The next day, Huo Yuyan did not see Jiang Suizhou in the imperial study room. Guarding the imperial study was the lapdog eunuch beside Jingwang.
Huo Yuyan entered the imperial study room. Before he spoke, he saw the eunuch smiling ingratiatingly. He said with a smile, “Your Highness, are you looking for the Prince?”
He truly thought too highly of himself.
Huo Yuyan’s expression cooled down a bit, and he gave him a somewhat icy gaze.
Unfortunately, the eunuch was terribly incapable of reading meaningful glances. He stared at Huo Yuyan’s face but registered none of it. He smiled and explained, “Our Prince is not feeling well today, so he won’t come. He sent this servant to inform Your Highness.”
Huo Yuyan coldly replied, “Got it. You can go back.”
The eunuch replied and retreated.
Huo Yuyan turned his head and glanced at his back, revealing a trace of doubt on his face.
But then, his doubts were answered.
After the eunuch retreated, Huo Yuyan sat down on the throne, only to find that a lot of memorials on the desk were missing. He roughly went through some, and found that all the files of various officials he had handled these days were missing.
Sure enough, when something is unusual, there must be a reason for it.
“I have some unfinished letters yesterday. Go ask. Why aren’t they here?” Huo Yuyan frowned and ordered the young eunuch beside him.
The eunuch responded and promptly went to ask.
A while later, the eunuch came running back and immediately reported, “Your Highness, someone outside said that General Huo came to the imperial study today and inquired if you have been very busy recently. When he heard that you had taken care of all these memorias, he took them all in one go and said he would distribute them for you.”
Those files have indeed been sorted out, but Huo Yuyan has always been cautious in doing things. Even if things have been completed, they must be checked and confirmed again and again.
However, Huo Wujiu’s move might appear to be helping him, but it was a botched job for him instead.
Now, he could not say anything and could only grit his teeth and swallow his anger. He whispered, “Understood. Send someone back to thank Wujiu for me.”
The eunuch responded.
Seeing Huo Yuyan’s ugly face, sitting in front of the imperial desk but with nothing to do, the eunuch hurried forward and whispered, “However, I heard that Miss Lou’s family didn’t go to the barracks today.”
Huo Yuyan paused, looked up and asked, “Then where did she go?”
The eunuch replied, “I heard that Miss Lou loves to play around in Lin’an City. Since Your Highness has nothing to do today, and the past few days have been exhausting for you, why don’t you take time to relax? You’re new here, so you might as well ask Miss Lou, an expert, to tour you around. What do you think?”
Huo Yuyan stayed still, and then revealed a smile.
“How can I bother her?” he replied in a warm voice.
“It’s not really a nuisance! Miss Lou loves to have fun, so I’m sure she also likes to travel with people! If Your Highness is willing, why don’t you send someone to inquire about it?”
Huo Yuyan pondered for a moment and replied with a hum.
“Fine.” He said, “Just be cautious. Don’t be abrupt and disturb Miss Lou. That will only spoil everything.”
The eunuch smiled ambiguously and answered positively.
——
Lou Wanjun was indeed idle.
Mainly a few days ago, she met several new friends at the banquet to welcome Huo Yuyan. Those new friends were all officers under Huo Wujiu. They had no chance to meet before, but after drinking together, they were considered acquaintances.
Those officers were particularly playful in nature. Even if they have just arrived south a few days ago, they have already scouted all the good places in Lin’an City. She heard them say that there was sorghum wine in the west market, which was extremely mellow. Not to mention, the fragrance could be smelled half a mile away. When it was drunk, it was even stronger and fragrant.
This literally made Lou Wanjun crave for it.
It just so happened that these days, due to the large number of dignitaries in the city, Huo Wujiu always went to the barracks, so the soldiers strictly guarded their posts and did not dare to be distracted.
On the contrary, Lou Wanjun was quiet and free, so she was dragged by those officers and slipped into the city to buy wine.
Lou Wanjun liked this errand very much, and agreed without a word.
However, the western market was vast, and the officers weren’t familiar with the place. Moreover, the location given was not precise. Nevertheless, Lou Wanjun wasn’t troubled much about it. She strolled around the west market and followed the smell to find the shop.
As a result, before she could find the shop, a crash attracted her attention.
Not far in front of her, a few scholar-like people were standing, but they were surrounding something, and were even dropping and smashing things.
As they smashed something on the ground, clatters and shatters echoed. From the crowd, something rolled out. Lou Wanjun fixed her eyes on it and discovered that it was a pen.
“Let me see. What kind of stuff has our Lin’an’s gifted scholar, Nie Cong, the Great Nie, written?” One of them raised his tone and said in the crowd.
Then, he read the thing in his hand sarcastically.
“My beautiful wife Gui, how’s the family during my absence? The time to harvest rice at home is fast approaching. I’m working in the city and can not return, so I’m still going to ask you and our mother to…”
A clear and crisp voice in the crowd interrupted him.
“Brother Du, this is someone else’s private letter. It’s better not to make it public,” the man said.
“What private letter? Didn’t you write all of it?” The man retorted sharply. “Mister Nie, I know that you are very poor, so much so that you have set up a stall and write letters for this bunch of illiterate poor people to make money. But, you don’t have to belittle yourself and write such bullshit, right?”
“The letter was written for his wife to read, not for you, Brother Du, to judge.” The clear, crisp voice rang out again. “Please return the letter to me.”
“Return it to you? If you have the guts, why don’t you come and grab it? Nie Cong, if you dare lay a finger on me here, then you will become a downtown assailant. By then, do you think you’ll still be qualified to participate in the metropolitan imperial examination in the coming year?”
The more Lou Wanjun listened, the more she frowned.
What kind of a person was that? He blatantly smashed people’s letter stalls in the downtown area and made false accusations?
Lou Wanjun has never seen anything like this since she was a child, so she rolled her sleeves up and was about to push through the crowd and rush in.
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