The sound of the thunderstorm thundered against the small building; the beautiful dream woke up from the dark depths of the sky. A Yin leaned against the window, holding an edible bird's nest from Shanghai in her handkerchief and a pair of silver scissors, carefully plucking away fine feathers; A Luo, draped in a cloak, sat to the side, coughing with each page of the book she flipped through. Her body was more or less better, excepting for a bit of recurrence with the overcast, rainy skies; her back was wet and cold, as if having caught the rheumatism of the neighbouring uncle. Each time she coughed, A Yin knitted her brows, yet she didn't say anything, only privately increasing the speed at which she plucked feathers from the bird's nest. A sound came from the corridor; Li Shiyi and Song Shijiu coming downstairs. A Yin looked furtively; the two didn't seem as clingingly intimate as before, and between them, they maintained a half-body's distance, not even holding h...

Li Shiyi led Song Shijiu back inside; from the small stove, she picked up a pot of hot water, and steeped a cup of Lu'an tea for her, then prepared water for washing the face at just the right temperature. Song Shijiu took the cloth which Li Shiyi had wrung out, and lowered her face into the humid water vapour, breathing in deeply, and heard the sound of Li Shiyi putting books in order. Li Shiyi tidied up the messy letters, each one put in order, pressed between book covers; the sound of the letter paper seemed to bring the scent of ink, enough that it could comfort the returners who were exhausted from their journey. Only then did Song Shijiu have a feeling of "having returned"; it steadily and steadfastly became concrete in Li Shiyi's motions, causing her sensation of having drifted for a great many years to dispel bit by bit. Having turned over another leaf, she heard Li Shiyi ask her, "Since you've remembered, what would you say about Zhu Yan?" Song ...

Waiting for the night to become endless also caused the blue heavens to flourish with many possibilities. Li Shiyi draped a crow-black outer garment over her shoulders, not having gone upstairs, only sitting in the drawing room, using the lamp to engrave a small item. The wood within her hand was fine and slender, the elaborate knifework carving out neat scales; her fingers covered up the horn at the head, like that of a deer, and swept away the wood shavings on the surface. When she'd only carved it halfway, she stopped. What a dragon looked like, she'd never before seen with her own eyes. In paintings, in books, dragons' eyes were fierce and protruding, with the incredible might of a copper bell, but the wooden surface which she pressed against with the tip of the night felt that there ought to be lovable, soft eyelids, rising eyes, and slender, thick lashes, as well as bright, lustrous eyes. If there were to be a smile, they would narrow like the crescent moon, and have ...

Originally, A Yin had assumed Li Shiyi was finally about to grow panicked, but in the end, Li Shiyi wasn't equal to her expectation, and only tranquilly listened to the Henggongyu and A Luo's narration, and put away her smoking pipe, removed her gloves, and, thinking over it, undid her loose braid; her gaze lowered, her fingers within the threads of her hair, she smoothed her hair behind her head, and, expression going wooden, calmly breathed a couple times, and only after than rose, descending the mountain to go back home as usual. The dusky yellow night lanterns in the alley drew people's shadows extremely long; the neighbouring A Huang snored softly; if it weren't for the fact of Li Shiyi's singular shadow, then it could entirely be counted as a fine, warm winter. Li Shiyi didn't make a sound, and pushed the door open, entering, heading directly upstairs. A Yin, arms crossed, leaned against the side of the door, keeping up heavy eyelids, heard the patter of w...

This palace maid was equally as unfamiliar; presumably, she'd stayed the entire time in the palace, and it was only today that she was sent to wait on Lu Pingwan. Hearing this, Jiang Changbai's expression cooled. The two of them, mother and daughter, in the palace absolutely didn't have no relation; even if at the moment, they were Emperor and Empress Dowager, everyone still knew that the true power was held within Song Juguang's hand. Even more, to say nothing of the fact that Lu Pingwan had always had a gentle character, putting together all the circumstances, Jiang Changbai had a very hard time believing the one-sided statement of this palace maid. "Let Us pay respects along with the Empress Dowager." As she spoke, she raised her leg, about to head towards the Cining Palace; that maid hurriedly stepped in front of Jiang Changbai to stop her. "Bixia, if you're to enter, this servant will receive a punishment." The palace maid, when she spoke, w...

Jiang Changbai's gaze also fell onto Song Juguang. Song Juguang, hearing this, laughed lightly, as if liking Jiang Changbai calling out her name intentionally. She didn't at all pay attention to everyone who'd gathered before the Wumen Hall, tilting her head, only Jiang Changbai's reversed figure visible in her eyes. "Naturally, I'll follow what Bixia says." The six short characters delivered the wizened minister's death sentence. Jiang Changbai could vaguely see his posture weaken in a flash, and he knelt on the ground, repeatedly kowtowing. What it was he was repeating in his mouth wasn't audible. Wei Xiren emerged from within the soldiers, and doing so, picked up one of his feet and dragged him outwards. He was clearly a living person, but in her hand, he was like an object, as light as a feather. There were traces of dripping moisture on the hall's ground; no one cared about what it was. The ceremony concluded in silence; all of the ministe...

Three drops of the night dew, on tenterhooks, dripped down from the branch; the sleeping fish swayed to and fro five times; Song Shijiu walked seven paces, until only half a shadow's distance remained between her and Li Shiyi, yet still didn't hear her denial. Her entire trust, her full heart of affection, her green plum, her bamboo horse, all her dreams of hugging and kissing the mountains and rivers, and her entire unsteady memories, at this moment stood within the curtain of the night, as cold as a pearl of green jade, not having the boldness to deny her own guardedness against her. Song Shijiu gazed at Li Shiyi, her eyes unmoving, her eyelids twitching, then twitching again. She finally understood, when she'd looked at her before, what that vast, boundless sense of emptiness was; it was because she and Li Shiyi had both lived for too long; when the memories crammed full of emotions came thick and fast, the association and affection of the past few months between herself...

"Outside the Northwestern Sea, to the north of the Chi River, there is Mount Zhangwei. There is a god, with a human face, a snake's red body, and vertical eyes; when it closes its eyes, it is then dark, and when it opens its eyes, it is then bright. It does not eat, nor sleep, nor breathe, but can visit wind and rain. It is Zhu Jiuyin, known as the Zhu Long." [1] Within the movement of Song Shijiu's wide eyes, Li Shiyi noticed the difference in her; in the past, her open eyes had seemed to be like closed curtains, the thin screen being pulled down with a rustle, eyes which held shyness and carried a smile jumping out, like the cry of an oriole, loudly and suddenly expecting you to look at her. But now, it seemed as if she were using a pair of hands to push a door, her lowered eyelashes arranged in preparation for straightening her cuffs, the gaze fallen to the floor the crack of the door she'd knocked and opened, and only at the end did she push the door wide open...