As Su Jinli took the white jade bowl, her fingertips felt the warmth of its walls, and she suddenly remembered the fresh charcoal Jiang Yan had added to her hand warmer before she left the house this morning. She coughed softly and was about to say, "It's said that the flying fox lives on the peak of Mount Zhongnan," when she heard the tinkling of bells and pendants from outside the palace, accompanied by the hushed greetings of the palace maids. The curtain to the warm room was lifted by the wind, and a goose-yellow phoenix robe swept across the threshold. The Empress entered, supported by a palace maid's hand. The oriental pearl hairpins on her temples shone coldly in the candlelight, and fell directly on Su Jinli's hand, clutching the jade key.

Memories of her past life suddenly flooded back like a tide. On the carved rosewood table in Kunning Palace, the concoction of abortion-preserving medicine shimmered in a white porcelain bowl. The Empress, her nails stained with Impatiens balsamina, gently tapped the rim of the bowl, "The child in my unborn child is precious. It's best to drink this 'Concentrating Soup' while it's still hot." The aroma of the medicine, mixed with ambergris, seeped into her nostrils. Su Jinli clutched the hand warmer in her sleeve, the cold touch sending a chill through her. The Empress before her was smiling at her. The phoenix-shaped bird pattern on her robe, embroidered with peacock feathers, shone a faint blue light in the firelight.

"Is the Emperor pestering Madam Su to read to him again?" The Queen's voice sounded like honey, but it lowered the temperature in the warm room a few degrees. "I got a new annotated edition of Biographies of Women the other day, and I think it's more useful than those stories about fox spirits and ghosts." As she spoke, her eyes fell on the jade bracelet on Su Jinli's wrist - it was bought by Jiang Yan after he won the imperial examination. The bean green jade had a hint of warmth, but now it was squeezed white by Su Jinli.

The Queen Mother gently tapped the covered bowl. "Of course, there are many good books in the Queen's Palace, but on such a cold day, listening to some interesting stories can also invigorate the blood." She gestured for Su Jinli to continue, her jade spoon making ripples in the bowl of yogurt. "Madam Su, tell me, after the fox scared off the tiger with chili powder, did it encounter the scholar who was collecting herbs?"

Su Jinli took a deep breath, smelling the camphor aroma wafting from the heater. Suddenly, she remembered the "chili pickling recipe" in Jiang Yan's letter. She gathered her composure, her fingertips loosening the jade hand warmer. Her voice, etched in the quiet of the warm room, carried the distinct chill of a snowy night: "It's said that the flying fox sneezed, and the chili powder choked the tiger, sending it fleeing. But it didn't occur to her that a scholar, gathering herbs, was crouching in the valley..." Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the brocade handkerchief in the empress's sleeve, wrinkled and clenched, the phoenix bird on her phoenix robe seemed ready to take flight. The emperor, already resting his hand on his chin, hadn't even noticed the nine-linked chain had fallen to the ground.

Outside the window, the snow fell even more heavily, pattering against the glazed tiles of the Palace of Heavenly Purity. As Su Jinli recounted the story of the fox and the scholar, she suddenly recalled the story of "The White Fox" told by her wet nurse as a child in Jiangnan many years ago. Back then, the winter plum blossoms in the courtyard were in full bloom, and her mother sat under the porch embroidering, her silver needle threading through the red satin, evoking the sparks now emanating from the fireplace. She lowered her head and scooped a mouthful of the yogurt. The sweetness of the rose jam mingled with a subtle spiciness, and she suddenly understood why Jiang Yan had reviewed the "chili pickling method"—he was brewing a jar of homely warmth for her in this snow-covered Forbidden City.

The Empress had sat down beside the Empress Dowager without her noticing, twirling a jadeite eighteen-pearl in her hand, her oriental pearl earrings swaying gently with her movements. As Su Jinli recounted the fox's gift of a thousand-year-old Ganoderma lucidum to the scholar, she suddenly noticed a flash of cold light on the Empress's jade ring. It was the mutton-fat jade gifted by the Empress Dowager the previous year, now gripped so tightly that it had turned a pale blue. Snowflakes outside the palace slammed against the window lattice, like the arsenic dripping from the bowl of abortion medicine in a previous life, imperceptible yet chilling enough to chill one's heart.

"What happened next?" the emperor demanded, clinging to the edge of the stove, where the ambergris crackled softly. "Did the scholar marry the fox?"

Su Jinli looked out the window, the snow reflecting off the icicles on the window paper. She vaguely saw Jiang Yan proofreading in Wenyuan Pavilion. He must have been frowning over the "Qimin Yaoshu" (Essential Techniques for the People), his fingertips stained with ink, yet he remembered to write "side dishes" on the letterhead. She smiled, her voice warmer than the fireplace in the hall: "Later, when the scholar returned home with the Lingzhi, he found hot porridge already prepared on the stove, with a dish of stir-fried vegetables made with freshly pickled chilies beside it..."

Before he could finish his words, the door to the warm room was gently pushed open. Eunuch Li entered, carrying a food box, puffing out a breath of white air, "Your Majesty, Lord Jiang sent over some freshly pickled peppers, saying they're for Madam Su to eat with cheese." When the box was opened, the bright red peppers, soaked in a celadon dish, against the shimmering snow, were even more vibrant than the gems on the Empress's phoenix robe. Su Jinli gazed at the vibrant red on the dish, and suddenly felt the hand-warming jade in her palms warm, as if the entire Forbidden City's snowy winds were melting in this dish of smoky aroma.