The Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Personnel stood a covered passage and a moon gate apart.
They were close-close enough for the clerks of the two ministries to exchange knowing looks from beneath their respective corridors.
Yet they were also far apart.
Some people spent their entire lives in the Ministry of Rites without ever passing through that moon gate.
Wei Nisheng stepped outside, and sunlight struck his face, fiercer than it had been earlier.
The afternoon sun was more merciless than the noon sun.
It hung high overhead, baking the blue-brick paving until it looked almost white.
With each step, he could feel that thin layer of heat even through the soles of his official boots.
Wei Nisheng was about to round the screen wall when he caught sight of two junior clerks beneath the corridor of the Ministry of Personnel.
One held a ladder while the other stood atop it, clutching a bundle of green leaves and stuffing it into a gap above the door.
The scent of the leaves drifted toward him, cool and clear, with a bitter edge-pungent and bracing.
Wei Nisheng slowed slightly and stopped to look.
The clerk hanging the herbs must have heard his footsteps. He turned his head and, upon seeing him,
froze for a moment, then hurried down the ladder.
Once on the ground, he straightened his clothes, cupped his hands, and bowed, already smiling as he said:
"Peace and good health on the Double Fifth, Lord Wei!
"The sweet flag and mugwort are all hung. This year is sure to bring favorable winds and timely rain, with every evil kept at bay."
His greeting rang out crisp and bright. The other clerk chimed in, with a little of the nimble charm of the marketplace:
"On this Double