A formal Zhongzhou family compound with grey tiled roofs, inner courtyards, and a quiet ancestral hall visible beyond a gate. Wei Changsheng enters through the main gate, face partly turned toward the sleeping rooms, white robe travel-stain

Panel 1: Madam Wei lies in a carved wooden bed under plain quilts, face fully visible to camera, hollow cheeks, warm tired eyes, white hair in a low bun, faded indigo robes too large. Her polished bamboo cane leans nearby. Panel 2: Wei knee

Panel 1: Madam Wei's thin hand rests over Wei's clean long fingers on the quilt, the contrast of age and youth clear. Panel 2: Wei looks up at her from beside the bed, eyes wet but steady, the bone pin visible behind his head.

Panel 1: At the family hearth, Wei washes the jade root in a plain ceramic basin filled with melted snow. Panel 2: He trims one bowed stem with the small bone knife, keeping the shavings on white cloth. Panel 3: A low clay stove flame catch

Panel 1: The medicine pot exhales pale steam, herb bundles and plain utensils arranged with austere precision around the hearth. Panel 2: Wei pours a thin jade-tinted liquid into a shallow cup, measuring the level against a marked bamboo st

Panel 1: Madam Wei turns her face toward a cloth as a quiet cough bends her frail shoulders; the bamboo cane rests beside the bed. Panel 2: Wei stands outside the sliding door holding a covered bowl, eyes lowered, listening before entering.

The ancestral hall is plain and dark. A carved wooden spirit-tablet for Father Wei stands on the family altar, not a portrait, lit by a single oil lamp. Wei kneels alone on a reed mat, forehead lowered, white sleeves pooled around his knees

Panel 1: The single oil lamp beside the wooden spirit-tablet flickers, casting the carved characters into long shadows; the small folded note remains by the incense. Panel 2: Wei returns to the hearth and lifts the medicine pot lid with clo

Panel 1: Wei scrapes the softened root pulp from a stone mortar with a bamboo spatula. Panel 2: He folds the pulp into thick jade liquid using slow circular motions. Panel 3: He seals the medicine pot with a strip of plain white paper paste

Panel 1: On the sixth night, Wei sits by the hearth with red-rimmed eyes and loosened posture, fighting sleep while the pot simmers. Panel 2: A tear slips from his face onto the cuff of his mourning-white sleeve; the sealed pot remains unto

On the seventh night, a pale jade-green pill the size of a quail's egg rests on a plain white porcelain spoon. Wei's candlelit face looms behind it, half in light and half in shadow, wet eyes focused on the medicine.

Panel 1: Wei lowers the jade pill into a small dark lacquered box lined with white silk, both hands careful, candle flame reflected on the smooth surface. Panel 2: Close-up of the lacquered lid closing with the candlelight reduced to a thin