In the Shade of the Apricot, a Feigned Phoenix Mourns a Phantom Phoenix; By the Crimson Gauze Window, True Feeling Fathoms Foolish Reason

The three of them, seeing Tanchun and the others come in, quickly suppressed the matter and said no more. Tanchun and the others paid their respects, and after everyone had chatted and laughed for a while, they dispersed. Who would have thought that the old Imperial Dowager Consort mentioned last time had already passed away. All those with patent titles and ranks had to enter court and observe mourning according to their rank. The Emperor decreed: families with titles were not to hold banquets or music for a year, and common people were not to marry for three months. Lady Jia, Lady Xing, Lady Wang, You Shi, Xu Shi, and the other wives, mothers-in-law, and daughters-in-law, old and young, all went to court daily to attend the sacrifices, not returning until after the hour of Wei in the afternoon. After twenty-one days in the side palace of the imperial palace, the coffin was to be escorted to the ancestral tomb in a place called Xiaoci County. This tomb was about ten days’ journey from the capital. Now that the coffin was being escorted there, it would rest for......