Winter was unusually cold and unforgiving that year. Instead of the jubilance and excitement that usually filled the days leading up to the new year, the Capital was blanketed by a heavy silence. No one knew how long the plague would last. All anyone could do was live one day at a time and pray to see the next sunrise.
The death tolls spiked during the long winter. It was not until the Academy of Medicine developed a new prescription that was better at alleviating the respiratory symptoms that hope finally returned. This new concoction seemed to help prolong patients' lives, even if it was still not a cure. Deaths in the Capital stabilized and slowly, slowly began to decrease.
But Xie Yixiang never made it through that winter. Just before the first buds of spring emerged on the snow-covered branches, she breathed her last, holding Shao Wenbo's hand.
