Gu Chi silently played the role of background scenery and watched the show.
From time to time, he stole a glance at Qin Li.
He grumbled inwardly: If thoughts could kill... my lord would probably be dead without a whole corpse by now.
When it came to shamelessness, his lord was truly shameless.
And yet, none of the three parties present could say anything.
After all, everyone knew Shen Tang was broke.
Calling her out to her face would only damage their "friendship."
What surprised Qin Li and the others was that after they had gone through several rounds of drinks—while they drank, Lord Shen substituted tea for wine, saying she had a poor tolerance and worried she might offend everyone if she drank too much. Shang Nan and Tianhai accepted this explanation, and the messenger from Yiru had no objections either—Shen Tang took advantage of the pleasant atmosphere and brought up the matter of supplying provisions.
As the party receiving help, they still had to observe the proper courtesies. But Shen Tang also tactfully hinted at Heyin's difficult circumstances, explaining that the military provisions she could supply might not be all that plentiful.
She would write to Wu Xian and the others herself later to explain.
Her words were frank and sincere.
Qin Li smiled as he chatted, betraying nothing on the surface. He said that given the relationship between their two families, the amount of provisions didn't matter. Yet inwardly, he was puzzled: Just what is Lord Shen playing at? Could it be she never intended to sponge off us for grain in the first place?
He had already assumed this was a carefully designed scheme—a sunlit stratagem—and had been on edge ever since entering Heyin, scrutinizing every word and action of Shen Tang's for hidden calculations. Who