After his son Chu Wenbin returned and reported that Doctor Xu Zao had not only refused to turn Chen Caozhi away but had treated him with exceptional courtesy, Chu Jian, Assistant Prefect of Wu Commandery, was so furious that he could not speak. He waved his son out and shut himself in his room, fierce anger pent up in his chest. A Pure Official from a gentry clan, he had actually been scorned by a pedantic scholar of humble birth. If he could endure this, what could he not endure!
Nothing would have pleased him more at that moment than to use his authority to dismiss Xu Zao immediately and send him back to Jingkou, so that the pedant would understand how foolish it was to oppose the noble gentry!
Yet things never quite went as one wished. Though a doctor of the Commandery School was not an official appointed directly by the court, he was personally engaged by the commandery governor. Governor Lu Na respected Xu Zao's learning and had specially invited him from Jingkou to teach the students of Wu Commandery. Moreover, Lu Na and Xu Zao enjoyed a considerable personal friendship. It seemed no easy matter for Chu Jian to punish Xu Zao immediately.
Chu Jian paced around the room, unable to vent his anger. It was truly unbearable.
Chu Wenqian and Chu Wenbin were both waiting outside. Hearing Chu Jian's heavy footsteps and frustrated breathing behind the door curtain, Chu Wenqian felt particularly uneasy. He lifted the curtain, entered, and knelt upright before Chu Jian, pleading forgiveness. "It was all your nephew's incompetence that caused you such distress, Uncle. Please do not damage your health by fretting over my affairs, or even a hundred deaths could not redeem my guilt."
Chu Jian calmed his surging blood