The First Lackey Under The Empress

"How do you explain this?"

Inside the side hall, with a '啪' sound, a scroll was thrown down in front of him, and Zhao Du'an clearly heard the Empress's accusation.

Also hearing it were the other three people present.

Censor Lü Liang's eyes were burning, and he was overjoyed.

Just now, although he spoke eloquently, most of his attacks lacked strength, including the label of "secretly colluding with rebellious parties," which was also quite forced.

As for Zhao Du'an's past misdeeds, they were not serious enough.

Now, unexpectedly, Zhang Changshuo provided a divine assist.

With concrete evidence, it would be difficult for the Empress to protect him any longer.

Director Ma Yan shook his head silently. As the "King of Hell" who monitored all officials, the Zhao Yamen had long been paying attention to Zhao Du'an.

However, considering his "ambiguous relationship" with the Empress, Ma Yan had always turned a blind eye to him.

Being able to sit in the position of Director certainly meant he wasn't stupid.

Nor would he be so tactless as to actively report on the leader's lover.

Just now, Zhao Du'an's conversation and greetings had slightly improved his impression, but as the evidence was presented, Ma Yan's evaluation of him plummeted:

"Truly foolish… a waste of a good appearance…"

"Selling power is one thing, but to have ironclad evidence obtained by political enemies is just too careless…"

He silently sentenced him to death in his heart.

If Zhao Du'an had any room for argument before, then this backstab from a colleague completely ruined his official career.

"Zhao Du'an, His Majesty is asking you a question, why are you silent?"

Zhang Changshuo, who had deliberately dressed up for today's scene, was beaming with red.

His face wore the smile of a victor.

Triumphant!

At this moment, the accumulated frustration of the past year vanished.

What could be more enjoyable than personally sending an enemy to prison and climbing to a higher level by stepping on his corpse?

Watching Zhao Du'an's silent, desperate look as he stared at the damaged scroll, he felt extremely happy.

If the occasion wasn't right, Zhang Changshuo would have liked to compose a poem to express his congratulations.

At this time, he had even begun to fantasize about the Empress being furious, Zhao the dog falling out of favor and tumbling into the mortal world.

And himself, as a talented scholar in the capital, taking the opportunity to comfort the Empress's wounded heart, replacing him, and rising rapidly…

However, what happened was slightly different from what he imagined:

Faced with the ironclad facts, Zhao Du'an simply calmly withdrew his curious gaze.

Immediately, he looked at him with a gaze that made him very uncomfortable and said:

"Did you record this?"

Zhang Changshuo, like a peacock displaying its feathers, showed off to the Empress:

"This humble servant noticed his suspicious behavior early on, so he secretly ordered people to follow him, and that's how I accidentally recorded this scene."

Heh… your family's secret filming can even be "accidental"… Zhao Du'an curled his lips and picked up the "spell scroll," which was a little bigger than the palm of his hand, and curiously played with it.

Well, no man can resist the temptation of electronic products…

Seeing his nonchalant appearance, Lü Liang seized the opportunity to attack, shouting sharply:

"His Majesty is asking you a question, why are you evading the issue? You only need to answer, is the matter recorded in this painting true or false?"

"It's true," Zhao Du'an said.

"Wang Xian did bribe me to help, and I did agree to him."

How arrogant!

Lü Liang was stunned, wondering if this thief was either bold to the point of recklessness or relying on the Emperor's favor to be unscrupulous?

Shouldn't he be tearfully explaining, insisting that it was a slander by a treacherous person, or saying that he was confused for a moment and begging for forgiveness?

Zhao Du'an's arrogant attitude stunned the supervising censor for a moment.

Ma Yan frowned slightly, vaguely sensing something was wrong.

Immediately afterward, he saw Zhao Du'an facing the Empress, first giving a salute, and then saying:

"Reporting to Your Majesty, what Zhang Changshuo said is true, but… this subject was not accepting bribes and manipulating power, but deliberately acting in a play to lure out the person behind Wang Xian."

A play?

Hearing this answer, the white-clothed Empress, who had been sitting on the dragon chair, showed an unexpected emotion on her face, which had remained expressionless since entering the hall:

"Speak."

"Yes," Zhao Du'an had rehearsed this scene countless times in his heart, and immediately told the cause and effect of the incident.

How he made a plan, how he stabilized the other party, and how he found the real "buyer" behind Wang Xian.

He spoke eloquently, without any sign of panic.

"You say it is, so it is? How do you prove it?"

Zhang Changshuo couldn't hold back and questioned loudly:

"Who knows if you're just saying this temporarily to wash away your sins?"

Censor Lü Liang also sensed something was wrong and echoed:

"Your Majesty, don't be deceived by this thief!"

Zhao Du'an remained calm and composed, ignoring the two of them, and still facing the Empress, calmly said:

"This subject had already reported this matter to the Director of the White Horse Division after meeting Wang Xian, who can be a witness."

Zhang Changshuo's heart sank!

He knew that since Zhao Du'an said it so firmly, this matter must be true.

But… how is that possible?

How could this arrogant, ignorant, and incompetent fool suddenly change his nature?

That's right… making amends for one's sins, could it be that he was planning at that time to use this matter to make contributions to offset today's impeachment?

This was the only reasonable explanation Zhang Changshuo could think of.

In this way, the "evidence" he had presented with anticipation suddenly became waste paper, without any effect.

Even his behavior seemed a bit ridiculous.

At the same time, Lü Liang and Ma Yan also guessed this possibility and were surprised.

But on second thought, they realized that even so, the situation had not changed significantly.

Zhao Du'an proved that he had not accepted bribes and interfered in politics, or even presented a contribution, but what was the point?

The business of brokers at Wang Xian's level could only involve officials of the sixth or seventh rank at most, and at most involve the fifth rank.

This small amount of merit was not worth mentioning compared to the crimes Zhao Du'an had committed.

Thinking of this, Ma Yan shook his head slightly:

Zhao Du'an's self-rescue was indeed eye-catching, but it was just a futile struggle.

The corners of Lü Liang's mouth turned up slightly, believing that this precisely meant that the Empress was unwilling to favor him, so she made this scene.

"Oh? There is such a thing."

No one noticed that the Great Yu Empress, sitting high above, had a hint of curiosity in her eyes:

"Who exactly is the person who offered the bribe?"

Zhao Du'an took out a memorial written overnight from his sleeve:

"The details of this case are all recorded here, please Your Majesty open it yourself."

Which official's name can't even be said? And still pretending to be mysterious, writing it as a memorial?

Lü Liang shook his head, becoming more and more contemptuous, thinking that at most it was just a fifth-rank official in the capital, making this scene was really ridiculous.

Could it be that some unspeakable big shot could be involved?

Xu Zhenguan lightly parted her lips: "Present it."

A palace servant flicked his horsetail whisk and took the memorial, passing it to her.

Xu Zhenguan did not immediately open it, but first glanced at Zhao Du'an, who was standing with his head bowed in the hall, before opening the memorial with a hint of curiosity.

She wanted to know what kind of waves this little guard could make.

What kind of surprise would he give himself?

However, the next second, when her eyes fixed on a certain name on the memorial, the slight laziness and casualness disappeared.

She paused for a second before starting to read word by word from the beginning.

The hall was quiet and silent, and a pin could be heard falling.

It seemed like a long time had passed, and it seemed like only a moment had passed.

When Xu Zhenguan closed the memorial and looked again at the handsome and upright little guard below, her eyes contained a hint of unclear and indefinable meaning.

"Truly… what a big 'surprise'."