However, Jiang Suzhou's happiness did not last for long.
After Chen Ti was convicted, Qi Min refused to let him off and repeatedly submitted petitions. His successor was annoyed and decided to convict Chen Ti and his accomplices in the Ministry of Rites. Although their crimes were not as serious as Chen Ti's, they were still demoted.
However, Jiang Suzhou did not expect that Ji You would be among those people.
Originally, the case had nothing to do with him anymore. However, two days after he was released from prison, he was demoted on the charge of lax governance and transferred to Huizhou.
Huizhou was not too far away and was not as remote as Lingnan. However, at Ji You's age, being demoted from outside the capital was equivalent to having one's career cut off.
Ji You was not charged with any crime, but Pang Shao still wanted to make things difficult for him. That was why he came up with this idea. Jiang Suzhou thought about it and realized that Pang Shao was using Ji You as a warning to him.
Pang Shao was telling him that under Pang Shao's control, even if he succeeded in saving Ji You, he would not have a good ending.
Jiang Suzhou felt a lump in his throat.
He did not go to Huo Wujiu for two consecutive days. Instead, he found some of the original owner's books in his study and had Meng Qianshan deliver them to Ji You's residence along with some banknotes.
Meng Qianshan soon returned.
Ji You accepted the books, but returned the banknotes to him.
Meng Qianshan returned the banknotes to Jiang Suzhou and said, "Your Highness, Lord Ji said that there is enough money for travel. There is no need for you to spend money."
As he spoke, he took out a thin letter and handed it to Jiang Suzhou, saying, "Lord Ji also wrote a few words and asked this servant to pass it to Your Highness."
Jiang Suzhou opened the letter.
Then, he saw that the letter was full of words written in an unrestrained and carefree manner.
[Thank you for saving me, Your Highness. Please don't blame yourself anymore.
The scenery in Huizhou is pleasant and the plum blossoms are flourishing. I've long yearned for it. If I had left earlier, I would have been able to see the green plum blossoms of Huizhou with my own eyes before they wither. Wouldn't that have been great?]
When Jiang Suzhou saw this, the corners of his lips loosened and he finally raised a very shallow arc.
Everyone had their own preferences and pursuits in life. On the other hand, Pang Shao imposed his own preferences on others. He thought that a career and money were things that everyone liked. That was why he thought that cutting off Ji You's future was the most appropriate punishment for him.
However, he didn't know that his so-called punishment was nothing to Ji You. To Jiang Suizhou, this could be considered a blessing in disguise.
However …
Jiang Suzhou scrutinized the letter for a moment, then carefully put it away.
Although this demotion didn't hurt Ji You and gave him the opportunity to indulge in life, Jiang Suzhou wouldn't forget about Pang Shao's enmity.
He had to settle the score with Pang Shao.
But now, Pang Shao had absolute control over the imperial court. Especially the Ministry of Personnel, which was in charge of the promotion and transfer of officials, was almost completely controlled by Pang Shao.
It would be extremely difficult for him to go against Pang Shao.
— —
Huo Wujiu didn't see Jiang Suzhou for two days.
After taking the medicine every day, he could only stay in his room. Sometimes, he could see people going in and out of the courtyard through the window, but he couldn't go out.
He felt that the pain in his leg had worsened after taking the medicine for the past two days. It even made him feel bad. No matter how many times he recited the Clear Heart Mantra, it didn't work.
The past two days were longer than usual for him.
This continued until the third day.
Li Changning gave him acupuncture as usual. Halfway through, he suddenly heard Huo Wujiu ask, "Have you changed your dressing these past two days?"
Li Changning was stunned. "No!"
He looked up at Huo Wujiu and saw Huo Wujiu sitting there with a frown. When he heard Li Changning's answer, Huo Wujiu raised his hand and rubbed between his eyebrows.
Li Changning hurriedly asked, "General, do you feel anything different these past two days?"
Huo Wujiu paused. "No, I'm just asking."
Li Zhangning responded and continued to insert the needles into his body.
Wei Kai turned around and saw Huo Wujiu's expression. He knew something had happened. He hurriedly went to the side of the bed and asked Huo Wujiu, "General, did something happen?"
Huo Wujiu was silent for a moment. "Has there been any unusual movements in Prince Jing's Estate these past two days?"
Wei Kai thought for a moment. "This subordinate didn't hear anything. However, this morning, when this subordinate came here with Doctor Li, the eunuch by Prince Jing's side told this subordinate to be careful."
Huo Wujiu paused and looked up at him. "What did he say?"
Wei Kai was stunned. He felt that when the general heard this, he spoke a bit faster.
He hurriedly said, "He didn't say anything. He just said that Prince Jing hasn't been very happy these past two days and told this subordinate not to get into trouble."
Huo Wujiu looked away.
Sure enough, something had happened.
He didn't ask any more questions. The two eunuchs were quite perceptive and went about their own business. Huo Wujiu waited until the two of them finished inserting the needles, giving him medicine, and retreating. Only then did he raise his head and look out the window. His eyebrows were tightly knitted together.
He was fine two days ago. What could have happened to anger him?
Huo Wujiu's heart was uneasy, and he started to speculate.
Could it be that something had happened in the imperial court? However, he hadn't seen Prince Jing leave the estate these past two days, nor had he seen anyone from the imperial court come to visit Prince Jing's Estate.
Huo Wujiu's eyebrows didn't loosen for the entire day.
Fortunately, Jiang Suizhou arrived at nightfall.
Huo Wujiu had already eaten dinner and was sitting on the bed. He was flipping through a book with an ulterior motive. Jiang Suizhou sat down on the bed and asked, "How have you been these past two days?"
Huo Wujiu put down the book and didn't answer his question. Instead, he asked, "What happened?"
Jiang Suizhou couldn't help but be surprised.
He didn't expect this matter to reach Huo Wujiu's ears. He also didn't expect him to ask this question so naturally and matter-of-factly.
Huo Wujiu saw that he didn't say anything and added, "I heard that you've been unhappy these past two days."
Jiang Suizhou inexplicably felt a strange warmth in his heart.
Ever since he found out that Ji You was going to be demoted, he was extremely irritated. He could feel that no one around him dared to provoke him. Because he was the "master" of those people, they didn't dare to provoke him, let alone ask questions that they shouldn't ask.
Naturally, he didn't know where to start talking to anyone, let alone confide in them.
Although he wasn't usually a sensitive person, these kinds of emotions were always suppressed in his heart. He didn't even have someone to talk to, so it still made his heart feel stifled.
However, he didn't expect that Huo Wujiu would ask him about it. He also didn't expect that he could talk to Huo Wujiu about these things.
He paused, then said slowly, "Lord Ji from the Ministry of Rites has been demoted. He'll be heading to Hui Province in a few days."
Huo Wujiu frowned and asked, "Isn't it unrelated to him?"
Jiang Suizhou said, "It's the crime of not being strict enough. After Chen Ti was arrested, this matter was handed over to the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Appointments. This Prince can't interfere at all. "
Huo Wujiu was silent for a moment, then said in a declarative tone, "Then it's Pang Shao's order."
Jiang Suizhou smiled and slowly sighed, "It's indeed Pang Shao. He suffered a loss at my hands, so he wants to make things difficult for me. Lord Ji is just an innocent bystander who got caught in the crossfire. "
Huo Wujiu said, "Since he entered the imperial court as an official, he has to bear this kind of risk. It's just a demotion, and the place he's going to isn't remote. It's far away from the imperial court. For him, it might be a good thing. "
Jiang Suizhou shook his head.
"Others can think of it this way, but I can't." He said. "No matter what, his misfortune was caused by me. I can't do nothing."
He paused for a moment, then sighed almost inaudibly.
"That's Pang Shao we're talking about."
Huo Wujiu didn't say anything for a moment.
Jiang Suizhou also knew that he was locked up in his residence every day. He couldn't even walk, so naturally, he couldn't do anything. He didn't expect Huo Wujiu to say anything. After he spoke, he felt a little better. He picked up the book that the Meng Qianshan had placed beside him and said, "I haven't been here for two days, so I've forgotten where I was reading."
He wanted to skip this topic and continue reading to Huo Wujiu.
Huo Wujiu quietly watched him as he lowered his head and flipped through the book as if nothing had happened. Huo Wujiu felt his chest tighten.
… This wasn't something that he should be shouldering, but because he was born in the imperial family, it fell on his shoulders.
If he really was a cold-blooded and heartless bastard, then so be it. But he was also a soft-hearted person. He always took responsibility for things that he should or shouldn't take responsibility for. In the end, when he couldn't take it anymore, he still had to hold on.
Jiang Suizhou flipped to where he had read last time, then calmly and quietly continued to read.
But he didn't read more than two sentences before his voice came to an abrupt stop.
Jiang Suizhou raised his head in surprise and saw that Huo Wujiu had somehow snatched the book from his hand.
"I'll do it." Huo Wujiu said.
Jiang Suizhou's face revealed some surprise.
He watched as Huo Wujiu moved the lamp closer. Although his expression was cold and distant, there was an inexplicable sense of awkwardness.
He clearly didn't even raise his eyes, let alone look at him. It was as if he was clumsily trying to comfort him.
Jiang Suizhou was momentarily speechless. He only felt his chest heat up, as if the heavy emotions that had accumulated inside were being burned away bit by bit.
He stared fixedly at Huo Wujiu, momentarily speechless.
Huo Wujiu lowered his eyes and flipped open the book in his hand under the lamp.
His cold expression suddenly froze on his face.
Then, he slowly raised his eyebrows and raised his eyes to look at Jiang Suizhou.
"… The book you were reading a few days ago, was this the book?" he asked.
Jiang Suizhou was stunned. "Yes?"
Huo Wujiu's gaze fell stiffly on the book.
It was different from the smooth and plain vernacular that Jiang Suizhou had been reading for the past few days. The content of this book was obscure and difficult to understand. There were rare words everywhere. When placed in front of Huo Wujiu, it was like a heavenly book. Just a few glances made his head hurt.
Jiang Suizhou leaned forward to take a look. He immediately understood.
The book was written in extremely obscure classical Chinese. After all, the author was a great scholar from the previous dynasty. He was very particular about his choice of words and sentences. The spoken language of the ancients was different from the written language. These sentences couldn't be read out loud. Naturally, they had to be translated before they could be spoken.
Because Jiang Suizhou was in this line of work, the translation was very easy and didn't take much effort at all.
"It's the same book. It's just that the words in the book weren't easy to read, so I made some adjustments," he said.
Huo Wujiu didn't say anything.
Jiang Suizhou looked at Huo Wujiu with some confusion.
Although he was a war veteran, he was still an ancient person. He shouldn't be unable to read, right?
But … why did he have such an expression?
Before Jiang Suizhou could figure it out, Huo Wujiu suddenly closed the book in his hand and casually put it aside. He said indifferently, "Change to another book. I found this very boring two days ago. It's not interesting."
Jiang Suizhou was even more puzzled.
… No way. When I read it to you two days ago, you seemed to be quite interested.
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