The Usefulness of Hoods

Xuxian choked slightly on the sweet potato. "Susu," he protested, glancing around hurriedly and unwinding her arm. "We're in public."

She glanced at him slyly, then suddenly caught him round the neck and kissed him again, so that he almost dropped his sweet potato.

"Aiya, my eyes, a scene to make anyone blush! Really, Sister and Brother-in-law, do you have to show off how in love you are with each other to the world?"

Qingqing's loud, mischievous voice rang through the air. Xuxian drew away quickly, but Suzhen kept her arm around his neck, unmoved. Qingqing was looking at them directly, not bothering to hide the wide smile on her face. Behind her, Yuanzheng looked away discreetly, embarrassed at having caught them in the middle of a kiss. With a start, he remembered Xiaohu and hastily covered Xiaohu's eyes. Xiaohu gave a yelp of annoyance. "That's unfair. Why can't I see if the rest of you are all looking?"

"Why, must it be a secret?" Suzhen retorted challengingly, with a twinkle in her eyes.

Xuxian tried to release himself. "Susu, we're in public, be good." he murmured.

"But I don't want to," she said playfully, keeping her arm around his neck, and made a dart at his cheek, dropping a kiss on it. He felt himself blushing. "Susu," he protested, scandalized.

Without missing a beat she kissed him again, on his nose, then on his forehead, light rapid kisses like a butterfly glancing off a flower. Qingqing shrieked with delight, clapping her hands in merriment, and Yuanzheng hastily whirled round, turning his back squarely to them and pulling Xiaohu with him. Xiaohu protested loudly; passerbys stared, a few raised their eyebrows, one woman clucked her tongue disapprovingly.

Making the best of the situation, Xuxian stopped trying to break away and instead caught Suzhen's hood with both hands, pulling it down over her head and effectively hiding the two of them from sight. Yuanzheng heaved an audible sigh of relief and Qingqing gave a loud groan of disappointment. "Ah, that's the end of the show, folks!" she declared. She patted Xiaohu consolingly on the back. "Never mind. Knowing my sister, there's bound to be another episode, as long as you spy on them for long enough."

Xuxian and Suzhen finally emerged, both looking rather disheveled, but with glowing cheeks. Xuxian brushed them off with as much dignity as he could muster. "There. Stop gawking and move on."

Yuanzheng took hold of Xiaohu's collar and Qingqing's hood. "Let's go, you two gluttons." He marched them onwards firmly, leaving Suzhen and Xuxian behind. His hand lingered on Qingqing's shoulder a moment longer than the one on Xiaohu.

Qingqing looked around appreciatively. "I hate winter," she remarked contemplatively, "but I have to admit it makes for a pretty scene. Look at how clean the town looks. Not as beautiful as the mountains, of course, but pleasant in its own way. Still not worth the horrid coldness and wetness, of course, but there are moments when you forget about that. Like now."

Yuanzheng's eyes rested on her as she turned her head to look at a vendor selling rows of sugar figurines, a luminous, translucent amber which made them look like rows of little lamps. Xiaohu darted forward to take a closer look, as he wolfed another mouthful of sweet potato. "Wow, is that a dragon?"

The snowflakes drifted slowly through the air, and her upturned face seemed to glow in the halo of her pink hood. Against the sky, the line of her eyelashes and the pert curves of nose and chin were outlined as cleanly as the stroke of a calligrapher's brush against paper.

Qingqing turned suddenly to Yuanzheng, and caught him looking at her. "What?" she demanded bluntly, looking challengingly at him.

Yuanzheng hesitated, taken aback. Qingqing's eyes narrowed. "You're going to say something annoying," she said, pointing a finger at him accusingly.

"I just thought you looked pretty." His answer was just as blunt. He made no attempt to explain or bluster, simply put his arms behind his back and looked up at the falling snow.

There was an awkward silence, then abruptly Qingqing smiled, unable to hide her pleasure.

Suddenly shy, she turned away, pulling the pink folds of her cloak around her, and they walked on side by side without speaking, smiling quietly to themselves, as the snow fell softly around them.

Suzhen hung on Xuxian's arm, looking fixedly at him with limpid eyes. "Did I embarrass you just now?" she teased.

He steadfastly looked ahead. "I'm not buying you any more baked sweet potatoes if you keep making a scene like that," he threatened. "What did I tell you? If this was the village, people will gossip viciously about you, and say you don't have a proper upbringing. That's too great a price even for your kisses."

Qingqing would have died if she saw the great white snake pouting, but it had to be confessed that that was exactly what Bai Suzhen did. "I won't kiss you anymore," she said, and made it a threat rather than a concession with the way she tossed her head.

Xuxian abruptly laughed out loud and swung her hand happily in his. "Ah, Susu," he said with a sigh. "I am so happy right now. I wish I could keep this memory in a jade casket, and let it last forever."

"Then keep it here, which is better than any jade casket," she whispered, reaching out and touching his chest softly. "As I do." Her hand rested on her own breast, and she smiled up at him.

Xuxian took her hand in his, and her cold fingers curled instantly around the warmth of his palm. "I'm very tempted to kiss you right now," he said softly.

She made a face at him. "Well, you aren't allowed to. Didn't you just say it was improper to do so in public? How can you eat your words so flippantly, just because you suddenly decide you'd like to kiss me. I won't allow such gross injustice."

He tapped her on the nose. "Looks like I'll never hear the end of this every time I want to kiss you." he said ruefully.

Suzhen started slightly as her eyes fell on a face that emerged briefly in the crowd behind Xuxian.

Those round eyes, haunted with a vague shadow of malice.

The terrapin spirit had returned.