\nI once worked as a lawyer and was involved in an inves\u00adti\u00adga\u00adtion on behalf of some\u00adone in a small town in north\u00adern Guang\u00addong with a left deed. Although the amount involved was small, the mat\u00adter was com\u00adplex and I had to act pru\u00addent\u00adly.
\n
\n
\nMy com\u00adpan\u00adion, a trade union offi\u00adcial from the provin\u00adcial cap\u00adi\u00adtal, had called on an old acquain\u00adtance in the local gov\u00adern\u00adment under the pre\u00adtext of inves\u00adti\u00adgat\u00ading the plight of the work\u00aders, but in real\u00adi\u00adty, he was sim\u00adply mak\u00ading indi\u00adrect inquiries. When asked about the com\u00adpa\u00adny\u2019s sit\u00adu\u00ada\u00adtion, he told me the truth, say\u00ading it had been oper\u00adat\u00ading poor\u00adly for a long time, but that the work\u00aders were doing well and did\u00adn\u2019t need to both\u00ader ask\u00ading about it. He also said the com\u00adpa\u00adny was well-off and had a promis\u00ading future, as the own\u00ader, a busi\u00adness\u00adman and gov\u00adern\u00adment offi\u00adcial, was known for his chival\u00adry and right\u00adeous\u00adness. His atten\u00addants echoed him, say\u00ading, \u201cHe\u2019s a kind man.\u201d They also described him as a man of char\u00adac\u00adter, renowned for his Chi\u00adnese med\u00adi\u00adcine and cal\u00adlig\u00adra\u00adphy, and unri\u00advaled in the area. His atten\u00addants also agreed, say\u00ading, \u201cHe\u2019s a remark\u00adable man.\u201d Curi\u00adous, he invit\u00aded me to meet him.
\n
\n
\nAn old acquain\u00adtance host\u00aded a ban\u00adquet at a restau\u00adrant. Upon hear\u00ading that the provin\u00adcial lead\u00aders were com\u00ading, every\u00adone came to offer their con\u00addo\u00adlences. A steady stream of peo\u00adple arrived, big and small, all involved in busi\u00adness and labor affairs. Every\u00adone was seat\u00aded when the fac\u00adto\u00adry own\u00ader arrived late, laugh\u00ading and say\u00ading he was pun\u00adish\u00ading the host. They replied, \u201cIt\u2019s his fault.\u201d He seemed accus\u00adtomed to it. The host, over fifty years old, had a rosy com\u00adplex\u00adion and a vibrant look.
\n
\n
\nWith the ban\u00adquet set up, it seemed inap\u00adpro\u00adpri\u00adate to dis\u00adcuss seri\u00adous mat\u00adters. How\u00adev\u00ader, since I had been entrust\u00aded with a task, I had no choice but to offer some indi\u00adrect advice. The host read\u00adi\u00adly answered, but when it came to the cru\u00adcial points, he was either vague or com\u00adplete\u00adly air\u00adtight, mak\u00ading it impos\u00adsi\u00adble to delve into the details. His words were so respect\u00adful and cour\u00adte\u00adous that, even with the left-hand deed in hand, how could I dare to crit\u00adi\u00adcize him? So, the con\u00adver\u00adsa\u00adtion end\u00aded.
\n
\n
\nWhen asked about his tal\u00adents, the host said that Chi\u00adnese med\u00adi\u00adcine was a fam\u00adi\u00adly tra\u00addi\u00adtion, and cal\u00adlig\u00adra\u00adphy was just some\u00adthing he did for fun when he was bored. It was a minor skill, not worth men\u00adtion\u00ading. Every\u00adone laughed and said, \u201cYou\u2019re too mod\u00adest!\u201d The host thanked him again, and his words and deeds sound\u00aded quite like a schol\u00adar.
\n
\n
\nThe wine was half drunk, and every\u00adone was in high spir\u00adits. One per\u00adson jok\u00ading\u00adly asked the host, \u201cHow are your fam\u00adi\u00adly affairs late\u00adly?\u201d The host gave a wry smile and said, \u201cDon\u2019t talk about it, don\u2019t talk about it.\u201d He act\u00aded as if he was bring\u00ading up some\u00adthing irrel\u00ade\u00advant. Every\u00adone chuck\u00adled. The host, half-seri\u00adous, sighed and said, \u201cAll I\u2019ve learned in my whole life isn\u2019t even one or two of what you two broth\u00aders have learned.\u201d Every\u00adone asked curi\u00adous\u00adly why. The host replied, \u201cYour broth\u00ader spe\u00adcial\u00adizes in the art of har\u00admo\u00adny. There are many fam\u00adi\u00adlies, some large, some small, some small, and yet I can man\u00adage them all. While we can\u2019t say they\u2019re as respect\u00adful as guests, we do live in peace.\u201d Every\u00adone gave a thumbs-up: \u201cGood.\u201d
\n
\n
\nEvery\u00adone was clear-eyed, but I was alone in my con\u00adfu\u00adsion. I sus\u00adpect\u00aded that every\u00adone\u2019s talk of \u201cbig, sec\u00adond, third, and fourth\u201d was child\u00adish, but judg\u00ading by their inti\u00adma\u00adcy, it did\u00adn\u2019t seem that way. I asked the per\u00adson beside me. He laughed and said, \u201cThey\u2019re the first, sec\u00adond, third, and fourth wives!\u201d The whole room burst into laugh\u00adter, some even spit\u00adting out their food.
\n
\n
\nI was stunned for a long time. I have known for a long time that the offi\u00adcial\u00addom is cor\u00adrupt and peo\u00adple\u2019s hearts have changed, but to see it so deca\u00addent is aston\u00adish\u00ading.
\n
\n
\nLook\u00ading back, fif\u00adteen years have passed in the blink of an eye.
\n
\nAji\u00ada\u00adji on March 5, 2010<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u4f59\u5c1d\u4e3a\u8bbc\u5e08\uff0c\u4ee3\u4eba\u6301\u5de6\u5951\u5165\u7ca4\u5317\u4e00\u5c0f\u57ce\u63a2\u67e5\uff0c\u91d1\u989d\u867d\u5c0f\uff0c\u5173\u7cfb\u5982\u9ebb\uff0c\u987b\u4fbf\u5b9c\u884c\u4e8b\u3002 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u540c\u884c\u8005\u4e3a\u7701\u57ce\u5de5\u4f1a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[233,69],"class_list":["post-1263","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-timemachine","tag-233","tag-69"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1263","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1263"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1263\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}