It was still the corner diagonally opposite the mourning tent.
The difference was that the high-backed chair Sun Shaozong had originally straddled had been replaced with a rosewood reclining chair. He held a gilded hand warmer depicting Kuafu Chasing the Sun, while a snow leopard pelt blanket lay over his knees.
Had he not firmly declined, there would even have been two maids at his sides, specially assigned to serve tea and pastries.
Most of this, naturally, came from Madam You's eager attentiveness.
But it was also because Sun Shaozong's current status was enough to command serious treatment—otherwise, no matter how much Madam You wished to curry favor with him, she would still have had to mind what others thought.
The rotten privilege of class.
Silently musing on this, Sun Shaozong accepted a freshly brewed cup of Wuyi Da Hong Pao from Chen Jingde. As he lowered his head to savor the curling fragrant steam, he read through the interrogation testimony that had just been delivered, line by line and word by word.
Just as he had expected, the words "righteous indignation" practically leaped from the page after only a few lines.
According to the confession of Ma Yizhen, the "principal offender," he had accidentally discovered more than half a month ago that Zhao Yixiong was having an affair with Master's Wife Ma Chunfang. He had spent several sleepless days debating whether he should tell his master, Hongyuan Zhenren.
It so happened that Ma Yizhen, Zhao Yixiong, and Liu Yiwei had been ordered to travel to Jiangxi to confirm the many arrangements for Contemporary Zhang Tianshi's journey north after the beginning of spring next year.
At the time, Ma Yizhen had felt that Heaven must have intended to use him to cleanse the sect, which was why it had bestowed