In the 14th year of the Tianbao era in the Tang Dynasty, a low-ranking official named Li Shande in Chang’an City received a sudden assignment: to transport fresh lychees from Lingnan to the capital before the Noble Consort’s birthday. The lychees are known to “change color on the first day, fragrance on the second, and taste on the third,” but Lingnan is over 5,000 miles away with treacherous mountains and rivers in between, making this an impossible task. But for the sake of his family, Li Shande decided to give it a try, “Even if I fail, I want to know how close I can get to the finish line.”