The "Treatise on Astronomy" in the Huainanzi said: "When the sun reaches Hengyang, this is called the corner's midpoint."
For this reason, the hour of the Snake was also called the corner's midpoint.
In modern time, it corresponded to the period from nine to eleven in the morning.
In the study of the Feng Residence, the window paper glowed gold.
Wei Nisheng stood alone inside the doorway, a Silver Fish hanging at his waist, composed and motionless.
Sunlight slanted through the window, drawing his shadow into a streak of ink.
He slowly surveyed the study...
Books rose like city walls on all four sides. Ink still lingered in the inkstone, and the brush tips tilted slightly on their rack, as though the room's master had only just stepped away.
An open volume of the Zuo Tradition lay on the red sandalwood desk.
The page was folded at the chapter "Duke Ling of Jin Failed to Act as a Ruler," with an old inkstone weighing it down.
Everything in this room was familiar to him.
Whenever he had come here before, Feng Yan had sat in that Grand Tutor's Chair.
He had sat on the embroidered stool before the desk.
Every time, the teacher had asked, and the student had answered.
Every time, the teacher had placed his pieces on the chessboard, while he watched quietly beside him.
Only this time, the chair was empty.
Wei Nisheng walked slowly to the desk, but did not sit.
He merely stood there, gently running his hand over the chair's back.
The red sandalwood felt smooth and warm, as though some warmth still lingered.
His gaze drifted beyond the window. In the courtyard, the old osmanthus had just unfurled fresh leaves. They rustled in the wind, like the sound of reading in days