"What business do you have?"
Wang Weng sat in the seat of honor, showing no intention of offering a greeting even to a Gentleman of the Court.
He now enjoyed Sun Hao's deep favor and was exceedingly pleased with himself.
This had given him great courage. He dared to bluster even before the court's senior ministers, let alone a mere Gentleman of the Court.
Xiong Yi looked at the old fraud before him, but showed little courtesy either. He sat directly beside him without any thought of saluting.
"I heard that you won His Majesty's favor through a few tricks of sophistry and the sort of sleight of hand used to fool children, Lord Wang."
Wang Weng flew into a rage. He immediately interrupted Xiong Yi and cursed, "You scoundrel, spouting nonsense! How dare you humiliate me like this! I shall report you to His Majesty shortly and have you put to death!"
There was no fear in Xiong Yi's eyes. He said earnestly, "My father was an upright man. When he served as Inspector, he was deeply loved and respected by the people. When he served as a minister, he never once neglected his duties and discharged them faithfully. Merely because he saw His Majesty acting cruelly and offered a word of remonstrance, the emperor ordered him beaten to death with knife handles."
For some reason, Wang Weng's anger subsided somewhat upon hearing this.
"Leave."
He waved his hand.
Yet Xiong Yi looked at him. "You may not know this, but before my father remonstrated with the emperor, he enjoyed the emperor's deep favor. Yet just one sentence brought him such treatment."
"And there was Wei Yao. Whenever the emperor held a banquet, because Wei Yao was too old to drink, the emperor allowed him to substitute tea for