Chapter 66: Where is the Root of the Straw?

This was the first time in the three years since Fan Xian had entered the capital that he had planned something completely alone, without the help of his old men, without the planning of Yan Bingyun, but he could still utilize the huge intelligence system of the Supervisory Yuan and the huge resources of the scrolls that had been preserved for years and years to begin to reach out from the outside of the palace to the inside of the palace for the tentacles of intrigue.

There was a lot of pressure, but he had to learn to withstand this pressure, in the process of preparing for this matter, it wasn’t that he hadn’t considered telling the truth to his father and Chen Pingping, it was just that the minds of these two elders were really hard to figure out, and no one knew to what extent they were loyal to His Majesty, and even less was it clear that a conspiracy like this that would surely cause a great deal of chaos in the royal family would be forcibly suppressed by the two elders for some reason or another.

So he chose to travel alone in the darkness of the night.

A steady stream of information from the Supervisory Academy was sent to his study, and in order to prevent arousing the sidelong glances of those with an interest in the matter, Fan Xian used a very clever name, and the ones he touched with care were only peripheral information, which was then transferred a few hands and sent to that remote and quiet courtyard in the middle of the city.

He did not dare to be silent in the study for too long, thus revealing some traces, or as usual filial piety to his father, free in the garden, halfway also went to Ren Shaoan’s residence as a guest, but this year Xin Qimo did not invite him as in previous years.

Fan Xian understands in his heart, after all, Xin Qimo is the crown prince’s close people, in this kind of moment, in the crown prince gradually woke up from the silence, with his own good performance performance hidden from everyone in the palace moment, Xin Qimo must have been signaled by the East Palace, no longer trying to pull oneself together, just this kind of change does not seem to be sudden, Xin Qimo found a good excuse, and also personally went to the residence to send a thick gift.

A few days later, Fan Xian finally will be the matter of the head and tail think more clearly, in the brain over the plan, standing in the position of the investigator after the fact, with a prudent eye examining those clues in the brain, confirming that the royal family from top to bottom of the investigation, it is difficult to Hongzhu involved in the more involved in their own body, which only a little feel relaxed.

On the seventh day of the Lunar New Year, Fan Si Zhe, who was bored out of his mind in the mansion, pestered his brother to go out for a stroll. Fan Xian glared back: “Do you think you’re still the second young master of Fanfu? Now is the courtyard in the concealment of your whereabouts …… but surely the palace early clear where you …… now the Ministry of Justice no one to catch you, is the palace to father and I this brother face, you so shy a fat face out to flaunt, the face of the palace to where to put aside? Immediately someone will come to catch you!”

Fan Si Zhe froze, thought brother this day how to speak so mean, but he did this year in Northern Qi, still retained the year’s business sinister genius, and shed some pompous air, immediately see the elder brother has something on his mind, the mood is heavier, said small intention: “Brother, what’s the matter? A world of people, two brothers, what words to say out, see if I can help you?”

Fan Xian suddenly thought of the few Northern Qi experts who had traveled south with Si Zhe and were now placed in the field farms outside of the city, his heart was slightly moved, but he immediately threw away those thoughts. Even the president of Chen and his father, he did not dare to alarm, let alone his own baby brother, just by Si Zhe see out of the heart, always have to have a cover.

He said after a slight pause, “On the day of the End Ten, the Great Palace’s royal residence opens its doors to welcome guests, I will also go.”

“The End Ten?” Fan Si Zhe pursed his lips and said with a cheeky smile, “Brother, that’s a big day, it seems like the Grand Prince really thinks highly of you ah …… actually picked such a day to invite you.”

Fan Xian sneered, “I’m only afraid that it’s the Wangfei’s meaning …… that I’m worried about. I said I would bring Hong Cheng, but as a result, someone from the Wang Fu came up yesterday and reminded me that on the day of the last ten days, our second highness is also going to be there.”

Fan Si Zhe sucked in a mouthful of cool air: “Heaven’s old man ah …… brother you beat the second highness into a mess, this is going to sit at the same table for dinner again, beware of that bitch to Yin.”

Fan Xian frowned and said, “That’s not so …… who dares to kill someone in the Grand Prince’s residence? It’s just that …… think it’s a little hard to deal with.”

Fan Si Zhe lowered his head, and immediately realized what his brother was worried about. The Grand Prince had chosen to invite Fan Xian and the Second Prince to his party at the end of the 10th year, so he thought that the Grand Prince was still trying to make peace with his own two brothers, and it was impossible for his brother not to give face to the Grand Prince, but… …it is even more impossible to let go of the second prince, no wonder it is so difficult.

Thinking he had figured out the reason for his elder brother’s heavy heart, he shook his head and said, “Eat as you wish, and anyway, if you don’t answer anything, there’s nothing the Grand Prince can do about you.”

Fan Xian smiled, “That’s also true.” He looked at his brother twice and suddenly said, “You really want to go out? Then you can’t get out of the car, you can only look around in the car.”

Fan Si Zhe was overjoyed, pitifully looked at him, since the return of Northern Qi, he has been locked up in the mansion, even the ancestor worship on the first day of the Lunar New Year can only kowtow to a few heads in the carriage, long ago he was suffocated, listening to his elder brother’s order, and nodded his head unceasingly.

The car traveled between Kyoto, snow particles such as willow flakes gently floated down again.

The two Fan brothers strolled around the busy streets of Kyoto twice, in the middle of which they went to the Tanya Bookstore to learn more about the recent situation. The two proprietors came, Qingyu Hall that replaced the seven leaves of the shopkeeper rushed to get on the car to report, just to listen to the report is only secondary, Fan Si Zhe just want to see this year when he started his own small bookstore only.

Leaving Tanyu Bookstore, and went to hold the moon building.

Carriage parked in the side of the hidden back door, Fan Si Zhe tilted his face, looking at the three-story building, small face is full of old man’s sigh of relief, previously looked at the Tanyu Bookstore, has made him quite emotional, at this time looking at the brothel that changed the destiny of his life, the complexity of those feelings in the brain all of a sudden came up.

Fan Xian lifted the curtain and walked down, saying, “Come on.”

Fan Si Zhe was overjoyed, and without saying anything, followed him out of the car.

Someone had greeted him at the back door, and the group quietly entered the backyard, went straight up the quiet staircase to the third floor, and sat in the room that had been empty.

Fan Si Zhe excitedly twisted his head and looked around, his palms touching the antique-colored furniture imitating the style of the Great Wei that he had arranged with his own hands from time to time, his face full of reluctance and excitement.

Fan Xian smiled and glanced at him, in his heart he was not worried about his brother’s safety, in Kyoto, as long as he followed himself out, no one dared to do anything by force, just looking at Fan Si Zhe’s expression, his emotions suddenly gave birth to a little touch …… like Si Zhe and Lao San this kind of guy, in fact, if you want to take the good and evil to the theory, I’m afraid that all are to be cut by a thousand cuts, while he is the same person, but he is the same person. The role of a thousand knives, but he has always stood firmly behind them.

He laughed to himself and thought to himself, he really isn’t a good person.

There was no one else in the compartment, only Sang Wen and Shi Qing’er serving in person, and after drinking a cup of hot tea, Fan Xian gave a wink to Sang Wen, and the two of them walked to the secret room hidden at the back.

Fan Si Zhe was not surprised, he didn’t even look at the two of them, he just continued to gossip with Shi Qing Er, between the lines, he was very concerned about the operation of Holding the Moon Building after he left Qing, until he listened to Shi Qing Er relaying Fan Xian’s slight innovations to Holding the Moon Building, as well as the indenture situation of the girls in the building, he then opened his mouth wide, sucked in a mouthful of cool air, and looked at the secret room with a different gaze.

Fan Si Zhe to elder brother really heartily admire, so a change, seemingly the building ate some losses, in fact, is to collect the hearts of the people, and reduce too much unnecessary dark expenditure.

He shook his fat face and secretly marveled, “I will only earn silver, but my brother will earn hearts.”

What Fan Xian wanted was the loyalty of his subordinates, and the important use of this Moon Embracing House outside of sucking up the silver of the powerful and wealthy was intelligence gathering, and this kind of work could only be taken care of by the Sang Wen girl who was loyal to him.

“Have you been to Chen Yuan recently?” Fan Xian looked at the gentle woman and seemed to ask without meaning to.

Sang Wen shook her head, “No.”

Fan Xian nodded, Sang Wen was her own direct subordinate, as long as Old Cripple Chen didn’t say anything, it would be impossible for the rules and regulations of the institution and the corresponding workflow to interfere with her actions.

“How’s the preparation of what I want?”

Sang Wen took out a sealed kraft paper bag and handed it over, saying, “The information about the embroidery bureau is very good to hand, it is just …… not good to start that thing you want to check.”

She smiled bitterly and said, “The medical officers of the Tai Hospital are all old men, where would they come to visit a green house? If you really want to investigate the Imperial Hospital, I think it’s more convenient to start from the courtyard.”

Fan Xian shook his head and said, “I said beforehand that this matter is a private matter, and it absolutely cannot go through the courtyard. …… Another thing is that the doctors of the Imperial Hospital are all old men, but what about their disciples? That can all be young people.”

Sang Wen’s lips are a little wide, but not how ugly, but with her gentle face set off a different feeling, she opened her mouth, said bitterly, “Those students of the Imperial Hospital salary is too small, not out of the teacher will not be able to diagnose alone, that is, the Kyoto mansions are not allowed to go to …… to them to come to hold the moon building is really is difficult.”

Fan Xian took out the dossier from the kraft paper bag, squinted his eyes and looked at it carefully, relying on his own memory that surpassed that of the rest of the world, he memorized most of the key contents of the dossier, and then handed it back.

Sang Wen took out a brass basin, put the dossier and the kraft paper bag in the basin and burned them carefully, all of them burned to ashes before standing up.

Fan Xian digested the intelligence in his head, closed his eyes and shook his head, saying, “This is as far as you go on your side.”

Sang Wen gave a slight blessing and said, “Yes.”

Fan Xian took his brother and left the Moon Embracing Mansion, only he didn’t stay in the mansion, and after sending Si Zhe back, he got back on the black carriage.

He was thinking in the middle of the carriage, and no matter whether it was the peripheral intelligence obtained from the Supervisory Court’s side or the snippets of information grasped here at the Moon Embracing House, he had only managed to come up with a relatively vague and definitive conclusion.

The Prince’s change, indeed, began half a year ago, when Fan Xian was far away in Jiangnan, and simply did not know what was happening beneath the calm surface of Kyoto, but …… there was no doubt that the philodendron disease that had been plaguing the Prince, and which had always made his mental state seem a bit inferior and cowardly, had been cured, and this matter had caused the Imperial Hospital, which had been privy to the inside information, to go into a collective frenzy. This event caused the Imperial Hospital, which knew the inside story, to collectively fall into an ecstasy, all of them believing that it was the grace of the heavenly gods that bestowed blessings on the Kingdom of Qing.

From that time onwards, because of his physical recovery, the crown prince began to radiate a kind of self-confidence, and became more calm, revealing in the calmness the calmness that an emperor should have in the future.

The Empress Dowager loved this transformation, and His Majesty also seemed to have some unexpected joy.

After getting confirmation from Hong Zhu, Fan Xian fell into some kind of contemplation, from the psychological level, he could deduce certain things, but …… Rapunzel might just be treating the Crown Prince as some kind of substitute, or even treating him as a pet like a white rabbit, but what about the Crown Prince? Even if he was the passive party, but where did he get the guts from?

Whether it was the cowardly self-preservation of that previous Crown Prince, or the calm self-possession of this current Crown Prince, there should be no such guts to do such a ridiculous thing. Although it was politically beneficial, the Crown Prince still didn’t seem like someone with this kind of guts because he wasn’t crazy enough.

So before agreeing with Hong Zhu, the first thing Fan Xian did was to investigate the cause of this matter, which he felt was really a bit odd.

As the carriage lurched and lurched, Fan Xian’s brow wrinkled tightly, as a Fei Xie heir, he was too familiar with such things as medicines, so after roughly understanding the entire state of affairs, he subconsciously placed his skeptical gaze on …… medicine.

Medicine.

In this world, although the flower and willow is not an incurable disease, but it is also a troublesome thing that will make people lingering sick, very difficult to live with, or else the crown prince will not be in pain for so many years, and the Imperial Hospital is secretly troubled for so many years.

What kind of medicine, can in such a short period of time, the Prince cured? And what kind of medicine, can make the crown prince’s guts so much?

So he arranged for Sang Wen to start checking the clues along the way, using other reasons of course. However, after checking and checking, he realized that the back of this clue was actually a fog, the intelligence power of the Moon Embracing House was limited, and the auxiliary investigation on the side of the Supervisory Court had not made the slightest progress.

Fan Xian began to feel a hint of danger, as if he was being watched by an icy gaze behind his back, was this a trap? Could it be that someone had set up a trap, but had asked himself to uncover these things?

If he continued to dig deeper, he was worried that he would alert that powerful figure hidden behind the curtain, so he cut short his pursuit of the medicine and turned back to the path he should take.

Because he figured out one thing, no one knew about his own relationship with Hong Zhu, and since that was the case, no one should think to take advantage of that relationship. If there really was another hand trying to manipulate this event, then it should have the same purpose as his own, as long as he wasn’t involved when it happened, that hand couldn’t possibly take advantage of him.

The medicine is the key, but not the key, the key is still the Prince’s heart, the medicine may be able to play a certain role in promoting the role, but this kind of action is really rare and powerful. Fan Xian guessed, if the drug really has a problem, then who will do it?

In an instant, several names immediately surfaced in his mind, and those who had the motivation to do this kind of thing were no more than himself, who hated the Princess and the Crown Prince at all times, as well as the Second Highness, who had the help of the Ye family but began to vaguely feel that the Crown Prince was going to snatch away the position of his own in the heart of the Princess.

There may even be …… an emperor.

Fan Xian in the carriage was creeped out and subconsciously shook his head, although he had always been on guard against the emperor, but the emperor was really not bad to him, not like this kind of person. Moreover, not to mention the fact that the emperor himself had apologized to the eldest princess, even if he wanted to clean the courtyard, where would he bother to use this kind of dusty means.

Of course, the first name that sprang to Fan Xian’s mind was actually Chen Pingping, because from the medicine, he naturally thought of Fei Jie. But nothing could be found out, he didn’t dare to take the risk of checking, naturally he couldn’t confirm anything, so he had to call it quits.

The carriage traveled to a remote mansion, exactly the one that Wang Qinian bought with a few hundred taels of silver back then. Fan Xian walked straight in, moved a chair in the innermost room and sat down, looking at the withered old man across the room in silence.

Wang Qinian said bitterly, “Zi Yue is outside to resign, he will go to North Qi tomorrow, Mu Tie that guy doesn’t dare to pick up a …… place.”

Fan Xian waved his hand to stop and said directly, “You know what I want to hear is not these things.”

“It’s also good for you to go to Lord Yan.” Wang Qinian cried and said, “The next official is not good at this …… again …… this is a big crime of exterminating nine clans.”

Fan Xian glared at him and said, “What’s the crime? It’s not like we’re the ones who messed up the crap.”

Wang Qinian glanced at him fearfully, thinking, even if it’s not extermination of the nine clans, but he knows about that matter, if he lets the people in the palace know about it, he will not be able to escape death even if he is able to fly …… again with both wings of the Supervisory Yuan.

Fan Xian smiled gently, patted his thin shoulders and said: ”What does this mean? This shows that you are my most trusted person …… Besides, my things you are clear, random which is a matter of losing head, still afraid of this one more?”

Wang Qinian suddenly regretted that after coming back from Beiqi, he should have taken over one place right away according to the meaning of Lord Fan and the dean, instead of going back to Lord Fan again to regain control of the Qinian group, in that case, he must not see the case that he shouldn’t have seen even if he was blind, and he must not have heard the secret news that he shouldn’t have heard even if he was deaf.

“Someone is checking.” In the light snow of Chen Garden, Chen Pingping who was sitting on the wheelchair was wearing a thick fur cloak, looking at the ice ballast that was gradually condensing on the water of the pond in the garden, and smiled and said, “Checking is very skillful, hiding deeply, and can’t confirm what kind of person it is yet.”

Fei Suo glanced at Lord Dean, shook his head and said, “There are still three months before the scheduled time, I hope that there will be no trouble.”

“I wonder if Crazy Girl has sensed something.” Chen Pingping sighed, “But the lady said that the camel really dies, and only needs to press the last straw …… I won t live for a few years, this straw must be put up in a hurry.”