Fearing being killed for his overwhelming merits, the empress decided to marry him.

The following day, Ye Fan arrived at the Ministry of Justice hall on time to report for duty, officially beginning his official career.

Guided by the minor official, when he sat down at his assigned desk, the steward Ding Ye, whom he had met briefly the day before, threw a pile of case files at him.

"These are the confessions of petty criminals arrested in Jinling City over the past two months. Compile them all and copy them down. A final review must be conducted before the end of the shift; do not be negligent."

Today is your first day on the job. Remember to stay focused and don't embarrass Prime Minister Ye and the Duke of Zhenguo.

After saying that, Ding Ye walked straight to his desk without looking back, not giving Ye Fan a chance to ask any questions.

Ye Fan's mind was entirely focused on Ye Mo's whereabouts. He had originally planned to take advantage of his first day on the job to have Ding Ye wander around the palace, using the excuse of familiarizing himself with the terrain and environment to find out where Ye Mo's palace was located.

But seeing Ding Ye's unyielding attitude, he could only suppress his impulse, take out his pen, ink, paper and inkstone, open the case file and confession, and begin to read it carefully.

After reviewing several case files, it was clear that they were all petty thefts. The biggest case involved a violent clash between two gambling dens in the northern district due to a dispute over profits, which resulted in one death and thirteen injuries.

After reviewing several case files and finding nothing of value to him, he began to focus on copying them down.

This copying kept them busy until noon.

jingle--

As a clear bell rang, Ye Fan heard a servant's call.

"Lunch is ready. Gentlemen, please prepare your lunch."

Ye Fan then put down his pen, looked at the neatly arranged stack of copying pens on the table in front of him, and stretched his arms.

Then, Ding Ye's voice came: "Everyone has worked hard. Let's go to the hall for a meal first. Things have been quite busy these past few days, so please bear with us."

"Yes!"

The other colleagues all stood up and bowed to Ding Ye, and Ye Fan quickly followed suit.

After the ceremony, everyone proceeded in an orderly fashion to the main hall for lunch.

Taking advantage of this moment, Ye Fan immediately approached Ding Ye, who was walking ahead, and whispered, "Lord Ding, I am new here and not familiar with the environment of the Minister's residence and the palace. Would you be so kind as to show me around?"

Ding Ye's face darkened immediately, and he rebuked in a deep voice, "What do you think this place is, where you can just walk around as you please? You're just an eighth-rank official now, what right do you have to make such a request?"

Being inexplicably reprimanded made Ye Fan feel uncomfortable, but he still forced a smile and said, "I apologize. It was my overstepping of the bounds and I did not know the rules. Please forgive me, sir."

Ding Ye, his face still grim, stopped and said to Ye Fan, "Today is your first day on the job, and I won't make things difficult for you if you don't understand the rules."

But remember this: your work area is the main hall of the Minister's residence. Don't wander around without orders.

You'd better get rid of all other random thoughts quickly; there are no shortcuts here.

Ye Fan smiled slightly and explained, "To be honest, my father went to the palace to recuperate yesterday, and I missed him very much. That's why I offended you, sir. I hope you will forgive me."

"Doctor Ye," Ding Ye said earnestly, "I know you are the eldest son of Prime Minister Ye, and your status is certainly not ordinary, but within the Ministry of Justice, background and connections are never important."

If you want a promotion, focus on finishing what you're doing right now. Now that Prime Minister Ye has entered the palace, there are other matters to attend to, so you don't need to worry. Hurry up and have your meal in the dining hall. After you finish, go back and finish what you're doing.

I have other plans this afternoon, so don't let me keep you from leaving.

After saying that, Ding Ye turned and left, leaving Ye Fan standing there staring blankly.

"Damn it! I've never suffered such humiliation in the Prince's mansion, yet I'm being harassed like this by a mere steward!"

Just as he was thinking about how to take revenge on Ding Ye when he gained power, a hand pressed down on his arm.

Turning around, he saw a middle-aged man dressed as an eighth-rank official, looking at him with a protruding belly.

"You're the new third young master of the Ye family? That's great! Young people should get more experience."

Ye Fan was about to speak when the man interrupted him.

"I know what you're going to ask. My name is Yuan Daimao, a rank-eighth-grade official, and I'm also your superior. If you have any questions in the future, you can come and ask me directly."

"Our Master Ding has a bad temper, so don't provoke him. If you go directly to him today, bypassing me, he'll naturally be less than friendly towards you, understand?"

Ye Fan immediately broke free from Yuan Daimao's hand on his shoulder and bowed respectfully to him: "Thank you, Lord Yuan, for clearing up my doubts."

"As I am new to officialdom, there are still many things I do not understand. I hope Lord Yuan will provide me with guidance and support in the future."

"No problem, no problem. As long as you abide by the rules of the Ministry of Justice, I will naturally take care of you."

"Come on, let's go eat in the restaurant. We only have half an hour for lunch, so let's make the most of it."

"Yes."

Ye Fan followed Yuan Daimao into the hall.

After bringing the food, Ye Fan asked again, "My lord, why are the Minister and the others nowhere to be seen?"

"At today's court assembly, officials of the fourth rank and above from the six ministries will all go to the Hall of Supreme Harmony to submit the memorials from various places over the past few days to His Majesty, and they will not be back so soon."

At this point, Yuan Daimao looked at Ye Fan again: "Doctor Ye, you wouldn't be trying to curry favor with Minister Liu, would you?"

I advise you to give up on that idea immediately; our Minister Liu doesn't fall for that kind of thing at all.

If you rashly appear before him, you'll at best receive a beating, and at worst, lose your official position and ruin your career.

Ye Fan did want to curry favor with Liu Wu, but after hearing Yuan Daimao's words, his heart sank.

Only then did he realize just how vast the difference was between the imperial palace and the prince's residence.

I was so naive to think that visiting the Prince's Mansion meant I understood the ways of officialdom.

The two are not comparable at all.

After the meal, Ye Fan followed Yuan Daimao back to the main hall of the Ministry of Justice and continued to transcribe the confessions recorded in the case files.

An hour later, he finally copied down the last word, carefully checked it again, and after confirming that there were no errors, he handed over the case file and the copied transcript to Yuan Daimao for inspection.

After carefully checking the text twice and confirming that there was no mistake, Yuan Daimao couldn't help but praise, "Doctor Ye is indeed worthy of his noble family background. His handwriting is so neat and pleasing to the eye. Not bad at all."

After saying that, he got up and went to report to Ding Ye.

With his work finished, Ye Fan breathed a sigh of relief and then had the mind to consider searching for Ye Mo's whereabouts.

But at that moment, a doctor of the same rank placed another stack of case files in front of his desk.

"Dr. Ye, could you please copy mine as well? Thank you."

Upon seeing this, Ye Fan immediately became displeased and said, "My colleague, don't you know that you should do your own work? Are you deliberately making things difficult for me because I'm new here?"

Upon hearing this, the man quickly said, "Doctor Ye, please don't misunderstand. This is Master Ding's intention."

Today I'm going with Wang Jili (a sixth-rank official) to the municipal government office to handle a case.

"I'm leaving this matter to you, please, please."

After saying this, he bowed to Ye Fan, returned to his desk, picked up his writing bag containing pen and ink, and quickly went out.

Seeing the pile of case files that needed to be copied on his desk, Ye Fan's face began to twitch uncontrollably.

Ye Fan worked until dusk, and finally finished all the copying work as the bell rang to signal the end of the workday.

On his way back home, he felt increasingly frustrated.

"No, if this continues every day, how am I supposed to complete the tasks assigned by the system? I have to think of another way."