Chapter 46: Boss Ye of Qingyu Hall

Coming to the selected address of the bookstore on Dongchuan Road, Fan Xian and his group took a good look and found that the location was indeed still quite good, with convenient transportation all around and not too far from the Imperial College, so that students coming to Kyoto from all over Qing to prepare for their exams basically had to pass by here every day. The most crucial thing was that this place was not too busy, so it was convenient for the princesses of the royal families and the ladies of the official families to send their personal maids to buy books.

Fan Xian nodded and walked inside with Fan Si Zhe, and when he came face to face, he looked at those Qing guests in the mansion and bowed his hand, “Mr. Cui, please.”

That Mr. Cui smiled bitterly and said, “I say to you two young masters, such a bookstore can earn a few dollars a year, and to expend so much spirit, it is really a bit unworthy.”

Fan Xian knew that these former officials who had once been in charge of the Ministry of the Household would of course not take this kind of business of a few thousand taels of silver running down the drain in their eyes, and explained with a smile, “Since my younger brother enjoys it, let him play with it.” He hadn’t expected this to stay hidden from Sinanbo, so he had asked a few pursers in the house to help, and since his father had allowed Mr. Cui to come and help, it was tantamount to tacitly approving of his two sons’ nonsense outside the house.

A few people in the back room room talking, Fan Si Zhe biting the brush bar in calculating something, once in front of the eyes put a book of accounts, this guy will be in the middle of it, will be outside the body all forget. Speaking, from the Qingyu Hall invited the shopkeeper also came, the shopkeeper face loyal, eyes and no light, but a clear, the so-called eyes positive person positive, Fan Si Zhe some satisfaction, since he went with him to account for the matter of the bookstore.

Fan Ruo Ruo has long been the first sixty-some of the Dream of the Red Chamber manuscript to Fan Si Zhe, Mr. Cui has been sent in the Hall of Ten Thousand Pines staring at the printing, there should not be any problem. Mr. Cui had sent someone to keep an eye on the printing of the book at Wansong Hall, so there shouldn’t be any problems. Fan Xian had no intention of copying the book these days, so he kept putting it off.

After agreeing on a time for the bookstore to open, and confirming that the approvals from the eight divisions of the Supervisory Yuan would definitely be available, the people found nothing more to do in the inner room. When the time comes, from the Hall of Ten Thousand Pines into some of the scriptures and history, and then the main focus of the stone book, it seems to be waiting to collect money. As for the fellows, they were all handled by the treasurer of Qingyu Hall, and there was no need for the Fan family to worry about them.

Fan Xian had wondered why everyone trusted Qing Yu Tang so much, and when he had a hard time getting a chance to be alone with the shopkeeper, he asked gently, “What’s your name, shopkeeper?”

The shopkeeper smiled and replied, “Your name is Ye.”

Fan Xian’s heart trembled as he repeated, “Surname Ye?”

The shopkeeper seemed to see the difference in him, and responded with some confusion, “Yes, there are seventeen shopkeepers in Qing Yu Tang, all of whom are surnamed Ye, and this is a well-known thing in Kyoto, Young Master Fan?”

“All surnamed Ye?” Fan Xian asked with a frown, “What is your relationship with the Ye family from twenty years ago?”

The shopkeeper was slightly surprised. Looking at Fan Xian twice, he gave birth to a slight sense of vicissitude, “So many years have passed, I thought that young people nowadays would have long since lost track of the Ye family. Not bad, we were all the Ye family’s shopkeepers back then, and then the Ye family had some problems. The industry all didn’t enter the palace, and we people should have left to find our own way to live, but I don’t know why. The imperial court did not allow us to do business on our own, so by now it has become such an awkward situation, we can only be responsible for taking care of business for others, but we can’t get into the business ourselves, and that’s how this Qing Yu Tang, came to be.”

Fan Xian then look at this shopkeeper, knowing that the other party was his mother’s subordinate back then, he could not help but give birth to some sense of intimacy, and asked curiously, “After the Ye family’s accident, the court did not ……” The words were not finished, but the shopkeeper also understood the meaning of the so-called elimination of the roots and roots, since the court even Ye family’s industry are overrun, cut off no still keep these old man’s meaning, the shopkeeper somehow, also feel in front of this Fanfu young master is very kind, thought for a moment and replied: “We also feel strange, so these years, has been living a very scared, the court and not allowed us to leave the capital, so very afraid of how it will be one day.”

“Take me to Qingyu Hall one day.” Fan Xian suddenly found a place in Kyoto that had a connection to his mother’s past, and couldn’t help but be pleasantly surprised, grasping the shopkeeper’s shoulder, “There are many, many things I want to ask you.”

After returning to the Fan Mansion, in his father’s study, Fan Xian told him what he had met today, and asked curiously, “Qing Yu Tang, is it really the Ye family’s old man from back then?”

“Of course it is.” Fan Jian stroked his short beard under his jaw and seemed to be reminiscing about the past, saying leisurely, “These people are actually very uncomplicated, back then, they were all the Ye family’s big shopkeepers stationed in various states, only that your mother offended the powerful and wealthy back then and suffered misfortune. You also know that year’s Ye family is what kind of scenery, the court for a time also some panic, if the Ye family fell, the Qing Dynasty is afraid to be in chaos for decades. So finally came up with a compromise law, first the Ye family to the royal family, at least in name to cut off the possibility of those following officials to take the opportunity to extort greatly, and then ……”

Fan Xian cut off his words and asked, “How exactly did the enemy who killed my mother die in the end?” This was a question he had been somewhat puzzled by.

Fan Jian looked into his eyes and said coldly, “You’re young, so you probably don’t remember what happened in Qing fourteen years ago.”

“Remember.” Fan Xian frowned and said, “Fourteen years ago, it seemed that someone was intent on changing the sky, wanting to pull His Majesty down from the throne, so in the end, a lot of things happened, Kyoto killed for a whole month, killing almost all of those original nobles, the blood flowed, and the heads of the nobles resting on the city walls actually lined up for a mile, this is what is known as Kyoto Bloodshed Month, and even though I haven’t experienced it. Although I have not experienced it, I have heard Mr. Fei speak of it many times.”

“Not bad.” Fan Jian said in a chilling voice, “During this purge, all those who had a part in the plot against the Ye family were killed by us.”

Fan Xian noticed the word “we” in his father’s words and asked in a small voice, “Who are we?”

“Naturally, it’s me and Chen Pingping.” Fan Jian smiled, “This is probably our most successful operation in the twenty years we have been following His Majesty.”

“The Fan family also took advantage of this incident to rise to prominence, while the Supervisory Court has even more firmly established its influence amongst the officials because of the horrific role it played in this incident.” Fan Xian sighed, “It turns out that the cause of this change of heart was actually father and Lord Chen avenging their mother’s death.”

“What happened afterward?” Fan Xian asked about the Ye family.

“As I said earlier, the Ye family’s estate was received into the internal treasury, which was the best approach for stabilizing the dynasty at the time, and with a dynasty full of civil servants, it was impossible to come up with a more effective proposal.” Fan Jian explained, “The problem is those big bosses, they were all taught by your mother, although they are far from your mother’s heavenly wisdom, but if they are left unchecked, who knows if there will be a second Ye family? So His Majesty decided to centralize them all in Kyoto and let them re-train some of their manpower to take over those businesses, but forbid them from owning the real industry, which led to the now famous Qing Yu Tang in Kyoto.”

“If you guys want to do business, it’s good to look for them.”

Fan Xian said sadly, “These shopkeepers were actually forced to be stuck in Kyoto for more than ten years because of such a reason, it’s really tragic……. Father, if all these shopkeepers are put to use, will it attract the attention of the imperial court?”

Fan Jian shook his head, “Using Qing Yu Tang’s shopkeepers was originally the favorite technique of the private industries of the various royal families, the imperial court will not care about this, but if you want to search all seventeen of those shopkeepers of Qing Yu Tang, it seems that there is no need to do so.”

“If the imperial court is really jealous of all this, why didn’t they kill all of these shopkeepers in the first place?” Fan Xian raised his own question.

Fan Jian looked at his son and smiled as he explained, “Back then, when your mother’s accident happened, I was following His Majesty’s battle in the west, and Chen Pingping had gone to the border between this dynasty and Northern Qi to carry out a secret mission, and only realized halfway through that she had turned back to Kyoto. If we have all returned to Kyoto and still let these people be killed, you have underestimated your father’s power.”

Liu knocked on the door outside, and when father and son stopped talking, Fan Jian let her in. Seeing the bowl of fruit syrup in Liu’s hand, Fan Xian realized that the night was already late, and that it was already time for his father to go to sleep, and stood up, ready to take his leave. However, Uncle Sinan waved his hand and asked him to stay, letting Liu go and rest on her own.

Before Liu’s departure, Fan Xian glanced at the woman’s eyes and saw a trace of worry, knowing that she was worried about her husband’s health, he couldn’t help but frown slightly, thinking that this woman was afraid that her father really had a few feelings for her, but it’s a pity that her heart was too hard, and that she had done that kind of thing back then. He knew that since his father did not let himself go, it must be an important thing to be accounted for, so he washed his ears and listened.

“Tell me about the recent situation inside the court.” Sinan Bo Fan Jian picked up the slightly warmed fruit pulp sub and slowly sipped it, “I know you’ve still been resenting, what happened four years ago when the Liu Clan sent someone to poison you.”

Fan Xian was stunned, not realizing what the situation inside the court had to do with the Liu Clan, and even more so, he didn’t think that his father would be so forthright in picking this matter apart, so for a moment he didn’t know what he should say.

“The two things are actually interrelated.” Fan Jian knew what his son was thinking and said indifferently, “The reason why Liu made her move four years ago, on the one hand, it was because Si Zhe’s age was getting older, but she was getting less and less decent, and since I had not been able to right her, she could not help but be a bit desperate, and in a moment of stupefaction, she made that decision. But the more crucial reason was because she had once entered the palace at that time, and had been assured by someone that once you died, Fan Si Zhe would definitely be able to inherit all of the Fan family in the future.”

“Entered the palace? Whose assurance was it that could make her even disregard her grandmother’s life?” Fan Xian said coldly.