Chapter 16 – Sage?

When they returned to the mansion, Ye Ling’er and Sheriff Roujia had both returned. Fan Xian returned to his room and called out to Siqi to pour tea, so he sidetracked this big maid who, like Siqi, had been springing complaints on himself in the fall, and took advantage of the fact that there was only empty space in the room for himself and his wife to ask softly, “Has there been any news from the palace lately?”

Lin Wan’er was sitting by the window, embroidering a block against the light of the sky outside, hearing him ask, she raised her head in some surprise: “What’s going on?”

It was nearly twilight, and the light of the sky was scattered into a large area of not very bright light after entering the window. Fan Xian looked at Wan Er’s furrowed brows, and painfully went forward, rubbing her smooth brows, saying, “The light is not good, what are you embroidering?”

Wan Er’s face was a bit white, probably because she didn’t rest well last night, she smiled down and hid the embroidery in her hands behind her back, saying, “I’ll show you when I’m done.”

Fan Xian looked at his wife’s soft appearance and long eyelashes, and couldn’t help but feel a trace of guilt in his heart. Since he left Kyoto at the beginning of spring, his care for his wife was weaker than last year. This is not to say that he is a person who is fond of the old – after all, the great Little Lord Fan does not even have a concubine now – it is just that there are too many things that tie up his mind, so that he seldom cares about family matters.

Lin Wan’er thought about his earlier question and said after a little contemplation, “The palace has been quiet lately, there’s nothing special, why did you think to ask about this?”

Fan Xian smiled bitterly and said, “Your heartless uncle asked me to manage a place, and I still don’t know how many officials I’ll have to offend. The real masters of those officials are the ones who live in the palace, so I naturally have to be more concerned.”

Lin Wan’er’s status was special, with her royal grandmother’s favor and His Majesty’s green-eyed regard, her position in the palace was actually higher than Fan Xian had first imagined. His Majesty did not have any daughters, and there was no proper princess in Qing today, but Wan’er was really not much different from a princess.

After thinking about it, she smiled and said, “Don’t worry, we all know that His Majesty favors you, and of course those ladies will only say good things about you to your face.”

Fan Xian laughed and said, “I’ve only faced the Holy Spirit a few times, so I don’t know where this word favor comes from. It’s possible that His Majesty favors you, but for me …… it’s just a matter of love.”

Lin Wan Er eyes flashed a trace of adoration, said softly: “Gong is always like this ……” she went on to say: “Shuji Fei these days you really praise, Yi Guifei, you know, and our family is a relative, how also to favor you to speak, how also to favor you to speak. How also want to favor you to speak, just the queen is still as usual clear and light, as for those other concubines, in the palace even the qualification to speak, I did not bother to remember to go.”

Fan Xian believed in his wife’s judgment, even if he were to take full charge of the Supervisory Court in the future, the palace was still a place where his fingers couldn’t reach the strictness, and Wan Er was his most reliable eyes and ears and secret agent. And shu guifei say good things about themselves, is nothing more than their own sold her a small favor, a few words and do not have to spend what silver.

“What did Talented Lady Ning say on her side?” Fan Xian asked curiously, “The matter of me fighting with your eldest imperial brother over the Dao should have long since reached the palace.”

Lin Wan’er covered her mouth and laughed, “Auntie Ning doesn’t care about you, she has always loved me the most, saying that you and the Grand Imperial Brother are two little brats fooling around, and that in the future, she’ll have to hit fifty big planks on one side.”

Fan Xian pretended to be alarmed, “Your Highness! This palace board is not easy to bear, you can help my husband more beautiful words.”

Lin Wan’er didn’t bother to take his joke, and after spitting, she said, “You love to offend people yourself, and for no reason you always ask me to take care of the aftermath for you.” She took out the taut embroidery bottom from behind her, said with a cheeky smile: “The Lord Tisch has no words to ask? Then please retire and don’t delay me.”

Fan Xian withdrew his hand that was about to go up and grab the little hand, and said dejectedly, “I don’t know what’s so important.” He was about to leave, but then remembered the big shot he had forgotten earlier, and asked with a slight hint of hesitation, “Have you seen the Empress Dowager?”

Lin Wan’er’s hand gave a slight lurch, and a moment later looked up, her eyes also somewhat puzzled and gloomy, nodded her head and said, “I’ve seen her, grandma didn’t say anything.”

The Empress Dowager, who had been living deep in the palace, was actually the true power holder of the entire palace. Strangely enough, Fan Xian had entered the palace a few times, but unfortunately did not have the opportunity to pay his respects, and even on the last two occasions when the husband and wife entered the palace, the empress dowager claimed that she was sick and did not see her. Wan Er herself into the palace, that the empress dowager is like ruthless, will she hold in the arms of the heart of the baby called. The empress dowager’s obvious distancing from Fan Xian made Wan Er a little vaguely uneasy and puzzled.

Fan Xian sneered in his heart, knowing that the old man had guessed something after all, but he wasn’t too scared.

Lin Wan’er looked into his eyes and said with a sigh: ”The thing that Ling’er entered the palace the previous time, she told me about it today …… Sanggong ah, I know that nowadays your official duties are a bit of a difficult place to be, but in fact, you don’t know what kind of a person you are yourself, and it seems like you’re taking advantage of her, but I’m afraid that it’s just an excuse for yourself to remember her love. I’m not sure if I’m going to be able to do that, but I’m going to be able to do it. The things you told me last night, in my opinion terrible very, second brother …… second highness eyes although look soft and easygoing, but in fact the nature of the screw stubborn very, you since you have no choice but to go to check him, if still like today this scruples too much, I am afraid it is not good.”

Fan Xian looked at his wife’s worried face, smiled, nodded and said, “I didn’t expect that you would give the second highness a gag name of stone when you were a child.”

“He seems easygoing, but he won’t change what he recognizes.” Lin Wan’er said worriedly.

Fan Xian always believed in the saying that the way of husband and wife lies in sincerity, if he was born again and had to be more wary of the person on his pillow, this kind of life would be a bit miserable, so he did not hide the fact that he was checking on the second prince from his wife. Listening to Wan Er’s worry, he comforted, ”Actually, it is also for the good of the Second Highness, looking at the current trend, these courtiers seem to have lost their eyes, unable to understand His Majesty’s determination to protect the Crown Prince to the death. If no one pulls Second Highness now, when he really climbs to the top of the pole, it won’t be easy to come down again.”

Lin Wan’er smiled sweetly and did not continue with this topic, turning to say, “I also don’t know how this heart of yours was born, it’s actually a few more knobs than the next person, with a brain that’s so bent and twisted.”

“A mind with more tricks than a dry one? Fan Xian almost blurted it out, but he knew that he was just an actor, and that he was politically naïve, and that the only thing he could rely on was his own cold-bloodedness and apparent gentleness. He bowed deeply to his wife and laughed, “How can I dare to compare myself to Great Schemer Lin, you are a fairy who has escaped from that palace with the most powerful hooks in the world since you were young.”

Lin Wan’er spat at him and scolded with a laugh, “You really think the palace is this embarrassing?”

Fan Xian smiled and said, “The former sage once said, in this world, it is the brothel and the palace, a piece of dumping and darkness, is really not a place for people to stay.”

Lin Wan’er was stunned at his words, and lowered her head in her heart. Fan Xian then thought of his own daughter-in-law is also from the palace, his own so say, is indeed some did not take into account her feelings, smiled and apologized, the two will return to the beginning. Quiet for a while, Lin Wan’er a fine taste, the heart instead of more than a few touched. Although their own mother is the dynasty’s eldest princess, but this world women, and how many people can get married, can get the husband so respectful treatment? I’ve never heard of a husband apologizing to his wife.

Lin Wan’er said warmly: “The palace is not what you think, the emperor uncle is not greedy for women’s bright master, several masters in the palace in the face are also passable. Those fictional means you mentioned in the past, no one dares to use them, the eyes of the Empress Dowager are staring there, if anyone dares to jeopardize the bloodline of the Son of Heaven, the old ancestor will not tolerate it.”

When Fan Xian heard this, his heart moved, and he felt even more certain.

Lin Wan’er smiled and said, “His Majesty is extremely strict within the palace. There is no favor, so how can you fight for it? The queen is not very much in charge, so those ladies ah …… have to put their minds on the card table, it’s good to fight for favor, in fact, it’s no different from the general princes and dukes.”

Fan Xian froze, really did not think that the palace would be such a harmonious scene, that is not since the previous life to see that some of the palace grudges text are useless? Some self-deprecatingly scratched his head, hehehe laughed: “No wonder Wan Er your mahjong playing is so good, even Fan Si Zhe that little monster can only play with you as a tie.”

As soon as she heard about playing mahjong, Lin Wan’er’s face immediately radiated a strange glow, bluffing Fan Xian. Walked forward to take a closer look, only to find that this light is hidden as if the flow of Hua, but the convergence of the internal, a piece of jade, the name is called: the return to the true master of the light.

Lin Wan Er eyes flow, crossed the immodest male, said: “just itchy hands, married male, male but every day busy to see the individual. But good luck, finally catching Little Uncle, a genius on the poker table.”

She gritted her teeth, choked her wrists and faded her sleeves, and rubbed her fists and clapped her hands and said, “These days, this guy Fan Sichert doesn’t know where to go, and he can’t catch anyone at the poker table every day, and accompanying his mom to play poker is a sin, and looking at her respectful and polite appearance, it’s as if I’m her mother-in-law.”

Fan Xian scratched the bridge of her small nose and scolded with a smile, “Where do you get off talking like that?” After a pause, he said, “Naturally, Liu is not your mother-in-law, so don’t be too bossy in the residence.”

Lin Wan Er was full of grudges and said, “Am I that kind of person?” Then she said, “In a few days, we will enjoy the chrysanthemums, according to the rules of the past years, the nobles in the palace will go to the western mountain, but I don’t know how we will arrange this year. Going to be sure to go, just depends on how to go. It is estimated that in a few days there will be an eunuch in the palace who will come to pass on the message, so don’t forget about it.”

“Appreciating chrysanthemums?” Fan Xian’s eyebrows twitched, knowing that when the autumn weather was high and clear, people in Kyoto liked to go to the garden to enjoy chrysanthemums, and he hadn’t thought that the royal family also had this hobby. A big gathering of the Li Clan, he naturally had to go, just associating it with what he had done in Kyoto recently, he suddenly thought, could it be possible that those foxes of the older generation were watching his every move at this time just like enjoying looking at chrysanthemums?

Not noticing the sudden silence of his prime minister, Lin Wan’er said seriously, “Recently there are no cards to play, and the chrysanthemums have not yet bloomed, it is always boring, when will you write out the book …… that you promised me before the wedding for me to read?”

Fan Xian a brain of lawsuits, where there is still the spirit to copy the Dream of the Red Mansions, bitterly smiled and begged for forgiveness, “I said grandmother, you will spare the little one.” Once he saw Lin Wan’er’s look of urging, he no longer dared to stay in the room to grind, and pushed the door to hide out with his butt smoking.

Fan Xian, who fled like a ghost, traveled through the wide mansion until he encountered several sets of maids who covered their faces and laughed, and then he felt that something was wrong. He coughed twice, wanting to show the proper demeanor of a generation of celebrities and famous ministers, but his body straightened up for less than a moment, but then immediately slowed down. He gritted his teeth and thought, since he had determined since he was a child that he wanted to live beautifully in this world, why bother with the gazes of those people. With a muffled grunt, he hummed a little tune, and with a quick cha-cha-cha he turned into his study.

A conversation with his wife, though homely, had yielded a few points of useful information, except that Fan Si Zhe’s movements these days were indeed a bit strange. Fan Xian frowned, his heart vaguely worried. Then he thought of the problem of the Stone Records, and then he thought that the Emperor of Northern Qi had blocked the news, and that he was obliged to him, so it seemed that he always had to copy a chapter and send it over to him, only that he could not hide the matter that he was the author of the Stone Records for very long, so he decided not to use the secret letter line of the Supervisory Yuan.

After sitting for less than a moment, the light of the sky outside the room had not yet dimmed completely, and Yan Bingyun had already arrived as promised. Fan Xian looked at the case file he handed over, couldn’t help but rub his temples, he first reviewed the file handed over by Mu Tie today, set the tone with Shi Yanli, then went to the “old house” to do some work, came back to coax his wife, and then had to talk to Mr. Yan again – just one day! In just one day, to do so many things, it seems that this so-called “power official’s formation” is really a very hard work.

“I’ve arrested all the people you wanted me to arrest, and I don’t know if they’ll help you in your work.” Fan Xian did not look at the case file, but only inquired lightly. A while ago, the “rat hunt” did not seem to have touched the official circles in Kyoto, but in fact, under the cover of a large number of redundant cases, he had carefully approached the Second Prince’s secret forces, and had also tentatively detained two officials. Because Yan Bingyun thought that although those two officials were of low rank, they were important characters to find out whether there was any relationship between the second prince and the eldest princess.

Yan Bingyun sat in his chair, his face calm, pointing to the case file in front of him, “Already got it.”

Fan Xian was startled and said, “So soon?” He didn’t bother to look at the case file again and asked directly, “Conclusion?”

Yan Bingyun said coldly, “Xinyang smuggles a tremendous amount of money to Beiqi and Dongyi City every year, and on the surface, the deficit is caused by the Crown Prince’s side of the Eastern Palace, but in reality, the largest amount of money is handed over to the Second Prince via the Ming family, and is used to buy off officials in the court and make friends with all the feudal officials of all directions, so Your Honor’s judgment is good, the Second Highness’s back is the Eldest Princess. ”

Fan Xian frowned, “The Ming family? Cui’s in-laws, the Ming family?”

“Precisely.”

“How did such a large sum of money get transferred from the inner treasury to the hands of the Second Highness?” Fan Xian asked for guidance.

“Of course, it can’t go through the Kyoto line, it’s from the Jiangnan side that goes around, and in the middle, it’s dispersed after being handled by a few imperial merchants, and then it’s dispersed from the bottom up, and then disposed of by Your Second Highness in a unified manner.” Yan Bingyun glanced at him, “The process is complicated, written in the case file, if there is anything your lordship doesn’t understand, just read it directly, it’s more complicated to use words.”

Fan Xian ignored the skepticism of his own abilities in his tone, and simply fell into contemplation – his own judgment was correct. He took a deep breath before saying, “I’m going to go into the palace to face the saint, do you want to come with me.”

Yan Bingyun was stunned at his words and responded very directly, “My humble servant will not go, and …… does this matter …… really need to be uncovered?”

Fan Xian asked rhetorically, “The Eldest Princess and the Second Prince did it so stealthily, but we easily found out, do you think the palace doesn’t know? Can that Dean Chen of ours not know?”

“Even if the palace is wary, it must not have any solid evidence in hand.” Yan Bingyun slowly lowered her eyes, “Your Honor, don’t forget that the dead leader of one place, Zhu Ge, has always been the Eldest Princess’s person. This case, if not for the fact that your lordship is now in sole charge of one place while the rest of the departments are fully cooperating, it is simply impossible to find out …… So the situation today is that if your lordship really unravels this case …… Kyoto will surely be in great chaos.”

He spoke calmly, but Fan Xian heard a hint of coldness from behind the words – to be able to find out so quickly, in addition to the horrific resources of the Supervisory Yuan, there was a great deal of reliance on the superb ability of Yan Bingyun – and it was clear that Yan Bingyun was not willing to investigate on his own the It was obvious that Yan Bingyun was not willing to let her own investigations lead to chaos in the Qing court, which had always been superficially peaceful.

In the final analysis, Yan Bingyun was not loyal to Fan Xian, but rather to His Majesty, to the State of Qing, and to the Supervisory Yuan.

Fan Xian glanced at him and said, “Do you know what it means to suppress this matter?”

Yan Bingyun shook his head, “I only know that if this matter were to be lifted, your wife would definitely be the one who would have the hardest time.”

In fact, the vast majority of the upper echelons knew that Fan Xian’s wife was the eldest princess’s daughter, only that no one had said anything about it. If Fan Xian was determined to blow the lid off this matter, there was no doubt that His Majesty the Emperor in the palace would have to react unusually strongly, no matter which way one looked at it, and Lin Wan’er’s situation would inevitably become awkward.

What Fan Xian had done after returning to the capital was really just to make up for the missteps he had made in forcing the eldest princess away with the paper of words, which had eased the conflicts within the palace. The result he wanted was to force that His Majesty, who perhaps had other plans, to strip the power from the hands of the eldest princess in the shortest possible time.

“I respect my wife.” Fan Xian stared at Yan Bingyun with a cold chill, “However, I will not slow myself down because of her difficulties.”

Yan Bingyun slowly raised his head, and there seemed to be some doubt in his eyes as well, “This is exactly the point that my humble servant doesn’t understand, Your Excellency, what exactly are you trying to do?”

“Two reasons.” Fan Xian stood up and walked over to the window of the study, looking at the slowly sinking sunset. In a corner between the courtyards, a woman was tending to the branches and leaves of a shrub. “The first one is very simple, the imperial court is now short of silver. The great rivers in the south have been out of repair for years, and this year, the lack of embankments collapsed and drowned hundreds of thousands of people. Although I have not personally witnessed it, but I think …… it is really miserable, man.”

“Where to get silver relief? My father is worried about this problem these days. The financial situation of this dynasty is different from all the dynasties in history, long years of military use consume a lot of money and grain, not to mention, the source is also very strange, a year of the treasury received, surprisingly, there is a huge share must be from the inner treasury transfer. The inner treasury, which is His Majesty’s treasury …… is actually clear to you and me, that is the legacy of the Ye family’s mistress back then, and it is by virtue of the constant stream of silver generated by these industries that the state of Qing can be supported.”

Fan Xian looked back at Yan Bingyun with narrowed eyes, “And as the eldest princess is a person who loves to play with power, over the years, the silver from the inner treasury has gradually dispersed into the hands of the officials, exchanging allegiance and power for her and him. To put it mildly, this is using His Majesty’s silver to poach His Majesty’s ministers. With all the silver being spent on internal conflicts and officials, where in this world where silver is needed, where to beg for it?”

“Silver is just silver, but how to use it is indeed a big problem, instead of putting it in the officials’ mansions to mold, let’s force them out and fill in the river to scare the water ghosts.”

“That’s why I’m in a hurry to check the Cui family and the Second Highness, lest our Highness the Eldest Princess and that Second Highness who seems to only like to read …… generously give away all of the silver in our Qing Kingdom.” Fan Xian lowered his head slightly, seeming to feel some emotion, and smiled bitterly, “Of course, after this matter is revealed, his majesty probably won’t severely punish his own sister, but just like the last time he drove her out of the palace, his majesty will always get in the way of the debate, and check the inner treasury properly, and also wake up the second prince ……but i …… probably when His Majesty is in a rage, he will dislike me for meddling in his own business, and kick me out of the Supervisory Court and relegate me to a faraway place.”

He stretched, a pure and innocent smile on his face, “There’s no way …… I hope that His Majesty will just let me return to Tanyu.”

Yan Bingyun inclined his head slightly, his face stiff, as if he had never known this Lord Tishi in front of him, and murmured, “But you, my lord, will be taking over the inner treasury next year, so wouldn’t it be a matter of right and proper to investigate at that time?”

Fan Xian smiled, as if he were talking about someone else’s business, “We don’t have any food left in Qing! If we can stop the outflow of silver from the inner treasury one day earlier, the people in the south who are suffering from the disaster will be able to have a few more bowls of porridge to drink. Other things can wait, but if you don’t eat a meal, you’ll get hungry.”

Yan Bingyun stared at him, as if she wanted to see clearly whether the person in front of her was the sinister minister of power she had originally thought, or a great saint with great mercy and compassion, who was not afraid of his own body and not afraid to talk about things.