The outside wall of the Cold Palace looked rundown and dilapidated, as if there had been no repairs done to it in many years.
They walked through a moon gate and into an overgrown and unkempt courtyard. Gu Wei stepped through the frosted over weeds with confidence, sidestepping rocks and holes on the ground with practised ease. There was only one door leading to the building adjacent to the courtyard, and it was latched from the outside.
Anyone could open it by sliding open the latch, but then again, Chu Yun assumed no one came here, and whoever did knew better than to release Xiao Yuan's mother.
"How long has she been here?" Chu Yun asked, stepping inside the Cold Palace behind Gu Wei.
"More than a decade," he said, as if he didn't care to keep exact count.
Chu Yun looked around the decrepit palace. It looked as derelict on the inside as it did on the outside, splintered floorboards, ripped panelling and water-stained walls. Everything smelled faintly of rot and mildew.
