It was probably 8 or 9 pm, Yan Zheyun surmised. It was sunset and the imperial gardens were bathed in gold, the day finally cooling down enough such that he found an outdoors walk in multiple layers of robes less unbearable than before.
The only thing he missed about being a slave in the Wu Household was getting away with just one threadbare tunic on when the weather turned hot.
8 or 9 pm was late by inner palace standards, with the curfew in place by now. However, Yan Zheyun had been given express permission to be here, having been invited by Liu Yao for a walk. They hadn't seen each other in a while, Liu Yao too preoccupied with whatever affairs of the state might have cropped up as well as the visiting dignitaries from the north, whose intentions were still unclear, as far as Yan Zheyun knew.
