Being an emperor is not something he can do, so he can only rely on his connections.

Zhang Jingwei pointed at Gao Jiong with a face full of anger and shouted, "You are a juren! Look at you! How can you behave so vulgarly? Have all those books of sages you read been read to bits? What on earth have they taught you?" Then he turned around abruptly and cast a fierce gaze at Li Can standing beside him, continuing to scold him, "Look at you! You have such a low alcohol tolerance and you still have the nerve to fight with others? He is a polite person, and you forced him into a fight with you. You are really something!"

Gao Jiong's eyes widened in anger, and he looked at Li Can with disdain, sneering, "You are such a poor martial artist, yet you are still an Imperial Guard. Your Excellency's backing is really strong!"

Upon hearing this, Li Can was furious. He pointed at Gao Jiong and shouted, "How dare you humiliate me like this! I'm telling you, my father is the Minister of Personnel! You dare to lay hands on me today? From now on, you will never even dream of setting foot in the officialdom!"

At this time, Zhang Jingwei, who was standing by, couldn't stand it anymore and frowned and scolded, "Alright, alright, calm down for a while! Are you elementary school students? What's the point of making such a fuss?"

However, Gao Jiong was not moved at all, and said resolutely: "Boss, I can't bear such a great humiliation today, so I'm going to say goodbye to you. I hope you can forgive me!" After that, he turned around and was about to leave.

Li Can couldn't help but applaud upon seeing this, smugly sarcastically saying, "Haha, just be smart and get out of here! Resigning is a wise move, after all. It's truly heartening!"

Zhang Jingwei could no longer suppress his rage. He slammed his hand on the table and roared, "That's enough, you two! I'm so pissed off I don't know where to vent!" He then turned to look at Gao Jiong and said in a deep voice, "Do you think Gao Jiong's position as the commander of the Imperial Guard is solely due to connections and background? If we really came to blows, with his strength, he'd chop you into pulp in a matter of minutes!" He then pointed at Li Can and continued to scold, "And you, you keep saying you're afraid of implicating your family in this matter. Don't forget, I'm also an official appointed by the court. If that's the case, I'm going to write a memorial to impeach you for drunkenness and disturbing public order in Yunzhou. Then you'll really bring honor to Minister Li!"

Finally, Zhang Jingwei waved his hands angrily and roared: "Two reckless men! They are more likely to cause trouble than to help! Go away!" Then he walked through the crowd, led his donkey out of the stable, picked up Huangfu Ling and threw him on the donkey's back, and left angrily.

Huangfu Ling was also frightened by him and dared not move.

Seeing Zhang Jingwei angrily leave, Ma Tianmao shook his head helplessly, then turned his gaze to Gao Jiong and Li Can, who had calmed down. He frowned and asked unhappily, "Hey, you two, have you finally calmed down a bit? Are you two satisfied with this outcome?"

A trace of guilt showed on Gao Ying's face. He took a deep breath and said slowly: "This is indeed my fault. I was the first to do it! I apologize to you here!" After all, he was older than Li Can, so it was reasonable for him to be the first to say the apology.

After hearing this, Li Can also hurriedly clasped his hands together and replied with a look of regret, "I was wrong. I drank too much just now and said something without thinking. Now I am mostly sober. I hope Brother Gao will forgive me for any offense."

Gao Jiong nodded slightly, indicating that he accepted Li Can's apology. Then he turned to look at Mu Tou and Qian Ming beside him and said, "Okay, Mu Tou, Qian Ming, you two can let me go now. Go and check on your young master and make sure nothing happens to him."

"Oh, I see!" Mu Tou nodded hurriedly, then loosened his grip on Gao Ying's arm, pulled Jiu'er aside and hurried away. Seeing this, Qian Ming didn't dare to delay any further and followed them quickly.

……

The main road of the military residential area leads directly to the city gate. Just as they were about to enter the city, Huangfu Ling whispered, "How about...put this knife away."

Zhang Jingwei stared at Huangfu Ling with wide eyes and said in a firm tone: "Why do you want to return it? This is a gift I carefully selected for you. You are absolutely not allowed to return it!" He put his hands on his hips and frowned, as if he was very dissatisfied with Huangfu Ling's intention to return the goods.

Seeing this, Huangfu Ling hurriedly comforted him softly, "Don't be angry, okay?" She looked at Zhang Jingwei with tenderness in her big watery eyes, and gently reached out her hand to smooth out the wrinkles between his brows.

However, Zhang Jingwei turned his head away and replied stubbornly: "I'm not angry!" But in fact, his tense expression and stiff body movements had betrayed his true emotions.

Huangfu Ling couldn't help but chuckle, pointing at Zhang Jingwei's face and teasingly saying, "Look at yourself, you're just short of having the word 'angry' written right on your face."

Hearing this, Zhang Jingwei was suddenly speechless. After a while, he stammered to explain: "I... I'm not angry because you spent three hundred taels of silver to buy a knife. I'm angry that Gao Jiong and Li Can could actually use violence in public." At the end, his voice became smaller and smaller, and he seemed to lack confidence.

Huangfu Ling smiled slightly, took a step forward to approach Zhang Jingwei, and gently took his hand that was holding the donkey. He said softly: "Okay, I don't know you yet. Anyway, you have the face, and I have the heart. Let's return this knife. We can use the money to supplement our family expenses in Gaoyang. Isn't this better?"

Zhang Jingwei was deeply moved after hearing this. He gazed at Huangfu Ling affectionately and murmured, "Sister Ling...you are so kind..."

Huangfu Ling rolled her eyes at him coquettishly, then said jokingly, "Don't cry!"

Unexpectedly, Zhang Jingwei suddenly smirked, "Why are you crying? Come down and give me a sip." He reached out and yanked Huangfu Ling off the donkey, hugging her tightly. Before Huangfu Ling could react, he quickly lowered his head and kissed her. For a moment, the only sounds in their world were the throbbing heartbeats and rapid breathing of each other.

Mu Tou and the others were watching not far away. Jiuer looked shy and buried her head in Mu Tou's abdomen. Mu Tou stretched out his big hand and gently stroked her hair. The height difference between the two was half a meter, and their CP feeling was terrifyingly strong.

Qian Ming looked at Zhang Jingwei and then at Mu Tou, shook his head and said sarcastically, "Are all the young people nowadays so undisciplined?"