The First Lackey Under The Empress

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The night was deep, and the empty mansion was particularly quiet, the moonlight also softened.

Having finished her bath, Xu Zhenguan stared blankly at the "master bedroom." In the short time it took her to bathe, the simple doors and windows had changed color.

The entire back宅 was brightly lit, and even the uninhabited houses were illuminated by large red lanterns under the eaves, sweeping away the dull and desolate atmosphere.

On the windows of the house where the two were preparing to "stay," were pasted red paper囍 characters.

The candlelight shone through the window paper, making the囍 characters even more distinct and dazzling.

Xu Zhenguan's lips parted slightly, as if she understood something, her eyes softened, she moved her lotus steps lightly, and stepped into the room.

Inside the bedroom, the air was filled with a faint sandalwood fragrance, emanating from a delicate incense burner lit in the corner.

The antique shelf displaying porcelain bottles and jade artifacts in the room was adorned with rows of candles.

Not only here, but also on the round table, on the small couch for resting… scattered red candles stood, the candlelight flickering, illuminating the originally somewhat dim bedroom as bright as day.

Zhao Du'an had changed into a loose robe and was bending over at the dining table, carefully lighting the last red candle.

He turned back to look at the Empress who had entered the room, his eyes lit up, and a smile appeared on his face:

“Your Majesty has returned at the right time. I found a deeply hidden vintage wine in the cellar of the mansion.”

He had obviously also bathed and washed, but not in a formal manner, instead using the "Profound Turtle Seal" to control water and cleanse himself from head to toe.

Well, he even chewed a few fresh flower petals!

“Did you… arrange all this?” Xu Zhenguan's bright eyes flickered with candlelight as she asked softly.

Following Zhao Du'an's hand, she saw a jar of mud-sealed vintage wine opened on the table, the aroma of the wine was intoxicating, rich and fragrant. There were no vegetables on the table, but the wine utensils were arranged.

There were also red paper and scissors on the cabinet that had not been put away in time.

Zhao Du'an smiled slightly:

“Things are unpredictable, and things happened in a hurry. The items prepared in this mansion are not complete, so Your Majesty will have to be wronged. Fortunately, although the local gentry took away the gold, silver, and jade artifacts, they left behind good wine. The last time I drank with Your Majesty was before the Feng Chan ceremony, on the water in the gardens of Jianning Prefecture.”

Yes… that time, the two of them discussed the plan after the failure of the promotion. Unexpectedly, it became a prophecy, and the situation changed in the blink of an eye.

At that time… how could she have imagined that he would step into the world so quickly? Xu Zhenguan's eyes flickered, a little distracted.

Perhaps because the scene she had imagined, where Zhao Du'an would pounce on her impatiently after she returned from her bath, did not happen.

Xu Zhenguan's tense body under her dress also relaxed.

And upon discovering that he was willing to put his heart into it, doing his best to arrange the "new house," the original trace of annoyance in her heart was swept away.

What's more…

There was also wine.

Xu Zhenguan sat down at the table, watching Zhao Du'an pour the clear and fragrant flower wine into the cup. As if trying to embolden herself, she suddenly picked up the wine cup, raised her fair neck, and drank it all in one gulp!

As the wine slid into her mouth, the Empress's delicate and radiant face after her bath became even more rosy.

It wasn't the wine that intoxicated people, but people who intoxicated themselves!

Zhao Du'an chuckled dumbly, and then simply drank a cup neatly. The fiery wine slid into his esophagus, and his whole body seemed to become hot.

How many times had the two of them drunk together?

He couldn't remember.

He remembered three times deeply, once on the top of the Tianzi Building in the capital, once in the Yuanzu Hall in the palace, and once… perhaps it should be now.

At Tianzi Building, the Empress opened her heart.

At Yuanzu Hall, the two cultivated together for one night, taking it a step further.

Today.

What was opened was no longer just the heart…

Holding complex and unspeakable emotions, the two sat at the table without speaking, silently drinking, as if they both wanted to use alcohol to dilute the last bit of tension.

However, how could ordinary flower wine, even if they drank a hundred jars, truly make two worldly realm cultivators feel drunk?

Soon, a jar of wine was finished, and the way the two looked at each other also became a little ambiguous, as if a thread connected them to each other.

Zhao Du'an's mouth was dry, his Adam's apple rolled, and he felt that as a man he should take the initiative: “Your Majesty, it's late, or else…”

“Plop!”

Before he could finish speaking, Xu Zhenguan seemed to be really drunk, her head suddenly fell on the table, her eyes closed, as if she had lost consciousness.

“……”

Zhao Du'an was silent for a moment, thinking that Zhenbao, you're pretending a bit too much, aren't you? Don't say that your injuries haven't healed, I know how good your alcohol tolerance is.

Besides, your eyelashes are still trembling…

Seeing through it but not saying it.

Zhao Du'an got up and tried to push her with his hand: “Your Majesty?”

There was no reaction.

Well, it seems that I have to take the initiative, but I don't know any dual cultivation techniques… Zhao Du'an thought in his heart, subconsciously raised his waistband, then stood up and walked to the Empress who was lying on the table pretending to be drunk.

With a sweep of his arms, he picked up the drunk Empress in a princess carry. The moment he touched her, he could clearly feel the "drunk" Empress's body stiffen, but she didn't struggle.

She was clearly in a posture of "letting him do whatever he wanted."

Zhao Du'an carried the Empress, turned around, walked to the bed covered with bedding, and put her on the bed first.

Under the candlelight, she lay on the soft brocade couch wearing a loose dress, her dress revealing the moving curves of a woman.

Zhao Du'an's gaze moved up, and what caught his eye first was a pair of fair jade feet protruding from her skirt.

Because she had just bathed, she wasn't wearing socks. Her feet were slender, and faint blue veins appeared under her skin. Her toes were round, like jade beads. Her foot shape was exquisite and captivating.

Immediately, his gaze moved upwards along the curve of her legs, but unfortunately, it was soon covered by the skirt, just like a cloud on the top of Mount Luo, obscuring the view and straddling the mountains.

It made people couldn't help but want to dispel the clouds and reveal the clear sky and bright sun, shining brightly and brilliantly.

Zhenbao?

No… it should be Zhenbao (treasure)…

Zhao Du'an sighed inwardly, his gaze swept over her fair and slender swan neck, and stopped on the Empress's beautiful face.

She seemed to be very drunk, her cheeks flushed, and a layer of fragrant sweat oozed from her forehead. Under the candlelight, her black hair scattered on the soft pillow, making it a beautiful sight.

“Your Majesty?”

Zhao Du'an called out softly, and prepared to move closer.

The "drunk" Xu Zhenguan murmured in a low voice: “Turn off the lights…”

Turn off the lights… Yes, there are too many red candles lit in the room… Zhao Du'an was a little unwilling, it's too dark to see anything… He gritted his teeth and said softly:

“Your Majesty, please rest assured, no one nearby will see.”

After speaking, without waiting for Zhenbao to answer, he raised his hand and lowered the curtains of the bed, and he also jumped up.

Xu Zhenguan finally couldn't pretend anymore, and slightly opened her eyes, her hands weakly pushing, but without any majesty:

“The lights… You're not listening to me?”

I listen to you under the bed, but I have my own ideas on the bed… Zhao Du'an transformed into a dragon knight:

“Your subject wants to deceive the monarch!”

……

Boom!

Outside, rain clouds slowly floated in the sky, covering the bright moon. Accompanied by a rumble of thunder, a strong wind first blew in the black night.

In the endless flower field, countless flower branches swayed and trembled, and petals were swept away by the strong wind.

The dark sky was occasionally torn apart by lightning, accompanied by continuous heavy thunder, covering up all the sounds on the earth.

The thunder roared for a long time.

Suddenly, it began to drizzle in the air. The rain became heavier and heavier, hitting the thousands of acres of flower fields, and the wind was also suppressed by the rain.

In the darkness, the lights of this back宅 seemed to be the only remaining light source in this world.

And the man and woman immersed in each other's world in the house did not notice that above the mansion, there were vaguely two illusory “dragons” confronting each other.

One of them was huge but illusory, scarred, and was the dragon aura that belonged exclusively to the crowned emperor when Luo Shan held the Feng Chan ceremony.

The other one was much smaller, but it was particularly solid and lifelike, and was very similar to the “dragon soul” sleeping in Zhao Du'an's Qi Sea.

At this moment, accompanied by a dragon's roar, the dragon soul plunged into the illusory dragon aura.

In an instant, the wind and clouds changed color, and this sudden and unpredicted wind and rain became even more urgent and chaotic.

……

More than half an hour later.

Inside the back宅, all the candles were extinguished, and the room was dark.

Zhao Du'an exhaled lightly in the darkness, lying on his back, his gaze glanced at the raindrops outside the window that were crackling and unscrupulously hitting the window paper.

The candlelight was finally extinguished by Xu Zhenguan with a palm wind during the mid-game intermission.

However, at this moment, the lightning that occasionally lit up outside the window frequently illuminated the room as bright as day.

“Your Majesty, how much has your cultivation recovered?”

Zhao Du'an asked softly, he clearly felt that he couldn't control the situation a little.

In the darkness, Xu Zhenguan lay on her side, with her back to him, her eyes closed, as if sensing herself.

“My injuries have recovered a lot, and my strength has recovered to the initial worldly realm.”

The Empress opened her bright black eyes and said with some surprise.

Her theoretical understanding had never declined, but due to her injuries, the strength she could exert had previously only barely reached the Divine Chapter realm.

If not for this, she wouldn't have been captured by Ouyang Ye's troops with so little loss.

But just once, and she recovered to her worldly combat power, the effect can be described as outstanding.

Zhao Du'an turned his body and leaned closer: "If it's just the initial stage, I'm afraid it's not enough."

"… Indeed." The Empress subconsciously agreed, then her expression changed slightly:

"What do you want to do?"

Zhao Du'an turned over and sang like a liberated serf:

"Then listen to the dragon's roar!"

… …

Make sure there are no mistakes in the content!

Another half an hour passed.

The wind and rain outside the window subsided slightly again, but the temperature inside the room was surprisingly high.

Zhao Du'an rested for a while, feeling the changes in his body, and was equally amazed:

"My realm has completely stabilized, and I can feel that I am not far from the middle grade of the mortal realm."

Compared with improving Zhao Du'an's cultivation, in the current situation, it is obviously more reasonable to put all the energy into improving the Empress.

Therefore, under the conscious guidance of the two people.

The power of the Dragon Soul mostly acted on Xu Zhenguan.

But even so, Zhao Du'an still benefited from the aftermath. The energy that had not yet stabilized after initially entering the worldly realm was not only consolidated in a short period of more than an hour, but even went a step further.

This is something that no normal cultivation method can absolutely achieve.

"No wonder the old nun Prajna always coveted me. Using people as cauldrons and turning them into medicinal dregs, how wonderful would that be?"

Zhao Du'an sighed in his heart, turned his head and looked at the Empress, who was facing him with her back to the window this time:

"Your Majesty, where have you recovered to?"

"… Middle grade of the mortal realm."

Zhao Du'an marveled and silently calculated in a low voice:

"Middle grade advances to high grade, high grade to peak, peak enters half-step, half-step enters Celestial Being…"

"What are you muttering about?" Xu Zhenguan didn't hear clearly, but her intuition told her that this little imperial guard was holding back a bellyful of bad intentions, and she cautiously shrank back.

Increasing the distance.

Zhao Du'an pondered: "Your Majesty, have you ever heard of a palm technique that descends from the sky?"

As he said that, he fiercely pulled a large section of the bed sheet towards him…

"En?! Zhao Du'an, how dare you!"

"This subject is not called Zhao Du'an, this subject is called Hang Dali tonight!"

… …

… …

The same night.

Inside the Huai River waterway, a black awning boat sailed from the river surface, and a lantern was hung on the wooden pole erected at the bow of the boat.

Orange light shone out from inside the lampshade, as if burning a hole in the curtain-like night.

The black awning boat docked at the pier, and about five or six people on board walked ashore and headed towards a house with a solitary lamp hanging at the door inside the pier on the shore in the misty rain.

The leader, wearing a straw raincoat and a sword around his waist, was wearing an official robe that had not been changed for many days.

Cao Yun Governor Ning Zechen seemed to have lost a circle of weight, but his sharpness was even greater than before. At this moment, he stepped on the slightly muddy road and walked to the front of the wooden house.

Before he even got close, he was stopped by someone hiding in the dark: "Report who is coming."

Ning Zechen took off the hat of his straw raincoat, revealing a resolute face full of bluish-black stubble:

"It's me."

"Governor, please come in." The military expert in the dark nodded.

Ning Zechen left the few people behind him outside the house and pushed the door open.

Inside the slightly crude room, there was only an old wooden table, with an oil lamp on it, and several figures sitting on the benches beside the table.

Mo Chou was in the position facing the door.

This first female official, who had the reputation of "Female Prime Minister" outside, but was actually the Empress's great maid, looked haggard, and her eyes were filled with bloodshot eyes.

On her right hand side was Sun Lianying, the supervisor of the White Horse Division with a head of silver hair and sunken eye sockets, who was also the actual leader of the Empress's trusted eunuchs.

On her right hand side was the Minister of Rites who presided over the Fengchan Ceremony that day. The scarlet official robe on his body was stained with mud, and the black gauze hat on his head was long gone, looking a little embarrassed.

But more than that, there was also a kind of grief that the building was about to collapse and the country was about to perish.

The others in the room were also civil and military officials who had participated in the Fengchan in the past.

"Governor Ning, what's the situation?" Mo Chou barely cheered up when she saw Ning Zechen coming in.

Ning Zechen cupped his hands in a very Jianghu manner and said:

"Fortunately, I have not failed my mission. Although the rebels are fierce, the Cao Yun Yamen is the territory that this official has managed for many years. Although Jiancheng cannot be defended, the Cao soldiers on the Huai River section of the canal are still under the control of this official. Now they have detonated mountain rocks with gunpowder according to the previously agreed plan, and ordered ships to carry stones to the river to chisel ships and sink them into the river…"

"In this way, it can be ensured that the shoal is blocked, and neither the King of Huai'an nor the King of Chen can lead troops north through the canal."

The ministers in the room were shocked, and the Minister of Rites happily said:

"Governor Ning is worthy of being the backbone of the empire. When we find His Majesty and suppress the rebels, we will definitely remember your great contribution."

Ning Zechen had long been desensitized to these scenes, turned his head and looked at Mo Chou:

"Does His Majesty have any news?"

Sun Lianying, who was nominally the Supervisor of the White Horse Division, but in fact also controlled the power to dispatch the Shadow Guards of the court, said in a deep voice:

"According to the latest intelligence, Eunuch Hai was held back by Duan Shuiliu, leading the army generals of the remaining teams, and tried their best to organize troops to block the Jiancheng Dao and Yunfu Dao rebel armies from heading north, and had no time to escape…"

At that time, after the battle of Fengchan, Zhao Du'an took the Empress away, leaving a group of officials at a loss.

At that time, the group first tried their best to find the Empress, trying to determine life and death, and later realized that Zhao Du'an had taken the Empress away before stopping the search.

At the same time, they learned that King Jing had rebelled and started an army.

The group had to divide into several teams, some to stop King Jing's army from chasing and killing the Empress.

The other part, while returning to Beijing, tried their best to stabilize the local government, ordered them to stand firm, and at the same time tried to stop the rebel army.

"In this way, aren't His Majesty and Envoy Zhao in danger?" Ning Zechen couldn't hide his anxiety.

Sun Lianying said: "With Zhao Du'an's ability, even if the situation is dangerous, he will turn danger into safety and successfully bring His Majesty back to Beijing."

The old official was filled with blind confidence in Zhao Du'an.

"Heh… Just because Zhao Du'an is your subordinate, you are so blindly confident? What time is it? So many of us can't protect His Majesty, how can he alone make people feel at ease?" The Minister of Rites was in a bad mood and spoke irritably.

Sun Lianying glanced at him and said lightly:

"If Lord Shangshu can't control his temper, he can go out and blow the wind and rain, or if he has no confidence, he can go out and take refuge in Xu Wen, which is also a good weather vane."

The Minister of Rites, who was caught off guard by the sarcasm, choked and said weakly:

"This official naturally hopes that His Majesty will be safe and sound, but he is just worried."

"Then why don't you go to protect His Majesty? Just let Envoy Zhao bear the pressure alone?" Ning Zechen coldly added.

"You…" The Minister of Rites was speechless by the two of them, turned his head and looked at Mo Chou for help:

"Consort Mo, you know that this official is just concerned and confused…"

Mo Chou said calmly:

"I also believe in Zhao Du'an. He has accomplished too many miraculous things, and I believe that he can do the same this time."

The Minister of Rites was stunned. He looked around at the three people and walked to the corner of the room in a fit of pique, holding his hands in his sleeves and sulking:

"Unreasonable!"

He was a little aggrieved. His words were not pleasant, but they were also the truth. These three guys joined forces to target him.

Ning Zechen and Sun Lianying were too lazy to pay attention to this Shangshu, who had played a limited role along the way and only served as the representative of the highest-ranking official on the surface.

They began to spread out the map and discuss the next move of the team:

"We have limited force and our goal is too obvious. Rather than rescuing His Majesty, it is more likely to bring trouble to His Majesty. Right now, the most important thing for us is to return to Beijing as soon as possible to stabilize the situation."

"Now I'm afraid all eight kings have rebelled. The news will soon reach the capital. At that time, news about His Majesty's disappearance or even death will inevitably spread, and I'm afraid there will be chaos in Beijing.

Only by returning as soon as possible can we bring back the most real intelligence to stabilize the situation and wait for His Majesty to return to Beijing. Otherwise, once something happens in the capital, even if His Majesty returns, I'm afraid it will be too late."

"Even… This old servant has a worry, that is, maybe at this time, the capital is already unstable. His Majesty is missing, will Li Yanfu be safe and sound?"

Sun Lianying was worried, and the more Ning Zechen listened, the heavier his heart became.

He raised his head and looked at Mo Chou, who had been silent all the time:

"Consort Mo? What are you thinking about?"

I saw Mo Chou staring blankly at the drizzle outside the crack of the door, and suddenly said:

"I'm thinking, what is His Majesty doing now?"

… …

ps: Writing like this shouldn't be considered crossing the line, right…?