The Prince of Jin is practically the local tyrant of Jinxi!
Seeing the scene before him, Jing Zhe sneered repeatedly.
He was about to step into the inn when he was stopped by the same petty officer from before: "Aren't you blind? Can't you see the soldiers are on duty?"
"Smack!"
Jing Zhe couldn't stand his bad habits.
A mere soldier dares to act arrogantly towards me?
"You're asking for it! Get him!"
Jing Zhe was a trained fighter; he could hit someone however hard he wanted. So, with one slap, the henchman flew out of the way, scrambling to his feet and covering his mouth. He never imagined that he would be hit for saying just one sentence!
Fortunately, he let the people leave, otherwise he would have become a laughing stock!
Looking at Jing Zhe again, he had a handsome face, like a scholar.
He was so angry that he immediately ordered his men to start a fight.
"Wait a minute."
Before the officers and soldiers could even touch their weapons, they were stopped.
The person who came out of the inn was Su Moyan, followed by a middle-aged man in an official robe with a dignified expression. It was he who had just spoken.
"This is Chief Jing from Jingzhou. Although he is only a fifth-rank official, even a small sesame seed is still an official position. How dare you be so insolent?"
The squad leader covered his face and retreated dejectedly, still wondering what exactly a "shooting captain" was.
At this moment, Su Moyan introduced, "President Jing, this is Prefect Jing Ba of Naijin West. Speaking of which, you are from the same clan!"
"Pekingese...what a great name!"
Jing Zhe sincerely praised.
"..."
Jing Ba's face darkened. He was, after all, a prefect of the fourth rank, while Jing Zhe was the editor-in-chief of some Da'an Newspaper—something he had never heard of before, apparently a fifth-rank official. Hah, how dare he address him by his full name? How rude of him!
So he said expressionlessly, "President Jing, you came to Jinxi with His Highness, so you should stay close to him. But you left His Highness alone in the inn and ran off on your own. What's the meaning of this?"
"Furthermore, since you arrived in Jinxi last night, why didn't you just stay at the Prince of Jin's residence? You know that the martial arts tournament is in two days, and the city is full of people and extremely unsafe. If His Highness were to suffer any mishap because of this, could you take responsibility?"
As expected of a prefect, he had excellent eloquence and spoke fluently, giving Jing Zhe a good scolding.
After Jing Ba finished his tirade, he felt a little smug: how could an ordinary person withstand such a barrage of insults?
But he underestimated Jing Zhe.
"You're the Prefect of Jingba, right? If I knew you, I'd know you're the Prefect of Jinxi. If I didn't, I'd think you were just a servant of the Prince of Jin's mansion!"
"We've come to Jinxi, so why didn't we go directly to Prince Jin's residence? Does the Prefect of Jingba think that His Highness the Crown Prince should take the initiative to go there? Is this the etiquette of Jinxi, or the etiquette of Prince Jin? His Highness the Crown Prince has traveled all the way to Jinxi, and you, a mere prefect, think you can take him to Prince Jin's residence? Aren't you taking His Highness too lightly? Or do you simply look down on him?"
After saying that, he stopped looking at Jing Ba, went to Su Moyan's side, bowed and said, "Your Highness, let's continue to wait in the inn!"
Su Moyan looked at Jing Ba, then at Jing Zhe, shook his head and smiled bitterly, feeling a little sorry for Jing Ba.
You've met your match this time!
If it's a battle of wits, ten of you combined couldn't beat one Jing Zhe. After all, he's a formidable person who's on good terms with the trash-talking king Yu Sheng and can leave even the argumentative Grand Tutor Bai Qingyuan completely bewildered.
In terms of eloquence, he was a whole street behind Jing Zhe.
After Jing Zhe and Su Moyan went upstairs, Jing Ba finally came to his senses: I was scolded by a low-ranking official of the fifth rank.
Most importantly, he can't even retaliate with insults!
If he refuted Jing Zhe's point of view, wouldn't he really be seen as someone who looked down on the Crown Prince?
He wouldn't dare wear that hat.
He cursed Jing Zhe a few times in his heart, then left with his men.
...
Back upstairs, Su Moyan asked worriedly, "President Jing, is this a good idea? Won't this offend Prince Jin?"
"Your Highness, no. If we go directly there, that would truly be lowering ourselves to the level of the Prince of Jin."
Jing Zhe shook his head and laughed, "And if I'm not mistaken, as long as Prince Jin isn't a fool, he will definitely come in person! Not only will he come, but he will also apologize to Your Highness!"
"..."
The Prince of Jin was certainly not a fool.
So about fifteen minutes later, Su Moyan’s door was knocked again. Jing Zhe went to open the door and saw a middle-aged man standing outside wearing a yellow robe and looking somewhat similar to Emperor An.
However, he was younger than Emperor An and his eyes appeared much more shrewd.
The man's identity is already obvious; he is none other than the Prince of Jin.
While Jing Zhe was sizing up the King of Jin, the King of Jin was also sizing him up.
He then burst into laughter and said, "This must be the son of my old friend, President Jing Zhe, right?"
"This humble official greets the Prince of Jin."
Enemies meeting are bound to be filled with hatred.
The two of them were all smiles on the surface, but they were secretly furious inside.
Seeing you reminds me of Wenmao when he was young, and it brings back some memories! Back when I was in Jingzhou, I had a very good relationship with your father! How is your father's health now?
"..."
Jing Zhe looked at him for a while and began to admire his composure. To say such insincere words to his face and still remain so calm was a level of composure that was beyond the reach of ordinary people.
Thinking about the mentally challenged Su Xinping, he even began to suspect that someone might have cuckolded Prince Jin.
"I am sorry to trouble the Prince of Jin with this concern. My father passed away three years ago."
"Oh, what a pity..."
The Prince of Jin continued his act, then looked at Jing Zhe: "However, if your father were alive, he would be much more at ease to see that you have come to Jinxi to see me, right? Hehe, and I have heard about you from Xinping's letter. Hmm, not bad!"
To disgust you to your face and yet leave you unable to retaliate—this shows just how skilled the Prince of Jin was.
But Jing Zhe wouldn't tolerate his bad habits.
"This humble official has also heard of the Prince of Jin from Shizi!"
"oh?"
"Prince Jin should know that I have a good relationship with Shizi, right? Those strong liquors that Shizi had someone bring back from Jingzhou last time were obtained from me! Moreover, when we were in Jingzhou, Shizi wanted to do business, but I was afraid it would have a bad influence on Prince Jin, so I advised him to give it up!"
"Hehe, is that so?"
"Hehe, yes."
"Then I must thank you properly!"
“It’s nothing, Prince Jin, you don’t need to be so polite.”
"..."
The two exchanged witty banter with smiles, but those around them inexplicably felt immense pressure.
"When I have time, I'll have a proper chat with President Jing!"
After speaking, the Prince of Jin approached Su Moyan and bowed, saying, "Greetings, Your Highness the Crown Prince!"
Su Moyan quickly returned the greeting, saying, "Uncle, there's no need for such formalities. You can continue to address me as uncle and nephew!"
Prince Jin stood up and then smiled, "There have been too many sects coming to Jinxi these past few days, and too many things to do at home, so I've been delayed. Please don't be angry, my nephew!"
"Uncle, you're overthinking it..."
"..."
————
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