Ruyi Zhuan: Lang Hua's Ashes

Winter, the forty-fifth year of Qianlong's reign. Snow fell over the Forbidden City for three straight days. A foot of white piled up on the glazed tiles, and the wind drove flakes against the vermilion palace walls with a mournful howl. In the eastern heated chamber of the Hall of Mental Cultivation, the heated floor burned brightly. Incense curled from the gilt-bronze burner, yet could not dispel the gloom that filled the room. Hongli took off his tortoiseshell spectacles and rubbed his aching brow. Most of the memorials spread across his desk had been read, but the notes he'd made in red ink were growing increasingly untidy. He was sixty years old. The wrinkles around his eyes were deep as ravines, and frost had long since filled his once glossy black hair. Only his eyes, in