After the autumn equinox, sunrise came much later.
At five in the morning, while the sky was still steeped in blue-black darkness, Chen Shi'an was already up early as usual.
A faint mist hung over the city. Night dew still clung to the leaves of the plants on the balcony, and the air was slightly cool. Black Cat jumped onto the balcony and yawned.
The cat looked back into the apartment. The living room light was on, and Chen Shi'an was coming out of his room carrying a bamboo winnowing tray.
Arranged in the tray were dried cypress leaves, pine needles, pinecones, wildflowers, wild grasses, tangerine peel, and other things-all the "rubbish" Chen Shi'an had picked up on his earlier foraging trip to Waterwheel Mountain.
He set it out on the balcony first, then went back inside for a cotton cloth soaked in honey water and a bamboo incense mold polished smooth with use. This was an old object passed down by his master; there was probably still incense ash from ten years ago embedded in the bamboo grain.
It was still dark outside, so Chen Shi'an decided not to go out for parkour that morning. Since he had some free time that Sunday, he would use the "incense materials" he had gathered while foraging to make some incense.
Making incense called for stillness. Rolling incense was also a process of cultivating the mind, and a morning like this, with all the world hushed, was the best time for it.
Remembering that quite a few customers and followers had been interested in incense-making yesterday, Chen Shi'an found an angle and propped up his phone to record the process while he was at it.
Seeing that Chen Shi'an was not going out, the cat stayed in too. Padding over to a