18 years later, the bamboo courtyard of Duke Shenxiu Mansion.
A maid dashed out of a two-story wooden building carrying a bowl of bloodied silk handkerchiefs. She ran into the small building just beside the outer house a short distance away from the building.
A slim older man with wrinkled skin and gray thin hair sat on the rickety seat by the furnace. The room was hot and smoky.
Sweat pooled on the maid's forehead. The need to fan her face increased as she got closer to the furnace. The old man stood as she got in and quickly lifted the thick white scarf over his nose.
He glanced down at the bloody handkerchief-filled iron bowl and sighed. "Another set", he shook his head, "his coughs are getting too serious", he grabbed the thick rag beside his seat.
He held onto the hot handle of the furnace door before taking the basin from her and throwing in all the bloody handkerchiefs.
