The First Lackey Under The Empress

Inside the imperial bedchamber, candlelight flickered.

Zhao Du'an and Xu Zhenguan sat facing each other, each pondering different matters.

"Now that Your Majesty says so, this subject is relieved." Zhao Du'an feigned a relieved expression, then said solemnly:

"In that case, if the demonic priest is in league with the Kuangfu Society and also has connections with the Ming Cult, doesn't that mean the Kuangfu Society might have formed an alliance with this heretical organization?"

Xu Zhenguan glanced at him and said:

"Not necessarily. Zhuang Xiaocheng is not a fool. His goal is to support Jianwen's descendants, reclaim the throne, and realize his ambition of being a founding contributor. Association with heretical sorcerers, at any time, is a scandal."

The unspoken implication:

Even if Zhuang Xiaocheng has ties to heretical organizations, the connection wouldn't be deep, because getting too close would be difficult to shake off.

After all, the reason the people of the Kuangfu Society have been striving until now is that they still harbor the idea of being whitewashed and returning to the imperial court.

Although Xu Jianwen died long ago, when the remnants of the rebel party fled, they took away the Second Prince's wife and son. The banner raised by the rebel party is to support this 'Imperial Grandson' to ascend the throne.

A scandal? But your father appointed a heretical priest as the Imperial Preceptor… Zhao Du'an inwardly complained.

Xu Zhenguan seemed to see through his thoughts and said with some headache:

"However, if Zhuang Xiaocheng is pushed to the brink, when he realizes the situation is too unfavorable, he might really take a step further and employ these people."

Clearly, this was not something the Empress was happy to see.

The atmosphere inside the bedchamber became somewhat somber.

Zhao Du'an subconsciously wanted to pick up the teapot and pour tea for his female leader to ease the awkwardness.

But then he realized the teapot was empty, so he forcibly stopped the action and changed the subject, saying:

"Your Majesty, does the demonic priest's self-detonation in my dream have any aftereffects? This subject just fainted inexplicably, and my Qi and blood are restless."

This was the second thing he was concerned about.

Mentioning this, Xu Zhenguan's expression became complicated. She first reassured him, saying:

"Rest assured, I have already investigated, and it is not a major issue. After the demonic priest's soul dissipated, it suffered a backlash and turned into pure soul power. Originally, that soul power would have attracted the arrival of a Mad God to take it away…"

Zhao Du'an had a flash of insight and blurted out:

"When I came, I saw red lightning in the southern sky."

"You guessed correctly, that is the phenomenon of a Mad God descending to the mortal realm," Xu Zhenguan briefly explained, mentioning the matter of the Mad God being triggered by the death of the Five Mad Sect disciples. Her eyes were deep as she said:

"Fortunately, you are in the capital. If you were outside, once a Mad God descended, not only would it take away the demonic priest's remains, but it would also likely devour you… However, there is no need to worry now. Celestial Master Zhang has already taken action and defeated the Mad God. In this way, all of the Guhuo Zhenren's soul cultivation has been given to you."

She said with a strange tone:

"The Divine Chapter Realm is inherently a realm focused on tempering the soul. Your foundation was unstable before, and I hadn't told you about subsequent cultivation, but you stumbled upon it by chance. Once you have digested the soul power he left behind, it should be enough for you to advance to the middle rank of the Divine Chapter Realm."

Such a great tonic? Zhao Du'an's face showed joy.

But Xu Zhenguan didn't seem to want him to get cocky, and she teased with a smile:

"However, there are no purely good things in this world. The demonic priest's soul power is not entirely harmless. You fainting just now was an external manifestation. I ordered someone to dissolve a medicinal pill and feed it to you to temporarily suppress it.

But the medicinal pill cannot completely eliminate the aftereffects. It only helps you postpone the 'onset' time. If you want to completely receive this gift, you still have to rely on yourself to endure the next onset of the illness."

Gulp…

Zhao Du'an's Adam's apple bobbed a second time. He was a little panicked and asked cautiously:

"Your Majesty, what kind of illness are you referring to…"

"Desire."

Xu Zhenguan lightly parted her vermilion lips and uttered these two words, saying faintly:

"Mad Gods are born from people's various desires. The demonic priest's soul was also full of desires. After his death, those desires will gradually dissipate, but before that, you will be dominated by desire, just like an illness breaking out.

Well, but next time, you won't simply faint. Instead, you will likely lose your mind, your brain will be dominated by desire, and you will degenerate into a mindless beast… You will do crazy things."

Lose my mind… Du'an's lips turned white, and he said in a trembling voice:

"What will happen to me?"

Xu Zhenguan said quietly:

"It's uncertain, but there may be several possibilities. For example, you will have a strong appetite, feel hungry, and under the urge of hunger, rush out to try to eat. Considering that it is night now and there is no food outside, you are very likely to try to eat people."

Eat people… Zhao Du'an's breathing tightened, and at the same time, he felt a "gurgling" sound spreading in his abdomen, accompanied by a burst of hunger.

Xu Zhenguan glanced at him and said slowly:

"You may also develop a desire for slaughter, destroying everything in front of you. At best, you will smash objects and demolish houses. At worst, you will rush into the crowd, slaughtering wantonly and turning into a demon of slaughter."

Zhao Du'an bit his lip, feeling waves of violent desire surging in his heart, wanting to destroy everything.

He clenched his fists, his fingernails almost piercing into his flesh.

Xu Zhenguan continued to say:

"Or you may develop greed, frantically plundering wealth. Heh, I don't need to explain this further. It's nothing more than breaking into houses, killing people, and robbing gold and silver."

Zhao Du'an looked at the precious treasures in the room, his heart stirred, and he was tempted to act.

Xu Zhenguan teased: "Or lust…"

"Your Majesty! Stop reading!" Zhao Du'an took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and said with a wry smile:

"I feel like I have all of them…"

Xu Zhenguan chuckled, no longer teasing him, and said with a smile:

"You haven't reached the time of the illness yet, don't scare yourself. If there are no accidents, the medicinal power will probably wear off in about an hour."

An hour… Zhao Du'an said seriously:

"Your Majesty, to prevent this subject from going crazy, I implore Your Majesty to order someone to tie me up."

Xu Zhenguan's helplessness was mixed with a bit of amusement:

"You think tying you up will be enough? If desire really comes upon you, do you believe that, driven by hunger, you might eat yourself?"

Zhao Du'an shuddered, sincerely and earnestly, he bowed his head and pleaded:

"Your Majesty, save me!"

Xu Zhenguan said helplessly: "If I wasn't going to save you, why would I have ordered someone to leave you in this bedchamber?"

Zhao Du'an said in surprise: "Your Majesty means…"

Xu Zhenguan sighed: "Tonight, I will be watching you all the time to prevent you from doing anything irreversible after losing your mind."

Translated, the two of them would have to stay up all night in the imperial bedchamber until dawn.

Zhao Du'an breathed a sigh of relief and felt a strong sense of relief. At this moment, he didn't even have the mind to think about anything else, but was afraid that if Ma Yan hadn't brought him to the palace.

Then, after he went mad, he really couldn't guarantee what great mistake he would make.

If he in the Divine Chapter Realm went crazy, with the Dragon Soul by his side, Ma Yan might not be able to suppress him.

However, now that the Empress was watching over him, there was no need to worry.

"Your Majesty's great kindness, this subject has no way to repay it!" Zhao Du'an took the opportunity to offer his loyalty.

"Alright, put away that act of yours. You don't find it cloying, but I do," Xu Zhenguan said unhappily.

Perhaps because the warm pavilion was burning charcoal, the autumn night was not cold at all, but even a little hot.

As she spoke, Xu Zhenguan raised her hand to pick up the jade pot in front of her, and then, unsurprisingly, picked up nothing.

Xu Zhenguan: "…"

Zhao Du'an: "…"

"This subject…"

"Forget it, no need to explain." Xu Zhenguan sighed softly, thinking that this teapot was unusable.

She turned her head and instructed outside the door.

…

In a moment.

The door opened, and several palace maids, holding trays, brought in many fruits, pastries, and new tea, filling the wide coffee table.

Then, they silently retreated, never looking at Zhao Du'an from beginning to end.

When the door closed again, the monarch and subject simply began to eat and drink.

However, Xu Zhenguan had the habit of eating less after dinner, and Zhao Du'an didn't dare to eat too much, always suspecting that he was being controlled by "appetite."

So, he still ate quite elegantly.

Zhao Du'an put a jujube into his mouth, knowing that the night would be long, so he said, looking for something to talk about:

"Your Majesty, I heard that there has been progress in the new policy of opening markets recently?"

Last time, Old Si Jian had told him about this matter, but didn't mention it in detail.

Xu Zhenguan said "Mm", and said:

"It has been largely planned, but after the news spread, the various gatekeepers and even my eight uncles have shown their abilities. In about a while, the Huting Conference will hold a 'Political Discussion'. At that time, these princes, as well as some gentry who are trying to get involved, will gather, which will be the greatest test."

Zhao Du'an was stunned for a moment. It was the first time he had learned of this news.

Huting… He knew this place, at the junction of the Huai River and Linfeng, known as the "Ten Mile Huting."

It was originally a place with extremely developed trade. This time, in order to solve the Ministry of Revenue's financial problems, the imperial court chose to open the market and set it in Huting.

According to the Empress's statement, the Eight Kings and many gentry gatekeepers obviously also knew the great significance of opening the market. Some people might not have seen through it yet, but they were not stupid and would not pretend not to see it.

Of course, these people would not and could not do anything on the surface, after all, this was a policy that had already been agreed upon in the imperial court.

But intervening and stirring things up, taking a share of the pie, or trying to find ways to keep as much of the "market" benefits as possible in their hands, and not giving new merchants a chance to rise… this could be done.

In the Empress's words, the so-called "Political Discussion" was nominally hosted by the imperial court, gathering many merchants who wanted to participate in the market to set the rules at a meeting.

But the Eight Kings and many gatekeepers smelled the scent and came…

It was conceivable what the scene would be like at this upcoming council in Huting.

What a lively event.

"Hehe, when the time comes, I will definitely send someone to personally keep an eye on it. How about it, are you interested?" Xu Zhenguan suddenly asked with a smile.

Zhao Du'an said honestly: "This subject doesn't have that ability."

The Eight Kings discussing politics… What kind of battle was this?

Thinking about it, one could know that several major forces would definitely not be happy to let the new policy be implemented smoothly, and would definitely force a share of the pie, which would inevitably lead to conflict.

Even Jing Wang gave him a feeling of pressure, not to mention eight princes together.

So far, Zhao Du'an had indirectly dealt with only Jing Wang and Huai'an Wang.

There were still six left, namely Mu Wangye of Yunfu Dao.

Hejian Wang of Xiping.

Yanshan Wang of the Northern Tieguan Dao.

Heng Wang of Qingzhou Dao.

Chen Wang of Binhai Dao.

And Qiong Wang of the remote Lingnan.

Xu Zhenguan smiled and didn't say anything. There was still some time, and she hadn't thought about it yet.

The reason she asked was because Zhao Du'an proposed the opening of the market in the new policy. He understood it best, and was loyal and capable enough.

He was the most suitable candidate to represent her at the conference.

But… it was indeed too dangerous… Think about it again…

"Hachoo." Xu Zhenguan suddenly covered her mouth with her slender hand, got up and walked to the bedroom next door:

"I'm tired, are you going to sleep?"