The people of Great Zhou loved flowers; it was etched into their bones.
Every April, after the results of the Provincial Examination's Spring Examination were posted and before the Palace Examination, came the Flower Festival.
This festival had originally marked the birthday of all the blossoms of spring.
But in the Capital, it became a grand occasion even livelier than the New Year.
The Probationary Presented Scholars who had received no banquet invitation
waited for the Palace Examination if they had passed, and for the next examination if they had not. Since they had to wait either way, they might as well admire the flowers.
And so the examination candidates throughout the city shed their blue robes and donned spring clothes, gathering in twos and threes.
Carrying wine and pitchers, they left the city for the hills, admiring flowers beside the water.
On every street and in every lane were young men with flowers tucked into their hair and women hiding their smiles behind fans.
Lilting laughter, fragrant clothes, and gleaming hair filled the April air with the lush spirit of spring.
Meanwhile, the small courtyard of the Wei Residence outside West Peace Gate remained quiet.
The leaves of the jujube tree in the courtyard were already palm-sized, a vivid, vivid green.
Next door, the newly planted peach tree belonging to Zhang Zai, not even as tall as a chopstick,
had actually put out two trembling blossoms.
They so delighted Zhang Zai that he squatted before them every morning, gazing for ages.
Wei Nisheng did not study that day.
Feng Yan had said, "You ought to relax when it's time to relax."
And so he relaxed with a perfectly clear conscience.
Dressed in spring clothes, his hair half tied up and half loose, he sat on the stone stool