Jinghe Year Fifteen, third month, twenty-first day.
The first morning light seeped through; dew clung to the eaves' pointed teeth.
The Imperial Silk Bureau's corridors lay silent, with only birds chirping and trilling beyond the eaves.
Sunlight slipped through the window cracks, scattering broken gold across the desk.
The begonias in the courtyard had shed all their blossoms. Fallen red lay on the ground, unswept.
Li Jin sat motionless in his reclining chair until full daylight, his eyes webbed with bloodshot veins, his robes crumpled like crushed paper.
A Junior Eunuch hesitated outside the door for a long time before finally summoning the courage to knock.
"Old Ancestor... the Imperial Envoy's Headquarters has sent something again."
Li Jin's eyelid twitched. His throat worked, and only after a long pause did he rasp out a single word.
"Enter."
At his voice, the Junior Eunuch came inside.
Li Jin did not even lift his eyelids, merely asking hoarsely,
"What is it?"
"A letter." The Junior Eunuch knelt on both knees and raised the envelope above his head.
"Written personally by Lord Wei, expressly addressed to you, Eunuch Li."
Li Jin did not take it. He merely lowered his gaze to the letter and remained still for a long time.
The envelope was plain white, without a signature or title.
Only the words "For Eunuch Li's personal attention" appeared in Slender Gold Script, the strokes spare and sharply elegant.
At last, Li Jin reached out, took it, broke the seal, and drew out the sheet inside.
There was little written on it, only a few lines in slender strokes of ink.
[For Lord Li's consideration: The investigation into temple property is nearing its conclusion. Only a few entries in the Imperial Silk Bureau's procurement accounts remain unreconciled with the temples' old ledgers.
After