Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
In the Jiangnan territory, the spring weather had already enveloped Xi Lake. Beside it, the colors of spring were even more intense in the Peng family’s garden. All along the back of the manor, green trees happily stretched out their branches and greedily sucked in the sunlight that warmed by the day.
However, the owner of this country estate was not very happy and did not have the leisure to stretch out his body. With a pained expression, he read through the reports and bulletins were sent over from Jingdou. He even read the flower-edged newspapers the Palace published. He was still unable to relax.
In the end, he quietly communicated with Shi Chanli about the information that came through Baoyue Brothel and confirmed that the incident happened just as the reports said.
The Eldest Princess had been imprisoned in the side courtyard in the west of the city. The Crown Prince was following imperial orders and was heading toward the Nanzhao Kingdom, thousands of li away, to attend the rituals.
At the moment, these two matters seemed like the most direct result of the incident. Thus, the young master in the country estate could not help but sigh and shake his head.
Shi Chanli watched him curiously and asked, “Sir, although I don’t know what made the Emperor angry, with this incident, it will be impossible for the Eldest Princess to act against your interests in court or in the jianghu. Is this not a cause for great joy? Why are you still so unhappy?”
Fan Xian slanted a glance toward him. A moment later, he swallowed what he was about to say. With great boredom, he waved his hand and said, “Talk to you later. You should hurry back to Suzhou to watch Baoyue Brothel.”
Shi Chanli left feeling confused. Wang Qinian, who knew the inside story of the matter, moved to his side. He stood silently behind Fan Xian and watched as he once again looked at the reports from Jingdou. He didn’t make a sound. He knew why Fan Xian was angry.
“I’ve worked hard to set up this scene, yet it ends like this,” Fan Xian said helplessly, “I’ve taken significant a risk this time, yet that woman still survived. Why is it like this?”
Wang Qinian glanced at him from the side, thinking, The Eldest Princess was his mother-in-law after all, so these words were a bit cold-blooded.
There was only one person who could to stand between the Eldest Princess and Emperor and suppress the bomb that Fan Xian had worked very hard to blow up. It was that old woman in the depths of the Palace. However, Fan Xian was still very confused and suspicious about the process of this incident.
“A woman’s soft-heartedness,” he furrowed his brows and said.
This was not just to criticize the Emperor for pulling his hand back at the last moment. It also represented one of his suspicions. Why did the Eldest Princess not put up any kind of decent defense and was so easily removed by the Emperor? He knew that everything outside the Palace was personally arranged by Director Chen of the Overwatch Council. Given Fan Xian’s understanding of his mother-in-law, her silent and peaceful surrender did not align with her reputation of being crazy.
“I’ve told you before, the Eldest Princess likes the Emperor,” Fan Xian pressed his lips together and said. “I just had no idea that she would be infatuated to this extent. Before the Emperor truly takes action, before he decides to kill her, she won’t take the initiative to rebel. What kind of world is this?”
Beside him, Wang Qinian’s expression was strange. It was no wonder. As an official of Qing Kingdom, no matter how arrogant and rebellious, no one said such treasonous things in their own homes.
However, Fan Xian had said it and done so in front of him, forcing him to hear it. It was clear that this was not the first time he had said something like this.
Wang Qinian coughed uncomfortably. He knew that his life and wealth in this lifetime had long become tightly bound to that of Sir Fan junior’s, so Sir Fan junior was not at all worried he would betray him. Thus, he boldly spoke impudently in front of him.
The plan to expose the ugliness in the royal family and force the Emperor to act had been concocted by Fan Xian and Wang Qinian. The matter was an important one, so the other members of the Qinian Unit knew nothing about it. As for Yan Bingyung, he was also completely kept in the dark.
Fortunately, Jiangnan was far away from Jingdou. The first move Fan Xian and Wang Qinian set up had happened two months ago. Even an immortal probably wouldn’t be able to guess that this matter was related to the two of them, unless Hong Zhu suddenly had the courage to kill his friends and himself.
“There are a few things worth noting in the Council reports.” Although he had done things that did not befit an official, Wang Qinian could get talk in a way that did befit an official. With some pain, he pointed at some sections on the Council report and forcefully changed the conversation. “The fire in Huichun Hall, the imperial relative falling off the horse, and the death of the royal doctor… These three things are suspicious.”
“Oh?” Fan Xian turned his head to glance at him. The Council report had not connected these three things together. The Palace would not let anyone see the association between them. The problem was that the two of them were very familiar with them. They knew the root of these incidents. “Do you not think that the Eldest Princess and Crown Prince were silencing people?”
“It’s only a medicine, so it can’t be considered as much evidence.” The lines of Wang Qinian’s brows deepened. “Neither the Eldest Princess nor Crown Prince are stupid people. Why would they do something like this right as the Palace was investigating?”
“That is also what I find strange. We left them alive so they could be questioned by the Emperor,” Fan Xian said thoughtfully. “Clearly, the Emperor did not question them, so how could he deduce that matter?”
“There’s more.” He pointed at the paper. “The Palace didn’t find them during the investigation. And, the Eldest Princess wouldn’t sabotage herself. So, who did these three cases?”
Fan Xian furrowed his brows. Thinking back over the matter, the three of were better off dead than alive. His own plans had some problems during this phase. However, he now wondered who had made this situation into a proper deadlock so that the Emperor had no one to question and could only use his own suspicions to come to his final decision?
While they were still in Jingdou, he and Wang Qinian had faintly felt there was a power that seemed to be doing much the same as they were. At the time, they were afraid of inadvertently alerting their opponent and did not investigate closely.
“It shouldn’t be anyone else.” Wang Qinian sighed.
Fan Xian also sighed and shook his head. “Other than that person, there isn’t anyone else.”
…
…
“The Crown Prince went to Nanzhao…” The study was not silent for long. Fan Xian spoke on the topic that had been circling his mind. “Judging by the time, he should have already passed Yingzhou and continued south. Why do you think the Emperor did this? The court officials are probably still guessing, and still don’t understand, why the Eldest Princess’s matter would implicate the Crown Prince. You and I know that the Emperor would certainly not allow a son that humiliated the royal family to inherit the throne. Going to Nanzhao to attend the rituals… Do you think Chengqian will return?”
Wang Qinian stayed silent, not daring to answer this question.
Fan Xian smiled and glanced at him. “You and I have done countless things that would bring death to our entire families. There is no harm in discussion.”
Wang Qinian forced a smile and knew that he was once again reminding him of how shameless it was to be careful. He shook his head and said, “I don’t think anything will happen during the journey. Even if the Emperor already has thoughts about deposing the heir, he can’t choose this time to toss it out there.”
“That makes sense.” Fan Xian gently patted the table. “It is as I thought. Our Emperor wants a wise and heroic spirit and a good historical reputation. He wants to suppress this matter by every possible means and not give others something to gossip about. Sending the Crown Prince to Nanzhao is to get him out of Jingdou and then slowly plan the matter of deposing the heir. Second…”
He furrowed his brows, suddenly remembering the poisonous miasma that pervaded the air in Nanzhao. When Yan Xiaoyi led soldiers to Nanzhao seven or eight years ago, the deaths of the soldiers had mostly been because of this scourge.
“The miasma will sink into his body. The Crown Prince will gradually become weak…” Wang Qinian suddenly came to his sense as he said these words. His courage in speaking was indeed growing.
Fan Xian forced a smile and continued. “If it is really as we think, the Emperor is indeed very vicious.”
A complicated emotion flashed through his eyes, but Wang Qinian didn’t notice it.
“It is a pity that not everything was achieved.” Fan Xian sighed. “Tell me, why did the Eldest Princess not die?”
This was the second time he had plaintively expressed this regret. Wang Qinian felt that it was somewhat strange. The Eldest Princess had already lost power. Plus, he was, after all, her son-in-law. Whether speaking as a person or family, he shouldn’t say such things.
Wang Qinian didn’t know that ever since Fan Xian entered Jingdou, he had been very wary of the Eldest Princess. To defeat others, he could use plots and power to compete with them. To defeat a nobility that everyone thought was crazy was very difficult. Fan Xian couldn’t guess what kind of crazy reaction she would have.
This kind of uncertainty made Fan Xian’s head hurt.
In particular, Fan Xian found it hard to understand the change in the Jingdou Palace chambers this time. The Eldest Princess was trapped, so why didn’t her various powers carry out a last counter-attack? Where were the elders in the military? Where was Yan Xiaoyi’s attitude? Perhaps the matter had happened too abruptly, so the military didn’t have time to react. But, where was Ye Liuyun?
Fan Xian knew better than anyone the lofty position that Ye Liuyun had in the Junshang Conference. He had also been almost scared witless by that building-breaking sword strike in Suzhou. Even if the Junshang Conference was a loose organization, the Eldest Princess still shouldn’t appear as weak as she did now.
He had analyzed with Wang Qinian the Eldest Princess’ abnormal attachment to the Emperor, but those were just words Fan Xian had used to convince himself. He did not actually believe this.
However, with some things in this world, the true reason was the one that people did not believe.
Fan Xian sighed next to the table with regret. After Wang Qinian left, he still couldn’t stop sighing repeatedly. Wang Qinian closed the room door and unconsciously shook his head. Although the Eldest Princess had not died, from here onward there was no one else in court who was a match for Commissioner Fan. Such a conclusion was still great, so why was the Commissioner sighing?
The reason was actually very simple. Fan Xian was not a loyal official nor a pure one. He wanted to watch from Jiangnan as the tiger and crane fought and hurt each other.
He wanted the Eldest Princess to fall, but he also did not trust the Emperor. He sighed about the Emperor’s methods. They seemed to be quicker than he imagined and more vicious. The Emperor’s power had not been damaged at all.
Fan Xian sat by himself in the study and silently thought about everything that had happened in Jingdou. He faintly felt that perhaps the Eldest Princess was, because of her crazy sentiments, stubbornly waiting for the Emperor’s thunderous rage. It was clear that the Emperor had held back. Did he do so for family love? Fan Xian didn’t believe this.
He flipped open a few letters beneath the Council report. After reading them for the second time, he was silent for a moment and then began to write a reply. The letters came from his home in Jingdou. There was one from his father and one from Wan’er. They mostly talked about Sisi and the child in her belly. Everything was good. There was no need to worry too much.
Wan’er’s letter did mention the matter of the Eldest Princess. Although she didn’t explicitly say anything, it seemed that she wanted Fan Xian to say something in the Palace.
Fan Xian once again sighed in distress. He knew his wife was an uncommonly clever person and knew how irreconcilable everything that was being hidden was. Yet, she still wrote to have him speak up. This only demonstrated that Wan’er still had some mother-and-daughter emotions toward the Eldest Princess.
This was a natural matter. The Emperor was cold-blooded. Fan Xian was cold-blooded. This did not mean that everyone under heaven and everyone in the royal family were cold-blooded creatures.
Fan Xian wrote his reply earnestly. To his father, he had to express his shock and confusion. To Wan’er, his reply was mostly filled with consoling words and asking after Sisi.
Following this, he began to write a memorial—a secret memorial for the Emperor. Although he didn’t directly ask for mercy for the Eldest Princess, he faintly expressed the concern he should have as a son-in-law. After he finished writing, he checked it over a few times. He confirmed that this kind of attitude would neither make the Emperor think he was being artificial nor would it make him angry. He sealed it and had his subordinates send it as a first-level mail.
After doing all this, Fan Xian finally felt slightly more at ease. He had been free and at ease during these months in Jiangnan, but his gaze had actually been consistently on Jingdou. He felt a great deal of mental pressure.
Although things did not cooperate, it had mostly progressed as he wanted it to. He finally relaxed a little. Pulling open the drawer in the secret room, he took out a copy of the three large workshops’ product development process that he and Seventh Ye had used a to copy down. He stared at it in a daze.
This product development process did not have everything in the palace treasury. But, Fan Xian knew that if this object actually got to Northern Qi, it would truly cause some horrific consequences.
He narrowed his eyes in thought. He and Chen Pingping had unconsciously joined hands to play the Emperor once. In the end, they only manipulated the details. As for the larger picture, perhaps the Emperor had played them.
Fan Xian’s thoughts drifted. Thirteenth Wang has been at his leisure for too long.
After tidying everything, he left the country estate beside the Xi Lake.
