Zhai Le returned, treading through the morning dew.
Before he could even catch his breath, he received word that Yu Hai wished to see him.
Zhai Le stiffened, a faintly unnatural look crossing his face. His gaze swept over Yu Hai, and he carefully noted that the latter was still wearing yesterday's clothes. Yu Hai had a wasteful habit: whenever circumstances allowed, he changed his clothes every day. He'd even been impeached by the Censorate for it, with officials criticizing him for extravagance. But Yu Hai hadn't paid them any mind. "Did Gui Long stay out all night yesterday?"
Yu Hai said, "Yesterday, I was focused on that man surnamed Lin."
Zhai Le sighed. "Oh. How many groups went?"
Lin Feng's words had shaken many of the war hawks, but those who wanted her dead were still coming in an endless stream. Zhai Le didn't need to think to know how lively the courier station must have been last night. It was probably already a river of blood.
"How many groups there were isn't important."
"Then what is?"
"What matters is guarding against Lin Ling De making trouble behind the scenes. If I hadn't stepped in when I did, I'd have suspected she might hurt herself to frame you and drive you into a dead end." Yu Hai had been Zhai Le's trusted strategist for years, and was also a close friend he could confide in. The two were no longer merely sovereign and subject. "Why don't you think about what kind of person Shen Youli is?"
Zhai Le parted his lips.
His instincts told him to set aside his doubts about the first remark and answer the second. "She's a champion of justice, benevolent to the people and all living things."
A general and a sovereign were worlds apart.