Sect Year 1 · seventh month · day 28 · the spring-house, Azure Stream
The spring-house was a small shed of grey stone, open on the water side, so that the spring ran in beneath its floor and slid out again through a gap in the far wall. The floor was laid with planks over the stone. Most of them were sound. One of them, close to the bench, had no nail in it, and when Lin pressed one end with his thumb it lifted a little and sank back, as if it had been waiting to be asked.
Su stood in the doorway with the light behind her. She hadn’t asked what he was doing. When he came down the path with the knife in his hand, she only said, “You’ve been thinking about that floor since the seal went on,” and he didn’t deny it.
He worked the blade under the loose end. The wood came up a finger’s width with a dry complaint, and the water beneath answered with a sound like someone turning over in bed. He lifted the plank free and set it aside. Under it, in a hollow cut into the stone and lined with dry moss, there was a bundle wrapped in oilcloth and tied with cord.
