Four Harmonies and Good Fortune

Chapter 464 has been changed.

When Huang Zongwu and the others saw Liu Erlang leave, they all looked over with smiles, about to tell Liu Erlang the good news, but when they saw Liu Erlang's absent-minded appearance, they were all stunned.

Liu Erlang was pale, his forehead was covered in cold sweat, and he stood barefoot. He looked nothing like a newly appointed candidate for the imperial examination. Anyone who didn't know better would think that he had failed the exam.

Huang Zongwu asked first, "Brother Liu, what's wrong? Did you drink too much and still haven't sobered up?"

Hu Ying chimed in, "Last night I tried to stop you from drinking, but you wouldn't listen. You grabbed the wine jar and drank most of it. Luckily, Zongwu stopped you, otherwise you probably would have slept through the night."

Huang and Hu's words eased the tension, and everyone laughed along.

Liu Erlang stiffly raised his head and looked at the sky. Sure enough, it was almost noon. He pursed his lips, feeling an indescribable regret. If he had known it would turn out like this, he would not have drunk so much last night.

Even so, the tabloids of Bianjing should not have been published without his involvement.

"Who had the bookstore print the tabloid? And sell it?" Liu Erlang's hoarse voice rang out, causing the atmosphere in the courtyard to freeze once again.

Liu Erlang's gaze slowly swept across everyone's faces, finally landing on Huang Zongwu.

Clearly, his biggest suspect was Huang Zongwu.

Huang Zongwu's face darkened: "What do you mean? You think I did it? We agreed from the beginning that you would control this Bianjing tabloid. Even if we had disagreements, when have we ever not followed your orders?"

"What? Your name is on the Ministry of Rites' list, and the tabloids are publishing it. Are you going to turn against us because you're afraid we'll take away some of your fame?"

Huang Zongwu's face was full of anger. He threw the tabloid in his hand to the servants of the Liu family and turned to leave.

Hu Ying hurriedly stepped forward to stop him: "Brother Zongwu, you can't do this. We haven't even exchanged two sentences yet, why are we already getting estranged? Erlang just woke up and doesn't know what happened yet. We should all get together and figure things out, right?"

Seeing the questioning gazes fixed on him, Liu Erlang realized that his tone had been too harsh. He softened his tone and said, "I instructed the bookstore to send me the newspapers after they were printed so that I could read them before they were sold... I was startled to see the newspapers in your hands and became anxious, so I spoke a bit harshly. Please don't take offense, Brother Huang."

Huang Zongwu took a deep breath and stopped insisting on leaving, but he didn't speak immediately.

Hu Ying, who was standing nearby, said, "Last night, Brother Liu himself told the bookstore owner that he wanted to print the tabloid overnight. The bookstore owner also agreed with Brother Liu that the tabloid would be placed in teahouses and writing implement shops today, and after more copies were printed, it would be sold on the street. Brother Liu, you agreed to all of that."

The others nodded in agreement.

Upon hearing this, Liu Erlang's mind went blank. He stared wide-eyed at everyone for a long while before finally saying, "Did I say that?"

Huang Zongwu snorted coldly: "Do you think we're all conspiring to deceive you?"

“I suggested that it would be best to print the tabloid as soon as possible, but you didn’t agree, and I didn’t say anything more. Last night you made arrangements for printing with that landlord, and we were afraid that you were too drunk to be sober, so we tried to stop you, but you insisted on doing it.”

"Besides, the owner of that bookstore has always been in contact with you. Even if we disagree, he won't listen to us."

Liu Erlang felt a chill in his heart. He vaguely remembered that someone had indeed come to congratulate him at the banquet and had talked to him for quite a while.

It now appears to be the owner of that bookstore.

The arrangements were so meticulous beforehand, but in the end...

Everyone was puzzled by Liu Erlang's distraught appearance.

Huang Zongwu said, "Haven't we already read the tabloids many times? Even if they were printed a long time ago, what difference would it make?"

Hu Ying also said, "Yes, it was all arranged beforehand, otherwise we would have tried our best to stop it no matter what."

Amidst the chatter, Liu Erlang took the newspaper and hurriedly asked, "Have you all looked at it carefully? Are you sure there are no problems?" "What could possibly be wrong?"

"I've checked it many times."

Everyone was talking to each other.

The servant boy from the Liu family also came to his senses and hurriedly moved a chair for Liu Erlang to sit down, and then helped him put on his shoes and socks.

Liu Erlang ignored everything else and read the tabloid at lightning speed. He wished he could read it from beginning to end as quickly as possible, word by word. As long as it was exactly the same as what they had written before, he was 99% sure there was no problem...

As the tabloid was gradually unfolded, Liu Erlang's gaze followed the words. The next moment, his gaze suddenly froze, his eyes widened uncontrollably, and his hand holding the tabloid trembled.

Huang Zongwu's voice also came through: "This... how come there's an extra article? I don't remember Brother Liu writing this?"

Hu Ying also noticed: "What's going on? The one I wrote... seems a little different, with more words. Let me take a closer look."

"Did you mix this up with another version?"

All eyes gradually focused on Liu Erlang.

Liu Erlang's palms were already damp with sweat, soaking the tabloid. He didn't speak anymore, no longer questioned others, and no longer worried about the outcome, because... he knew very well that something had happened to the Bianjing tabloids. Although he didn't yet know the extent of the matter, it would certainly be unbearable for him.

"Can we get all the tabloids back?" Liu Erlang could barely speak. "Go to the bookstore now and tell them to stop printing them. Don't sell any of the tabloids that haven't been sold yet."

"The whole city is raising prices to buy tabloids."

Liu Erlang had just finished speaking when Huang Zongwu stopped him, saying, "Aren't you just telling people that there's something wrong with the tabloids?"

“As long as there’s a copy of the tabloid out there, it will be copied. What’s the point of taking them back? We’d be better off focusing on figuring out what happened to the altered tabloid and what harm it did to us.”

The group looked at each other, and they all saw fear and worry in each other's eyes.

Liu Erlang stood up and hurried to his study. He wanted to find the original manuscript of their tabloid and take it to the bookstore to find out more.

Once inside the study, the group began searching, but the papers that were usually placed on the table were nowhere to be found.

Huang Zongwu looked at Liu Erlang: "Think about it, did you take it somewhere?"

"That tabloid at the bookstore, wasn't it you who gave it to us?"

"Maybe you were drunk last night and forgot."

The others chimed in, "Think about it again."

Hu Ying, who was standing next to him, was holding a tabloid. His face had turned extremely ugly. He pointed to the words on the tabloid and said, "This...this seems to be about...the deployment of the border troops."

The extra few characters, when put together, read: "Three thousand Xiang Army troops were stationed in Dashun City, Qingzhou."

The tabloid in Hu Ying's hand fell to the ground.

If the imperial court were to discover this, they would surely assume that the person writing the tabloid was using it to transmit military intelligence to the local people.

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