Songhe Courtyard.
Madam Yan of the Yan Family, with an unreadable expression, sat on an elevated platform, meticulously pruning a few pots of green chrysanthemums and red plum blossoms with a pair of small scissors in hand. After finishing with a pot, she had the nanny, Sun, move it away.
Below her, Yan Zhigao was visibly restless, glancing up at his elderly mother from time to time, unease heavy in his heart.
Even though he was now a man of mature years, and held the position of a Fifth-rank Prefectural Governor, facing his mother who was taciturn and rarely smiled, he still felt considerable pressure.
His mother had been widowed at a young age and had a difficult temper while raising their siblings; when her anger flared, he was utterly unable to withstand it.