Chapter 71 – Guess the Flowers are Just Like That

Late at night in the palace, a menacing peace.

Listening to the Empress’ words, the Crown Prince nearly fell to the ground, his face full of shock, eating and murmuring, “Mother, what are you babbling about?”

The Empress’ face shifted in color, and after an unknown amount of time in silence, she said softly, “Fan Xian, is a sinful child born of your father and the Ye family’s demon.”

The Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace shook his head repeatedly, unable to accept this sudden situation, shaking his head for too long and even getting a little dizzy before he sat back on the edge of the bed, saying inarticulately, “How is this possible? How is this possible?”

The thought that he actually has a younger brother who has been living in the civil society since childhood, the crown prince will feel that life is really marvelous, not to mention that this younger brother can also be seen in the capital from time to time, the reputation is bigger than his own as the crown prince, and the …… power in his hands seems to be no smaller than himself.

He subconsciously jumped up, maybe it is self comfort, maybe it is self decompression, hehe giggled, “So this palace has such a brother.”

The Empress looked at her son like a demented child.

The crown prince’s face was hot, embarrassed, lowered his voice and roared, “So what? This palace has always been on good terms with him, not to mention the fact that he’s not from the right background and can’t always enter the palace, so it’s not like he’s a threat to me.”

“No threat to you, Your Highness?”

The Empress laughed coldly and said, “Don’t forget, his mother’s death has nothing to do with your poor mother, do you think he will watch you sit on the throne? Even if he has the magnanimity not to take revenge, is he not afraid that after you ascend the throne, you will come back to deal with him?”

“Fan Xian, even for the sake of self-preservation, it’s impossible to let you ascend the throne.” The Empress’ voice was like a hypnotic charm in the palace, “So Qian’er, you must be prepared. Of course, such damaging news, you can’t just say it anywhere, and most importantly, you can’t let your brothers in the palace know about Fan Xian’s life, or else in case the oldest one, the second one, and the rest of them ……”

The crown prince understands the mother’s meaning, his voice becomes a bit fluttering: “No wonder the outside has been rumored that Fan Xian is the descendant of the Ye family, but the father emperor has never come up with a method of treatment, the original …… which has other hidden reasons. However, Mother, if Father Emperor still favors him as he did in the past, and he has the Fan Family and Dean Chen to back him up, it wouldn’t be good for my child to move him easily.”

The Empress’ danfeng eyes were filled with an icy flavor: “Naturally, we can’t move him now, our power is too weak, and no one in this palace is willing to help us. So you first with the snake, but you can never believe, you this wild brother, will store what good intentions for you. Simmering it, playing today, you honestly simmering, what extra things do not do …… after the chunwu case, you are right, what power, are not as important as your father’s favorite, as long as the emperor still trust you, Fan idle he did not dare to move what. We stay up until the future …… will always have a method.”

The crown prince was silent and speechless, but his heart was somewhat unimpressed with his mother’s thoughts.

Dawn.

In the congee store to continue to say Fan Ye family gossip people continue, monitoring the movements of the hundred officials of the Supervisory Yuan a in vigilance, Fan House full of up and down in the fear of pretending to calm down. The emperor in the headache, the empress dowager is also in the headache. Fan Shangshu came early to the Ministry of households Yamen, face as yesterday, laughing and joking, and no difference. Chen Pingping did not return to the Chen Garden and stayed in the Supervisory Court, watching everything that happened in Kyoto with those somewhat cloudy eyes.

The sound of brushing and sweeping came from the street, Fan Xian was taking medicine on time according to Mr. Fei’s prescription, holding the book of nameless gong skill in his hand, he had finished practicing the previous volume, but the next volume had not been able to find the method, especially under the circumstance that the real qi was scattered, and the meridians were full of holes, he didn’t dare to mobilize the real qi forcibly according to the narrative of the next volume.

About the body that thing, Fan Xian’s mentality has been stabilized, the sky will rain, mother did not marry, unmarried child, let her go, anyway, this thing is not his turn to be responsible for.

If the palace’s scruples against the mother are really so strong that even he, who is crossing the Fukangan, refuses to tolerate it, then what does he still pay attention to? The big deal is just a fight. If, when the imperial order is at hand, one instructs not to move the Supervisory Yuan or the Qinian group, and one’s true qi is all gone, and things come to the most dangerous point, don’t blame oneself for obeying the teacher’s intention, going against the mother’s intention, and starting to potion spray mosquitoes and insects, and breaking open a bloody path with poison! Big knife to cut ants, with heavy sniper avalanche him a few patriarchs!

Ye Liuyun is not in the capital, the army is very difficult to power for a very few people, he can not imagine, who can keep such a perverted combination – at this time, Fan Xian’s heart instead calmed down, began to gradually feel a little bit, that year, the name of the Ye Qingmei little girl, with the blind uncle and that box, with the whole world as the enemy atmosphere! .

A little bit of a little bit of tension, a little bit of a little bit of excitement.

Of course, can not develop to this point is the best, after all, they also have to consider the interests of the Fan House, the father sister wife of the safety of these people, but also to consider the life and death of many of the people who have made good friends with their own, the figure of the dagger, just the last move, to be able to maintain the stability of the current is Fan Xian’s most urgent need.

Because he still has a lot of things left to do, and those things, must rely on the current power and position.

For two days in a row, no one came to visit the Fan Mansion, and even those who were closest to the Fan family would not choose to come and pry at such a time of turmoil. Strangely enough, King Jing didn’t come either. According to the information secretly returned by Qinian’s team, this king of the flower farmers had lost his flower hoe and abandoned the dung bucket for some reason, and only leaned against the fence in his residence to drink wine, with tears streaming down his face, as if he was feeling something.

The officials who were friends with Fan Xian, including Xin Qimo and Ren Shao’an, all watched carefully, waiting to see how the court would react to the rumors.

No one dared to make any statement at this time.

In the palace.

Talent Ning was wearing an extremely well-fitting dress, and was circling around the large dry tree under the warm winter sun, this was her habit for many years, this female captive of the Eastern Barbarians back in the day, and nowadays a noblewoman in the palace, was always idle.

Not knowing how long she had been circling around, the eldest prince, who was quietly standing by the side, finally couldn’t help himself and sighed, “Mother, what exactly is the matter?”

The prince had his own residence outside the palace, not to mention that the eldest prince had become the first prince amongst the princes because of his western expedition, so naturally he could no longer live in the palace. The royal family has many rules, even if he wants to enter the palace to see his mother, the rules in the middle are also a little complicated. Today, Talent Ning used some means to jump over many obstacles, and directly called his own son into the palace, but has been around the tree in a daze.

The eldest prince knows clearly that his mother must have something important to hand over to himself, otherwise he must not be so compelling to break the rules, just …… he thought in his heart, could it be related to the rumor that has been making the most noise lately?

“You’ve heard about it, haven’t you? Fan Xian’s life.” Talent Ning finally stopped, pulling out a plain handkerchief from between her wrists to wipe the beads of sweat on her forehead carelessly, her face serious.

The eldest prince thought that it was indeed this matter, and respectfully passed a cup of warm tea to her hand, nodding his head and responding, “The child knows about this matter, but it happened suddenly, and there is no solid evidence, and judging from the meanings of Father Emperor and the Empress Dowager’s Grandmother, he will not believe in the rumors of these villains. Child also does not believe it.”

Ning Cai Ren looked at her son and laughed coldly, “Don’t believe? I see that everyone under this sky is starting to believe it!” She suddenly puffed up and slapped the stone table, saying in a hateful voice, “I don’t know what’s going on with Lord Dean this time, but he’s vigorously suppressing this rumor, doesn’t he know that this will instead make others believe in this matter? What does this make Fan Xian do?”

“Fan Xian?” She suddenly went off on a bit of a tangent, and only after a long time did she sigh in a clear voice, “So …… she has a son, who turns out to be Fan Xian.”

Of course, the Grand Prince was clear about who his mother was talking about her, naturally, it was that Mistress of the Ye Family who had hidden her light in the Qing Kingdom back then and ended up in misery in the end. He guessed what his mother meant and said tentatively, “What do you mean?”

Ning Cai Ren’s eyebrows were crossed, and she said sternly without anger, “We people of the Eastern Barbarians are most concerned about separating grudges and feuds! Fan Xian’s life has been revealed, regardless of whether or not His Majesty still remembers the Ye family’s merits back then, that …… person in the Eastern Palace will definitely not be able to tolerate him, so listen to me carefully!”

The eldest prince in front of outsiders, is a prim and valiant famous general, is a strong and fierce good man, but in front of Ning Cai Ren, is like a submissive incomparable kitten, subconsciously feet together, like a small soldier in front of his mother, said in a deep voice: “Please mother train down.”

“If things don’t work out ……,” a hint of shrewdness passed between Ning Cai Ren’s brows, “no matter what method you use, no matter what, you must preserve Fan Xian’s life!”

The eldest prince did not even think about it, then answered, for his mother’s meaning, he never disobeyed, just his heart is still a little puzzled, he knows that his mother back then in the Kyoto bloodshed night matter, once played a certain role, he just do not understand why his mother will be so protective of Fan Xian, even ordered himself to be critical, you can use the soldiers and horses under your command… …It wasn’t much different from a rebellion.

“If it wasn’t for Dean Chen saving my life, there was no way I could have followed His Majesty back from the northern landscape back then.” Ning Talent indifferently said about the things back then, “You know about this matter, but even if I returned to Kyoto alive, what greeted me was still only a constriction order from the palace …… I was a female prisoner of the Eastern Barbarians, and at that time no one knew that I was already pregnant with you, and back then, if it wasn’t for the Ye family girls sending word, you, I. Now have long been two wandering souls.”

Ning Cairen took a deep breath and said, “Fan Xian’s mother, saved two lives of you and me, mother and son, and back then when she was in trouble, you were still young, and I didn’t have any power at all …… But today is different, and since you have some power in your hands, you must save Fan Xian’s life. ”

The courtyard was quiet, and the winter sunlight sparsely sprinkled down, shining on this pair of straightforward and innocent, fastidious alternative royal mother and son.

“If Father cannot tolerate Fan Xian.” The eldest prince said softly, “Although I am in charge of the forbidden army, I am afraid that I will not be able to play much of a role …… or so, the big thing is to return this life to the other side.”

“It’s not that scary, you will soon be the one who will be married, how can I bear to let you take the risk.” Talent Ning stared into his eyes and said, “His Majesty’s attitude, you don’t have to think about it, just keep an eye on the East Palace side.”

The eldest prince’s heart seems to have moved, immediately thought of a certain problem, although he is a person with a sparse heart, he is not a foolish person, after a long time shocked said, “If it is only a descendant of the Ye family, Father would refuse to leave Fan Xian behind, and looking at the movements …… of the past few days, there is only one possibility! ”

Talent Ning smiled and said, “You finally guessed it? Mother also thinks like this, to be able to make His Majesty not pursue the so-called treason back then, and even the Empress Dowager Old Ancestor keep silent, there is only one explanation, Fan Xian is not only the son of the Ye family girl, but also …… his own son. In other words, Fan Xian, a prince that the world never knew about, is your brother.”

The Grand Prince’s face became a bit ugly, his fists clenched, a bit hard to accept this fact, and only after a long time did he say hesitantly, “Could it be that …… Fan Xian is really Father’s son? What about Fan Shangshu? …… If all of this is true, why did Father Emperor send Fan Xian to Tanyuzhou back then?”

Talent Ning sneered, “Back then? Who can be completely clear about what happened back then, and let’s not forget that Fan Xian’s mother was hated to the bone by the two most powerful women in the palace.”

The eldest prince blinked his eyes, somewhat unable to believe that these words were heard from his mother’s mouth, and after pondering in his mind for a long time, he said, “If mother was able to guess Fan Xian’s true origins, I see that the word may have already spread outside the palace.”

“Just guess it.” Talented Ning dusted herself off and said with a heroic air, “Maybe this is what Lord Dean would like to see, maybe the whole thing is his old man’s way of sharing the Emperor’s worries, after all, His Majesty probably doesn’t know how to arrange this son of his either.”

How would the emperor punish Fan Xian? This was the question that concerned the officials and people of Kyoto the most these days. If the rumors were true, the only way out for Fan Xian was to be sent to prison. If the rumors were false, the palace would have to eliminate the effects of the rumors by some means, such as a reward or verbal encouragement.

The more the rumors spread, the more bizarre they became, and the reaction of the Supervisory Board and the quietness of the Fan Mansion seemed to confirm the rumor that Fan Xian was the orphan of the Ye family’s mistress. The problem was: the palace had never sent anyone to arrest him!

This was where things became quite interesting.

His Majesty kept silent, the palace kept silent. While people were confused, they began to speculate more than just a little. The court officials had remained smartly calm, and even the Imperial Historians of the Duzha Academy had only been careful to send in a few letters about the rumors in the capital, but His Majesty had stayed silent, and there was nothing the officials could do about it.

This kind of speculation, with a bold low IQ officials jumped out, caused a storm above the court, finally reached the peak.

The official’s name Mao read Liang, is the ritual section of the governor, responsible for reviewing the zhangzhang, refute the correction of improper speech. This confused official is rough and straightforward in nature, and aspires to the perfect rule of the saints, he can’t see anything that will harm the face of the court. After the rumors about Fan Xian’s life spread in Kyoto, Mao Yueliang was so stupid that he ignored the silence of his colleagues and spoke up in court, asking His Majesty to issue a decree reprimanding these false rumors and returning Lord Fan’s clean reputation.

Above the courtroom, the emperor just faintly said: “the clear from the clear, the turbid from the turbid, the good thing about the fools, why do you need to be mixed up in it, lost the decency and proportion.”

Who knows that Mao Yueliang is unforgiving, hard to say that the rumors on the official reputation of the Fan Ti Si damage, if the rumors are false, should be explicitly refuted by the court, if the rumors are true, should be in accordance with the Qing law to pursue the Fan Ti Si concealment of the court, the crime of privately entering the court, the Fan collusion with the thieves, the heart of the crime of misdeeds.

Even if these rumors are absurd and unbelievable, but at least His Majesty for the sake of the court face considerations, should also let the two Fan adults to defend themselves, and the little Fan adults are no longer suitable to continue to serve as the Supervisory Yuan Tisi post, as for the inner treasury ……

This confused bastard words have not finished, his majesty is already angry away from the seat, ordered the guards will be Mao Yueliang forked out, beaten twenty cane, if not finally the empress intervene to plead for mercy, I am afraid that this stupid to the extreme six section to the minister, even to be his majesty to be beaten to death!

No one knows, this six section of the minister behind the background of Xinyang, no one knows, his majesty’s final anger, from the empress dowager to step in to protect people.

For the emperor, what he is most afraid of, is his own mother sister and his sons united, when this situation, a generation of male master indifference and even strong barbaric reaction, hard to retain Fan Xian’s official position and title, this is a kind of gesture, a kind of lion guarding the territory of the gesture.

However, the officials and citizens of the Qing Dynasty did not know about the problems in the palace, and Kyoto was shocked when the matter of the court cane came out! Associated with the fact that the last time the Metropolitan Inspectorate impeached Fan Xian, he was also brutally beaten with the court cane, and people noticed anew that the supreme holy favor that Fan Xian had gained over the years was really not even comparable to that of a few imperial princes!

When they thought about His Majesty’s ambiguous attitude towards this matter, people began to guess, guess, guess.

The human imagination was sometimes extremely poor, but sometimes incredibly rich, and the rumors about Fan Xian’s life began to slide uncontrollably into the direction that some people least liked to see. As for whether or not there was the shadowy figure of that wheelchair-bound old man behind these speculations, it was unknown.

In short, shortly after the first explosive news spread throughout Kyoto, a second explosive news began to circulate in the streets of Kyoto, only that the people’s officials had to appear more mysterious, more cautious, and more exuberant when they talked about this news.

“May I ask if you know? Little Lord Fan, is the illegitimate son of the emperor …… of our Daqing dynasty.”

“That’s, completely carved out of the same mold.”

“Have you seen His Majesty’s dragon face?”

“This …… guess. But honestly speaking, Little Fan Sir is talented, both literary and military, poetic talent amazes the world, and his reputation has no boundaries, such a character …… can really only be born by our wise and godly Emperor His Majesty.”

“That’s that’s that.”

“But …… Fan Shangshu just …… this …… this.”

“Alas, Lord Shangshu is pitiful, and it’s also the fault of Master Fan’s name that he didn’t pick a good one.”

In the Xinyang Li Palace, the eldest princess gently drew willow eyebrows, the corner of her lips with a hint of self-deprecating smile. This marvelous woman who had always pretended to be calculating, under these two successive rumors, she finally knew that she had made a fatal mistake, her emperor brother must have begun to doubt her thoughts, and that little thing called Fan Xian ……

“Mr. Yuan, this palace made a mistake by not listening to your advice.” The eldest princess gently pursed her lips paper and said faintly.

“The small Fan Lord’s strange life, is really unexpected, the first pile rumors will already be enough to shock the world, who did not expect there will be a second wave.”

Yuan Hongdao, who is now the chief strategist of the Xinyang side along with Huang Yi, slowly said, “When I first advised the princess to hold back, it was because I felt that the news of Fan Xian being a descendant of the Ye family came in a bit odd, but I didn’t expect that this news would be followed by this shocking speculation. Things happened too suddenly, the peaks turned too quickly, we were momentarily out of control in our response, it is not the crime of war, it is the will of heaven.”

The Eldest Princess, now that she had lost the Cui family and suffered irreversible damage in terms of her interests, really began to perceive that good son-in-law’s ability, and while annoyed, it was no longer difficult to maintain the calmness of her initial condescension, while her backhanded reaction was a bit too late, if not useless, so when the first rumor entered her ears, she decided, without thinking, and even in spite of Yuan Hongdao’s forceful objections, to make use of this matter to pull Fan Xian She decided to utilize this matter to bring Fan Xian down.

It was only because of the inconvenience of contacting Xinyang and Kyoto that she wanted to use the Empress Dowager’s mouth and the seemingly stupid Sixth Section Minister to force the Emperor to take Fan Xian’s position away from him first, but she didn’t expect to receive the second rumor right away!

Fan Xian was His Majesty’s illegitimate son?

This news others might still use to guess, but the eldest princess believed it within the first moment after hearing it, and began to secretly laugh at her own stupidity, how could she even fail to understand such a simple thing, wasting a pawn in the dynasty, using a trace of her mother’s affection for herself, and most failing of all, touching His Majesty’s scales instead, and for no reason at all, letting Fan Xian just gently and deftly get his feet back on the ground!

As soon as she thought about this, the self-deprecation and regret within her heart bit into the heart of this most beautiful woman of Qing Dynasty like a poisonous snake.

“Ye Qingmei …… ” Her head began to ache, and she muttered to herself like a groan, “In my entire life, can I never be as good as you, and even your son, can defeat me so easily? ”

It was nightfall in Kyoto.

Five Bamboo, who hadn’t appeared for a long time, covered in that black cloth, silently appeared in the middle of an alley at the back of the Fan Mansion.

At the end of the alley was a noodle store with oil lamps like beans, cowering in the cold wind, and a man dressed in ordinary cloth was sitting on a bench outside the store.

There was no noodle bowl in front of the man on the bench, he was thinly clothed, seemingly undaunted by the cold, his face was calm to a strange degree, seemingly as if he was born with no expression, as well as a pair of cold and unfeeling eyes that seemed to be able to see through everything in the world.