Dawn.
The sky was on the verge of lightening but had not yet lit up.
Zhou Yi was still dealing with memorials to the throne, his expression unrippled like an ancient well, resembling an emotionless machine.
To Zhou Yi, the memorials concerning the honor, disgrace, life, and death of countless people were only to be judged as right or wrong. They neither aroused his sympathy nor provoked his anger.
At that moment,
the head of the Imperial Guards rushed in with haste, bowing deeply to report.
"Your Majesty, water has flooded in many places in the city, and the Bureau of Soldiers and Horses is struggling to contain the fire. Should we allow the Imperial Guards to extinguish it?"
Since the hundredth year of the Orthodox reign, Zhou Yi had ordered the abolition of prostration rituals and had enacted related laws for this purpose. Anyone who forced others to prostrate themselves would be subjected to flogging.