Lovers' Afternoon Tea

Author: Xi Lingxue
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-10-01
Features: Twenty years of love, not a dream. Yet year after year, we have let each other slip away, as if there is an invisible giant hand of fate toying with our love. Who knows, am I a toxic poppy or a pansy? On Valentine's Day, I have prepared afternoon tea for you—your favorite Biluochun, with distinct buds and leaves, lustrous like jade, gracefully unfurling in the mist of tea smoke, each petal and leaf whispering loneliness and longing. The rose cookies and poria cakes are also placed in crystal trays. The desserts are pomegranate punch and papaya boats, and a small incense burner of aloeswood is delicately lit on the table. But why haven’t you come yet? Through so many years, through so many rainy and sunny Valentine’s Days, my only wish has been to preserve a cup of tea and a burner of incense, spending an afternoon with you. Yet where is my love?