Led by Fu Lu, Ning Chen’s party came to the front of an imposing compound.

The Hall of Martial Honor!

This Hall of Martial Honor was where Wu received foreign envoys, much like Great Xuan’s Hall of the Four Barbarians.

The Hall of Martial Honor had two gates.

A main gate and a side gate.

The main gate was naturally for people.

The side gate was where the livestock and the mules went.

Fu Lu, smiling like a Maitreya Buddha, gestured toward the side gate. “Gentlemen, this way please!”

Shen Min and the others darkened at once.

To make them use the side gate was a naked insult, and nothing else.

Everyone looked at Ning Chen.

Ning Chen’s expression was untroubled, a faint smile on his face.

He looked at Fu Lu. “We are the guests. How could we go ahead of Lord Fu? After you, Lord Fu!”

Fu Lu’s expression stiffened slightly.

“Marquis Ning is our honored guest. Of course we must treat him with proper courtesy… After you, my lord marquis!”

Ning Chen gave a slight nod. “Very well. Then I won’t stand on ceremony!”

Fu Lu and the other Wu officials watched Ning Chen and his party with mockery all over their faces.

“Hyah!!!”

Ning Chen squeezed his knees against the horse’s belly and gave the reins a light pull.

Diaochan let out a shrill whinny and reared, both forehooves flying high toward Fu Lu and the rest.

The color drained from Fu Lu and the others, and they scattered to either side in a panic, terrified of being trampled.

Diaochan’s forehooves came down, and she strode cheerfully away between the Wu officials.

“Keep up!”

Ning Chen said it mildly.

Pan Yucheng and the rest came to their senses and hurried their horses after him.

Ning Chen did not even bother to dismount. He simply rode his horse straight in through the main gate.

Pan Yucheng and the others followed close behind.

The whole party swept in through the main gate in grand procession.

When Fu Lu and the rest came around, their faces were iron-dark.

Insufferable arrogance!

Riding a horse into the hall was naked provocation and naked insult.

Every fall of those hooves seemed to land on their faces, and their cheeks burned with it.

Li Ruishi frowned at Fu Lu. “Her Majesty instructed us again and again that these are peace talks, that we are to treat them with proper courtesy… What did Lord Fu mean by that? Does he want to wreck the talks?”

Something savage flashed in Fu Lu’s eyes, but a smile appeared on his face, and he said:

“Lord Li Ruishi puts it too strongly. If these are peace talks, then they are a contest of interests… I only wanted to take the envoys of Great Xuan down a peg at the outset, and win a greater advantage for our Wu.”

Li Ruishi said heavily, “Has Lord Fu not taken far too much for granted? That is Ning Chen.”

Fu Lu smiled. “I was rash… It won’t happen again!”

“Let Lord Li Ruishi’s anger cool. Let us go in too.”

Li Ruishi said nothing further. He turned, about to go in, and heard a crash.

Every one of the Wu officials froze.

The main gate had been shut.

The Wu officials looked at one another, and their faces darkened by degrees.

Fu Lu said furiously, “Open the gate!”

A guard stepped up and tried to push it open. He put every ounce of strength he had into it, and the gate did not budge a hair.

“My lord, it’s barred from the inside.”

Fu Lu’s face twitched.

The Wu officials were beside themselves with rage.

The main gate shut, and barred from within on top of it… To get inside at all, they would have to use the side gate.

They could hardly pull the main gate down, could they?

To tear down your own gate was worse for the face than using the side gate.

And besides, the plaque over the main gate had been written by the woman emperor’s own hand. Who would dare lay a finger on it?

Fu Lu could not manage a smile at all now. His face was so dark it was nearly dripping.

Wonderful. He had meant to humiliate the mission from Great Xuan… and instead he had put himself astride a tiger with no way to get down.

The Wu officials looked at Fu Lu, not one of them pleased… Trying to be clever. What did you have to go provoking Ning Chen for?

If the common people knew nothing of what Ning Chen had done, that was one thing.

But you are a Minister of Rites. You of all people ought to know Ning Chen well… Is Ning Chen a soft touch?

This time it is peace talks, for the sake of peace and growth between two kingdoms… Don’t you have anything better to do? What did you make trouble for their mission for?

Wonderful. He picked up a stone and dropped it on his own foot.

Inside the courtyard, Feng Qizheng and the others were staring fixedly at the side gate.

“Ning Chen, do you think they’ll come in through the side gate?”

Ning Chen was about to speak when Chen Chong said with a wicked laugh, “If they don’t use the side gate, they’ll have to pull down their own front gate, and that’s a worse loss of face.”

Shen Min, all smiles, looked at Ning Chen. “His Majesty is wise. There wasn’t a thing wrong in sending you.”

Li Hongzhuo frowned and said heavily, “We came here for peace talks. Isn’t this going too far?”

The others were not pleased.

Weren’t the men of Wu the ones who made trouble for us first? Why is the old fellow’s elbow turning outward?

Ning Chen glanced at Li Hongzhuo. “Lord Li Hongzhuo has a point. We came to talk peace, and we truly shouldn’t take it too far… Lord Li Hongzhuo, to express our apologies, may I trouble you to go and open the main gate?”

Seeing Ning Chen take his advice so readily, Li Hongzhuo nodded in satisfaction.

He walked over and opened the main gate.

The instant the gate came open, Li Hongzhuo realized something was wrong.

Would the Wu officials assume it was he who had shut the gate? And hold it against him?

He looked back at Ning Chen with narrowed eyes.

Ning Chen was watching him, eyes crinkled with amusement, and said, “Lord Li Hongzhuo, hurry and get the gate open, invite the lords in… You really are something. Have you taken this place for your own back garden?”

Li Hongzhuo’s face turned indescribably ugly in an instant.

When he noticed the way the Wu officials were looking at him, their eyes all but shooting fire… he understood that Ning Chen had set him up.

He gave an awkward laugh. “My lords, please come in!”

Ning Chen smiled. “Lord Li Hongzhuo, this is Wu’s Hall of Martial Honor, not our Great Xuan’s Hall of the Four Barbarians. How is it you’re behaving like the master of the house?”

“We are the guests. How should the guest take the host’s seat?”

Li Hongzhuo’s old face was so dark it was nearly dripping.

Fu Lu and the others walked in.

As every Wu official passed by Li Hongzhuo, there was either a cold snort or an unfriendly look.

Ning Chen swung down from the saddle and came forward to meet them. “My lords, I am truly sorry… Our Lord Li Hongzhuo had taken this place for his own back garden.”

“I apologize to you all on his behalf, and I hope you will bear with us.”

Fu Lu’s smile did not reach past his skin. They were not fools either… Great Xuan’s mission was headed by Ning Chen, and without Ning Chen’s consent, would Li Hongzhuo have dared do such a thing?

“Marquis Ning and the rest of you have had a hard journey. Let me see you settled in your lodgings first.”

They had meant to take the mission from Great Xuan down a peg, and had ended up slapped in the face themselves… A shameful business like this was better put behind them quickly.

Ning Chen and his party were installed in the west courtyard of the Hall of Martial Honor.

“Rest a while, gentlemen. I have already had a banquet prepared and will entertain you later!”

The smile was gone from Fu Lu’s face, and he spoke with neither warmth nor coldness.

Ning Chen, however, was beaming. “Very good. We’re obliged to you, Lord Fu!”

Fu Lu and the others left.

Shen Min shook his head with a laugh. “Our Lord Fu seems to have forgotten how to smile.”

Ning Chen’s expression was mocking. “Slapped in the face like that — who could still manage a smile?”

“All right, everyone’s tired. Get some rest… Old Pan, come with me.”

Pan Yucheng gave a nod and followed Ning Chen into the room.

“Old Pan, keep a close eye on Li Hongzhuo for me.”

Ning Chen came straight to the point.

Pan Yucheng was taken aback for a moment, not understanding.

Ning Chen said, one word at a time, “He knows about me and the Wu woman emperor.”

Pan Yucheng’s face changed abruptly. “How did he find out?”

Ning Chen said, “I suspect he’s in league with the Prince Regent of Wu.”

(End of Chapter 350)