The file from three years ago was thin.
Wei Zhengnan brought it to the study the morning after my return, along with fresh tea and the quiet efficiency that characterized everything he did in the household. He sat across from me and opened the file on the table between us while I ate breakfast, which he had apparently noticed I had not yet taken time to do.
The file contained the records of a harbor licensing dispute from the eastern port city of Quanzhou. On its surface, it was a bureaucratic conflict: two firms had applied for the same pilot certification that would allow them to bring large vessels through a particular tricky channel into the inner harbor. One firm had received the certification; the other had contested it through three separate appeals before finally withdrawing.
The withdrawing firm had cited administrative irregularities. The irregularities had been investigated and found insufficient to support the appeal. End of case.
Except.
