An Emperor Comes Calling

"Don't let anyone see me for the next while, whether we know them or not!"

"All right!"

"If Wei Shao'er comes looking for me, tell him to find me at the East Sima Gate!"

"The East Sima Gate? All right!"

Rong Tianding didn't understand why Wei Shao'er was supposed to go to the East Sima Gate, but he agreed readily enough.

Zhang Xuezhou wanted to lie low somewhere hidden for the next twelve days, so no one would discover that something was wrong.

The Yang Mausoleum was no snug little radish hole, but a pit of sludge.

Zhang Xuezhou could hardly hope to come out ahead in a place like that, and he reckoned Jin Chang couldn't either.

He had gone into the imperial mausoleum for a look, but he hadn't breathed a word to Jin Chang about what he had found.

Zhang Xuezhou wasn't afraid of Jin Chang stirring up trouble. The Yang Mausoleum's defenses would most likely stop him; Zhang Xuezhou was only afraid that the fellow would be caught while using his identity.

That made Zhang Xuezhou think he couldn't lie around somewhere normal. It would be best if he looked as though he had been bound or subjected to something similar.

If anyone investigated, he could at least claim to have been confined by a great cultivator while on official business, and even beaten so badly that he needed a long rest of twelve days.

The court had always treated those injured on official business generously. Even Xu Wuduo and the others had been given comfortable posts for their remaining years.

Zhang Xuezhou went over it all in his mind and felt there were no more loose ends.

Human nature had always been hard to guarantee, and everyone had their own schemes. Even so, he wasn't