"Dixing doesn't have holidays?!" Zhao Yunlan exclaims, words slipping out aghast before his brain catches up with the (unhelpfully late) reminder that up until relatively recent history Dixing hadn't even had an agreed-upon calendar.

Shen Wei doesn't point out the obvious, only says, "There isn't much to celebrate, as a rule," – but he's wrong in that, at least.

Zhao Yunlan would know; he's looking right at the proof of it.