The Imperial City, the Imperial Study.
White lanterns swayed gently beneath the upturned eaves. A screen blocked the mellow autumn sunlight, and incense curled through the room.
Cao Fo'er stood beside the doorway, cradling his fly whisk, looking toward the Directorate of Celestial Observation, from which faint sounds could still be heard.
On the study's couch, Crown Prince Zhao Jing Huan took his midday nap, still holding a jade pendant carved with a Chongming Bird, also known as a Double-Pupil Bird, to ward off evil and draw good fortune.
The pendant had been a gift from Imperial Father-in-Law He Xiu. As a child, Zhao Jing Huan had loved birds and flowers and could hardly bear to put it down, only for Emperor Qian, a strict father, to confiscate it. He had only gotten it back a few days ago.
Zhao Jing Huan toyed with the jade pendant not for amusement, but to remember the loved ones who had accompanied him since childhood, now all separated from him by the gulf between life and death.
Perhaps his thoughts had followed him into his dreams. Half asleep, he seemed to see his ever-stern father again.
Dressed in his dragon robes, Emperor Qian sat beside the couch and spoke softly:
"Your mother and I are doing well in heaven. Don't worry about us...
"From now on, you are the emperor of Great Qian. I wanted to see the realm united and all its people living in peace and happiness, but sadly, I never fulfilled that ambition in my lifetime. From now on, this burden rests in your hands..."
Looking at his late father so close at hand, Zhao Jing Huan's eyes filled with hot tears.
"I will not disappoint you, Father."
Emperor Qian smiled faintly and continued:
"Of all the sects and hundred