Zhan Ri Fei smiled wryly. “I didn’t expect you to be such a confidant of the Little Prince of Zhao. No wonder you’re so much like him—always enjoying making others owe you favors.”
Huo Xiao Di’s face flushed red again. This time, he didn’t even try to argue.
Zhan Ri Fei smiled and said, “It seems you went to Dongjing specifically to find him. So that’s how it is. So that’s how it is.”
His gaze carried a knowing smile, as if he had seen through everything.
Huo Xiao Di’s face had turned as red as a piece of scarlet cloth, though in the dim firelight, no one else could notice.
“I—I… What—what ‘so that’s how it is’ are you talking about?”
Zhan Ri Fei said, “It turns out the ‘backer’ Brother Huo mentioned yesterday is none other than Nan Qing Palace. No wonder you don’t give a second thought to Ma Chao Xian, who manages the Four Treasuries, or the Xiang Yang Prince’s Mansion.”
—“What I don’t understand is this: if you’re familiar with Zhao Zhi’er from Nan Qing Palace, how is it that you don’t know Ming Zhuer from the Imperial Guard? The two of them are inseparable, like glue and lacquer.” [This idiom, “焦孟不离,” emphasizes close friendship or partnership.]
Huo Xiao Di’s face finally returned to normal. Shaking his head vigorously, he said, “Dealing with Zhao Zhi’er alone already gives me a headache. How could I possibly handle someone like ‘Terror to the Ghosts’? I heard the most outrageous thing they ever did together was sneak behind their masters’ backs and trick Chen Laokou of the Jishantang charity in the southern part of the city into delivering fifteen sandalwood coffins to the estate of Grand Preceptor Pang—all in one day!”
As he recounted this, a faint smile had already crept onto Huo Xiao Di’s lips without him realizing it.
Hugging his knees, his eyes were now brimming with laughter.
“The first time I met Zhao Zhi’er was because of that incident. Little Zhao tied him up and gave him a brutal beating with a wooden paddle while he cried and wailed so miserably it seemed the sky was falling. Grand Preceptor Pang came storming in to demand justice, sitting there with a face as dark as iron. They said that ever since Chen Laokou’s clueless servant blocked his sedan chair, demanding money for the coffins, his face didn’t improve for the rest of the day.”
As Huo Xiao Di slowly recounted this unforgettable memory, another figure emerged in his mind. Hesitating, he ultimately didn’t say aloud what he was thinking—that day was also the first time he met Little Zhao.
“So, I met Zhao Zhi’er then but didn’t see Ming Zhuer. Later, I heard from Little Zhao that Ming Zhuer was confined to the Imperial Guard residence by Zhan Zhao for over thirty days and wasn’t allowed to leave. Who knows if Grand Preceptor Pang ever went after Zhan Zhao because of it.”
Zhan Ri Fei smiled and said, “How could he go looking for trouble with Zhan Zhao before first dealing with Little Zhao? I suspect that in the end, Grand Preceptor Pang was outwitted by Zhao Zhi’er, that little trickster.”
Huo Xiao Di asked, “What do you mean?”
Zhan Ri Fei replied, “Zhao Zhi’er, known as ‘Fright to the Gods,’ was trained personally by Little Zhao. There’s an eighty to ninety percent chance this whole affair was an act staged by the master and servant duo to fool Grand Preceptor Pang. His wailing and sobbing? That was just because he had rubbed pepper under his eyelids beforehand, so the tears flowed on cue.”
Huo Xiao Di found this even more amusing and laughed while scolding, “That rascal even managed to fool me! So does that mean Zhan Zhao ended up owing Little Zhao a favor because of this?”
Zhan Ri Fei shook his head. “Zhan Zhao has already owed him too many favors to count.”
Huo Xiao Di tilted his head and looked at Zhan Ri Fei, unable to hide his curiosity. “I didn’t expect you and Little Zhao to be so close. Otherwise, how would you know about Zhao Zhi’er’s little tricks? Why have I never heard Little Zhao mention you?”
Zhan Ri Fei gave a bitter smile. “That’s because I know more about Ming Zhuer than Zhao Zhi’er does. And since Ming Zhuer is the one who came up with these tricks, how could Zhao Zhi’er not know about them?”
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