"Han Yuan's background is still not entirely clear."
At the same time, in a side room of the Council of State Affairs, Qiu Yan looked over the documents in his hand. From time to time, he lifted his brush to mark, annotate, and issue directives, every bit the statesman handling government affairs.
Seated before Qiu Yan was Li Kuo. Once a minor official at the examination grounds, he had risen through the ranks again and again. He had now entered the Ministry of Rites and stood only one step away from becoming a vice minister. Yet behind this lay another identity: he also served as an informant for the Imperial City Bureau.
Naturally, he had not been made an informant recently. Back when Zhang Lian had held power, Li Kuo had been seized by the handle and forced into becoming a spy. Now that Qiu Yan had risen to prominence, Li Kuo's standing had risen with the tide. But the Imperial City Bureau was not somewhere one could enter and leave at will. It involved secrets of the imperial family; once one entered, it was not easy to break free.
It was precisely because he possessed this additional identity, and because chance had caused others to view him as Qiu Yan's confidant, that an unintentional planting of willows had yielded shade. Li Kuo now cherished his reputation all the more, imitating Qiu Yan in every respect. The virtue he displayed outwardly won the admiration of many.
Yet he had not forgotten where his foundation lay. Thus, he often made use of his secret-agent identity to intercept intelligence and report it to Qiu Yan, thereby declaring his stance—whether Qiu Yan already knew the information or not, the fact that Li Kuo came to report it was enough to show his sincerity.