In the hall, after Lou Yingqi's words fell—
an eerie silence descended.
Ren Weizhi's expression turned exceedingly ugly.
He narrowed his eyes at Lou Yingqi, who looked ready to leap up and curse him out.
Lou Yingqi, equally unwilling to yield, glared right back at him.
Their gazes met, as though sparks of lightning crackled between them.
Meanwhile, Father, standing at the heart of the verbal battle, sank into thought.
Zeng Shilin glanced at Lou Yingqi.
His brows knit slightly.
He had some impression of Lou Yingqi, but not much.
Back in their younger days at the Imperial Academy, Lou Yingqi's talent in the Confucian Path had been utterly mediocre.
He had merely been an obscure figure at the fringes.
Let alone paying him any attention, if Zeng Shilin did not think carefully, he would not even have remembered such a person existed.
That Lou Yingqi had managed to become a secretary had already surprised him somewhat.
For him to openly go to war with his superior like this...
No matter how one looked at it, was that not digging his own grave?
Could he be intending to join this old man's ranks?
A strange expression flashed across Father's face.
A third-rank grand official of the imperial court—
joining the ranks of someone who had only just arrived in the capital?
This...
Was suspicious.
Having weathered half a lifetime in officialdom, Father naturally knew that the factions at court were tangled and numerous.
First of all, Li Zhen had served as Grand Chancellor for nearly twenty years, and there were countless people bound to him by shared interests.
His roots at court ran deep.
That was why His Majesty had supported Si Zhongxiao, intending to use him to check the Li Faction.
Yet this also exposed a problem.
The