As snow leaked through the carved wooden window lattice of the Chang'an Prefecture yamen, Doctor Li slammed his abacus down onto the *Submissions on the Tang Code*, the beads bouncing between the lines of the "Night Curfew" entry to form the character for "ancient": "Zhang Yifan! A rioter disturbing the night market, ancestral statutes cannot be violated!" The Protagonist gently shook an abacus-bead *Rites of Zhou* scroll with a chuckle: "Does Lord Li know? When the Duke of Zhou established the rites, there was already an 'evening market'—" The beads leaped into the scroll, spelling out the character for "evidence": "The *Official of Earth: Market Master* records: 'Evening markets take place at dusk, with male and female peddlers as the mainstay.'"
Pei Hongxiu pinched an abacus-bead brush and chuckled from the side: "Lord Li's abacus really needs changing—" The beads bounced into the tip of the brush to form the character for "new": "Nowadays, the people of Chang'an farm and trade by day, and only have free time at night. By forbidding the markets to open, could you be hoping everyone will embroider abacus beads in the pitch dark?" Moli swung her wolf-hair brush to paint *The Rites of Zhou Evening Market Map* on the wall, but the beads hopped onto her painting, turning the ancient vendors into Huwa holding abacus-bead lanterns.
"Just look at the abacus-bead version of the 'Night Market Convenience Ledger'!" The Protagonist flicked open the abacus-bead ledger, the beads boun…
Chapter 221