto the table. She turned around in shock, looking at Sun Wu, whose cheekbones flushed with a faint red hue as he struggled to maintain his composure, not moving a muscle.

  When she came out of the bamboo house, Lian'er walked up to her with a smile and said, "Madam, it's good for you to take a walk outside. It'll do your spirits some good." As they spoke, Sun Xing brushed past her shoulder and hurried towards the main courtyard without stopping for even half a step.

  "What's wrong with Sun Niangzi?" asked Tang Wan suspiciously.

  "Don't talk nonsense." Zhang Yan glared at her and hastily chased after Sun Wu.

  They walked one in front of the other along the long corridor of the Sun Mansion, keeping a distance that was neither too far nor too close. Suddenly, Sun Xing stopped and turned around to shout, "I hate you the most, Zhang Yan."

  A few scattered teardrops fell on her cheeks.

  Today, while researching the wedding customs of the Western Han Dynasty, I realized that the two Hans are actually a dynasty too far away from now. Many well-known wedding customs did not exist during the Western Han period. I made this mistake once in "Jin Wu", and I don't want to make it again. Clenching my fist, I must write a grand and beautiful wedding ceremony.

  Continue to ask for pink tickets as a wedding gift for Zhang Yan.