Hua Shunming looked at Zhou Shixiong for a long time before smiling and saying, "Gu Wenheng is indeed a man of some talent, and I intend to entrust him with heavy responsibilities. Adding so much fertile land to the Rong Dynasty this time is already a massive achievement.
"Only the mediocre are free from envy; I know he has drawn a lot of jealous eyes.
"You have a deep personal friendship with him. How do you think we should break this deadlock?"
Zhou Shixiong was completely speechless. He thought to himself, "Holy Emperor, this is just a disguised way of making things difficult. Whether it be wrath or grace, it is all an imperial blessing. You used to be so dictatorial; would you even listen to a subject's opinion?" He only dared to voice these complaints in his head. Out loud, he said, "It is precisely because I have a deep personal friendship with Mr. Gu that I should stay out of this matter."
