GS 74: No Sleep

Summer’s height would pass, its muggy heat gradually vanishing. In preparation for the Changzhi Emperor going down to Jiangnan in September, Yan Xiaohan was assigned to rush to Jinling ahead of time in order to arrange for his residence, defense, and other such things.

The day before he was to leave, he finished handing all of his business matters over to Wei Xuzhou and the rest, then returned home to sit under the veranda. He watched his subordinates scramble about to pack up his luggage, lazing around and bored to tears as he fiddled with a snow-white hydrangea beside him. The sunset’s glow from the horizon sprinkled golden light down upon the land. Sir Yan faced the wind and sighed, getting the overall feeling that if he kept going on like this, he would recite verses like ‘the tilted sunlight looks affectionately upon the slow waters’[1] and such as soon as he opened his mouth.