Chapter 974: Chapter 974

"Release the prisoners?!" Upon hearing Sun Lianying’s words, Zhao Douan hadn’t reacted, but several of his subordinates couldn’t remain seated.

Their faces changed in unison. They pondered whether it meant that, in the court’s power game, Her Majesty had chosen to retreat? The people they had managed to capture with great difficulty, just to release them so easily? Wouldn’t this mean the failure of the purging mission?

"Of course, I will comply." Zhao Douan’s expression remained unusually calm, as if he had foreseen this. He turned to instruct his secretary and others: "Did you hear that? Release the innocent ones."

The innocent ones... Qian Kerou and the others’ eyes lit up, realizing something. She asked uncertainly, "My lord, are you referring to..."

Zhao Douan reminded her, "The latter half that was added to the list."

Initially, when Lihua Hall made large-scale arrests of the Pure Stream Party members, Zhao Douan had handwritten a bunch of additional names at the end of the suspect list, and they were all taken together.

These past couple of days, although this group had suffered some minor injuries, they weren’t actually treated as traitors. The Jinyi members were always puzzled as to why their lord had brought in an extra batch of people, and only now did they suddenly understand, their eyes shining with astonishment. Several of them turned and rushed out immediately.

Sun Lianying watched this scene with surprise and suddenly laughed, "Won’t you invite me inside for a sit?"

Zhao Douan was taken aback, then smiled brightly, "Please, Supervisor Sun."

The two of them then proceeded to the inner hall.

The young attendants who followed remained standing in place.

When only the two of them were left in the autumn-lit inner hall, Sun Lianying dusted his robe and took a seat, hands clasped, watching with interest as the white-faced arresting officer handed him a freshly washed pear.

The old eunuch suddenly chuckled and said, "To have the honorable Commander Zhao personally wash and present a pear, I should consider it a privilege."

The motion of Zhao Douan handing over the pear stalled briefly as he lifted his masked face, expressing surprise mixed with a fitting look of bewilderment, "What do you mean by that, Supervisor Sun?"

Sun Lianying replied, with a touch of irritation, "Stop pretending. You might fool those outsiders, but you can’t fool these old eyes of mine. When did you return? I was previously wondering when such a formidable character appeared among the tributors and shadow guards. I sifted through my mind and couldn’t match anyone. Only upon seeing you did I confirm."

Zhao Douan’s face fell, and he gestured towards the door, which closed with a "bang." He removed his mask and smiled bitterly, "How did you see through it? It couldn’t be that Her Majesty sold me out, right?"

Sun Lianying looked at the familiar face beneath the mask, slightly dazed for a moment, as if finally convinced, clicking his tongue, "How many people have the audacity to stir up such a commotion and still make Yuann Li relent? Furthermore, just the attitudes of those few subordinates of yours earlier made it obvious. Since when do the tough heads of Lihua Hall bow obediently to an outsider superior?"

Zhao Douan laughed awkwardly, unsurprised.

In the entire Capital, this elder before him understood him the best.

Though Zhenbao was close in personal space, they didn’t spend much time together.

In contrast, Sun Lianying had supported him from the start, witnessing Zhao Douan’s transformation firsthand. Moreover, he was very knowledgeable about palace affairs, making it reasonable for him to see through his identity.

"I haven’t been back for long, or to be precise, I haven’t fully returned." Zhao Douan briefly explained how he managed to be in two places with the aid of the Suppressing Object. "This time, knowing the Pure Stream Party was giving a headache, I decided to step in. As for this disguise, it couldn’t be concealed for long anyway."

Sun Lianying nodded, then suddenly sighed, "The state is in turmoil, and those who can must work harder. But this must have been taxing for you, enduring such criticism."

Zhao Douan laughed nonchalantly, "I’m known throughout Great Yu as an infamous treacherous minister, even a fair-faced gigolo. Do I care about this?"

"By the way, what actually happened during the morning court today?"

Back to the main topic.

The Old Director then recounted the morning court’s situation.

It wasn’t complicated, with little deviation from what was anticipated. Follow current novᴇls on 𝓷𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓵※𝓯𝓲𝓻𝓮※𝓷𝓮𝓽

As the Pure Stream Party Leader, Yuann Li went all out, leading the ministers in a confrontation with the Empress while Grandmaster Dong dragged his aged body into the hall for mediation.

Eventually, a compromise was reached: those found guilty with irrefutable evidence of treason would be punished by law, while the Empress agreed to release those without sufficient evidence.

"You don’t seem surprised. What did you mean by the added names earlier?" Sun Lianying asked curiously.

Zhao Douan laughed and explained, "Nothing much; when I made the initial batch of arrests, I captured an extra group to make up the numbers. Now, it’s just the right time to release them."

This sentence felt light but externally would leave many people astonished.

Sun Lianying’s breath hitched, fixing on him, "Was it intentional?"

Zhao Douan sighed softly, his gaze profound, "The matter of purging traitors was never difficult. The real challenge lay in how to deal with Yuann Li alone."

"The difficulty was in how to capture traitors without harming Yuann Li’s position and reputation as ’Party Leader.’"

"I thought it through, the only way was to provoke Yuann Li into a rage, leading the ministers to clash with Her Majesty, and after some skirmishing, making a compromise to free some people, thereby simultaneously preserving Her Majesty’s authority and Yuann Li’s prestige."

"But this was never going to be a fair fight, so I had to give Yuann Li a righteous reason to step down... just like a play, if the aim is not to make the affair too significant but to handle it, there has to be someone playing the good cop while another plays the bad cop."

Sun Lianying was momentarily stunned, eyes suddenly brightening, "So all this was your plan? From your reckless entry into the Imperial Court of Supervision and capturing people in an unorthodox way, was to give Yuann Li a reasonable cause to stand up for his people, and deliberately leaving a flaw for the Pure Stream Party to impeach you, thus giving them a reason to contend with Her Majesty?"