From Hu Xiaotian's words and manner, Xiong Anmin had already guessed his identity: he must be the Deputy Marriage Envoy for this journey, Hu Xiaotian, a newly risen eunuch enjoying great favor at the Imperial Palace. He asked tentatively, "Might you be Lord Hu?"
Hu Xiaotian smiled. "Xiong Da, important men really do have short memories."
Xiong Anmin was utterly bewildered. I don't think I've ever had any dealings with you. Why are you treating me so warmly? He knew his own standing well enough. How could a lowly official in Cangmu County ever have had a chance to cultivate ties with such a favored figure?
Hu Xiaotian said, "Xiong Da, surely we can't keep the princess waiting outside the city forever?"
Only at this reminder did Xiong Anmin come to his senses. He hastily ordered men to lead the way and welcome Princess Anping into the city.
Cangmu's county seat was a landscape of scars and devastation. Its streets were sparsely populated, and most of the commoners they passed wore ragged clothes and had sallow faces and emaciated bodies. In the dusk, an inexplicable desolation and loneliness hung over the entire city. Never mind a post station-there was not even a single respectable building in the county seat. The wealthy had long since moved south. Repeated floods over the past two years had brought famine in their wake, and any commoners with the means had also left to find a livelihood elsewhere. Those who remained were mostly the old, the weak, the sick, and the disabled, along with soldiers stationed there under orders.
The county offices were deserted too, even more impoverished and dilapidated than Azure Cloud County, where Hu Xiaotian had once served. Apart from a main hall, there was only an empty courtyard. After discussing it with