Gu Yuzhi was even more confused and chased after Shu Xiaohan, asking, "Teacher Shu, what is a group chat? Why were I kicked out?"
He's a prince!
Who among these people would dare to kick him?
Shu Xiaohan explained, "Group chat is something we modern people have. It basically means that you, Prince, and Chief Secretary Xie and the others were originally in the same circle."
Upon hearing this, Gu Yuzhi nodded repeatedly, and then picked up a twig from the ground and drew a circle around them, enclosing everyone inside.
He looked up at Shu Xiaohan with his little face: "Teacher Shu, Teacher Shu, is it like this circle?"
Everyone was bewildered by Gu Yuzhi's inexplicable behavior, standing blankly in the circle, not daring to move...
Shu Xiaohan really didn't expect that her metaphor would actually lead Gu Yuzhi to draw a circle!
Seeing Xie Changshi and the others looking completely bewildered, yet still determined to cooperate with the young prince, she couldn't help but want to laugh.
After a while, Shu Xiaohan finally came to her senses and nodded, saying, "That's pretty much the idea."
"But now, Xie Changshi and the others have put you outside the circle so that you can't hear them..."
Gu Yuzhi jumped out of the circle with a "heh," and to everyone's puzzled looks, threw away the wooden stick.
He crossed his arms and snorted angrily, "You always say things I don't understand. From now on, I'm not going to talk to you anymore!"
He left the group chat on his own initiative, not because he was kicked out!
As Gu Yuzhi thought about it, he felt like his mood had improved again.
He took several steps and suddenly realized there was no movement behind him. He quickly turned around and saw that the people were still standing in the circle, motionless.
Gu Yuzhi burst into laughter, his bad mood completely vanishing: "Hurry up and come out, we're in a rush!"
Looking at the young prince's clever and mischievous appearance, Xie Changshi felt that even if he had to work hard tonight, it would be worth it.
The group worked until almost dawn before heading back. Gu Yuzhi was so excited that he couldn't sleep. After tossing and turning for a while, he finally sat up.
"What's wrong, Your Highness?" Shu Xiaohan asked softly, seeing that his eyelids were drooping but he still looked sleepy. "Your Highness, how about I sing you a song?"
Gu Yuzhi blinked, lay back down, and pulled the blanket up over himself: "Teacher Shu, please sing."
Accompanied by Teacher Shu's gentle and soothing melody, Gu Yuzhi finally stopped turning over. He vaguely thought that the plan to leave for Jingxiang today was definitely not going to work.
I can only go tomorrow; I must go to bed early tonight.
Teacher Shu's voice grew softer and softer, and she soon coaxed Gu Yuzhi to sleep. Meanwhile, in the prefectural government office, the real show was about to begin!
The man who was emptying the chamber pot was practically in tears, kneeling below the main hall: "Please, Your Excellency, Prefect, do justice for this humble subject!"
Those soldiers all had faces swollen like pig heads; no one could recognize them at that moment.
Only when emptying the chamber pot did he swiftly pull out two identity tokens from his pocket, and said aggrievedly, "Your Excellency, I have two accusations: first, that these people beat me for no reason; second, that they, as soldiers, patronized prostitutes!"
The group of people, who had been so arrogant, seemed to be put on pause after hearing what the night soiler had said. They wanted to say something, but nothing came out.
Their faces stung, not only because they were beaten, but also because their identities as soldiers had been exposed!
The hall fell silent.
The fact that the Northern Desert Army frequented prostitutes was known to almost everyone in the city.
There's no way around it, they were just being far too high-profile!
From the moment they put on their masks, the entire state knew what they were up to!
One of them was a little quicker to think; he straightened up and, despite the excruciating pain, tried to speak.
To everyone's surprise, Prefect Ke didn't give them a chance to speak at all. He raised his voice and said, "Captain Chen, hurry, take my seal to the Mobei military camp and ask General Lu to come to the prefectural government office."
Officer Chen left without saying a word.
By the time these people realized what was happening, Officer Chen was already at the entrance of the alley.
The group exchanged a glance, then jumped up, ready to flee. After all, if the general came and found out they were patronizing prostitutes, they would definitely be beaten with military rods!
But Prefect Ke wanted to make an example of these few people, so how could he let them leave so easily? He had arranged for people to guard the entrance of the main hall well in advance.
These people were brought back before they even reached the door.
Prefect Ke's expression turned ugly, and he slammed his gavel down: "This is utterly outrageous! You lot..."
He called out several names: "Go, search these people. If you see any identification tags, bring them all up to me!"
The identity tags were deliberately kept from all the night soil collectors by Magistrate Ke, in order to prevent these people from refusing to acknowledge them.
The fact that these people dared not actually intercept Bai Jiwu and his group shows that they were cowardly, selfish, and greedy.
Three people were identified, and he didn't even have to say a word about the other two!
Sure enough, when the constable took down the remaining three identity tags, the three men immediately shut their mouths, their heads drooping almost to their chests, as if afraid that someone would see their faces.
Prefect Ke casually tossed the identity plaques around, and the faces of the people kneeling in the hall grew increasingly grim until none of them could lift their heads.
Perhaps due to the two previous conflicts between soldiers and those who collected chamber pots, the crowds of onlookers today almost completely blocked the area in front of the prefectural government office.
While waiting for General Lu, Prefect Ke had his advisor draw pictures of these people so that he could show them to the young prince when he returned from Jingxiang.
The clerk beside him wrote with lightning speed, and one fat pig's head after another quickly appeared on the paper.
As Prefect Ke looked at the fat pig's head drawn by his advisor, an uncontrollable smile played on his lips. The people below the stage seemed to be being slowly tortured, while behind him, the common people were murmuring amongst themselves. In the main hall, Prefect Ke's eyes were filled with murderous intent.
They were afraid not only of being punished with flogging, but also of the series of consequences that would result from the discovery of this matter, such as the brothel alley being discovered and those who had been there being implicated...
The successive downfall of Bai Jiwu and the military supervisor, coupled with General Lu's arrival, has already put them at a disadvantage. Once the brothel alley is discovered, they will be completely on the defensive.
The longer I waited, the more afraid I became; the longer I waited, the more panicked I felt...
Then General Lu's voice rang out: "Prefect Ke! May I ask what brings you here?"
Prefect Ke acted as if he had never seen him before, stood up and gave a scholar's salute, then pointed to the people kneeling below the stage and asked, "I wonder if General Lu is familiar with these people?"
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