Sun Attendant arrived at the residence of Supervising Envoy Fu. After exchanging formalities, the latter said to him, "Something happened in the city last night."
Sun Attendant's heart stirred. Instinctively, he felt this was connected to his being stopped at his lodging. He said, "May I ask Supervising Envoy Fu what happened?"
Supervising Envoy Fu said, "Tu Anling, the governor of Zhu Commandery, was attacked within his government office and died as a result. Apart from him, there were no other casualties."
Sun Attendant was startled. A commandery governor had actually been attacked in his own government office? What had all those stationed guards been doing? Yet the words "no other casualties" struck him as strange.
No matter how he considered it, the matter made no sense.
He said, "Do you know the cause? Has it been investigated?"
Supervising Envoy Fu said, "According to the reports submitted from below, one of the items imbued with divine and strange power that Governor Tu An had collected in the past malfunctioned, resulting in this."
Sun Attendant said with absolute certainty, "That is an excuse!"
Supervising Envoy Fu said, "It certainly is an excuse. This man was very likely a godchild."
Sun Attendant froze, then could not help asking, "Why?"
Supervising Envoy Fu said slowly, "I know Chen Zuo. He is highly capable, but he values his reputation too much and allows no blemish upon it. In particular, many of the officials under him were promoted by his own hand, and Tu Anling was one of them.
"Now, his promotion is imminent. If something like this happened and he were accused of poor judgment in choosing men, he would have no defense. If he were held down for a while, he might be unable to advance; and after a few more years, he