Zilu Falls on a Cold Branch

Wen Han has knelt and kowtowed three times and nine times as empress, yet she prays for blessings and takes on misfortune for Su Zichen’s favored concubine. Childhood sweethearts who married young, they have reached the point where they can barely stand one another. Time has worn them down; the years have swept them away. The promises of old have gradually faded in the face of reality. The sandalwood incense of the imperial palace mingles with the scent of locust blossoms from the past. Hidden in Wen Han’s eyes, is it the restraint forged by years of hardship, or the lingering warmth of a forgotten past that has never gone out?