The Empress's No.1 Lackey-Chapter 75 - 72, Reporting to Yuan Qingyi

Lv Liang suddenly awoke with a start and, through the flicker of the firelight, fixed his gaze on the corridor where a prisoner was being led in.

Disheveled and dressed in prison garb, the prison guard escorted the prisoner to the outside of his cell, opened the door, and shoved:

"Get in there!"

The prisoner didn’t utter a word. With a clang, the government officers departed.

Lv Liang keenly noticed that these few officers were extremely unfamiliar; he had never seen them before.

Furthermore...

Given his status, it was already out of the ordinary for him to be detained in prison without a conviction by now.

According to reason, prisoners should not be placed to co-inhabit a room with him.

"Who are you? What crime have you committed?" Lv Liang asked warily.

But the disheveled prisoner ignored him and only lifted his head, his long, severe knife-scarred face intimidating as he looked:

"Are you Lv Liang?"

Scurrying backward... Lv Liang, a mere scholar, took two steps back and tried to maintain his composure:

"You..."

The next second, he saw the prisoner suddenly lunge forward, delivering an elbow with his knee, and the shackles on his feet rattled loudly.

Lv Liang crashed against the wall, bony hands locked around his throat:

"The Vice Minister wants me to relay a message to the Imperial Censor. You have been working for him for many years, and you know too much. It is better to remain loyal to the Pei family in the end rather than risk saying something you shouldn’t... He specifically ordered me to see you on your way."

Gagging... Lv Liang’s throat was locked, his face flushed red, gradually suffocating, and his eyes widened in shock upon hearing these words.

Pei Kaizhi wanted to silence him!

He feared my discontent and turning against him, throwing my lot in with Yuann Li...

Indeed, that vile woman Siniang did not conceal her affair with the man surnamed Zhao; she wouldn’t act this way without the old villain’s instigation.

Lv Liang struggled violently!

But he was just a scholar; how could he break free?

Despite all his furious thrashing, he only felt dizzy and his consciousness began to blur.

The other party truly intended to kill him, holding nothing back.

As death approached, his mind suddenly cleared, Lv Liang’s thrashing right foot unexpectedly caught the prisoner’s "leg irons," and he braced his left foot and his whole body against the wall.

With a ferocious kick!

"Crash!" The prisoner lost his balance and stumbled, collapsing onto the floor.

Lv Liang took the opportunity to break free, gasping heavily. He suddenly lunged towards the railing and shouted with all his might:

"Zhao Douan! Zhao Douan! Someone!"

...

At the end of the corridor, in a partitioned area.

The feast was half-finished, most of the old wine on the table was gone, the Ministry of Justice officials were bleary-eyed, repeatedly waving their hands:

"Lord, I won’t be able to eat anymore. If I continue drinking, it will... cause a mishap..."

Oddly enough, they initially declined, but after a few bowls, they didn’t expect the "aged brew" to be so potent.

Siniang, dressed in a bright red bridal gown and also at the banquet, propped her cheek in her hand, her face burning hot, unable to cope with the heat:

"I can’t take it anymore... Eh, it seems someone is calling you."

At the table.

Zhao Douan’s eyes were clear, a smile on his lips, as the strength of a Martial Artist within him circulated, expelling the drugged alcohol through his pores.

In my past life, had I this divine technique to ward off drinks for the leaders, wouldn’t I have been invincible... Zhao Douan mused, then said aloud:

"Maybe it’s Zhu Kui coming back with the sobering soup. I’ll go take a look."

...

In the prison.

When Zhao Douan arrived "hurriedly," the prisoner had already been knocked unconscious by Zhu Kui who had reached there before him.

"What happened?" Zhao Douan was surprised.

Disheveled in his Green Robe, with one boot missing, Lv Liang sat against the wall in disarray, coughing and gasping for air, his neck red from strangulation.

"My lord, someone sent him a death row inmate to silence him," said Zhu Kui, feigning innocence.

Having just skirted the brink of death, Lv Liang stared at him with bloodshot eyes, his voice hoarse:

"Pei Kaizhi wants to kill me, you must protect me, get me out of the Ministry of Justice."

Lv Liang had no doubts because the Assassin truly did not show any mercy.

What was more crucial was that this was the imprisonment, Pei Kaizhi’s territory, and indeed, his father-in-law was capable of such a ruthless act as killing a donkey after grinding.

The father-in-law and son-in-law knew each other all too well.

"He wants to kill you?"

Zhao Douan was startled, then he sneered:

"Isn’t that even better? Why should I rescue you?"

Lv Liang’s gaze turned fierce:

"I have evidence of Pei Kaizhi meddling with the imperial examination results. He thinks his actions are flawless, but he does not know I have secretly obtained proof. If you bring me to Mr. Yuan, it could be exchanged for a great service. Are you not tempted?"

To survive, Lv Liang had no other choice. He closed his eyes: It is you who have forced me.

Success... Zhao Douan clenched his fist in his sleeve, suppressing the excitement in his heart.

He had bet correctly. Lv Liang, who had harbored rebellious thoughts for many years, would he truly have no measures against his father-in-law?

He went to such great lengths to orchestrate all this, solely to create a rift between father-in-law and son-in-law, to make them irreconcilably at odds.

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Everyone thought he was just taking revenge on Lv Liang.

But little did they know, his true purpose was never there.

"Zhu Kui!"

Zhao Douan said in a deep voice, "Take him and follow me!"

The two of them set off at once. As they returned to the corridor, they saw a glamorous lady suddenly dart out, hooking her arm around Zhao Douan and giggling:

"Lord, I am tired..."

Behind them, the Chief of the Ministry of Justice and the other prison guards also stood up, alertly saying:

"Eh, where is the Lord going? Ah, how did Imperial Censor Lv..."

Zhao Douan was expressionless, the Martial Artist unleashed a palm strike with a rolling force, like a roaring tidal wave.

In the chaos of people and horses being knocked over, he had already broken out of the prison with Lv Liang.

"Something terrible has happened!"

The Chief of the Ministry of Justice clutched his chest, coughing violently, and when he managed to get up, having sobered up quite a bit, his forehead was beaded with cold sweat.

He glanced at the prison guards lying drunk on the ground and the red-dressed lady sprawled in deep slumber, vaguely sensing that they had fallen into a trap.

"Damn!"

Not daring to delay, he staggered out to report to the Vice Minister.

...

...

Under the cover of night.

The streets were desolate and empty as two horses galloped swiftly.

At the front, Zhao Douan had Lv Liang bound across the horseback and instructed Zhu Kui on the side:

"Go call for help, if someone comes after us, try to hold them off, delay them as much as possible."

"Yes!"

Zhu Kui spurred his horse and dashed off in another direction.

Zhao Douan drove his horse forward at full speed, heading quickly towards Yuann Li’s residence. As long as he could get into "Yuan Mansion," this great achievement would be secured.

...

...

Yuan Mansion, under the might of night, the majestic mansion was brightly illuminated.

In the inner hall of the back house.

A group of "Confucian party" officials were gathered together, secretly discussing important matters.

At the head of the table, Yuann Li, wearing a sky-blue robe with cloud patterns and an official hat, his scholarly and handsome demeanor and deep gaze, seemed to meditate with eyes on the nose and nose on the heart, as he listened to the officials debating below, like a monk in trance.

The subject they were discussing was the beheading plan against Pei Kaizhi.

"Mr. Yuan, please make a decision," finally, an official spoke.

All eyes also converged on him.

Yuann Li seemed to wake from a doze and asked, "Make what decision?"

One man said, "Everything is ready now, we just need the east wind. We’ve also found a few opportunities, but none are completely reliable. We’ve been arguing endlessly and still need you to make the final call."

"Yes."

"Please, Mr. Yuan, decide for us!"

The Confucian party officials all joined in.

Yuann Li sighed softly, extended a hand from his wide sleeve, and picked up the several "proposals" on the table, all excuses for impeaching Pei Kaizhi.

However, in the next moment, he passed the documents over the lamp, letting the flames lick and burn them to ash.

"This..."

The officials were shocked, only to hear Yuann Li’s disappointed tone:

"Pei Kaizhi is a pillar of the ’Li Party,’ with complex connections in the background. Any mistake in his beheading this time could lose us such an opportunity forever. There must be no sloppiness, these might barely do, but they are not enough!

A dull blade won’t sever a head and will only bring disaster. What I need is conclusive evidence capable of a fatal blow."

The officials responded bitterly:

"Mr. Yuan is right, but Pei Kaizhi has been careful in all his dealings over the years; where will there be evidence left behind? And the need for haste really leaves us helpless."

Yuann Li was silent, sighing inwardly.

He too was aware?

The beheading of Pei Kaizhi was another swift move by the Empress since she ascended the throne, the difficulty of which he had solved ninety-nine out of a hundred.

But he was stuck on the only remaining "knife-edge."

If the moment to strike was missed and it dragged on too long, yet the "east wind" was still nowhere in sight, how could he not be worried?

The room was quietly oppressive.

Suddenly, footsteps came from outside, from the servants of the Yuan family:

"Master, Zhao Douan requests an audience!"

...

ps: Although this book won’t make it to Sanjiang tomorrow, Tuesday, I still ask everyone to check out the update tomorrow. Who knows what might come of it? People should always dream, right?

Also, it might be because it’s been over a month since the book launch, and it’s fallen off the new book lists, but in the last few days, the readership has started to decline, and I’m feeling numb, even doubting if the content isn’t compelling...

But the votes and such are still stable... I’d be grateful if readers could comment on this chapter and let me see your splendid presence, give me some confidence, haha.