A sudden downpour fell over Linzi.
The Star-Gazing Tower soared amid the rain, its flying eaves like a roc, wings spread above the black clouds. Sea-Viewing Terrace, rising from the former grounds of Wither-Bloom Monastery, had gathered from starlight, yet it was no phantom form. Facing the Star-Gazing Tower across east and west, it too pierced through the curtain of rain. At its towering height, rain drapes hung about its waist. Starstones gleamed as it stood gazing eastward.
Everyone knew something unprecedented was happening. Otherwise, with Court Consultant Song Yao guarding the Imperial Ancestral Temple in so vast a Qi State, he would not have failed even to maintain the order of the four seasons, allowing the weather to warp so wildly. Yet few knew what, exactly, was taking place.
"From Yan Tu to Tian Anping... one Rain Cutter Commander after another has met with trouble. It truly isn't an auspicious post." Zheng Shi stood outside the familiar gates of the Northern Office, folding away his stern black paper umbrella and holding it like a pillar-sword. Water Droplets slid from its canopy, pattering against the ground as though answering him.
The broad-shouldered Huo Yanshan stood beside him. Listening to the urgent rain, he paused for a moment before saying, "General Zheng, this humble monk can't make heads or tails of what you're saying."
Zheng Shi shook his head, then stepped over the threshold and entered the office.
Zheng Shangming, who had received word long ago, was waiting quietly within the Northern Office.
In the office of the Commander of the Northern Office hung a vertical blue plaque bearing two words: "Integrity."
Before that plaque, father and son sat facing each other. Facing "Integrity," and divided by "Integrity."
Father and son, both inspectors—naturally, that made for a fine tale in officialdom.