The windows of the cold palace were covered with three layers of paper, but they still couldn't block the wind. There was a huffing and puffing sound, as if someone had their throat strangled and couldn't breathe evenly. I lay on the hard couch, feeling hot all over, but my limbs were as cold as if they were immersed in an ice cellar. The quilt was old and so damp that water could be squeezed out. It felt like a layer of wet mud had been pressed down on the body. I didn't even have the strength to lift the quilt, so I could only stare at the gray cobwebs on the beams in a daze. They outlive me.
Nanny Lian knelt on the brick floor in front of the couch, and knocked her forehead three times, three times, hard and solid. She chanted: "Blessed by Bodhisattva, bless by Bodhisattva, I am willing to give my ten years of life to Your Seventh Highness to get through this winter safely..." The moment she kowtowed for the third time and pressed her forehead against the brick floor, a picture suddenly appeared in front of my eyes. Blurry, like a layer of well water.
A low thatched house, a haystack, and a chipped porcelain bowl. There was porridge in the bowl, and Grandma Lian held it in her hand, blowing it again and again with her mouth, and brought it to the lips of a girl who was so thin that she was out of shape. The girl's face was obscured by the heat, so I couldn't see clearly, but the familiar feeling on my back told me that it was me.
This is what's deep in her heart. She knelt before the Bodhisattva, holding not the incense but her own life.
A fishy and bitter hot air surged up in my throat. I tried to speak, but all I could make was a few broken bellows-like gasps. Even grandma raised her head suddenly and didn't bother to wipe the tears on her face. She quickly brought a bowl of warm water to my mouth. I took two sips before I managed to say one word: "Mom..."
The door curtain was suddenly opened from the outside. The cold wind rushed in, and a sharp message came into the room: "The Queen has arrived——"
