Afterglow on Coal Hill

Lu Chen, a PhD student in history, touches a jade pendant left by Emperor Chongzhen and time-travels to become the eunuch Wang Chengen, witnessing the final seventeen years of the Ming dynasty from 1628 to 1644. As a mute prophet, he observes Chongzhen's journey from diligence to despair, the empire's collapse, and the last three hours under the locust tree on Coal Hill. He is not there to change history, but to understand why a not-incompetent emperor and dynasty had to fall. When Chongzhen asks if he is a tyrant, Lu Chen kneels and says, 'Your servant only knows that Your Majesty has not smiled in seventeen years.' This is a story about exhaustion—an emperor too tired to live, an empire too tired to stand, and a time traveler too tired to speak.