When the news reached the Hangzhou prefectural office, the Prefect of Hangzhou immediately reported it upward. Sun Yuanzhen and Yang Zan then learned that the Imperial Preceptor had come to Hangzhou.
They had been waiting for her to come calling, yet from the day before yesterday until yesterday, she never appeared, and their people could not find her either.
They had immediately suspected that she had gone to find Xue Shao.
They had heard that the two had been friends since their humble days.
So they sent people to watch Xue Shao.
Naturally, they were not the only two watching Xue Shao. Sun Yuanzhen had received word as well.
"You mean there are another twelve groups watching Xue Shao?"
"Yes. This subordinate counted carefully. Some of them looked very familiar and should be Lord Yang's people."
"Yang Zan is watching him because, like me, he surely wants to find the Imperial Preceptor. The Imperial Preceptor is now His Majesty's trusted confidante, and she possesses real ability. I have heard that though she is thousands of miles away, she left His Majesty a magical artifact, allowing the two to communicate across a thousand miles. One could say that what happens in Hangzhou today may reach the Emperor's ears even before it reaches mine, the Provincial Administration Commissioner's." Sun Yuanzhen pondered. "But this is supposed to be a secret. There should not be many people who know it. Even Yang Zan may not know, so how could the others recognize the Imperial Preceptor, much less know of her relationship with Xue Shao?"
It gave Sun Yuanzhen the feeling that the secrets he knew were open secrets. Clearly, much of this information should only be known to someone of his rank; others should not know it.
The fact that the Emperor possessed a