Two decades. Two whole decades of his life wasted. After spending his youth in intensive and dedicated study of philosophy, he had finally passed the provincial examination at age twenty. After that, he got a position as secretary to the magistrate of Star River City. That first day, assuming his new duties, he had been full of naive excitement for the role of a virtuous civil servant.

After two decades as a secretary, he had already developed an elaborately detailed fantasy about shaking the dust of Star River City from his heels when his soon-to-retire boss stabbed him in the back by recommending him as the new magistrate.

The position of magistrate was already notoriously difficult to fill for a normal city. To do it with any degree of basic competence, your responsibilities included overseeing education, investigating crimes, judging lawsuits, assigning punishments, and collecting the many, many, many different taxes and tributes….

The cherry on top was that the provincial-level city never assigned enough money for all these responsibilities. And the stem on that cherry was that, as a rule, central government did not provide any funds for the magistrate to pay clerks, secretaries, guards, medical examiners, or any of the the myriad other jobs necessary to maintain basic order in a city. He would have to pay them all from his own pocket.

For someone with a strict moral compass, it would be futile to maintain even a basic infrastructure much less his own sanity. And that was just in a normal city.

In Star River City, the saying “Heaven is high, the emperor is far away,” took on new meaning. He was the Mortal official of a Mortal city that also had Immortal and Demon inhabitants, along with other supernatural residents. Many of whom did not recognize his jurisdiction, or indeed the jurisdiction of anyone under or in Heaven.

It certainly made tax collection more difficult. To say nothing of the challenges posed to criminal investigators by unorthodox methods of body disposal. He had come to view many local events in the same spirit as natural disasters. He was powerless to prevent them and could only patch up after the fact.

Though, if he had to name one career triumph, it was his successful negotiation of stricter customs enforcement at the borders of the Underworld. The eighteen levels of Hell could only be accessed by one road and one bridge. But the heavy Yin that coalesced from the desire, resentment, and grievance of so many millions of souls had attracted various demons and monsters to the periphery of Hell. They had their own towns and cities, and until ten years ago had conducted a brisk trade that accounted for an untold number of missing persons cases. Magistrate Zhang had only visited the dim and unsettling region once, and had no desire to ever return.

Star River City was well fortified to the west, on the side of Mortal lands. But the eastern boundary of the city, which was delineated by the River of Moving Stars, was the border between Mortal, Immortal, and Demon realms. Unlike the fortification to the west, there was not even a fence to the east. Not that it would make a difference in the case of an attack. It almost seemed as if Star River City’s original builders had given up even trying and just decided to pretend that that side of the city didn’t exist. Sort of a metaphor for the experience of Mortal governance in Star River City.

After very little thought, Magistrate Zhang had decided to return to his home village and take up farming. Perhaps write some poetry, drink some wine, live the simple life. To that end, he made a rapid journey to the county-level city in an abortive attempt to reject the new position but returned without having even seen the prefect’s shadow. He visited the County Yamen several times. Every time, the prefect’s secretary made one or another shady excuse to rebuff him. Magistrate Zhang almost got the idea he was being avoided. Compounding his bad luck was the ambush by bandits on his return journey.

Magistrate Zhang was so used to being, to put it gently, underwhelmed, that normal outcomes lifted him to an exalted, joyful mood. It was a vanishingly rare occurrence. He had long learned to have no expectations at all.

As he sat in the Yamen stroking his beard, Magistrate Zhang studied the young man in front of him. He was a nondescript-looking young man with an open, honest face. Right now, he cradled two large leaf-wrapped bundles in his arms. Magistrate Zhang had already decided to buy whatever mountain herbs his Savior Zhou had come to Star River City to sell. It was the least he could do, and the young man had already rejected his offer of a monetary reward. He seemed to think the new clothes, room and board balanced things out.

Zhou put the bundle of leaves on the side table, then slowly untied a stalk of grass that was keeping everything together. He unwrapped the leaves, revealing a layer of moss. He pulled the moss aside. Even though he was sitting, Magistrate Zhang felt like he had to sit down. He stared flabbergasted at the ginseng, spastically clutching and unclutching his beard. It was the longest, oldest ginseng he had ever seen. Speechless, he looked at Zhou’s face.

Then, the young man unwrapped a second one. Magistrate Zhang decided against calling the apothecary, and summoned his loyal steward.

That evening, Magistrate Zhang felt like he was walking on air. He ended up buying both ginsengs. Such a good ginseng, even if the apothecary had acquired it, he would still have to buy it anyway to send to his superiors. And the apothecary would charge a substantial markup. Even so, he paid the equivalent of what a commoner might earn in several years. That was still probably not enough. Well, he would find another way to repay the debt.

Leaving the City Yamen, I felt pretty lucky. Magistrate Zhang seemed quite excited about the ginseng. I wasn’t sure what the cost of living was here, but in exchange for those two ginseng I got a pretty hefty packet with several chains of coins and some silver taels.

I felt utterly content with my lot. I finally had a new robe, made of navy cotton, and it even had sleeves as long as my arms. The room I was staying in was simple but clean. The world was good. I slipped a handful of coins into an inner pocket and headed out to explore the city.

At first glance Star River City looked well organized. You could tell the buildings had been arranged on a grid pattern. The Yamen was in the center, with various imposing-looking buildings in the area. But when you turned off the main street into back alleys, it was a different story. Over many years the needs of life had given rise to mazes of houses and courtyards. People either built upwards, with rickety second stories rising awkwardly above the original roof, or they built outwards into the street. It was even difficult for pedestrians to squeeze through some of the alleys, much less any vehicle.

The streets buzzed with life, and there were lots of shops and markets. Many of the people milling around looked like normal humans. A lot of them didn’t. Some had animal ears, tails, horns, or even wings. And some of the human-looking people didn’t seem very human. One woman almost floated down the street, exuding light from her flawless skin, hems and ribbons of her robes fluttering and twirling behind her. A couple people stopped and gawked, but most of them just went on with business as usual.

But my mind was on one thing and one thing only. Voices buzzed, pedestrians shuffled around, and a tantalizing melange of aromas floated out from the many shops and restaurants in the market area. At one restaurant, I ate a bowl of noodle soup. Rich, savory broth so meaty you could almost chew it, slender, stretchy noodles that bounced against your teeth with each bite, a fresh sprinkling of scallions. I would have liked to add some hot sauce, but there was only vinegar. But the vinegar was complex and dark, and just enhanced everything else.

Next I stopped at a little stall and bought some tofu pudding for dessert. White, tender pudding. By itself, it was bland and refreshing, but a dollop of ginger syrup gave it a sweet zing. I realized that I’d skipped lunch yesterday, so decided that a second lunch wouldn’t be out of order. I stopped at a third stall for some meat pies called xianbing. They were crispy and toasty on the outside, and stuffed with meat and veggies inside. They were greasy in the way only the best street food is greasy.

After the greasy food, a cup of tea seemed like a good idea. I stopped at a simple little teahouse and ordered a pot. I had tasted better tea, but tea processing probably improved between whatever ancient time this was and the modern day. Then again, who even knew, this was obviously not the same world. Not even the same universe.

Along with the tea came a small plate of a couple little cakes, like mung bean halva, with black sesame seeds and goji berries. I bit into one and it melted in my mouth. Ahh, I thought, this is the life. I had to come back and get some for Grandma.

While I walked around and sampled the different foods, I did some serious thinking. In my old life, when I first started working at restaurants, my dream was to start my own someday. Over time, I just wanted to make it through the next month. But now, in this new world, I was feeling hopeful. Maybe that dream wasn’t so dead.

There were a lot of different little restaurants and stalls. I wouldn’t even try to compete on something like noodles or mantou. But maybe I could carve out a niche doing something different. Most of the flavors in this region were delicate and light, with some sweetness. I hadn’t seen any hot sauce or barbecue. It was hard to believe that in a city with such diverse residents, there wouldn’t be a demand for spicy food. If I could pull it off.

The next few weeks went by in a blur. I couldn’t believe how effortless it was to find a place on a reasonably busy street, get a lease, put in some furniture, set up a living area, and bring Grandma over. To be honest, it was really due to the support and assistance of Magistrate Zhang. Every paper that needed to be stamped, every negotiation that needed to be sealed, he waved a hand and poof it was done. I'd never had friends in high places before. It was a nice feeling.

That first visit to the city, I explored as many areas as I could get to. When I inquired about the Demon Market, Magistrate Zhang got a look on his face as if he’d eaten something bitter. But he sent a guard along with me so I could have a look around.

We took a long, somewhat disturbing ferry ride down the River of Moving Stars. My fellow passengers didn't seem very pleasant or interested in making small talk. I can't say I was too disappointed. The Demon market was somewhat spooky, with a lot of strange stalls and items I wasn’t sure I even wanted to recognize.

It was the Spirit Grass and Herbs stall that made my heart skip a beat. Among the strange plants, some of which were literally crying, were several bags of something familiar - hot peppers! There were several types. According to the Demon shopkeeper, they were used in the formulation of Spiritual Elixirs. I planned to use them in formulating my own elixir, but not a spiritual one.

On my trek back to the mountain, I decided it was time for the little fox to have a name. After some consideration, I settled on Hong-Yu, which means red jade. It seemed appropriate for a red fox with such a refined attitude. While loading Grandma and her possessions into a rented ox-cart, I debated whether to take Xiao-Yu along to the city. I wasn’t sure whether it was the right place for a fox. She took the decision out of my hand by jumping into Grandma’s lap and refusing to leave.

Finally, we were all safely ensconced in the restaurant. Grandma seemed very content. She liked sitting by the window and watching the people stroll by. The little fox was shy in her new environment didn’t stray far from Grandma's side. For my part, it was time to start getting ready for business.

I went from stall to stall purchasing this and that ingredient. Before I knew it, the sky was darkening and the shopkeepers were packing up. Turning and weaving back towards my new home, I felt the hairs on my neck started prickling up with the eerie feeling of being followed. It was several more streets before I noticed the black-clad figure slipping from shadow to shadow after me.