The Court's Decaying Machinery.
Trivial matters flooded the court—those reaching Bai Changming's desk had already been stripped of excess, yet unforeseen crises still multiplied. The treasury, though stable for now, operated like a perpetual shell game, robbing Peter to pay Paul.
What began as butterfly-wing flickers of trouble now churned storms through bureaucratic ranks. The imperial apparatus resembled a colossal machine—majestic to outsiders, grueling for its cogs. Bai had become its indispensable gear, fueling each labored rotation with his own vitality.
Winter's Frozen Mirror
The frozen lake at Ruyi Islet—built by a former emperor chasing dreamt peach-blossom utopias—now drew Bai seeking respite. Though endowed with a yao spirit's longevity, he wore mortal flesh for courtly camouflage. Rumor of rare Ziling ducks here offered escape from paperwork, but the caretaker sighed: "Treasures of spring—gone with the ice."
Amidst gray-backed mallards pecking at tourist breadcrumbs, Bai spotted Xue Rong. Her azure cloak and lotus-petal hairpin scattered winter light like fractured rainbows. She sat tearing a scone for ducks, twenty-strong flock devouring crumbs until Bai offered his own.
Her startled slip from the rock—his instinctive catch—their shared breath in the cold.
*Damn you, Minister Bai.* Her blush burned brighter than vermilion seals.
Tides and Sugar Foxes
Walking together, conversations drifted from ducks to destiny. Xue Rong's purity disarmed him—a disruption to his court-forged detachment. "The cosmos has tides," she mused. "What seeks control drowns in its own current. You've seen this, haven't you?"
When Bai asked her desires, she pressed a sugar fox into his palm—coiled form half-eaten as they debated cosmic orders. His laughter surprised them both.
Jade Ghosts
At an antiquities shop, Xue Rong gravitated toward a "白" seal—the Bai surname carved in bold vermilion. Bai replaced it with a "溟" character (abyssal depths), slipping a "雪" (snow) seal into her protest.
Later, Xue Rong found the "溟" seal imprinted red in her palm—his name's cold jade warmed by her grip, its edges branding twin crescents like moon phases on skin.