Chapter 168 – The Grapes of Wrath

“Why?”

Faced with his son’s extremely shocked follow-up question, Minister Fan did not continue with the topic and smiled before turning to say, “Is the situation in the palace still safe and sound?”

Fan Xian was stunned before responding, “The Grand Hallkeeper is on duty with injuries, the Empress Dowager is seriously ill, and the Crown Prince has been put in the Eastern Palace, so there shouldn’t be any problems.”

“Uh-huh.” Fan Jian nodded, looking at him with a hint of softness gradually showing in his eyes, and said in admiration, “You’ve been back to the capital for only seven or eight days, and to be able to hold Kyoto for his majesty in such a treacherous situation, I have to say that your progress has already exceeded my expectations, and your performance has been very good.”

Being praised by his father, Fan Xian had little joy in his heart, and said with a bitter smile, “I fought to the death with my boss in Kyoto, but who could have expected that his majesty was the one who had calculated everything, and if there hadn’t been the Dingzhou army’s eventual backwash, the imperial city wouldn’t have been able to be defended today in any case …… ”

Did not wait for him to finish his words, Fan Jian waved his hand and blocked: “His Majesty’s deep wisdom and far-reaching holy heart, naturally, it’s not for us to be subjects to be able to presume to speculate …… ” The tone of these words exuded a few hints of unnaturalness, and he then sighed: “About the Ye family’s problem, really out of everyone’s expectation, successive years of persecution, turned out to be His Majesty’s a subtle move.”

He looked at Fan Xian and slightly revealed a Confucian smile, “From this, it seems that after the Kyoto Valley sniping a year and a half ago, your judgment was correct, and I was wrong.”

Fan Xian was silent. After last year’s sniping in the valley, he and his father had studied the problem of those city crossbows, and although it was clear that it was the old Qin family’s doing, he had also thought about whether His Majesty would be angry with Ye Chong, and thus talked about the military arrangement of all parties in Qing, and suddenly realized that in the past twenty years, in addition to Ye Chong who had been serving as the commander of Kyoto’s guard divisions, the palace’s forbidden army commander and the head of the palace’s guards were under the control of a single person, which only appeared in the Gong Deng.

At that time, Fan Xian had once doubted this point, since His Majesty had once placed such trust in the Ye family, why did he force the Ye family to join forces with the Second Prince and fall to the side of the Eldest Princess. But Fan Jian gave what he thought was the reason, and Fan Xian thought it was reasonable, so he let the doubt go.

Unexpectedly, this time, during the chaos in Kyoto, this doubt finally revealed the truth, the truth of His Majesty’s hidden and suspicious weakness.

His Majesty had constructed a great mystery that not only confused the Princess and everyone else in the world, but even Fan Jian, a close confidant who had grown up with him since childhood, had been deceived to death.

Speaking of the valley sniping, Fan Xian’s eyes involuntarily floated back to the white snow, red blood, and the heads in front of the Privy Council that day, as well as his own arrogance. He could not help but let out a bitter laugh, thinking how childish and ridiculous his arrogance that day seemed at this point in front of His Majesty and the Eldest Princess.

His heart moved and he opened his mouth to ask: “Father, my child has always had a question, why did Qin Ye he …… betray His Majesty?”

This is not only his question, but also the question of many people. It was just that the struggle for imperial power, the struggle for the great power of the world, made everyone naturally think that the betrayal of the Qin family was a matter of course, just like every internal tipping in the history books.

But Fan Xian heard the words of the Princess before she died, and a poisonous flower blossomed in his heart, and he began to pay extra attention to this problem–although the Qin family had a 10% stake in the Ming family, and although the Qin family had secretly instructed the Jiaozhou navy to massacre the island, for a military patriarch, his face alone was enough to make his majesty gently dismiss this matter–as long as he had remained loyal to his majesty. –As long as he remains loyal to His Majesty.

And His Majesty is what kind of character, if not never suspected Qin Ye’s loyalty, and how to let him in the position of Privy Council Envoy for so many years, these years, Master Qin has been claimed sick not dynasty, this center of the secret of the position has not been empty out.

After he told this doubt, Fan Jian did not contemplate, directly and indifferently said, “Also in the day of the valley sniping, I would have once said …… that the head of the Empress father was cut off by me, but who knows, those heads that should be cut off, is not really cut off. ”

Fan Xian’s heart trembled at the tip of his heart, understanding what his father meant. The fact that the old Qin family was plotting a rebellion on the side of the Elder Princess might not be unconnected to the strange death of his mother twenty years ago.

“Back then, I went with His Majesty to fight in the Western Hu, Chen Pingping was transferred to the Yanjing area to cope with the urgent situation in the north, and Ye Chong also followed the army stationed in Dingzhou to press the battlefield for His Majesty…….” Fan Jian lowered his curtains and said slowly:” …… And Qin Ye at that time in accordance with the court’s old practice, to the identity of the Privy Council, control the center of the military power in Kyoto. No one would find it strange to say that he was also involved in the change in Kyoto.”

It was strange, if Elder Qin was also one of the culprits in the murder of Ye Qingmei, then on the bloody night of Kyoto four years later, when the Empress’s clan was decimated cleanly, and the princes and nobles of Kyoto were bloodied, why was the Qin family not implicated in any way? If His Majesty Chen Pingping’s father and the three of them teamed up to avenge their mother’s death, how could they spare Master Qin?

Meeting Fan Xian’s questioning gaze, Fan Jian slowly said, ”The problem is that there was never any evidence that the Qin family was involved in this matter. Just as with the Empress Dowager, there is at most a crime of connivance ……”

Fan Xian frowned slightly. Chen Pingping had also once said this to herself, regarding her mother’s death, the Empress Dowager should not be the culprit, and only have a crime of connivance. However, today, after consulting with his father, Fan Xian suddenly thought, I’m afraid that President Chen’s mind also had some other ideas, and had endless doubts about the role that the Qin family had once played.

The person who could best prove Chen Pingping’s thoughts on the Qin family was naturally the Vice Commander of the Black Riders – Jing Ge. Like such a dangerous person who hated to exterminate the Qin family, Chen Pingping still quietly put him under her tent, what was the reason for that? Was it for the purpose of turning against the Qin family in the future?

Fan Xian’s heart felt a chill. If the Qin family was really involved in the murder of Ye Qingmei as Chen Pingping had expected, why had he survived until now? As soon as he thought of this, a cold current began to gush out of his body from the inside, and countless chills seeped out from his pores, making this study room as cold as the third quarter of winter.

He had guessed countless times, infinitely close to that truth. But he didn’t dare to ask, even Chen Pingping didn’t dare to ask. Moreover, Chen Pingping was also infinitely cold and cut off from him, not giving him any chance to open his mouth.

Fan Xian has always had a knot in his heart, so he has been quietly shifting his center of gravity towards Northern Qi, and has a natural fear of the Qing Dynasty. And today this knot seemed to be about to open up, revealing the dark and murky truth inside. So he fell silent, smiled faintly at his father, and said, “If the Qin family is truly involved in this matter, today is also considered to be suffering retribution.”

Worried that his father would follow this train of thought and think of something he had previously hidden fear of, he snatched his mouth open and said, “His Majesty will be returning to the capital in a few days, and this dynasty was previously preparing for His Majesty’s aftermath, but I don’t know how to turn it around for a while.”

Fan Jian laughed after being slightly stunned, “These things naturally have the Ministry of Rites to worry about. Why do you need to pay so much attention to it?”

Fan Xian shrugged his shoulders and said nothing more. Fan Shangshu also fell silent, a hint of doubt on his face. The atmosphere in the study was somewhat bizarre.

I’m sure that in Kyoto tonight, those powerful ministers who had survived were all silent in their respective residences. No one thought that His Majesty the Emperor would actually be able to come down from Dadong Mountain alive, and after being shocked, and then associating it with the ambush move of the Ye family in the conspiracy and the many watertight calculations, all the ministers’ reverence and slight fear of His Majesty the Emperor had been elevated to an unprecedented level.

Fan Xian looked at his silent father and got up to say a few more words before turning to leave.

Walking out of the study, he marched towards the back garden on the back street, ready to check on Wan’er. Along the way, the night breeze was as cool as water in autumn, pouncing on his face with an unexplained burst of pleasure. He took a deep breath to maintain the injuries in his body, and thought somewhat blankly in his mind. Chen Pingping’s letting go in the valley sniping was exactly that kind of cut, the old cripple was worthy of being the most powerful person under the sky, having seen everything long ago, but carefully keeping the truth from himself, doing those things alone, and also using those cuts to maintain his own peace afterward.

Fan Xian had been studying Chen Pingping, so he could only be silent tonight. Father would then have to resign and return to his home town, so why let his own speculations keep him trapped in Kyoto’s peril again and unable to extricate himself? For the sake of each other’s safety, each other have to cut, this is the real love.

As Chen Pingping loved herself.

At this time, Fan Xian wanted to see Chen Pingping very much.

At this time, Chen Pingping was traveling around Kyoto in a dashing manner, occasionally giving orders for the Supervisory Yuan to cooperate with His Majesty’s actions in the world. Even if he were to hurry back to Kyoto before the Emperor arrived, it could not be this evening.

However, someone came to the Fan Mansion looking for Fan Xian. The night was already late at this point, and before Fan Xian had a chance to see his wife, he was somewhat helplessly invited out of the mansion. He looked at Gong Dian at the door, took a deep breath, suppressed the slightest bit of irritation in his heart, and saluted, “Lord Gong.”

Earlier, he and his father had also discussed this man in the study, knowing that he was one of His Majesty’s most trusted people, and naturally spoke with extreme discretion. And in Gong Dian’s opinion, young Lord Fan was His Majesty’s closest son or nephew, so he didn’t dare to be too big for his own good, bowing as an inferior and saying in a deep voice, “There’s something I need to trouble Duke Tanyu.”

Nowadays, Fan Xian was ranked among the dukes, so he could afford this salute, not to mention that in the day or two before the emperor returned to the capital, he was falsely still a minister supervising the state. Just hearing the word trouble, Fan Xian knew that there must be big trouble, and couldn’t help but get a real headache.

Today’s Kyoto has too many people died, Fan Xian’s mood is not very good. The battle in the four fields of Kyoto was still raging, but the city had gradually stabilized, and he desperately needed to rest and think for a while, and being disturbed by someone certainly didn’t make him look good.

But was it so easy to be a Supervisor? Fan Xian forced down the irritation in his heart and looked at him, trying his best to say calmly, “What is it?”

Gong Dian looked at him, seemingly a little hesitant and in trouble, even when he was in the middle of a formation of tens of thousands of rebels during the day, slashing at the military patriarch, Master Qin, it had never been this difficult.

Fan Xian did not say anything either, but just looked at him calmly. Perhaps the pressure was too great, Gong Dian swallowed a mouthful of water and said, “Please, Your Excellency, go to the royal residence, I can t persuade the young lady ……”

Get this, as soon as these words came out, Fan Xian immediately understood what had happened. During the daytime, he was busy killing and saving people, and didn’t even think about this piece, at this time, when the night was deep and quiet, and the smoke was slightly dispersed, he immediately thought of a big trouble that the Ye family would immediately run into after following His Majesty to make a million achievements.

“The marshal went out of the capital to pursue the attack, and ordered the last general to pick up the young lady to return to the house. Unexpectedly, the young lady swore to die not from ……” Gong Dian evening at the Zheng Yang Gate to watch for a long time, the night immediately after the big trouble encountered. He knew that in Kyoto nowadays, Fan Xian was probably the only one who could handle this matter and was qualified to deal with the royal family’s affairs, so he no longer cared about the face of the Dingzhou side, and stated the problem very directly.

Fan Xian continued to look at Gong Dian quietly, letting him speak, there was no color of contempt and mockery in his gaze, but it made Gong Dian feel a wave of unexplained uneasiness and shame.

Fan Xian took a deep breath and said nothing. Among the people who were still alive in this whole affair, the ones who suffered the most were only Wan’er and her bosom friend Ye Ling’er. His wife’s heart was hurt by the death of her birth mother, while Ye Ling’er’s aggrieved anger was only not slightly less.

When Ye Ling’er married the second prince, also really counted on the love. But no one can guess, this marriage, but only the emperor and Ye Chong between the proposed plan of a ring. In other words, Ye Ling’er was not even a pawn, she only gave her feelings and marriage to become a bargaining chip for the Ye family to win the trust of the Eldest Princess’ side. It was only when things came to a head that she would be shocked to realize that her father was bent on dealing with her husband.

Of course, her husband was also determined to use her to control the Dingzhou Army.

Thinking about this, Fan Xian couldn’t help but think of the three words that the Princess had said before she died–that all men in the world were controlled by fame, power, and the so-called ideal righteousness of uniting the world, and that they really weren’t anything–perhaps including himself. But he asked himself that he could not do such a thing, and for the Ye Chong who sold his daughter, he was born with countless loathing.

Gong Dian seemed to guess what was going on in his mind, and his expression was very unnatural.

Fan Xian shook his head and said, “The second prince is also imprisoned in the mansion?”

Gong Dian answered.

Fan Xian bowed his head and said, “There is no harm. His Majesty on the Great Eastern Mountain once said that if you can not kill, then do not kill, especially …… Chengze.”

Gong Dian looked up in shock. He knew that His Majesty had survived, but this was the first time he knew that His Majesty on the Great Eastern Mountain had personally given this message to Fan Xian. If His Majesty was truly willing to leave the second prince alive, that was truly an invitation to heaven.

Dingzhou up and down actually like Ling’er this girl, so today, once the truth is broken, Ye Ling’er in the center of the royal residence in the mourning as if dead, all the Dingzhou army, all feel incomparable shame and uneasiness. At this time heard that the second prince does not need to die, Ye Ling’er naturally do not have to be a widow, is also considered to be a good account of some.

Fan Xian sighed in his heart, thinking of His Majesty’s explanation on Dadong Mountain, he could only understand that His Majesty had already confidently calculated that he would definitely return to the capital safely, and that the Princess leading the Crown Prince and the Second Prince would surely be defeated, and that was why he would deliberately remind himself to leave his second son with a life.

Leaving the second oldest with a life was actually just leaving Ye Ling’er a man, leaving the Ye family, the great meritorious man, with a trace of face. Otherwise, if the second oldest died violently, how would Ye Ling’er be able to live with herself? The world would talk about it, how would the Ye family live?

Although His Majesty had already made his calculations, Fan Xian still went to the royal residence. Because even though he didn’t have any good feelings for the second prince, Ye Ling’er had called him master countless times after all. And as a Supervisor, he always had to handle the captured prince with care, so if something really went wrong in the royal mansion, he would not be able to explain it.

Did not look up to see the plaque on the mansion, he was accompanied by Gong Dian directly into the interior. Surrounded by soldiers and guards, even if the second prince still has power in his hands, it is difficult to transform into a mosquito and fly out of this cage.

This is the first time Fan Xian stepped into the second prince’s residence, the feeling in his heart is a little strange. I don’t know what that brother, whose temperament and appearance are somewhat similar to his own, is thinking at this moment.

Gong Dian stayed outside the backyard, and Fan Xian went in alone. The garden was quiet and tranquil. It did not look like the king’s mansion. There were still lights in the room, so it seemed that even though the night was late, the young prince and princess still couldn’t sleep.

Entered the door only to see Ye Ling’er a person, is full of miserable, sitting silently at the table, did not say a word, the corners of the eyes are still tearstains, the usual pair of bright eyes like jade, but more than a few indefinable fatigue and aggrieved, and more is still hidden but not issued anger.

At this moment, the princess was like a tiger that could pounce and bite someone to death at any time. Not to mention being utilized by her husband, being deceived by her father and thrown out by her family, how could she bear this?

Fan Xian felt a faint sense of pity in his heart, walked to her side, and said in a harmonious voice, “Gong Dian’s good intentions are to let you return to the palace. When things lighten up in a few days, won’t you and Cheng Ze still be together?”

Ye Ling’er was shocked, only then did she realize that it was him who came into the house, and the color of mockery in her eyes was great. She was about to mock him, but her heart went into mourning and she lowered her head and cried silently.

Fan Xian had never seen Ye Ling’er in such a graceful and sad manner, and for a while he didn’t know how to persuade her.

After a long time, Ye Ling’er lifted her head and looked at him with eyes that were a little lifeless: “Now that you are not in the palace to do your supervisory duties, what are you doing in the king’s mansion?”

“To persuade you.” Fan Xian replied very directly.

Ye Ling’er slowly shook her head.

“Don’t be stubborn. This matter your father also has no method …… After all is said and done, if Lao Er could listen to you in the beginning and not get involved in this matter, why would there be this situation today.”

Looking at Ye Ling’er’s forlorn and sad appearance, Fan Xian was irritated for no apparent reason. In the past few years, he had made every effort to fight against the second prince, and one of his subconscious thoughts was to use the Supervisory Board and His Majesty’s favor to cripple the second prince’s power and break his mind of seizing the throne, but he didn’t expect that the second prince’s heart of seizing the power was so heavy, and coupled with the Princess’s wonderful hand of teasing, this policy didn’t even play the slightest role.

Ye Ling’er smiled sadly and said softly: “Master, I naturally won’t blame you for this matter. How he ended up is his own business. Even you couldn’t beat back his blazing heart these past few years, how can I, a daughter, persuade him?”

“You also don’t need to persuade me to leave the house …… He is involved in a rebellion, who will give him a way out?” Ye Ling’er’s face gradually calmed down, “Regardless of what kind of person Cheng Ze is, but I am ultimately married to him. Since my father and the people of the clan never treated me as a human being, it would be better for me to go with him and be a couple again in the Yellow Springs. I don’t think he’ll still be dreaming of being an emperor in that lonely, clear land.”

Fan Xian’s heart flinched, clearly seeing a hint of death wish in Ye Ling’er’s calm expression, his voice trembled slightly and he said, “Ming and you said, His Majesty personally passed the decree to me on Dadong Mountain, Chengze …… won’t die.”

Hearing this, Ye Ling’er suddenly looked up, a trace of expectation and unexpected joy flashed in her eyes, but then immediately dimmed, making Fan Xian somewhat puzzled.

Ye Ling’er shook her head and sighed softly, “Everyone says that he is gentle on the outside, but cold and unfeeling on the inside, in fact, this is not wrong …… even his mother in the palace, she is also holding her courtesy to him. He this life, and how to feel what really warm flavor? He is not only heartless towards people, he is also extremely cold towards himself.”

“I am his wife, always have to understand him more than you outsiders …… You all don’t know what kind of proud and conceited person he is in his heart, this complete failure, gave him how big a blow. Even if Father Emperor leaves him a way to live, but how can he have the face to continue to live?”

She raised her head and looked at Fan Xian with a bemused and sad look, “After returning to the house, he has refused to say a single word …… I know that he already has a death wish. If even I am gone at this time of the year, and all the people in the world have abandoned him …… he must have gone very dryly.”

Fan Xian took a deep breath and said directly, “Where is he?”

Second Prince Li Chengze was squatting on a chair, carrying a bunch of purple grapes in his hand that he was sending to his lips. Fan Xian had seen this scene countless times before, but this night’s Second Prince, with his hair draped in disarray and a hint of an expression that no one could understand on his handsome face, the corners of his lips curled up slightly as if he was mocking something, and the whole person looked unusually disheveled.

“If you die, who will be the old age of Shu Guifei? What about the crown princess?” Fan Xian sat down across from him and spoke as calmly as he could. Eyes leveled at each other, he seemed to see another self.

Fan Xian and the Second Prince were extremely close in temperament, which was news that had long been spread in Kyoto. The two clearly did not have similar eyebrows, but sitting opposite each other, it was as if they were looking at themselves in a mirror through a layer of mirrors.

Fan Xian looked at each other and thought in his heart, if his mother was not Ye Qingmei, if he switched his identity with his second, I’m afraid that today he would only be able to sit in a chair and eat grapes without spitting out their skins.

The second prince seemed to have only realized Fan Xian’s arrival at this moment, and with a slight smile, said, “Will I survive?”

Fan Xian had no choice but to repeat His Majesty’s decree.

The second prince smiled sarcastically to himself and said, “To live like a yellow dog, to be secluded in the mansion for the rest of my life, to wait until my father’s hundred years will come to an end, and before the new emperor takes the throne, the Ye family will also be slaughtered like a dog, and I will then be given to death……. Do you think that if I survive, my future life, is it this kind of thing? ”

Fan Xian was silent.

“Since this is the case, why would I bother dragging Ling’er down again, dragging down …… that shameless father in law?” The Second Prince shrugged his shoulders, “And there’s really no point in living like this.”

Fan Xian opened his mouth, “It seems that your ambition has finally been worn down.”

The second prince suddenly stopped sending grapes to his mouth, the purple grapes of early autumn were sweet and juicy, and the smile on his face at this time was just as sweet, he looked at Fan Xian and said quietly, “Now that I think about it, what you said in the tea store in front of the Moon Embracing Building was correct……. For the past two years you’ve been thinking about knocking my ambitions down. Thinking back, I must thank you.”

“Speaking of marvelous, I thought with all my heart that my aunt would help me, and with all my heart that my father-in-law would help me …… But looking at it, it turns out that it is you, the biggest enemy of my life, who still used to have so much sincerity towards me.”

The second prince exclaimed in admiration, “You are truly an anomaly in our old Li family, Miss Ye is really as unusual as rumored.”

“And me?” The Second Prince continued, laughing loudly and snotty, “What am I? I thought that I was too calculating, with countless helpers behind me, and that the throne was just around the corner, but where did I expect that everything was arranged by Father, and that I, a smart person, was worse than a chess piece, not even as good as the coward that is Chengqian, and that I couldn’t do anything about it, and that I had no solutions, and that I was just like a small child with no hands and feet, and that I only knew to foolishly watch all of this happen… …”

The Second Prince raged, his voice getting higher and higher. It was unknown what he was angry about, but it was clearly not directed at Fan Xian; perhaps he was angry at being put in the position of a millstone by his father since his childhood and being forced to take one step at a time to get to where he was today, perhaps he was angry at Ye Chong’s relentless backlash, or perhaps he was angry at being born in the middle of the palace.

Fan Xian was silent. From Wan’er, she knew that this second brother, who had been very close to her since childhood, was called Stone, but even if he was a simple and stubborn stone, having been sharpened by His Majesty’s sword of imperial power for so many years, he would also take on some hostility and negativity for no reason at all.

“What am I?” Second Prince Li Chengze stared at Fan Xian and pointed at himself, tears and snot streaking across his face as he laughed loudly, “I’m a joke!”

Fan Xian wanted to say that in front of His Majesty the Emperor, it seemed as if everyone …… under the sky was a joke. However, this sentence did not come out of his mouth because he was shocked to see the second prince who was laughing and crying at the same time spit out a mouthful of black blood after saying the word joke.

A mouthful of black blood spit out onto the purple grapes.