How Many Petals Fall in One Night

I once asked her if she had ever regretted it. She closed her eyes and softly told me, "I don't know. But if there's a next life, I hope I never enter the imperial family, life after life." I still can't forget her gentle voice, lilting with the soft accent of the Wu region. She looked up at the sky with her eyes half closed, and I looked up too. The sky was clear, the white clouds languid and pale. But back then, I had no idea what was so beautiful about that sky.

Consort Yun had a lovely name: Ningbi. But she told me no one had called her by her name in a long time. Sometimes even she forgot what she used to be called.