Bright and clear skies.
A blazing sun hung high overhead.
A giant elephant walked through the pond, its pillar-like legs stirring the waves as rainbows surfaced.
On the twenty-fourth, twenty-fifth, and twenty-sixth floors of Moon Gazing Tower, three whole levels, palace eunuchs led dozens of attendants, waving horsetail whisks as they turned the central wheel of each floor one by one, opening the skylights of every size.
Bang! Bang! Bang! The wheels drove the hinges, and the several-zhang-tall floor-to-ceiling windows shifted like city gates thrown wide. Hot and cold air alternated, expanding and contracting; stifling air surged in waves, and the coolness blown out by the Ice Platforms vanished. Before long, the officials inside were all tugging at their sleeves to fan themselves, grumbling inwardly without end.
The family members and friends who had come to boil water and deliver meals to the other cultivation rooms were utterly baffled.
This year's new round of Bing Fire Days had arrived. They had finally managed to secure cultivation rooms—days that should have been perfect for cultivation—so why had such a disturbance arisen? Were they opening the windows in broad daylight to better absorb Sunlight Radiance and Moonlight Radiance?
They had never heard of such a thing.
Quick-witted servants sought out several kind-looking officials, secretly slipped them some silver, then drew out folding fans and diligently fanned them from the side.
"Sir, what do the eunuchs mean by this? Why are the skylights being thrown wide open on Bing Fire Days? The weather is so dry and hot. By rights, even the book-sunning day of the sixth month has passed. Will this disturb my master?"
"They aren't sunning books. They're sunning people. Oh, no—airing people out."
"Airing people out?"
"Earl Xingyi is about to leave seclusion." The official spoke blandly. "There won't be