Wow that's a suspicious non-answer that even Kuai notices. But fine, he won't pry.

"I suppose we cannot argue with customs." Drinking after a hard day, with an emperor, those customs.

He looks askance for a few moments, trying to come up with a way to phrase the question of how it went at the station. There's no tactful way to put it however; though he tries, "Were you expecting a shorter excursion than what happened?"

That's almost like asking: why did it take so long. If you squint.