Chapter 118 – The Torture Chamber and the Testament

On the quiet long street of Suzhou, the clearly resounding sound of carriage wheels masked a cry of alarm from the car.

The Third Prince said after a shock, “This lawsuit can still be fought?”

“Why can’t it be fought?” Fan Xian smiled and said, “Whether or not we can win the fight is another story, but the fight is a must.”

The third prince, after all, was only nine years old, still a child, listening to this matter, he became interested and said, “Sir, when the time comes, let’s go and see the fun, I heard that Xia Qufei’s real mother …… is now Ming Lao Taijun killed alive.”

Fan Xian sighed: “The lawsuit is a family property lawsuit, not an old murder case, and what’s being pulled is just the provisions above the Qing law documents, it’s not much fun.”

The third prince curiously said, “Sir, is there no chance of success?”

“No.” Fan Xian smiled bitterly and shook his head, “If this is all calculated …… then why bother doing those tricks? It only seeks to drag the time out, the longer the better.”

The Third Prince sullenly sat back in his chair, looking around at the unfamiliar streetscape that swept backward, and subconsciously asked, “Where are you going if you’re not going back to Hua Yuan at this time?”

Fan Xian looked at him and said, “His Majesty has asked Your Highness to study with me, and Your Highness has been attentive, and since Your Highness has also come out with the minister today …… you will stop by to learn what you will definitely need to learn in the future.”

The Third Prince was stunned, not knowing what Fan Xian was talking about.

The carriage went from the western city to the northern city, but did not enter the place where those hans were always entrenched, but instead quietly turned west along an alleyway, and under the cover of the night, with the members of the Qiyan group behind him on the alert, got rid of any tracking and stalking that might be there, and disappeared into the city of Suzhou.

The carriage stopped outside a private residence, which was secluded and quiet, making it extremely difficult to be noticed. Gao Da got down from the driver’s seat, his palm gripping the hilt of the long sword behind him, and after observing indifferently and meticulously for a while, he clenched his fist and signaled that it was safe for Fan Xian to get out of the carriage, holding the Third Prince’s hand.

Now the six assassins who stayed by Fan Xian’s side were all recuperating from their injuries, and the only two who were intact, Fan Xian didn’t want to let them die again. So for the time being, his personal safety was all handed over to the Tiger Guards and Qiyan group to take care of, and he appeared to be more and more careful in what he did.

Walking inside along the quiet doorway, the Third Prince felt a little hairy in his heart, surrounded by darkness, but his nose could smell a hint of fire smoke. This feeling made people a little creepy.

The little child subconsciously grabbed onto Fan Xian’s palm.

Into the house, turned to another room, but a bedroom, the room of an appliance are all in the room, the big bed dresser …… and even the bed there is a couple is sleeping!

The third prince opened his mouth wide, half a day didn’t make a sound, thinking to himself which one is this play? Fan Xian was slightly stunned, turned back to look at the leader of the Supervisory Yuan official a glance.

That official’s face was unchanged, walked straight to the bedside, pulled the hook on the bed frame, only to hear a cackling sound, the cloth curtain on the top of the bed was slowly pulled open, revealing a diagonal downward path, and then gestured a please action.

While he was doing this, the couple on the bed just moved in, not reacting in any way, not even glancing at the person next to the bed, as if they were blind and deaf, or as if Fan Xian’s party were ghosts.

Fan Xian looked at this scene, and couldn’t help but smile bitterly, scratching his head, always feeling very much like some kind of novel he had read in his previous life, not realizing that it was now becoming a fact in front of his eyes.

This private residence was naturally a secret apartment that the Supervision Yuan had placed around in Suzhou city.

By this point, the third prince naturally knew what place he had come to today, and holding Fan Xian’s hand, he cautiously walked towards the underground passageway, beating a drum in his heart as he said in a trembling voice, “Teacher, even though the student is a royal son, according to the rules of the dynasty, the student has no qualifications to know about the secret apartments of the Supervisory Yuan.”

Fan Xian laughed, “There are three to five secret apartments in every state and city, it’s not like it’s an out of the ordinary matter, as for the rules, with me here, no one can say anything.”

He was the Supervisory Court’s Tisan, and after Chen Pingping’s handwritten letter, he possessed the absolute supremacy of the Supervisory Court.

Hearing Fan Xian say this, the Third Prince slightly relaxed his heart and continued to march forward under the backdrop of those dim lights. In fact, the Supervisory Yuan around the apartment in Suzhou City is not the largest, but is the most secretive, down the line not long, will reach a secret room.

Indoor lighting quiet heavy, dim reflection of some cramped room, the room was born a stove charcoal fire, two branding irons, a few boxes of drugs, a few benches, more than a dozen branches or long or short, different shapes of metal sharp objects.

It was the standard configuration for forcing confessions, especially when paired with the two dying, bloodied people on top of the torture rack, it was even clearer.

Fan Xian sniffed this familiar and intimate scent, and couldn’t help but sniff, feeling the third prince’s hand grip tighter, and couldn’t help but smile in his heart, this little kid was acting deviously in the palace in Kyoto, but after all, he was still a child, and where had he really seen this kind of abattoir-like scene.

The four officials who are forcing confessions, because of the heat, have already taken off their clothes, naked to do things, see the boss of the boss’s boss suddenly came to the dark apartment, bluffed, hurriedly and hastily around to find clothes to wear.

Fan Xian waved his hand to stop their movements and said, “Keep doing things …… Ask how it went.”

An official was wearing a sleeve, lumbering over to a table in the corner of the room, carefully taking a few sheets of paper over, the very proceeds of a forced confession.

Fan Xian took a look at them and couldn’t help but frown, it was because he had been keeping the Junshan Society in mind that he had personally come to see the interrogation today in order to seize the day, but he hadn’t realized that it had already been several days that had passed, and there still hadn’t been much progress.

By the Supervisory Yuan captured, and has been on the means of the two people …… is exactly the night of March 22, in front of the Jiangnan residence assassination Xia Qufei two like swallows general assassins!

On that day, these two assassins were poisoned by the six swordsmen, saw the opportunity very quickly, and wanted to escape, but did not expect the way but was knocked unconscious by Haitang, after the Fan Xian side of the natural and unceremonious over, and hid in a dark apartment, tortured to force confessions, just want to know a little bit of the inside of the Junshan Association – for the Supervisory Yuan, the Junshan Association is really For the Procuratorate, the Junshan Society was really mysterious, and the fact that even the Procuratorate hadn’t been able to get a hold of the power was not something Fan Xian could not help but worry about.

A loose organization? And yet, it was able to use the Second Priest of the Temple of Celebration as a pawn?

Fan Xian frowned as he watched the results of his subordinates’ forced confessions, these two assassins were famous assassins in the Jiangnan area, highly skilled in martial arts and acting in a sinister manner, but they seemed to have little knowledge of the Junshan Society, and had only been bought by Ming’s family with silver to act.

“Wake them up.” He shook his head somewhat helplessly.

An official took a small vial and brought it to the end of the noses of the two people on the torture rack, letting them sniff, only to see that the two people struggled feebly for a while, their muscles twisted for a while, and the blood in the wounds on their bodies seeped out once again, and the people woke up.

The two assassins forcefully opened their eyes, their disoriented eyes were filled with fear, they had long since lost the hardness they had when they were captured at the very beginning, it seemed that they had been tortured by the cool officials around the Supervisory Yuan in the past few days.

Fan Xian and the Third Prince sat down on the not-so-clean bench. Fan Xian flipped through the paper in his hand and asked softly, “What does the Mr. Zhou …… in your mouths have to do with the Junshan Society?”

The two assassins knew the tactics of the Supervisory Court, and since they weren’t prepared to be martyrs, of course they had to rush to answer, hissing and growling, “My lord, Mr. Zhou is the Junshan Society’s accountant, and as for what exactly he does in there, I really don’t know.”

Fan Xian looked up in slight surprise, “Isn’t Mr. Zhou the head butler of the Ming family?”

An assassin said in a trembling voice, “Little man only heard about it once in a while, and that’s really all I know about the Junshan Society.”

“After staying up for a few days, the two of you are still quite energized, so it seems that you haven’t suffered too much.” Fan Xian shook his head.

A look of despair flashed across the eyes of both assassins.

The officials of the Supervisory Court, once again, began to torture, carrying out such unattractive yet repetitive and uninteresting work that the sounds of miserable howls rose and fell in the torture room, mournful but with no way to reach the ground.

Fan Xian did not bother to cover the Third Prince’s eyes.

The Third Prince looked at this scene, his face pale, but he forced his head not to turn to the side, just looking at this bloody scene, suddenly feeling that the food in his stomach, somewhat uncontrollably wanting to pour out of his throat, his chest depressed.

Fan Xian took a box of ointment from his pocket, picked a dab of it with the tip of his index finger, and rubbed it delicately under the third prince’s nose, and said softly: ”The matter of the Junshan Club has been reported to His Majesty …… that the other party’s guts are actually so great, and Your Highness will be able to understand that the other party possesses what kind of power, and that, for the enemy of today, the enemy of the future, there are some means we must use. Future enemies, there are some means we must learn, but …… absolutely cannot revel in them.”

The third prince knew what Fan Xian was teaching himself.

On that side, the fresh meat on the assassins’ chests had already mixed with the blood and water, turning into charred meatballs sizzling on top of the iron plate.

“The use of torture and cool officials …… cannot be viewed as a supreme remedy to maintain the rule of the court, but you can not become dependent on such means. Widely weaving a net, there are still fish that slip through the net, and torturing people to make confessions, but still can’t get all the information needed.” Fan Xian calmly said, “The way of the imperial court, leniency and strictness, faith is not doubtful, doubt is resolutely not used, to wide for this, the rest, just play a supporting role in …… small means.”

The third prince’s nose drilled into a very cool flavor, a little to go malicious, also listened to understand the meaning of Fan Xian, for Ming Qingda and Xia Qufei two very different attitudes, very clearly illustrates the Fan Xian letter is not doubt, doubt is resolutely do not use the method of doing things, and this night to come to observe the punishment, is to let himself understand, not all the powerful means can work.

“It’s not bad to be able to ask the Ming family.” Fan Xian reassured his subordinates, “Take care of the confession paper and recuperate these two people’s injuries, they’ll be useful in the future.”

After leaving this dark apartment of the Supervisory Board that was stationed around Suzhou City, Fan Xian’s mood was a bit heavy, he had initially expected to be able to trace the trail of the Junshan Society, but he did not realize that these two assassins were unable to ask for anything, so he had to teach the Third Prince a few things along the way, which was really just a way to cover up some sort of helpless embarrassment that he himself was experiencing.

Sitting on the carriage back to Hua Yuan, he thought carefully. After all, the Supervisory Academy is His Majesty s secret service agency, there are many things that can not be done openly and honestly, so from the organization of the institution, there are inherent limitations, for example, the number of people can not be too many …… so far away from the important town of Jiangnan nowadays, although it has always been an important monitoring territory in all directions, but the manpower still seems to be quite insufficient.

To investigate a mysterious organization like the Junshan Society that floats on the clouds, the strength of the Supervisory Yuan in Jiangnan today is far from enough.

At this moment, Fan Xian wished that Xiao Yan could be by his side, only that he also understood that Yan Bingyun was now in charge of the four regions and could not easily leave the capital, and that most of the work in one of the regions under his direct supervision also required Yan Bingyun to help Deng Ziyue get ideas.

Even if Wang Qinian was there, perhaps things would be much easier.

He sighed.

Yang Jimei had not only given Hua Yuan to Lord Fan Xian of the Qin Dynasty with both hands, he had also kept all the servants and cooks in the garden. After confirming the cleanliness of these people after an inspection by the Inspectorate, Fan Xian did not refuse this goodwill.

As a result, Si Si began to enjoy the treatment of a young granny in addition to all the things she had to do to stay close to her body, and although she herself was a little uncomfortable, there was nothing she could do about it, while the few poor little maids Fan Xian had bought on his way down to the south of the Yangtze River did not have the opportunity to do any menial work, and were truly raised like the big maids of a big family.

Especially praiseworthy, is Yang Jimei left the cook, the standard of high, simply can let the palace of the imperial chef shame, three meals a day to turn the pattern to get, even let Fan Xian can not go out to taste a taste of Jiangnan food, but willing to stay in the garden.

Si Si loved this cook the most, and the Third Prince hated him the most.

This morning, Fan Xian, Begonia and the three emperors are around the table drinking old corn mixed with diced ham and watercress boiled out of the porridge, the porridge color is really not very beautiful, but a few completely mismatched flavors mixed in one place, is extremely delicious strange, Fan Xian even drank three bowls of congee, so that next to the congee Sisi are a little too late.

Just at this time, playing outside the courtyard came a few people, accompanied by a tiger guard to go inside. When those people came to the courtyard, they looked at Fan Xian and the Third Prince sitting around the table, and then glanced at Haitang, and were shocked.

Fan Xian looked at the several people who stepped over the threshold and entered, his heart was even more shocked, the people who came were Sang Wen and Deng Ziyue, Miss Sang Wen had already traveled down to Jiangnan to help herself, but Deng Ziyue was not in the capital to guard a place, what did he run to Jiangnan to do? When Fan Xian saw clearly the person standing in the middle of the two, he was even more horrified and subconsciously stood up, exclaiming, “Dabao! Why are you here?”

Not bad, that between Sang Wen and Deng Ziyue stood carelessly, look demented, some cowering looking around the big fat …… is not Dabao or who is it?

Fan Xian bluffed and hurriedly walked forward, grabbing his great-uncle’s hand with one hand while asking Deng Ziyue, “What’s going on? Where is Wan Er?”

Deng Ziyue’s face was tired, said with a bitter smile, “Madam’s recent body is not very good, so temporarily slow some down Jiangnan, just …… this uncle young master heard to come to see you, so in the home has been making trouble, Shangshu adults will send the subordinate to bring this uncle young master to Jiangnan.”

“Nonsense.” Fan Xian sighed, but immediately afterward, his heart tightened and he asked anxiously, “Wan’er isn’t very well?”

“Oh, it’s fine.” With a gentle smile on her face, Miss Sang Wen, the flesh on her cheeks still so relatable, returned, “The county princess is about to suffer from the wind, and is a bit tired, so she’ll be fine after two days of nourishment.”

She took out two letters from her bosom and handed them to Fan Xian, saying, “This is a letter for your lordship.”

Fan Xian took them and saw that they were written by his father and Wan’er, and didn’t have time to read them, placing them in his arms first and saying in annoyance, “What does father mean by this? Jiangnan is in chaos now, why did you send Dabao here?”

At this time, Dabao suddenly grinned, grabbed Fan Xian’s ear and said, “Little Xian Xian, this time hide and seek, you hid for so …… long really powerful ah.”

The third prince, who was holding a bowl of porridge and staring curiously at the doorway, realized that the always terrifying Fan Xian was actually so …… unable to hold back any longer, and with a giggle, he sprayed the mouthful of porridge that he had been holding in his mouth.

Deng Ziyue smiled awkwardly, hurriedly and Sang Wen went up to salute His Third Highness, and didn’t dare to look at Fan Xian’s woeful appearance, I think these two on the road are also not good by this Dabao brother making a mess. Since Dabao has come, there must be a lot of people serving him along the way. Si Si understood the matter and hurriedly went out of the garden to accommodate those people. Fan Xian also finally put Dabao down, first placed him in the back of the garden to live, and let those all day nothing to do with the little maids to accompany him to get high on melon seeds. Only then did the front hall quiet down.

Haitang got up and gave a slight salute, then left the antechamber, knowing that Fan Xian must have a lot to talk about with Deng Ziyue.

After Deng Ziyue entered the hall, it was as if he hadn’t seen the village girl, but the other party took the initiative to salute him, so he still had to return the salute in a hurry.

Sitting on the table, Fan Xian frowned and said: “Last night I was thinking that there are really few people around me nowadays. It’s good that you’re here, but what about the capital?”

“In the capital, Mr. Xiao Yan is watching. After receiving the courtyard report you sent back to the capital, Lord Dean sent me to bring some people over to help.” Deng Ziyue explained, “Besides, the item you wanted to prepare, the second and third divisions were busy for several months before it was ready, so I simply sent it over on the way.”

Fan Xian shook his head, “I thought someone else would have sent it, but I didn’t realize it was you.”

He glanced at the Third Prince beside him, who was drinking congee and eavesdropping, and coughed twice, inviting this young master out.

After the Third Prince left somewhat sullenly, Fan Xian frowned and said, “When you came in earlier, why did you have such a strange expression?”

Teng Zi Yue glanced around and said with a bitter smile, “When I left the capital, the rumors in Kyoto were too fierce …… all saying that you and that Northern Qi saintly girl, Miss Haitang, went out on the same trip, sat in the same seat, and lied down …… in the courtroom to talk about the unbearable, and adults now in charge of the inner treasury, always want to avoid some suspicion, those officials in the court are preparing to borrow this matter to attack the adults …… subordinate did not expect to enter the Huayuan today, saw that girl, only to know that the rumors are true, can not help but be a little worried.”

“Lying then in the same bed?” Fan Xian laughed coldly, “It’s a loss for those people to think of it. Let’s not talk about this, and show me the things you brought with you.”

Deng Ziyue very carefully took out a flat box from his arms and handed it to Fan Xian.

Fan Xian lifted the lid of the box and carefully examined the piece of paper lying quietly in the middle of the box, which was slightly whitish-yellow in color, and the edges of the paper were slightly rolled up, so it could be seen that there were some years of age, and the handwriting on the paper was somewhat crooked, so it appeared that the person who wrote the paper was close to running out of gas.

“Well done.” Fan Xian frowned, “Although this suicide note still doesn’t play much of a role, this is what this family estate lawsuit is going to drag on.”

Deng Ziyue reported back, “Don’t worry, Your Excellency, the second and third divisions worked together, referencing countless sheets of the handwriting of the Ming family’s forefather back in the day, and using old paper from back in the day that’s extremely difficult to find nowadays, coupled with the craftsmanship of making it old, with the attention to detail, no one should be able to tell that it’s a fake.”

“Of course the Ming family knows it’s fake, the real one was destroyed long ago.” Fan Xian smiled and said, “Fake for real, we really do have a lot of professionals in this courtyard, in the future go into the fake antique business, I think we can earn a lot of silver.”

“Send it over to Xia Qufei later. Tomorrow the court will open the case, this suicide note once thrown there …… Suzhou House is only afraid to be dumbfounded.”

The investigation against the Ming family has been continuing, but has not been very effective, on the one hand, the Ming family to erase the traces of kung fu is too deep, on the one hand, the Jiangnan officialdom has a thousand relations in the protection of each other, and Suzhou House, naturally, is one of the rings, Fan Xian although there is no way to Suzhou House directly set off, but with a “secret Chen Pi will bequeath letter Although Fan Xian has no way to directly remove the Suzhou residence, but with a “secret Chenpi suicide note” to make the Jiangnan Road officials jump in fear, or very easy to do things.

To be left alone in the flower hall, Fan Xian took out the two letters in his arms, first roughly swept through, and then carefully looked at, Wan Er’s letter basically said Kyoto gossip, and occasionally also mentioned the situation in the palace, only the language is more obscure.

The biggest advantage of having a wife in Kyoto was that it could help Fan Xian understand in the first instance which way the wind would blow in the palace.

The Eldest Princess returned to Guangxin Palace, the Second Highness quietly returned to the top of the stage, the Crown Prince’s movements were the most secretive, and the Old Empress Dowager seemed to be a little dissatisfied with Fan Xian’s arrogance in Jiangnan.

The strangest thing is that the emperor is still calm, this …… god damned emperor, what good is it to him to make the world so chaotic? Where exactly does his confidence come from?

Fan Xian sighed, his fingers gently rubbing the letter paper with a hint of fragrance, suddenly the miss of Wan Er surged up, months not seen, he knew that his wife was in Kyoto, also worrying as well as planning for himself.

After reading through his father’s letter, Fan Xian finally understood the purpose of Dabao’s trip to Jiangnan.

In the letter, Fan Shangshu urged Fan Xian to find a time to send Dabao to Wuzhou. Lin Ruofu, the minister who had resigned from his post and was living in Wuzhou, hadn’t seen his son for a long time, and Fan Xian could naturally pay a visit to his wily old father-in-law by sending Dabao to Wuzhou.

The excuse was so good that the emperor couldn’t even object.