The stream flowed gently, rushing from ditches into bamboo channels, winding through the landscape for several miles before entering the luxurious manor, becoming the most splendid scenery at the flowing wine cup banquet.
Scholars, with their powdered faces, walked with fluttering robes, displaying their grace. Talented maidens, holding silk fans to half conceal their faces, smiled charmingly.
When the banquet began, scholars and literati sat beside the stream. Trays holding wine cups floated on the water, drifting along the way.
When a wine cup stopped moving, the person closest to it had to compose a poem or play a piece of music. If they succeeded, they could push the tray on; if not, they had to drink the wine in the cup.
Thus was the flowing wine cup banquet.
Xu Qing wandered through the pavilions and water pavilions. It took him half a tea time just to walk around the periphery of the banquet venue.
