The Pear Garden
the city. In this manner, the hungry would be fed from wheat grown in ground that the Emperor himself had helped to plough.
And when the royal retinue had departed, there came a procession of barren women who walked through the field, in the firm belief that from the fertility of the soil, they, too, would draw fertility.
10.
At the Palace that evening, Li Lin-fu searched for Lan Jen.
In the garden, Lan Jen wandered and groped out wisdom. "Where goes the perfume when the rose is gone, or rainbow colors when the soft lights fade? Where are the joys of yesterday? Perhaps they bloom again within tomorrow's flowers."
Li Lin-fu approached. "You work late," he said.
"Work?" repeated Lan Jen, in wonderment at Li's poor choice of words. "This is not work."
"Admirably spoken. I shall mention it to the Emperor."
"That is not necessary. The Emperor is acquainted with my attitude."
But Li refused to be turned from the road of thought he had chosen as the proper approach to the subject that all the Ministers had decided was of vital importance to the Empire. At least it was important to them, and to their reasoning, they were the Empire.
"If all people of Changan held the same viewpoint,
gods might live here in supreme contentment. Perhaps
