In AD 566, autumn came extremely early in Jiangling City.
Nine-year-old Xiao was kneeling on the blue brick floor of Xiao's Ancestral Hall in Lanling, her knees hurting. But she didn't dare to move because her father, Emperor Xiaoming of Western Liang Dynasty, Xiao Kui, was leading all the men in the clan to worship their ancestors. The smoke of incense candles lingered between the beams and pillars, and the ancestral tablets were stacked on top of each other. At the top was Xiao Tong, the prince of Zhaoming—the ancestor who compiled the "Selected Works" and was a prolific writer but failed to ascend the throne.
