As the official who went out of the city to welco Lou Yue, Jiang Suizhou had to accompany him all the way back to the palace. After eting the Emperor together, he’d have to attend the reception banquet held in the palace together with Lou Yue.
By the ti Lou Yue finished settling his army, it was already getting late. All the officials in their carriages, together with the Lou father and daughter who rode into the city, and several generals of the army, passed through the opened southern city gate and headed toward the palace with great strength and vigor.
Although Jiang Suizhou wasn’t a high official, he was the sole living brother of His Majesty and the only Prince of the dynasty. Therefore, when he went out of the city to et Lou Yue, he gave Lou Yue great respect. The officials couldn’t guess the emperor’s current thoughts, so they treated Lou Yue cautiously.
However, the Emperor naturally did not have as many concerns as them. He just wanted to let the person he loathed to welco the person he hated. It was best to let the two of them fight. The more deadlocked they were, the better.
As a result, while the court officials were cautiously speculating on the intention of the Hou Zhu, the latter only complinted Lou Yue with little interest before letting the father and daughter get seated at the table.
Nonetheless, during the dinner this evening, there were several scenes that the Hou Zhu disliked.
Lou Yue has always been wildly arrogant and unreasonable. In the past, even Pang Shao wouldn’t receive half of his respect. But today, knowing that His Highness Jingwang, who was in poor health, welcod him outside the city under the scorching sun, his attitude towards him wasn’t as caustic as he treated those civil officials. Lou Yue gave it another thought, and halfway through the banquet, he even got up and offered a toast to Jiang Suizhou.
Apart from His Majesty, Lou Yue had never taken the initiative to toast anyone.
For a ti, everyone stared speechless at each other, and their eyes on Jiang Suizhou changed. On the throne, the Emperor’s face also turned gloomy.
Everyone was well aware that Lou Yue had a massive army under his control. It was because he was not well-liked in the court and was excluded from everyone that the Hou Zhu was able to use him with confidence.
But now…
Jiang Suizhou also felt the sudden freezing of the surrounding atmosphere. He raised his eyes to look at Lou Yue, and saw his unperturbed countenance. At a glance, he realized that it was because of their eting today that Lou Yue got up and raised a toast to him.
However, everyone around them only cared about the sudden close relationship between him and Lou Yue. They would not dig deep into what had actually happened outside the city today.
Jiang Suizhou only felt that this was a sticky situation.
Seeing that Lou Yue was approaching with his wine, Jiang Suizhou got up ahead of him and spoke with a gentle smile before Lou Yue, “How can this Prince trouble General Lou to propose a toast to ? This Prince gives you a toast. This Prince’s body is really good for nothing. I even lost my courtesy outside the city today. Please don’t bla , General… ”
Before he could end his speech, he ran out of breath. He coughed with a cup in one hand, choking on the wine and spilling so of it.
Lou Yue was scared at this sight. He had been in the army all year round, and all he saw were powerful nfolk who could carry weights. He had never seen such a pale, sickly man. He imdiately spoke, ” “What is there to bla for? Your Highness is unwell. You should rest more.”
Jiang Suizhou struggled to stop his cough, smiled and clinked glasses with him.
He let out a sigh of relief. Now, he clarified so doubts in everyone’s mind.
But at this mont, a voice drawled from above.
“General Lou should give His Highness Jingwang a proper toast.” Pang Shao interjected.
Lou Yue was puzzled when he heard this remark. He turned to Pang Shao, who had a smile on his face as he unhurriedly supplented.
“General Lou, you probably still don’t know that there is a happy event in Jingwang Manor.”
Hearing these words, Jiang Suizhou’s heart thumped, and he choked on the wine he was drinking halfway through. In an instant, the fake cough turned into a real one.
He naturally knew what kind of happy event Pang Shao referred to as a ‘happy event’.
When all was said and done, General Lou was unaware that the only son of his forr best friend was married to Jingwang Manor as a concubine.
Jiang Suizhou was coughing so badly that ng Qianshan hurried forward to smoothen his breath. However, Jiang Suizhou couldn’t care less about this. His heart was already in his throat.
Once Lou Yue hears of the news, he would certainly be furious, and there was no knowing what he would do. But regardless, his anger would most definitely be directed at him.
He barely stopped coughing, took a deep breath, and just waited to face the storm.
Lou Yue, on the other hand, was puzzled: “What happy event?”
Pang Shao glanced at Jiang Suizhou, and then at Lou Yue, chuckled ambiguously a couple of tis, and remained silent.
As for the Hou Zhu, for a rare mont, his cloudy face turned sunny. He discarded his doubts and displeasure and gave Pang Shao a satisfied glance.
Thereafter, an official of Pang’s party smiled and answered, “General Lou does not know, right? The only son of the Marquis of Dingbei, General Huo Wujiu, has beco a much told tale with His Highness Jingwang!”
For a spell, bursts of laughter arose from the seats.
Another official laughed and chid in, “What General Huo? He should be called Madam Huo now!”
Lou Yue was deeply shocked. He stood frozen for a long ti before he regained his senses.
What kind of person was this Jingwang? He was a man known to all the people in the world as a cut sleeve. He had heard about Huo Wujiu’s defeat at the start of the year in Lingnan. He just never imagined that…
He was humiliated to this extent!
He looked at Jiang Suizhou with disbelief.
He discovered that Jingwang, who had the looks of a woman and too frail to stand a gust of wind, was ashen-faced. He was clinging weakly to the hand of the eunuch beside him as he looked straight at him. Because of that wracking cough just now, his eyes were moist with tears. Under the lamplight, his sickly figure evoked pity.
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