The First Lackey Under The Empress

Inside the prison cell.

Bound to a wooden frame, the young girl cursed incessantly, her eyes bloodshot. Her emotional agitation caused the iron chains on her hands and feet to rattle, the friction chafing her joints raw.

"Bold!" The jailer roared, raising his leather whip high.

"How dare you disrespect the Lord!"

"Stop," Zhao Du'an interrupted the jailer's attempt to curry favor, his tone displeased as he maintained his persona.

"Do you not know how to cherish a beauty? Such delicate skin; if you were to damage it, wouldn't it break a man's heart?"

The jailer hurriedly responded with a fawning smile, repeatedly agreeing, a knowing grin on his face, filling the prison with an atmosphere of lewdness.

Yun Xi, feeling the mockery, trembled with anger, her chest heaving violently as she cursed:

"Despicable villain! Lackey of the false Emperor! Spare your pretense! Kill me or torture me, do as you please! I only regret not being able to eliminate you in broad daylight!"

Zhao Du'an said with interest:

"I and you, should be strangers, I am very curious, why do you hate this official so much?"

Yun Xi laughed in anger:

"The false Emperor stole the country, the Zhao family is his running dog. Who in the capital doesn't know that you, the treacherous villain, are tyrannical and ruinous to the country? Everyone with ambition in the world wants to kill you!"

Hiss… is the original owner of this body so infamous… Zhao Du'an muttered inwardly.

Since transmigrating, the original owner's terrible reputation has repeatedly refreshed his understanding.

But upon careful reflection, although the original "Zhao Du'an" was indeed a纨绔, not a good person.

But in reality, he wasn't so bad as to provoke the wrath of gods and men.

After all, he has only been in power for a short time, and his activities are limited to the capital. Debauchery and arrogance are indeed present, but he is far from a true villain.

Presumably, it's partly exaggeration and partly due to his association with the "false Emperor."

"Little lady has a sharp tongue," Zhao Du'an said, waiting for her to finish cursing before slowly pacing to stand before Yun Xi, his fingers gently stroking the girl's fair neck, the touch of his fingertips smooth and tender.

Yun Xi's delicate body trembled, feeling as if a cold, venomous snake were crawling across her skin, raising goosebumps and fear in her heart.

The next second, Zhao Du'an forcefully grabbed her chin with his large hand, saying in a low voice:

"I just wonder if your mouth is tight enough."

"呸!"

Yun Xi suddenly spat, forcefully spitting in his face.

The girl's hair was disheveled, her eyes unyielding, filled with challenge, coldly staring at him, using action to express her position.

"My Lord! This little vixen…" Zhu Kui, who was standing behind as a background, was furious.

But Zhao Du'an raised his hand to stop him. He retreated a few steps, took out a handkerchief to wipe his face, then sat down on a large chair that the jailer had brought in, his smile disappearing:

"It seems you prefer a toast of punishment to a toast of courtesy."

He calmly said: "I ask you, how did Zhuang Xiaocheng escape in advance, and how did he escape?"

Yun Xi closed her eyes, her lips tightly pursed, refusing to cooperate.

The jailer next to him offered a plan:

"My Lord, I have seen many prisoners like this. It's useless to waste words. Just give her a good torture. Although our government prison is not as good as the imperial prison, we have all eighteen kinds of torture instruments. Just give this person a try, and I guarantee that even an iron man will have her mouth pried open."

He thought this Lord Zhao was too "merciful to women."

However, Zhao Du'an didn't say anything.

He wasn't pedantic. If the other party were truly an unforgivable villain, he wouldn't mind giving the other party a little "Ten Great Tortures of the Qing Dynasty" shock.

But the problem was, based on the information he currently had, the girl before him wasn't a villain.

With his "eagle eyes" honed from years of experience in the system in his previous life, it was easy to see:

This girl was just a righteous person who had been brainwashed by Zhuang Xiaocheng's group of literati rebels, deceived by fabricated false history, and filled with enthusiasm, thinking she was fighting against a "tyrant."

Boys and girls of this age were easily deceived and exploited.

What she needed was to reverse her mistaken understanding.

Of course, the weakness of this kind of person was also obvious.

"Zhu Kui!" Zhao Du'an suddenly said, "Bring the person in."

"Yes!" The black-clad official turned and left with a grim smile.

Zhao Du'an sat on the large chair, suppressing the urge to cross his legs, and said to Yun Xi, who had her eyes closed:

"Are you curious about who I'm going to bring over?"

Yun Xi maintained her posture of being ready to die at any moment, her delicate ears twitching.

Zhao Du'an said slowly:

"As far as I know, after the defeat of the Second Prince's party that year and their scattering and fleeing, a group of rebellious officials led by Grand Tutor Zhuang Xiaocheng, who is also your teacher, gathered retainers, magicians, and martial artists who also belonged to the Second Prince's party…

In the pugilistic world, they secretly established an organization with the mission of resisting the current Holy One, called the 'Aid Society.' Heh, the name means 'Aid the Nation'…"

"The Aid Society widely recruits bandits, and its members refer to each other as brothers and sisters, with deep affection, and call each other senior and junior brothers externally… In this case, since you call Zhuang Xiaocheng your teacher, you should also be a member of the society."

Yun Xi still didn't move, but her heart quietly rose, and she had a bad premonition.

Zhao Du'an continued:

"After the current Holy One ascended the throne, he ordered the arrest of the rebels, and the Aid Society is the top priority. The imperial court has lived up to expectations and has successively captured some well-known figures in the society.

Unfortunately, there is one imprisoned in the government office. Oh, if I remember correctly, his code name in the society is 'Qingyun.'"

Yun Xi suddenly opened her eyes, her face changed:

"What are you going to do?!"

Just then, outside the prison door, there were sounds of scolding and wailing.

Immediately, Zhu Kui dragged a bloody prisoner in with iron chains.

He had obviously been subjected to torture, and almost no good flesh could be seen on his body.

His fingernails had been pulled out, and his face was damaged. One could vaguely judge his approximate appearance based on his height and outline. A birthmark on his shoulder was obvious.

"My Lord, the rebel 'Qingyun' has been brought in."

Zhu Kui threw the prisoner down and kicked him. The nearly unconscious prisoner immediately screamed, his wounds bursting open and blood overflowing.

Yun Xi took a closer look, her eyes were about to split, and she cursed loudly:

"Beasts! Lackeys! You will not die well!"

Zhu Kui "hey"ed and raised his big foot, stomping down hard on the prisoner's hand. A crisp sound of bone cracking rang out, accompanied by the prisoner's miserable scream, and blood stained the ground red.

Yun Xi cursed incessantly, her throat hoarse:

"Let him go, come at me if you have the ability!"

Zhu Kui turned a deaf ear and took out his saber, pressed it against the prisoner's other hand, and threatened to cut it off.

"Stop!" Yun Xi's eyes were red, tears streaming down her face:

"Don't move him! I beg you… stop…"

Zhao Du'an remained unmoved and calmly said:

"It is said that the Aid Society has deep affection between brothers and sisters. Want Zhu Kui to stop? It's simple, answer a few questions for me. Otherwise, I will flay him in front of you. One is not enough? I will go to other prisons to find more…"

"Save me… save me…" The prisoner on the ground said in a hoarse voice, his vocal cords broken, and his original voice could no longer be heard.

Yun Xi finally collapsed and shouted, "I'll talk! I promise you!"

"Wouldn't it have been better if you had done this earlier?"

Zhao Du'an smiled and then gave Zhu Kui a look. The latter understood and immediately dragged 'Qingyun' away, along with the surrounding jailers.

In the blink of an eye, only the two of them were left in the prison.

……

……

On the other side, away from the prison, Zhu Kui threw the chains away, wiped his hands with disgust, and said:

"Drag the person away."

The jailer next to him asked in confusion:

"Chief Zhu, didn't the rebel 'Qingyun' commit suicide in prison before the New Year? This one is…"

Zhu Kui used to work in the government office and was an old acquaintance with the jailer, and he was still used to calling him "Chief."

Zhu Kui smiled:

"Of course it's fake. We just pulled a heinous criminal from the death row who was about the same height and age as that Qingyun, and forged a birthmark.

Heh, he's been beaten like this, even his own mother wouldn't recognize him, let alone a little girl? And I guess they're not familiar with each other, so there's no need to worry about being exposed."

The jailer marveled:

"How did the Lord know that the little girl would speak up to save her companion? These people are really strange. They are not afraid of death themselves, but they can't bear to see others being tortured, tsk tsk…"

"Do you think everyone is as afraid of death as we are?" Zhu Kui laughed self-deprecatingly.

A complex look flashed in the eyes of this seasoned old official, who was fierce in appearance and ruthless in his actions. He turned his head and glanced at the prison at the end of the corridor, and muttered in a low voice:

"But our Lord is really impressive."

Thanks to 凰儿兽 for the support~