The court lackeys of the eight-hour workday

Chapter 384 The Wind Rises
Zhu Zai had been living in the Wenyuan Pavilion for some time now.

The longer it went on, the more he wanted to kill Li Miao with a single blow... or to kill the version of himself that had led Li Miao back to the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

Even with Zhu Zai's exceptional internal strength and Li Miao's help to remove his internal injuries, he still developed two huge dark circles under his eyes over the past few months.

No other reason than I'm too tired.

Stabilize the court, eliminate long-standing problems, and purge dissidents.

Even though Zhu Zai had already grasped imperial power, he would still be constrained in carrying out these three tasks. Not to mention that after decades as the head of the secret service, he had plenty of assassins under his command, but very few trusted confidants capable of handling political affairs.

If we're really going to talk about it, Li Miao might be one of them.

He dared not hand the vermilion brush to Li Miao.

It wasn't that he didn't trust Li Miao, or that he was reluctant to delegate authority... He was just afraid that the day after he handed the vermilion pen to Li Miao, Li Miao would simply build a mound of skulls at the execution ground, throw the vermilion pen back at him, and leave.

Li Miao was truly capable of doing it, and within a month of the imperial tomb incident ending, he had already begun preparing to do so.

It's not that Li Miao's approach is wrong; both decisive action and subtle, gradual methods are the right way, and the final result will be the same. It's just that Zhu Zai really doesn't dare to let Li Miao do it.

After all, Da Shuo's foundation has been completely ruined.

They might not be able to withstand Li Miao's antics.

Zhu Zai could only reluctantly send Li Miao to Yin Minjun's side, out of sight, out of mind. Then he endured the hardship day after day, trying little by little to pull the battered Da Shuo back from the brink of disaster.

Now, let's get back to the present.

Zhu Zai picked up his pen and wrote a passage on the memorial, only to find that the nib of his pen had dried up.

An Ziyang quickly stepped forward, picked up the inkstone, and presented it to Zhu Zai.

Zhu Zai applied cinnabar, wrote a passage on the memorial, closed it, sighed, rubbed his temples, and looked at An Ziyang.

"What's the matter?"

An Ziyang took out the stack of documents from his pocket.

"Commander, there's something related to Commander Zhu... I've brought it to you to take a look."

Zhu Zai frowned even more deeply.

He's been cursed by his sons his whole life, whether they're biological or adopted.

Zhu Qianhu, also known as his only son Zhu Yijing.

Notoriously awful snacks.

He wasn't morally flawed, thanks to Zhu Zai's upbringing. But in terms of ability, he was utterly incompetent. Whether it was ambition, temperament, methods, or the ability to recognize and utilize talent, he had absolutely nothing to offer.

If Li Miao was too capable, making it difficult for Zhu Zai to handle, then his own son was too incompetent, leaving Zhu Zai at a loss for what to do.

"What trouble has he caused this time?"

Zhu Zai quickly glanced at the document An Ziyang handed over, and his expression immediately darkened upon seeing it.

"Liu Jinyi?"

"Born a prostitute, with no relatives or friends, her family died early, she came to Shuntian alone, where that unfilial son redeemed her and took her in as a page... You idiot!!!"

Zhu Zai's veins bulged, and he raised his hand to throw it.

An Ziyang quickly reached out to stop him: "Commander, you can't throw it away! The vermilion pen, the vermilion pen, you can't throw it away!"

With a swift movement of his hands, he took the vermilion brush from Zhu Zai's hand and replaced it with an inkstone.

"Throw this, throw this!"

"Humph!"

Zhu Zai then realized that this was the Wenyuan Pavilion, not the Embroidered Uniform Guard headquarters. He was standing right in front of the Grand Secretaries of the Inner Cabinet, so he had no choice but to put down the inkstone reluctantly, though his anger did not diminish in the slightest.

“Family, relatives, friends, acquaintances, all dead! Their origins and backgrounds are all unknown! And yet they still have such a name, how could he dare to take them into his home!”

"Idiot! Idiot!"

An Ziyang quickly poured a cup of tea.

"Calm down, calm down."

Zhu Zai refused to take the teacup and said angrily.

"And you! Li Miao's not here, so you've all been letting the sheep roam free, haven't you! This kind of thing should have been repaid from the beginning, why have you been dragging it out until now!"

"Yes, yes, I failed in my duty and am willing to accept punishment... Please calm down. I will go and receive my punishment later. Don't get too angry."

An Ziyang bowed deeply, repeatedly admitting his mistake.

After a while, Zhu Zai finally calmed down a bit.

"Forget it, there's no need for family discipline." Zhu Zai stood up and paced back and forth a few steps.

No matter how useless Zhu Yijing is, he's still my own son. Now, our adversaries have been infiltrating our lives for months; who knows what schemes they've already laid?

It should be noted that the emperor was essentially a direct descendant of the Miao king. These eunuchs who fled after the incident at the imperial tombs might very well have possessed some kind of evil Gu worm.

Zhu Zai was so anxious and flustered that he lost his composure.

An Ziyang quickly replied.

"Commander, right now it's just that the name is a bit strange, it may not necessarily be a real problem. I have already sent people to verify the background of this Liu Jinyi, and we will have the results tomorrow."

Zhu Zai said in a deep voice.

What if that's true?

An Ziyang presented a cup of tea to Zhu Zai with both hands.

"Please calm yourself down first."

Zhu Zai took the tea, drank a few sips to cool down, and then heard An Ziyang speak.

"Actually, it's a good thing that the people below didn't investigate Zhu Qianhu's inner quarters before. If that Liu Jinyi really is Liu Jin, and he finds out we're investigating, he might become desperate and hurt Zhu Qianhu."

"The current situation is actually not that critical."

Zhu Zai glanced at him without saying anything, but his brows relaxed slightly.

With Li Miao absent and Wang Hai away, Zhu Zai had to handle political affairs. During the past six months, An Ziyang was actually the one who had the final say in the Embroidered Uniform Guard, and he proved his abilities.

Zhu Zai believed his assurances.

An Ziyang continued.

"Although I don't know how they managed to fool Commander Zhu... cough cough, let's assume for now that this Liu Jinyi is Liu Jin himself."

Zhu Zai's face darkened, and his veins began to bulge again.

I hadn't thought of this at all... My own son might have gotten that dead eunuch into bed!

Damn it!
Seeing that Zhu Zai's expression was off, An Ziyang quickly continued.

"Firstly, he is unaware that we have already discovered this. Commander Zhu is allowed to go out as usual. We just need to find a time to stop Commander Zhu."

"As for whether Liu Jin will plant a seed of evil in Zhu Qianhu, you can rest assured."

An Ziyang patted his chest confidently.

"As for the Gu poison, I am a true disciple of the Miao King; as for the poison, I am the deputy sect leader of the Tang Clan. No matter what tricks Commander Zhu has up his sleeve, I guarantee I will cure him and ensure that nothing happens to Commander Zhu."

Zhu Zai's expression softened slightly.

An Ziyang then continued.

"Secondly, we were only worried about how to dig out this group of eunuchs before, but now that he has jumped to the forefront, it is actually a good thing."

"In the past six months or so, several officials have already submitted, and with the addition of the Xiaoling Guard, we can now make a final decision and eliminate any future troubles related to these imperial tombs."

Zhu Zai's expression softened again.

An Ziyang smiled.

Thirdly, I received news that the garrison commander is about to return to the capital.

Zhu Zai's expression softened completely.

He sat down in the chair, leaned back, and waved.

"Go and make the arrangements. We'll start again when Li Miao comes back."

"Yes."

An Ziyang smiled, cupped his hands in greeting, went downstairs, and headed towards the palace gate.

But what he didn't see was that after he left, a clerk from the Wenyuan Pavilion quickly walked into the inner room, bowed to each of the Grand Secretaries of the Inner Cabinet, and then walked to the side of the person sitting in the center of the inner room.

The man was tall and thin, with a face as cold as iron, high cheekbones, and three long, gray-white beards that reached his chest. His eyes were narrow and slit-like, with a cold glint in them. He wore a blue robe with a python pattern that covered his bony shoulders, and he was frowning as he wrote furiously with a brush in hand.

It was none other than the current Grand Secretary, Yan Song.

The clerk walked to his side, whispered a few words in his ear, and then bowed and left.

Yan Song seemed not to hear, and continued writing.

After he finished writing, he leisurely folded the memorial and placed it on the table. His gaze seemed to intentionally or unintentionally glance upwards, as if he could see through the door and see Zhu Zai sighing incessantly.

Without changing his expression, as if he had only glanced at it casually, Yan Song lowered his head again, opened another memorial, and began to diligently and conscientiously write down his thoughts.

(End of this chapter)