Shen Cangfeng and Wei Changying did not know what Cao Yingmei thought. Although they had not yet reached reedy Tingzhou and had not attained their trip's goal of seeing lotus flowers, they felt incredibly relaxed when they felt the boat ride the waves and the lake breeze blowing in their faces.

The two of them finished a pot of agarwood drink, as the boat finally approached the first stand of reeds. The green reeds waved in the lake breeze, from which came the sound of water birds cooing, occasionally some flew in or out. Wei Changying thought they were egrets. They were very brave and not afraid of people. Even when the boats passing by, they were still focused on their fishing, not hiding away.

Wei Changying suddenly saw a water snake swimming swiftly across the water, rippling the surface of the lake. A brave egret also saw it, streaking towards it just above the water, moving very fast to take the water snake that couldn't dodge away, and then flew away satisfied.

"That egret..." Wei Changying turned back, about to tell Shen Cangfeng what she had just seen, but Shen Cangfeng pointed in the other direction and smiled, "Isn't it a coincidence?"

"What coincidence?" Wei Changying had thought that he had met his acquaintances again. She hurriedly tidied up her dress before looking over there, but she saw a pair of red-billed mandarin ducks leisurely swimming by the reedy bank. Seeing a boat coming, they calmly went into the reeds.

Wei Changying also thought this was a good omen, picking up a piece of cake from the basket, crumbling it and throwing it into the reeds, "We scared them, so give them a piece of cake to apologize."

Shen Cangfeng laughed, "They thought you were going to hit them."

Wei Changying said, "Nonsense, I wanted to..." However, before she finished talking, they heard a panicked quack from the reeds that the pair of mandarin ducks had hidden in. The pair flew up, trod the water, fluttered over the reeds, and flew deeper, looking like they had fled in disarray after being attacked.

"..." Wei Changying blushed, "This pair of... They really don't know who's nice to them!"

Shen Cangfeng laughed, "This Spring Grass Lake is full of water plants, why would they lack food? No one usually feeds them. They had already hidden in the reeds and then saw the cakes you threw, they definitely thought you wanted to hit them."

Wei Changying was so annoyed that she suddenly stood up, climbed over to the other side of the boat, scooped water from the lake, and splashed on Shen Cangfeng. She said angrily, "You didn't warn me! Just wanted to laugh at me!"

There was not much space on the boat. Shen Cangfeng had nowhere to hide, so he was splashed all over by the water. The breast of his jade-colored round-necked robe was covered with water marks, turning the jade green to deep green, which was very conspicuous. Seeing Wei Changying want to scoop up more water, he smiled and pleaded, "I will have to go to the tavern of the Xie Family. My good lady, please spare me."

In fact, after splashing him, Wei Changying had also thought of that. She regretted it and accepted this excuse, saying reluctantly, "I'll spare you this time."

And she handed him a handkerchief to dry himself.

Shen Cangfeng dried himself a bit and then gave it back to her and smiled, "Look, there are lotus flowers."

Wei Changying looked to the right, as the curtain on the left had been lowered to block the sun. There were a few lotus leaves appearing, floating on the water or standing above the water.

Shen Cangfeng spoke, "Furong Islet is the center of this lotus blossom area. As there are many visitors in spring, there are a few taverns there. However, once spring is over, there will be fewer visitors so most of the taverns will close. The tavern of Xie Family is one of them."

"So there is an island in this lake."

"Actually it's not an island." Shen Cangfeng smiled, "Though it is regarded as an island, it only comes out when the water dries up in autumn and winter. The so-called taverns are actually all showboats. As Spring Grass Lake is very huge, visitors go to the center of the lake often wanting to drink and eat. If they took a showboat that they could cook in, that would be fine. But small boats like ours don't allow people to do that. Bringing their own food or going back hungry is very disappointing, so some clever people set up taverns on Furong Islet. There are three reasons why they chose Furong Islet. First, the water is shallow and the waves are small, so they won't be easily affected by storms. Second, in spring, Furong Islet is full of beautiful plants, the lake is clear, the sky is blue and there are also lovely young lotuses. In summer, lotus flowers are in full bloom. In autumn and winter, people can sing poems about withered lotuses and the traces of snow. All of these are more noble and elegant than going back to the shore. Third, Furong Islet is not far from the heart of Spring Grass Lake. No matter where people start from, if they are enjoying a leisurely time on the lake it's always natural to think of coming here."

Wei Changying asked curiously, "Is it possible for showboats to get in here?"

"They take advantage of the rising water and sparse lotus leaves to bring the showboats in." Shen Cangfeng said, "In fact, these showboats are specifically left here as taverns and never go out, and a few of them are tantamount to being stranded."

As they spoke, the lotus leaves around became denser. Lotus flowers and leaves as tall as seated people swayed outside the open windows. Dragonflies, bees and butterflies buzzed around and the accompanying lotus fragrance wafted in.

"Let's see if there are any lotus seedpods." Shen Cangfeng rolled up his sleeves and moved to the window, speaking to his wife, "Pick some. You promised to peel lotus seeds for me to eat."

Wei Changying exclaimed, "Who promised you?" That being said, she still moved towards the side of the boat as he asked. The boat suddenly shook! She was so shocked that she stopped moving immediately. She noticed Cao Yingmei, at the back, also seemed to be shocked, saying, "Young master and young madam, are you going to pick lotus seedpods close to the water?"

Shen Cangfeng was more experienced than Wei Changying and immediately understood on hearing her words, saying, "That's right, we moved to the same side of the boat together. Did we scare you?"

Cao Yingmei laughed, "I'm on the water all day. Why would I be scared? It is just that this boat is light, if you want to pick lotus seedpods by the water together, you could tell me. In that case, I can adjust my position so as not to offend young master and young madam."

Wei Changying secretly pinched Shen Cangfeng and grumbled, "It's all your fault. You didn't tell me." then said, "I'll pick the lotus seedpods, you go back to sitting!"

Shen Cangfeng smiled, "You go and sit. I'll do it. Look, there are many bees here. They might sting you."

Wei Changying had been insistent on picking them herself, but when she heard that there were many bees, she took a look at the insects flying around the lotus flowers and picked up a round silk fan to hit the ones flying in the boat, saying, "You pick some big ones."

Cao Yingmei was very sensible. Since the couple wanted to pick lotus seedpods for fun, she deliberately slowed the boat down, moving it deftly through the flowers and leaves, which made it easier for them to find the lotus seedpods.

Wei Changying sat back near the table and stared out of the boat, suddenly saying happily, "Over there, over there, there's one!"

Shen Cangfeng smiled, "I saw it too", and rattling the curtain behind him, letting Cao Yingmei move the boat over.

The boat drew near, and Wei Changying noticed that the flowers and leaves were very dense here. The boat they were in was very small, but it still hard to squeeze through a lot of flowers and leaves to reach the lotus seedpod. Now, looking impenetrable, the flowers and leaves on both sides pressed hard on the boat which just squeezed in. This was still a narrow boat. If it had been a showboat, it would have been impossible to come in when the season was not right.

Wei Changying watched with joy as Shen Cangfeng leaned over to pick it, but just as Shen Cangfeng was about to touch it, a pair of delicate hands suddenly reached out from behind it, grasped the stem beneath it, and skillfully snapped the lotus seedpod in front of the couple.

If the wooden basin hadn't come out from between the dense flowers and leaves, and she had seen through the gaps between them the dark-skinned girl sitting in the basin, smiling and looking over, Wei Changying would have thought she had met a lake spirit.

She covered half of her face with her round silk fan to hide her shock and looked at the girl suspiciously. The girl was about sixteen years old, and like Cao Yingmei, she had a piece of cloth wrapped around her head and wore a willow hat to protect her from the sun. She sat cross-legged in the basin with a pile of lotus seedpods and wild water chestnuts in front of her. She was a lotus-picking girl.

Wei Changying was relieved. As she found out this was just a false alarm, she felt annoyed.

It would not be a good idea to make a fuss about one lotus seedpod with a lotus-picking girl, so she calmed down and turned to Shen Cangfeng, who also looked disappointed, and said, "Let's go somewhere else."

Seeing that lotus-picking girl's wooden basin was filled with lotus seedpods, she thought that even if there had been other lotus seedpods in the vicinity, they would have all been picked by her.

Shen Cangfeng was about to nod, but the lotus-picking girl smiled and asked, "You wanted to pick the lotus seedpod?"

Shen Cangfeng looked at her and said, "My wife did want it."

Wei Changying thought that she shouldn't bother with this lotus-picking girl, but this girl started to talk with Shen Cangfeng in front of her, so she became a little annoyed. As she heard Shen Cangfeng mention her directly, she turned her anger into happiness, deliberately softened her voice, pulling Shen Cangfeng's sleeve and saying, "It's not a must, let's leave here."

Shen Cangfeng hadn't replied yet but saw the lotus-picking girl take the biggest one from the pile in her basin and throw it across the water to the boat. Shen Cangfeng saw the lotus seedpod flying towards Wei Changying's face, so he quickly reached out his hand to catch it, frowning slightly. She was just a young girl, the boat was small, there wasn't much room to throw it in, so she might not have done it on purpose. He handed it to Wei Changying while reaching into his clothes, saying, "Thank you, but I wonder how much?"

After throwing over the lotus seedpod, the lotus-picking girl held her cheeks, smiling and looking at him. When she heard him, she said with a smile, "It's free."

Shen Cangfeng and Wei Changying were stunned and then heard the lotus-picking girl laughing, "young master, you are the most handsome person I have ever seen. When I saw you today, I fell in love with you. However, since you have a wife, I could only look at you and give you a lotus seedpod as a token of my appreciation."

That almost made Wei Changying throw the lotus seedpod back into her basin!