"How did he die?" Zhang Ju asked urgently.
"I don't know, but all sorts of stories are going around. Quite a few people say it was because of his clash with your cousin at Fortune's Arrival Tower. Hou Xiao was badly injured then, and they couldn't save him after he went back," the man said, lowering his voice. "You'd best keep your distance from that cousin of yours, sir. Don't let the fire at the city gates catch you, a fish in the moat."
With that, he cupped his hands and hurried away.
Zhang Ju stood there, his expression shifting. After thinking for a long while, he sighed, steeled himself, and ran toward the East Observatorium. He had to tell Chen Cuo at once.
But at the gate, two guards stopped him.
"Without an order from our superiors, no one else may enter."
Zhang Ju identified himself. "I'm an editor with the Directorate of Historiography."
The guards shook their heads. "No order, no entry."
Zhang Ju then brought up his kinship with the Marquis of Linru County, but the two guards still refused to let him through.
With no other choice, he asked them to go in and pass along the news while he paced outside the hall.
But the guard who went in did not come back for a long time, and Zhang Ju grew anxious.
At last, unable to wait any longer, he went up to ask again.
The guard looked somewhat embarrassed. "The Marquis of Linru County has often shut himself away to study these past three days. He's been copying books by hand, saying it helps him remember them. Whenever he does, a Collation Gentleman stands nearby and keeps people from disturbing him. Otherwise, passing on a message would hardly be this complicated."
Zhang Ju frowned,