When he said stand, they stood; when he said sit, they sat. The Great Li National Teacher's word was law.
What did it mean to look down on everyone and overwhelm them by sheer force of presence? This was probably it.
Yu Shiwu felt helpless. He had been pressed into service as a recorder at the last minute, and with the young National Teacher's opening remarks—especially that string of references to "Shiwu"—was he supposed to write them down or not?
Had Chen Ping'an already prepared to make enemies of everyone aboard the boat?
Had Emperor Song He taken a Cross-Continent Ferry all the way to Northern Juluzhou to avoid any appearance of impropriety, leaving the young National Teacher free to act without restraint?
Pei Mao was like the rafter that stuck out first, yet no one in the room dared laugh at the Patrol Envoy. Instead, they felt a touch of the grief of hares when the fox died. If even Patrol Envoy Pei was being singled out by the National Teacher, anyone who dared voice an objection today would surely fare worse. Who in this room lacked an illustrious family background? Who did not have a Merit Book to their name? Bluntly put, apart from the newly appointed National Teacher Chen, who in Great Li would speak to Patrol Envoy Pei this way?
Pei Mao had been the last to rise and greet the National Teacher today, and the first to sit back down. His expression remained unchanged, his bearing calm.
Minister of Rites Zhao Duanyin breathed a sigh of relief. He had truly feared his friend Pei Mao would start a fight with National Teacher Chen on the spot. How was a frail scholar like him supposed to stop it? Of course, given National Teacher Chen's martial prowess,