The First Lackey Under The Empress

The evil Taoist is dead?

Did Zhao Du'an do it again?

Not only that, but even the Kuangfu Society's branch was uprooted?

In the Golden Luan Hall, the courtiers were briefly stunned by the news the Empress revealed.

Even with Li Yanfu and Yuan Li's composure, they were momentarily dazed, feeling a sense of unreality.

It was all happening too fast. Wasn't it just yesterday that the National Teacher, the evil Taoist, announced his return?

Only one day? And he's dead?

"He came to deliver himself…"

At this moment, many ministers had this thought in their minds.

Just a second ago, everyone was worried and discussing how to deal with this challenge, but the menacing evil Taoist didn't even last a day.

He even conveniently took away the rebel branch.

Inconceivable.

Yuan Li had an epiphany: No wonder Ma Yan didn't attend court. If such a big thing happened last night, he must still be dealing with the aftermath.

Then he couldn't help but wonder, what is that kid Zhao Du'an up to?

… …

Outside the palace.

Zhao Du'an walked out of the towering palace gate with a refreshed spirit, and then walked towards the Zhao Yamen, bathed in the golden morning light of autumn.

When he arrived at the main gate of the yamen and saw the two stone lions, the Jinyi guards at the gate all gave him expressions as if they were looking at a celestial being.

"Investigator Zhao!"

"Lord Zhao!"

Everyone's face was filled with sincere admiration and strong envy.

Obviously, what happened last night had spread. Compared to the extremely swift downfall of the evil Taoist, what the officials and yamen runners truly envied and hated was the "taking down of the branch in one fell swoop."

"Oh, isn't this Lord Zhao? Where did you come from?"

Stepping into the General Overseer's hall, an old acquaintance, Haitang, asked with her arms folded, her tone sour.

In the early morning, the withered grass and trees in the courtyard were covered with dew. Today was a sunny day, and the bright sunlight made the female investigator's dark circles particularly noticeable.

"Investigator Hai, good morning. Where's the Director General?" Zhao Du'an greeted with a bright smile, in a very good mood.

Haitang, who hadn't slept all night, yawned and said, "He's personally watching over those prisoners in the Zhao Prison."

Then, she briefly told Zhao Du'an about what happened after he was sent to the palace last night.

After Zhao Du'an left last night, Haitang led people to the Bafang Theater and, with the authority of an official, sealed off the entire theater that had been alarmed.

At the same time, they blocked the news, only saying to the outside world: Arresting rebels.

After that, the few people from Pear Blossom Hall who remained went to contact and find Gongshu Tianyuan's team and joined forces with them.

Gongshu Tianyuan's side was extremely smooth, with almost no obstacles, and they arrested dozens of rebels in one go before ending.

After that, a bunch of rebels who were taken down overnight were thrown into the Zhao Prison, and Ma Yan personally sat down to interrogate them, while the people from the other halls were responsible for the aftermath, and they had been busy until now.

"Gongshu Tianyuan has returned to the Heavenly Master's Mansion, saying that although he didn't catch the evil Taoist, he thanks you for your hospitality," Haitang said while yawning.

She added with an extremely resentful look:

"You people from Pear Blossom Hall are really quiet, pulling off something big. You've clearly milked the Heavenly Master's Mansion's connections dry."

She was very jealous!

With this one incident alone, Pear Blossom Hall would inevitably be ranked first in the merit assessment this year. She had been conscientious, leading the Narcissus Hall, and had been thinking about the title of First Hall for so long, but it was snatched away by Zhao Du'an.

However, after being resentful, she still sighed in admiration, dropping a sentence: "Remember to treat us."

Then she turned around and went back to catch up on sleep.

Zhao Du'an smiled wryly, not explaining. His purpose was never to compete for the First Hall, but only to pave the way for the future.

Without rushing to see Ma Yan, he turned his head and went back to Pear Blossom Hall first to understand the specific situation.

"Sir, are you alright last night?" Qian Kerou asked curiously after answering everything one by one, sizing him up.

"What could have happened to this official?" Zhao Du'an said calmly.

"But your face is pale…" The little secretary said halfway through, before the other three vixens winked and stopped her.

Thinking to themselves, 'Don't expose what you see through. The Lord stayed in the palace for a night, what's wrong with his face being a little pale? It's perfectly reasonable.'

"Sir, this is your mask." Zheng Laojiu handed back the "Nine Changes" disguise mask.

This item was lent to Thousand-Faced Divine Monarch for use last night, and naturally it was taken back after returning.

"Well, how are Yunxi and that Wu Ling doing?" Zhao Du'an asked, and then, without waiting for an answer, he got up and smiled: "Forget it, let's go see them in person."

He planned to see his good-for-nothing senior brother first, and then go interrogate those few guys.

… …

… …

Zhao Prison, deep in the dungeon.

Morning light came in from the "品"-shaped ventilation holes at the top of the wall, a straight beam shining on Qingniao's face.

In the past, at this time, if she could time it right… she and Yunxi would squeeze together to welcome this rare morning light in the prison.

But today, only she herself was holding up the sunlight with her face. Qingniao turned her head, looked at the girl's back on the stone bed, facing the wall with her knees bent, and tentatively whispered: "Yunxi?"

Yunxi didn't answer.

Since returning last night, the girl had been silently not speaking.

In just one day, it wasn't just the Bewitching True Man who died, but also Yunxi's heart.

Zhao Du'an took her out for a walk and easily shattered her faith wrapped in lies.

The only thing the girl did after returning was to destroy all the marks she used to record the date on the wall with small stones.

Then she sat facing the wall until now.

"Actually…" Qingniao hesitated, thinking about words of comfort.

Suddenly, the sound of clanking shackles came from the corridor, accompanied by footsteps. This sound finally alarmed them.

They saw two jailers, one on the left and one on the right, dragging an almost limp figure to the empty cell opposite the two women, throwing the person in like a broken sack.

Then they turned around and left, without leaving a word of extra words.

In the Zhao Prison, talking to serious criminals is a violation of the rules.

Wu Ling fell weakly to the ground. This famous actor who rose from the Bafang Theater had a pale face, and was no longer wearing a costume, but a prison uniform.

There were not too many wounds to be seen, the only conspicuous wound was the bloody patch between the waist and abdomen.

If you lifted up his clothes, you could see a bronze nail chiseled into the flesh in the abdomen, used to seal his whole body's mana.

"Cough… cough cough…"

Wu Ling coughed, gasped for a while, felt that he had recovered some strength, barely climbed up, saw the two acquaintances across the fence, he pulled up a smile and said:

"Before, when we were outside, we were still thinking about how inhumanely you would be treated in prison, but now it looks better than we imagined."

Qingniao, who had also gained weight, felt satirized. She opened her mouth, and the words that came out became:

"They didn't torture you?"

"They did, water torture." Wu Ling looked calm, and smiled self-deprecatingly:

"At least my face wasn't disfigured. You may not understand, but disfigurement is a fatal thing for singing."

Yunxi, who had been silent all night, turned around, with a straight face, and sneered:

"You can still joke, which means you haven't suffered much."

Wu Ling was silent for a while, and sighed:

“I truly didn't expect that you would be with that Zhao fellow last night. My identity…”

“I told him,” Yunxi said with a sneer. “How is it? Are you very angry, wanting to curse me, the traitor?”

Just a few hours ago, she was still denouncing and despising Thousand-Faced Divine Lord for being a “traitor.”

A few hours later, she also became the traitor she used to hate.

Wu Ling endured the pain in his abdomen, sat up cross-legged, and frowned:

“You know?”

This was out of the blue, but as the only “Divine Chapter Realm” warlock in the capital branch, his status in the capital branch was not low.

The branch leader was first, the agent codenamed “Ballast Stone” was second, and he was the third-ranked member.

Commonly known as "Third Head."

Therefore, he had interacted with Zhuang Xiaocheng's female disciple and understood her personality.

Considering the time he was captured, it had been more than half a year since Yunxi was imprisoned, enough for him to guess the reason for Yunxi's betrayal.

“You all really knew!” For no reason, Yunxi was as enraged as a little leopard.

She climbed down from the bed and walked to the prison door. With the help of that ray of light, she could see that the girl's eyes were swollen, her eyeballs were filled with bloodshot veins, and her lips were bitten.

She had been crying silently half the night last night.

Yunxi became furious:

“Since you all know the truth, why are you selling your lives to that old dog Zhuang Xiaocheng?! You keep saying you want to help the country and save the people, but in the end, it’s just for your own selfish desires, right? What? You failed to usurp the throne and you’re still not giving up?

Wanting to be meritorious officials who supported the new emperor? Or what? I only hate that I know too little, otherwise I would have personally ended that old thief's dog life long ago! I was blind, actually colluding with you, bah!”

Yunxi cursed non-stop. Rather than cursing, it was more like venting the emotions she had been holding back all night.

The more steadfast a person's faith is, the stronger the desire for revenge after turning to the dark side.

The more respect she had for Zhuang Xiaocheng in the past, the more she hates him now.

“Yunxi…” Qingniao opened her mouth, trying to comfort her, but in the end, she just sighed.

Wu Ling endured the girl's scolding, and there was no anger on his face. Instead, a wry smile appeared. He seemed to want to explain something, but in the end, he just sighed:

“People in the martial world can't help themselves.”

He let his hair down and shook his head with a wry smile:

“Supporting the country is not what you imagined in the past, a group of people with lofty ideals, nor is it what you say now, a group of profit-seeking, power-hungry ambitious people. Those people like Zhuang Xiaocheng participated in the coup, and there is no way out. They are unwilling to go into exile and hide, so it is true that they want to regain their position.”

“But there are still many people whose families had secretly defected to the Second Prince Jianwen before the coup. Zhuang Xiaocheng holds evidence of these people's defection. Once exposed, they will face a catastrophe, so there is no way, they can only be coerced and lured to participate together.”

“Of course, there are also some people who joined later, wanting to seek an opportunity, and there are indeed some.”

“And there are even more, like you, who were completely deceived by Zhuang Xiaocheng and his gang at the beginning, helping them escape, and even participating in it. As a result, once you participate, it is too late when you wake up.

Just like you, now you understand, but does your identity as a rebel disappear? Sometimes, once you get on a thief's ship, you can only go down one road.”

Wu Ling finished speaking in one breath, and found that Yunxi was silent and no longer speaking. He laughed at himself:

“Perhaps in your eyes, I am trying to excuse myself.

Perhaps, I also admit that I was indeed moved by the future depicted by Zhuang Xiaocheng and the others. At least, after understanding the truth, I still tried to overthrow the female emperor. Now that I have been arrested, it is also my own fault. If you want to scold me, then scold me.”

Yunxi was silent for a while, then suddenly asked: “How many people in the society know the truth?”

Wu Ling thought for a while and said:

“The high-level officials of each branch know it. Most of the middle-level officials are aware of it, but they often don’t say it out loud. As for the lower-level members, there are indeed many who are still kept in the dark.

Actually, it is very rare that you are so simple and were selected by Zhuang Xiaocheng to stay by his side. However, the reason why he chose you may be because your faith is firm enough, so he can use you with peace of mind. As for us… our minds are too complicated.”

Yunxi was silent, not knowing what she was thinking.

The prison cell was quiet for a while, and neither side spoke again.

Suddenly, the sound of a door opening came again from the end of the corridor. Several jailers walked in and began to open the doors of the two prison cells at the same time.

The leading jailer with a face full of horizontal flesh smiled:

“The three of you, Lord Zhao invites you.”

… …

Inside the imperial prison, in a spacious “interrogation room.”

Zhao Du'an leaned back in a large chair, his legs raised and placed on the long table in front of him.

He was flipping through the interrogation records in his hand.

“Bang!”

The door of the interrogation room opened, and the jailer smiled obsequiously: “My lord, the prisoners have been brought.”

“En,” Zhao Du'an slammed the booklet in his hand shut, put his legs down, changed to a slightly more serious, but still lazy sitting position, and said:

“Bring them in, then all of you go out and don't let irrelevant people get close.”

“Yes!”

The jailer bowed and retreated.

After that, Yunxi, Qingniao, and Wu Ling were pushed into the cold interrogation room.

As the iron door behind them slammed shut and the sound of footsteps moved away, the stone room only contained a cold long table and a few chairs.

Dust motes floated in the beam of light piercing through the ventilation hole.

Zhao Du'an threw the dossier in his hand on the table, folded his hands on his abdomen, leaned back, and said with a smile:

“Sit down, don't be nervous, this official is not some kind of demon.”

The three had different expressions.

Qingniao turned her head slightly, not daring to look Zhao Du'an in the eye.

— Whenever she thought of Thousand-Faced Divine Lord's fawning over this man, she would feel a deep sense of dread.

Wu Ling was uneasy and complicated. This was not the first time the two had met. When Zhao Du'an went to the Bafang Opera House and hooked up with Pei Si Niang, the two had met once.

Later, he went to assassinate Zhao Du'an, but failed without even seeing him.

Most recently, he was shocked to learn last night in the alley outside the carriage that the Imperial Preceptor was killed by Zhao Du'an.

“What do you want us for?”

Yunxi sat down opposite him frankly, stubbornly, her eyes swollen like peaches gazing at Zhao Du'an. The large word “Prisoner” on her chest bulged high, neither dodging nor avoiding, she said while crying:

“Did you come to laugh at me?”

Zhao Du'an looked at the girl who had been crying all night in front of him, couldn't help but smile, suddenly pulled out a handkerchief and threw it on her face, and said lightly:

“Wipe your tears, don't you want to take revenge on that old dog Zhuang Xiaocheng?”

—

ps: No need to wait until noon, update a chapter in advance, the next chapter will definitely be before six o'clock, I said it!