After Frost's Descent, the princes set off for their fiefs one after another. The sky was overcast on the morning the Third Prince, Qi Zhao, left. He kowtowed three times to Qi Xiao at the palace gates, then went to Jiaofang Hall to kowtow to the empress. Xiao Luo stood beneath the corridor and watched him, telling him to live well once he reached Huizhou. He answered, turned, and climbed into the carriage. As the curtain fell, he glanced toward Xuanzheng Hall. That person had not come to see him off. He had known, really; that person was probably still sleeping in the imperial bed at this hour. He drew the curtain closed, leaned against the carriage wall, and shut his eyes.
Qi Yu did not wake until the sun was high. He had kept Qi Xiao up for much of the night, insisting there were mosquitoes in the bedchamber. Qi Xiao had asked where mosquitoes could possibly come from after Frost's Descent, but he had said there really were some-listen, buzz, buzz, buzz. Qi Xiao had lifted a corner lamp and searched the room, finally finding a lost moth beside his pillow. De'an had escorted the moth out, but Qi Yu still refused to sleep, pestering Qi Xiao into reading him two travel accounts before finally settling down. Now he sat on the bed rubbing his eyes while Chun He crouched on the floor to pull his boots on, telling him that Prince Duan had departed before dawn. Qi Yu's hands paused. Then he slid his other foot into its boot and said, "Oh."
Toward the end of the hour of the dragon, Qi Yu arrived at the West Warm Pavilion. Qi Xiao was sitting behind the Imperial Desk reading memorials. Hearing the door, he looked up to see