Huaisang blinks in confusion when he finds himself faced with the tall stranger from the reception hall, then quickly fumbles his fan closed so that he can return the bow. He never quite caught this stranger's rank or title, and Huaisang doesn't think he's from the emperor's court, so he thinks it's unlikely that this stranger outranks him and even if he does, Huaisang's regional authority is much closer. A shallow bow will suffice, until he learns otherwise.

"Yes. I'm sorry. I was just wandering. I get restless. Um." Huaisang bows again, flustered and blushing. "Nie Huaisang of Qinghe greets you."

An assassin working for Meng Yao, Huaisang guesses, and then wobbles from a spike of terror that this assassin is here for him. "You're, um. Very tall. Very..." Huaisang gestures forward with his closed fan like he's going to tap the stranger on the chest with it, then catches himself a hair's breadth away and quickly puts the fan back down. "Very big."

He doesn't see any weapons. That seems like a good sign.

Unfurling his fan, Huaisang lifts it to the side of his mouth like he's stage-whispering, as though they aren't alone on this garden pathway. "Are you ... an assassin?"