The days got very busy. A caravan came and stayed for five days, and there were special envoys from a foreign country that would be arriving soon. It all created so much extra work, Jinshi barely slept, only ate when Suiren reminded him, and only saw Maomao in passing. It was exhausting and frustrating.

Fortunately, the caravan 's stay was uneventful. The merchants left significantly richer, thanks to the way the concubines shopped. Jinshi was very glad he wasn 't responsible for keeping track of the treasury, because he did not want to know how much of a dent had been made.

It was early evening, not quite a week after the caravan had departed. Jinshi was in his office hard at work. A eunuch arrived, bearing a message from the Crystal Pavilion. 'Just set it there, ' Jinshi told the man, indicating a spot on his desk. 'I 'll get to it in a bit. '

'Sir, forgive me, but I don 't think this is a message that can wait. '