The officials lining up behind Zu An became unhappy, urging him to step aside for the time being.  Zu An completely ignored them as he looked coldly at the mustached official, retorting, “My clothes aren’t orderly as long as you say they aren’t? Who do you think you are?”

The mustached official cupped his hands toward the palace and said coldly, “This is the authority the court has granted me. When it comes to inspecting officials’ appearance, I naturally have the final say.”

“Does this mean you’ve already made up your mind to deliberately trouble me?” Zu An asked.

The official said with an upturned nose. “I have always enforced the law fairly; how could I possibly trouble you deliberately? Why am I not troubling others, then? One palm cannot clap. You should reflect on your own actions instead of blaming others.”

Zu An was shocked. He hadn’t expected to hear a classic quote belonging to a certain someone from his old world.

The mustached officer repeated impatiently, “You are wasting everyone’s time here. According to the law, you should be made to stand off to the side for two hours as punishment, to serve as a model for other officials!”

Even though it was early in the morning, the sun had already risen. Standing for two hours under the sun wasn’t too big of a deal, but it was greatly humiliating. After all, only court officials passed through this palace gate. If they witnessed such a scene, Zu An would become the laughingstock of the entire court.

Zu An’s eyes narrowed. “May I ask what sir’s name is?”

“What, do you want to get revenge on me?” The mustached official had a disdainful look as he announced,  “I would never give out a fake name; I am the Assistant Minister of the Huang Gate, Shi Jun! Everything that has happened today has been done impartially. You cannot do anything to me, no matter how you complain and cry today.”

“Shi Jun?” Zu An suddenly realized what was happening and asked, “What kind of relationship do you have with Shi Kun?”

The mustached officer looked coldly at him. After a long pause, he said, “Shi Kun is this one’s younger brother.”

Zu An thought to himself, No wonder I found this guy familiar. So he was that kid’s big brother!

Shi Jun continued, “I would never target you because of my younger brother. I am just doing my job according to official business.”

The Shi clan’s brothers were all close. This guy was the reason Shi Jun’s younger brother had died, so he obviously needed to get revenge. The Shi clan had originally been a bit cautious because of the crown princess, but King Qi Manor had contacted them. With their cooperation, the Shi clan had nothing else to worry about.

As for Zu An defeating King Qi’s heir, the Shi clan didn’t pay that much attention to it. According to reports, the only thing special about this fellow was his movement technique. His real cultivation was only around the sixth or seventh rank.

King Qi’s heir had lost mainly because he had underestimated his opponent, and because a mysterious expert had helped. Now that they were in the imperial palace, how could any mysterious experts dare to approach? The emperor would just kill them!

Furthermore, he was a seventh ranked expert himself, so he naturally dared to clash with Zu An head-on like this.

The officials passing by all snorted disdainfully. Who was he trying to fool? However, none of them would speak up in this situation. After all, there was no proof that Shi Jun was avenging a personal grudge right now, and no one wanted to offend the Shi clan.

“Ah, so you’re just doing your job according to official business~” Zu An repeated, deliberately drawing out his words..

Shi Jun harrumphed. “It doesn’t matter what you think. You have no choice but to obey me. Get lost and stand off to the side!”

He deliberately spoke this way to infuriate the other party. If Zu An could no longer hold back, he could call over the Imperial Guard. He was currently in a position of power, so he had more than enough methods to deal with Zu An.

Zu An shook his head, saying, “Unfortunately, you made a fatal error.”

“What?” Shi Jun frowned. He wondered where he had slipped up, but he understood the rules of etiquette like the back of his hand. Not even the emperor himself would be able to criticize him in any way.

Zu An chuckled and added, “Who said one palm cannot clap?” As soon as he finished speaking, he instantly moved in front of Shi Jun. There was a loud and clear smacking sound, and a red handprint appeared on Shi Jun’s face.

Zu An stretched his fingers, having already returned to his original location. The recoil from that slap had actually stung a bit. “Look, didn’t one palm make a clapping sound just now?”

The others were stupefied. No one had expected to see this! Zu An’s speed was way too fast, and he actually dared to attack Shi Jun!

Shi Jun clutched his face. His head was ringing, having gone completely blank in that instant, and he only reacted after the fact. I was hit? This motherfucker hit me? In front of so many people’s faces?

He erupted into a rage. “You bastard, you’re courting death!”

You have successfully trolled Shi Jun for +999 +999 +999…

But even so, he didn’t attack. Instead, he calmed himself down and said, “You dare to publicly attack an Etiquette Inspection Officer? This is a huge crime! Guards, arrest this man and punish him with a hundred strikes of the rod! Then, throw him into the imperial prison until further orders from his majesty!”

He thought to himself that not even King Qi’s heir could take down this guy. Furthermore, the other party had moved too quickly just now, to the point where he couldn’t even see it clearly. He didn’t think he could win against Zu An himself. But he was currently in charge of inspecting officials’ appearance, so in this type of situation, he could command the Imperial Guard.

The surrounding Imperial Guards were stunned. They had never encountered this type of thing before.

In the past, those officials who failed the inspection had all panicked fearfully and obediently suffered their punishment by standing off to the side. When had they ever lashed out against the inspector? Ever since the founding of the Great Zhou Dynasty—no, even before that—had anything like this ever happened before?

That was why they didn’t immediately react when they heard Shi Jun’s furious roars. How were they supposed to deal with this type of event?

Zu An used this chance to speak to Shi Jun. “Over and over, you’ve repeated that you’re in charge of supervising the etiquette of all officials. Then let me ask you, what if there were an official whose clothes were so disorderly they couldn’t even wear their pants properly?”

Shi Jun subconsciously replied, “They would be looking down on the court’s laws and discipline, of course. Their crime of disrespect would remove them from office, and those with more serious crimes would be banished.” He was stunned as soon as he finished speaking. Why am I replying to him? I should be arresting this man right now.

Shi Jun was just about to urge the guards to act again when Zu An said mockingly, “Oh? I was just about to remind you that your pants had dropped.”

“Nonsense! Don’t think that you…” Shi Jun sneered. Unfortunately, he felt a chill between his legs halfway through uttering his sentence. When he looked down, he saw that his pants had already fallen between his legs. He froze.

Zu An said to the guards, “This person’s bearing is not in order. Why are you not arresting him already? He should be sent out to the front lines, right?”

The imperial guards subconsciously nodded. But there was something wrong here, wasn’t there? They didn’t know what was right in this situation.

The onlookers were shocked. The disturbance became even greater than before. The officials who were passing by had merely been acting as detached bystanders, but now, they all surrounded the place while gossiping. Many people even commented.

“The Shi clan’s people groom themselves pretty well. It’s white and clean.”

“But there’s no hair down there at all! They don’t look all that masculine.”

“Wow, his underwear is so fancy…”

…

Shi Jun looked up to the sky and screamed in agony when he heard the surrounding discussions. “Nooooo!” He vomited a mouthful of blood and collapsed.

Throwing up a mouthful of blood looked terrifying, but with his cultivation, it wasn’t a big deal at all. However, the shame he had suffered was too much. Pretending to faint in this type of situation was better than going through such pain. It’s all this damn Zu An’s fault!

You have successfully trolled Shi Jun for +1024 +1024 +1024…

Zu An used this chance to sneak into the imperial palace. He thought disdainfully, You want to use the rules against me? I’ll flip the damn table!

He arrived at the eastern palace and idly played a few games of five-in-a-row with the crown prince. On several occasions, the crown prince screamed in panic. Little Xu and Little He broke out into a cold sweat watching him. Sir Zu really was brave; he actually wasn’t letting the crown prince win!

Just like that, time passed. Soon after, the morning court session ended. The crown princess returned with a sullen expression, commanding, “Gather all the important members of the eastern palace. There is a huge matter to discuss!”