Chapter 450: There Is Snow Outside The Building And Thoughts To The North
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
“No need.” Fan Xian shook his head and sighed. “He lost a child in his old age. I’m afraid that this super ace would go crazy upon entering the building and wipe out all of the royal family in this building. At that time, how will I explain it to the Emperor?”
In the room, everyone’ heart thumped hearing the meaning between Fan Xian’s words. As Fan Xian’s trusted aides, they knew what a tenacious and dark heart lay below his warm exterior. Naturally, they did not think he was being witty. Finally, Yan Bingyun couldn’t suppress the shock in his heart and raised his head to ask, “It has to be like this?”
Fan Xian nodded calmly. His index finger was still rubbing between his brows as if he wanted to rub away all the gloom of these few days. “Danzhou is good, but Jingdou is difficult. Since, in the end, both sides will be in a struggle to the death, I am used to making the first move.”
Among the people present, Fan Sizhe had the closest relationship with Fan Xian, but he was too young. Hearing people who were like older brothers to him discussing so openly about someone’s life and death, he couldn’t quite keep up. The other people didn’t dare raise questions about Fan Xian’s order. Only Yan Bingyun persisted in saying, “Blowing up early isn’t a good thing.”
Fan Xian shook his head and explained, “I won’t blow up early. The Emperor is certain to change the assassination attempt on my life into something that is beneficial for the court, but…the Council probably won’t get any benefits.”
After saying a few more things about future matters concerning Jingdou and the Overwatch Council, this secret meeting in the brothel came to an end. Since Chen Pingping essentially did not monitor matters now, the leaders of the eight bureaus of the Overwatch council all coldly made way. Fan Xian’s discussions with Yan Bingyun could basically determine most matters.
Wang Qinian and Deng Zi Yue left first and began to make preparations for the matters the Commissioner had delegated down. When Yan Bingyun left, he couldn’t help turning his head and said, “Killing Yan Xiaoyi’s son…this is certainly a very serious warning, but it would drive an aggressive tiger to madness. Presumably, Sir still has other plans in mind that you have not shared.”
Fan Xian was silent for a moment then said, “Correct, I won’t hide this from you. As a super ace about the ninth-level, Yan Xiaoyi’s is the most powerful martial and military force the other party can depend on. Even if I have to pay with my official career, I have to dry and remove him early.”
He didn’t completely expose his thoughts.
Yan Xiaoyi was not like the Ye and Qin families. His relationship to the Eldest Princess was not one of cooperation, but a vow of loyalty. He would eventually become an obstacle in Fan Xian’s way, and Fan Xian did not have the strange self-confidence of the Qing Emperor. He had a strange feeling about Yan Xiaoyi’s arrow and always felt slightly fearful.
In the days before the big explosion, if he could destroy the godlike bow the North of Qing Kingdom, Fan Xian felt that his life would certainly be much happier.
Killing Yan Xiaoyi’s son would only make this extraordinary talent go crazy. If they killed him, it would, presumably, make the Eldest Princess crazy.
Fan Xian very much liked trying these strange and dangerous things. Even though this could bring many variables and could change the Emperor’s heart in an instant, he still wanted to try it like he was crazy. He wanted to wipe away the shadow of that arrow from his heart.
Yan Bingyun looked at Fan Xian like he was a crazy man. A moment later, he sighed and said, “Governor Yan’s cultivation is startling. He is not so easy to kill. In the entire Council, it is impossible to find someone to defeat him…even if you weren’t injured, it would be impossible for you to kill him with your sword. What’s more, you are injured right now…also, presumably the Director does not have such crazy plans.”
“No.” Fan Xian shook his head. “The old cripple is probably crazier than me. I don’t want to be driven to death by his craziness in order to protect my life, so I also have to be a bit crazy.”
“Other than you two, I don’t want anyone else to know of my thoughts.” Fan Xian patted Sizhe’s shoulder and stared at Yan Bingyun. “What we previously talked about at the small hill outside Jingdou still counts. If you want to create a big plan with me, I hope you will be able to be more attentive to me and not only to the Overwatch Council and the court.”
Yan Bingyun knew that he was talking about the topic of the way of officials and happiness of the world. He sighed. With an ever-present sign of worry between his eyes, he went downstairs.
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Pushing open the third-floor window facing the street in Baoyue Brothel, Fan Xian and his brother looked at the snowy street scene from behind a railing and didn’t speak for a long time.
Snowflakes slowly floated down from the sky and gently landed on people’s hats, shoulders, umbrellas, and the tops of carriages. Jingdou appeared very severe with dark colors at the forefront, particularly the street in front of the Baoyue Brothel. It was filled with black Overwatch Council carriages. Inside and outside the carriages were Overwatch Council members wearing deep black rain and snow coats. They made it appear even darker.
Fortunately, there was endless snow to cancel out the darkness. Pure white snowflakes decorated the completely black world, creating a clearly beautiful picture.
Fan Xian narrowed his eyes and looked down. Wang Qinian’s group had left. Deng Zi Yue had left. Yan Bingyun, who had left the building last, had also left. The Overwatch Council secret agents on the street disappeared without a trace in an instant.
He couldn’t hold back a smile. These trusted aides beside him all brought at least a dozen capable people with them. On the court and in officialdom, who dared to not show respect to these trusted aides of Sir Fan junior? And, these capably trusted aides had also helped Fan Xian weave a larger web of power, solidifying and raising Fan Xian’s position in Qing Kingdom.
A so-called system was created like this layer by layer. Only, his grandness today was not something the young man entering Jingdou for the first time and muddled-headedly creating the Qinian Unit could have imagined.
“What we spoke of today, don’t tell father.” Fan Xian turned his head and glanced at his younger brother. Gently, he said, “I don’t want him to worry about us, the younger generation.”
Fan Sizhe agreed and chuckled. “Brother, there’s no point in saying anything. Father is great at managing the national treasury, but speaking of killing people, he wouldn’t be able to help you. He’s nowhere near as powerful as your Overwatch Council.
Fan Xian smiled.
The 80 Tiger Guards the royal family usually used could be said to be the greatest martial force outside of the Imperial Army soldiers. Even if it was impossible that everyone reached Gao Da’s skill with a knife, seven Tiger Guards had defeated Haitang Duoduo…how terrifying would these 80 be?
The stern and honest father of these two brothers had secretly helped the royal family train so many aces. Given Fan Xian’s understanding of his father’s personality, it was completely impossible that he didn’t leave some powerful figures for the Fan manor.
Such a Minister of Revenue had long left the power of a minister. Killing people? Fan Xian looked at his brother and shook his head without speaking. He thought about the civil war back then. The empress dowager’s own brother had been killed by a single stroke by their father…who dared to say he didn’t understand how to kill people?
However, their father had become used to enduring silently and peacefully staying out of things to watch them happen, so not many people knew of his ruthlessness. Only old foxes like Chen Pingping and Prime Minister Lin knew about the true ruthlessness of this Minister of Revenue.
Fan Xian didn’t want this matter to make his father suddenly change his way of doing things.
“Did you see Ruoruo in Shangjing?” Fan Xian gently changed the subject, allowing their father to maintain a respectful and unchanged image in his brother’s heart. However, ever since Ruoruo became Ku He’s disciple to learn his heart, only a few letters arrived from Jiangnan and later there was no more news.
Although with Haitang and the Northern Qi’s Emperor’s connection, Fan Xian knew that nothing had happened to his sister. But, the bond between sister and brother was deep, and he always worried a bit.
“I met with elder sister a few times.” Fan Sizhe laughed. “She’s learning medicine from Imperial Advisor Ku He and has some fame in Shangjing. However, I heard that she was going to West Mountain to collect medicinal herbs later this year and to cultivate in the mountains. She hasn’t come back yet.”
Fan Xian laughed coldly and scolded, “Ku He. That old bald donkey is shameless to the extreme. According to our original agreement, I’ve sent them every shipment as promised, yet he is still only teaching Ruoruo medicine? Does she need to follow him to learn medicine? Learning from me or Sir Fei, either would be better than him…he doesn’t want to impart the Heart of Tianyi Dao to her, and so he’s found these excuses.”
He spoke angrily, but Fan Sizhe listened with some shock. Although this kid was also a scourge who feared nothing but his brother’s foot, having lived in Northern Qi for a long time, he had long been influenced by the Northern Qi’s people’s god-like worship of Imperial Advisor Ku He. Hearing his brother calling him a bald donkey—although he didn’t know what it alluded to, presumably, it was not complimentary—he couldn’t help feeling shocked. He thought that his brother was indeed the person with the most daring and confidence in the world.
Although Ku He was being secretive, this plan to exchange students was originally a by-product of her escaping marriage. Fan Xian had not counted on Ku He being able to train his sister into a second Haitang Duoduo. Besides, the Heart of Tianyi Dao had already been given to Fan Xian secretly by Duoduo, who was showing favor to an outsider. He didn’t continue to humiliate with words the untrustworthy upper echelons of Northern Qi. He turned and furrowed his brows. “I’ve checked the files of those aces you hired from Northern Qi. Although they all have clean backgrounds and have always hidden in the wilderness…you have to be careful. I think it’s certain that the Northern Qi royal family has placed a few spies beside you.”
The so-called clean backgrounds meant that the Northern Qi aces with the curved swords around Fan Sizhe did not have any connections to the state or the Brocade Guard.
Fan Sizhe nodded. Although he continued to smile, a dark and cold light flashed through his eyes. “Brother, don’t worry. I’ve already found out who it is. If the Northern Qi court doesn’t have someone by my side, they’ll certainly feel uneasy, so I’ll have to use this person. I’ll just see it as a free bodyguard. I won’t clean them out in the near future. However, I will avoid them for important matters.”
Fan Xian e had not expected that his brother would have already noticed this detail. He couldn’t resist patting his back approvingly. “Your body is sturdier, and you’re more meticulous in your thinking. Looks like the exile to the North indeed had benefits.” He immediately smiled and said, “There’s also no need to be too worried. Right now, the Northern Qi are still depending on you to organize the buying of palace treasury goods. They won’t offend you lightly.”
The street below Baoyue Brothel was already empty. Even the ruffians loitering at the corners in the middle and ends of the streets had pulled on their hats and disappeared without a trace. Fan Xian stood at the railing and looked at this sight. The glimmer of a thoughtful and strange smile rose to the corner of his lips. Various powers in Jingdou were all looking at the Baoyue Brothel, but he was too lazy to avoid them. Everyone knew he was going to get his revenge. They were all guessing how he would achieve his revenge without true evidence.
He would let them guess.
“There is a matter you need to tell me the details about.” Without turning his head back, he spoke quietly. Fan Xian’s eyes were staring at the snowflakes outside the window.
Fan Sizhe asked, “What matter?”
“The story of that sword.” Fan Xian lowered his head slightly. His tone was calm and did not reveal the thoughts in his heart. “Where did Wang Qinian get that sword from?”
Fan Sizhe’s heart stuttered. He didn’t understand why his brother was suddenly questioning his most trusted man, but he didn’t dare say anything. He only retold the part of the story he learned in Shangjing. The sword coming out, the buying of the sword, and the delivery of the sword were all organized by Wang Qinian single-handedly. There was nothing strange.
However, Fan Xian found a glimmer of strangeness in this story. He smiled bitterly and glanced beside his waist, which was completely empty. The Emperor’s sword that the Emperor had granted him was very inconvenient to carry around.
“Listening to what you said, there is one detail that is very interesting.” He shook his head and sighed. “The rumors had been out for a number of days. Even if Wang Qinian had your silver to help, they would not have let him, a South Kingdom man, buy this sword…although tens of thousands liang of silver was a lot, it could not compare to the hot blood of the Northern Qi people. This is the sword of the Emperor of the Wei Kingdom. How could the Northern Qi royal family let him buy it? Lao Wang is always steady, however, he likes to flatter me too much…how could he not thought of this detail?”
Fan Sizhe’s mind spun. “What you mean is…word of this sword was purposely leaked by the Northern Qi royal family, and they gave it to you through Sir Wang’s hands?”
Fan Xian nodded.
Fan Sizhe was confused. “Why would they do this?”
Fan Xian turned and patted his brother’s shoulder. The two brothers returned to their seats and drank some tea before he explained, “The sword is the central force. Although right now it can’t do much and, furthermore, Northern Qi does not wish me to lose my position in the South Kingdom right now, this is an attitude and foreshadowing. Accumulating over days and months, it will eventually reach some boundary one day…”
He smiled mockingly. “The little Emperor of Northern Qi has done well. Over these two years, he has step by step silently taken the major power from his mother’s hands and not caused any major shocks in the court. This level of monarchial scheming is not far off from that of our Emperor’s. In order to defeat someone like me, of course, he needs to have a long-term plan in his mind. This sword is just the start.”
Provocation and driving a wedge between allies have always been unworthy actions in history, but they’re also tricks that have stood the test of time because people’s hearts are always overly suspicious. On an Emperor’s veins in this black-surfaced heart were even more densely inscribed question marks and exclamation marks. The Wei Emperor’s sword from Northern Qi was a great taboo next to Fan Xian. If he had not handled it properly and reacted quickly by sending it into the Palace, who knows how the Emperor would feel.
Fan Sizhe sighed. “Political matters are indeed complicated enough…oh right, although my leaving Shangjing was a secret, before I left, the Emperor of Northern Qi summoned me into the Palace and asked that I bring you some words. Presumably, he knew I would make a trip home.”
Fan Xian started and asked with furrowed brows, “What words?”
“Looks like it’s a normal color, but the shade will depend on his icy snow,” Fan Sizhe looked at his brother’s handsome appearance and admiringly said. “It is these two lines of poetry. It looks like it’s true that the Emperor greatly loves the ‘Story of the Stone’. Every time I enter the Palace, he always turns the topic onto you with unspeakable liking and respect.”
Fan Xian lost his smile. These two lines of poetry came from a passage of “A Dream of Red Mansions” with Yong Hongmei. It was not particularly outstanding, however, the little Northern Qi Emperor had gifted him this poem from far away, so the hidden meaning within needed much thought.
He turned and looked at the wind and snow outside. He shook his head and smiled. “The North has ice and snow, but South Kingdom also has them. I think it’s best to pass on this invitation.”
The conversation having reached here stopped. However, a faint worry welled in Fan Xian’s heart. For some reason, that Northern Qi Emperor treated him with such respect, even though he clearly knew Fan Xian was the illegitimate child of the Qing Emperor. Yet, he still did not forget to instigate rebellions. Why did this seemingly impossible task make the little Emperor so enthusiastic? Perhaps, the other party could truly guessed what he was thinking, the story back then, and the current situation, so he took the opportunity to first stand by the city door to welcome him with a laugh.
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After Fan Xian returned to the manor, he couldn’t avoid being severely scolded by his father while Sizhe’s safe return made Lady Liu overjoyed with tears streaming down her face. Although Minister Fan was angry over his two sons daring actions, sternly ordering Fan Sizhe to not leave the manor while also telling the people in the manor to keep silent, the comfort between his brows did not escape Fan Xian’s eyes.
After the meeting in Baoyue Brothel, the Fan manor sunk into warmth while the Overwatch Council began to act. At the Council conference, Yan Bingyun icily reported on the investigation into the attack in the valley. Although he had no specific suspects, he pointed, unwaveringly, toward the military and asked for the full support of the Council to begin combing through the people and events from Dingzhou and Cangzhou from the past two months.
This proposal was rather strange. Under circumstances without the Emperor’s clear edict, the Overwatch Council had absolutely no power over the upper echelons of the military. Yan Bingyun’s suggestion seemed to purely want to make the superficially peaceful living in Jingdou livelier. However, Sir Yan had Chen Pingping and Fan Xian’s strong support, the help of a few elders, as well as the hatred in the hearts of every secret agent in the Council towards the valley attack, so naturally, he did not object.
Strangely, the Palace also didn’t say anything.
Wang Qinian returned to the Qinian Unit but did not immediately take over Deng Zi Yue’s position. His people and those subordinates vanished into Jingdou for some unknown reason.
Only the First Bureau that Fan Xian was still temporarily personally in charge of was relatively lively. After an entire one and a half years acting in the open, the position of the First Bureau’s yamen in Jingdou became less awkward. The people of Jingdou also gradually became used to going to the wall outside the First Bureau’s yamen to look at notices.
One day they had caught a corrupt official who was taking bribes, and another they had found vermin in some department. After Fan Xian rectified the First Bureau, these dark secrets of the inner faction of the court were posted publicly and openly. The Jingdou people often read them like legendary detective novels.
The old notices on the wall were suddenly ripped off. After washing it down with snow water, the man whose complexion was like black iron, the temporary head of the First Bureau, Mu Tie, personally brushed on the glue and stuck a new piece of paper on the wall.
The commoners gathered curiously only to see that it was not a case, only a few cheeky words.
“Thirteenth Wang, are you hungry? If you’re hungry, tell the girls. The girls will help you make noodle soup.”
The people looked at each other wondering, What was the Overwatch Council, or the recently attacked Sir Fan junior, playing at now?