『A single rider kicks up red dust, making the consort smile』
In the fourteenth year of Tianbao, Li Shande, a low-ranking ninth-grade official in Chang'an, was schemed against by his superior and forced to accept the post of "Lychee Commissioner"—with a strict deadline to transport fresh lychees from Lingnan, five thousand miles away, to Chang'an before the first of June. Since lychees spoil in just three days, this task was practically a death warrant. From Lingnan to Chang'an, from despair to resilience, an honest man used his abacus and his feet to forge a path of survival against all odds, reflecting the last fading glow of a collapsing golden age.
"Even if I fail, I want to know just how far from the finish line I fell."