The First Lackey Under The Empress

East City, Ji Orphanage.

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When Zhao Du'an, rid of his drunken stupor and carrying two boxes of pastries, arrived at this low and dilapidated building.

He couldn't help but recall that bright morning when he, Haitang, and Zhang Han came to East City to find the descendants of the Xue family.

"Oh, young master, you're here again?"

In the small room by the gate, there was an old gatekeeper.

However, Zhao Du'an knew that this old gatekeeper, with his dark face, missing leg, and a physique that was thin but possessed an inner vigor, had another identity: the director of this Ji Orphanage.

As a "charity hall" institution in the capital, this building, which housed many orphans, had little to no profit to be made.

The so-called director sounded good, but in reality, his status was similar to that of a minor official, or even lower.

Zhao Du'an learned from the old Director Wu, whose surname was Wu, that he, like Zhao Du'an, was a soldier when he was young, only of a lower rank.

He served in the imperial border army in the southwest.

At that time, the famous General Zhao Shixiong, known as the "Lean Tiger," was at the top.

Unlike the pampered capital garrison, the border army had real opportunities to fight.

Whether it was suppressing bandits or dealing with some "barbarians" outside the Great Yu territory, they had always seen blood.

Old Wu lost his leg in a battle, and even after it was reattached, he could no longer stay in the army.

That's why he used his accumulated military merits to exchange for a position in the capital that was barely related to the government.

If it were in the era Zhao Du'an was familiar with, it would be considered placement into the civil service after retirement.

But after Old Wu came in, he realized he had been tricked.

In the dilapidated Ji Orphanage, there were mouths waiting to be fed, and it was a difficult task just to ensure that these children who had lost their parents were fed, clothed, and able to afford medicine when they were sick, and that fewer of them died each year.

Especially since the meager amount of money and food allocated by the imperial court was further reduced through layers of embezzlement, leaving him with very little.

Even if Old Wu supplemented it with his own salary, it was barely enough to make ends meet.

If it were another retired veteran, they would probably quit or find a way to use their connections to switch to another occupation.

Old Wu had originally planned to do so, but the old soldier, who had also lost his parents at a young age, was repeatedly stopped from leaving by the button-like eyes of those skinny children.

He thought he would stay for another year.

And so, one year after another, and then three years…

He had been muddle-headed until now.

However, perhaps his years of hard work had moved Heaven, and the Ji Orphanage had been doing much better in recent years.

Every now and then, a beautiful girl with seemingly poor eyesight would send some money as a donation.

As far as he knew, the girl always came alone, carrying a large bag filled with silver wrapped in paper, and would go to each Ji Orphanage to deliver it, but never said where she came from.

And recently, there was also a generous young nobleman who would occasionally come to donate.

"Hehe, I just happened to be passing by, take it and distribute it to the children."

Zhao Du'an's expression was gentle, completely different from his usual arrogant and domineering demeanor when dealing with those officials in the court.

He handed over the pastries and slipped two heavy ten-tael silver ingots from his sleeve.

This amount, which was just the cost of a dish for a big shot, was enough for the children of the Ji Orphanage to have good meals every day for a month.

"Young master has a kind heart. Judging from your face, you are a great philanthropist, and your family must have accumulated good deeds and will have blessings."

Old Wu complimented him with his limited vocabulary, and hurriedly took out a small notebook to ask him to leave his name.

But Zhao Du'an shook his head and refused, not even entering the gate, only saying that he was busy and left the money.

This made Old Wu sigh repeatedly:

Compared to those gentry who donated a few copper coins and couldn't wait to have their names written all over the charity hall's bulletin board, that girl and this young master were simply two clear streams.

And if he knew what kind of terrible reputation the guy he had just praised as a "philanthropist" actually had in the capital, he would probably drop his jaw.

……

……

"My lord."

In a carriage in the distance from the Ji Orphanage.

When Zhao Du'an stepped into the carriage, the round-faced little secretary who had been waiting inside called out sweetly.

The look in her eyes became more and more different.

"Is there something on my face?" Zhao Du'an asked lazily, stretching his body and leaning against the soft cushion in the carriage.

"Ah." Qian Kerou stammered, shaking her head and hesitating:

"It's just that, your subordinate didn't expect that you would come to this kind of place."

Summer was almost over, and the female Jinyi Guard's face was becoming rounder, like an apple.

"Just seeking peace of mind…" Zhao Du'an said casually:

"Kerou, you have to know that the more bad things you do, the more uneasy you feel. Doing some charity will give you peace of mind. I didn't understand it before, but now I've finally put it into practice."

"…" Qian Kerou didn't know how to respond, and after a long time, she said:

"Are you going to do bad things today, my lord?"

"Yes." Zhao Du'an chuckled, raising his hand to gently flip through the information in his hand about "Little Lord Pavilion" Li Yinglong.

The information listed many of Li Yinglong's weaknesses, among which his lustfulness was particularly prominent, making Zhao Du'an marvel and sigh at how the city folks play.

When Li Yinglong used to hang out in the "Capital Circle," he liked beautiful women and was quite amorous.

Later, he left the "Capital Circle," stopped being a纨绔子弟, and changed to become the Vice Minister of Works, but he still liked beautiful women… It can be seen that even the most trashy person has advantages, such as being single-minded in their hobbies…

Of course, the Little Lord Pavilion's appreciation of women was more advanced. He wasn't very interested in the Jiaofang Division. What he valued in a woman, besides her appearance, was her taste and temperament.

She had to be able to discuss history, ancient and modern, with him, and have unique insights into the court, mainly focusing on a soul mate…

Of course, there were exceptions.

For example, this "Sixth Madam" in the information seemed to have been obtained by Li Yinglong through some means not long ago, and the method was quite direct, making Zhao Du'an frown.

He keenly sensed that something was wrong—with Li Yinglong's taste and status, he shouldn't be so lustful to this extent.

The several madams he had taken as concubines in the past were almost all from families with clean backgrounds, or at least commoner women.

But this Sixth Madam was very strange. Not only was she born as a lowly courtesan, but she had also been married off to a merchant earlier.

And it was said that Li Yinglong was quite tolerant of her.

"There's a problem, a big problem."

Zhao Du'an intuitively believed that he could use this as a breakthrough to find trouble with Li Yinglong.

Now, the eyes of the entire capital were gathered on the turbulent waves in the court, paying attention to this grand drama.

But no one noticed that the disappeared Zhao Du'an had secretly extended a knife and stabbed it at the dignified Little Lord Pavilion.

"You still want to run after offending this official? You really haven't heard of my nickname, Zhao Yama, who never lets go of a grudge."

Zhao Du'an narrowed his eyes.

Of course, there was another purpose.

That was, if he could take down Li Yinglong, he could obviously greatly help Zhenbao and tilt the scales of victory in this court battle heavily in her favor.

"Old Hou, go to Shenlong Temple," Zhao Du'an said calmly.

His eyes contained murderous intent.

Intelligence showed that today, Sixth Madam Lin, was going to Shenlong Temple to burn incense.