Watching Jia Yucun climb into his carriage and depart in a fury, Sun Shaozong, in a fit of pique, could not even be bothered to go home and change his vest. Wearing this gaudy yellow-and-bright-red outfit, he rode through the streets in swaggering display, heading straight for the Daxing County Yamen.
When he reached the yamen gates, the two constables on duty mistook him for some imperial clansman and trembled as they hurried forward to offer a grand salute.
Sun Shaozong swung down from his horse, gave his name, and said, "I am the Judicial Assistant Magistrate of Shuntian Prefecture. I have a case I wish to discuss face-to-face with your County Magistrate Wang. Could one of you trouble yourself to announce me?"
Upon hearing that he was the prefectural yamen's "Divine Detective Sun Judicial Assistant Magistrate," the two constables dared not slight him in the least. One immediately broke into a run to report inside.
Before long, the Main Entrance parted down the middle, and seven or eight officials filed out. The man at their head looked around fifty, his face piled with wrinkles.
The moment Sun Shaozong saw the man's appearance, he felt a measure of dislike. Though he had never met Daxing County Magistrate Wang Qian, he knew the man was a young and promising romantic scholar. How could he possibly look like some old peasant from the countryside?
Although the Daxing County Magistrate was also Principal Sixth Rank, Sun Shaozong was, after all, the superior official from the prefectural yamen. And he had come to demand an explanation. For Wang Qian not to greet him personally was truly against all propriety!
Just then, the "old peasant" official hurried down the steps and bowed deeply before Sun Shaozong. Trembling with fear, he said, "This subordinate is Shen