Sun Shaozong kept his mouth shut at the birthday banquet, but that did not mean the Dali Temple officers could all keep a secret.
Thus, within mere days, every detail of Lin Qisheng's case gradually spread through both court and commoner circles, naturally bringing clashes between those who condemned him and those who defended him.
At first, bolstered by the unanimous support of his old colleagues throughout the court, the argument that "rumors stop with the wise" briefly held the upper hand amid the uproar.
But as more details came to light, the tide slowly began to turn, and the debate shifted from one-sided suppression to a deadlocked war of words.
In the end, those eager to uncover the truth all turned their attention to the Dali Temple, especially Sun Shaozong, the chief investigator.
Yet only then did they discover that Sun Shaozong had already left the capital.
The sixth day of the twelfth month, thirteenth year of Guangde.
Amid the Continuous Mountains, three hundred li west of Shanhai Pass, a convoy struggled through the howling snow along a rugged mountain path.
After hauling the stuck carriage out of a snowpit yet again, Sun Shaozong pulled down the face covering over his mouth and exhaled heavily.
He was increasingly convinced that the court had sent him here solely to use him as brute labor!
Ever since leaving Shanhai Pass, the role he had played was hardly any different from that of an ox or horse—indeed, when it came to carrying loads over short distances, he surpassed oxen and horses.
But what else could he do?
Could he make Xu Furen, who was nearly seventy, abandon the carriage and trudge through the mountains on foot with the rest of them?
The old man would probably die in a foreign land