Silencing Witnesses

"Second Brother!"

Just after five in the afternoon, Liu Xianglian lifted the curtain and entered the inner room. Seeing Sun Shaozong reclining in a high-backed chair with his eyes closed, apparently resting, he could not help reminding him, "It's already time to leave the office. Shouldn't we...?"

It seemed he would not adapt to being an adviser anytime soon—what subordinate staffer rushed to urge his employer home the moment work ended?

Still, it was hardly a serious fault. He could let Liu Xianglian come to understand it on his own.

Sun Shaozong rose unhurriedly, then pulled out half a memorandum from beneath a paperweight and casually stuffed it into Liu Xianglian's hands before heading outside.

Liu Xianglian scanned it in surprise and saw that it appeared to be a set of classification standards—grading and refining cases of armed brawls involving more than ten people according to whether they occurred in town or countryside, the number involved, and the consequences.

"Second Brother, wait for me!"

Somewhat puzzled, Liu Xianglian hurried after him. Once outside, he walked shoulder to shoulder with Sun Shaozong along the flagstone path.

Shaking the memorandum in his hand at Sun Shaozong, he asked curiously, "When you dealt with Yang Zhiming this afternoon, I thought you meant to go after those precedents of his. Why have you come up with this memorandum instead?"

"Yang Zhiming's precedents?"

Sun Shaozong snorted disdainfully. "Which precedent that came out of his mouth wasn't tied up with the Censorate and the Ministry of Punishments? If that Deterrence Rod really came down, two or three blows would land right on the heads of the Censorate and the Ministry of Punishments!"

"Not to mention that I've only just arrived. Even if I had already gained a firm foothold, this lawsuit would still be difficult to