Top panel: shrine in late spring, the previous incense ash still pale in the bronze bowl, rice-cake crumbs gone. Bottom panel: Ah-Lan's straw sandals step onto the lower stones of the trail again, surprising the still landscape; her book is

Top panel: Ah-Lan sits cross-legged in pine shade beside the shrine, face clearly visible, oilcloth unwrapped on her lap. Bottom panel: a battered xiaojing book with frayed thread binding and hand-copied characters lies open, her crescent-s

Panel 1: Ah-Lan reads solemnly from the book, brows knit. Panel 2: a pine-cone trembles on a branch directly above the shrine. Panel 3: the pine-cone drops and strikes the stone beside her knee with comic precision, while the sealed stone f

Ah-Lan slowly looks up toward the pine branches and the cliff behind the shrine, her expression curious rather than frightened. The mist, crows, dangling pine needles, and Shan's talisman-covered half-face all seem frozen in exaggerated sti

Top panel: the mountain path in early summer, harsh sun broken by pine shade, resin shining on bark. Bottom panel: Ah-Lan arrives flushed and sweaty but smiling, carrying a gourd of water, sesame cakes wrapped in cloth, and the same battere

Top panel: Ah-Lan sits on the shrine step, gesturing with a sesame cake as if reporting village affairs to an elder. Bottom panel: close-up of sweat at the back of her neck and loose hairs by her braid as a thin ribbon of wind cools her ski

Top panel: Ah-Lan lies back on her elbows under the pine, book closed on her stomach, speaking lightly but watching the shrine from the corner of her eye. Bottom panel: close-up of Shan's sealed cheek and brow; vermilion talismans remain in

Panel 1: Ah-Lan reaches for her book as a sudden neat breeze flips it closer to her hand. Panel 2: a crow approaches the cakes, then fog curls like a warning wall and the crow retreats. Panel 3: Ah-Lan lifts one eyebrow toward the blank sto

Late afternoon. Ah-Lan kneels formally before the shrine, hands folded in her lap, face calm and fully visible as she looks at the weathered altar. Long pine shadows stretch like bars across the stone. Shan's sealed half-face is visible beh

Top panel: a thin controlled gust curves around the shrine and lifts one page of the xiaojing book, turning it precisely. Bottom panel: Ah-Lan looks down at the newly opened passage, her eyes widening slightly; the passage is illustrated as

Top panel: Ah-Lan gently places her crescent-scarred thumb and palm on the cold stone altar as if touching the door of a sickroom. Bottom panel: extreme close-up of Shan's barely visible deep green eye under a lifted talisman edge, not full

Ah-Lan sits close to the altar, one hand still resting on the stone, smiling very softly toward the blank cliff and shrine. The sealed half-face is almost hidden in shadow behind talismans, but the whole mountain seems to listen. Late sun c