Chapter 185

Chapter 185

After New Year's Eve, the elite squad selected from the women's army remained in the palace.

Su Yu had no plans to send them back.

On the fifth day of the first lunar month, Su Yu invited the Cheng brothers to a private banquet—

No one had ever been given this kind of honor before.

Before entering the palace, Cheng Heyuan asked Cheng Jinyuan, "The Emperor has put me on a high pedestal, but if I fall, it will be disastrous. Are you scared to stick with me? If you leave now and no longer involve yourself, given the Emperor's temperament, even if there is a reckoning in the future, it won't fall on you."

Cheng Jinyuan looked at his elder brother steadily and said slowly, "Bro, you're overthinking this."

Cheng Heyuan: "?"

Cheng Jinyuan smiled. After years of working in the fields, he had gotten much darker, and the scars on his face made him look somewhat fierce. Even his smile had a sly edge to it.

Cheng Jinyuan said, "If it weren't for the Emperor, how would a nobody like me get into this mess? Bro, the Emperor's been calling the shots from the start, and we're just pawns. But who isn't just a pawn in the Emperor's game? If the Emperor gets rid of someone, it's because they're no longer useful. So, we gotta make sure we don't end up as useless pawns the Emperor throws away."

Cheng Heyuan hesitated and looked at Cheng Jinyuan.

Cheng Jinyuan, however, said, "Let's go. Can't keep the Emperor waiting."

Su Yu hosted the two brothers in the Linde Hall, setting up formal dining tables, a far cry from their usual casual hotpot meals. He even asked them, "Care to watch some dancing?"

The Cheng brothers hesitated, probably because of their earlier talk, which made them feel that every word the Emperor spoke carried deep meaning. One wrong move could get them in trouble.

Su Yu gave them a look, clapped his hands, and summoned the elite squad.

They were dressed in palace gowns, looking like graceful and elegant ladies at first glance. Cheng Jinyuan didn't recognize them, but Cheng Heyuan knew they were the maids from the New Year's banquet.

The musicians began to play, and they danced in a proper manner. The dance wasn't amazing, but it was good enough to enjoy with dinner.

When the dance ended, Su Yu clapped his hands and sent them away. He then asked the two brothers, "So, what did you think of the dance?"

Cheng Heyuan answered truthfully, "They're not pros, but they did pretty good."

Su Yu then looked at Cheng Jinyuan.

Cheng Jinyuan pondered for a moment and said, "They know martial arts. If they'd wanted to kill us, we'd be dead."

Su Yu laughed heartily, "I'm not out to kill you. If I were, I wouldn't bother with all this."

The Cheng brothers felt that the Emperor made a good point and ate their meal with peace of mind. However, when they stood up to leave, the Emperor kept Cheng Jinyuan and let Cheng Heyuan return alone.

Cheng Heyuan was taken aback and couldn't shake Cheng Jinyuan's earlier words from his mind. He thought he had been insightful, but his understanding paled in comparison to Cheng Jinyuan's.

Cheng Jinyuan was left alone to face the Emperor, but he remained composed. After all, he had once been willing to become a eunuch just for a meal.

Su Yu didn't directly state his purpose but instead asked, "How did you get that scar on your face?"

Cheng Jinyuan was silent for a moment before telling Su Yu the truth, which even Cheng Heyuan didn't know: "Back then, my family was poor and could only afford to send one person to school. My brother was frail, and if he were abandoned, he wouldn't survive. So, I burned my face with a candle. Those with disfigured faces cannot serve as officials, so my parents naturally gave up on me and focused their efforts on my brother."

Su Yu then asked, "Weren't you afraid that your parents might abandon both of you and have another child?"

Cheng Jinyuan smiled, "My father was too weak to have more children."

Su Yu narrowed his eyes at him and changed the question, "Do you know why I kept you here?"

Cheng Jinyuan shook his head.

"I am going to establish the Security Bureau, which will not be subordinate to the Six Ministries or the Nine Courts but will only take orders from me. It will gather intelligence for me from various places, supervise officials together with the Censorate, and allow local officials to bypass the usual hierarchy by submitting memorials directly through the Security Bureau," Su Yu said.

Cheng Jinyuan suddenly looked at the emperor.

The emperor had already stood up from her seat and taken three steps forward, each step feeling as if it were stepping on his heart. His heart beat faster and faster until the emperor stopped half a zhang away from him and slowly asked, "Do you want to join the Security Bureau?"

Cheng Jinyuan was stunned for a long time. Ever since he burned his face with a candle, he had cut off his path to becoming an official. However, he was still unwilling and worked harder than anyone in secret. He could write the same brilliant essays as Cheng Heyuan, and he could draw the same bows that Cheng Heyuan could not.

Yet, what he thought about the most was becoming Cheng Heyuan's shadow, just like now.

He had never imagined that he could stand on his own and become an imperial official.

After a long time, Cheng Jinyuan asked, "Is it temporary or permanent?"

Su Yu was momentarily stunned but quickly understood and replied, "Of course, it's permanent. After all, you people have been carefully selected by me. How could it be just for a short time? However, for now, I can only grant you temporary positions as envoys."

"We?" Cheng Jinyuan keenly caught Su Yu's choice of words and, thinking of the group of palace maids earlier, immediately asked, "Were those palace maids also from the Security Bureau?"

Su Yu nodded. Otherwise, why would she have been so meticulous in her selection? It was all to recruit talent.

Cheng Jinyuan fell silent for a moment, thinking that even a disfigured person like him could become an official. It would be a blessing if those proper ladies didn't disdain him, so he naturally had no grounds to criticize them for taking on such dangerous work.

He suddenly realized that the emperor had a sense of humor. These tasks sounded dangerous, yet she named it the "Security Bureau."

After some thought, he said, "This small number of people probably can't support a Security Bureau."

"Not just these people," Su Yu suddenly turned her head and beckoned to Yuan Ran, who was standing beside her dining table.

Yuan Ran quickly walked to her side and heard Su Yu say, "I plan to appoint two Security Envoys first, you and A Ran."

Yuan Ran: "Me? Your Majesty is saying me? A Security Envoy?"

What was going on? Yuan Ran was completely confused.

Su Yu smiled and turned to ask him, "Did A Ran hear what I just said to Bo Han?"

Yuan Ran was forced to nod. As a martial artist, he could hear everything clearly at such a close distance.

Su Yu patted his shoulder, "With your excellent skills, it's a waste to just stay in the palace as a eunuch. You should have a broader sky to soar in."

Yuan Ran's eyes suddenly turned red, and he knelt beside Su Yu's legs, "Is Your Majesty dissatisfied with my service?"

Su Yu lowered her eyes and could see the peach-pink hue at the corners of Yuan Ran's eyes. He bit his lips lightly, forcing a bit of blood to show on his pale lips, making him look even more pitiful. However, Su Yu felt no pity. She even reached out and lightly flicked Yuan Ran's forehead, "What are you saying? I want you to become my eyes and ears, my sword. Don't you want to do more for me?"

Yuan Ran covered his forehead, which didn't hurt at all, and looked up at Su Yu with increasingly red eyes, tears welling up in them, "I, Yuan Ran, am willing, but as a eunuch, I fear I might bring gossip to Your Majesty..."

Cheng Jinyuan, watching from the side, silently took three steps back, leaving a larger stage for Yuan Ran.

Su Yu glanced at Cheng Jinyuan and then said to Yuan Ran, "Remember, in my heart, there is no difference between men, women, or eunuchs. To me, there is only the distinction between useful and useless."

Cheng Jinyuan understood. Whether men, women, or the partially disabled, they all had to work for the emperor.

As he was thinking this, Su Yu said, "In addition to you few, I have also incorporated some disabled generals who retired from the battlefield into the Security Bureau."

She had also planned to make arrangements for these people, so she had Yu Chiyi help her select those disabled generals who could still fight. It was a good way to utilize them and openly provide them with salaries.

Cheng Jinyuan: "... Well, a disfigured me, a castrated Yuan Ran, and disabled generals—truly gathering all the partially disabled people together."

Before the spring holiday was over, the emperor announced the establishment of the Security Bureau and appointed two Security Envoys.

The ministers were initially very nervous, as the Security Bureau sounded ominous. However, upon closer inquiry, they found that one of the Security Envoys was Cheng Heyuan's brother, who was disfigured, and the other was Eunuch Yuan Ran. Moreover, the Security Envoys held positions without official rank. Further inquiries revealed that the Security Bureau also included an assorted group of people—either women or disabled—and their salaries were paid from the emperor's private treasury, making them completely unthreatening.

They then dismissed the matter entirely, even privately mocking that the Security Bureau might as well be renamed the Oddities Bureau, as it gathered all sorts of strange people.

However, the officials who made these mocking remarks did not know that their words would reach the emperor's ears the very next day.

"Oddities Bureau?" Su Yu twitched her lips. "That name doesn't sound bad. When I get tired of the Security Bureau, I'll rename you all as the Oddities Bureau."

Yuan Ran, slightly dissatisfied, said, "Your Majesty, I am not an oddity, but I am willing to be Your Majesty's personal oddity."

Cheng Jinyuan instinctively took three steps back, and after a while, he spoke up, "Calling it the Oddities Bureau is quite good."

Xie Yiguan learned about the Security Bureau from Xie Yixin. Compared to the previous two years, this year's spring holiday was unusually leisurely for him, resting for a full seven days until the seventh day of the first lunar month. Several Provincial Military Commissioners sent their children to the capital to study at the Imperial Academy. As the Minister of Rites, he came out to entertain these people and incidentally led them into the palace to meet the emperor.

When these people left, he courteously escorted them to the city gate.

On his return, he saw the central Zhuque Avenue of the capital adorned with various lanterns, and only then remembered that today was the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the last day of the spring holiday, and also the Lantern Festival.

He looked towards the end of the street, where the high palace walls stood.

Xie Yiguan curved his lips and turned back to the Xie residence.

As soon as he entered, Xie Yixin, holding a lantern, met him.

She exclaimed, "Brother, you're back! Do you know?"

Xie Yiguan, facing Xie Yixin's wide eyes, smiled calmly, "I don't know."

Xie Yixin continued on her own, "The emperor has established a Security Bureau. As the Minister of Rites, how could you not know? I heard that this Security Bureau is to assist the Censorate, and it's not a proper government office. The leaders are Cheng Heyuan's brother and Eunuch Yuan Ran... But how could our emperor not do proper things?"

Xie Yiguan's lips twitched; his emperor had indeed done quite a few improper things.

"Wait! Why didn't the emperor let you take charge of the Security Bureau?" Xie Yixin asked anxiously. She thought carefully about the responsibilities of the Security Bureau and believed that Xie Yiguan was the most suitable to lead it, but Su Yu did not assign him the task...

She looked at Xie Yiguan in shock, "Brother, have you really fallen out of favor?!"

Xie Yiguan: "...What are you talking about?"

Xie Yixin looked Xie Yiguan up and down and sighed deeply, "Brother is ultimately unreliable. I'll have to rely on myself to compete for favor in front of the emperor."

Xie Yiguan was silent for a moment before sincerely saying, "The Revenue Bureau's branches are indeed too few, which is why you have the leisure to indulge in wild thoughts."

"But the Security Bureau?" Xie Yiguan lowered his head, couldn't help but murmur, "Eunuch Yuan Ran, Cheng Jinyuan, the female soldiers, generals retired from the battlefield..."

He suddenly raised his head, just meeting Xie Yixin's probing gaze. He squinted slightly and smiled, "Second Sister, you wouldn't be part of the Security Bureau, would you?"

Without waiting for Xie Yixin to refute, Xie Yiguan answered himself, "No, you wouldn't be. The emperor wouldn't place you in the Security Bureau to attract attention."

Xie Yixin nodded. Seeing Xie Yiguan lower his head again, as if pondering something, she comforted him, "Brother, don't be too upset. At least the Security Bureau isn't in Premier Cui's hands."

Xie Yiguan, as if hearing a big joke, laughed and shook his head, "Second Sister, you are still somewhat naive."

Xie Yixin: "..." Don't think she didn't understand; her brother was calling her stupid!

Xie Yiguan suddenly called out, instructing the servants to prepare the carriage. Xie Yixin was startled and quickly asked, "Brother, where are you going? To see the lantern festival? It's still a bit early, why not treat me to a meal at Piaoxiangju?"

"I need to go to the palace for important business." Xie Yiguan walked a few steps, then suddenly turned and took the lantern from Xie Yixin's hand, "I'll borrow this lantern from you."

Xie Yixin stomped her foot, "This lantern was specially customized by me!"

Xie Yiguan smiled at her, "Second Sister, this time I might not return from the palace."

Xie Yixin was stunned, and it took her a long time to come back to her senses. Looking at Xie Yiguan's back as he stepped over the threshold, she thought expressionlessly, she didn't believe it, it was probably just to trick her out of her lantern!