Chu Jie keenly noticed Qi Shan's sour mood.
He was a little puzzled.
Wasn't it a good thing that their lord's battle had gone smoothly and she'd come away unscathed?
Chu Jie had only learned in the past couple of years that when their lord was injured, Qi Shan would be injured too. Their lord had told him herself, all to clean up Qi Shan's messes and cover his tracks.
It all went back to that stubborn censor from the Censorate.
Everyone knew Qi Shan came from the once-prominent Qi Clan, now in decline. Anyone who cared to look could find out roughly how much the clan had left in the family coffers. Qi Shan's spending over the years far exceeded both his publicly known income and the Qi Clan's wealth. It was obvious to anyone with eyes that he had some shady income he couldn't bring into the light. The Censorate had been keeping an eye on him over this for quite some time.
The trouble was, Qi Shan's position as branch head of the Assembly of Gods, along with his theft of the Assembly's funds and drawing a salary for doing no work, couldn't be discussed openly or disclosed to the public. As Sovereign, Shen Tang couldn't reprimand a censor for doing his job, either. She had to give the man some sort of answer.
No matter how absurd the excuse, it was better than ignoring him.
So Shen Tang held a small meeting about the matter and bluntly declared that Qi Shan was another life of hers. Besides Chu Yao and Ning Yan, he was the third person in the world who would never betray her. As for Qi Shan's financial affairs, she had looked into them and confirmed there was absolutely nothing to worry about. Her