After the Disabled God of War Became My Concubine Chapter 34
“Even if the Huos are watch dogs, you don’t order us about, either,” he said, “Ancient precepts state that the North should expel foreign enemies to guard Yecheng —— Your Majesty, your father already lost Yecheng three years ago.”
The emperor shook with rage.
How dare he say that? Yecheng was defeated by his self-proclaimed loyal Huo family!
This was clearly a grandiose slap on his face! He wished he could have someone tie Huo Wujiu down immediately, tear him to pieces, and feed the chunks of him to dogs.
But he couldn’t. His uncle had said that keeping this man would still be of great use. Besides, only by keeping him alive could he have him tortured and make his life worse than death…
The emperor’s eyes were on the verge of splitting. He took a few deep breaths and looked at Pang Shao like a plea for help.
Meanwhile, Jiang Suizhou, who was standing at the bottom of the steps, was already so ecstatic that he could barely hide the smile at the corners of his mouth.
Although he knew that the emperor had left Huo Wujiu alive and wouldn’t let him die so easily, he did not expect that Huo Wujiu would actually rely on this fact to openly challenge the emperor at the banquet.
Was he inherently good at angering people? No wonder he was usually reticent. It turned out that he was keeping his weakness unexposed!
Jiang Suizhou felt nothing but utter gratification. However, he was distinctly aware that he must say something at this time. Otherwise, if he remained silent, the emperor would take action.
Even if the emperor didn’t kill Huo Wujiu, it wouldn’t end well for him today, either. Jiang Suizhou grabbed a jade cup on the table and smashed it straight onto the table in front of Huo Wujiu.
A small jade cup didn’t have much killing power, but when it suddenly hit the corner of the table, the resounding clang was enough to jolt everyone around them.
Jiang Suizhou turned to Huo Wujiu, gnashing his teeth. He looked gloomy, like he was concealing his fury.
“Very good.” He snarled one word at a time, and because of his extremely frail physique, even his breath began to quiver from restraining his anger. “It seems that I haven’t taught you how to shut up.”
The last few words, uttered between clenched teeth, were so gloomy that it made people’s blood run cold.
All the ministers felt that if it hadn’t been for the emperor’s birthday banquet, the furious King Jing would have rushed forward and strangled Huo Wujiu.
Upon seeing this, the emperor’s rage finally dropped a couple of notches.
Right, there was still King Jing. There was no need for the emperor to take action himself and spoil the joy of his birthday.
Huo Wujiu dared to spout a stream of empty rhetoric, but once they returned to King Jing’s mansion, he was sure to beg for life and then death.
Under the high platform, his uncle also shook his head at him, signaling for the emperor to suppress his anger and not to get angry.
He grit his teeth and squeezed a few words out in between them.
“Spoilsport,” he said. “All right, I’m hungry. Let’s start the feast.”
At once, the courtiers all around hastened to raise their cups as if nothing had happened. An orchestra of traditional Chinese stringed and woodwind instruments sounded, and grandsounding, peaceful music immediately echoed, like a desperate attempt to chase away the thick tension in the hall just now.
The emperor took a sip of wine.
Strange.
Although it was a dog-eat-dog situation, and dripping fresh blood was very nice, why did he have this feeling that…although they bit each other, he couldn’t take advantage of them at all?
Jiang Suizhou vaguely figured out why Huo Wujiu did this.
He didn’t quite dare to believe it.
Could it be that Huo Wujiu really took such a big risk just to keep him from kowtowing to the emperor alone?
Huo Wujiu must know better than he did that the emperor was a wretch. Regardless of the occasion, he would most likely, in a fit of anger, drag him back to the Imperial Prison in front of all the civil and military officials to be drawn and quartered.
Jiang Suizhou’s heart was quite shaken.
But he did not dare to look at Huo Wujiu more than once.
He still needed to put on a cold look at this time, treating Huo Wujiu who was next to him as if he was air. He barely took a few bites of the food on the table and only occasionally drank a glass of wine.
Moreover, none of the officials in the hall dared to offend him. When they walked to and fro to toast, they tacitly bypassed Jiang Suizhou’s table.
On the contrary, this saved Jiang Suizhou from a lot of trouble.
Outside the door, the pattering rain didn’t lessen at all. Amidst the glittering lights, toasts went gaily around, and the faces of the people were gradually dyed the drunken color of pinkish red.
Some ministers began to go forward to give the emperor a toast.
Jiang Suizhou was bored silly, sitting at the table listening to their exaggerated birthday toasts. He occasionally stole glances at Huo Wujiu out of the corner of his eye, involuntarily replaying what had just happened in his mind.
Just then, he heard a voice from the front of the steps.
That person’s eloquence was quite remarkable. He jabbered on and on, without finishing his benediction. Jiang Suizhou was quite amazed when he heard him, and glanced at him.
…Chen Ti?
The man who had his wife hand Huo Wujiu an invitation to enjoy the flowers.
Jiang Suizhou picked up his cup of tea and took a sip.
In terms of ass-kissing, this man was indeed an expert at everything. It was no wonder he was making a living under Pang Shao.
Just then, Jiang Suizhou heard Chen Ti, who had drained his cup of wine, speak. “Your Majesty, today is a day of rejoicing, so I’d like to brazenly ask for a grace from Your Majesty,” he said with a grin.
Then Jiang Suizhou heard the emperor ask, “What is it? Tell me.”
Then he saw Chen Ti holding his cup and saying with a smile, “A few days ago, my humble wife handed a written invitation to King Jing’s residence, wanting to invite Madam Huo to enjoy the flowers. But Madam Huo is a newcomer and was a bit reserved, so he rejected the invitation.”
After he said this, Chen Ti turned his head and looked at Jiang Suizhou’s table with a smile.
“For fear of slighting His highness King Jing, my humble wife specifically asked me to beg Your Majesty to allow Madam Huo to come to my humble abode in half a month’s time for a flower viewing banquet.”
