Late February.
Major snow fell in Pingyang, the accumulation thick enough to swallow one's ankles.
"Whew, before the rooster crows, I'm already crowing. Born with a life of toil—roll call, roll call—achoo! It's damn cold today, cold enough to freeze a man to death. Should've worn another pair of trousers."
"Sure is cold. When I got up this morning, the ice in the water jar was three inches thick."
Slap! Slap!
Two crisp sounds rang out.
On the steps outside the River Conservancy Office Government Office, two clerks stamped the clinging snow from their feet so the crystalline flakes would not melt and dampen their new socks. They rubbed their red, itchy ears, then ran into the woodshed, hands half tucked into their sleeves as they grabbed stiff, icy bamboo brooms. Sweeping the snow from before the gates, they idly chatted about household matters.
"Damn, I'm exhausted. After one New Year Festival, it feels like I didn't do anything at all, yet those ten days off vanished without a trace. When's the next break?"
"One day off every ten days. Then there's the Second day of the Second Month and the Third day of the Third Month, right? Nine days from now? You didn't do anything, just sat comfortably by the fire. What're you tired for? I'm the one worn out. Married a lazy wife—there's a mountain of work at home, and a stool's been missing a leg for half a year with no one fixing it. Oh, right, did you go eat at yesterday's open feast?"
"I did, I did. Meat, vegetables, white flour—would've been a waste not to eat it. Tasted damn good."
The two of them smacked their lips in unison.
The flavor lingered endlessly.
A few days ago, Prefect Su, Governor Su, had supposedly advanced to