“She was there, all of a sudden, behind a desk like she’d been there all day. I don’t know how she got in. The ministers were oblivious until that moment. I ran in when I heard the commotion, and I saw her. Minister Fei was screaming. I knew what it was about. I had my instructions from the palace: ‘Nothing hindering is to be done.’

“Fei ran at her. I watched the poor fool get spun around like a damned mannequin. She moved like something out of a dream. Like a phantom. Fei’s face hit the sharp, lacquered corner of the desk like a dove might fly into a wall of the Imperial City. He fell to the ground and I could see his blood pool out onto the floor.

“She sat back down behind the desk, calmly. She wrote a note with quill and ink that said: ‘Consider this an Enrichment.’ She came back around, dropped the paper in Fei’s blood, and walked out.”