The First Lackey Under The Empress

In the front yard of the private school, Zhao Du'an's face changed in an instant. When he uttered these words in a somber tone, both of his colleagues were taken aback.

Standing opposite him, the female teacher, who had been passively resisting, also felt a weight in her heart.

"I spoke to you politely, but you didn't appreciate it. In that case, this official has no choice but to be unsparing."

Zhao Du'an's expression was gloomy, and there was not a trace of a smile on his face.

He walked past his colleagues, who were exchanging glances, slowly and deliberately heading straight towards the master and servant.

"Esteemed Sir, please don't be angry. My young lady didn't mean that..."

The old servant, named "Fu Bo," with his graying hair, hurried forward, bowing and smiling obsequiously as he tried his best to explain.

He held no confidence in the moral standards of the officials of Great Yu.

So, he's finally showing his true colors... Xue Xuan sighed inwardly, not surprised.

When she was a noble lady, the officials she saw were all "kind and amiable." But after spending so many years at the bottom, she had long been accustomed to the reality.

Moreover, he was the "King of Hell" from the Imperial Censorate... She suppressed her sorrow and tried to appear humble:

"Your Honor, please calm your anger. It's not that I don't want to speak, but I really don't know what you want. My father's crime was committed years ago, and there has long been a conclusion..."

Zhao Du'an's face darkened again, as if a thunderstorm was about to descend.

"Teacher!"

Just then, a little girl came running out of the private school behind them.

She was so small, with pigtails tied up.

From the windows of the private school behind her, curious little heads peeked out, looking in this direction.

They didn't know what was happening, only that "adults were talking."

The little girl ignored Zhao Du'an and the others, ran over, stopped abruptly, and looked up at her expectantly.

Xue Xuan's expression changed slightly, and she tried to be kind and gentle:

"Nannan, what are you doing here? Do you need to go to the outhouse?"

The little girl shook her head, twisting her fingers shyly:

"I... the spring rolls smelled so good, I couldn't help but secretly eat two of them earlier."

After saying half of it, she quickly waved her hand:

"But, I ate my own two, I didn't touch half of Teacher's! Please don't tell my mother, okay..."

Haitang looked at the child in surprise, finding her quite adorable.

Zhang Han remained expressionless as always.

Xue Xuan's face was anxious, and her tone was urging:

"It's okay, Teacher won't tell, and doesn't blame you. Go back and study, don't come out."

"Okay!" The pigtailed girl happily agreed and was about to run back.

"Wait!"

Zhao Du'an suddenly spoke, looking at the girl with interest, smiling and saying:

"What a cute child, come here, let this official take a look."

The girl stared blankly at the three strangers, then took a hesitant step back, a little scared.

Xue Xuan's heart skipped a beat, and she tried to maintain her composure:

"This is just a child from the nearby commoners..."

"Is that so?" Zhao Du'an took a step forward and picked up the girl with one arm.

With his other hand, he pinched her chubby cheek, a smile on his lips, but there was no warmth in his tone:

"Tsk tsk, not afraid of strangers, not bad. Where is your home, and who is in your family?"

It seemed like an ordinary person teasing a child, but coupled with his cold eyes at the moment, everyone present felt their hearts jump.

Xue Xuan panicked for a moment, wanting to snatch her back but not daring to, so she said:

"Your Honor, the child is ignorant, it wouldn't be good if she offended you, please..."

Zhao Du'an glared at her, glanced at her, and said unhappily:

"You keep saying 'Your Honor,' and you keep saying you'll cooperate, but you don't even ask who we are. I think Miss Xue's words sound nice, but her heart is not sincere at all."

"I wouldn't dare."

Xue Xuan swallowed her anger, afraid that the student would anger the official:

"I have been rude, I forgot to ask for your name, Your Honor."

"Me? You might have heard of me," Zhao Du'an suddenly smiled meaningfully and announced his name:

"Zhao Du'an, from the Pear Blossom Hall of the Imperial Censorate."

It's him!?

As soon as the three words "Zhao Du'an" were uttered, Xue Xuan's slightly rosy cheeks suddenly turned pale, and the expression on her face instantly froze.

Among the common people, there may still be many who have never heard of this name.

But Xue Xuan, who was once a noble lady, had a broader perspective and was certainly no stranger to this name.

The rumored male favorite of the Empress, the notorious newly promoted playboy.

In the past two months, his reputation had soared even higher.

Because of his large-scale retaliation, he had added new labels of "vindictive" and "ruthless."

Relying on the Holy One's favor, he acted recklessly and domineeringly, and was the newly appointed "Little King of Hell" of the Imperial Censorate.

It's actually him?

Why would such a person come to her door?

Xue Xuan was in a state of panic.

"That Zhao Envoy from Baima Supervisorate?" Fu Bo also looked terrified.

Rumor had it in the streets that the Zhao family of Baima was extremely vicious, and anyone who offended him, regardless of their status, would be liquidated.

Either imprisoned or beheaded.

Why did this living King of Hell come?

Could it be that his young lady had angered him?

"Lord Zhao, this humble one..."

He stammered, trembling with fear, afraid that a single wrong word would lead to his death.

"Eh? What kind of expressions are you making? Could it be that this official is very frightening?"

Zhao Du'an restrained his smile, narrowed his eyes, then turned his head, pinched the girl's cheek again, and said gloomily:

"Not as good as a child."

The girl looked at him timidly, not daring to say a word.

She had never heard of the name Zhao Du'an, but she instinctively wanted to struggle, but couldn't escape.

"Zhao Inspector... these children..."

Behind him, Haitang frowned and couldn't help but speak.

Zhao Du'an interrupted her and suddenly smiled:

"Inspector Hai has reminded me."

He swept his gaze over the curious and innocent little faces in the schoolhouse, and slowly fabricated a story:

"If I remember correctly, there was some intelligence that said that there were suspected rebels hiding in this Zhongfang Street, right?

In my opinion, there's no need to bother investigating. Just send people to bring back the residents of this street and interrogate them properly. I believe the parents of these children will be very cooperative."

As he said that, he looked at the fallen young lady again and suddenly smiled:

"Miss Xue, you're saying... yes?"

*Thump!*

At that moment, the hearts of the mistress and servant sank like stones to the bottom of a lake.

Faced with such undisguised and unadorned threats, how could they not understand the meaning behind his words?

Xue Xuan's face grew even paler. At this moment, Zhao Du'an's rather handsome face seemed incredibly ferocious in her eyes.

Like a blood-soaked wolf, he seemed ready to strangle the little girl in his arms at any moment.

Remembering the rumored reputation of the "Little Yama,"

she had no doubt he was capable of it.

A group of children, a group of commoners without any background...

With Zhao Du'an's status, he could easily impose the charge of "harboring rebels" and wield the butcher's knife as he pleased.

"Lord Zhao..."

The fallen noble lady anxiously stepped forward, almost pleadingly saying:

"If I have offended you, I will bear all the responsibility. It has nothing to do with anyone else..."

"Can you bear it?"

Zhao Du'an said expressionlessly:

"Miss Xue, my patience is very poor. I'll give you one last chance. Either cooperate obediently and answer whatever I ask, or... you wouldn't want these old neighbors to be implicated because of you, would you?"

Blatant threat!

The color finally drained completely from Xue Xuan's face.

Only then did she realize how ridiculous and vulnerable her so-called "passive resistance" and "feigned compliance" were in the face of a truly ruthless person.

At this moment, the little girl with pigtails suddenly hammered Zhao Du'an with her soft little fists:

"Bad man, don't bully Teacher... don't bully Teacher..."

The other children in the schoolhouse also realized something was wrong and ran out.

Zhao Du'an seemed to be provoked. He expressionlessly picked up the little girl and suddenly raised her high, as if he was about to drop her.

Haitang's expression changed instantly, and she made a move to step forward, but was suddenly pulled back by Zhang Han.

"I'll talk!"

At the critical moment, Xue Xuan let out a cry of grief, her legs went weak, and she collapsed to the ground, her eyes reddening:

"Don't implicate the children!"

Zhao Du'an's raised hand paused slightly, and a smile slowly appeared on his face.

He gently placed the little girl on the ground and tossed her to Uncle Fu.

Lightly dusting off his sleeves, he glanced at the fallen lady kneeling on the ground, his smile radiant:

"Miss Xue, it would have been better if you had cooperated like this from the start. Why make things unpleasant?"

Xue Xuan staggered to her feet, cupped her hands in a salute:

"Please, the three of you, go to the back residence and sit for a while. I will calm these children down and then join you, lest they make noise and displease you."

Zhao Du'an didn't say anything, but turned back and gave the two colleagues behind him a look:

Done.

...

...

A moment later.

Uncle Fu led the three into the back residence, a small hall. After offering tea, he excused himself to help take care of the children.

Once he was gone, Haitang, who had been holding back for a long time, finally spoke.

This heroic and straightforward female Embroidered Uniform Guard had an unkind expression, staring at Zhao Du'an:

"Is this your method?"

Zhao Du'an leisurely picked up the teacup, took a sip, and smacked his lips.

He thought to himself that this was indeed tea from the "slum area," the taste was really bland, barely quenching his thirst.

Hearing this, he smiled: "You tell me, is Xue Xuan cooperating or not?"

At this moment, the sinister look of the villain was long gone from his face.

He spoke with a smile, and combined with his handsome appearance, it was absolutely impossible to associate him with the image just now.

"..." Haitang was choked for a moment before saying with sarcasm:

"No wonder you're the Little Yama. I finally understand why Zhao Jishi has been able to make great contributions repeatedly."

You're saying my ability to make contributions relies on having no bottom line?

This is tactics, understand... Zhao Du'an curled his lips.

When he was tricking the mole, he commented that Haitang had cleverness but lacked great wisdom.

Now he still maintains his original view.

Well, but he can barely add a label: kind.

No wonder she stubbornly ranks third, unable to become the first in the nine halls...

"To deal with different people, you must flexibly adopt different methods."

Zhao Du'an said lightly:

"The Director ordered the two of you to come and help me, perhaps with the intention of having you learn my way of doing things."

Forget it, I can't learn it... Haitang didn't agree.

With her intelligence, she certainly knew that Zhao Du'an's pretense just now had a large performance component, with the purpose of grasping weaknesses and threatening them.

But this method is not effective for everyone who uses it.

Zhao Du'an's reputation is too bad, so Xue Xuan has no doubt that he really has no bottom line...

If you change to someone whose reputation is not fierce enough, the same routine will have a greatly reduced effect.

This is the power of persona.

"If," Haitang was silent for a moment, then suddenly asked:

"I mean, if Xue Xuan stubbornly refused to speak just now, would you really have dropped that child to death?"

Zhao Du'an was silent.

Beside him, the taciturn Zhang Han suddenly said:

"He wouldn't. That's why I pulled you."

Haitang was unconvinced: "How do you know he wouldn't?"

Zhang Han thought for a while and said:

"As far as I know, the day he tricked us, although it caused a great commotion and broke into so many residences, he never affected even a single servant. So..."

The workaholic turned to look at Zhao Du'an and suddenly said seriously:

"I think Zhao Shijun is a good person."

Zhao Du'an was stunned, as if amused by this sentence, and laughed loudly and recklessly:

"Old Zhang, if you say this sentence, half of the people in the capital will laugh their teeth out. If you can't flatter people, don't force it..."

He suddenly closed his mouth and turned to look outside the hall.

He saw the fallen lady, who had washed her face and adjusted her emotions, walk in and give a salute first.

Xue Xuan raised her expressionless face and went straight to the point:

"That's right, my father was indeed wronged."