A third-rank high official had become a prisoner in an instant. At the sight, Zhang Sui, standing beside Su Ziji, trembled in fright.
Liu Guangqi merely glanced at Zhang Sui without lingering, clearly uninterested in such an insignificant minor official.
Su Ziji lightly patted Zhang Sui on the shoulder. Zhang Sui could not help looking over, and when their eyes met, he felt the fear that had risen in his heart scatter by more than half beneath his lord's calm gaze.
After patting him, Su Ziji walked toward the carriage Liu Guangqi had prepared for him.
The people standing before the carriage were Ye Buhui, Wild Daoist, and Jian Qu. Unable to step forward earlier, they hurried over only now, after seeing Luo Pei escorted away.
The clothes Ye Buhui wore today differed somewhat from her usual attire. They were more luxurious, and she wore a pearl-and-jade hairpin, with a light dusting of powder on her face. Yet none of this could conceal her haggardness.
A trace of worry filled Ye Buhui's gaze as she looked at Su Ziji. Though that concern was buried beneath the joy of reunion, it was so clear that Su Ziji sensed it at once.
Wild Daoist and Jian Qu were still trembling inwardly from what they had just witnessed.
They had seen with their own eyes how Luo Pei, a dignified third-rank official and imperial envoy leaving the capital, had been majestic not long ago, issuing commands to prefectures and counties, only to be stripped of his black gauze cap and official robes by a single verbal imperial decree, becoming a prisoner at once. The terror of imperial power could only truly be understood when witnessed firsthand.
Who would have thought that the lord I followed was actually the Crown Prince's son? Wild Daoist