Dawn.
Fengyi Palace.
An eunuch looked as though he had lost his own parents, shuffling forward on his knees and kowtowing over and over against the gleaming floor.
A palace maid cautiously entered the bedchamber and woke the sleeping Empress.
"Your Majesty, Eunuch Zhong has urgent news to report."
Still bleary-eyed, Empress Yin tidied her appearance with the help of three palace maids.
In the silent palace, the eunuch cried out in a tearful voice:
"Your Majesty, your brother has died!"
His voice echoed on and on.
The palace maids felt as though they stood at the gates of purgatory, their wrists trembling.
Empress Yin stood motionless. Her noble, dignified face visibly drained of color, and her phoenix eyes filled with fury. She strode barefoot out of the bedchamber, snatched up a piece of porcelain, and smashed it hard against the eunuch's head.
"You dog of a servant! Have you drunk yourself senseless, spouting such nonsense?!"
Tears streamed down Eunuch Zhong's face. His forehead was a bloody mess as he said in anguish:
"Please restrain your grief, Your Majesty. Near the end of the hour of the ox, your brother was murdered by an assassin."
As he spoke, he kowtowed heavily and wailed:
"The assassin was utterly deranged! He even hung your brother's head from the plaque above the estate gates!"
Empress Yin's eyes widened almost to the point of tearing. It felt as though a blade were stabbing through her heart again and again. The searing pain sent her collapsing to the floor, tears spilling from her eyes as she cried in overwhelming grief:
"Xuanli, Xuanli, my Xuanli..."
"Please restrain your grief, Your Majesty." The palace maids gathered around to help her up.
"Get away!" Empress Yin's phoenix eyes were bloodshot. Her unbearable grief became boundless hatred as she