The candle on the lowest step of the Celestial Spring Station library had just gone out. Hong Yu briefly adjus…
The candle on the lowest step of the Celestial Spring Station library had just gone out. Hong Yu briefly adjusted to the darkness, then took out a tinderbox and lit the lantern in his hand. What met his eyes were the bamboo slips stored in niches on all four walls. Han-dynasty clerical script was clear, the leather cords still intact.
These were bamboo slips left since Emperor Wu of Han waved his whip to expand the empire, records from when Celestial Spring Station was still called Celestial Spring Post. Hong Yu brushed his hand over the stacked documents, picked one roll, and gently untied the silk ribbon binding it.
"Between the first day and the twenty‑ninth day of the second month in the second year of the Ganlu era, Yu, the stationmaster of Yuli Post, transferred a document to Xianquan Post, dispatching his assistant Guang with ten relay horses to support Madam Feng's carriage. He also allocated supplies: a total of 32.7 dan of hulled barley and 25 dan 2 jun of hay."
Madam Feng? That was the maid of Princess Jieyou during the Western Han, an extraordinary woman who moved between the Wusun and the Great Han. Hong Yu had read the Book of Han and knew of this woman's courage. Had she also come to Celestial Spring Station?
A gust of wind came from nowhere, stirring the dust on the documents. The lantern's dim light reflected on the dusty veil. Hong Yu's vision blurred, and he seemed to see a woman with dark hair and long skirt walking, then pausing, letting out a soft sigh in a guest room of Celestial Spring Post.
The dim light before his eyes suffused the walls. Hong Yu found himself standing in the very guest room that had just been cleaned today. Attendants stood around with bowed heads. In the corner, a Boshan censer wafted precious blended incense. On the couch, a maid offered a footrest, and Madam Feng slowly sat down. Before Hong Yu could react, an attendant beside him nudged he.
"The post horses strayed off the road, and the officials couldn't catch up... Administrator Yu, what is the matter?" Madam Feng's voice, though calm as still water, held an unmasked urgency.
Just as Hong Yu was about to speak, everything around his seemed veiled in gauze. Then the gauze layers rolled in, brushing the tip of his nose, tickling and making him wrinkle his nose and sneeze.
Suddenly, Hong Yu opened his eyes. He was standing on the lowest step of the Celestial Spring Station library. The lantern in his hand was not yet burnt out. What met his eyes were the bamboo slips stored in niches on all four walls.