Recap: On the twenty-third day of midwinter, the slanting sun, red as blood, dyed the Spirit Rice fields in a dim, amber glow.
Beneath the fading sunlight, the shadows of withered branches were wantonly shattered across the cold, blue stone slabs. A biting draught swept through the alley, rustling the fallen leaves at its end as though whispering untold stories.
Only the bronze bells at the eaves swayed lazily in the dusk, ringing out a few lonely notes that steeped the twilight of the ancient city into an urn of silent wine.
Chapter 576