Chapter 141

Prologue The snow outside the window had been falling for three days and three nights, as if determined to freeze away the very last trace of warmth at the foot of the imperial city. I sat in the empty study, clutching a jade pendant that had long since grown freezing cold. Carved onto the pendant was a tiny rambling rose, sculpted for me by her own hands. Back then, her eyes had curved into bright crescents as she smiled and said, "Master Shen, when the rambling roses fade to the end, it is the absolute end of the road—yet I insist that they accompany you year after year, by your side." Now, the flowers had not yet withered, but people were scattered to the winds. Even that promise to "accompany you by your side" had become the deepest needle piercing my heart.