After lunch, Hu Xiaotian and Wanyan Liexin parted outside the Aftertaste Tower. Still preoccupied with Huo Xiaoru, Hu Xiaotian walked a few steps before deciding to turn back and find Xiang Shancong. When he reached the entrance, he found the waiter waiting there with a broad smile. At the sight of Hu Xiaotian, he said cheerfully, "I knew you would be back, Your Highness."
Hu Xiaotian could not help laughing. "I never would have guessed you could foresee the future."
"I have no such ability," the waiter replied. "My proprietor told me to wait here for you."
Hu Xiaotian nodded. Xiang Shancong must have guessed that he had too many questions to ask him privately, and had therefore calculated that he would return.
The waiter led Hu Xiaotian down a side alley to the rear of the Aftertaste Tower. They entered through the back gate, passed through two more doorways, and arrived in the courtyard behind the building, where Xiang Shancong stood beside a fish pond, scattering fish food into the water.
"Proprietor Xiang, what leisurely pleasures you enjoy!" Hu Xiaotian remarked.
Xiang Shancong tossed the remaining fish food into the pond, then turned to Hu Xiaotian with a smile. "These days, this old man does nothing but eat away his savings and wait for death."
Hu Xiaotian burst out laughing.
Xiang Shancong invited Hu Xiaotian to sit at a stone table beneath the shade of a tree, then went to wash his hands. The waiter brought over the tea utensils, and Xiang Shancong brewed the tea himself. After sitting down, he said, "Actually, ever since I heard you had returned to the Kang Capital, I've been thinking of paying you a visit. But I feared it would be presumptuous, and worried you might have forgotten me."
"My memory isn't