The First Lackey Under The Empress

On the winter streets, Ma Yan and Tang Ping galloped on horseback, causing the people along the way to avoid them in fear.

The large horseshoes, fitted with iron, slammed against the stone pavement, creating a metallic roar.

Fortunately, the Duke's mansion was not far from the Zhao Yamen, and before long, the building was already faintly visible.

"To Pear Blossom Hall!" Ma Yan steered his horse around the main entrance, heading straight for the small gate of Pear Blossom Hall. The two hurriedly rushed into the Yamen, their faces anxious, fearing that an irreparable conflict might occur between the two.

However, to their surprise, Pear Blossom Hall was empty, without a single soul in sight.

"No one?"

Ma Yan's heart sank, and then he vaguely heard the noise from the Yamen square.

Immediately, he grabbed the young duke and strode towards it. From afar, he saw brocade-clad guards gathered around the square, layer upon layer.

"The Director is back!" Someone with keen eyes quickly bowed his head in salute.

Ma Yan's face was stern, mixed with anxiety: "What are you doing here?"

The arresting officer trembled in fear and explained:

"The Second Miss of Duke Tang's mansion is sparring with Lord Zhao…"

Sparring… They've started fighting… Ma Yan and Tang Ping, who was following behind, both felt their hearts sink, with a bad premonition.

Especially the young duke, whose handsome face was filled with annoyance.

In his opinion, it was originally a misunderstanding. Now that his second sister had beaten Lord Zhao, with Zhao Du'an's vengeful nature and His Majesty's favor towards him, the consequences were unimaginable.

Yes, in his opinion, the outcome of the sparring was without suspense.

"Get out of the way!" Ma Yan shouted loudly, parting the crowd and rushing to the front.

Then, Ma Yan, who was already prepared to rescue Zhao Du'an, froze, his body suddenly stiffened, his pupils slightly widened, looking at the scene in front of him in disbelief.

"Director, how is it? Is Lord Zhao's injury serious?"

Young Duke Tang Ping was one step behind. At this moment, he also squeezed through the crowd, and then his voice got stuck in his throat.

On the messy square, Zhao Du'an was leisurely tidying up his clothes, smoothing out the wrinkles, and sheathing his Frostwind Sword.

Beside him, a black horse lance lay horizontally on the ground, and "Frontier Rouge Horse" Tang Zhao was tied to the ground, cursing.

Her hands and feet were restrained, and "ropes" condensed from Buddha light tightly bound her in a "tortoise shell binding" posture, making it difficult to break free. She cursed words like "not playing by the rules."

"Master… Director? You're back so soon?" Zhao Du'an asked with a surprised expression and a smile.

Seeing the young duke under the Divine Mechanism Camp, his expression became slightly strange.

"Little… brother?" Tang Zhao's cursing abruptly stopped as she unlocked the defeated CG in a tortoise-shell bind. Under her brother's stunned gaze, she turned her head away in shame.

At the same time, the power of the Buddhist chains on her body was exhausted, gradually dimming and disappearing.

"Director!" The brocade-clad guards such as Hai Tang and Zhang Han cupped their hands in salute.

Ma Yan turned a deaf ear. His thin face was expressionless, and he looked back and forth between the two several times, saying:

"You…"

Zhao Du'an smiled and said, "Miss Tang wanted to spar with me, and I was lucky enough to win by a hair."

How is that possible? How could you beat Tang Zhao? Also, what's with the binding spell… Even with Ma Yan's experience, he fell into silence.

Feeling the gazes of many subordinates around him, he hardened his scalp and rubbed his brow, scolding:

"Go back to your respective posts. Who allowed you to leave your posts without permission?"

Then, he looked at the Tang siblings and the troublemaking junior brother with a complicated expression:

"Go to the back office!"

…

Back office, inside a room in a small courtyard.

"So, it was all a misunderstanding. Initially, Zhao Qianhu was trying to find the internal thief, which is why he drove me out of the Divine Mechanism Camp.

Later, it was also investigated clearly that I was bewitched and deceived by some people with ulterior motives. After the matter was over, I and many of my comrades cleared up the misunderstanding with Zhao Qianhu, and I was reinstated," Tang Ping patiently recounted the story.

Tang Zhao, who had been successfully rescued from the defeated CG, sat in the chair, slowly rubbing her wrist. After listening to her younger brother's account with a straight face, her expression turned red and white for a while, and she angrily scolded:

"Why didn't you write a letter to me and Father to explain it clearly?"

The young duke's face flushed red:

"What's there to say about such a small matter? I didn't know where you found out about it, Second Sister, and even came directly to my door."

Sitting opposite the siblings, Zhao Du'an, sipping tea in small sips, appropriately reminded:

"Duke Tang even detoured because of this, leaving us officials waiting in the cold wind for a long time."

The siblings choked and couldn't say a word.

The atmosphere in the room was extremely awkward. Neither of the siblings was willing to bow their heads to others, and they pursed their lips and remained silent. In the end, Tang Ping sighed, got up, and bowed to Zhao Du'an in shame:

"Qianhu, my sister was unaware of the situation and rashly came to your door, causing much offense. The root cause lies with this subordinate, and this subordinate is willing to accept military law."

Tang Zhao, like a tigress, became anxious and stood up, blocking her younger brother behind her. She stared at Zhao Du'an opposite her reluctantly, her ten toes gripping the ground in her boots, and mustered her courage, saying stiffly:

"This matter is my fault, it has nothing to do with Tang Ping. If you want to vent your anger, or want compensation, I will accompany you alone!"

Ma Yan sat upright in the main seat, frowned, and remained silent, looking at Zhao Du'an.

However, the expected sarcasm did not appear. Zhao Du'an slowly put down the teacup, smiled, and said:

"Miss Tang, you're being too serious. Since it's a misunderstanding, it's good that it's resolved. As for military law, ha, Tang Ping, do you think that this official is someone who abuses the law?"

The siblings were both stunned, looking at him in surprise, not expecting Zhao Du'an to be so easy to talk to.

Zhao Du'an was also at a loss whether to laugh or cry from being stared at:

"What, do you really think that this official is someone who is unforgiving?"

"No…" The young duke waved his hand, but his eyes betrayed him.

In the past half year, no one in the capital's officialdom doubted Zhao Du'an's courage.

A duke, others might be careful to compliment and dare not provoke.

But Zhao Du'an was undoubtedly an exception.

Considering "King Yama Zhao's" vengeful nature and the previous methods of retaliation for any offense, such a magnanimous Zhao was indescribably strange in his eyes.

Zhao Du'an sighed softly, feeling deeply helpless.

There were indeed many names on his little notebook, but he was not a mad dog. If he wanted to gain a foothold in the court, an ancestor had already given him earnest teachings, which were nothing more than the four words: forming factions.

Or rather, make more friends and fewer enemies.

For those irreconcilable enemies who had already formed deep hatred, Zhao Du'an would of course spare no effort to attack.

But for a court official like Duke Tang, who was high-ranking and powerful and had no substantial conflict of interest with him, he would be crazy to offend him to death because of this little misunderstanding.

Besides… he didn't suffer a loss, did he? He was frozen in the cold wind for a while, then turned around and got beaten up by someone's daughter. He made a profit.

"Cough cough, since Assistant Zhao has said so, it's good to resolve the misunderstanding. You two should go back to your mansion first, so as not to worry the duke," Ma Yan said in a timely manner.

The siblings then came back to their senses, thanked Zhao Du'an with complicated feelings, and saluted Ma Yan, their superior, before leaving together.

…

On the other side.

The siblings rode back to the Duke's mansion, going straight through the pavilions and towers to the east wing.

Pushing open the door of the wing, there were only two women in the room. One was an older woman, whose youth had long passed, but she had an extraordinary bearing. She was the mistress of the mansion. The Duke's wife.

The other was a noblewoman in her late thirties, who was Tang Ping's eldest sister, already married and returned to her parents' home today.

"Mother, eldest sister," Tang Ping stepped into the room, saluted the two, and asked, "Where's Father?"

Tang's eldest sister was a rare gentle character in the family and said:

"Father went to talk to those officials, don't disturb him. He'll be back in a while."

The old lady stared at Tang Zhao, who looked like she had done something wrong, and said in a bad mood:

"What trouble have you caused again?"

"I didn't…" Tang Zhao stubbornly refused to admit it.

The old lady became angry and immediately scolded her, saying things like "not acting like a daughter," while the eldest sister and Tang Ping joined forces to appease her.

After a long while, a servant came over: "Second Miss, Young Master, the master has asked you to come over."

The siblings left the wing and went to the main hall. They saw that the officials had just left, and the room was still full of leftover teacups and fruit plates, as well as a charcoal basin that was no longer very hot.

Duke Tang, with a limp and wearing luxurious clothes, sat alone in the main seat, his face stern. Behind him on the snow-white wall was a large painting of a black dragon. This painting was the work of a famous artist and hung in the main hall, said to be able to intimidate people.

"Father."

The siblings saluted side by side.

Duke Tang glanced at the two in surprise, especially his second daughter, whose temperament was as unruly as his own when he was young, surprised that the other party was so "obedient."

His thoughts turned, and he already had speculation. He said lightly:

"Did you beat someone badly? Do you know you've caused trouble? Forget it, just a pretty boy favorite. Offending him is offending him. Anyway, you can't beat him to death. If you leave a breath, you can save him with elixirs. As for His Majesty's anger, your father will take it."

Tang Ping opened his mouth, trying to explain:

"Father, it's not… things aren't that bad. Lord Zhao didn't…"

Tang Zhao lowered her head dejectedly and said very unconvinced: "I didn't win, I lost."

Duke Tang was stunned and turned his head, staring blankly at his daughter's face, as if he had misheard.

…

…

Zhao Yamen.

After sending the siblings away, Ma Yan sighed in his heart with mixed feelings:

"Fortunately, although there were twists and turns, no major disaster occurred. After they go back, explain it to Duke Tang, and this matter will pass. I only hope that the Second Miss doesn't hold a grudge…"

Zhao Du'an rolled his eyes: "I don't hold grudges, and she's still unhappy?"

Ma Yan said helplessly:

"You won, but you tied people up like that… That binding method is also novel. This official has never seen it before."

"Oh, that's called tortoise shell binding, Senior Brother, let me tell you, this…" Zhao Du'an said animatedly, about to popularize it.

Suddenly, the two only heard noise coming from outside again, accompanied by the sound of someone breaking in.

The two stopped talking and looked at the closed door at the same time. Then, they saw the door suddenly being pushed open, and the cold wind wrapped in a little snow hit the room.

The person who pushed the door open was a white-eyed woman with frozen red clothes and disheveled black hair like a ghost.

"Ji Yue? Why are you here?" Zhao Du'an exclaimed in surprise.

Socially awkward Ji Yue raised her head, her face pale, and said in a trembling voice:

"Wine Gourd, has been captured!"