Slap on the Mouth

When a personal guard came to summon him inside, Zhang Sui did not even straighten his appearance. He went in looking utterly bedraggled.

"My lord!" The moment he saw Luo Pei, he dropped straight to his knees, his eyes reddening. "This subordinate nearly never saw you again. You must seek justice for this subordinate—for Lord Su!"

"What happened to you?" Luo Pei had only just risen. He had received the county magistrate and was about to have breakfast when he heard Zhang Sui had returned, battered and injured. Though he had been mentally prepared, hearing the personal guards' description was still different from seeing it with his own eyes. One look, and he was startled.

This man was the guide he had ordered to accompany Su Ziji to Shunan Prefecture. If he was in such a state, could something have happened to Su Ziji?

"Get up and report!"

"Yes!" Zhang Sui did not even need to put on an act to make himself look pitiful. Wiping his eyes, he began recounting what had happened when they stayed at an inn for the night.

"...This subordinate was also to blame for mistaking jackals and wolves for companions. I never expected that, as guards and imperial troops with official ranks, men who held official posts and enjoyed the state's stipend, they would be so utterly devoid of conscience—betraying the Emperor's grace and committing deeds even more vicious than bandits!"

Zhang Sui spoke with great indignation, embellishing what had originally been a truthful report.

This included the fact that a waiter had been working in the front hall at the time. When the fighting suddenly broke out, Su Ziji's armored soldiers had accidentally killed the waiter amid the chaos.

This matter, too, was pinned on Xun Sichen's group.

"At the time, Xun Sichen