The Suspicious Detail

Dog official?

Sun Shaozong sat cross-legged in the carriage, muttering to himself.

He replayed everything he had seen and heard at the Su residence from beginning to end. If there had been anything discordant, it seemed to be only Old Madam's few curses.

"Dog official" was actually quite a common term of endearment among the common folk. So long as someone harbored resentment toward the authorities or the imperial court, they had more or less used those words.

But Su Xingfang had entered officialdom at twenty-three. Over the past five years, he had successively served in posts of the seventh rank, then the sixth. During that time, he had been exceptionally filial to his mother and had gained a modest reputation in Beijing's official circles.

For a mother from a humble background, such a son should have been a source of absolute pride.

Moreover, after five years of exposure, she should have adapted somewhat to her new social standing. By all reason, it was unlikely she would keep calling people "dog officials" as an insult.

Especially not in front of her own son.

Then again, every grain of rice fed a hundred different sorts of people. Perhaps Old Madam Su was simply firm in her class stance and had once suffered oppression at the hands of officials.

And with her younger brother having just died, it was understandable that she might speak without thinking in the heat of the moment.

But if it was understandable, why did he still feel that something was wrong?

Where exactly was the suspicious detail?

Sun Shaozong sank into deep thought again.

His thoughts were bogged down in mud and unable to move forward, but the carriage beneath him sped along briskly.

Around half an hour later, Zhang Cheng reported from outside, "Second Master, we've