The Empress's First Running Dog

Chapter 40 Why should I, Zhao Duan, explain to you what I have done in my life?
The next day, early in the morning.

Zhao's house, in the bedroom.

The rising sun shone through the window paper and onto the face of Zhao Duan who was sleeping soundly on the brocade couch, making his handsome features shine brightly.

"yawn……"

Zhao Duan woke up slowly, staring at the window curtains, recalling what happened last night.

After going to the imperial yamen to meet Ma Yan, he handed over the official letter and gave a brief description of the whole matter.

Ma Yanwang, who was criticized by the court officials for being "moody", suddenly looked as happy as spring breeze and rain. He was overjoyed and discussed the follow-up details with him.

Zhao Duan fought again.

In the end, perhaps for Sun Lianying's sake, Ma Yan agreed to lead the case.

After all the trouble, it was already late at night when I got home.

Zhao Duan was so exhausted that he didn't even do his daily meditation practice and slept until dawn.

At this time, he got up, dressed, opened the door, and walked towards the dining room.

He was not worried about missing breakfast. The Zhao family rules:
The cook would prepare breakfast early so that the whole family could eat after Zhao Duan woke up.

If he doesn't wake up, Eugene Hua and Zhao Pan will have to wait.

"It's just the evil life of a wealthy landlord..."

Zhao Duan was filled with emotion.

At this moment, there was a slight sound of breaking wind.

It was seen in the small martial arts training ground in the spacious courtyard of the Zhao family.

Zhao Pan, a girl in a single layer of clothes, was seriously waving a dagger and attacking the standing scarecrow.

The morning sun shines on the girl's budding figure and pretty face, revealing a clear and natural beauty.

There was a yellowed booklet spread out on the ground next to Zhao Pan. Zhao Duan glanced at it and remembered that it was a booklet that his father had given him when he was learning martial arts.

It is also one of the ways to get started with martial arts, and it is not expensive.

After he passed the buddy stage, I just threw him away and I don’t know where he ended up at home.

The wind blew, and the "Martial Arts Secret Book" that the girl had taken out from somewhere and regarded as a treasure flew around.

Zhao Pan was concentrating on imitating the movements of the little man in the booklet, breathing in and out and waving the dagger at the same time.

With a ferocious and serious look on her face, she suddenly stabbed the scarecrow between its legs with a knife. Zhao Duan felt a chill down his crotch and suspected that this crazy girl mistook the scarecrow for herself.

"cough."

Zhao Duan deliberately made a sound, but Zhao Pan's crystal clear and round ears moved, but he ignored him and chopped more and more vigorously.

"Hey, when did you start learning martial arts? This posture is not standard, and the weapon is not good either. Look around the world, which martial arts master uses a dagger?" Zhao Duan laughed.

Zhao Pan gritted his teeth and pretended not to hear.

"Tsk tsk, are you deaf? Let me test your practice skills."

Zhao Duan raised his hand, exhaled energy from his palm, and rolled up a green bamboo pole under the corridor.

Peng...start with the bamboo stick and sweep across with your arm.

With a "whoosh" sound, the broken wind hit the girl with a shocking force.

Zhao Pan was startled and quickly dodged.

But without a master, she can only figure things out on her own, and with no resources to nourish her body, how can she have any "quality" to speak of?

It's not even a fancy thing, how can you escape?

Soon, Zhao Duan hit him with a bamboo stick, and he lost his balance and forgot all the "martial arts moves" he had memorized by rote.

She was in a panic, waving the dagger around like a turtle, trying to resist, but she was defenseless on all sides and couldn't block a single blow. The bamboo stick hit her all over her body, causing her great pain.

The girl bit her lips tightly and never cried out in pain, but two lines of tears rolled down her fair cheeks.

Several servants in the house noticed it, but they were all silent, and dared not step forward to stop it like quails - this was not the first time that Dalang beat the young lady.

At this time, Eugene Hua, who had received a report from the servants, hurried along the corridor.

The beautiful woman saw this scene from afar, she wailed, her eyes turned red and full of pain.

"Boring."

Zhao Duan got angry and threw down the green bamboo pole in boredom.

Without even turning back, he strode out of the door and said calmly:
"I have an appointment outside today, so I won't eat at home." Behind her, Eugene Hua rushed to her daughter and hugged her:
"Does it hurt? I'll go apply some medicine for you."

Zhao Pan said nothing, staring at Zhao Duan's distant back, her autumn-water eyes filled with tears.

……

far away.

The moment Zhao Duan turned around, his dissolute and frivolous look disappeared.

Outsiders just thought that he was beating the young lady again, but if a real knowledgeable martial artist was present, he would see at a glance that Zhao Duan's stick seemed to be terrifying, but in fact it was just a drop in the bucket.

It was not a random strike, but an accurate poking of the main meridians of the girl's body.

"Silly girl, can you practice martial arts blindly on your own? Your blood and energy are blocked... If you don't use external force to clear it, you will become paralyzed..."

Zhao Duan curled his lips.

He hit Zhao Pan like a storm, and although he suffered a little, his meridians were unblocked.

The girl couldn't notice it at the moment, but she would understand it after the moment of synaesthesia passed, and he was too lazy to explain.

Of course, the more important reason for not explaining is:

He needs to change his personality little by little and not become too abrupt, otherwise it will easily arouse suspicion among his family members.

After all, the original owner's signature line was:
"Why should I, Zhao Duan, explain to you what I have done in my life!"

……

……

leave the house.

Zhao Duan walked along the street and headed towards a common teahouse three blocks away.

It was early in the morning and there were not many people around, so Zhao Duan went straight to the second floor, ordered a pot of good tea, a few plates of cakes, and a large plate of melon seeds, and ate while waiting.

As the sun rose higher, more and more guests came into the building.

When the bored Zhao Duan was using melon seed shells to draw a simple sketch of the empress on the table, the sound of horse hooves suddenly came from the street outside the window!
A large group of officials dismounted outside the building and filed in.

The shopkeeper was a man of good eyesight. He recognized them as the famous "Kings of Hell" in the imperial court of the capital. He was startled and smiled flatteringly:

"My Lords, would you like some tea?"

"Get out of the way!"

The leader, a man in brocade clothes, had a blank expression on his face and no smile at all. He swept his sharp eyes around the first floor and then ran up to the second floor.

The noise frightened the guests so much that they were trembling with fear and hiding away in terror, not even daring to drink their tea. They all stood up, wanting to escape but not daring to.

I was afraid of being targeted by this group of lawless devils.

Since its establishment, the Zhao Ya has been notorious.

Even high-ranking officials in the court would tremble when seeing it, let alone ordinary people?
With any pretext, people could be arrested and thrown into jail. It was said that if children in the city cried, they would stop crying immediately as long as the four words "Zhao Ya Yan Wang" were mentioned. The deterrent effect was evident.

"Envoy! You are here!"

At this moment, the leading centurion, who was wearing a Feiyu uniform, holding a long sword in his hand and with a "bronze plate" hanging on his waist, had his eyes lit up and a warm smile on his face.

He came to the window, clasped his hands, and said in a low voice:
"I am Zhou Cang, a centurion officer. I met the envoy last night. I am here with my lord's orders and await your orders!"

The group of ferocious officials behind him also put on humble smiles and saluted with fists:
"Meet the adults!"

Everyone in the building was silent for a moment.

window.

Zhao Duan, who had deliberately changed into a low-key and restrained robe and was sitting alone drinking tea, watched this scene, raised his hand to wipe the pattern on the table, and frowned.

He didn't like the way the people feared the officials of this era like tigers, but he knew in his heart that the limitations of the times could not be changed by personal likes and dislikes.

"I don't like to show off." Zhao Duan said calmly.

Zhou Cang was stunned for a moment and thought, are you kidding me?
Everyone in the capital knows that Lord Zhao, the governor of the White Horse Guard, loves to show off.

Although he was complaining in his heart, he immediately turned around and gave orders to the group of wolf-like officials behind him to drive them out of the building and wait.

"Sit down." Zhao Duan's brows relaxed and he said calmly:

"How is the matter I asked you to investigate?"

Thank you Master Cang for the 100-coin reward!

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(End of this chapter)