After quickly observing her surroundings, Wu Lanxi remembered what had happened.
Slightly tipsy, he lay on the deck with Tang Huan and unknowingly fell asleep.
She glanced at Tang Huan, who was fast asleep not far away, and got up to say to Lin Wan'er, "Have someone take him back to his cabin to rest."
"Alright." Lin Wan'er draped the coat she had prepared over Wu Lanxi's shoulders and signaled the others to prepare to escort the Empress back to the palace.
Tang Huan was woken up from his deep sleep and returned to his cabin in a daze. As soon as the person who brought him back left, his eyes immediately became clear in the darkness.
Tang Huan was not drunk.
He wasn't as drunk as he appeared on the surface.
"This is so hard for me."
Tang Huan wrapped herself up tighter in the blanket and lay down on the bed, trying to make the most of her time to rest.
Just after four o'clock in the morning, Tang Huan woke up.
He confirmed the exact time with the people on the ship and then returned directly to his residence.
Without disturbing Li Daikui and Qin Yu, he found his official robes, changed into them, and then hurried to the imperial city in the dark.
"I don't know if these emperors are crazy or what. Why do they have to hold the morning court session so early? Are they all made of iron and don't need to rest?"
Although his residence was not far from the palace, he still had to get up at around four o'clock to prepare.
If it were a minister who lived a little further from the palace, he would probably have to get up at three o'clock to get busy and then rush to the capital.
Walking alone on the street, Tang Huan complained a lot.
With the Empress's jade pendant in hand, Tang Huan traveled smoothly and soon arrived at the square outside the Golden Palace to wait.
When we arrived, there were already quite a few people there, chatting in small groups, each of them keeping their voices very low.
Tang Huan didn't know many people in the court, so he simply stood alone at a distance, waiting for the morning court session to begin.
After waiting for more than ten minutes, the ministers arrived one after another.
The chatter grew louder, and Tang Huan spotted several people in the crowd who looked somewhat familiar, wondering if the original owner of this body had seen them before.
He put his hands in his sleeves.
Feeling the cold wind on my face in the early morning, it seems that winter is coming soon.
"Lord Tang."
A greeting rang out from behind.
Tang Huan was puzzled that someone would actually take the initiative to come to her.
Before he could turn around, the other person had already walked up to him.
"Old Xie!"
Xie Wu was wearing his old official robes as the Prefect of Yingzhou. His face looked somewhat weathered, and although he was not much older than Tang Huan, he looked as if he had aged ten or twenty years.
Xie Wu chuckled and said, "I heard you've been causing quite a stir in the capital lately?"
The two were old acquaintances and related by marriage, making them quite different from ordinary people. They immediately huddled together and began to talk in hushed tones.
Not long after Xie Wu returned to the capital, he heard about the various things Tang Huan had done, but given the precedent set by the Seven Locust Counties, he wasn't particularly surprised.
"Nothing much, just doing it casually when I had nothing else to do."
"You're now a renowned poet, and you even hold a position at the Imperial Academy. Countless people are eyeing you."
Tang Huan glanced around and noticed that quite a few people in the crowd were indeed secretly observing him and whispering among themselves.
In addition, Tang Huan noticed a tall man with an unusually serious face staring at her.
Tang Huan smiled at the other person, then turned her gaze back to Xie Wu and asked, "Who is that big, rough guy over there?"
"Which one?" Xie Wu glanced at it quickly. "It's Redding. You had a big fight with Lei Yan, and you don't even recognize him?"
"We've never met before, how would we know each other?"
In the entire imperial court, the only people he knew besides Xie Wu were Wang Tianze and Cui Renshi.
But the two of them didn't seem to have arrived yet; they weren't in the crowd.
"The famine in Kuizhou has been quelled. Even if I am not successful this time, I will still be reinstated. You will surely be rewarded by His Majesty as well. Do you have any thoughts?"
"No, I just hope these people won't trip me up." Tang Huan vaguely sensed that many people were looking at him with hostility.
Xie Wu smiled, not surprised.
"Your relationship with Reading and Cui Renshi is complicated, and people from their faction don't seem to be friendly towards you."
“If anyone dares to embarrass me in private, I won’t hesitate to instigate Cui Yuanzhao to cause them trouble.”
"That's true, but how did you get so close to Cui Yuanzhao that you even became sworn brothers, and even Cui Renshi didn't stop you?"
"This is a long story, I'll explain it to you another time." Tang Huan didn't continue, because he noticed that several ministers were walking in this direction.
"Lord Tang, seeing you in person is truly an honor! You are indeed a young hero, a man of exceptional talent!"
A man smiled and cupped his hands in greeting to Tang Huan, speaking in a very polite manner.
"Greetings, Lord Tang." Someone else stepped forward at the same time, also expressing goodwill towards Tang Huan.
Once one person stepped forward, others followed suit.
Tang Huan noticed that the people who came to greet him were all young people in their twenties to thirties, and their official robes were not elaborate.
In other words, they were all minor officials.
As for those who are respected and influential, they have always remained on the sidelines, observing from afar and showing no intention of getting closer.
After exchanging pleasantries with the group, another ten minutes or so passed.
Tang Huan had been waiting outside the Golden Palace for half an hour. Even Wang Tianze and Cui Renshi had just arrived, but the morning court session still showed no sign of starting.
"Could the Empress have really been drunk last night?"
Such a thought involuntarily popped into my head.
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