"Uuuh…"
"Madam, madam, wake up."
Madam Lu frowned in her sleep as someone patted her awake. She opened her eyes and saw Nanny Zhou's worried expression.
"Nanny Zhou, what is it?"
"Madam, did you have a nightmare?" Nanny Zhou saw her forehead covered in sweat and tear tracks at the corners of her eyes, and couldn't help asking.
Madam Lu was slightly dazed. She got up from the bed, feeling sticky and uncomfortable all over, and her face was wet; she reached out to touch it.
She couldn't even tell whether it was sweat or tears on her face, but that didn't matter; what mattered was the pounding in her chest, the deep discomfort.
She stretched out her hand and thumped her chest a few times, wanting to beat away that heavy, stifling feeling.
"Madam, what's wrong?"
Madam Lu said, "There's this tightness in my heart, what time is it?"
"It's already a quarter past the hour of Mao. Dawn's breaking."
