Master Zhong is a regular at Revelry Hall and a favored guest there. Lately, however, he has taken to mutterin…
Master Zhong is a regular at Revelry Hall and a favored guest there. Lately, however, he has taken to muttering to himself, endlessly carrying on about a mysterious dancer, insisting it's the soulmate who has captured his heart at first sight, demanding that Revelry Hall produce that person at once.
As if anyone like that could be conjured up. Since the Revelry Hall could offer no such person, he set out to search for them himself. The maidens of Velvet Shade did nothing to stop him; they only smiled and teased, "Still hunting for your soulmate, Master Zhong?"
With his heart in his throat and a stubborn breath caught in his chest, Master Zhong swore he would find this person no matter what. He dashed up and down the tower more than a dozen times before at last finding the little room where he had caught that dazzling glimpse. The door, it turned out, had been hidden behind a folding screen all along. No wonder he had searched in vain!
Overjoyed, he bypassed the screen and hurried inside, only to find the room empty.
Why was there only a chessboard left behind? The pieces had been put away; there was no telling if a player had yet to arrive, or if a game had just ended and they had already departed.