The refined-iron bars had been ripped clean out of the ground, while the floor and walls were battered and broken. The cell was hardly suitable for continuing to imprison anyone.
But Liao Shang had already resigned himself to it. Wherever Fu Xi Yan was, no matter what things looked like beforehand, the end result was inevitably bloodshed everywhere and mysteries piled upon mysteries. So he was in no hurry to move Fu Xi Yan to another cell and simply sat cross-legged beside the bed.
Fu Xi Yan jumped down from the bed and sat in front of him with a sheepish grin.
Liao Shang said, “Lord Fu, aren’t you worried that sitting so close might give me another chance to offend the ‘beauty’?”
Fu Xi Yan smiled. “Come now. Since we’re ‘family,’ once the door is shut, we’re brothers. What’s there to offend?” With a homophone, he neatly dissolved Liao Shang’s sarcasm.
Elio’s Notes: 佳人, “beauty,” and 家人, “family,” are both pronounced jiaren in Mandarin. Fu Xi Yan deliberately twists Liao Shang’s word into its homophone.
Seeing Fu Xi Yan’s somewhat ingratiating smile, Liao Shang swallowed the indignity of having been treated like a pervert for the first time in his life and said leisurely, “So, what story does Lord Fu have for me this time?”
Fu Xi Yan sucked in a breath, rubbed his forehead, and watched the runners and coroners bustling in and out beyond the cell with an utterly bewildered expression. “This time, I genuinely know nothing. I was just discussing with the two guards how to sneak my uncle in to see me when suddenly their heads dropped and they stopped moving. I reached out to push them, then I passed out too. The next thing I knew, I opened my eyes and saw the wise and mighty Head Constable Liao.”
The flattery was so blatant that it naturally failed to resonate with Liao Shang. He pointed instead toward the severed hand a coroner was carefully picking up. “Apart from the two guards, there was also a consort who died outside your cell.”
Fu Xi Yan looked shocked and asked quietly, “From the palace? Or from a temple?”
“Worthy Consort Rong.”
Fu Xi Yan covered his mouth in astonishment.
Liao Shang said, “That was rather affected.”
Fu Xi Yan smiled bitterly. “I’m trying to work out how to clear myself of suspicion.”
“You think you’re suspicious too?”
“You just said it yourself. A palace consort died outside my cell. And my cell…” He pointed at the enormous gap between the remaining bars. “Isn’t exactly very secure anymore. And the two guards… I-I don’t know what happened to them either.” Fu Xi Yan’s heart suddenly pounded twice.
He had almost said outright that the two guards were dead. But according to the story he had just told, all he had seen was that they had stopped moving. He had never confirmed their deaths. With Liao Shang’s sharpness, there was no way he would miss a flaw like that.
Sure enough, Liao Shang immediately focused on the obvious hesitation. “Before you lost consciousness, didn’t you reach out and push them? You didn’t know they were already dead?”
Fu Xi Yan covered his mouth. “They’re dead?”
Liao Shang said, “Lord Fu is putting on another performance.”
Fu Xi Yan sighed. “You really can’t blame me. Anyone who inexplicably loses consciousness twice in the same day is going to become a little more cautious with their words.”
“You still refuse to hand over the Immortal Treasury Palace people around you?”
“It’s not that I refuse. He simply never came back after going to change his clothes.” Fu Xi Yan spread his hands. “Otherwise, why would I have been discussing with the guards how to secretly sneak my uncle inside?”
“Why are you so determined to see your uncle?”
“Because there’s something I’ve been wondering about. Maybe once I see my uncle, I’ll get the answer. I may even figure out why all of this happened in the first place.”
Liao Shang knew perfectly well that Fu Xi Yan’s bait was not especially trustworthy, but at this point he had no better option. “Fine. I’ll invite him over.”
Fu Xi Yan immediately brightened, his tone changing at once. “Many thanks, Brother Liao.”
Liao Shang said, “No need to thank me. So many serious incidents have happened in the Ministry of Justice one after another. Whether it’s you or me, we’d both better prepare ourselves for the Son of Heaven’s wrath.”
When the Son of Heaven raged, corpses could lie by the million.
There were not even ten thousand people in and around the Ministry of Justice. Who knew how many others might be dragged into it?
Seeing Liao Shang sigh despondently and rise to leave, Fu Xi Yan suddenly asked, “Aren’t you curious why Worthy Consort Rong came to the Ministry of Justice prison?”
Liao Shang said, “Wasn’t she here for you?”
Fu Xi Yan gave a dry show of surprise. “For me? Why me?”
“No idea. Call it instinct.” Liao Shang clearly had no expectation of extracting the truth from him anyway. He squeezed back out through the damaged cell and told a runner, “Find a board and cover this opening.”
What exactly was a wooden board supposed to stop?
The runner looked utterly at a loss over this proposed repair.
Fu Xi Yan himself stood in the opening and protested, “Isn’t that a little perfunctory? Am I not worthy of a complete prison experience?”
Liao Shang said, “The Ministry of Justice prison isn’t cheap to build. Better not let you ruin another cell.”
Fu Xi Yan: “…”
Tie Rong Rong is dead now. Surely there shouldn’t be anyone else left trying to assassinate me… right?
That was what he told himself, but when he went to sleep that night, he remained uneasy. Every so often, he would ask whether the guards outside were still there—mostly to make sure they were still alive. The guards were driven half mad by him. They finally managed to nod off, only to be woken again and again. How could they not be annoyed?
“Lord Fu, have mercy. Please just go to sleep.”
Fu Xi Yan said anxiously, “I’m afraid I’ll fall asleep, wake up again, and see Head Constable Liao’s face.”
The guard said, “Head Constable Liao already went home. You can relax.”
“There’s a hole in my cell.”
The guard did not know whether to laugh or cry. “This is the first time I’ve ever met a prisoner who complains that his cell has a hole in it. Do you know how many prisoners in the Ministry of Justice would dream of having a hole like that?”
“Really?” Fu Xi Yan simply climbed out through it.
The guard’s drowsiness vanished instantly. Trembling, he asked, “L-Lord Fu, what are you doing outside?”
Fu Xi Yan stretched his arms and grabbed the bars. “Go get me a proper late-night meal. Otherwise, I’m not going back inside.”
The guard: “…”
＊
As Commander of the Yulin Guard, Fu Xuan had naturally been responsible for taking part in the previous night’s assault on Shicui Hall. Afterward, he still had to deal with the corpses of the palace maids who had been turned into puppets. He worked through the entire night, and when dawn finally arrived, the emperor at last showed mercy and allowed them to leave their posts and go home to rest.
He had barely reached home when he received a message Liao Shang had left behind saying that his precious nephew in prison wanted to see him.
Assuming his nephew had suffered some grievance, Fu Xuan had spent the entire journey to the Ministry of Justice preparing himself to make a scene. Instead, he arrived to find Fu Xi Yan sprawled on the bed while several guards slept in every possible position beneath it. At a glance, it was almost impossible to tell who was the jailer and who was the prisoner.
Chicken bones and wine bottles were scattered across the floor, showing just how fierce the previous night’s “battle” had been.
As for the bars…
At hints from their colleagues, the guards woke one after another, covered their faces, and withdrew. Only Fu Xi Yan remained completely motionless, one leg hanging off the bed with the foot slightly raised, his breathing long and even as he slept soundly.
Seeing the guards freely entering and leaving through the broken bars, Fu Xuan followed them through and patted his nephew on the cheek.
Fu Xi Yan jolted awake. “Liao… wo… Uncle?”
“Liao Wo? Is that the new name you’ve given me?”
Elio’s Notes: Still half-asleep, Fu Xi Yan nearly starts blurting 卧槽 (wòcào, roughly “fuck”) again after beginning with Liao Shang’s surname, accidentally producing “Liao Wo.”
Fu Xi Yan blinked. Once he confirmed that the person before him really was Fu Xuan and not Liao Shang transformed into someone else, he sat up excitedly. “Uncle, you finally came! I missed you so much. You have no idea what I’ve been through in here.”
Fu Xuan patted his arm. “I’ve heard a little.”
“Consort Rong is dead.” Fu Xi Yan lowered his voice. “She was Tie Rong Rong of the Puppet Path.”
“I know.” Fu Xuan lowered his voice as well. “Last night, His Majesty ordered me to lead people in surrounding Shicui Hall and killing her.”
Fu Xi Yan was stunned. “His Majesty really thinks highly of you.” His uncle was only an entirely ordinary expert at the upper end of the middle Vajra Stage. Even if one believed in tempering oneself through combat, using Tie Rong Rong as a training opponent felt rather like forcing a seedling to grow by pulling on it.
Fu Xuan raised an eyebrow.
Fu Xi Yan immediately corrected himself. “I mean, really values you.”
Fu Xuan said, “I didn’t expect her to come here instead. Are you all right?”
“Almost wasn’t, but a man in white saved me.” Fu Xi Yan briefly explained the white-robed man’s two appearances, along with his guess about the other time he had supposedly been saved. “He said he did it because of my mother.”
“Your mother…” Fu Xuan frowned slightly.
Fu Xi Yan asked, “Did that remind you of something?”
“There are certain things you really should know now.”
His expression was so grave that Fu Xi Yan felt uncomfortable all over and could not resist making a joke. “Is my father’s real name Dong Yong?”
Elio’s Notes: Dong Yong is the mortal man in the traditional tale of Dong Yong and the Seventh Fairy, in which he marries a celestial maiden. Fu Xi Yan is joking that perhaps his mother was secretly some extraordinary otherworldly woman.
Fu Xuan knocked him on the head. “Actually, after you returned from Luoyang and said the Little Divine Physician was a fake, I sent people to investigate the circumstances of your mother’s death.”
Fu Xi Yan froze. “What do you mean? Didn’t you say my mother died of illness?”
“When you were born, you were obviously much larger than other children your age. Your father thought nothing of it, but your mother insisted on having physicians examine you. Imperial physicians from the palace, doctors from among the common people—she went through who knows how many of them. Every one said there was nothing wrong with you. We thought she would finally stop worrying, but one day she left behind a letter saying she was going to find a divine physician to treat you, and then she disappeared.”
Fu Xi Yan thought of all the strange things about his own body. His mother might have known something.
Fu Xuan continued, “Your father spent years sending people to search for her. Eventually, they traced her all the way to Peijie Town, the last place she was known to have appeared. Unfortunately, by the time they arrived, it was already too late. The locals said your mother contracted an epidemic while seeking treatment and died. Even her body had been burned to ashes.”
Fu Xi Yan had a bold suspicion about his biological mother and could not help blurting, “She wouldn’t die that easily. Maybe she isn’t dead!”
Fu Xuan said, “At the time, all of us thought your mother was an ordinary woman, so we didn’t think too deeply about it. Looking back now, if your mother truly knew no martial arts, how could she have left Count Yongfeng’s Estate so easily and traveled through the jianghu for so many years?”
Fu Xi Yan selectively ignored his uncle’s doubts concerning his mother’s origins. “You think my mother encountered some enemy from the jianghu?”
“Whether it was an enemy is hard to say. But the Little Divine Physician was still in Peijie Town at the time. And it happened that there was something wrong with your true essence. Your father heard that he had studied under Divine Physician Yan Ke, so he offered a great deal of money to bring him to the estate and treat you.”
“But he sent someone else in his place,” Fu Xi Yan murmured. “I could never understand why he did that. Now I think I’m beginning to. He had a guilty conscience. My mother’s disappearance might have something to do with him!”
Fu Xuan nodded. “So this time, I sent people back again to carefully investigate everyone your mother encountered in Peijie Town, especially the records connected to that epidemic. Eventually, we discovered that the case record supposedly connected to your mother had been copied from another patient and substituted in its place. She may never have contracted the epidemic at all. I followed that false medical record further and eventually traced it to Tang Gong.”
It was actually him!
Fu Xi Yan had extremely complicated feelings about Tang Gong. The man had both been the architect of Fu Xi Yan’s dream of becoming an expert and personally overseen the construction of the grave that was his future marriage. Who would have imagined he was somehow connected to the disappearance of Fu Xi Yan’s biological mother as well?
Fu Xi Yan said, “But he’s already dead.”
Fu Xuan said, “Not only him. His daughter and wife are dead too. The only person left is a nephew who hates us to the bone. That trail ends there.”
“It doesn’t.” Fu Xi Yan clenched his fist. “There’s still Little Divine Physician Yan Xie.”
“Unfortunately, his whereabouts are unpredictable. He won’t be easy to find.”
“That’s all right. I have a way.” Through his clothes, Fu Xi Yan touched the bottle of Origin-Nourishing Pills hidden against his body. The pills Shou Nan Shan had given him came from Yan Xie, which meant that locating one Little Divine Physician could hardly be difficult for the Immortal Treasury Palace.
Seeing that Fu Xi Yan already had a plan, Fu Xuan did not press further. He patted his shoulder. “Right. Why did you ask me to come? If something here has made you unhappy, tell your uncle. I’ll go deal with whoever it is.”
Fu Xi Yan returned to the present. “Oh. I wanted to ask whether, before the Ministry of Justice arrested me, you sent Uncle Zhu Yu Da to take me away to the western frontier and seek refuge with my uncle by marriage.”
“What? Of course not.” A sharp light flashed through Fu Xuan’s eyes, and he appeared genuinely furious. “You haven’t even been convicted. Why would you run? The moment you fled, wouldn’t that amount to admitting guilt? Not only would the entire family be implicated, even your uncle by marriage would be called to account!”
Fu Xi Yan immediately relaxed. “That’s what I thought too, so I didn’t go with him.”
Fu Xuan said darkly, “Zhu Yu Da cannot be trusted! Ever since you joined the Yulin Guard, the series of things that happened around you contained so many coincidences that I had no choice but to suspect there was a traitor. And when everything was traced back to its source, it all revolved around a slingshot belonging to Tenth Highness. That was when I first became suspicious of him. So I turned his own scheme against him and forced him to stage a Zhou Yu-and-Huang Gai ruse. On the surface, I pretended to trust him and sent him to infiltrate Hu Yu’s side. In reality, I was simply moving him out of the way so he couldn’t keep causing trouble beside us. I didn’t expect that even after going to Hu Yu, he would still come back and try to deceive you.”
Elio’s Notes: In Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Huang Gai willingly suffers a staged beating arranged by Zhou Yu so that his later false defection will appear convincing. The expression refers to putting on a deliberately convincing falling-out or punishment as part of a deception.
For someone to persist so relentlessly in trying to harm him, Fu Xi Yan could think of only one likely culprit. “Hu Yu belongs to Tie Rong Rong?”
“Yes and no. Zhu Yu Da said Hu Yu was actually sent by the Rong family to stay beside Consort Rong. Although he helped Consort Rong with her affairs, he was also there on the Rong family’s behalf to watch her every move.”
“So either Tie Rong Rong wanted to deal with me, or the Rong family did?” Fu Xi Yan still thought Tie Rong Rong was more likely. The thought that one moment of poor judgment had nearly doomed not only himself but his entire family made him wish he could go back to last night and make the hole in Tie Rong Rong’s body even bigger and rounder.
Fu Xuan gave a strange, cold laugh. “But Hu Yu has another identity as well.”
“…Is he an onion?” Fu Xi Yan asked. Peel off one layer, and there was still another underneath.
Fu Xuan was long accustomed to his nephew occasionally blurting out strange things and continued without reacting. “He belongs to His Majesty. Last night, the entire Rong family attempted to flee, and Hu Yu delivered them right back.”
“So His Majesty wants to kill me?”
Fu Xuan shook his head. “Probably not. Rong Yue entrusted his entire family to Hu Yu, which shows how deeply Hu Yu concealed this identity. Zhu Yu Da most likely didn’t know.”
So it was still Tie Rong Rong, then.
Fu Xi Yan had never imagined that so many major events could erupt across Haojing in a single night. He sucked in a breath. “It was only the Lantern Festival! Did everyone really need to make it this dramatic?”
“There’s more. Last night, His Majesty was staying at Grand Commandant Liu’s residence when someone attempted to assassinate him. Grand Commandant Liu died protecting the emperor.”
There was too much information. Fu Xi Yan needed a moment. Holding his head, he asked, “Who wanted to kill the emperor?”
Tie Rong Rong? The Rong family? They were going to break into the Ministry of Justice to kill him, flee Haojing with the entire clan, and assassinate the emperor all in one night? No wonder they accomplished none of it. They were trying to do three things at once.
Fu Xuan said, “Eunuch Yu, the one who served beside His Majesty. Supposedly, he suddenly attacked the emperor. Grand Commandant Liu sacrificed himself to protect His Majesty, and the two died together.”
Fu Xi Yan thought the story sounded about as convincing as one of the stories he himself made up. He leaned closer to Fu Xuan and whispered, “Uncle, why do I get the feeling both Eunuch Yu and Grand Commandant Liu were actually… silenced by His Majesty?”
“Do not speak such nonsense!” Fu Xuan glared at him.
Fu Xi Yan immediately ducked his head and gave a foolish little laugh.
Despite scolding his nephew aloud, Fu Xuan himself proceeded to voice speculation just as treasonous. “His Majesty has feared both Consort Rong and the Rong family for a long time. Now that this thorn has finally been pulled from his side, things should settle down for a while. He has always followed a slap with a sweet date, so the sweet date should come next. The Southern Yu spy-network affair is obviously an overt scheme by an enemy state. His Majesty probably won’t punish people too severely, or he’d simply be doing exactly what Southern Yu wants. Someone involved only to your degree will most likely be released outright.”
Before Fu Xi Yan could become happy, Fu Xuan added, “Of course, that assumes Consort Rong’s death doesn’t implicate you too deeply. Your father and I will find ways to work on that. We have already persuaded Chancellor Pu to put in a good word for you. There should be good news before long.”
Fu Xi Yan threw both arms around his uncle’s shoulders. “A child with Dad Number One and Dad Number Two is so blessed!”
Fu Xuan could not help smiling and lightly patted his arm.
＊
An attempted assassination of the emperor—what kind of earthshaking event was that?
Throughout Haojing, from civil and military officials all the way down to peddlers and laborers, everyone assumed that the Beheading Emperor would surely launch a bloody purge this time. Yet amid the Liu family’s terror, Emperor Jianhong calmly returned to the imperial palace and even spent quite some time gently consoling Madam Liu before leaving.
Although Madam Liu was heartbroken over her husband’s death, she was even more afraid the family would be implicated. As soon as the emperor returned to the palace, she immediately contacted her late husband’s old friends and asked them to speak favorably for the Liu family so they would not suffer from imperial anger by association.
When the civil and military officials woke and heard the news, they were completely baffled.
Why had the emperor abandoned his own sleeping chambers in the middle of the night and gone to Grand Commandant Liu’s residence?
And then there was Yu Shuang Xi, whose background was unclear and who had somehow earned the emperor’s deep trust. If he truly wanted to assassinate the emperor, he should have had no shortage of opportunities. Why deliberately choose the Grand Commandant’s residence?
…
Before any of those mysteries could be resolved, word arrived that Shicui Hall had been slaughtered by the Yulin Guard the previous night.
Immediately afterward came the news that the mistress of Shicui Hall, Worthy Consort Rong, had actually died inside the Ministry of Justice prison. And the man being held in that very cell was none other than Count Yongfeng’s son. Even more coincidentally, the recently vanished Capital Prefect Tu Mu had also been sharing a cell with Count Yongfeng’s son immediately before his disappearance.
One piece of news after another seemed completely unrelated at first glance, yet upon closer inspection, everything was tangled together. It was enough to give anyone a headache.
Could Count Yongfeng’s son be cursed or something?
In short, the upheavals that swept Haojing overnight left everyone dizzy. Even Grand Commandant Liu’s old friends, who wanted to enter the palace and plead for the Liu family, had no idea where they were supposed to begin.
And at exactly that moment, Emperor Jianhong announced that he had been badly frightened the previous night and canceled court for the day.
Was he trying to make everyone die of anxiety?
With no other choice, the officials collectively turned to Big Boss Pu for help.
Pu Jiu Lin himself was no less confused. Just yesterday, he had promised the Vice Minister of War that he would help get his son released from prison. Today, a palace consort had inexplicably died right outside that same son’s cell.
A palace consort had run to the Ministry of Justice prison?
What did any of this have to do with anything?
But as head of the civil officials, Pu Jiu Lin had to project the composure of a leader. No matter how uncertain he felt inside, he absolutely could not appear flustered. Looking at his anxious colleagues, he calmly waved a hand. “Do not panic. We will decide what to do after I have an audience with His Majesty.”
At last, someone was willing to take the lead!
His colleagues said gratefully, “We leave it in Chancellor Pu’s hands.”
Pu Jiu Lin nodded, changed into his court robes, and entered the palace. He had assumed Emperor Jianhong might refuse to see him, but to his surprise, he was admitted immediately. The eunuch who delivered the summons was unfamiliar, so Pu Jiu Lin could not help asking who he was.
“This servant is Zhang A Gu.” Zhang A Gu bowed. “Chancellor, you can call me A’Gu—or Guzi, whichever you like.”
Elio’s Notes: 谷子 (guzi) literally means grain or millet. Zhang A Gu is playfully extending his own name into a casual nickname.
Pu Jiu Lin said meaningfully, “Surname Zhang.”
Zhang A Gu smiled. “I took my adoptive father’s surname.”
“Your adoptive father is?”
“Zhang Yuan.”
Pu Jiu Lin had already suspected as much. But the emperor had actually begun using Zhang Yuan’s adopted son. Could it be that he regretted killing Zhang Yuan? An emperor regretting that he had killed someone was not necessarily bad news.
That day, Emperor Jianhong had moved the place where he received ministers to Qingsi Hall.
The moment Pu Jiu Lin entered, he saw the emperor—normally so dignified and imposing—standing barefoot on a carpet playing pitch-pot. Seeing him arrive, Emperor Jianhong beckoned. “The imperial physician says We suffered a fright and ought to do something enjoyable to calm Our nerves. After thinking it over, We decided pitch-pot, which We once played with Chancellor Pu, was still the most entertaining. Chancellor Pu should try as well.”
Elio’s Notes: Pitch-pot is a traditional Chinese game in which players toss arrows into a narrow-necked vessel from a distance.
Pu Jiu Lin declined. “This subject is already old. My skill is far worse than it once was.”
Emperor Jianhong threw and missed. Looking disappointed, he said, “We are not old, yet We have no skill to speak of either. Chancellor Pu came to see how We were doing, did you not? We are fine. Alas… it is only a pity about Grand Commandant Liu.”
At that moment, Zhang A Gu brought over the calming decoction prescribed by the imperial physician. Emperor Jianhong frowned at it, then drank it all in one go.
Pu Jiu Lin said, “The Grand Commandant gave his life for the state, and his loyalty and righteousness deserve praise. This subject wonders whether Your Majesty should issue a formal decree honoring him.”
He deliberately placed the moral principle first. That way, even if the emperor wanted to take out his anger on the Liu family, it would be difficult to say so openly.
Unfortunately, Emperor Jianhong gave no indication of his position and instead tossed the question back to him. “Chancellor Pu believes he should be honored?”
Pu Jiu Lin replied cautiously, “This subject simply does not know what exactly happened last night. There is now a great deal of speculation both within and beyond the court, and people are becoming quite unsettled.”
Emperor Jianhong pressed a hand to his forehead. “The events of last night were terrifying. We have no wish to remember them. If Chancellor Pu wants to know, go ask Fu Xuan.”
Pu Jiu Lin said, “This subject understands. Your Majesty’s health is what matters most.”
Emperor Jianhong nodded and lay back on the couch. “Does Chancellor Pu have anything else?”
“This subject does have one other matter. The Vice Minister of Justice is being detained at the Censorate. Yet when this subject asked the Left Censor-in-Chief, even he did not know the reason. We therefore do not know how the matter should be handled and ask Your Majesty for instructions.”
Emperor Jianhong said, “When Tu Mu disappeared, the cells to either side of his were both emptied. We hear that order came from the Vice Minister.”
Pu Jiu Lin was startled. “This subject understands.” He could not help sighing inwardly. Given Emperor Jianhong’s usual methods, once the Vice Minister entered prison, he would not be coming back out. Pu Jiu Lin was not especially close to the man, but they were both officials serving in the same court. When the rabbit died, the fox mourned; there was inevitably some sympathy born of sharing the same precarious fate.
Just as he was lamenting this, Emperor Jianhong said, “We recall Vice Minister Lu is no longer young.”
“He is five years older than this subject.”
“He has reached the age when he might retire.”
Pu Jiu Lin froze. He had not expected the emperor to show mercy and spare the Vice Minister. He immediately replied, “This subject thanks Your Majesty on his behalf.”
Emperor Jianhong waved a hand.
Pu Jiu Lin had originally intended to ask about the Southern Yu spy network as well, but seeing how tired Emperor Jianhong appeared, he swallowed the question and quietly withdrew. As Zhang A Gu escorted him out, Pu Jiu Lin casually asked, “Is Commander Fu on duty today?”
Zhang A Gu said, “The Commander did not sleep at all last night. His Majesty took pity on him and allowed him to go home.”
Pu Jiu Lin looked at Zhang A Gu’s bright smile and lively manner. He was quite different from both Zhang Yuan and Yu Shuang Xi before him. Pu Jiu Lin could not help giving him another look before turning and leaving.