The next day, dawn had barely broken.
The Golden Crow rose, and purple qi came from the east.
The inner precincts of the Imperial City, which should have been quiet and solemn, instead rang with voices and the clamor of horses and carriages.
Inside one of the great halls.
Dozens of white-haired, white-bearded scholars sat rigidly upright, wolf-hair brushes poised in their hands, scarcely daring to breathe.
Spread before them was the palace's most precious chengxin hall paper.
At the head of the hall.
The young emperor paced with his hands behind his back, his eyes as wide as bronze bells as he stared fixedly at the tips of their brushes.
"Listen carefully, all of you!"
"Every word, every stroke must be copied clearly and accurately!"
"If you copy a single word incorrectly or leave the slightest stain, I will hold you accountable!"
Cold sweat streamed down the scholars' foreheads, and even their wrists trembled.
Had it been an ordinary letter, copying it would have been simple enough.
But the original manuscript set before them as their model...
Its messy handwriting was bad enough, but in places the ink had spread into blotches, making it truly difficult to decipher.
Yet His Majesty treasured it beyond measure. He had even ordered it mounted and hung high up, permitting them to view it only from a distance.
An elderly Hanlin scholar narrowed his eyes at an ink blot on the original manuscript and hesitated for a long time.
At last, he summoned the courage to ask, "Your Majesty... this part looks like the character for 'kill,' but also like the character for 'go.' Which is it...?"
At this, the emperor bounded forward.
He tilted his head back and studied the manuscript carefully for a while.
Then he turned around with an inscrutable