The First Lackey Under The Empress

As Shen Juan returned, carrying his saber, he couldn't hide the excitement in his eyes. Seeing Zhao Du'an's pensive expression, he couldn't help but ask cautiously:

"My lord, are the brothers not heavy-handed enough? Should this subordinate chase after them and give them another beating? Or, if you're worried about trouble, we can wait until night, change into plain clothes, and go ambush that Vice Minister He..."

Zhao Du'an snapped out of his thoughts, glanced at him, and said in annoyance:

"Letting you be brave when things happen doesn't mean you should go looking for trouble."

The lay-flat second generation from Pear Blossom Hall chuckled, a flattering smile appearing on his face with natural curls and dark circles under his eyes:

"It's mainly because that He fellow doesn't give you face... We just can't stand it."

Being a troublemaker doesn't mean being stupid.

For example, just now, a group of Embroidered Uniform Guards punched and kicked, beating the other party black and blue.

But they all used the flat of their blades to hit people, without actually drawing blood.

What Zhao Du'an was pondering was not these things; he asked:

"How much do you know about this Vice Minister He? About him and Princess Yunyang?"

Shen Juan paused, thought for a moment, and said:

"This subordinate doesn't know much, I only remember that Vice Minister He should be a direct subordinate of the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review. As for him and Princess Yunyang... there are indeed some rumors in the streets, that the two seem to have an affair. Why is my lord asking about this?"

So, they really are lovers... Zhao Du'an clicked his tongue.

So, women can be terrifying when they seek revenge.

That Princess Yunyang, whom he hadn't even met, only glimpsed her thigh, sent two of her bed partners to cause trouble in just one morning.

"What kind of school is this? Am I surrounded by the princess's lovers?" Zhao Du'an muttered.

However, compared to Marquis Xia Jiang, this He Zheng was several levels lower.

Especially the last sentence could be understood as a threat.

But conversely, it could also be interpreted as "passing the buck."

"Is he deliberately revealing to me that the mastermind behind him is Princess Yunyang... or is it a deterrent? Or is he covering up the essence of him trying to steal credit? It doesn't matter..."

Zhao Du'an shook his head.

Compared to this pawn-like character, what he really needed to be wary of was Princess Yunyang's subsequent methods.

"Troublesome woman." He was a little annoyed.

Given the other party's identity as a member of the imperial family, he couldn't use the same tactics to bring her down as he would with other enemies.

For the time being, he could only adapt to the situation and remain unchanged to cope with all changes.

"It's nothing," Zhao Du'an shook his head, without explaining, and instead said:

"Where are the prisoners and the stolen goods?"

Shen Juan and the other subordinates hurriedly invited him into the residence.

In the small courtyard, a middle-aged man dressed as a merchant was tied up.

His mouth was gagged, making whimpering sounds.

Several large boxes were scattered around, Zhao Du'an opened them and glanced at them, mostly scattered silver and copper coins, as well as messy account books and letters.

As well as messy and miscellaneous items.

"My lord, this person should be managing business for the rebel party. The operation of the Kuangfu Society's branches in various places requires money, this thief is a small pawnshop merchant on the surface, but secretly works for the rebel party."

Shen Juan explained:

"These were all found, but we haven't had time to carefully check them."

Zhao Du'an nodded in satisfaction, reached out and removed the rag from the merchant's mouth, the latter cursed:

"Running dogs of the false emperor, scum and traitors, I will... Wuwu!"

Stuffing the rag back in, Zhao Du'an was uninterested and waved his hand:

"Take him down, he's annoying."

An Embroidered Uniform Guard grinned, picked up the latter and punched him in the stomach, the middle-aged merchant, who was spewing foul language, bent over like a shrimp, sweating profusely in pain.

"Wait until you get to the Imperial Prison, let's see if you still have such a foul mouth?"

After the man was dragged away, Zhao Du'an looked around the small courtyard:

"Is this all?"

Shen Juan suddenly said: "My lord, please come with me."

Mysteriously... Zhao Du'an was suspicious, and stepped into the main room with him.

He saw the slacking salted fish subordinate secretly glanced around, reached into his arms, and took out a small silver mirror:

"Please take a look, my lord, this thing was picked out by this humble officer from that pile of pawned antiques. If I'm not mistaken, it should be a 'treasure of warding'."

Treasure of warding?

A "magical artifact" used by a sorcerer?

Zhao Du'an remembered that the Golden Slip Divine Official had once explained to him that "treasures of warding" were magical artifacts with special abilities.

Strictly speaking, the "Imperial God Talisman" that Zhang Yan gave him also counted.

The Golden Crow Flying Knife, on the other hand, was a divine weapon specially for martial artists. Although it could change in size, it did not contain "magic" inside and was not considered a treasure of warding.

However, Zhao Du'an still liked to call it a "magical artifact" out of habit.

"Are you sure?" Zhao Du'an raised his eyebrows, intrigued, not expecting such a pleasant surprise.

Shen Juan smiled and said: "My lord will know at a glance."

Zhao Du'an looked down and examined it. The small silver mirror was not large, less than a palm's width.

It was round, with a simple and delicate shape, and mysterious patterns were carved around the mirror frame.

The words "Precious Mirror of Love's Fragrance" were clearly imprinted on the back.

"This name..." Zhao Du'an's expression was strange, he always felt that it was not very proper.

Beside him, Shen Juan said with great interest:

"This item is recorded in the books in our Imperial Prison's library, which collect treasures of warding from all over the world. It is a type that ordinary people can also use."

There are two types of magical artifacts, one type can only be driven by sorcerers, such as the staff in Jin Jian's hand.

The other type has much fewer restrictions, such as talismans.

There are also books in the Imperial Prison that record treasures of warding?... Zhao Du'an said that he had learned something.

He thought to himself that he had to brush up on his knowledge in his spare time, so that he wouldn't recognize treasures when he saw them in the future.

"How do you use this thing?"

He curiously played with it, trying to transmit qi, but the mirror only glowed slightly.

Shen Juan explained:

"You only need to hold this thing, calmly visualize the person you want to find, and the mirror will show what the other person is currently doing..."

"However, we are not sorcerers and cannot use it frequently. At most a few times a day, it will exhaust the magic power in the mirror."

"You need to wait for a while to let it recover on its own... In addition, the distance of the person you visualize, the level of cultivation... etc., will all affect the success or failure."

"If you use it to investigate powerful people, it is very easy to be locked in reverse... Presumably, it is used by the rebel party to detect intelligence..."

Ah, this, isn't this function "Clairvoyance" plus "Peeping Tom"?

It feels even more improper... Zhao Du'an slandered.

The first thought in his mind:

Was to visualize what Zhen Bao was doing, but when he heard that he would be traced back by the strong, he immediately chickened out halfway.

After thinking about it, he tried to recall the appearance of "Zhuang Xiaocheng" in his mind.

The surface of the mirror rippled slightly, and then returned to calm.

Failed... Yes, it should be too far away... Zhao Du'an was slightly disappointed.

After a little thought, he tried to recall his stepmother in his mind.

This time, the mirror surface rippled, and slowly presented a dynamic picture.

Inside the Zhao residence.

You Jinhua was squatting in the room, with two iron basins, one large and one small, placed in front of her, with clear water separating the small basin in the large basin.

Next to her was a bag of saltpeter that the servants had bought.

At this moment, the beautiful and plump stepmother hesitated, rolled up her sleeves, bent down and poured the white saltpeter into the water basin, trying to follow Zhao Du'an's instructions and make ice.

You Jinhua's bending over was so great that the skirt on her body was overwhelmed.

I said that the sorcerer who made this magical artifact was definitely improper...

Zhao Du'an took a deep breath, turned the mirror upside down, and then put it in his arms, and said calmly:

"This thing is very useful for investigating cases, so it will be temporarily kept by this official."

Shen Juan only vaguely saw a woman's figure in the mirror.

But before he could see clearly, Zhao Du'an wouldn't let him see it, he was slightly disappointed, and smiled:

"What mirror? This subordinate searched this place, but never saw any mirror."

...

...

A moment later.

Qian Kerou arrived late in the carriage. Zhao Du'an waved his hand and took the rebel party and the stolen goods back to Pear Blossom Hall together.

He handed it over to his subordinates for trial and investigation.

Noon.

In the capital, Feng Ju, the Principal of the Ministry of Personnel's Selection Department, left the yamen.

He ordered the carriage to stop far away in the alley, and walked alone on a secluded street.

This year, Feng Principal, who was over forty years old, looked thin and had a typical literati temperament, looked anxious, and his eyebrows were full of heavy anxiety and urgency.

As Zhao Du'an's first official who was officially fooled in order to turn the tide at the beginning of his journey, Feng Ju's days can be described as wonderful.

At first, Zhao Du'an invited him to the heart of the lake, in a awning boat, and set the plan to "bite the Prime Minister."

Feng Ju thought that he was acting on the emperor's orders, and drank a jar of wine at home in one breath, before daring to write the indictment of biting.

After that, the Empress issued an edict, and Feng Ju, as a "tainted witness", was temporarily controlled by the Censorate.

Then, there was more than ten days of pulling and fighting.

During the period, he was repeatedly interrogated by different censors, and he was exhausted.

Fortunately, the final result was good.

The Empress said that Feng Ju had made meritorious service in atonement, which was very rare, and retained his official position, only fined his salary for three months as a punishment.

On the surface, it was a fine, but in reality it was not.

After Feng Ju returned to the Ministry of Personnel, he was soon introduced by the "Imperial Party" and entered the circle loyal to the Empress.

It was revealed openly and secretly that after this period of time passed, he would be promoted and reused.

First, he would be promoted to the fifth rank, and if he performed well in the future, the vacancy of the fourth rank official would not be without hope.

The surrounding colleagues also heard the news and complimented him.

Feng Ju was proud of himself, and these days can be described as moist.

But I didn't expect that today, disaster came from the sky.

On the long street.

Feng Ju went straight into a quiet teahouse, walked upstairs, and came to the reserved private room.

"Dong dong dong, it's me, Lao Feng." He knocked on the door.

The private room door opened, revealing the face of another literati of similar age and slightly fat.

He frowned, looked around, pulled the person in, and closed the door.

In the private room, another middle-aged man wearing a turban and a Confucian scholar's appearance, sitting calmly beside the low tea table.

The slightly fat literati said:

"Brother Bochang, you hurriedly called us to gather today, what is it for?"

"Bochang" is Feng Ju's style name. The two people in front of him are Feng Ju's close friends and former classmates, and colleagues in the court.

Sitting upright beside the tea table, the middle-aged man wearing a turban also asked curiously:

"These days, Brother Bochang's career is going well, what happened to make you look like this?"

Feng Ju's eyes were slightly bloodshot, his face was livid, he looked around at the two close friends, and squeezed out words from his teeth:

"Brother Ziggu, Brother Changfeng... My daughter has been kidnapped!"

What?

The two people in the room looked at each other, and they both became serious:

"You mean, Lianlian has been kidnapped? What's going on?"

Feng Ju took a deep breath, as if trying to control his emotions.

He walked straight to the tea table and sat down, drank two cups of tea on the table in one breath, and then said expressionlessly:

"It's Marquis Xia Jiang! He sent a servant to pass on a message to me, saying that he wanted me to report that it was Zhao Du'an who forced me to falsely accuse Li Yanfu, if I don't obey, then don't think about Lianlian returning safely."

Thanks to Lazy Man 211 for the 1000 coin reward! I can't name it, what should I do for the 500 coin reward!