The Empress's First Running Dog

Chapter 17 I Give You the Knife
"How do you explain this?"

In the side hall, with a bang, the scroll fell in front of him, and Zhao Duan clearly heard the empress's questioning.

The other three people present also heard it.

Censor Lu Liang's eyes were shining and his brows were full of joy.

Don’t be fooled by his eloquent speech just now. In fact, most of his criticisms lacked strength, including the accusation of “secretly communicating with the rebel party”, which was also quite blunt.

As for Zhao Duan’s past misdeeds, they were not serious enough.

Unexpectedly, Zhang Changshuo provided a great assist.

With solid evidence, it was difficult for the empress to defend herself.

Supervisor Ma Yan shook his head silently. As the "King of Hell" who supervises all officials, the imperial court had long been paying attention to Zhao Duan.

But considering his "ambiguous relationship" with the empress, Ma Yan always turned a blind eye to him.

Of course he is not stupid if he can sit in the position of governor.

Nor would they be so tactless as to proactively report their leader's lover.

Zhao Duan's conversation with him just now slightly improved his impression of him, but as the evidence was presented, Ma Yan's evaluation of him plummeted:
"You are so stupid... You have wasted your beautiful appearance..."

"Selling power is fine, but it's too careless to let political opponents get hard evidence..."

He silently sentenced him to death in his heart.

If Zhao Duan had had room to defend himself before, this stab in the back by his colleague completely ruined his official career.

"Zhao Duan, His Majesty is asking you a question, why don't you answer?"

Next to him, Zhang Changshuo, who had dressed up carefully for today's scene, had a rosy face.

With a winner's smile on his face.

Feel proud!

At this moment, all the depression that had accumulated over the past year suddenly disappeared.

In this world, is there anything more satisfying than sending your enemy to jail with your own hands and stepping on his corpse to get to the top?

Looking at Zhao Duan in silence and his desperate expression staring at the torn scroll, he felt extremely happy.

If it weren't for the wrong occasion, Zhang Changshuo would have wanted to recite a poem to express his congratulations.

At this time, he even began to fantasize that the empress would be furious and Zhao Gou would fall out of favor and fall into the mortal world.

As a talented scholar in the capital's literary world, he took the opportunity to comfort the empress's wounded heart, replaced her, and rose to prominence...

However, what was slightly different from what he imagined was:

Faced with the ironclad facts, Zhao Duan simply withdrew his curious gaze calmly.

Immediately, he looked at him with a look that made him very uncomfortable and said:

“Did you record this?”

Zhang Changshuo was like a peacock spreading its feathers, showing off to the empress:
"I had noticed his suspicious behavior long ago, so I secretly ordered someone to follow him, and that's why I accidentally recorded this scene."

Ha... your secret photography could be an "accident"... Zhao Duan curled his lips, he bent down to pick up the "magic scroll" that was slightly bigger than his palm, and played with it curiously.

Well, no man can resist the temptation of electronic products...

Seeing that he didn't care much, Lu Liang took the opportunity to attack him and shouted:
"Your Majesty asked you a question, why are you avoiding the topic? You just need to answer, is the matter recorded in this scroll true or false?"

"It is true," Zhao Duan said:

"Wang Xian did bribe me to help, and I did agree to it."

Haosheng is so rampant!

Lu Liang was shocked, wondering if this villain was so bold or was he relying on the favor of His Majesty to act so unscrupulously?
Shouldn't he be making a tearful defence at this time, insisting that it was a false accusation by a villain, or that he was just confused for a moment, and begging for forgiveness?
Zhao Duan's arrogant attitude stunned the Censor for a moment.

Ma Yan frowned slightly, vaguely sensing that something was wrong.

Then, Zhao Duan turned to the empress, bowed, and then said:

"Your Majesty, what Zhang Changshuo said is true, but... I did not take bribes or abuse my power. Instead, I staged a show to lure out the person behind Wang Xian."

A play? Upon hearing this answer, the white-robed empress sitting on the dragon throne, whose expressionless face had remained expressionless since she entered the palace, showed surprise for the first time:

"explain."

"Yes," Zhao Duan, who had already rehearsed this scene countless times in his mind, immediately explained the cause and effect of the incident.

How to make a plan, how to calm the other party, and how to find out the real "buyer" behind Wang Xian.

He talked freely and without any sign of panic.

"You said it is? How do you prove it?"

Zhang Changshuo could no longer hold back and asked loudly:

"Who knows? Didn't you say this on the spur of the moment to atone for your sins?"

Imperial Censor Lu Liang also sensed something was wrong and echoed:

"Your Majesty, do not be deceived by this thief!"

Zhao Duan remained calm and ignored the two of them. He still faced the empress and said calmly:
"After meeting Wang Xian, I reported this matter to the White Horse Division Supervisor and can serve as a witness."

Zhang Changshuo's heart sank suddenly!
He knew that since Zhao Duan was so sure about it, it must be true.

But...how is it possible?

How could this arrogant, uneducated idiot suddenly change his character?
Yes... to make up for his crime with meritorious service. Could it be that he was planning to use this incident to make meritorious service to offset today's impeachment?
This is the only reasonable explanation Zhang Changshuo could think of.

As a result, the "evidence" he presented with great anticipation suddenly became waste paper and had no effect at all.

Even his behavior was a little funny.

At the same time, Lu Liang and Ma Yan also guessed this possibility and were surprised.

But then I realized that even so, the situation has not changed much.

Zhao Duan proved that he did not accept bribes or interfere in government affairs, and he may have made some contributions, but what is the point?
Brokerage transactions at Wang Xian's level would at most involve officials of the sixth or seventh rank, and at most the fifth rank.

Compared with the crime committed by Zhao Duan, this tiny achievement is really not worth mentioning.

Thinking of this, Ma Yan shook his head slightly:
Zhao Duan’s self-rescue was indeed eye-opening, but it was just a futile struggle.

The corners of Lu Liang's mouth slightly raised, thinking that this just meant that the empress did not want to favor him, so she did this.

"Oh? That's true."

No one noticed that the Empress of Dayu, who was sitting high up in the table, had a hint of curiosity in her eyes:
"Who is the briber?"

Zhao Duan took out a memorial written overnight from his sleeve:

"All the details of this case are recorded here. Your Majesty, please read it in person."

Which official couldn't even say his name? And yet he was so mysterious as to write a memorial?
Lu Liang shook his head with even more contempt, thinking that he was at most a fifth-rank official in Beijing, and it was really ridiculous for him to do such a thing.

Could it be that some unspeakable big shot is involved?
Xu Zhenguan said softly, "Present it."

At the side, a palace maid flicked her whisk, took the memorial and handed it to her.

Xu Zhenguan did not look at it immediately, but first glanced at Zhao Duan who was standing with his head bowed in the hall, and then opened the memorial with a hint of curiosity.

She wanted to know what kind of waves this little guard could make.

What kind of surprise will you give yourself?

However, the next second, when her eyes fixed on a name on the memorial, a little bit of laziness and casualness disappeared.

She paused for a second before starting to read word by word from the beginning.

The hall was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop.

It seemed like a long time had passed, yet it seemed like only a moment had passed.

When Xu Zhenguan closed the memorial and looked at the handsome and tall young guard below again, there was a hint of indescribable meaning in his eyes.

"It's... a big 'surprise'."

(End of this chapter)