Chapter 36 - 35. Burn bridges after crossing
The Twelve Imperial Supervisors, Four Divisions, and eight stores, altogether known as the twenty-four inner court offices.
The Ritual Supervision ranked first among these twenty-four government offices, controlled by the Chief Eunuch, whose power in the Inner Court was almost absolute.
Emperor Ning, devoted to his religious practices, had not attended court or managed state affairs for many years. Even the memorials submitted by the outer court officials were to be endorsed by the Ritual Supervision on his behalf.
Because the Chief Eunuch managed all affairs so efficiently, Emperor Ning specially bestowed him a building named "Jiefan" to commend the Ritual Supervision’s contributions.
At noon, Wu Xiu, respectfully bowing, backed out from the shadows of the Covered Building.
Only when sunlight fell on him did the red python embroidered on his robe vividly reappear.
He slowly exhaled, straightened up, and strode towards the pigeon house.
Along the way, all the eunuchs who saw his python robe knelt down early to greet him, but Wu Xiu did not glance sideways, nor did he look at them.
Arriving at the pigeon house, he sent away the little eunuch cleaning the pigeon cages and wrote a note beside a desk.
He examined the note several times, ensuring the handwriting and the message were correct before carefully rolling it into a slender bamboo tube.
Wu Xiu approached the pigeon cage marked with "Luocheng City," reached inside to fetch a pigeon, and meticulously tied the bamboo tube to its leg. He then threw the pigeon into the sky from outside the door.