At this moment, everyone's attention turned to Lion.
"Ah, young sir, who are you?"
"What brings you here at this time?"
"You look like a bookworm!"
...
Lion smiled lightly, "I heard you all were discussing The night soldier, so out of curiosity, I came over to listen."
"So that's it!" The old man spoke up again, looking a bit smug. "Young man, how should I address you?"
"We're not acquainted, you can call me Nightwalker," Lion spoke calmly and confidently.
"Nightwalker?" The old man frowned.
"That's right!" Lion replied with enthusiasm.
"Nightwalker..." The old man repeated, feeling the strange and awkward form of address, and found it difficult to pronounce.
After overcoming the strange feeling, he asked, "Where are you from? Looking at your attire... you look like a bookworm?"
Lion nodded lightly, "I am indeed a bookworm, reading books can be tiring, so I go out for a walk and relax! Please continue discussing The night soldier actively, praise him as much as you want, don't worry about me!"
After speaking, Lion's face showed pure curiosity and innocence.
It must be said that Lion's face was very deceptive, making everyone unable to remain vigilant.
"Good, then let's continue our conversation!" The old man slapped his thigh and changed his posture.
"Speaking of The, he is truly a righteous and heroic person! He saves the distressed and despises the talented, I heard that in the past two nights, he has spent more than a hundred thousand silver taels!"
"That's right, it's amazing! To spend a hundred thousand silver tales without batting an eye, ordinary people can't do that! I know many old friends who have greatly improved their living standards because of that amount of money!"
"Unfortunately, I haven't seen him yet, otherwise I would have thought of establishing a longevity banquet for him, day and night offering incense and paying homage!"
. . .
Lion listened on one side, laughing until he couldn't even open his eyes.
"Let's continue our bluffing, let's take risks without pity!"
But at this moment, the old man sighed: "Speaking of The night soldier, I remember another person!"
"Who is that?"
"The current new scholar, Lion!"
"How is he?"
The old man glanced around and then looked at Lion for a moment before speaking in a low voice: "You all should also have heard about it. The newly appointed official Lion, three days ago, took advantage of his position to embezzle nearly 200,000 taels of silver when he was responsible for recording the assets of the mansion of Master Ta."
Everyone exclaimed: "That's a lot!"
"And just the other day, while serving as the official responsible for the temple's assets, he embezzled a considerable sum again!"
Everyone exclaimed again: "Even the temple's money he dares to steal?"
Someone interjected: "Old Hua, is this true or not? Stealing 2 million taels and then embezzling the temple's money, this new scholar has quite the guts! To be honest, I'm not entirely convinced!"
The old man was dissatisfied: "How could this be fake?"
The old man looked around and glanced at Lion with a smirk, whispering: "Let me tell you, after the confiscation was done, the official directly ordered his servant to carry two large trunks covered in moss and dirt all the way home, and many people saw it! But in the end, nothing was investigated and resolved, that's why I don't believe he's innocent!"
At this moment, an old man interjected: "Mr Hua is telling the truth! Our neighbour's son-in-law is an official, and he was so greedy right on the spot! Last night, he even told me that he had never seen anyone as greedy as Lion before!"
Everyone shook their heads in disbelief.
"What a shame!"
"The Empress intended to invite talented people to take the imperial examination, who knew such a trickster would emerge?"
"I thought he was just a petty official, but he's so greedy. Can he even bear the consequences?"
"One is a person of honour and virtue, the other is crazy for money! They are both humans, how could they be so different?"
"Who knows, those who claim to uphold righteousness often have hidden flaws, and most of those who read books are just trying to satisfy their own desires!"
"Our court is filled with too many greedy officials, and it's getting harder and harder to live in this time!"
...
The old man took advantage of his age to scold Lion: "Nightwalker, you are also a bookworm! Study hard to repay the court and bring us prosperity, but don't follow the example of The first one, the more you read, the more you lose your conscience!"
Lion nodded continuously, "You are absolutely right, I will follow your teachings, senior!"
"Yes, it's easy to teach a young child!"
Just then, an old man squinted and stared at Lion.
He felt like he had met this person before, but he couldn't remember where.
Suddenly, someone shouted, scaring everyone on the ground.
Trembling, the person pointed at Lion and cried out, "He's also the new court official, Lion!!!"
The scene erupted into chaos.
"What? He's also the new court official, Lion?"
"Why is he here?"
"Are you kidding me?"
...
Everyone looked at Lion with horror and disbelief.
Lion stood up, crossed his arms, and laughed, saying: "It's true, I am Lion, the one you were just talking about!"