The next day, the rooster crow broke the dawn.
The dawn after a snowy night always arrived a little earlier than usual. After being silent all night, the streets began to awaken once again.
Looking down from the sky, the streets slowly became crowded with people and vehicles, leaving countless tracks in the slushy snow.
In contrast to this early dawn bustle was Linjiang's Smoke Willow Alley.
This street, which was extraordinarily lively at night, seemed extraordinarily quiet at the break of dawn. The diligent hostesses and their patrons, for the most part, had fallen into slumber, with only the occasional carriage lazily rolling out of the stables.
A ray of sunlight pierced through the clouds and shone onto the face of the man sleeping atop a wooden bedstead.
Bathed in the morning light, he seemed to feel a bit of discomfort, as his serene expression gradually turned into a frown, and then, at a certain moment, his eyes suddenly opened.
