Only on seeing Song Shijiu did A Yin and A Luo understand Li Shiyi’s meaning. She had closed herself into the room, and she only opened the door after A Yin knocked on it for a long time with a great deal of patience, and her current appearance caused one to be very apprehensive. It seemed as if she’d aged some more once again; large almond eyes turned up at the ends, the clear lines of her lashes, her high nose, and her mouth, which was neither high nor low. What caused one apprehension wasn’t, in fact, her magnificent, full appearance, but her thin, weak, wan body; her prominent cheekbones had lost their original plump softness; the centre of her collarbones had sunk in, her hands, grasping the door, were slender and fine, and the joint between her wrist and thumb had thinned to a distinct hollow. She had placed her own, clearly diminished body into a loose nightgown, and her even, long hair fell to her waist, her appearance like a demon as she stood, backlit in shadows. What was eve...