The Oath in the Peach Garden

The dynasty is failing. Rebels have risen in every province, the government's armies cannot put them down, and notices have gone up in market squares across the country asking for volunteers.

Three men read the same notice on the same afternoon. One sells straw sandals for a living and says very little about the fact that his family was once imperial. One is a fugitive with a red face, who killed a bully years ago and has been moving ever since. One is a butcher with money, a temper, and a garden full of peach trees.

Until this afternoon they had never met.