Chapter 9: Exact Praise

The festival judge demanded a compliment nobody else could have delivered.

Shuqiao looked at his husband and regretted entering the pavilion.

He had only wanted the fried chestnuts.

Yunting had paid for a whole paper cone before the judge called them forward.

Now the chestnuts sat beside a prize ribbon shaped as a butterfly.

The general examined it with proper military suspicion.

"It isn't for an arrow," Shuqiao told him.

"That's encouraging."

The guests had entered a contest of graceful praise.

Each pair would compliment the other without using a common comparison.

The judge had disqualified the moon, spring flowers, and rare jade before they arrived.

A man across the pavilion was arguing for winter flowers.

His spouse was eating his chestnuts.

Shuqiao admired that response.

He chose a chestnut before the judge could object.

Yunting held out his hand for the discarded shell.

It was such a familiar act already that Shuqiao almost obeyed.

Then he remembered how many people were watching.

He put the shell in the empty bowl provided.

"Your turn," the judge said to the general.

Yunting faced his spouse.

Shuqiao expected something about his learning.

His uncle usually chose that subject when he wanted a favor afterward.

"You moved the sugar bowl so Mingzhong wouldn't feel he'd made a mistake," Yunting said.

Shuqiao stopped peeling the next chestnut.

"That was considerate."

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