Jinghe Year Sixteen, the eighteenth day of the second month. Clear skies.
Outside the East Flower Gate, at the Xie residence.
The old locust tree in the courtyard had put out fresh green overnight.
Xu Shi had gone out early and returned with a bamboo basket on her arm, filled to the brim.
Entering the courtyard, she saw Xie Lin reading in the Corridor and smiled as she set the basket on the stone table.
"Xie Lang, come see what I bought today."
At her words, Xie Lin set down his book and came over to look.
Inside the basket lay a knifefish, a handful of reed artemisia, a small bunch of chrysanthemum greens, and half a basket of spring bamboo shoots.
There was also a packet of Chinese toon shoots, a small bunch of shepherd's purse, and a whole salted duck wrapped in oiled paper.
In "Joyful Rain on a Spring Night," Du Fu had written: "Good rain knows its season; when spring arrives, it falls."
Everything in the basket was fresh and in season.
A basketful of spring, a courtyard full of sunlight, and Xu Shi standing in the Corridor, all smiles.
"Ha!" Xie Lin tapped her nose.
"You've brought home all the spring delicacies of the Qinhuai River."
"Haven't I just?" Xu Shi said as she put things away. "The knifefish only arrived this morning. The fishmonger said second-month knifefish grows tough after the Qingming Festival. These two weeks are when it's fattest all year.
"The reed artemisia came from the riverbank, and a farmer carried the chrysanthemum greens in from outside the city..."
"We never saw things like these in Guilin." Xu Shi paused, her voice softening.
"How long has it been since you had a proper mouthful of fresh river fish?"
Xie Lin looked at