By the time the carriage stopped outside the small courtyard of the Wei Residence beyond West Peace Gate, the snow had stopped.
Wei Nisheng stepped down from the carriage and pushed open the courtyard gate.
A thick layer of snow lay on the jujube tree's bare branches, weighing the lower ones down until they nearly touched the ground.
He had no heart to admire any of it. He went straight into his study, took the handwritten copy from inside his robe, and laid it on the table.
Feng Yan's warning still rang in his ears.
Wei Nisheng sat at the table and stared at the copy for a long time.
It had been with him ever since the day he unearthed that scrap of paper from the ocean of records in the Hanlin Academy.
Wei Nisheng lifted his brush, saturated it with ink, and wrote two names on a sheet of Xuan paper.
Liu Chongyan, Director Academician of the Hanlin Academy.
Wu Daoqing, Ministry of Revenue Vice Director.
Liu Chongyan was a man of few words. Every day, he came to the Duty Room, read, wrote, drank tea, and left when his hours were over. He never spoke much to anyone.
But everyone in the Hanlin Academy knew he was Feng Yan's man.
Yet every year on Feng Yan's birthday, he visited in person with a box of tea leaves, stayed for the time it took to drink a cup of tea, exchanged a few words about everyday matters, and left. He had never missed a year.
Wu Daoqing, Ministry of Revenue Vice Director, was Shen Duan's student.
He had transferred to the Ministry of Revenue in Jinghe Year Eleven and risen two grades within three years, advancing from Department Secretary to Vice Director.
He was a native of Guilin