A merchant had been away for three years without returning home.
Everyone said he had fallen for someone else and set up a mistress in another town.
His wife refused to believe it.
On New Year’s Eve, she stood beside the road with a bronze mirror in her arms, listening to the words of wandering souls.
When she learned where her husband was, she set out alone to find him.
A year later, their daughter Yihe received a letter from her mother.
The letter assured her that all was well.
But Yihe knew her mother was in danger.
To uncover the truth, she followed her mother’s example and took up a mirror to seek an answer.
After a long wait, a wandering soul’s face appeared in the glass.
Slowly, it spoke: “The Son of Heaven is lighting the Everlasting Lamp.
“Human bones are its wick.
Human flesh is its oil.
“While the lamp burns without end, its master cannot die.
“Thus may the Son of Heaven live forever.
“Your father has already been rendered into lamp oil.
As for your mother…
“She is to be the emperor’s new empress.”
