The Empress's No.1 Lackey

He excelled in wielding a seven-foot sword, was a master of Sword Dao, and possessed an ironclad impartiality, administrating with both firmness and gentleness.

"Right, according to that new term you always have on your lips, he's a 'roll king', totally crazy, and it's contagious, even the Jinyi Captains in the Peony Hall are crazy."

Damn it... I detest roll kings the most... Right, Hou Renmeng was originally from Peony Hall, his temperament must have been deeply influenced by Zhang Han... Zhao Douan nodded:

"Continue."

Zhu Kui then picked up the second file and said:

"This Iron Ruler Pass, coming from military ranks, governed with extreme severity, was someone whose personality exploded like fire and who was skilled with the hammer.

It's said that in his early military days, when he went out to suppress bandits, he would often storm a fortress single-handedly, achieving illustrious military exploits. The Privy Council's Xue Shence once commented, calling him a ferocious general."

A ferocious Zhang Fei? How severe is his administration... Zhao Douan muttered, he had no fondness for leaders who lacked empathy for their subordinates, not like himself...

Zhu Kui smiled and said:

"And this female detective is even more formidable, known in Jianghu as One Spot Red for her mastery of the Flying Knife, never missing her mark. Often by the time the enemy sees a spot of red, their life is over. Despite being a woman, she is valiant, and also quite beautiful...

Oh right, there's a rumor among the people, she's always wanted to change the Narcissus Hall into 'Haitang Hall' named after herself, but Lord Ma found this name too feeble, declaring that once she surpasses Zhang Han and takes the top spot of the Nine Halls, he would allow her to change it."

Haitang Hall... repetitive word, nauseating... Skilled with Flying Knife?

Coincidentally, I'm also skilled at that... Someday we should compare our skills and see just how beautiful... Zhao Douan mused.

He now had a preliminary impression of the three individuals.

Unfortunately, combining the files with actual observations, it was impossible to determine who the mole was.

"That's right, if Ma Yan has put in so much effort and couldn't find them, me being a newcomer, and not some great detective from a past life, without any criminal investigation skills, if I could find the mole just from archives, then there'd be something wrong. This matter probably can't be rushed."

Zhao Douan pondered.

He knew catching a mole was not easy; it would require patience.

Especially since he had just arrived at his post and many people were watching. Now, if he were to start investigating, it would be very easy to alert the mole.

The best strategy was to first lower the mole's guard against him, "fix the road in the daytime while secretly transporting goods at night," as the saying went. Zhao Douan speculated he would have to follow a routine.

Since he wasn't familiar with criminal investigations, he would have to take an unconventional approach to uncover the mole.

*Sigh*, there's no need to put too much pressure on myself, it's not like catching the mole is a must. My goal is to achieve merit and garner accomplishments. As long as I gain enough accomplishments, that's also fine.

Zhao Douan decided to play it both ways, overtly and covertly. This way, even if he couldn't complete the task given by the Empress, he wouldn't be at a loss.

Rolling up the files, he stuffed them back into the dossier bag.

Zhao Douan threw work to the back of his mind and chatted casually with Zhu Kui to relax:

"Old Zhu, I see you don't have it easy either. You have to stand guard while I'm in the office, and even when I'm not, you still have duty. There's no need."

He enjoyed the cool breeze, squinting his eyes and said:

"In the following period, I'll be focusing on Imperial Court. There isn't much happening here, so you could hang around outside more, relax a bit."

Zhu Kui vigorously waved his fan, offering a cool breeze, and laughed:

"Thank you for your consideration, sir. But at my age, I don't really have the energy to frolic anymore."

"Then go home, spend more time with your wife and children, don't bury yourself in official affairs. The work belongs to the government office, but your body is your own." Zhao Douan reflected.

In his past life, he had worked himself to death for the sake of public duty; now, he regretted it deeply.

Zhu Kui just laughed:

"My kid is studying back in our hometown; at home, there's just an oblivious woman, an old husband and wife after all."

Zhao Douan then remembered that Zhu Kui did have a son and a daughter, but they were both still young and left in the care of their grandparents back home.

The reasoning was to spend more time with the elders; after finishing the primary stage of schooling, they would be brought back to the Capital for better educational opportunities.

The original Zhao Douan didn't care much for this, but it was after all his subordinate's private affair, and he couldn't be bothered to interfere.

Feeling sleepy, Zhao Douan yawned and stood up, picking up the dossier bag and walking towards the partition:

"I'm going to take a nap."

Zhu Kui was submissive and quietly watched Zhao Douan's retreating figure.

The smile on the face of this veteran official slowly disappeared, replaced by a grave expression, as if he had something on his mind.

...

...

That day, the news that Li Lang had been imprisoned swept through the Imperial Court like a whirlwind.

The government officers at all the major halls were abuzz with conversation, with varied reactions to the flamboyant style of the Empress's favorite.

But there was one consensus: everyone was waiting to see the excitement unfold, wondering how long it would take for the arrogant favorite to give up.

After all, Lihua Hall was known to be difficult to manage; no matter how powerful one was, that couldn't stop subordinates from paying lip service while opposing in secret.

And Lord Ma's attitude toward this was silence, which was quite thought-provoking.

For a time, countless eyes were focused, awaiting what would happen next.

However, the protagonist of the storm, Zhao Douan, remained utterly unconcerned, not showing up again that day.

In the evening.

Zhao Douan, as usual, had dinner beside the round table with his stepmother and younger sister.

You Jinhua kept serving him food:

"Eat more meat, my dear; the first day on the job must have been tiring. I thought you would dine out with your colleagues, so I prepared less food..."

Her concern was earnest, with an apologetic look in her eyes, as if she had done something wrong.

Zhao Douan took a few bites and lost his appetite immediately.

Zhao Pan, with her slender, somber face, sat between her mother and brother, holding her chopsticks when she finally couldn't help but say:

"Mom, you're blocking me from getting any food."

She felt somewhat aggrieved. Her mother busied herself serving that greedy wolf heaping amounts of food while her own bowl was nearly empty.

You Jinhua's sweet eyes reflected apology as she was about to speak. Zhao Douan put down his chopsticks, stood up, and yawned:

"I'm full."

He then looked at his slender sister, who was thin because of her growth spurt, casually tossing his own bowl in front of her and laughed: