Luo Binghe has avoided sharing certain vulnerabilities with Sagramore. If they had spoken openly of his feelings, he may not have been able to go through with their dalliance. It would have been giving away too much. Still, he is grateful that Sagramore was willing to lie with him, in his inexperience, and his willing submission endeared him to Luo Binghe greatly. But he closes the book, his finger marking the page, disinclined to share Shen Qingqiu's precious notes.

"It's a cheap novel. I have a weakness for them... The library at Qing Jing Peak, where I grew up, had but one romantic novel, likely shelved there by mistake. I must have read it fifty times." He runs his finger down the cover, smiling without humor. "I suppose it's obvious why. A lonely child dreams of love—it doesn't take a tactician to understand."