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41 The Eccentri c Governor-General The Grain s Cler k vehementl y objecte d t o hi s salar y bein g withhel d an d threatened t o resign . Master Q u wa s deeply worried an d aske d someon e t o persuade him to remain. Madam Qu, however, continued t o argue for withholding th e Clerk's salary, saying, 'If it is not possible do it in one season, do it over four seasons. But he can't give me a copper less.' Master Qu had no alternativ e but t o agree. Since he had no w possession of the account book, the immediate consideration was the presentation of gifts. H e opened th e boo k t o fin d ou t ho w muc h h e shoul d giv e fo r th e Prefect' s ne w grandson. He found n o special mention of it in the book. His wife however was resourceful enough to rely on other entries by way of analogy. There was one entry which specified that if the Intendant gave birth to a son, a hundred dollars would suffice a s a gift. Sh e reasoned, 'Th e Prefec t i s lower than th e Intendant , s o that twenty percen t discoun t shoul d b e adopte d whic h make s i t eight y dollars . A grandson is of less importance than a son is, so another discount of twenty percent should be taken into account, making it sixty-four dollars. So give him sixty-four! ' Thus she ordered the clerk to write out a congratulatory message and send the gift to the Prefect's yamen. She did not know that the Prefect was a Bannerman whose name was Prime Happiness. His grandfather wa s sixty-four year s of age when he was born, so the old gentleman was given the official name of Sixty-Four. All the Bannermen had a common flaw, they were all extremely loath to the use of any word which formed part of their own names or that of their fathers or ancestors. 418 Officialdom Unmasked When Prefec t Prim e Happiness saw that the note on the gift read: A gif t of happiness: sixty-four dollars' , he was most offended. No t only was his own nam e thus sullied, even his grandfather's nam e was used disrespectfully ! The gift led him to think of another matter. He asked his major-domo, 'Maste r Qu ha s bee n i n post fo r a number o f days now. Why i s it tha t h e stil l has no t handed i n the regular amount normally given by an official arcivin g in his post? Xingguo Sub-Prefectur e i s a good post, yet even the n h e i s so neglectful. Wha t then can I hope for?' The major-domo replied, 'This is a gift for the grandson. There is no mention of the regular amount for a new official. ' The Prefect aske d the major-domo, 'Wh y did you not write and give him th e necessary instructions? ' 'By tradition, i t i s he who should com e an d see k instructions. Since he i s a subordinate, he should be particularly concerned about things like this. If he should come and ask me, of course I shall tell him. How could I write to him first?' said the major-domo . 'It matters not i f you had to write a few more letters,' said the Prefect. 'Sinc e you have not notified them by letter, you should have told them when they came. You should hav e tol d the m t o tak e th e messag e back an d rewrit e it . Now tha t you've shown me the writing on the note, are you deliberately trying to upset me?' The major-domo replied, 'Please cease your anger. Kindly examine the amount, is it correct?' When th e Prefec t sa w that i t was only sixty-fou r dollars , he thre w th e gif t onto the floor and cursed, 'Clearly he holds me in contempt! It is not as if I only started being a Prefect today ! Is it up to him to commit a breach of my rules? Is it because this Sub-Prefect has such strong support...

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