As Bai Nuo finally opens her eyes, she realizes it is late evening. The setting sun casts a warm, golden hue across her room.
Her mother, Su Qing, sits attentively by her side, her eyes and cheeks stained with tears, occasionally punctuated by quiet sniffles.
"Mother?" Bai Nuo utters with difficulty, her eyes slowly focusing.
A sharp pain pulsates in her injured head, causing tears to well up in her eyes from the intensity of it.
"Nou-er?" Su Qing exclaims, jumping from her seat beside the bed. "Nou-er, oh Nuo-er. Are you okay? How could you have done this to yourself?"
"Mother, my head hurts!" Bai Nuo cries out. Su Qing's words catch in her throat; what can one say when their child is in pain?
As Su Qing prepares to help Bai Nuo take her medicine, a servant hurriedly enters from outside.
"Miss, the gate guards have brought news. A representative from the palace requests an audience, here to present an imperial decree."
"What?" The two ladies were taken aback.