Soon, the carriage stopped outside the governor’s office. My father and I got off the carriage and my father paid the carriage driver the fare. After paying the driver, my father waited at the entrance and as I was about to ask him what he was waiting for, some old man ran out of the governor’s office and greeted him.
“My lord, good morning!” he said loudly after bowing slightly.
My father nodded in acknowledgement and takes a glance towards me then talks to the old man.
“This is my son, Shang Shi. He will be one of the travelling judges for the upcoming riding circuit. He will be coming here every day from today onwards. Introduce him to the other people who are attending the upcoming riding circuit.”
“Shi er, this is my secretary, Mo Ji. He has worked with me for a long time.” He father tells me.
I give old man Mo Ji a palm salute and greet him “Shi er greets uncle Mo!”.
My father nods and says “As a travelling judge, you are already a member of the upper class. You must know your etiquette and show it properly or people will look down on you. If you are the head of an office, like how I am the governor of the governor’s office, you cannot enter the office alone. Your secretary must invite you in through the front door. Now come with us into the office.”
My father then starts walking with old man Mo Ji walking behind him. Old man Mo Ji has to remain slightly bowed while he is walking behind my father.
Once we enter the governor’s office, my father turns around to old man Mo Ji and says “I can head to my office myself, Ji shu, you should bring Shi er around the office and introduce him to his team.”
“Yes, governor!” Old man Mo Ji replies quickly. My father takes a glance at me and heads to his office.
“Come, I’ll show you around first.” Mo Ji waves at me and starts walking in another direction from where my father headed to.
The first room we go to is the court room. This is where court sessions are held and as it is what people often visit the governor’s office for, it is placed at the very front of the governor’s office.
This room is big and wide. There are a bunch of wooden staffs at the sides of the room for the constables to arm themselves with during court session, and a long, wooden table that looks grand in the back of the room. This is where my father sits during court sessions and on the table are the tools that he uses such the writing brushes, ink stone and some wooden plaques. I think the wooden plaques have different words on them and they each represent a different kind of punishment or sentence.
Old man Mo Ji then points towards the back entrance and says “That is the entrance that your father will use to enter the court room when a court session is going on. There is another pathway to your father’s office but there is no need for us to go there now. We will go to the training area next.”
A short distance away from the court room is the training area. There is nothing here but some empty weapon racks and some practice dummies to train your skills on. The ones here look damaged as the guards must have practised their techniques on it for a while and they should be replaced with new ones in a few weeks as they are already falling apart.
“The barracks for the constables are over there, there is no need for you to go there as only the constables who work the night shift will stay there. You can practice your techniques if you want to in the future. We will head over to the briefing room next which is where everyone who will be attending the upcoming riding circuit has been this past couple of days.”
Leaving the training area, we soon come to a grassy place with a stream dividing the training area and the briefing room. The area around the briefing room is a green grassy area and there is a bridge across the stream that divides the two areas.
As we enter the briefing room, I see four young men surrounding a large table. On the table, there is a mould of what looks like to be the area around the capital. There are flags and strings all over the mould.
As we enter the room, the four people stop what they were doing and turn to look at us. One of the young men who have a scary face then greets Mo Ji with a palm salute. “Secretary Mo, are you here to tell us that our request for more guards is granted?” he asked.
“Yes Judge Cui, you will get four more guards to accompany you on this riding circuit. Furthermore, this is the final travelling judge who will join the riding circuit. He is Shang Shi, the son of our governor.” Mo Ji says proudly.
Judge Cui looks at me with a smile and makes a gesture for me to join them. “I am Judge Cui, I know I look fierce but I am nice to my friends ha ha!” he introduces himself. Even when laughing, his face still looks scary with his huge eyes and thick eyebrows that point downwards. His iris is also really huge so there is very little white in his eyes which makes him look even more creepy. He also has a weird vertical cut at the middle of the forehead.
“I am Judge Tang. While we might not agree on all the judgements we will make on this riding circuit, it is nice to meet you again. You might not remember me but both Mo Ji and I were at your thirteen month birthday celebration. I could not attend your brother and sister’s thirteen month birthday as I was away on a riding circuit and you too shall find yourself in such circumstances where you miss important events of your loved ones soon hehe.” He says jokingly and gives me a hug. He has a gentle face and looks like one of those handsome guys. He gives off the “nice uncle” feeling.
“You can call me Uncle Tang next time. These two men are the guards who will be coming along on our riding circuit and will ensure our safety during the journey. This person who looks like a bear is Ding Sha, he wields a heavenly sabre passed down from his family and that uncle over there is Zhao Keng. Zhao Keng is proficient with a spear and just retired from the army a few months ago.”
Ding Sha and Zhao Keng gives me a smile and gives a palm salute. “Stay near me and you will not get hurt”, Zhao Keng says while smiling.
Uncle Tang then continues talking to me, “We are now planning the route which we will take, come and join us.” He introduced the other two men and then talks to uncle Mo Ji, “Mo Ji, I will take care of Shi er. You may entrust him to us.”
“Mo Ji will inform the governor and take his leave.” Mo Ji takes his leave after hearing that Uncle Tang will take care of me.
…
Everyone’s attention then returns to the three dimensional mould of the area around the capital.
