Chapter 587

Although Hu Xiaotian only met Tang Boxi today, he already saw that this guy is not as rash as he appears on the surface; in fact he is a person who appears foolish but is actually wise, but what truly puts him on guard is Li Chenzhou—Li Chenzhou's first impression when he appeared before him was not bad; he had thought Li Chenzhou was reasonable and courteous, but he never expected Li Chenzhou to suddenly behead a Dakang warrior; his temperament is changeful, his motives complex, making him hard to read; judging from the current situation, Li Chenzhou's killing perhaps aims to intimidate the members of this Dakang envoy group.

Li Chenzhou has now fully regained his composure, rose and said: "Eunuch Hu, Sir Wu, didn't you come together?"

Tang Boxi laughed again: "Yes, it's Eunuch Hu, Eunuch Hu hahaha!"

Hu Xiaotian smiled calmly: "Thanks to the Emperor's favor, I have been appointed deputy marriage envoy for this bridal party; if you two generals don't stand on ceremony, you may call me by my name, and if you think highly of me, you may call me Hu Younger Brother." He walked to the table and sat down, his expression calm and unwavering, showing no trace of fear.

Tang Boxi stared for a moment, not expecting this little eunuch to have some courage, speaking neither humbly nor arrogantly; no wonder the Emperor of Dakang sent him on this mission.

Li Chenzhou subtly gave a glance, and Tang Boxi then understood, shouting loudly at Hu Xiaotian: "Hey! My brother asked you a question and you haven't answered yet!" His voice boomed like thunder; an ordinary person would probably have been scared into sitting on the ground.

Hu Xiaotian, however, kept his composure, not even glancing at Tang Boxi, and smiled: "Your troops are disciplined and the camp orderly; Sir Wu soaked in the river for half a fright, now he has a terrible headache. I let him rest outside, and Sir Wu asked me to convey his greetings to the two generals."

Li Chenzhou smiled: "I invited the two sirs over for no other reason; the two envoys from Dakang, General Tang specially prepared this banquet to relieve your shock and cleanse your dust."

Tang Boxi spoke in a rough voice: "Yeah! I wanted to give you a welcome feast to wash away the dust, but the princess's side wasn't convenient to invite. I asked you both to come, yet only one showed up—this is no face for me!" He glared with his tiger eyes wide, his bristly beard standing up, looking mighty and fearsome.

Hu Xiaotian cursed inwardly, indeed it's a banquet with no good feast. It seems they deliberately set up a Hongmen banquet to scare me. He smiled: "What face does General Tang want? Does he expect Sir Wu to come despite illness to apologize? Sir Wu holds the post of Minister of Rites in Dakang, a third-rank official; I wonder what rank General Tang holds?"

Tang Boxi was left speechless by Hu Xiaotian's question. If we talk about rank, he is merely a fifth‑grade Dingyuan General. Although Wu Jingshan is the Dakang Ministry of Rites Minister, it would be unreasonable for him to seek face from others.

Li Chenzhou laughed: "Sir Hu, don't take offense; my elder brother always likes to joke, so you must not take it seriously."

Tang Boxi burst out laughing. He stretched out a palm as big as a palm-leaf fan and slapped Hu Xiaotian's shoulder hard twice, wishing he could slap him off the banquet table. Unexpectedly, the eunuch's shoulders were surprisingly sturdy; after taking two slaps from him, Tang Boxi didn't budge an inch. Tang Boxi said, "I was just joking, Eunuch Hu, don't take it to heart."

Hu Xiaotian smiled and said, "I knew Tang Jiangjun was joking. Hahaha, I also like to joke; a frank and straightforward friend like you is someone I can associate with and get along with!" He also raised his hand and gave Tang Jiangjun's shoulder two light thumps, tit for tat—I won't let you slap me twice for nothing.

Although Tang Boxi is thick‑skinned, Hu Xiaotian's two slaps are no light matter—they hit him hard enough to make his flesh ache. Tang Boxi knows Hu Xiaotian is deliberately retaliating, but since he started the quarrel, he now has no choice but to swallow his broken teeth.

Li Chenzhou coughed once, and the guard beside them came over to pour wine. Li Chenzhou lifted his wine bowl and said in a low voice, "Just now we fished up more than twenty corpses. According to the numbers you provided, over three hundred people are still missing; I fear most of them are unlikely to survive."

Hu Xiaotian sighed and said, "I never imagined we would suffer such misfortune; how can we still face the Emperor?"

Li Chenzhou said, "Please accept my condolences, Sir Hu. If there is anything you need our help with, just speak up; as long as it is within our power, we will spare no effort." His words were spoken with complete sincerity.

Hu Xiaotian said, "I would like to ask the two generals to send a ship to take us back to Wuxing Commandery."

Li Chenzhou said, "Once married, there's no turning back! Sir Hu, don't you understand this? Although this unjust disaster has caused heavy losses to the Dakang envoy, Princess Anping is unharmed, and the sixteenth day of the third month is her wedding day with the Seventh Prince; this must not be delayed."

Hu Xiaotian said, "It's only the fifth day of the second month; the wedding is still far off. I have consulted the Princess, and she also wishes to return first to Wuxing Commandery to pack her belongings, since most of the dowry we brought has already sunk into the water."

Li Chenzhou laughed and said, "Wealth is merely an external thing; our great state of Da Yong certainly wouldn't care about that dowry. What truly matters is the Princess's safety—as long as she is unharmed, that's enough. Furthermore, we have just received news that Wuxing Commandery is in the midst of a peasant uprising; the starving masses have surrounded it layer by layer. Even if we sent you back, you couldn't enter Wuxing Commandery, for the area is awash with beacon fires and chaos. If the Princess meets any mishap, not only would you be unable to explain yourselves, but we too could not answer to the Emperor."

Hu Xiaotian faintly realized that turning back was no longer an option; being in Da Yong, Li Chenzhou would not easily let them leave.

Li Chenzhou saw Hu Xiaotian's brows furrowed, knowing he had not given up the idea, and said softly, "Sir Hu, you needn't worry about the dowry. Tang Jiangjun has already issued orders to dispatch the navy to search the waters where the ships foundered; we have already salvaged a considerable amount of luggage, and we believe more of the dowry will continue to be recovered. Please stay here and rest easy; once the salvage is finished, we will inventory the items, help you re‑pack them, and escort you to Yongdu. What do you think, Sir Hu?"

Li Chenzhou had already said as much; Hu Xiaotian could not refuse, and with the situation forcing his hand, the only remaining course was to escort the impostor Princess Zijuan to Yongdu for the wedding. Nodding, Hu Xiaotian said, "Thank you, two generals."

Li Chenzhou said calmly, "Once Princess Anping and the Seventh Prince are married, the two countries will be one family—why stand on ceremony?" By now he had completely calmed down, a stark contrast to the man who had just killed someone.

Hu Xiaotian even suspected that the person before him had been swapped, and he grew more wary of Li Chenzhou, afraid to reveal any flaw in his presence.

Tang Boxi said, "Drink, drink!" He raised his wine bowl and clinked it against Hu Xiaotian's.

Hu Xiaotian merely touched his lips to the wine and then set the bowl down.

Tang Boxi widened his eyes and said, "What's up? Why aren't you drinking? Could it be that you look down on us?"

Hu Xiaotian sighed and said, "Tang Jiangjun, Li Jiangjun, today's tragedy is still vivid before my eyes. Thinking of the many brothers and friends who have died, I truly feel sorrowful; they will never see tomorrow's sun, yet I sit here drinking… I simply cannot bring myself to drink this wine." Hu Xiaotian slowly set the bowl on the table, lifted his sleeve, and pretended to wipe his eyes.

Tang Boxi glanced at Li Chenzhou, then suddenly slammed his wine bowl onto the table, sending wine splashing everywhere, and shouted, "Eunuch Hu, I, Tang Boxi, invited you to drink out of goodwill; if you don't want to drink, fine—but spouting this nonsense about ill intentions is just a pretext for looking down on me and denying me face."

Hu Xiaotian silently sneered, thinking, "Tang Boxi is merely following Li Chenzhou's cues, jumping around here—one playing the good cop, the other the bad cop—as if I were some little eunuch in the Dakang palace, easily frightened!" Hu Xiaotian said, "Tang Jiangjun, you've misunderstood; I certainly do not look down on you. If it weren't for Tang Jiangjun leading the troops to rescue us, I would have drowned in the river's middle and would not have the chance to sit here and drink."

Tang Boxi, still angry, retorted, "So you suspect my wine is poisoned? You're worried I'll harm you?"

Hu Xiaotian said, "Da Yong and Dakang are both great nations; how could such a great state produce petty villains? If Tang Jiangjun wanted to kill me, why go through the trouble of rescuing me? Even if he had saved me and then changed his mind, if he now wanted to kill him, his nature would surely have him draw his sword openly and honestly—he would never resort to such despicable, shameless, underhanded tricks."

"Uh…" Tang Boxi never imagined Hu Xiaotian would be such a slick talker; left speechless by his words, he didn't know how to respond for a moment.

Li Chenzhou's eyes gleamed with appreciation. Although he had initially guessed that Hu Xiaotian, despite his youth, could be entrusted with important duties by the Dakang Emperor and must have extraordinary talent, he still lacked a precise assessment of his abilities. Tonight's banquet was arranged as an opportunity to cooperate with Tang Boxi in putting on a good show, hoping to extract more information about the shipwreck from Hu Xiaotian and Wu Jingshan. However, Wu Jingshan claimed illness and did not attend; although Hu Xiaotian is merely a eunuch, he is an extremely difficult opponent to deal with.

Li Chenzhou said, "Please accept my condolences, Sir Hu. Since the incident has already occurred, no amount of grief will help; the only thing to do is to rally our spirits, raise morale, and escort Princess Anping to Yongdu as soon as possible to fulfill your sovereign's mission—that is the proper course."

Hu Xiaotian nodded and said, "Li Jiangjun is absolutely right." He lifted the wine bowl before him and slowly poured its contents onto the ground, saying in a low voice, "I offer this modest cup of wine in tribute to the fallen soldiers' spirits." As he spoke, he squeezed out two tears, which only made his words seem more sincere and heartfelt.

Tang Boxi said, "What a waste of good wine!" He, too, was a lover of drink to the point of obsession, and seeing Hu Xiaotian pour out the wine made him feel a pang of regret.

Just as Hu Xiaotian had set down the empty bowl, a guard came over and refilled it for him.

Li Chenzhou lifted his wine bowl and said, "Sir Hu, one drink to dispel a thousand worries—down this bowl and your heart will feel a little better." (To be continued~^~)