"What did he agree to?"
A weak voice sounded from inside the Ice Coffin.
If not for the Literary Scholar's hearing being far sharper than an ordinary person's, he might not have heard it at all. Yu Hai wasn't surprised. He simply held out a hand toward the person in the Ice Coffin. "You woke up a little earlier than expected this time."
The person inside the Ice Coffin had skin paler than snow, with a faint bluish tinge. He was thin and wan, seeming to have nothing but a fragile frame of bones; even a breeze might have blown him away. He pressed his bloodless lips together and struggled to sit up with Yu Hai's help. His limbs were so stiff they were hard to control, and even the simplest movement seemed to take tremendous effort. "Earlier?"
"Three or four shichen early," Yu Hai said.
The person in the Ice Coffin asked, "What time is it now?"
"A quarter of an hour until the third watch."
Seeing the anticipation in the person's eyes, Yu Hai added, "It happens to be a full moon tonight, and the moonlight's lovely. Want to take a look?"
During the day, there were too many people around. Now, in the dead of night, the place was quiet.
He could take a few steps around the rear garden without worrying about anything going wrong.
The person in the Ice Coffin pressed his lips together and looked at Yu Hai with hopeful eyes, as if asking, Is that all right? Yu Hai fetched the wooden wheelchair he'd prepared in advance and helped him slowly into it. Whether because he'd only just awoken from the Ice Coffin or for some other reason, his skin was frighteningly cold, a chill radiating from his whole body. "Why wouldn't it