At the Police College in Wong Chuk Hang, Sir Kwan, the forty-eight-year-old Police Force Number One, returned to where his eventful policing career had begun.
The sky was clear for miles, the sunshine brilliant, and the breeze mild.
The Will of the Earth, which greatly favored Zhou Quan, seemingly did not want any imperfections to mar this special day for him.
After twenty-six years of service in the Police Force, Sir Kwan was about to leave his most loyal brothers.
Compared with those veteran colleagues within the Police Force who had received the Long Service Medal and its third clasp,
there was really nothing particularly praiseworthy about Zhou Quan's length of service.
Yet during those twenty-six years, Zhou Quan had held the position of Police Force Number One for a full decade.
He had formally begun overseeing all Police Force operations more than ten years earlier.
Throughout the seventy-eight years since the Police Force's establishment, Zhou Quan had been its longest-serving Number One.
Even the foreigners who had held the position fell far short of Zhou Quan.
Naturally, that excluded the foreign police superintendents of the Police Force's predecessor.
Under Zhou Quan's leadership, the Hong Kong Island Police Force had fully stabilized the situation following Hong Kong Island's Return and reached new heights of prosperity and strength.
This Police Force Number One, whose tenure accounted for more than a tenth of the Hong Kong Island Police Force's history to date, was destined to become an indispensable chapter in its development.
Today was a very special day, not merely because it was Sir Kwan's final inspection, as Police Force Number One, of the Police College, the cradle of the force's new blood.
It also marked the moment when the Police Force Zhou Faction's legacy would pass to the next generation.
Zhou