Liu Zihe didn't dare to speak, and still only kept his head lowered. Yet Song Juguang was unforgiving. "Now, when the court has needs, how come you didn't act as an example?" Liu Zihe lowered his head even further, even raising his voice to blame others. Song Juguang didn't pay attention to him, and walked to Wu Dongmu's side. "Only on leaving the capital did I hear that Wu-daren had spent money a great deal of riches to buy a painting from the previous dynasty, yet he can't draw out any money now?" At this, Wu Dongmu also shirked responsibility. When Song Juguang had entered just then, her face had still carried a smile, but now, that smiling expression had dispersed entirely. Suddenly furious, a foot kicked Wu Dongmu's chest, causing him to fall a few meters away. "A Guang." Only then did Jiang Changbai speak, stopping her. Song Juguang, hearing this, drew back her vicious behaviour, and turned around, walking to the front of the ...

Translator's note: I just realised that I'd been misreading Wei Xiren's name as Wei Sharen the entire time, and went back to fix that in the previous chapters, so if you're wondering "Who on earth is Wei Xiren", that's what happened. - The Great Li's territory was great, and the common people were uncountable. However, the state treasury had been in debt for many years, and had actually been relying on progressively levying taxes to maintain its operations. Jiang Changbai had always been within the Prince's residence, and had only known that Emperor Tai was extravagant, but hadn't imagined that the extravagance had actually come to this point. Merely for the semi-annual hunt, five hundred thousand liang of silver was used; it had to be known that one liang of silver was sufficient to cover the expenditures of a common household within Beijing for a year. Now, the Great Li had only just faced internal disorder, especially the capital to the nort...

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...