The Empress's First Running Dog

Chapter 683 The White-Haired Female Official Gazes at the Gods (Seeking Monthly Tickets at the End of the Month)
On the northern snowfields, the biting wind whips up coarse snowflakes that pelt the hard city walls.

"I'm sorry to have kept you waiting."

Hearing the familiar voice echoing in her ears, Ji Yue, a woman, could no longer maintain her swaying body and collapsed weakly onto Zhao Du'an's strong arm.

Tears streamed down her pure white pupils as she choked out:
"It's been a year, and we all thought you wouldn't come back."

Has it been a year?
A hint of disorientation appeared in Zhao Du'an's eyes. In the "Ascension Diagram," he was oblivious to the passage of time and isolated from the world. A year had passed in his cultivation practice.

"Tell me about your experiences this past year." Zhao Du'an raised his hand and wiped away Ji Yue's tears.

Next, the two emotionally charged subordinates took turns recounting the information they knew.

After Zhao Du'an and others disappeared at the Golden Gate, how Lang Shiba went to the battlefield and then retreated, and how Ji Yue repeatedly guarded the gate of the Celestial Master's Mansion before finally resolutely heading to the north.

"What is the situation of the war? And His Majesty... how is she?"

Zhao Du'an asked the question that concerned him most.

Lang Shiba's excited expression gradually faded.

Ji Yue explained in a low voice:
"It's not optimistic. After you left, the entire Yu Kingdom's military forces were gradually deployed to the Xiping battlefield. However, for some reason, a large number of powerful figures emerged from the Buddhist sects in the Western Regions. Even though their total military strength was inferior, their cultivation experts surpassed those of the imperial court."

Lang Shiba also said bitterly:

"When there are enough highly skilled cultivators, ordinary soldiers become meaningless."

Even with His Majesty and many officials from the Celestial Master's Mansion present, they could only barely hold the enemy back on the Xiping battlefield, but could not defeat them.

Worse still, as the Buddhist community occupied Xiping for an extended period, the power of the ancestral court of the Western Regions seemed to have also infiltrated Xiping, making those monk soldiers even stronger.

He lowered his head in shame:
“Your subordinate is incompetent. My legs were broken by the Great Master Jing on the battlefield, and I can no longer serve you. As for the situation of the battle in the last six months, we do not know much, only that it is getting worse and worse, and the Xiping defense line is in imminent danger.”

Zhao Du'an listened in silence, not particularly surprised.

He gazed westward, his gaze seemingly piercing through countless distances, and murmured softly:

“Ksitigarbha…”

After learning that Xuan Yin was the reincarnation of Ksitigarbha, he understood that the Battle of Xiping was no longer something that ordinary armies could contend with.

Upon learning that the Empress was still alive, the weight lifted from his heart, and a gentle smile appeared on his face.
"Don't worry, I'm back. It's not too late."

“My lord…” Ji Yue looked at him blankly, then suddenly asked:
"Didn't Zhang Tianshi and the others come with you?"

Zhao Du'an shook his head without explaining, but gently placed a hand on Lang Shiba's weathered forehead.

A lotus flower, resembling a gathering of blue clouds, enveloped Lang Shiba. This former northern general, now crippled and rendered useless, was astonished to find his legs, which had long since lost all feeling, suddenly throbbed with pain.

Beneath his trousers, the withered flesh on his calves rapidly replenished, his damaged Qi Sea healed, and the severed meridians in his body were reconnected.

In just a few breaths, Lang Shiba was shocked to find that he had returned to his peak condition and returned to the realm of a worldly martial artist.

"My lord..." The two looked at Zhao Du'an in utter shock, their minds blank.

Such methods are beyond the capabilities of cultivators; they are comparable to divine miracles.

"I'll go first, and we can catch up another day."

Zhao Du'an withdrew his hand, smiled slightly, took another step, and disappeared from the city wall.

If their physical recovery hadn't been genuinely unnecessary, the two would have even suspected that what they had just witnessed was an illusion.

Lang Shiba stood up and tried to move his body, while Ji Yue seemed to understand something. She suddenly looked towards the Mubei Forest at the end of the snowfield and thought excitedly:

Did the master... succeed...?

Inside Jubei City, wounded veterans who had been forced to retreat were astonished to hear the stirring sound of war drums coming from the city walls.

Veterans gathered in the city, looking up, and one of them exclaimed:
"The Eighteenth Commander! Why is the Eighteenth Commander standing up?!"

Amidst countless gazes, on the cold city wall, beside a figure in red, Lang Shiba, his face streaked with tears, laughed wildly and waved his drumsticks madly.

On this day, the stirring sound of war drums echoed throughout the city, sweeping away the despondency of the past six months and bringing the city back to its peak.

……

Above the capital.

Zhao Du'an's figure appeared out of thin air, overlooking the great city he knew best.

He did not choose to go to Xiping immediately, but wanted to understand the situation first.

A year has passed, and the capital should be in springtime, but contrary to expectations, it remains desolate, as if it were still in winter.

The once bustling streets were now eerily desolate due to the shadow of war.

Zhao Du'an frowned, took another step, and appeared deep inside the palace, in the Hall of Mental Cultivation, outside an imperial study.

The palace gardens were also desolate. The female officials seemed to have been deliberately dismissed and were all guarding outside the halls, leaving the courtyard empty.

Zhao Du'an remained silent for a moment, then raised his hand and pushed open the carved door of the study.

Inside the Imperial Study, the furnishings remained unchanged.

However, the person sitting behind the table covered with yellow broth was not the familiar white-clad empress, but Mo Zhaorong, who wore a wingless black gauze hat and the first-class official robe of a female official of the Six Ministries.

After Prince Jing died, Mo Chou and the Shenji Battalion led troops to wipe out the remnants of Prince Jing's forces. After that, the two sides never saw each other again.

A year later, Mochou returned to the palace. However, compared to the proud and aloof woman he knew, the Mochou before him had become much thinner and more haggard.

The official robe was already too big for her, and even under the black gauze hat, her long, smooth, black hair had been streaked with white.

At this moment, Mochou sat blankly behind her desk, her mind blank. In front of her were piles of memorials and reports on military intelligence from the front lines.

Hearing the door open, Mo Chou didn't even look up, and said in a hoarse voice:
"go out."

After a pause, seeing no response, she almost screamed as she raised her head:
"I told you to get out, didn't you listen..."

Stop it abruptly!

Mo Chou stared blankly at the familiar figure standing at the study door, as if in a dream. Her eyes widened suddenly, and she murmured:

"you you……"

Zhao Du'an said with a complicated expression:

"Mo Zhaorong, it's been a long time. It's me, I'm back."

It wasn't a dream... Mo Chou's mind went blank. Then, she suddenly stood up as if pricked by a needle, knocking over the inkstone beside her and getting splashed with ink, not caring at all.

She walked quickly forward, almost trembling, and stared intently at Zhao Du'an's face.

She reached out again to grab his sleeve, feeling that all-too-familiar gaze. Suddenly, tears welled up in her eyes, and she said resentfully:
"What are you doing back here? What are you even doing back here? Don't you know that His Majesty and we all thought you were dead! What use is your return now? You might as well be dead, you might as well be dead!"

Don't worry about losing control of your emotions!

At that moment, immense grievance and sorrow overwhelmed her spirit, which was already on the verge of collapse due to long-term exhaustion. She cursed, cried, and pounded Zhao Du'an's chest with her fists, as if venting the emotions that had been building up in her heart for a whole year.

"Do you know how many times His Majesty returned to the palace to wait for you after you disappeared? Time and time again... So many people hoped that you, the great general who quelled the rebellion, could turn the tide once more, but they were disappointed time and time again..."

The whole world is saying that you are dead, that you have escaped... Li Lianying is dead, and Grand Tutor Dong has fallen ill. I am the only one holding down the fort for His Majesty, I am all alone..."

Mo Chou spoke while crying, her voice gradually weakening from its initial strained tone to its eventual fainting.

Zhao Du'an gently supported her, feeling the dampness on his clothes. He looked at the single white hair at Mo Chou's temple—a hair that shouldn't be at her age—and slowly said:
"Have you cried enough? If you have, tell me what happened during the year I was gone."

Mo Chou rubbed her swollen eyes, and actually let go of his sleeve, staggered back, slumped into a chair, and her expression returned to calm:

"What do you want to know?"

She has indeed grown a lot; even in such a loss of composure, she can quickly suppress all the emotions in her heart.

The palace maid who once served the Empress has now become a true "female prime minister".

“Everything,” Zhao Du’an said.

Mo Chou composed herself and said coldly:
"Back then, after you killed Prince Jing and left, the rest of us went south to Jiancheng Road and successfully defeated the remnants of Prince Jing's forces. Prince Jing's heir, Xu Jinglong, was shot and killed by artillery fire on the battlefield and died on the spot."

The Shen family, who supported the rebels of Prince Jing's Mansion, attempted to flee to Lingnan Road, but were captured by Wei Xianzong's troops. I took it upon myself to abolish the Shen family and, following your method on the Huai River, divided the local families, leaving Ning Zechen, the Grand Canal Transport Commissioner, to manage Jiancheng.

Afterwards, Shi Meng led the Shenji Battalion to Xiping, and I returned to the capital with the civil officials, only to learn of many things that happened afterward..."

"His Majesty returned in spirit and told me about your trip with Master Zhang to the Mubei Forest in search of a way to break the deadlock."

But since you left, there has been no news of you at all. His Majesty does not know your situation, whether you are alive or dead.

Later… one day Her Majesty said that she realized the fragment of your soul that had gone with you had been completely destroyed, and Her Majesty… thought… thought you might be dead.”

Mo Chou took a deep breath, composed herself, and continued:
"After that, His Majesty became ruthless and conscripted troops from the whole country to Xiping. He even took away the troops from Jubei City. Hai Gongfeng also stopped guarding the palace and went to Xiping as well. Before leaving, he killed Xu Jianwen."

The vast Yu Kingdom only left Zhao Shixiong's troops in Yunfu to guard against the Liao people... Apart from that, the whole country was ready to fight.

But... for some reason, those monks in the Western Regions all seemed to have divine assistance. Her Majesty once told me that she suspected that Xuan Yin used the technique of creating clones to simultaneously descend into the bodies of many monks...

With Zhang Tianshi gone, His Majesty was left alone to guard Xiping, facing Xuan Yin and the Dharma King. He was overwhelmed and the entire situation began to crumble…

As she spoke, a bitter smile appeared on her face. She picked up a military document that was spread out on the table and tossed it to Zhao Du'an:
"This is the latest military intelligence. Not long ago, in an effort to salvage the situation, His Majesty led a group of experts to storm the entrance to the Western Regions pass, Yumen Pass."

Their plan for a surprise attack failed, and now His Majesty's isolated army is trapped inside Yumen Pass, in enemy territory, while the vast Xiping region is suffering repeated defeats!

Zhao Du'an raised his hand, caught the military dispatch that was tossed to him, glanced at it, silently raised his head, and said:

"So, that's why you dismissed the palace maids and are here alone, heartbroken?"

Mo Chou seemed to be enraged. She stared at him coldly, but tears streamed down her face uncontrollably.
"The military dispatch demands that the court send reinforcements to rescue His Majesty, but I... where can I send reinforcements? Tell me, where are there any reinforcements? Tell me..."

Zhao Du'an said earnestly:
"And I."

He walked forward earnestly, placed the military letter on the table, raised his hand, and, under Mo Chou's stunned gaze, helped her straighten the official hat on her head.

Zhao Du'an solemnly said:

"I'm going to Xiping now. You should rest well and wait for me with the officials in the capital."

After saying that, he turned to leave the study.

Suddenly, Mo Chou called out to him. She gripped the chair armrests tightly with both hands, and with a hint of anticipation, asked cautiously, her voice hoarse:
"You might be able to...rescue His Majesty?"

Zhao Du'an paused, one foot halfway across the threshold, without turning back, and suddenly asked:
"Since it is already spring, why is the capital so desolate this year?"

Mo Chou answered subconsciously:

"His Majesty says that the world has undergone tremendous changes in the past year, and the climate has become disordered, with spring being slow to arrive..."

"I see."

Zhao Du'an took a step and disappeared. The next moment, he appeared above the capital city, thousands of miles in the sky.

Zhao Du'an coldly surveyed the surrounding land, then suddenly raised his hand and grabbed towards the south!
"Edict!"

Thousands of miles away, a spring breeze swept by, and a phantom female deity appeared in the wind—none other than the Spring Goddess of this world!
"Go!" Zhao Du'an raised his hand to capture the God of Spring, expressionless, and casually tossed the God of Spring toward the capital.

Change the world!

On this day, a warm spring breeze, carrying fine spring rain, gently caressed the entire capital city, and countless branches in the city sprouted tender buds, which quickly grew into green leaves.

Clusters of peach blossoms bloomed on the branches, their vibrant colors weighing down the branches.

Countless Beijing residents emerged from their homes in astonishment, gazing in disbelief at the vibrant world bursting with life and blooming flowers.

Zhao family.

"Mother! The flowers are blooming! All the flowers in the city are blooming!"

Zhao Pan'er suddenly pushed open the bedroom door and called out to You Jinhua, who was wiping away tears as she looked at the embroidered portrait of her eldest son.

Lihuatang.

Qian Kerou, Shen Juan, and Hou Renmeng rushed out of the yamen and stared blankly at the large pear tree in bloom in the courtyard.

royal palace.

Mo Chou stood there, gazing blankly at the vibrant Imperial Garden, the fine rain gently wetting the dark eaves and her weary face.

Outside the courtyard, a group of female officials rushed in as soon as they heard a shout coming from the study, only to see Mo Chou standing there in the spring rain, looking dazed.

"Miss Mo! You mustn't get caught in the rain and catch a disease, what would you do then?"

A female official rushed over, then froze, staring incredulously at Mo Chou's temples:
"Your...your hair..."

hair?

Mo Chou raised her hand blankly and took off her wingless black gauze hat. At this moment, another female official held up a round mirror and handed it to her.

Mo Chou could clearly see that her hair in the mirror was jet black, without a single white strand.

Her haggard face quickly regained its color and plumpness, and in the blink of an eye, the woman in the mirror had bright eyes and white teeth, and her spirit was as bright as ever.

“Zhao Du’an…”

Mo Chou suddenly realized what was going on, and her eyes lit up with an unprecedented light. She quickly looked up at the sky!

A faint white rainbow could be seen heading west!

The desolate old imperial city;
Palace flowers bloom red for a day.

The white-haired palace maid is here;
They craned their necks to look up at the gods.

(End of this chapter)