The imperial palace was even more oppressive than I had imagined. The vermilion palace walls rose so high the sky was hidden from view, the guards stood in menacing iron armor, and even the air seemed frozen in place. I touched the smartphone in my pocket—battery at twenty-one percent, I had to use it sparingly.
"Kneel!" the eunuch shouted in a shrill voice.
I mimicked the kowtow I had seen in television dramas, stealing a glance upward to size up the Qianlong Emperor. He was leaner than in his portraits, with a pair of sharp, hawk-like eyes that seemed capable of piercing through a person's soul.
Chapter 41