Chapter Three: The Exile Comes Home

Crossing the threshold, Chenzhou smelled the incense his mother had always hated. Lu Henian sat in the main hall. At eighty-two, his back remained straight. The head of his cane bore the same crane with closed eyes. “You threw the entire city into a storm just to come home,” the old man said. “You brought the storm to me.” “You could have refused the umbrella.” “Could my mother have refused to disappear?” The room hardened. Bai Yi signaled the guards, but Henian raised one hand. “Complete the four trials, and you will receive your answer.” “Did you tell her the same lie fifteen years ago?” Henian's knuckles whitened around his cane. For an instant, his pain looked real. Chenzhou had long ago stopped confusing pain with innocence.