After Jiang Suizhou blurted out these words, he frightened himself and his
heart thumped.
Sure enough, Huo Wujiu had been amiable to him for too long. At the
moment, the atmosphere was peaceful, causing him to momentarily speak
his mind, actually making such a joke with Huo Wujiu.
Jiang Suizhou formed a faint smile on his face that was calm and
composed, despite his heart crumbling into a mess of nervousness. He took
a furtive glance at Huo Wujiu from behind the book.
And saw Huo Wujiu pause, raising his eyes to shoot him a look.
Still those calm, unwavering black eyes, with no particular sentiments. The
space between his brows was smoothened out, as though not upset.
After that, he surprisingly hooked up the corners of his mouth, revealing a
wan smile.
"That truly is a bitter and deep-seated hatred," Huo Wujiu said.
Somehow, Jiang Suizhou felt that those four words "bitter and deep-seated
hatred" carried some profound meaning he didn't understand.
However, he didn't bother to probe into this.
He blinked, and stared fixedly at Huo Wujiu, only to feel that his smile was
especially pretty.
——
After this, Jiang Suizhou set his eyes on the activities of the courtroom
every day.
Less than half of Xu Du's death soldiers were dispatched, there were still
roughly ten that remained in the capital. These few days, these people had
been delivering intel to Jiang Suizhou in a steady stream. Combined with
the news delivered from the court's officials, these were all the information
that Jiang Suizhou could obtain now.
He had carefully read the information delivered to his hands word by word,
remembered them in his heart, and tried to analyze Pang Shao's movements
from the various representations of the court's higher and lower positions.
Sure enough, within a few days, an official from the palace made contact
with Pang Shao.
This official wasn't Pang Shao's adherent at all. Previously, he basically
didn't have any contact with Pang Shao. But these days, the contact
between both of them suddenly became extremely frequent.
But, because of Pang Shao's excessive vigilance, no matter if it was a secret
meeting or for mutual benefits with the other party, he didn't let Jiang
Suizhou's men find out which official was in contact with him.
Jiang Suizhou had no choice but to analyze with a linkage of his own
memory of this section of history.
But, during this period, more than one official was framed by Pang Shao,
and the accomplices among them amounted to even a larger number. Jiang
Suizhou still pondered over it for a long time, and yet he couldn't determine
what exactly Pang Shao was planning.
So on this one day, he summoned Gu Changyun to his room.
Although Gu Changyun wasn't as reliable as Xu Du, he was extremely
clever and had photographic memory. He remembered all the information
the original owner had received before he crossed over.
When he hurried to his room, Jiang Suizhou made all the servants go out,
leaving only Gu Changyun in the room alone. Then, he took out the
information and intel he had sorted out to discuss with Gu Changyun.
The information in their hands was rather complex and tediously long,
handling them was also not easy.
Hence, Meng Qianshan, who was long driven away from Jiang Suizhou's
room, folded his arms as he waited below the veranda, feeling bored to
death. Straight from early in the morning, he waited until high noon, until
Li Changning finished giving Huo Wujiu acupuncture, carrying the medical
kit as he came out of Huo Wujiu's room with Wei Kai.
Meng Qianshan saw them acutely, and as he had nothing to do, he planned
to step forward and see them off.
But he didn't expect these two people to come over to him.
Walking up to him, Li Changning said with a smile, "Why is Meng-
gonggong* standing outside the room?"
*form of address for a court eunuch
Meng Qianshan replied with a smile, "Someone is in His Highness' room,
he instructed us to wait outside for a while."
Smiling, Li Changning nodded. He said, "Madam Huo happened to see you
just now, and seemed to have something to ask you. He asked this servant
when going out to request you to drop by."
Meng Qianshan's heart thumped.
His Highness was seeing Madam Gu in his room, and Madam Huo
summoned him for questioning?
Meng Qianshan was terrified in his heart, and had an inauspicious feeling.
He responded with a smile, then rushed into Huo Wujiu's room.
These two days, the rain just stopped. The sky was still gloomy, so the light
in the room wasn't very good either. Huo Wujiu was leaning against the
bedstead, the quilt covering just at his waist, currently flipping through the
book in his hands, clearly not reading.
Meng Qianshan hurriedly stepped forward to give his salute.
"Madam Huo, you summoned this humble slave?" he said with a smile.
Huo Wujiu didn't lift his eyes. "What were you doing standing in the
courtyard?"
Although his voice was calm, it was colder than normal. Meng Qianshan
feigned ignorance as he shook with fright. "His Highness is receiving a
guest, this humble slave went out for fresh air…"
Huo Wujiu stopped fiddling with the book.
He had seen in the morning that the person who entered was Gu Changyun.
As soon as Gu Changyun came, Jiang Suizhou drove out all of the people in
the room.
All morning, he didn't feel the pain from the acupuncture at all, and only
felt a strange energy tearing at his soul, pulling his thoughts to the main
room of Anyin Hall.
He was extremely fidgety, but didn't know what made him so vexed.
He clearly knew Jingwang didn't have any other thoughts about him, that it
was completely his own misunderstanding. Besides, Jingwang already had
concubines, which was different from his own "concubine" title that fell
short of reality and was used as a cover.
These were all given facts and had nothing to do with him. Yet, he still
thought of these and was terribly vexed, like a stranded beast in a cage.
Huo Wujiu didn't speak, and Meng Qianshan trembled with fear on the
side.
He was obliged to admit, "His Highness summoned Madam Gu in the
morning, most likely to discuss some trivial matters of the residence…"
Discussing trivial matters did not need the dismissal of the servants.
Huo Wujiu heard this as though Meng Qianshan was fooling him, but his
upset feeling right now seemed to be firmly locked up, so there was no way
to express his anger.
He paused.
"En, you may leave," he said.
Meng Qianshan never thought he would get past this so easily. Granted an
amnesty, it didn't take long for him to turn around and run.
But behind him, Huo Wujiu's attention was not on him.
He raised his eyes to look outside the window. Beneath the misty, overcast
sky, that door was tightly closed.
He only felt that he seemed to be falling into the enemy's trap.
Firmly surrounded with nowhere to hide, much less to run away.
——
Gu Changyun toned down the scope for Jiang Suizhou. Jiang Suizhou could
roughly determine that this time, Pang Shao wanted to deal with Qi Min.
He had spared Qi Min for such a long time, only because Qi Min was not a
threat to him. But once he became a threat, the venerable Qi Min would
definitely be finished off by Pang Shao.
Jiang Suizhou knew that this had nothing to do with him. Getting involved
would mean meddling with their affairs.
But he had to step in.
No matter if it was because of Pang Shao, Qi Min, or because of himself.
But, in later generations, there had always been disputes about whether Qi
Min had contacts with Northern Liang, and he didn't know if Qi Min really
was in Pang Shao's hands now, or if someone would frame him because of
this ruse, and who would frame him.
The whole day, he was clueless, until the sky gradually darkened. Only
when Meng Qianshan came to his room to light a lantern, did he suddenly
feel himself aching all over, his head dizzy and light-headed.
He ought to rest.
He lifted his eyes. After sizing up his own deserted house, he stood up.
"Your Highness?" Meng Qianshan hastily moved toward him.
"This Prince will check on Madam Huo," Jiang Suizhou said.
His decision was very natural, and he didn't notice Meng Qianshan's
momentary smile of surprise. He got up and walked out, walking around the
winding corridor, then walked up to Huo Wujiu's door.
There was a maid who notified earlier that Huo Wujiu happened to be
having dinner. When Jiang Suizhou entered, the table already had another
bowl and chopsticks prepared for him.
Jiang Suizhou sat in front of the table, only to feel the muddled energy in
his body cleared up.
Huo Wujiu lifted his eyes, but saw he hadn't yet smoothened the space
between his brows.
He paused.
Before this, he had never met a person who was this difficult to handle and
so furiously helpless.
He felt irritated the whole day, and now that he saw the source that made
him fidgety, by just looking at the other party, the accumulated emotions of
the whole day were sealed by the gloomy and tired face of that person.
There was also only him that remained in his eyes.
Huo Wujiu was silent for a moment, but he couldn't help opening his
mouth.
"In trouble?" he asked.
Jiang Suizhou had just picked up his bowl and chopsticks when he heard
Huo Wujiu ask this.
It was naturally useless telling Huo Wujiu these things, but he still really
wanted to. Especially with him asking, he couldn't contain himself even
more.
There was a sense of a tired bird throwing itself into the woods*.
*tired bird throwing itself into the woods (proverb) – finding someone/a
place to feel safe.
His hand stopped moving, before placing his bowl down and waving his
hand. Meng Qianshan tacitly understood, and hurriedly ushered out the
waiting servants in the room. He himself also withdrew, closing the door for
them.
Jiang Suizhou picked up a dish with his chopsticks, and said, "After the
ancestral temple collapse, if Pang Shao wants to take his anger out on
somebody, who do you think is the easiest target."
Huo Wujiu didn't lift his eyes as he said, "The Ministry of Ceremonies."
The Ministry of Ceremonies he was referring to was precisely Qi Min.
Jiang Suizhou paused, staring intently at Huo Wujiu, his chopsticks hanging
in midair.
How did Huo Wujiu know the outcome he had been analyzing for days?
Then, he saw Huo Wujiu look up at him. He said, "Pang Shao committed a
big crime. Even if he can't be punished, a part of the adherents can settle
accounts with him. In the court, besides him, the Ministry of Ceremonies Qi
Min is the most eloquent, and he's also on bad terms with Pang Shao all
year round. At this time, he will naturally overwhelm Pang Shao, giving
him a disadvantage. In this situation, Pang Shao definitely won't sit by and
watch."
Jiang Suizhou couldn't help being impressed in his heart.
He had Southern Jing palace affairs at his fingertips, no wonder he was
undefeated for years. This sole ability of knowing both the enemy and
himself, it wasn't something an ordinary general could possess.
Nodding, Jiang Suizhou said, "That's right, this Prince also surmised as
such. But Pang Shao is being careful, what he wants to do is still unclear
until now."
Huo Wujiu looked at him. He said, "Collusion."
Jiang Suizhou was dumbfounded, then heard Huo Wujiu continue, "To kill
Qi Min, this is the most direct and simplest way."
Huo Wujiu's opinion happened to conform with his, but he had so many
historical materials as evidence, so how did Huo Wujiu think of it?
He couldn't help but look Huo Wujiu up and down.
Huo Wujiu made him look a little uncomfortable.
It was only the result of Wei Kai's report today regarding his lookout over
the past few days. Although it wasn't ascertained what Pang Shao wanted to
do, he could guess bits and pieces.
He cleared his throat, then said, "Although Qi Min is at odds with Pang
Shao, he has never been in touch with us. If caught colluding, he'll be a
victim of false charges."
Jiang Suizhou slowly said, "To make false charges, evidence is definitely
needed. So, there will definitely be someone who fabricates evidence
against Qi Min for Pang Shao. The person who fabricates the evidence
needs to be someone Qi Min has the most trust in…"
With this said, his eyes gradually brightened.
"I've sent people to investigate these two days, to see who actually has this
motive! The person that most likely contacts Pang Shao secretly, and also
has some relations to this…"
Huo Wujiu looked at him, and the chopsticks in his hand turned with ease,
softly knocking Jiang Suizhou's forehead.
"Go investigate his student, the one who won third place in the imperial
examination ten years ago," he said.
Surprise enveloped Jiang Suizhou's face. "You know this, too?"
Of course he knew. This was what Wei Kai discovered yesterday, and had
just reported to Huo Wujiu this morning.
Huo Wujiu paused, but swallowed down the truth.
"Of course," he indifferently said.
"You've investigated for so many days, and you don't even know this?
When you have time, why not go do some proper business, instead of being
openly lascivious with a concubine in the daylight."
The author has something to say:
No prize Q&A:
What is General Huo's special skill?
A. March to war, defeat the many with the few, sever the enemy's head with
an arrow in front of two battle formations
B. Be extremely jealous, peculiarly striving for favor