Storm Clouds over Changming Prefecture

Jiang Wang asked curiously, "How come you have to sneak around just to see an old friend?"

He'd been puzzled from the moment he arrived. Yan Fu was wealthy, certainly, but he wasn't the sort to put on airs. Why, then, had he set out a banquet in the courtyard and waited in grand style, only to send a servant to fetch Jiang Wang?

"I'm ashamed to say it." Yan Fu's usually mild, unruffled face was now quite bitter. "The Huaying Palace Mistress put it out there that every time she saw me, she'd beat me up. I can't beat her, so I had to lie low."

Yan Fu was absurdly rich, yet he never took much interest in anything or anyone. He'd always been as steady as the Eight Winds, unmoved by honor or disgrace. Finally seeing him get the worst of it...

To be honest, it was rather entertaining.

Jiang Wang picked up a morsel of food and put it in his mouth. He chewed slowly, savoring the lingering flavor, before asking, "Marriage and funerals are private family affairs. Why is the Huaying Palace Mistress holding a grudge against you?"

Yan Fu stopped with his wine cup halfway to his lips and shot him a look. "Brother Jiang, why pretend you don't know?"

He knew perfectly well that Chongxuan Sheng couldn't keep a secret. At the very least, he wouldn't be able to resist telling Jiang Wang, even though Yan Fu had specifically asked him not to.

He was right, but because of Zhu Biqiong, Chongxuan Sheng hadn't yet had the chance to tell Jiang Wang all the details: how he'd watched Jiang Wuyou beat him up, and what a state he'd been left in. But... Jiang Wang himself couldn't hold back his curiosity, and had asked Zheng