Time flees like a dream, and beauty fades as flowers do, all alike in their transience.
Emperor Hongxiao was in Cining Palace, accompanying the Empress Dowager in reciting scriptures.
As the Empress Dowager recited scriptures, Emperor Hongxiao simply sat to one side, flipping through the scripture book. Compared to the Empress Dowager's piety, Emperor Hongxiao seemed to be much less sincere. But the Empress Dowager, eyes closed and absorbed in her recitation, did not see this. She was so focused, as if nothing in the world was more important than the scripture before her. And so the days went by, one after another, year after year, almost as if since the moment Emperor Hongxiao took the throne, this had been her way.
