Huo Shengnan said, "Actually, Lord Hu, whatever you want to accomplish, you could use other means. There's no need to attract attention this way."
Hu Xiaotian heard the implication in her words. He lifted his cup and took a few sips of tea to slow the conversation, thinking to himself that Huo Shengnan had apparently seen through his reason for causing trouble at Qichen Palace.
Huo Shengnan said, "When you went to Benevolence Garden earlier, you could have told the Empress Dowager frankly about everything you'd experienced since coming to the Yong Capital. Why didn't you mention a word of it?"
Hu Xiaotian said, "I went to Benevolence Garden to treat the Empress Dowager, and at the time, I was there as a disciple of the Divine Farmer Society. If I'd told her the truth, wouldn't she have suspected I had an ulterior motive?"
Huo Shengnan said, "But you had opportunities afterward, too."
Hu Xiaotian sighed. "General Huo, to be frank, ever since our delegation arrived in the Yong Capital, we've been given the cold shoulder at every turn and subjected to humiliation at every moment. I used to think Great Yong was a vast nation that observed propriety and etiquette—how could it behave this way? Perhaps some petty villains were behind these incidents, and perhaps everything would improve once the Great Yong Imperial House learned what was happening. Wishing to avoid harming relations between our countries as much as possible, we valued harmony and put forbearance first. Yet we've been in the Yong Capital for days now, and forget an audience with your emperor—not even a respectable minister has come to receive us. Tell me, isn't such behavior discourteous? How could we not be angry?"
Huo Shengnan's swordlike brows knitted tightly, and shame appeared on her lovely face. Although