Green Plums and the Fire of a Stove

An Hua noticed this musician father and daughter because she noticed several rather strange details.

The zither player's gown was very old, and it did not bear any signs that it was often washed, yet it was abnormally clean. Even more strange was that although snow was falling outside and the streets had turned to slurry, the shoes on his feet were untouched, looking just like new.

There was also that elegant little girl. She did not carry around any of the usual timidity or self-pity that normal musician girls had. She just quietly sat in the corner, her head slightly raised, her eyes a little dull. The cold indifference on her face, which could also be understood as a disdain for everything around her, made her seem estranged from the world.

This was not an ordinary father and daughter pair of musicians, at least not one that might commonly be seen elsewhere.