The First Lackey Under The Empress

Outside the gate of the Imperial Prison, in an alleyway paved with gray-black bricks.

The setting sun shone through the eaves of the buildings, casting a glow on Zhao Du'an's face, making him seem almost divine.

However, the two women dressed in prison clothes only felt cold, and Qingniao's eyes were filled with deep fear.

She understood Qianmian Shenjun very well, and therefore, she knew how terrifying the methods of someone who could make him so subservient must be.

Zhao Du'an deeply agreed with this; after Qianmian Shenjun was arrested and imprisoned, he had never yielded, despite being subjected to all kinds of torture.

Don't misunderstand, this wasn't because this person had such firm beliefs, but rather because he was simply cold-blooded and rebellious.

Zhao Du'an initially ignored him, but recently, when planning to wipe out the Kuangfu Society, he remembered this defeated opponent.

Even with the power to burn souls with flames, it took him several days to make Qianmian kneel.

Unfortunately, after this person was arrested, the Kuangfu Society cut off many of the contact methods he controlled, failing to unearth more valuable information.

This time, to prevent accidents, Zhou Laotou, who controlled the Imperial Prison, even deeply hammered a copper nail, a suppression artifact, into Qianmian's dantian.

Only then did he dare to hand this vicious wolf over to Zhao Du'an to drive.

… …

Yunxi slowly lowered her hand, letting one side of her face swell up high from the slap. The young woman puffed out her proud chest and sneered with great backbone:

"You can make him submit, but you can't defeat me!"

She was already prepared to die a heroic death.

Heh heh, you'll know pain once I burn you a little… Zhao Du'an thought to himself, but he knew very well that torture wasn't a panacea.

Moreover, he had other plans for Yunxi.

He needed this young woman to truly work for him, rather than being like Qianmian, who could bite back at any time.

Therefore, suppression by force alone was meaningless.

He needed to crush her spiritually.

However, for tonight's large-scale roundup, he didn't expect this stubborn young woman to contribute. In fact, bringing them out was just a convenient move, or rather, one of the "two birds with one stone."

"This official has no interest in forcing you to surrender. Bringing you out is just to open your eyes and see the truth," Zhao Du'an mocked:

"Aren't you convinced that His Majesty killed his elder brother and father, that the Xuanmen coup was launched by His Majesty, that the Second Prince Jianwen was persecuted, and that the purpose of your Kuangfu Society is to restore justice to the world?"

Yunxi raised her head, her eyes not dodging, meeting his gaze, and retorted sharply:

"Isn't that so? You, a running dog of the false emperor, still want to fabricate the truth, concoct facts, and deceive the world?"

Qingniao turned her head away, unable to bear to witness Yunxi, this passionate idealist with a head full of justice, have her beliefs shattered so thoroughly.

Zhao Du'an smiled and looked at Qianmian: "Do you believe it?"

Qianmian Shenjun smiled and said: "Zhuang Xiaocheng, that old dog, is indeed skilled at deceiving people. The younger they are, the easier they are to believe."

"Shut up!" Yunxi burst out, "You traitor, how dare you insult Grand Tutor!"

In the young woman's view, since Qianmian had already become a traitor, then naturally not a single word from his mouth could be trusted.

Zhao Du'an smiled, ignored Yunxi, took out the captured disguise mask from his bosom, threw it to Qianmian Shenjun, and said:

"Bringing you out is to have you atone for your sins. Do you know what to do?"

Qianmian Shenjun held the "Nine Changes" mask, his smile cruel and sinister:

"Don't worry, my lord, I will do my best."

After a pause, he worriedly said: "However, the Kuangfu Society's fools are extremely tight-lipped. Even if they are caught, I'm afraid it will be difficult to make them speak."

Zhao Du'an said indifferently: "Therefore, one person is still missing from tonight's arrests."

Who?

Just as everyone was wondering, suddenly, they heard a sound of rushing wind overhead.

They saw a black silhouette gradually approaching from the center of the setting sun, which had sunk halfway into the ground in the west, above the continuous building complex of the capital.

That figure was extremely fast, enlarging with each step.

Before long, a young man wearing a wrinkled, gold-trimmed Taoist robe, with a short, stout figure, and a large bamboo tube tied behind his back with hemp rope, floated down.

His cloth shoes slowly stepped onto the stone road, and the wind pressure stirred up a circle of shallow dust.

"Haha, Brother Zhao, I'm a step late, don't blame me."

Gongshu Tianyuan's fat face wore a cordial smile, "Long time no see. If you hadn't sent someone to deliver a message, I wouldn't have known you had returned to the capital."

The message was delayed so severely, and you're still quite proud of it… Those who know understand that you're hiding in the Tianshi Mansion all day inventing things, those who don't know would think you're isolated from the world… Zhao Du'an sighed and smiled brightly:

"Thank you for assisting in tonight's battle, Brother Gongshu. I don't know how to repay you."

Gongshu Tianyuan squeezed his plump body into the carriage, filling it up instantly. He smiled and said:

"Between you and me, saying those things is too formal."

He rolled his eyes and looked at the two female prisoners wearing prison clothes with graceful figures, and said in surprise: "Others keep beauties in golden houses, but Brother Zhao keeps beauties in prison. Amazing, admirable!"

The two women silently turned their heads away, keeping a respectful distance from this nerdy fatso.

"Ahem, it's getting late, let's go. There are still many people to kill tonight, we can't delay the auspicious day."

Zhao Du'an smiled and instructed, unfolding a document in his hand, which was the name of a Kuangfu Society rebel recently identified by the Pear Blossom Hall.

His position wasn't high, and he was located on the periphery and bottom of the entire intelligence system.

At this moment, Qian K柔 and the others should have already set off to secretly deploy.

Zhao Du'an still remembered the astonishment of his subordinates when he decided on the roundup operation: "Sir, we have only found this one small pawn, how can we pull out the entire branch?"

His answer at the time was only four words: Follow the vine.

The rebels lurking among millions of people were like needles in the sea, piercing into the court's flesh, causing faint pain.

What he had to do tonight was to pull out these needles one by one.

The coachman, wearing a bamboo hat, vigorously shook the reins:

"Yes, sir!"

… …

… …

The setting sun sank into the ground, and the capital ushered in another night.

For the vast majority of the people, they neither understood the storms stirred up by the national teacher and the evil Taoist at the upper levels, nor did they know Zhao Yanwang's actions tonight.

Golden House was the name of a bookstore in the capital, taking the meaning of "there are golden houses in books."

It was just that because the location was remote, the business was not very good. The surrounding neighbors all knew that the bookstore owner was a poor scholar, sitting in the shop all day reading those few tattered books.

When business was good, he could sell a few books, when it was bad, he could only sell a few sheets of rice paper and brushes all day.

The impoverished situation formed an amazing contrast with the name "Huang Jinrong".

When night came, Huang Jinrong closed the shop door, picked up a vegetable basket, and bought some wilted vegetables that were sold cheaply at the nearby market when the stalls closed.

After turning around and coming back, he hung two signs saying "Closed" outside the shop, and simply cooked some dishes in the kitchen behind, eating them with soaked pancakes.

Huang Jinrong was about forty years old, lived alone, had no family, and was taciturn, which was a lonely nature in the eyes of outsiders.

However, few people knew his true identity, which was one of the Kuangfu Society's spies in the capital.

As a middle-level member, Huang Jinrong had several subordinates in his hands, and above him, there were also superiors. As for which level of the entire intelligence network he was in, he himself did not know.

Huang Jinrong only knew that this set of mutually isolated intelligence networks was created by Grand Tutor Zhuang Xiaocheng alone.

It was just that compared to the era when the Grand Tutor was in charge, in the past six months, the entire organization had been continuously suppressed, and the news occasionally delivered by his superiors sometimes surprised him and sometimes worried him.

"Bang, bang bang…"

Under the cover of the night, Huang Jinrong silently ate his dinner, when he suddenly heard knocking on the shop door.

He frowned, got up and walked out, shouting: "Closed, go to another shop."

"Bang, bang bang…"

The knocking became more urgent.

Huang Jinrong's eyes became nervous, he walked to the table, grabbed the dagger hidden in the rice bag, carefully walked to the side of the door, and heard an anxious voice from outside: "Jinying, it's me!"

Huang Jinrong heard the familiar voice, was stunned for a moment, looked through the crack in the door, and sure enough, saw a familiar round face.

He hurriedly pulled open the door, let the latter into the house, then looked left and right, and closed the door when he saw that no one was there.

"Why are you here?" Huang Jinrong's face was ugly, looking at his subordinate.

According to the rules set by Zhuang Xiaocheng, contact between informants was prohibited unless it was an emergency.

The round-faced youth looked anxious, pulled him to the back house, to a room lit with candles, closed the door, and said anxiously:

"Something happened! I got the latest information, Yancangshi is dead!"

"What?" Huang Jinrong was shocked.

The round-faced youth said:

"Yancangshi took the initiative to find Zhao Du'an of Baimajian today, and then died there. I heard that the people from Zhaoya suspect that Yancangshi was already dead when he went there, and was… controlled by the national teacher… The national teacher is back!

I got the news, the matter is really urgent, I can only risk coming to you, what exactly is going on?"

Huang Jinrong was dazed for a moment, then suddenly slumped back into his chair, muttering:

“So that's how it is, so that's how it is…”

His face was grim as he said:

“The message I received from my superiors tonight said that the National Preceptor has returned and has already contacted the Cornerstone and some high-level members. They also said that the situation is a bit off, but the specifics are still unclear.”

The round-faced youth excitedly cursed:

“Tell me the truth, is he really dead or not? I heard that the National Preceptor has threatened the puppet emperor to restore his reputation, and also said that the Second Prince's coup was not instigated by him at all, but was the Second Prince's own idea…”

Huang Jinrong was in a state of confusion and, upon hearing this, sternly warned:

“Shut up, where did you hear such things? I don't care what you think in your heart, but to the outside world, you must follow the Grand Tutor's line.”

The round-faced youth said irritably:

“Are there any outsiders here? Who doesn't know that it was the Second Prince who launched the coup? The Grand Tutor's story is only good for fooling those bookworms and scholars, and I won't talk nonsense.

Besides, it's that Taoist priest who's spreading the word now! And the Cornerstone is dead! Does the Grand Tutor know about this?”

Huang Jinrong was silent, dejectedly saying:

“I don't have access to the higher-ups, how would I know? In short, I didn't receive any news about the National Preceptor's arrival beforehand, maybe my level isn't high enough!”

After complaining for a few sentences, he suddenly realized something was wrong, raised his head, stared at the familiar member in front of him, and his eyes were suspicious:

“Wait, your personality is off today… wrong! Who are you?!”

The round-faced youth was expressionless, his face wriggling and distorting, and his height also grew with cracking sounds, reverting to the appearance of the Thousand-Faced Divine Lord.

He said with a sneer: “Lord Zhao said, surrender and you won't be killed.”

Huang Jinrong's hair stood on end, and the dagger hidden in his sleeve flashed with a cold light, stabbing towards the Thousand-Faced Divine Lord's face!

“Oof!”

The Thousand-Faced Divine Lord, whose dantian was sealed by the magic-sealing nail, rolled and dodged, not engaging in direct combat.

After Huang Jinrong stabbed out with the dagger, he smashed open the doors and windows and fled towards the back door of the bookstore!

“Heh heh.” The Thousand-Faced Divine Lord sneered silently, counting: “One, two, three…”

Only to hear a thud outside, Huang Jinrong was knocked back like a sandbag, and several brocade-clad guards in night clothes emerged from the darkness, capturing him alive.

When the group, taking advantage of the night, passed through a quiet alley and arrived at an alley entrance under the moonlight.

The Thousand-Faced Divine Lord bowed and scraped: “My Lord, the person has been captured.”

A corner of the dark clouds above dissipated, and the moonlight, like water, permeated the night. The wide carriage curtain was lifted, revealing the four people inside.

Zhao Du'an was composed, like a general commanding the central army.

Gongshu Tianyuan looked at Yun Xi opposite him with a smile.

The girl in prisoner's clothes was holding a metal morning glory in her hand, and at this moment, a faint voice came from the morning glory:

“My Lord, the person has been captured.”

Gongshu Tianyuan said with a smile:

“I told you, this treasure is called the Echo Flower. Teach that Divine Lord to hide one on his body, and you take one. You can hear everything that's happening on the other side. But you just didn't believe me. You can question other things, but my creations are always top-notch.”

Yun Xi turned a deaf ear. Her expression was blank, like a puppet on a string.

On that delicate face, though her hair was disheveled, two lines of crystal tears faintly flowed from her eyes, and she murmured:

“No… impossible… you're all conspiring to deceive me… and him too… it's impossible for the Second Prince to have launched the coup… the Grand Tutor wouldn't lie to me…”

Just now, she had heard the entire conversation in the room.

Qingniao sighed softly.

Zhao Du'an was too lazy to pay attention to Yun Xi, got out of the carriage, lowered his eyes to look at Huang Jinrong, who was kneeling on the ground with a knife pressed against him by the brocade-clad guards, and smiled:

“Next, don't shout, don't yell. Answer whatever I ask, understand?”

Qian Kerou raised her hand and removed the cloth from his mouth. Huang Jinrong's eyes were tearing apart, staring at Zhao Du'an:

“Zhao, you dog, may you die a horrible death!”

Zhao Du'an sighed softly and shook his head: “It seems you don't want to live.”

He turned his head and said to Gongshu Tianyuan: “Please trouble you.”

“It's just a small matter,”

Gongshu Tianyuan waved his hand, slowly got out of the carriage, and pulled off the large bamboo tube behind him, pressing it on the ground with a "dong" sound with his fat hand.

In the curling white smoke, an妖異beautiful fox slowly crawled out of the bamboo tube, staring at Huang Jinrong.

A Fox Immortal!

A Wild Fox God!

At the celebration banquet that day, Gongshu Tianyuan had used a wild god to possess the head of Jing Wang's secret agents, and the price was the target's death.

“Heh heh—”

Huang Jinrong's cursing stopped instantly, his eyes were blank, he had been possessed by the Fox Immortal, and answered every question.

Gongshu Tianyuan casually said: “Who is your superior, how do you contact them, what are the passwords and secret words…”

In the carriage, Zhao Du'an handed the interrogation over to his subordinates, pulled out a handkerchief and kindly handed it to Yun Xi. Seeing that she was like a demon, he gave it to Qingniao:

“Wipe your tears, hehe, it doesn't matter if you don't want to believe it. The night is long, and there are many people waiting in line behind us, aren't there?”

Yun Xi trembled all over, but did not speak, just pursed her lips hard.

The faith in her heart had already cracked.

The Thousand-Faced Divine Lord cupped his sleeves and stared carefully at Huang Jinrong, memorizing his appearance, preparing to disguise himself as him later and deceive his superior.

He smacked his lips and asked curiously: “My Lord, why don't you use that spirit fire to burn this person, it will surely make him surrender. Why go to so much trouble and ask the Divine Official for help?”

Zhao Du'an looked at him calmly, with a non-smiling expression:

“If someone is afraid of torture, they will say whatever you want them to say, but if they dare to say it, would you dare to believe it?”

The Thousand-Faced Divine Lord shivered, avoided his gaze, and lowered his head.

Zhao Du'an gently patted him on the shoulder, turned and entered the carriage, and said lightly:

“Follow the vine to find the melon, speed is of the essence. What we have to do is to use the fastest speed, while they have not reacted, to find people through this one node after another. And there is no time to waste on torture and distinguishing the truth.”

Qingniao suddenly mustered up her courage and said, “Will he die?”

Zhao Du'an closed his eyes: “Who doesn't die, he or you, when killing people, have never been soft-hearted.”

After a moment.

Huang Jinrong, whose valuable information had been squeezed out, bled from all seven orifices and died on the ground, while the Fox Immortal, who had swallowed a soul, showed a look of unfinished business.

Zhao Du'an patted the seat cushion: “Let's go, next one.”

“We have to hurry, don't let that妖道Taoist priest run away.”

……

……

Kong Hanlin returned home at dusk.

This old man with pale hair and a thin body had the arrogance in his bones of a clear-stream official.

Even though he had been summoned to the palace in the morning and knew that the妖道Taoist priest might come to him, he still did not hide or seek help.

He didn't even disrupt his rhythm for the day.

After leaving the palace, he still went to the Hanlin Academy to work, proofread several manuscripts, and then found several grammatical errors and ambiguities in the meaning of the sage.

He summoned the young Hanlin and criticized him severely, scolding that today's scholars were getting worse and worse, not as good as his old generation.

“The world is getting worse!”

“A disgrace to civilization!”

Then he returned the manuscript for rewriting, and slowly went to the government's canteen for lunch, which was still three things: tofu, pickles, and rice.

He muddled through another afternoon, ignoring the subtle whispers of other Hanlin about him, and still returned home at dusk.

He did not tell his old wife about these things. After eating and soaking his feet, Kong Hanlin went into the study to read the books of sages.

The night grew deeper, and the wailing wind made the window paper tremble slightly.

Unknowingly, the study door was pushed open, and a figure walked in.

It was actually a woman, about thirty years old, with ordinary appearance, not from the family, and it was unknown how she got in.

“Who are you? How dare you disturb me reading!” Kong Hanlin stood up and raised his head, not afraid at all.

The woman with rough hands and feet did not answer, but just sat opposite him with a smile.

Those bloodshot eyes swept over the books of sages on the table, which were several times thicker than usual, and the cooked rice paper spread out on the table, with the words 'The Master does not speak of strange powers, violent acts, rebellious subjects' written on it.

She smiled slightly:

“Mr. Kong, since you have no fear in your heart, why do you seek the protection of the sage?”

Kong Hanlin's beard trembled, and his eyes were slightly disturbed: “妖道Taoist priest!”

……

Misspelled words will be corrected later.

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