On the twenty-sixth day of the fourth month, after Grain Rain, the east wind blew softly.
A fine day to sample new tea, a fine day to brew green plum wine.
On this day in years past, apricot blossoms lined the long street beneath a fine drizzle. You rode past, splashing me all over with spring mud.
I did not know then that this single glance would become half a lifetime.
"Take care, Lord Wei. Leave the remaining odds and ends to me!"
"Would that really be right? Qiu Yuanlang, if it's too much trouble..."
"How could it not be right? I, Qiu Guangda, am thirty-two-just the age to work my hardest!"
(Qiu Heng, courtesy name Guangda.)
"Ah, you..."
"Say no more. Take care, Lord Wei!"
At the Ministry of Personnel offices, Shen Hour had barely passed when Qiu Heng pushed Wei Nisheng out the door.
"Eighteen retreats on time; thirty-two never tires."
Looking at Qiu Heng waving from inside the offices, Wei Nisheng gave a helpless smile and could only clock out promptly at three.
Still, he had already arranged to meet Wang Kan today and look through some military farmland registers from the Ministry of War.
Who would have thought that, at noon, a minor clerk from the Censorate would come to report that Yao Zhen had unexpectedly summoned Wang Kan to meet a prospective bride, leaving him unavailable today?
"And here I told Cui Fu to pick me up at You Hour. Looks like I'll have to walk home today!"
With that thought, Wei Nisheng left the offices and strolled out onto the street.
As he passed the entrance to the Eastern Market, an old woman selling flowers called him over.
"Young master, stop and have a look!
Freshly cut seasonal flowers, fragrant and elegant. Why