Cups

When the dusk swept over the mountain ridge, the courtyard gate was pushed open.

Lu Xueqing walked in carrying a tray. On the tray sat a teapot and two cups, with thin wisps of steam rising from the spout.

When Lu Xueqing looked up, her footsteps couldn't help but falter.

A person was standing beneath the plum tree.

She stood with her face tilted up, watching the silver-white leaves drift down from the branches. Her gaze followed them from high to low, from branch to ground, as if she were looking at something she had never seen before.

It was Ning Qinghan.

Lu Xueqing glanced at Ning Qinghan but did not offer a greeting. She simply carried the tray to the stone table and set the teapot down.

The tea poured from the spout, a pale gold arc flashing through the dusk.

The fragrance of the tea spread through the air.

At the same time, as if she had sensed Lu Xueqing’s arrival...

The door to the main room opened.

Bai Qingxue walked out, having changed into a fresh Daoist robe, her silver-white hair pinned up with a white jade hairpin.

She sat down at the stone table, expertly picked up the white porcelain cup, and took a sip.

Beside her, Lu Xueqing also picked up her own cup.

Neither of them spoke.

Ning Qinghan stood under the tree, watching them.

After standing for a while, she seemed to sense the atmosphere between the two and turned around, intending to head toward the side room.

“Sit.”

Bai Qingxue’s voice came from behind her.

Ning Qinghan stopped in her tracks.

Bai Qingxue still did not look at her.

However, Bai Qingxue set down her own cup and took a coarse ceramic cup from her storage bag, placing it on the stone table.

Then she picked up the teapot, filled the cup, set the teapot back down, and picked up her own cup to take another sip.

Hearing this, Ning Qinghan turned back around.

She glanced at Lu Xueqing, who was holding her teacup, her gaze fixed on the tea within as her finger lightly traced the rim of the cup.

She then looked at Bai Qingxue, who was drinking her tea with a calm expression.

She stood there for a moment before finally walking over and sitting on the furthest stone stool.

The stone stool was cold.

The cup of tea before her emitted thin wisps of steam.

She reached out, cupping it with both hands, and took a sip.

It was slightly bitter at first, followed by a sweet aftertaste.

A leaf from the old plum tree landed on the back of her hand, but she did not brush it away.

Lu Xueqing finished her cup and set it down.

Bai Qingxue picked up the teapot and refilled Lu Xueqing’s cup, then Ning Qinghan’s, and finally her own.

The empty teapot was then placed at the corner of the table.

The three of them sat by the stone table, each drinking their own tea. No one spoke.

The dusk gradually deepened, the sky shifting from grayish-blue to a dark azure, and finally to an ink-like navy.

The outlines of the three cups on the stone table grew blurred, with only the surface of the tea still reflecting the last faint glimmer of light.

The leaves of the old plum tree fell one by one—onto the stone table, into the teacups, and into the reflections within the liquid.

A breeze blew through, scattering the fragrance of the tea.

Lu Xueqing finished her final sip, set her cup down, and stood up.

“I’m heading back.”

Bai Qingxue nodded.

Lu Xueqing gave Ning Qinghan a brief look.

It was only a momentary glance, then she withdrew her gaze, picked up the tray, and walked out of the courtyard gate.

The courtyard gate closed.

Silence settled over the yard.

Ning Qinghan was still sitting on the stone stool, her hands cupped around the coarse ceramic cup.

The tea had already gone cold.

She lowered her head, looking at the tea dregs at the bottom of the cup, and suddenly asked:

“Why did you keep me?”

Bai Qingxue did not answer immediately.

She held her own cold cup of tea, watching the shadow of the old plum tree slowly shift across the ground.

After a moment, Bai Qingxue finally spoke.

“Don’t you have nowhere else to go?”

Ning Qinghan was stunned.

She looked at Bai Qingxue’s profile. In the twilight, no emotion could be read on that cool face, and her silver-white hair hung from the side of her ear, obscuring half of her features.

Bai Qingxue had not looked at her when she spoke, and her tone was as indifferent as usual, as if she were stating something that required no further explanation.

Actually, she had only meant to ask why Bai Qingxue had kept her for tea... but it was too late to correct her now.

Ning Qinghan lowered her head, looking at the tea dregs in her cup. They lay quietly at the bottom.

“Aren’t you afraid I’ll... bring you trouble?”

Bai Qingxue glanced at her.

“Trouble?”

There was no hint of a question in Bai Qingxue’s tone; instead, it sounded like she was repeating a word that held very little meaning.

Then she lowered her head and finished the rest of her cold tea.

“Aren’t you already here?”

Ning Qinghan opened her mouth but found no answer.

The tea dregs remained quiet at the bottom of the cup.

Bai Qingxue stood up and gathered the cups from the stone table onto the tray. The three cups sat side by side on the tray, very close to one another.

“Rest early.”

Carrying the tray, she walked into the main room.

Ning Qinghan sat on the stone stool, motionless.

The dusk had completely settled, and the courtyard was pitch black, with only the outline of the old plum tree swaying gently in the wind.

She sat for a while longer.

Then she stood up and entered the side room. It was very dark inside, but she did not light a lamp. She navigated by touch to the wooden bed, lay down, and pulled the blanket up to her chest.

Outside the window, the leaves of the old plum tree were still falling. Rustling, softly.

She closed her eyes.

Would she sit there again tomorrow?

She thought she probably would.