In the cold winter season, frost-laden silver trees stood stark against the landscape, and the sky was swept by howling wind and snow.
The weather was extremely harsh, so cold that the people of LuoYing City found it difficult to venture outdoors.
Yet Hua Menghuang, too, had finally found a long-awaited moment of respite.
She was dressed in a pink fox-fur hat and a brocade robe, looking as adorable as a rosy-cheeked doll, seemingly unaffected by the slightest chill.
Compared to the previous cold winter, her living conditions had improved by leaps and bounds, a complete reversal of fortune.
Inside the warmth of the cottage, Hua Menghuang sat on a carved wooden chair, her small feet dangling as she read aloud from a book, shaking her head rhythmically:
"Saints, too, attain knowledge through learning; all people, too, attain knowledge through living...
"One must be tempered by trials to stand firm; only then can one be composed in stillness and steady in motion..."
