422 He’s Slandering Me

Da Mao, who had just been lectured, was scratching his head innocently and glancing at Li Shouji with his small eyes.

He looked like he wanted to refute him, but when he thought of his poisonous tongue skills, he felt a little afraid. “I should just let it go…”

Seeing that Da Mao had finally come to his senses, Li Shouji was very satisfied. After putting down the wine glass, he patted Da Mao’s shoulder and comforted him like a good brother. “Don’t be sad. It’s still possible for you. Go back, take a shower and shave. You could still be considered a handsome man.”

Before Da Mao could rejoice, he was hurt by his next words.

!!
“By the way, what do you actually look like? I haven’t seen your face in years. I’ve almost forgotten it.”

Li Shouji finished speaking and sighed. “Forget it. It doesn’t matter what you look like. What’s more important is that you’re Da Mao!”

Li Shouji paused for a moment before he asked in confusion, “Eh? Are you Da Mao?”

“…Yes.”

Da Mao’s shoulder was hurting from his pat, so he looked at the red-faced man hesitantly and said, “Are you drunk?”

“Nonsense!” Li Shouji slapped the table and said in a daze manner, “I was eating small fried fish. How could I be drunk…”

“But you…”

Before Da Mao could finish speaking, the other party’s head landed on the table heavily.

“Who, who, who hit me!”

Li Shouji thought that someone was attacking him. He immediately stood up and confronted the non-existent person.

Fortunately, Da Mao was quick enough to stop him. Otherwise, after tonight, Li Shouji would become the laughing stock of the court assembly.

Li Shouji kept muttering to himself. Just as he was about to create a scene, Jiang Danhe’s next sentence immediately sent shivers down his spine. In that split moment, he was feeling regretful that he had not drunk more wine. He should have gotten himself knocked out instead.

In that way, he wouldn’t have to endure the deadly silence.

The longer Jiang Danhe stayed on at the banquet, the more bored he became. He thought of going home, but staying home by himself was boring too.

He had sent several letters to Xiao Guo, but they had all gone unanswered and seemed to have disappeared into thin air.

The letter that the other party had written to him had been read so many times that it had become crumpled.

During this period, Xiaoguo had not replied to a single letter from him, and that made him very sad.

Is earning money more important than him?

The indignant Jiang Danhe was starting to feel emotional and aggrieved because of the alcohol. Some tears seemed to be flickering in his hazy eyes.

The minister sitting opposite him suddenly noticed a glimmer of light flashing across from him. When he took a closer look, he didn’t find anything unusual, so he didn’t take it to heart and continued to admire the beautiful dance.

But in the next moment, there was another flicker of light that caught his eye.

This time, he could see clearly that the light had come from the general’s gleaming eyes.

This realization instantly filled him with deep respect and admiration for the general, and he felt a surge of reverence in his heart.

Not only was the general upright and bold, he was also so tenacious in private. In such a relaxed setting, he was still able to maintain his composure at all times. This made him admire the general even more.

At the same time, he felt ashamed of himself.

After reflecting on himself, the minister raised his glass and offered a toast to Jiang Danhe.

Jiang Danhe retracted his thoughts and raised his glass to return the gesture in a daze.

After downing the liquor, he suddenly felt dizzy for a moment. Then, he thought of something and turned to ask the drunken Li Shouji, “Did you send out all my letters?”

“…”

Li Shouji felt a chill behind his neck and he quickly regained his senses. Right on the heels of that, he turned around stiffly and asked Da Mao in a low voice, “DId you send the letters out?”

His voice was so soft that even Da Mao couldn’t hear him. The latter kept asking him to repeat himself.

Li Shouji had no choice. He didn’t want the man behind him to hear him, so he kept repeating the question in a low voice.

Fortunately, Da Mao managed to hear him eventually.

Before Li Shouji could heave a sigh of relief and marvel at his lucky escape, Da Mao suddenly turned his head and looked at one of his subordinates.

His hand that was wiping his sweat stopped in midair. For some reason, he had a bad feeling about this.

Da Mao did not control his volume. He asked his subordinate in a loud voice, “Did you send out the letters?”

The subordinate was now wearing the same expression as Li Shouji. He turned around and looked at his subordinate as if he was facing grave danger. “Did you send out the letters?”

The same expression of fear and trepidation appeared on the face of the subordinate.

And this went on with the men passing the question down to the next person.

All the way until it reached the last military official in the row. Under the watchful eyes of the other military officials, that minister reached out and called out to the servants outside.

At this moment, all the ministers realized the same thing. They were all going to become dead meat…

Jiang Danhe lowered his head and sneered. “Hmph…”

“I can explain…”

Seeing Jiang Danhe’s expression, Li Shouji silently tightened the grip on his chopsticks. At this moment, he was trying to find a way to absolve himself of the fact that he had messed things up while attempting to ingratiate himself with his boss.

The ministers behind Li Shouji were also figuring out their own excuses in their minds.

How were they going to explain the mess that they had made in their attempt to suck up to their boss?

“Who was the one who insisted on fighting for this task? Who said that this matter could be left to someone?”

Jiang Danhe smiled sinisterly. The hall was clearly burning with charcoal, but Li Shouji was freezing at this moment…

Fortunately, there was finally a response from the servant that the last minister had summoned.

Li Shouji swallowed his saliva silently. At this moment, he only had one thought in his mind. He had to find a scapegoat!

Hence, he quickly turned around and looked at the confused Da Mao while speaking to him in an accusing tone, “Who was the one who swore that this matter would be settled without a hitch?!”

“I didn’t say that. You were the one who said that. You told me that you were giving me a chance to show off my ability.”

Da Mao looked at Jiang Danhe nervously. At this moment, he felt that excusing himself was not the best way out. It was better to face his fear head-on. In that way, he could at least die a quick death.

“You, you, you, you, you…” After being betrayed so quickly by Da Mao, Li Shouji became so nervous that he started stuttering.

Da Mao was also afraid of Li Shouji, but he was even more afraid of Jiang Danhe. Therefore, if he had to die, at least the deputy general would die before him.

As expected, after hearing his words, Jiang Danhe’s expression turned even colder. He actually started to laugh softly. What had happened the last time he laughed like this?

Oh, right! A large group of their enemies died right after that…

At this moment, Jiang Danhe’s every breath seemed to be hanging on the men’s necks, making them feel trapped and hoping for death. But they were also hoping that their superiors could help to bear most of the oncoming rage. In that way, they might get a chance to survive a little longer.

Li Shouji stuttered for a long time before finally saying something that was absolutely powerless. “You’re slandering me! You’re slandering me!”

As he spoke, he looked at Jiang Danhe and tried to beg for mercy with an aggrieved expression. “He’s slandering me…”

At this moment, the music in the hall had changed to an impassioned rhythm. Wasn’t this the perfect time to settle scores?

The corners of Jiang Danhe’s mouth curled up slightly. Then, he grabbed Li Shouji’s collar following the beats of the drums. Li Shouji immediately grabbed Da Mao’s collar and Da Mao also subconsciously grabbed onto the person on his right, and so on and so forth, until the chain reaction was suddenly interrupted.

The ministers, looking like they had just been saved, hurriedly conveyed the news to Da Mao.

With widened eyes, Da Mao walked past Li Shouji and passed the news he had just received directly to Jiang Danhe.

“The letters have been sent. The letters have been sent..”

When Jiang Danhe heard this, he loosened his grip on Li Shouji. However, he accidentally elbowed Li Shouji when he retracted his arms. It was unclear if the jab was intentional or not.

It was so painful that Li Shouji almost jumped up. In the end, it was the ‘considerate’ Da Mao who held onto him.

Li Shouji grinned at his good subordinate. “Not bad, not bad. Your survival instincts are really strong…”

“Hehe.”

Da Mao was simple-minded. He misunderstood his sarcastic words as a compliment. He scratched his head and said humbly, “Of course not… I’m not as good as you, Deputy General!”