Shichen (时辰) is an ancient unit of time. In ancient China, people divide a day into twelve Hours, each is equal to the present two hours. And for each Hour, there are eight quarters with the first four called Chu, meaning beginning of the Hour, and the latter four called Zheng, meaning the exact time of the Hour.

Time Table of the Twelve Hours in the Novel

子          Zi           23:00-00:59

丑          Chou     01:00-02:59

寅          Yin        03:00-04:59

卯          Mao       05:00-06:59

辰          Chen      07:00-08:59

巳          Si           09:00-10:59

午          Wu         11:00-12:59

未          Wei        13:00-14:59

申          Shen      15:00-16:59

酉          You        17:00-18:59

戌          Xu         19:00-20:59

亥          Hai        21:00-22:59

Updating…