Absent from Court

Beijing.

Jiang Danhe tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep. It had been many days since he sent the letter to Xiaoguo. Enough time should have passed for the reply letter to reach him. Why was there still no sign of it?

Were the hints in his letter too subtle that Xiaoguo did not manage to catch them?

The more he thought about it, the more likely it seemed. Jiang Danhe was losing sleep. If he had known, he wouldn’t have dropped hints. He would have directly told her that he was hoping for her reply. He also wished for them to write more frequently in the future…

He should have known better. From now until next spring, he would have nothing to look forward to.

After falling asleep in a daze, he woke up again not long after. The reason was that Li Shouji, who was simply looking for trouble, had been creating a commotion outside again. He could hear him even if he was a hundred miles away.

Jiang Danhe sat up abruptly and was about to go out. Then, he listened carefully and did not hear anything. For a moment, he thought that he was hallucinating and lay back down.

However, the noise started again. Jiang Danhe could hear it clearly this time. He put on his clothes, opened the door, and walked out.

“Li Shouji!”

Jiang Danhe came to the courtyard and realized that there was no one around. He started looking around for him.

When Li Shouji heard someone call his name, he thought that he was hearing things. How could Jiang Danhe be at home? He should be at court during this hour.

Hence, he frowned and continued working on the object in his hands. He didn’t expect it to be so difficult to fix. How was he going to open this?

Jiang Danhe was wondering where Li Shouji was, but after hearing the sounds, he figured out his location. It turned out that he was hiding in the backyard.

When Jiang Danhe arrived at the backyard, he was blocked by a pile of metal plates. He looked at Li Shouji, who had his back facing him. Jiang Danhe couldn’t tell what he was doing, but there were many metal plates scattered around him.

He held back the anger in his heart. So this was why he had not gone to the military camp for so long!

“Li Shouji.” Jiang Danhe was furious and was on the verge of flaring up. However, he tried his best to calm down and called out to him in a gentle voice.

“Huh?” Li Shouji’s hands paused for a moment before he threw the things in his hands aside. “Impossible. Impossible.”

“…”

Jiang Danhe had no choice but to reach out and pat his shoulder.

“Stop fooling around!” Li Shouji was a little upset to be suddenly disturbed. It wasn’t easy to find time to fiddle with these things without Jiang Danhe knowing.

Jiang Danhe knew that this insensitive fellow would definitely not turn around to look, not to mention that his mind was now filled with this pile of precious copper and iron.

He sighed helplessly and walked around to stand in front of him.

Li Shouji finally noticed the additional pair of legs in front of him.

“Hmm? The boots looked good. The robe was fine too. This person looks very familiar.”

“You didn’t go to court?!”

Li Shouji suddenly looked up at Jiang Danhe. At the same time, his heart turned cold. “Goodbye, precious metals…”

“Court?!”

“What time is it?!”

When Jiang Danhe heard this, he forgot about questioning Li Shouji. For once, he looked panic-stricken. “Damn it, I dozed off and forgot to attend court!”

Li Shouji snickered. So he had forgotten about the court meeting. He said calmly, “In any case, it’s not the time for you to be at home.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Jiang Danhe flew into the house at lightning speed. He changed into his official uniform and washed up as quickly as he could.

Li Shouji looked at his afterimage and laughed happily. Then, he stroked the copper and iron pieces in front of him lovingly. It seemed that he could spend the entire day with them after all. He was so happy…

The coachman, who had gotten quite bored waiting at the door, was already sitting in the carriage. He was wondering why the general was so late today.

Just as he was about to pack up and bring the horses back to the residence, Jiang Danhe arrived.

He quickly stood up and welcomed the general into the carriage.

“You’re not needed today. Go back.”

As he spoke, he ignored the coachman and got on the horse that his soldiers had prepared for him. He sped towards the palace like a gust of wind.

The people on the street hurriedly got out of the way. The horses kicked up a cloud of dust and disappeared into the distance.

The coachman and the soldiers on guard looked at each other with strange looks in their eyes. It was rare for the general to be so anxious.

When Jiang Danhe arrived at the throne room, the civil and military officials had just been dismissed from the meeting. They were surprised to see Jiang Danhe, who had arrived late.

Before they could exchange pleasantries with him, Jiang Danhe quietly avoided the crowd and walked towards the royal court.

The high-ranking officials who had missed the chance to speak with him, looked at each other in dismay. Looking at Jiang Danhe’s back view, they started to praise him in admiration.

“It’s really amazing that the general has achieved so much at such a young age.”

“That’s right. He has won so many victories on the battlefield at such a young age. He’s really the pillar of our country. What an exceptional talent.”

“He is here to attend court despite being unwell. In my opinion, such loyalty and patriotism is truly hard to come by.”

“That’s right!” another military attaché said loudly. “The General is really admirable!”

The skinny, old official stroked his beard and did not hide the look of calculation in his eyes. “I wonder if the general is single or married?”

As soon as he said that, everyone who had a daughter of marriageable age started harboring the same thoughts. “The General is so outstanding and is much favored by the emperor. If my daughter could catch his eye, wouldn’t that be…”

All of them were watching Jiang Danhe’s back with scheming looks. If Jiang Danhe were to turn around, he would see the ministers looking at him with eerie green lights in their eyes.

Jiang Danhe finally got to the door after trying to make his way through the group of officials. He turned around and looked in bafflement at the ministers behind him. For some reason, they kept asking him if he was well. Did he look very weak?

After making his way past the ministers, Jiang Danhe felt a rare sense of nervousness. This seemed to be the first time he was late for court.

“No, strictly speaking, he was absent from court.”

He cautiously arrived at the hall. Fortunately, the emperor had not left yet. He was on the throne, giving instructions to Eunuch Su. Seeing that neither of them was paying attention to him, he quietly moved to the center and stood still.

Eunuch Su was nodding respectfully at the emperor when he glanced over and spotted Jiang Danhe standing there with his head lowered.

Shao Zhan was saying something. After a long time, when Eunuch Su did not respond, he looked up strangely and saw him smiling at something in front of him.

As he looked towards that direction, he saw Jiang Danhe. With a wave of his hand, he signaled at Eunuch Su. Eunuch Su bowed and left with everyone else. The hall was now left with the two men staring at each other.

“How awkward. Say something. If you don’t start, how am I going to admit my mistake?”

“Alright, you’re not going to speak, are you? You have missed the court session for no reason, and you are still not apologizing?” Fortunately, Shao Zhan reacted quickly. When he saw that Jiang Danhe wasn’t around this morning, he immediately made up an excuse for him, saying that he was unwell. That at least helped to explain his absence to the ministers. Otherwise, who knows what could have happened?

There was another silence. They just signaled each other with their eyes, urging the other party to speak.

After a while, Shao Zhan spoke first, but he didn’t talk about Jiang Danhe’s absence.

“I’ll punish you. Do you admit your mistake?”

Jiang Danhe’s eyelids twitched as he stole a glance at the person on the throne. As soon as he said “I”, the uncomfortable feeling of being dominated came back to him.

“Your Majesty, I admit it.” How could he not admit it?

“That’s good.” Shao Zhan smiled. “Jiang Danhe, oh Jiang Danhe, you’re at my mercy today. Get ready for the storm!”

Jiang Danhe lowered his head and bowed. The goosebumps were emerging…

“Come, let’s go and have breakfast.”

Shao Zhan took the lead and walked in front with Jiang Danhe following behind. When they reached a quiet spot, the two of them started walking side by side. During this time, Shao Zhan would occasionally poke Jiang Danhe with his arm. It was obvious that he was very happy. Even if he did not get a response from the other party, he was still happy.

How could Shao Zhan not be happy? Jiang Danhe was not afraid of anything, so Shao Zhan tried all sorts of ways to find his weakness. Finally, there was one time when he found what Jiang Danhe was afraid of—to stay with him in the palace all day.