Meiling was very quickly coming to enjoy spending time at the beach. The water was the perfect temperature; the sun was shining bright, and there were so many interesting things! Shells, plants, animals… she had found some of the reagents mentioned in the medical scrolls Jin had brought for her as a part of her betrothal gift. It was so exciting seeing them fresh, and being able to pick them herself. And yes, while she did have access to much better herbs than this back home now… these ones were still interesting,.And there were so many experiments to run! Bei Be was her assistant today; the ox and his plow practising their fine cuts on the Pale Moon Mugwort root—it wasn’t a spirit herb, but it was good for fevers. She had to see if dicing them, slicing them, shredding them, or pressing them produced the best results. His cuts were clean and precise—so clean that the plow was shaving off pieces of herb finer than a strand of Xiulan’s hair. “How is it?” she asked. ‘A good challenge. It requires a lot of concentration to get the cuts this thin,’ Bei Be replied. ‘Sun Ne is very pleased.’ She got the feeling that the plow, painted with happy yellow suns, was preening. She chuckled and glanced up from her work. Suyan was waiting on the beach, her eyes directed to the gentle waves of the lake. She was sitting with her feet in the water, humming a nameless tune that was being copied by the bees, pitching up and down with her like somebody was playing an erhu. (...)