The Empress's No.1 Lackey-Chapter 152 - 133, A Thirteen-Year-Old Case

Early in the morning, in the Zhao family’s bedroom.

"Huh." When Zhao Douan forcefully opened his eyes and abruptly woke up, he couldn’t help but shiver and muttered to himself:

"That Xu is too much!"

During last night’s meditation, he had followed Great Yu Grand Ancestor into the snowfields and had the misfortune of encountering a storm. Facing the terrifying natural power, Zhao Douan had intended to dig a hole and weather it out.

But without a backward glance, Xu strode forward and plunged into the storm, leaving Zhao Douan with no choice but to grit his teeth and follow, nearly freezing into an ice sculpture.

He had no option but to end his meditation early, taking a "log off" breath to recover.

As a result, he dreamt of freezing throughout the second half of the night.

Rubbing his bleary eyes, Zhao Douan got up from bed, and was relieved to find that for once he hadn’t sweated profusely— the ice basin in the room had already melted into water.

Upon reaching the dining room.

The stepmother and sister had also finished washing up, and the family of three sat in a row, eating buns.

"Huh, you’re here to eat today?"

Zhao Douan looked at his sister in surprise.

Plain-faced and charming, Zhao Pan inherited their mother’s beauty. With wet hair loosely spread and facing his teasing, she was unexpectedly submissive.

This left Zhao Douan a bit disappointed; bullying his inexpensive sister was one of life’s pleasures he felt was now missing.

"Eldest son, take your medicine."

You Jinhua rose to her feet and presented a freshly-served bowl of nourishing herbal soup with both hands.

The beautiful stepmother had simply styled her hair in a domestic bun today, her face full of a warm smile.

"...Can I not drink it?"

Zhao Douan’s smile vanished, mentally resisting it intensely.

You Jinhua had the appearance of a small woman who had done something wrong, biting her lips:

"Does it not suit the eldest son’s taste? Your stepmother saw that you have been very tired lately and made some medicinal supplement…"

It’s not that… It’s mainly because your name even has ’gold’ in it... Zhao Douan sighed.

He accepted the bowl with a large hand and downed it in one gulp.

You Jinhua showed the smile of a doting aunt, diligently serving him food, while Zhao Pan also displayed an unusually docile and gentle demeanor.

What would be a warm family dining scene in a common household, seemed like an unprecedented event at the Zhao family.

"Eldest son, what style of sachet would you like?"

As they were nearly finished eating, You Jinhua suddenly asked.

Zhao Douan was stunned for a moment: "What do you mean, stepmother?"

The beautiful woman smiled radiantly:

"The eldest son is busy with official duties, maybe you forgot? In a few days, it’s the Qiqiao Festival."

The Qiqiao Festival… Great Yu also had this festival.

However, in this world, there is no story of the magpie bridge, so during the Qiqiao Festival, women usually gather to eat, drink, admire the moon, and compete in needlework.

According to Great Yu customs, female family members should sew sachets for the men in the house to display their needlework skills, and men would symbolically reciprocate with some jewelry.

The Zhao family had only one male and he was not yet married.

Therefore, You Jinhua was already preparing to sew a sachet for her stepson.

"Ah, I’m fine with anything."

Zhao Douan was not picky; after all, in his previous life when buying clothes he used shopping apps that prioritized sales rankings, he said with a smile:

"Whatever stepmother chooses, I will like."

You Jinhua had no defense against such words, touched to the point of tears, and the sight of her laughing and crying.

Oh no… I forgot to maintain my persona…

Zhao Douan straightened his face, dropped his bowl and chopsticks, and fled as if escaping.

...

After the meal.

You Jinhua, in high spirits and delighted, cheerfully dragged her daughter around the room selecting patterns from albums, the table laden with newly bought colorful threads.

"How about this one, it’s bright and pretty, suits your brother, but is a bit too flashy, lacking in stability."

"This one’s better, grand and authoritative, also symbolizes ascending to high positions, but unfortunately, it’s too old-fashioned."

"And this, and this? Hey, silly girl, I’m asking you to help choose, say something, would you?"

The plain-faced girl, pure as a lotus in clear water, sat on a round stool.

Gazing at her mother beside her, Haitang’s eyes looked entranced by the needle and thread box on the table.

Hearing her mother call out, she snapped back to reality. The normally silent girl who didn’t get along with Zhao Douan suddenly said,

"Mom, why don’t we each sew one of the two designs?"

You Jinhua helplessly prodded her forehead with a finger:

"A woman can only present one, plus there are only a few days left. Do you want to work me to death?"

Zhao Pan muttered, "I could sew one for him too."

You Jinhua was stunned, wondering if her daughter had changed her nature.

...

...

At the front door.

The carriage driver, Little Wang, already stood by after the investigation; it had indeed been confirmed that he was unassociated with the assassination attempt that day.

When he came to after being knocked unconscious that day and learned that Zhao Douan, despite being in the Mortal Realm, had counter-killed the swordsman Gao Li, the young carriage driver was greatly shocked. The way he looked at his boss now, had a touch of admiration added to it.

"Let’s go." Zhao Douan, brash as ever, boarded the carriage and commanded.

The carriage rattled away, but today, it didn’t head to the Imperial Court or White Horse Hall.

Passing through four streets, he arrived at the bottom of a teahouse, where Zhao Douan instructed Little Wang to wait below and made his way upstairs.

Upon reaching a square table by the upstairs window, he saw two figures.

"Ha ha, sorry to have kept you both waiting."

With a smiling greeting, Zhao Douan slowly walked over and sat down.

Beside the square table, were none other than the Peony Hall Master Zhang Han and Haitang of the Narcissus Hall.

Today, like Zhao Douan, the two Masters weren’t in uniform; they too had dressed casually and sat waiting.

With her high ponytail and long legs, the sharp and smart-looking Haitang rolled her eyes, tossed down a shell of the seeds she was eating, and said indifferently,

"Master Zhao is really punctual, never comes even a bit early."

Two days had passed since the assassination attempt.

Although Zhao Douan was entrusted with a mission by the Empress, he didn’t rush to act but delayed for two days, which allowed the Ministry of Justice to lower their guard.

For the task of finding incriminating evidence against the Minister of the Ministry of Justice, the Empress had also informed Ma Yan, ordering him to assist Zhao Douan by providing necessary support.

Ma Yan, with a stroke of his pen, sent over two Masters to act as Zhao Douan’s deputies

—having the top two Masters from the Divine Chapter Realm in the Nine Halls serve under Zhao Douan was a significant show of force.

Effectively, this meant that Zhao Douan, the Lihua Hall Master, now had resources equivalent to three different sects at his disposal.

And they were from the elite of the Imperial Court.

The nickname "Little King Yan" became more apt than ever.

Zhao Douan laughed and grabbed a handful of seeds in front of Haitang.

Ignoring the martial artist’s eye-rolling, he chuckled,

"The key in investigating a case is not the haste but doing things right. How about it? Have you gathered the information I asked you to?"

With his pale complexion, Zhang Han, the number one "Scroll King" in the Nine Halls, sat upright beside the table, with a focused attitude as if at a meeting.

At those words, he placed a dossier on the table and said calmly,

"This is our vetted data, which appears most likely to uncover something on Zhou Cheng."

That’s right!

The first assignment Zhao Douan gave them was to use the Imperial Court’s intelligence network to find a vulnerability in Zhou Cheng.

With that, they would find a breakthrough to pierce the armor of this high-ranking third-rank official.

"Is this it?"

Zhao Douan pressed down, feeling the thickness of the dossier bag and was somewhat disappointed,

"I thought that a big shot who’d weathered the political storms for years would have a mountain of dark secrets."

He complained by mouth, but still trusted the "professionalism" of his two colleagues.

Immediately, he opened the paper bag and began to look through the information inside.

Haitang spat out a couple of seed shells with a "ptui," not bothering to explain.

Thinking to herself, do you really think everyone is like you, able to target someone simply by betraying a teammate?

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Good people like us don’t have such favorable circumstances.

Meanwhile, Zhao Douan had also briefly skimmed through this old file and raised an eyebrow,

"A case from thirteen years ago? What does this have to do with Zhou Cheng?"