Princess Yongchun had been trapped here for decades and finally left Jingyang Palace in her own way.
The nuns of Jingyang Palace stood with their hands hanging down, silently watching the back of Princess Yongchun, her words echoing in their ears, their faces also showing sadness.
Among these people, those like Du Miao and Liu Pin Er, who came here due to mistakes, were few. Most were implicated when their fathers and brothers were convicted. Forced into the palace at a young age, and when their fathers and brothers were convicted and exiled, they could only wait for death in Jingyang Palace.
Every year, forty percent of the people in Jingyang Palace died of cold and hunger, twenty percent died by hanging themselves.
Those who survived, even if they hadn't gone mad, were nearly so.
