The rain in the capital grew heavier and heavier. The dark clouds pressed against the roofs, the rain as torrential as if the dam of the Milky Way had burst, hammering against the tiles with a clamour. Murky, frothy waves rolled in the city's moat, each wave, larger than the last, striking against the dikes. On the streets, water ran through the cracks in the pale flagstones, as thick as fingers, carrying the dried and rotting leaves towards lower regions, and when converging at crossroads, they became rapid eddies. Xu Shuqiao, clad in a raincoat, hastily urged her horse towards the Imperial Palace. A sudden, muffled clap of thunder startled her horse, and it froze in place, refusing to move any further regardless of how the whip struck it. Xu Shuqiao, helpless, dismounted, and then, fearing the horse would run and injure someone, tied it to a tree by the roadside which was almost bent in half from the wind, and only then left. The winds made her raincoat flutter, and the hems of h...