"Cock-a-doodle-doo~~~~"
Amid the rooster's crowing, Shao Zhen woke from his dreams and discovered that he had spent the night slumped over his desk.
In such bitterly cold weather, he had somehow slept like that all night without feeling particularly cold. Only now that he was awake did waves of chill creep over him.
Rubbing his arms, Shao Zhen looked at the desktop. The Hundred Ghosts Picture lay beneath him, and the ghost leader he had anxiously searched for last night was there in the painting.
Fortunately, he had not drooled in his sleep last night, or he would certainly have gotten the Hundred Ghosts Picture wet.
Dawn was only just breaking, but Shao Zhen was no longer sleepy. He put on another layer of clothing, then opened the door and went outside.
In the temple's rear courtyard, the hardworking Zhou couple had long since risen. The husband was cleaning the temple inside and out; last night's Lantern Festival had inevitably left behind some litter and scraps of fireworks and firecrackers.
Apart from them, everyone else was still asleep-or at least had yet to leave their rooms.
Shao Zhen looked toward the Demon-Subduing Hall. Its doors were already open, and even some early-rising worshippers were offering incense. The statue of the Manifest Holiness True Lord stood within the hall, seeming to gaze down at the grounds outside and the Datong River, and at Shao Zhen himself.
Was everything last night a dream?
Shao Zhen walked down to the steps by the river, rolled up his sleeves, and scooped up the icy river water to scrub his face.
"Hiss, hah..."
Whether it had been a dream did not matter. What mattered was that the feeling remained.
Shao Zhen immediately returned to his room, tidied his desk, and laid out his writing and