Soon, everyone knew that Guo Tong had gone to the Empress Dowager to beg for an official post, only to end up as Governor of Yongchang.
The matter quickly became an amusing anecdote throughout Luoyang.
Put it this way: sending an official to a place like Nanzhong was not a promotion, nor even exile. It could only be called releasing him into the wild.
Going there meant watching monkeys bare their teeth in the trees, and nothing else.
It was the greatest laughingstock under Heaven.
Yet Guo Tong did not dare disobey. He was now climbing into a carriage in tears, setting off for Nanzhong.
Many thought he would die on the road before he even reached the commandery. The harsh conditions there were not something a scion of the great clans whose body had been ruined by taking powder and drinking could endure.
The incident also sounded a warning bell for the scions of the great clans.
They still needed to think things through before acting. Trying to obtain office through connections might well end like this. This time it was serving as Governor in Nanzhong; next time it might be serving as Chief Clerk in the Western Regions.
To obtain office, they still had to take the proper path: find a good teacher and diligently study the classics...
There were not many good teachers in Luoyang. Wang Su's threshold had practically been worn through by visitors, but he refused to meet them.
Wang Su had been resting at his residence these days.
His health was growing steadily worse.
Wang Su himself did not know what was wrong. From time to time, a stabbing pain would start in his temples, leaving him unable to attend to his work in peace.
He was eating noticeably less, had little appetite, and