FORTY-TWO
From that point forward, a party official followed Dr. Li everywhere he went, like a dumb dog. The man never spoke, but he took continuous notes and slithered off late every afternoon to make a phone call—obviously making a report to his superior in the party. Li didn’t know how his country even functioned like this. If he was to achieve great things, he needed free rein over his creativity and genius, not a babysitter monitoring his every move.
Li wouldn’t stand for it. Which was why he had instructed his assistant, Jun, to take out the interloper. Her method of choice? Poison. Specifically, ricin. He didn’t know where she had gotten the substance, and didn’t want to know. All that mattered was that she had administered it to the official’s pork congee porridge this very morni
