Outside the courtyard, it was like a drill field during inspection, densely packed with soldiers.

Xie Yanlai swayed as he stepped over the threshold, swept a glance around, and saw his fifty border soldiers near the door surrounding the officials, with the rest being capital soldiers, about one or two hundred of them.

Neither side wore armor or carried weapons, but the tense atmosphere was no less intense than on a battlefield. Especially the soldiers standing in the front rows—their military robes were in disarray, and many had swollen faces and bruised noses, clearly having engaged in no small amount of “shoving.”

Several officials stood in the middle, separating the two groups.

When Xie Yanlai took his position at the door, the leading official was still angrily reprimanding them.

“Under the Son of Heaven’s feet, a group of imperial soldiers brawling—what kind of behavior is this!”

“Is this the discipline that the border army has taught? Or are you so accustomed to fighting that you believe you can fight wherever you go?”

Xie Yanlai called out, “Hey, hey, sir, that’s about enough.”

The official, interrupted, turned around with a grim face. Seeing the young commander standing at the door, he hadn’t yet spoken when the young commander raised his eyebrows and sized him up: “Who are you?”

“I am Zhu Yun, Director from the Ministry of War,” the official said in a deep voice.

Xie Yanlai made a sound of acknowledgment: “Oh, just a Director.”

What was wrong with being a Director? Was a Director not worthy of speaking to him? Director Zhu gritted his teeth and restrained his flying eyebrows, asking, “And who might you be?”

Xie Yanlai raised his hand in a salute: “Commander of Luocheng, Xie Yanlai.”

Just a commander! Looking at his attitude when speaking, one would think he was a general. Director Zhu sneered, about to say something, when a servant rushed out from the side.

“Ninth Young Master,” he said urgently, “Third Young Master has sent someone to fetch you. Do you want to go home?”

The name “Ninth Young Master” was one thing, but when “Third Young Master” reached his ears, Director Zhu was startled. Combined with that surname, he immediately knew who this young commander was.

The court had issued an edict for the border army to enter the capital, but hadn’t specified who should come. Who came was the border army’s own decision, and it was only upon arriving in the capital and submitting their credentials that their identities were reported.

It turned out that it was a son of the Xie family.

Well, it had to be a son of the Xie family, not surprising.

Director Zhu looked at this young commander, feeling that everything made sense now. At the same time, two officials came through the crowd, shouting “Make way!”

Behind them, five soldiers with lowered heads were being escorted.

“Director Zhu, we’ve cleared everything up,” one official said irritably. “Guess what the cause was?”

“It was about food and drink!” the other official said. “These five mess soldiers said some improper things, which led to both sides fighting.”

After speaking, they shouted in unison at those five soldiers.

“Kneel!”

“Wasn’t it you who said, ‘If you have the skills, let’s see who wins, and the winner deserves to eat’? Is that what caused both sides to fight?”

The five soldiers fell to their knees with a thud.

Director Zhu looked at these five men, but didn’t get angry, and asked, “Is that how it was?”

Among the kneeling soldiers, some were uneasy, some pale-faced, and others red-faced with an aggrieved expression.

“Yes,” they hesitated for a moment, but still admitted.

“In that case, you’ll be dealt with according to military law,” Director Zhu said, glancing at the young commander standing by the door. “Apologize to Commander Xie and the border army.”

Military law?

The five immediately turned ashen.

“Sir,” the red-faced soldier couldn’t hold back anymore and shouted, “But we had no choice. They were too picky, throwing away the food we prepared three to five times, saying it wasn’t to their taste, saying we were disrespectful, feeding them pig food. How were we disrespectful? We all eat this kind of food. What we eat, why can’t they eat? We just couldn’t accept it—”

As his voice fell, shouts rose from the capital soldiers outside.

“Sir, don’t blame them, we just couldn’t stand it!”

“Why should they be so picky?”

“We eat pig food, let’s see how much better they are than us when they eat human food!”

“What do they have to be arrogant about? They guard the border prefectures, but we’re not idle either—we guard the capital!”

With these shouts, the capital soldiers who had quieted down became noisy again, surging forward, while the border soldiers showed no sign of backing down.

“Nonsense, who’s being picky!”

“It’s you who smashed pots and bowls because you didn’t like us!”

“Come on, try it!”

“Who’s afraid of whom!”

The scene was once again like boiling water.

The officials standing in the middle also had faces as dark as the bottom of a pot again.

“Silence, all of you!” they commanded.

Although there were many soldiers, they didn’t dare to be too offensive toward civil officials. They quieted down, though the atmosphere remained tense.

“Director Zhu, as you see—” the officials sighed slightly in relief, seeking instruction from Director Zhu. “It seems this is what happened, a quarrel over food and drink that escalated. Let’s handle it according to military law.”

Director Zhu’s expression was indifferent: “I heard that. Those who should be punished will be punished, but the Grand Tutor’s questions were very strict. I can’t have any omissions and must ask a few more questions.”

What else was there to ask? Make a big issue small, a small issue nothing. Punish those who should be punished, let the border army quickly enter the capital to have an audience with the Emperor, and the matter would be over, the officials thought. However, since Director Zhu had already invoked the Grand Tutor’s name, they didn’t dare to object.

Director Zhu looked at the five kneeling mess soldiers and asked, “What exactly did you cook? That made people call it pig food?”

One of the mess soldiers raised his head and said, “Sir, just the meat and vegetables commonly eaten in military camps.” He suppressed his grievance, “I know our culinary skills are poor, not comparable to those of restaurant chefs.”

Director Zhu frowned and said, “What are you saying? The mess soldiers of the border army aren’t restaurant chefs either.”

“But the young masters of noble families all eat delicacies!” another mess soldier shouted, raising his head to look at someone.

All eyes in the place instantly followed his gaze.

Director Zhu, slowly and unhurriedly, calmly turned his head to look at the young commander standing by the door, who seemed indifferent to the disputes and clamor before him, idly examining his fingers.

“Although Commander Xie is from a noble family,” he asked, “he must have endured hardships fighting enemies at the border, and couldn’t have eaten delicacies there, could he?”

Xie Yanlai lifted his eyelids to glance at him, but before he could speak, the attendant standing beside him fell to his knees with a thud.

“Sir, this has nothing to do with the Young Master; it’s my fault,” he said. “It’s precisely because our Young Master endured hardships fighting enemies at the border that now that we’ve returned to the capital, I wanted him to eat better, more to his taste, so I had a dispute with the kitchen.”

As he spoke, he raised his hand and slapped himself twice.

“Our Young Master knew nothing about this. Please punish me, sir.”

Director Zhu smiled slightly, not even looking at the attendant, still looking at Xie Yanlai, and asked, “Commander Xie, is that how it was?”

Xie Yanlai, who had lifted his eyelids, lowered them again, neither looking at his attendant nor Director Zhu, neither confirming nor denying, only saying lazily, “Whatever you say it is, that’s how it is.”

Director Zhu sneered, “How dare I presume about Young Master Xie’s affairs?”

He no longer addressed him as Commander Xie, but as Young Master Xie, and who knew whether he meant the Young Master Xie before him or the Young Master Xie in the court.

The officials beside him knew well that Director Zhu, as the Grand Tutor’s man, had no good words for Young Master Xie.

“Now that we know what happened,” an official said in a low voice, “go back and inform the Grand Tutor, as a reminder.”

At this point, there wasn’t anything more to be done here. It was just a verbal dispute. Director Zhu glanced at Xie Yanlai. “Young man, we’ll continue this in court.”

“Fine,” he withdrew his gaze. “This matter ends here. Take these men away—”

Before he could finish, Xie Yanlai, who had been too lazy to speak, interrupted.

“Wait,” he cut off Director Zhu. “This matter cannot end here.”

Cannot?

Director Zhu and the officials looked at Xie Yanlai.

The young commander straightened his posture, his lazy, roguish air dissipating. He clenched his hands in front of him and said coldly, “This matter is not over.”