Chapter 39: The Empress Dowager’s Sage

A trace of timidity flashed in the eyes of the eldest princess, and she said sorrowfully, “Four years have passed, and the Supervisory Court actually hasn’t relaxed yet, so I’m really afraid that I’ll be investigated someday …… I’ve heard that Lord Chen Pingping has gone home to save his family, and has been refusing to go back to the capital, and if …… he’s really just willing to retire, that would be good.”

“Not necessarily.” The Empress sneered, “Don’t you forget that four years ago, it was Chen Pingping who entered the palace to talk to the Emperor for one night, only to have the Emperor retract the will to point out the relatives. A few days ago Chen Pingping returned to her hometown to save her family, Fan Jian took the opportunity to enter the palace, and only then did the Emperor again point Chen’er to Fan Xian, and explicitly said that in the future, you should no longer be in charge of the inner treasury …… If Chen Pingping is now in Kyoto, I’m afraid that there are still variables in the marriage, and maybe it will be true that you have followed your wishes … …or rather, with the intention of Lord Chancellor.”

The eldest princess covered her mouth with a smile and said, “The empress said this, if this marriage doesn’t work, you should also be happy, after all, the second prince will have one less doorway to fish for silver.”

The Empress smiled, “What do I have to be happy about? In fact, in the end, this is only two children to marry the matter, success or failure, and the relationship with the Palace is not very …… mother also said, after the children’s marriage I can worry about, this Fan family things I do not worry about.”

The eldest princess’s face changed slightly, but still smiled and said, “Your Highness has a point, then I do mother, there is even less to be anxious about, although that Fan Xian’s origin is not very honorable, but these days it seems that there are a few points of talent, and then again, Chen’s spirit seems to have picked up a little bit these days, maybe it’s really a good thing that happy events will be brought about by the benefit of the near future. ”

Two of the most powerful women in the country of Qing, just like this quietly sitting opposite each other, drinking tea and gossiping, it seems that everything just now has not happened. Neither of the two were willing to loosen their defenses, neither of them were willing to do that one thing – kill Fan Xian, the marriage would naturally fall through, the Fan family would have no successor, the second prince would have no more support, the chancellor would have no worries, the eldest princess would still be sickly and weakly in charge of the inner treasury, providing an unending stream of silver for the needy –As long as one person died, it seemed that the dilemma surrounding the distribution of power in the palace would be solved.

However, on the contrary, no one is willing to make a move, after all, it is not four years ago, after all, Kyoto is not Tanyuu, there are countless pairs of eyes here, even if it is someone inside the palace, it is impossible to use assassination as a means of dealing with a minister’s son again, especially at such a sensitive time, and …… after all, Liu will not step into the same shady ditch twice in his life. gutter.

In the middle of the Empress Dowager’s bedchamber. The old lady who looked to be old and virtuous drooped her white hair, felt the pair of steady hands behind her that were combing her hair, and said in a low voice, “Why would I give birth to such a stupid daughter?”

The person behind her smiled and said, “But you still love the eldest princess the most, or else you wouldn’t have let the emperor make that kind of arrangement in the first place, and you wouldn’t have helped Lord Chancellor do so many things secretly.”

The Empress Dowager sighed. Said: “Lin Ruofu this person, I really don’t know if he is negative to me there, or my son has harmed him …… By the way, you old dog with poisonous eyes, tell me, why in the world does the Emperor want that boy from the Fan family to marry Chen’er?”

That person’s voice some hesitation: “The county princess has also reached the age of the marriage, and the body is really afraid of difficult to get better, promised to the Fan family is appropriate, but the marriage is only the table, the key also lies in His Majesty’s ambiguous oracle, such a large amount of property, let a foreigner to manage, could it be …… that His Majesty feels that the Empress and the Princess are too close to each other? Feeling that the Empress is too close to the eldest princess and is really dissatisfied with the Crown Prince, so she has cut the eldest princess’s power and is ready to let the second ……” He suddenly realized that although he had served the Empress Dowager for several decades, he had already expressed too many opinions on this matter, so he stopped his mouth and didn’t say anything.

The empress dowager was slightly stunned, the heavy wrinkles on her face like the petals of a chrysanthemum gradually spread out, and said, “Your Majesty is in charge of the affairs of the country, and I am in charge of the affairs of the family, so I don’t care about this matter.”

The man fawned and said, “Empress Dowager is saintly.”

“This matter you did not do wisely.” Sinan Bo Fan Jian looked coldly at his son in his study.

Fan Xian smiled bitterly, knowing during the day that he would not be able to escape this round of chastisement, and did not offer much of an explanation, only honestly admitting his mistake.

“You’re not a stupid person, Guo Baokun doesn’t have any powerful figures around him, if you really wanted to beat him up to take out your anger, why would you reveal so many horsefeathers?” Without waiting for Fan Xian to explain, Sinan Bo added coldly, “Don’t say anything about how beating someone without registering it is the same as not getting out of breath nonsense!”

Fan Xian knew that it was Liu who had relayed to his father what he had said during the day, and smiled somewhat embarrassedly. Seeing the clean, unmistakable smile on his face, Fan Jian became angry no matter what, and said with a sigh, “Tell me, what was the point of making such a scene?”

Fan Xian thought for a moment and replied, “For one thing, I had a drink with Prince Jing last night, and thought that this friend was a good one to make, so I took advantage of the fight to tie him to myself, so that with the King Jing’s House behind me in the future, no matter what I do, it will always be easier.” After saying this sentence, he secretly glanced at his father’s eyes, found that there is no abnormality, before continuing: “Secondly, Guo Baokun this guy is too bullying, I have to let him know that I can not be messed with.”

Fan Jian sneered and said, “This second reason makes sense, but I think the most important reason …… is that you resisted that pile marriage in your heart, so you wanted to defeat your own reputation so that the palace could kick you out.”

Fan Xian did not expect to hide it from his father at all, and was slightly stunned, pondering how to explain.

Fan Jian said coldly again, “And when I said you weren’t smart earlier, it was because you dragged King Jing into the water. You should know that the Guo family is from the Crown Prince’s faction, but Prince Jing is from the Second Prince’s faction, so if you beat up Guo Baokun and drag Prince Jing down, in the eyes of others, wouldn’t it be said that our Fan family has already defected to the Second Prince?”

Fan Xian pretended to be surprised and said, “The whole country of Qing knows that my father and King Jing are good friends, my sister and County Princess Roujia are also friends since childhood, and the closeness of the relationship between the two families can even be said to be an anomaly on the official field, could it be that …… you …… are a good friend to me? ?”

“Don’t forget, your grandmother was His Majesty’s nursemaid back then, this Jing County King was also brought up by her, at that time, His Majesty was busy with other things, so it was all brought up by me to play, the two families’ relationship is naturally extremely good.” Fan Jian hummed and said, “But personal friendship is personal friendship, official business is official business, and state affairs are state affairs. This matter in the palace, is it not something we can discuss as courtiers? The Crown Prince is still the Crown Prince today, the Crown Prince of a country, and if His Majesty lives ten thousand years from now, of course our Fan family will be loyal to the Crown Prince.”

Fan Xian heard the sickness in these words and said with a smile, “What if the Crown Prince is not the Crown Prince?”

Strangely enough, hearing his son say such treacherous words, Sinanbo Fan Jian was not the least bit surprised, nor did he lecture him, but only said faintly, “This is something only His Majesty can decide, and any camp that takes sides before His Majesty decides is the wrong thing to do.”

“Child understands.” Fan Xian finally got the one result he wanted after beating up Guo Baokun, “The Fan family doesn’t stand on the side of the Crown Prince, nor does it stand on the side of the Second Prince, it only stands on the side of …… His Majesty.”

“Not bad.” Fan Jian said in a cold voice, “If you don’t want to stand on the wrong side, don’t rush to grab a stand, and as long as you always stand on the side of the strongest, you will never make a mistake, and in this entire world, the strongest is naturally His Majesty.”

“What if His Majesty dies?” Fan Xian looked at his father wistfully, knowing that he was indeed loyal to that emperor.

“His Majesty is in the prime of his spring and is even younger than I am.” Fan Jian smiled, “The future is the future, it’s for your generation.”

“Do you know how many times we and the Guo family have secretly exchanged blows in the imperial court today in order for you to be able to step down from the public court with ease? The Da Lisi, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Appointments, the shadows of our two families can be seen everywhere, and the Guo family even found their way to the Supervisory Court in the end, if not for Chen Pingping’s absence, maybe you really wouldn’t have been able to come back today.”

“Chen Pingping?” Fan Xian frowned, really familiar with this name, of course he knew that the other party was the person in charge of the shadowy forces of the entire country of Qing, but knowing full well the close relationship between the Fan family and the Supervisory Academy, so he was a bit puzzled, “Why is it that I can’t come back if Chen Pingping is there.”

“Because he is against you marrying the eldest princess’s daughter.” Fan Jian coldly said, “This time, the reason you were summoned to the capital in a hurry was because Chen Pingping had returned to her hometown to save her family and was unable to speak in front of his majesty, and that’s why you were told to go to the capital to hurry up and finalize this marriage, and it wasn’t entirely because of that girl’s condition.”

Fan Xian looked at his father and asked, “Fei Jie is my teacher, and your relationship with President Chen has always been close, why would he object?”

“No, in the eyes of outsiders, there isn’t too deep a connection between me and the Supervisory Academy.” Fan Jian said indifferently, “As for why he would oppose it, it’s very simple, because there are differences between him and I regarding our views on certain matters, so it would lead to completely different judgments.”

“What views?” Fan Xian stared into his father’s eyes, not straying for an instant.

Fan Jian frowned, and finally decided to tell the boy part of the truth: “His Majesty doesn’t like the Crown Prince, but the fact that the Empress is close to the Eldest Princess, and that the Eldest Princess is in charge of the silver coming in and out of the inner treasury, which is a secret account from which it’s easy to take out the silver, makes His Majesty very uneasy.”

Fan Xian was shocked and said, “So …… His Majesty is afraid of a change in the Eastern Palace?”