Stories in poetry

A Handcart Carrying Autumn

Ku Wuji · AI Writing · A Novel of Social Life and Disaster Relief in an Imagined Ancient World · Complete · 40 chapters · 6 reads

His resignation has been submitted and his small handcart packed. Yu Heng wants only to return to Dongtian, grow vegetables, and listen to the rain. But at the final banquet thanking those involved in disaster relief before he leaves the city, eighty disaster victims have been replaced by a hall full of distinguished guests. Outside, a child divides a flatbread into three; inside, they are still praising the autumn crabs. After twenty years heading the provisions office, he knows the accounts for every dish, yet now cannot find a single guest list that would give those outside a seat.

This book is an original work written with AI assistance, expanding on Ouyang Xiu’s 《秋怀》 (Autumn Reflections) and this website’s original short story The Day the Handcart Left the City. Its characters, place names, government offices, and chronology are fictional. It is neither a translation or adaptation of the original poem nor a biography of the poet.