Chapter Two: Thirteen at Midnight

Time inside continued. The clock showed 12:01. “The door will not open until serving is complete,” Gu said. “Then I'll break it.” “You tried.” Again, he spoke as if he had known her for years. A silver spoon chimed against glass at the far end of the table. The thirteenth chair remained empty, but a figure appeared in the mirror behind it. An old woman wore Zhiwei's gray coat, her hair gathered in a low knot. Her face had Zhiwei's exact bones beneath decades of lines. Yet her eyes, like Gu's, reflected no light. The woman pressed a finger to her lips and pointed to the unnamed course. Under its cover lay a square of white jelly set with half a pomegranate seed.