His frank remonstrance that day, delivered at the risk of giving offense, seemed to have had a tiny effect after all—the following afternoon, Intendant Cao returned from the Southern Office and issued new orders. The Jing'an Directorate's three elite Patrol Groups were to focus their surveillance and patrols on the Luo River, Eastern City, and Southern City, preventing the theft of official materials by those guarding them, cracking down hard on smuggling, and maintaining order during the construction of the Bright Hall.
And, unsurprisingly, responsibility for the most important route, the Luo River, fell to the showpiece Patrol Group led by Inspector Bai Yousi, the Minister of Works' eldest legitimate daughter.
But none of this affected Zhang Xing much, because he still did not work in the field.
If there had to be an effect... he did not know whether he was imagining it, but after returning that day, Bai Yousi, who never mentioned the repercussions of what had happened, really did seem a little more distant toward him. They spoke even less. Even so, Zhang Sanlang showed little reaction; instead, he worked still more diligently and conscientiously.
In fact, at Zhang White Ribbon's suggestion, and through Bai Yousi's connections, the three Patrol Groups assigned to the special operation pooled their clerical staff. All their closing reports for the operation were collected together for him to polish and review before being sent to the Black Tower.
To be frank, this overstepped the bounds a little.
After all, everyone knew Zhang Sanlang was close to several Black Sashes in the Black Tower, and his superb paperwork ordinarily saved the brothers a great deal of trouble. But field investigations, especially work like this, inevitably came with rich pickings, and those pickings were generally divided within each Patrol Group. Insisting on laying them