Qi Danai deliberately put on a secretive air. "I heard that once we get to the Heavenly Dragon Temple, we'll have to eat vegetarian meals and chant sutras with His Majesty. We won't see a scrap of meat for an entire month!"
Hu Xiaotian nodded. "Vegetarian food at every meal." What a load of bullshit. You expect to eat meat in a Buddhist temple?
One of the bodyguards asked, "Sir, will there be wine?"
Hu Xiaotian shook his head. "You can forget about that, too."
A plump bodyguard was plainly playing dumb. "Then... what about women?"
Everyone burst out laughing. Hu Xiaotian reached out and felt the fellow's forehead. "You haven't got a fever, have you?"
The plump bodyguard touched his own forehead as well. "I've been standing in the sun too long. I do feel a little dizzy!"
Hu Xiaotian said, "You're not feverish. You're just horny." These idiots actually dare to make fun of me! His piercing gaze swept across them. "Let me make the ugly truth clear up front. If anything happens to His Majesty, I'll be the first to bear responsibility, so we must prevent every possible mishap. If something goes wrong and my superiors won't spare me, then I won't spare you!" His words bristled with murderous menace, his commanding presence unmistakable.
The bodyguards were secretly alarmed. They began to realize that their new deputy commander might not be so easy to deal with after all.
At the You Hour that day, a procession quietly left the Imperial Palace through the North Gate. Unlike the ostentatious pomp and elaborate arrangements of the emperor's previous outings, this departure was exceptionally discreet. They even dispensed with the gongs and drums that normally cleared the way. Apart from twelve eunuchs attending to the emperor's daily needs, there were