At dawn in the Great Li Dynasty, the red sun slowly rose. The crowing of roosters in towns and countryside, along with the successive sounds of office doors opening near Thousand Pace Corridor, rang out together. Capital officials began roll call, while thrifty households had already set off for their fields. Perhaps because there was no morning court, time seemed especially abundant. Chen Ping'an slowly made his way toward the National Teacher's Manor, deliberately avoiding the bustling Thousand Pace Corridor and choosing a secluded road instead. Dense pines and cypresses lined both sides, and not another pedestrian was in sight. Even without a court prohibition, ordinary citizens of the capital would not casually come this way. It was much like his old hometown: children accustomed to treading the mud of Mud Bottle Alley and Apricot Blossom Alley would not lightly set their straw sandals upon the bluestone slabs of Fulu Street. Just as the grand halls of temples and Daoist monasteries, with their enormous and imposing divine statues, made incense-burners feel small from the bottom of their hearts, these sharp-edged government buildings made ordinary folk feel especially feeble.
Yet beneath a pine by the roadside, a black-clothed youth was squatting there, gnawing on a steaming naan while holding a stalk of green onion in one hand, enjoying his breakfast immensely.
A simply dressed young woman leaned against the pine with her eyes closed in rest. Her bearing was cool and aloof, yet she carried an alluring foxlike charm. Listening to her companion crunching naan and chewing onion, she said irritably, "Why not dip it in sauce?"
The youth answered indistinctly, "I have serious matters to discuss with Chen Ping'an later. I'm afraid my breath will be too strong, and he'll throw me out after only a few words."
He spoke