Chapter 13: Visiting Friends in the Rain (I)

Wan Er sucked in a breath of cool air, realizing that things were indeed like this, and listening to Fan Xian continue to say with a smile, “That’s why His Majesty can tolerate for a while but not for a lifetime, he can tolerate all the officials but not his own son, if His Majesty hadn’t wanted to, it would have been just a matter of time but as soon as he started to think about the first issue, he couldn’t help suspecting a lot of things, so rectifying the imperial examination malpractice cases also became a natural thing.”

Lin Wan Er leaned her head into his arms and said softly, “Actually, these things are simple to say, if I am willing to think about it, I can also understand it, why can’t the Crown Prince’s brother understand it?”

“It’s not that they can’t figure it out, it’s just that the Crown Prince himself has begun to feel insecure.” Fan Xian thought of the reward that His Majesty the Emperor had given to the three adult princes at the beginning of the year, the deep meaning contained therein, even Fan Xian could not quite see it, and thought that no matter whether it was the Crown Prince or the eldest prince, they were all a bit terrified and insecure, which is why this time, on top of the imperial court, they had reached out so far.

Lin Wan Er sighed and said, “I also don’t ask for Xiang Gong to be able to seal the king and split the earth, I only ask to be able to be a free marquis, these things are always troublesome to a great extent.”

“A rich and noble man of leisure, surely that is what I wish for.” Fan Xian smiled and responded, thinking of Jia Baoyu’s nickname, then said, “Just some things I can’t stand to see, always guilty of suspicion, who called me and my father and lord’s names are not very good.”

Seeing him poking fun at the Family Weng, Lin Wan’er couldn’t help but puff and laugh, and after a pause asked, “There shouldn’t be any problems on father’s side.”

“Don’t worry, father went to the minister’s residence that night.” Fan Xian said back to the beginning of the words, shaking his head in admiration: “That’s why I said earlier that the Supervisory Yuan did a beautiful job, look at the recent fall of these officials, in addition to Guo Shangshu, including the East Palace, the Privy Council have all fallen, although the father-in-law side also caught a right minister, but after all, did not hurt, this sense of proportion, if it is not immersed in the field of officialdom for decades of old hands to do, certainly can not master to do it, categorically can’t be mastered so purely.”

“Is this difficult?” Lin Wan’er asked with a smile.

Fan Xian gently brushed his fingers through his wife’s black hair and replied softly, “It’s hard, we have to make those forces hurt and not let them die of pain, lest His Majesty not be able to handle it well.”

After saying this, a faint color of worry welled up between his brows.

“What’s wrong?” Wan Er, whose heart was as fine as her hair, hugged her husband’s arm tightly and asked with concern.

Fan Xian shook his head, trying to wave away that hidden worry in his heart, “I originally thought that this time I would not be able to hide the case of uncovering the frauds from the world, so I was prepared for a tough fight, I didn’t expect that the Supervisory Yuan would cover me extremely well, but you’re right, there are no cement walls in the world, and there will always be a time when the Eastern Palace will know about my relationship with the Supervisory Yuan. And …… there are too many lunatics in Qing Kingdom, I am worrying about that lame lunatic at this time.”

“Chen Pingping?” Lin Wan’er immediately knew who he was talking about, but she wasn’t sure what connection Sanggong had with that horrible intelligence agency of the Supervisory Yuan besides denouncing the malpractice cases, so she was a bit puzzled, which was so strong that it even masked the three unknown words, cement wall.

Fan Xian laughed and did not make this completely clear, but only said softly, “I’m worried that Chen Pingping didn’t think of concealing this matter from the beginning.”

“He dares!”

Every young girl liked her malefactor to be a hero full of righteousness, so Fan Xian’s secret denunciation of the malpractice this time, although Lin Wan’er was a bit worried, deep down she was full of satisfaction and pride. At this moment, when she heard that Chen Pingping wanted to push Xianggong to the world, at the thought of that kind of danger, her petite body shook, and her county lord’s qi came to life as she grunted, “I’ll go into the palace tomorrow to look for the empress dowager!”

Fan Xian laughed out loud and comforted, “Even if Chen Pingping entrusted me out, I’m afraid what she has in mind is not a bad idea.”

Lin Wan’er did not understand, but Fan Xian knew clearly that this was a good opportunity, after the Night Banquet and Poetry Meeting, if he wanted to firmly establish his status and reputation among the people of Qing, this time, the case of revealing the frauds, was undoubtedly the best opportunity. According to what Mr. Fei Jie once said, since his mother’s close comrade in arms, Comrade Chen Pingping, has not been willing to be a rich man in the inner treasury, and has to put himself in charge of the Supervisory Yuan, then according to the legendary character of Chen Pingping, by means of the matter of the Chunwu Exams fraud case, it is not impossible to make himself jump out of the crowd.

The problem was, what exactly was the ratio of gain to loss, which Fan Xian was still a bit unsure of.

He climbed up from the bed, looked at the rain outside the window, only to find that the time has been nearly noon, he was actually with his wife in bed for most of the day, can not help but sweetly smiled, just smile in some tired. This time to reveal the case of fraud, one because he really pity those really talented scholars, the second is wrath of those princes in pulling themselves like a rope, the most important reason, but because he would like to try one last time Chen Pingping.

Fan Xian will go to North Qi, so he must be clear, that the strength of the horrible old man of the Supervisory Yuan on their own exactly what attitude, at the same time, he would like to see clearly, that hidden in the old man behind the Nine and a half on their own exactly what attitude.

Attitude determines everything, attitude determines the relationship, attitude can reveal history, can reveal …… the body. Fan Xian slightly squinted his eyes, through the glass window branded with his mother’s breath, looking at the dark clouds in the sky, feeling that everything in Qingguo was like an interesting brain teaser, and it seemed that he had been walking on the road that was infinitely close to the truth.

Perhaps the goal was close enough.

On the long, slightly damp street outside the Fan Mansion, an unmarked carriage was quietly parked there, when suddenly, a silhouette floated out from inside like a falling leaf, and when it was about to land on the ground, it hitched its right palm on the carriage’s edge, and the whole person had already gotten into the carriage.

“Go.” Fan Xian snapped just as his butt sat down on the chair.

Fuji Zijing glanced back at his young master from his position as an imperialist and smiled bitterly, “Young master, if his lordship knows that you’re still going out at this time of the year, he’ll teach me a lesson.”

Fan Xian smiled even more bitterly, “If I don’t hurry, not only will Master take a stick to beat me, the unfilial son, but even that gentle young grandmother of yours will take a rope to tie me up.”

At this time of the year, the capital is really a time when people are on the edge of their seats, the news that Guo Youzhi, the Minister of Rites, has been arrested and imprisoned only took one hour to spread throughout the whole of Kyoto, but all the officials who are related to the Chunxin exams are fidgeting to stay at home, fearing that after a while, the secret agents of the Supervisory Board will come knocking on the door and then politely invite themselves to have tea.

As Fan Xian was the key figure in the malpractice case, Lord Fan Jian of the Sinan Bo and County Lord Chen, who knew the inner workings of the case, were even more afraid to let him go out, so he had to sneak out, sighing and saying, “Tendo Dai, it’s fortunate that young master I still have you as a beloved in the capital, or else it wouldn’t be easy for me to even get out of the house.”

Wang Qinian, who had been sitting quietly beside him, his smile clearly turned into the most bitter one, and said with a sad face, “My lord, my humble servant has always wanted to strive to be your beloved.”

Fan Xian laughed and teased, “Wang Qinian, you should go to a comedy show.”

With a crack of the whip, the black carriage slowly traveled forward. The wheels ran over the puddles on the street, the surrounding green trees were washed by the rain, making them even more green and tender, at the back of the carriage, there were a few secret agents from the Supervisory Yuan wearing various colors of rain gear, following this carriage from afar, they were all from Qinian’s group, specializing in the safety of Fan Tisi.

“What if an official in the court retaliates? My manpower here is a bit insufficient.” Wang Qinian was aware of what Fan Ti Si had done with the courtyard and was a bit worried.

Fan Xian smiled faintly, and a coldness appeared in his eyes, “This is not the time, and the place we are going to is not Bull Block Street. This official would like to see, besides that crazy bitch, who else dares to assassinate me in Kyoto, under the eyes of His Holiness.”

“Where to?” Fuji Zijing asked in a low voice without turning around.

Fan Xian glanced at Wang Qinian, who whispered the name of a place before explaining, “Coincidentally enough, the students that Your Excellency has his eye on are staying at an inn.”

The carriage stopped outside of Folding Clothes Alley, with light rain still falling in the air, Fan Xian got off the carriage and walked inside with Fuji Zijing under paper umbrellas, while Wang Qinian had long since disappeared into the crowd.

The alley is a place where the students from other counties live, and today there is an outbreak of the case, so it’s very crowded and crowded. Fan Xian held up his umbrella and carefully walked in from the edge of the street, tilting the surface of the umbrella slightly outward, lest the rainwater on the umbrella fall into the pots of hawkers under the eaves of the street to avoid the rain.

“Lend a light lend a light.” A slim scholar shouted eagerly, carrying two jugs of wine in his hand, brushing past Fan Xian and the two of them and rushing toward the front, actually defying the rain that was falling from the sky, except that this person turned back to look at Fan Xian as he passed by.

Fan Xian held up his umbrella and looked at the person who disappeared in the rain, shaking his head and laughing, ”How similar is this to the group of lunatics at graduation? As soon as the exams are over, they have to get wildly drunk.” He smacked his lips, somewhat regretting that he couldn’t attend the school’s graduation banquet back then due to his health.

Fujiko Kyou didn’t understand very well, but still respectfully explained, “I guess it’s the matter of Guo Youzhi’s downfall that made these students so excited.”

“Is Guo Shangshu’s popularity bad?” Fan Xian casually walked forward, looking like a young man who liked to walk in the rain.

Fuji Zijing laughed, “There aren’t many officials in the capital who have a good reputation, and there’s a saying in the village that if the officials of the six ministries were to line up and chop off their heads, it’s estimated that one of them would be wrongly accused.”

Fan Xian laughed, thinking that in his previous life, there was also this kind of joke, joked: “Then you say that my father is not the one who is wrongly accused?”

As the world knows, Sinan Bo Fan Jian was first the minister of the household department, and then the minister of the state, and he didn’t know how much silver he had raked in from the national treasury, so if he was talking about the big corrupt officials, Fan Xian’s father-in-law, I’m afraid he wouldn’t be able to escape from the top three. But how would Fuji Zijing dare to say this, listening to the young master’s question, cold sweat began to drill into his back, and he bitterly smiled, “Young master, my little slip of the tongue, you mustn’t mind.”

“What are corrupt officials afraid of? The world doesn’t suffer from an official being corrupt, but from this official being corrupt and incompetent.”

“Your Excellency’s words are inappropriate.”

Suddenly, a man unceremoniously entered Fan Xian’s umbrella from the side to avoid the rain, holding a paper-wrapped roasted chicken in his hand, and the slightly charred aroma of the roasted chicken could not even be hidden by the roiling rain.