The appointment notice issued by Suining Prefecture would travel down the relay roads, passing through each level of administration.
A Candidate Chief Inspector had already entered the upper ranks of the Prefectural City. Under the regulations, besides being delivered to the appointee's workplace, several copies of the promotion notice had to be sent to the Heaven Patrol Offices in the counties under its jurisdiction for their records.
The notice also bore the Judgment Hall's wax seal. Relay stations along the route were forbidden to open it or delay its delivery; violators would be charged with dereliction of duty.
The day the Yunlin County Heaven Patrol Office received the notice was an afternoon as ordinary as any other.
The clerk responsible for correspondence was surnamed Fang. He had worked this post for three years and opened more envelopes each day than he ate meals.
He pried open the Copper Tube, drew out the notice, and glanced at its wax seal.
But when he saw the seal denoting a Candidate Chief Inspector, his hands trembled with fright.
The paper slipped between his fingers and fluttered half a foot before he hurriedly bent down to catch it.
Once he caught it, he read it again.
There was no mistake. It really was an official notice concerning a Candidate Chief Inspector.
The clerk, Fang Xi, held the notice in both hands and jogged through two long corridors, rounded the spirit screen, and headed straight for the Director's Office.
He was running so fast that he nearly collided with a servant carrying tea at a corner. Tea splashed over half the servant's sleeve, but Fang Xi kept running before he could even finish apologizing.
The servant stood rooted to the spot with half a bowl of tea left, watched Fang Xi disappear down the corridor,