The Empress's No.1 Lackey-Chapter 97 - 92, Food Given in Pity (5000 characters)_3

"Girls should eat more meat when they’re growing,"

Zhao Pan, with her delicate face set in determination, refused to eat the food given in pity. She lowered her eyelids and frantically shoveled white rice.

Her long eyelashes captured the light under the lamp.

"Such pride, but even the white rice you’re eating is mine."

"There are so many people in the world who can’t afford fine white rice in their whole lives; not eating the meat is your loss, not mine." Zhao Douan chuckled and stepped outside.

"Big brother, Paner doesn’t understand, please don’t be angry with her..."

You Jinhua hurriedly followed him, as humble and careful as ever.

Who knew that she, once said to be born into a great clan as a noble girl, had experienced so much of the world’s coldness to become this way?

Inside the dining hall.

Zhao Pan froze for a moment, then slowly lifted her face, pure as a lotus in water, with grains of rice on her cheeks.

She stared at the bowl of rich and oily food Zhao Douan had left in front of her, bit her teeth, and started to devour it.

...

...

The next day, early morning.

Zhao Douan arrived again at the entrance to the hall and, passing the lush pear tree in the courtyard, was gratified to see his four subordinates sitting neatly inside.

"Your subordinates greet you, sir!"

The four stood and bowed, their gestures somewhat perfunctory.

Zhao Douan didn’t mind, took his time to sit in the master’s seat, and swept his gaze over everyone, finally resting on the "secretary."

Qian Kerou had changed her hairstyle today; it was still a uniform, but her black hair was gathered and pinned up at the back of her head.

Attempting to mimic the hairstyles of female officials in the court, the secretary thought that this image suited her new identity better.

But inadvertently, she captured a bit of the essence of a corporate office lady.

Ah... what a pity it’s ancient attire, if it were changed to a black skirt suit, white blouse, high heels with red soles, and rimless glasses... it would be perfect... Zhao Douan’s mind wandered.

He casually asked:

"Did anyone come looking for trouble after I left yesterday?"

Qian Kerou shook her head and said honestly:

"No, but Lord Ma called the Master at the government office for a meeting, but since you weren’t there, I don’t know what it was about."

A meeting? Zhao Douan raised an eyebrow, suppressed his curiosity, and asked:

"What about Li Lang?"

"He’s still held in the Imperial Prison, but... I heard an imperial physician was allowed in there," the secretary cautiously said.

Huh, the big block of ice is quite obedient... Zhao Douan smiled and asked:

"Did anyone from the prince consort’s estate come to question?"

"Not at all."

Interesting... one would expect Princess Yunyang to be furious, at least to seek justice as her son was publically humiliated by me.

But not a peep for a day.

Is it disinterest, or is the Empress protecting me? Zhao Douan wasn’t sure.

"Sir, according to your instructions, all the cases needing your review are here,"

Qian Kerou pointed to a stack on the table, seeing his distraction.

"Very good," Zhao Douan happily started flipping through them swiftly, but gradually his expression darkened:

"Is this all?"

Aside from basic personnel files and routine documents, there was very little concerning "performance," almost none.

Qian Kerou quickly said, "Since the hall has been without a chief officer, there has been nothing else for anyone to do."

The Nine Halls’ work generally fell into two categories.

One was routine duties; as part of the imperial guard, they also patrolled and guarded the city, accompanied the Emperor during outings, and other tasks.

The other was tasks assigned by the Empress.

Here, they were divided again into "long-term tasks" and "short-term tasks."

For example, the case of the missing gunsmith was a short-term task assigned by the Empress to Ma Yan.

Lord Ma would pass the case to one, or several of the Nine Halls.

Similarly, "tracking rebels" was a long-term task, which all halls shared responsibility for but wasn’t expected to be resolved overnight.

Lihua Hall’s role was nearly like that of the "cold palace"; Ma Yan had no expectations from them in handling affairs, as long as they kept quiet and simply existed there.

Suitable for those who wanted to coast through on a gold-plated tenure.

But Zhao Douan wanted to accrue achievements, with not a single genuine task under him, wasn’t it like sitting on his hands?

"Is it permissible to request cases from Lord Ma?" he asked with a frown.

The close-to-retirement Zheng spoke leisurely:

"Sir, inside the government office, the valuable and easy cases are snapped up by other halls as soon as they appear. Our Lihua Hall, not yet at full strength and with you newly in office, even if we ask, we’ll likely only get some trivial cases, like patrolling."

"Heh, others’ leftovers, if I take them, wouldn’t it be like accepting pity food? Even less than what my own sister would accept?" Zhao Douan sneered:

"They’ve swallowed too much, then they should spit it out. Send my message to the Eight Halls.

Say that while Lihua Hall was vacant, our share was given to them; now that Lihua Hall is rebuilding, anything they’ve taken from me, give it back."

"This..." The men looked at each other.

"Difficult?" asked Zhao Douan.

Remembering the Flying Knife from the day before, they felt a chill at their necks and hurriedly agreed to go about it.

The halls weren’t far apart; Zhao Douan sat alone in the great hall waiting.

After a while, the four returned one by one, but all empty-handed and disheveled:

"Sir, we’ve visited all eight halls in turn and delivered your message."

Zhao Douan sat still, hands folded at his abdomen:

"And?"

Qian Kerou looked upset, saying indignantly:

"Seven Halls and Eight Halls claimed the Master was not there, but they were obviously lying."

Shen Juan sullenly said:

"Five Halls and Six Halls said they have too few cases to share, promising to give us some next month, heh, all talk, no action."

Zheng spoke in a tone that suggested he was not surprised:

"Three Halls and Four Halls said that we lacked the ability to handle them ourselves before, and they were just helping us out, with no debts owed."

Hou Renmeng crossed his arms, looking teasingly at his superior:

"I inquired at One Hall and Two Halls, that is, Peony Hall and Pomegranate Hall. The former shut the door in my face; even though I was originally from Peony Hall, they no longer allow me to enter, and Zhang Han outright ignored us."

He paused, pressed his lips together, and with a bit of anger said:

"As for Pomegranate Hall, they did see me."

Zhao Douan calmly asked, "What did they say?"

Hou Renmeng smirked:

"Iron Ruler Pass told me to convey a single word to you, sir: Scram!"

Silence fell.

A breeze swept through the hall, fluttering the thin documents on the table.

Zhao Douan squinted his eyes, his mouth slowly curling into a smile, holding a minor grin, he remarked:

Updat𝓮d fr𝙤m ƒгeeweɓn૦vel.com.

"Truly a group of agreeable and genteel good people."