Zhou Huaijin was expressionless, but Zhou Huailing was not. He patted him on the shoulders and lowered his voice. “You think that you are the old Lord Huai? Time has changed.”
Having said this, he left with a proud smile.
Zhou Huaijin followed him and the ministers who were already gone. Zhou Huaijin walked alone.
The ministers in the court were either taking Zhou Huailing’s side, or holding onto their own opinions devotedly rather than taking any sides, but the latter did not care what happened between those lords.
Zhou Huaijin had been keeping low-profile these years, rather than show what he had contributed. Instead, he enjoyed the title as the most adored lord, so none of the ministers in the court trusted him. Maybe in many people’s eyes, he was just as incapable as Zhou Huailing.
However, Zhou Huaijin did not care about any of this. He walked out of the gate and court. Instead of returning to his own mansion, he headed directly to where the refugees were.
The refugees were all settled in a relatively secluded place.
It took him two hours to arrive with the wagon.
When Zhou Huaijin arrived, he did not see refugees sighing lamentably like before. Instead, it was bustling inside, and even some cheerful conversations were heard.
Zhou Huaijin got very confused… then he walked in and saw the silhouette he was so familiar with.
Gu Chaoyan was in the middle of them, cooking some food from a pot that was quickly built.
Zhou Huaijin was smiling brightly. He was no longer feeling saddened. He walked in and smiled as he said, “Chaoyan!”
Gu Chaoyan, however, showed no smile at the sight of him. She subconsciously cringed and widened the distance between them. She was showing a very unnatural look. “Oh, hi.”
Zhou Huaijin felt his heart dominated with sudden hollowness.
Why was Chaoyan treating him like this? Was she still stuck with what happened yesterday? What on earth was it? What happened?
Zhou Huaijin was feeling very confused. Zhao Yiqiu refused to reveal anything, and Chaoyan was behaving strangely.
“I asked Sword One to buy some rice and noodles with my own money. We might not be able to offer them complete food like the court, but if they are not fed, they can make the food themselves! I haven’t got time to make something complicated, just some simple frames and poles, but the room for cooking should be done in a couple of days, so things will get better.” Gu Chaoyan told him what happened today, dodging Zhou Huaijin’s eyes.
Zhou Huaijin nodded. He was feeling gratified inwardly that Chaoyan could always make things right, but he himself was useless. He could not even deal with his father.
His father had changed. It seemed that after the so-called Phoenix Girl was found, the King was getting more and more estranged from him and his mother. And it seemed that he was ignoring the civilians too.
Well… that was the case.
Zhou Huaijin sighed. He had wanted to touch Gu Chaoyan’s head, but stopped himself in the end. He was worried that she would not be so happy about that.
Outside the resettlement house…
Zhou Huailing was standing there with Xie Yan.
Xie Yan was worried as he reminded Lord Ling. “Lord Ling, you are in charge of the refugees, but the refugees are treating Lord Huai and Gu Chaoyan as the saviors. That is a bad omen for you!”