Princess Promotion

Yu Zhijian has been able to handle so many cases in such a short period of time in the past two years.

It was thanks to the secret reports from the Secret Shadow Bureau that we were able to quickly lock onto the target.

After all, no matter how strong he is, it is impossible for him to encounter murder and injustice wherever he goes.

Now, whenever Yu Zhijian arrives at a place, he basically goes to the local Secret Shadow Division base.

Take the intelligence collected by the Secret Shadow Bureau and the list of people who need to be investigated.

As for how to investigate, Yu Zhijian makes the decision himself, and the Secret Shadow Department is only responsible for providing intelligence.

Many times, when investigating people, we always find that they bring out the dirt.

It's all in the same place, with complex intertwined forces.

It can be said that in the Secret Shadow Division, apart from His Majesty and the chief and deputy chief of the Secret Shadow Division.

The person with the highest authority is Yu Zhijian, although he cannot order the shadow guards to do anything.

But he can check all the information of the Secret Shadow Bureau. It can be said that whatever the Secret Shadow Bureau knows, Yu Zhijian also knows.

Yu Zhijian carefully studied the names above, and finally picked up the red pen and circled one of the names.

Let’s start with this person!

At the same time, Baihua Tower.

Liu Rushi was in the room, fiddling with the abacus quickly with her left hand and flipping through the account book with her right hand.

The dim candlelight casts light on her delicate eyebrows and eyes, making her look like a picture of a beautiful lady.

Suddenly the candlelight flickered, and Liu Rushi felt a breeze blowing.

She frowned and looked up, remembering that the window of the room was closed.

A dark figure appeared silently behind Liu Rushi, and a voice that was indistinguishable between male and female said, "Manager Liu!"

Liu Rushi almost screamed, and slowly turned around to see the man in black who was wrapped tightly from head to toe, with only a pair of eyes visible.

Liu Rushi asked timidly, "Is the warrior robbing me of my wealth or my woman?"

Man in black:……

When Liu Rushi saw the man in black staring at her silently, her hands began to tremble slightly and cold sweat began to appear on her temples.

Liu Rushi's teeth began to chatter, and she squeezed out a trembling word from between her teeth: "You are allowed to rob me of my money and my body, but I beg you to spare my life."

As she spoke, Liu Rushi forced a smile on her face and raised her hand to undress.

The man in black said calmly, "I am a woman."

Liu Rushi froze, her face showing a frightened expression as if she was about to cry, "I don't have any young prostitutes..."

"But I have props made of various materials. You might as well change your taste. I... I have very good skills." Liu Rushi gritted her teeth. She would give it her all as long as she could survive.

The black-clad man's calm mask finally showed a few cracks.

Yunhua reached out to stop Liu Ru from getting up, his voice trembling as he said, "Manager Liu, you've misunderstood. I'm a secret guard from the Secret Shadow Division, and I've been ordered to come here to deliver something."

Liu Rushi's mind was in a mess, and she repeated, "Secret Shadow Division Secret Guard!"

Yunhua nodded, and the air froze instantly.

Liu Rushi…………

The next second, Liu Rushi straightened her clothes, looking dignified and quiet, as if nothing had just happened, and asked, "What is it?"

Yunhua took out the gold medal and handed it over, saying, "Golden medal of immunity from death."

Liu Rushi stared at the gold medal in Yunhua's hand in shock, swallowed hard and said, "Why did you suddenly give me so... so..."

Liu Rushi was so overwhelmed by this great grace that she felt dizzy and incoherent.

Yunhua simply raised his eyes slightly to glance at Liu Rushi and said, "Lord Yu Zhijian has arrived and has begun a thorough investigation of corrupt officials. If you fall into Lord Yu's hands, you can use the gold medal to escape."

Liu Rushi instantly understood that His Majesty was worried that Yu Zhijian would catch her bribing high-ranking officials and obtaining intelligence.

This is to leave a way out for himself in advance, so he is not afraid even if he is caught by Yu Zhijian and thrown into jail.

Liu Rushi's fingers gently brushed across the gold medal, and the warmth reached her heart.

Your Majesty is really a very good person.

Her eyes felt a little hot, but how could Liu Rushi bear to damage the reputation of such a good person?

Those literati and poets who frequented brothels were just being romantic and free-spirited, enjoying the world.

If you have some talent and write a few sad poems, you will be praised by everyone as a talented and romantic person.

But if a woman ends up living in a brothel, her life will be ruined.

You will be inferior to others all your life and your job is the lowest among the nine classes.

If a decent woman comes into contact with these people, she will be humiliated by being labeled as an unfaithful woman or a slut.

It is simply a luxury to become a good person and live an ordinary life.

Once you become a whore, you will never be able to get rid of this label.

You can change your household registration, but can you change people’s prejudices?

There will always be people pointing fingers at you behind your back. No man will be willing to marry you, and even being a concubine is out of your reach.

No one would give you a job, even if you farmed and sold vegetables, people would think you were dirty.

You have no other way to make a living except to come back and continue selling yourself.

The so-called becoming a good person is nothing more than deceiving yourself and giving yourself a reason to live.

Your Majesty, she is such a good person and should not have anything to do with someone as lowly as me.

Liu Rushi decided that even if she died, she would not use this gold medal and would never let His Majesty be tarnished because of her.

Liu Rushi did not regret what she had done for His Majesty. Even if Yu Zhijian wanted to capture her in the end and she lost her life, she would be happy to do so.

Liu Rushi looked up and found Yunhua still standing there. She shook the gold medal in her hand and said, "I accept the gift."

The implication is that it's time for you to leave.

Yunhua's voice remained emotionless as he spoke, "My other mission is to stay by your side and protect you."

Liu Rushi: I think you are dangerous. You look like you are here to kill me.

Liu Rushi was silent for a second, then said in a calm tone, "How could I be in any danger? With this golden medal of immunity from death, Lord Yu can't do anything to me."

Yun Hua shook his head and said sincerely, "Your Majesty is worried that Lord Yu would rather die than bend, and will execute you first and report later. If I stay and Lord Yu doesn't release you, I will break you out of prison and take you to Yundu City."

The air instantly fell into deathly silence.

Liu Rushi instantly overturned her previous decision. She continued to stay put and use the gold medal when necessary.

It is better than the history books saying that the empress was in collusion with a brothel madam than the first empress in history sending people to break into a prison and rescue a brothel madam.

If Yu Zhijian had kept his mouth shut, perhaps the matter would have passed without anyone knowing about it.

The latter means that it cannot be concealed even if you want to, and your name will be recorded in history.

Liu Rushi couldn't even imagine that the rumor would say this about the two of them.

Maybe even the unspeakable love affair between Liu Rushi and the empress of the time would be spread.

Yu Zhijian broke up the couple, the empress broke the prison for love, and she loved the beauty more than the country.

Liu Rushi was blown to pieces by the associations in her mind.

Liu Rushi was filled with emotion. Yao Chuguang was simply a crazy woman. Even after ascending the throne, she still did things so recklessly.

In the early morning, the yamen runners yawned, got up with sleepy eyes and tidied their bedding.

They have been crowded in the yamen these days and are unwilling to go home even to sleep.

Even if you have to sleep on the floor, you have to stay in the yamen.

The spirit of dedication to their work was fully demonstrated, and the yamen runners were better informed than ordinary people.

I know that Lord Yu Zhijian, who came this time, is different from the imperial envoys who were just there for formalities in the past.

They are here to investigate corrupt officials for real, without any pretense.

Originally, investigating and punishing corrupt officials had nothing to do with these yamen runners.

Apart from some of the concubines or distant relatives of high-ranking officials who rely on their own relatives, there are also those who are taking advantage of the power of others to bully others.

No matter who I investigate, it is the same to them, just a change of immediate boss.

But it’s different now, because Yao Chuguang can get a 1% commission from the confiscation of Yu Zhijian’s property, and those officials are all rich.

Any one of them could at least confiscate hundreds of thousands of taels of silver, and Yu Zhijian could make a profit of several thousand taels of silver.

You should know that this is just one case. If more cases are investigated and dealt with in a month, the total amount can reach more than 100,000 taels of silver.

Such a generous income is more than what corrupt officials embezzle in a month.

But Yu Zhijian never took the money for himself. He knew his subordinates very well, especially the lowest-level yamen runners.

If you don't follow your superiors to collect protection fees from the people, or other gray income.

Their salary is actually very meager, barely enough to support their families.

This is often the biggest test of human nature. As long as you use your power a little, you can instantly get much more money than your monthly salary.

But you have to stick to it because of your conscience and bottom line. The work you do is tiring and dangerous, but the money you get is only enough for three meals a day.

Those who can withstand the test are certainly worthy of admiration, but as long as they do not bully the market and kill innocent people, Yu Zhijian will basically only give them a light punishment but a big warning.

Therefore, Yu Zhijian would take out some silver to subsidize these yamen runners. For example, those who followed him to search houses or capture criminals would receive extra silver.

For those who have worked harder, Yu Zhijian will choose to deal with their previous actions at his discretion, but he will punish them more severely if he commits the same offense again from now on.

Who would be willing to take risks and do those things when they can make money honestly?

Moreover, in the past, lucrative jobs like confiscating property were given to those who had connections or those who paid tribute.

Now Yu Zhijian chooses to draw lots to decide who will follow him to search the house. If you went last time, you will not be able to participate in the draw next time.

As long as your luck is not too bad, you can basically earn a lot of travel expenses by going.

So when the yamen runners opened their eyes every day, they hoped that Yu Zhijian could investigate faster.

Even without Yu Zhijian's orders, they spontaneously went to the officials' doors to wait.

If those people lose their patience and want to run away, they are definitely fleeing from the crime, so it would be right to just bring people to surround them.

Yu Zhijian searched the residences of several officials and found a list of people who had accepted bribes.

One person has come out, that is the madam of Baihualou "Liu Rushi"!

This woman had financial transactions with these arrested officials, and the amount was not small.

Yu Zhijian called the yamen runner on duty and said, "Summon Liu Rushi, the madam of Baihua Tower."

The yamen runner didn't react and blurted out, "The dancers at Baihua Tower are the most famous. Do you want to invite them over as well?"

As soon as he finished speaking, he looked at Yu Zhijian's face which had turned a little black.

The yamen runner regretted it and slapped himself hard in his heart. It's not good to get used to it!

In the past, whenever the county magistrate mentioned Baihua Tower, he would always find dancers to sing and dance to entertain him.

That's why he recommended it without hesitation.

Yu Zhijian frowned and said seriously, "I summoned Liu Rushi to investigate a case, not to have fun."

The bailiff apologized repeatedly, and after getting Yu Zhijian's approval, he ran away.

When Liu Rushi saw the yamen runners appearing in Baihua Tower, she sighed deeply in her heart. What was coming had finally come.

Liu Rushi asked the yamen runner to wait for a moment, and after giving a few words to the sisters in the building, she followed him to the yamen.

The bailiff had no objection. Yu Zhijian only said that he was summoning, not arresting, which meant that he just wanted to ask some questions.

It's not difficult for Liu Rushi. Anyone who sees Liu Rushi's charming face will subconsciously give her some preferential treatment.

In front of the yamen runners, Liu Rushi told the manager of Baihua Tower that if she came back late, he would be in charge of the evening opening.

Yunhua followed Liu Rushi closely, and it seemed that he was going to the yamen with Liu Rushi.

The yamen runner looked at Yunhua, who was a head taller than him and wearing a maid's clothes, and looked at Liu Rushi in surprise.

It's as if you're saying this person is your maid, are you sure he's not a servant dressed as a woman?

Liu Rushi covered her mouth with a handkerchief and smiled softly, "Sir, this is my personal maid. Lord Yu only said he wanted to summon me, but he didn't say I couldn't bring a maid with me!"

The bailiff opened his mouth and said, "That seems to be the case. Just take him with you!"

Liu Rushi looked at the man sitting on the armchair in front of her. He was wearing a half-new official robe, his face was a little thin, and there was a scholarly air between his brows.

What a small world this is. This isn't the nerd I flirted with in my attic a few days ago.

Damn it, she originally wanted to behave well. Although she was a brothel madam, she was also a dignified and steady good madam.

Then she would cry and complain about how difficult it was for a weak woman like her to make a living.

Although she bribed many officials, she had no choice.

If she doesn't give him money, her Baihualou won't be able to continue operating. Without Baihualou, her sisters will have to live on the streets.

Each of them is a beautiful girl. Although they live in a place with red lights, they are all a group of good girls.

They are all good women who abide by the law and serve the public.

Looking at Yu Zhijian's somewhat surprised eyes, Liu Rushi knew that he remembered her.

Liu Rushi was crying in her heart. You are so mean. There are so many people to mess with, but you have to mess with such a ruthless guy.

Now her cool and dignified image is completely gone. She is probably just a slutty bitch in Yu Zhijian's mind.

Yu Zhijian was shocked at first when he saw Liu Rushi's expression, and then he turned away his eyes guiltily, not daring to look him in the eye.

He looked at Yunhua standing behind Liu Rushi and saw Yunhua's strong physique.

Even though Yu Zhijian didn't know martial arts, he felt that Yunhua's aura showed that he was definitely not an ordinary person.

Yu Zhijian thought to himself: Liu Rushi is indeed unfathomable, even the maidservants who follow her are secretive.

It seems that I need to pay more attention. Maybe Liu Rushi is the core figure in the whole case.

Originally, Yu Zhijian summoned Liu Rushi over because he wanted to not miss any clues and see if he could get more clues from her.

Looking at Liu Rushi’s guilty look now, this woman must be no ordinary person.

Liu Rushi must have concealed some important information, otherwise why would she feel guilty when seeing me?