The Eighteenth Day of the Sixth Month was auspicious, suitable for opening an office.
The Director of Palace Affairs Office stood beneath the eastern wall of the Palace City, facing the Eastern Palace across the water.
Sealed beneath dust for years, it reopened in a single morning.
The doors had been freshly painted, the plaque regilded, and returning swallows circled beneath the beams, reluctant to leave.
At the third quarter of Mao Hour, Crown Prince Jiang Heng personally visited the Director of Palace Affairs Office to perform its opening ceremony.
Qin Yan, appointed Director of Palace Affairs, stood in the center to receive the seal.
Wei Nisheng stood on the left as Junior Director of Palace Affairs, the attendants lined up on the right, and everyone from the Directorate of Classical Studies' text collators downward stood solemnly at attention.
Jiang Heng said only two things during the ceremony:
"The Director of Palace Affairs Office is my study. While you gentlemen are here, conduct yourselves as though I were beside you.
For every word spoken here, I gain a measure of clarity. For every word left unspoken, I sink a measure deeper into confusion."
Qin Yan led the others in bowing. "How could we dare offer anything less than our utmost devotion?"
The ceremony concluded, and the Crown Prince returned to the palace.
Qin Yan entrusted all the office's administrative affairs to Wei Nisheng.
"I will oversee the classics; you will oversee the business." Official documents stood in mountains: fifteen years of files, sealed beneath dust and untouched.
Wei Nisheng sat behind the desk. His first order was for the clerks to bring out the old records.
He stopped when he turned to a roster.
A roster of Eastern Palace Attendants from the Late Emperor's reign, the Emperor Shizong Era.
On