Chapter 66 – Meeting Yan Bingyun for the First Time

The news received from all sides, through various ways, gathered in the southwestern corner of the Shangjing that special courtyard. The mission confirmed that Sean had secretly entered the Shangjing, as for where he was being held, it was estimated that only the mother and son in the palace and that Lord Shen of the Zhenfu Division knew about it. This is an odd thing to say, the Northern Qi court roared at the fog ferry river to meet, back to the capital is silent, think the Shangsugi tiger and those who want Sean to die, is still engaged in a tug of war.

For Fan Xian, Xiao En’s death is not within his consideration, to be precise, once he enters the upper capital of Northern Qi, before he is sure enough to utilize the dark forces lurking around in the north, Fan Xian simply does not have the ability to consider Xiao En’s death.

Unless Five Bamboo came, or rather, unless Five Bamboo brought that chest to Fan Xian.

This was another pile of questions that had been haunting Fan Xian: why did Uncle Five Bamboo, who had always been cold and inhuman, insist on not entering this land in the north this time? Could it be that there were people in this land that he was unwilling to see?

On the other hand, it was obvious that the proposal Fan Xian had thrown at the Marquis of Changning was beginning to work. The great benefits hidden in that offer had successfully tempted certain people, and a meeting with that Lord Shen of the Zhenfu Division had been secretly arranged. Fan Xian was clear that these things might seem private, but that mother in the palace in Shangjing would surely be watching all of this from the shadows.

The other party would not completely trust Fan Xian, but would always try.

Fan Xian would not trust the other party at all, but the bait that was thrown out was always expected to catch something.

Wei Shaoqing still seemed to be dragging things out on the surface, but in fact, both sides of the negotiations had sensed that the speed of the process had gradually accelerated, although it was still a bit later than the bottom line that Fan Xian had strongly requested. Finally, on a windy and sunny day, Honglu Temple and Zhenfu Si secretly sent a joint letter, the mission finally got the opportunity to meet with Yan Bingyun.

This day the sky is clear, porcelain blue sky without a trace of superfluous clouds, Fan Xian hand on the cool canopy, shading some of the blazing sunlight, the corner of the lips bloomed up a smile, think of that life in elementary school when writing essays often used in the beginning.

He was very happy, and there was also some hidden excitement-although during the journey, before this deal was struck, the darkness hidden in the deepest recesses of his heart had nearly made him make certain exchanges, but fortunately none of this had become reality-as had been said long ago Fan Xian admired this Duke Yan, whom he had never met, and admired him.

For a high-ranking official’s son to be able to give up his glory and wealth to travel to a faraway foreign country, to take on the espionage work of the northern frontier in a very difficult and dangerous manner, and to do it exceptionally well and successfully penetrate the upper echelons of the Northern Qi, for that alone, Fan Xian knew that this Duke of the Yan was, in many ways, far more outstanding than himself.

The place where Yan Bingyun was being held was in a heavily guarded manor on the outskirts of Shangjing, and not far outside the manor was a barracks, while inside and outside the garden, it was guarded by Beiqi brocade guards. The manor’s large iron gate slowly pulled open, the crowd did not get out of the car, directly drove in, along the road hidden in the lawn between the stone road forward, in a short while will come to a small building outside.

This building is not like the other buildings in the capital of the ancient, purely made of solid stone, there is no courtyard, by the corner of the building, think will be on all the moving objects on the lawn at a glance, it is really a good place to be used to imprison people.

Wang Qinian was the only one who came with Fan Xian to visit Yan Bingyun today. Gao Da belonged to the Tiger Guards, and Lin Jing Lin Wen was from the Honglu Temple system, not very connected to the affairs of the Supervisory Yuan, and not convenient to come.

Wei Hua said to Fan Xian with a calm face, “Lord Fan, look at the birds and flowers here, the grass is laid down and the wind is soft, our court is still treating your people favorably, right?”

Fan Xian’s expression was even colder than his, saying faintly, “Even if it’s the Qiong Palace Wonderland, after living here for a long time, it’s actually still just a prison cell.”

The Deputy Recruiter of the Brocade Guards beside the duo spoke up, “Even if it’s a cell, it’s still a lot more comfortable than the dungeon of your Supervisory Court.” This high-ranking official of the Jinyiwei was furious when he thought of the miserable state of that old man when his men followed Sean at the border.

Fan Xian frowned, what he hated the most was this Deputy Recruiter, after the mission entered the capital, it was logical that the counterpart of the liaison between the two sides was this guy, who knew that the other side had gone into hiding. Fan Xian until today still not the North Qi’s official position clear, obviously is the people of the Brocade Guards, why is the big head called Zhenfusi commanding officer, this undercover agent but what is called a recruiting officer? At the very beginning when he heard this name, he almost thought that the other party was from the military.

“What’s the point of talking so much nonsense? I’m going in to meet someone.” Fan Xian coldly glanced at that Recruiting Envoy, thinking that Sean had suffered for twenty years in the south, but after Yan Bingyun was captured, hell knows how much torture she had suffered, and being able to talk up to this point was already not easy.

Before seeing Yan Bingyun, Fan Xian had already envisioned many scenarios: for example, Mr. Yan was hanging above the torture rack, with his skin split open, ten steel pins nailed into his fingers, his toenails were all stripped bare, exposing the tender flesh inside, and his body’s smooth and tender skin had already been scorched by a branding iron, so that even his young tooth bed had already entered the stage of old age in advance, and was bare.

Of course, this was the worst possible scenario.

Fan Xian also once imagined that perhaps Mr. Yin was sitting on a soft couch, surrounded by flowing clouds of brocade, four or five bare thighs, breasts half exposed the red beauty of Northern Qi is surrounding him, holding grapes to feed him in the food, grape juice flowed into Mr. Yin’s excellent elasticity of the pectoral muscles, beside the beauty of the careful use of a soft towel dipped away.

Of course, this was the worst possible scenario.

There was also a strange imagination that always lingered in Fan Xian’s brain, that perhaps when he first saw Yan Bingyun, the other party would pounce on him like a wounded tiger, to tear himself to pieces, and with a handful of snot and tears complain that the people in the courtyard did not care about his death, and complain that the adults of the motherland had come too late.

Of course, this was the most unlikely possibility.

But no matter how one envisioned it, Fan Xian walked into that room and still felt that the human imagination was indeed quite poor, and that his own imagination was not much stronger. He looked at the young man sitting in the chair and slightly opened his lips, his heart so surprised, how could he not have imagined that Yan Bingyun’s current situation was like this.

Wei Shaoqing and that Deputy Recruiter obviously did not expect this situation either, and opened their mouths in shock.

The room’s decorations were very light, a large bed, a desk, and some everyday furnishings, not like a torture chamber, but like a room in a home. Fan Xian was not sure if this was a temporary arrangement because the Northern Qi side knew he was coming, his eyes just looked at the chair.

On the chair sat a young man with a cold expression, this young man’s face was extremely handsome, his lips were thin and his eyebrows flew, in terms of physiognomy, he was extremely thin-skinned. And what surprised everyone was that at this time, the young man’s knee was crouching over a girl, and the sound of that girl’s soft sobbing echoed in the quiet room!

Fan Xian finally closed his dismayed lips tightly, but in his heart, he was confused, and smiled bitterly, thinking that he was so worried about this Northern Spy leader of Qing, but he didn’t know that this cell was actually a drama of love rather than a torture chamber of his own imagination.

The young man on the chair was naturally Yan Bingyun, and when he realized that several people had walked in from outside, and found that two of these people were actually wearing the official uniforms of the State of Qing, his brows frowned. It was with this frown that an air of indifference began to permeate the room.

This indifference even woke up the woman who was sobbing incessantly on Yan Bingyun’s knee, and the girl raised her head in some consternation, looking back at those people at the door. It was only then that Fan Xian realized that this girl was born with a clear brow and eyes, and between her brows and eyes there was a sense of suppleness, so she was thought to be a young lady from a large family, but she didn’t know how she could have appeared in a heavily guarded prison cell.

“Miss Shen?” Wei Hua was greatly shocked and drank, “Someone come! Invite the young lady out.”

“Shen?” Fan Xian frowned again, feeling that this was getting funnier and funnier.

A few brocade guards poured in through the door, and Wei Hua, his face full of iron, scolded, “How do you do your jobs? How dare you let Miss Shen come to such a treacherous place!” That Deputy Recruiter was also full of anger, directly a few slaps slapped over, after a number of slaps, those few brocade guards responsible for guarding the felons covered their faces and went up to walk to that Miss Shen’s side, but they didn’t dare to reach out their hands.

“Miss Shen? If you still don’t leave, don’t blame my humble servant for being rough.” The Deputy Recruiter bowed to Miss Shen.

Wei Hua also walked to her side and softly advised, “Sister Shen, it’s better to go back, or if Uncle Shen finds out about this, he shall not beat you to death.”

Fan Xian’s gaze did not come into contact with Yan Bingyun, he just quietly looked at the woman who was crouching on Yan Bingyun’s knee. This girl’s surname was Shen, and to be able to enter a manor that was heavily guarded by the Northern Qi Brocade Guards, there was no need to ask, she must be the young lady of that Lord Shen’s family.

I just don’t know what relationship this Miss Shen has with Yan Bingyun. Fan Xian smiled bitterly and thought to himself, could it be that our Lord Yan is actually playing the beautiful man trick?

Miss Shen quietly stood up and looked at Yan Bingyun who had been silent all this time, a crazy and vicious hatred slowly surfaced in those supple eyes, biting her lips and saying word by word, “I only need you to say one thing, which of what you said in the past is actually true.”

Yan Bingyun slightly inclined his head, his eyes without a trace of emotion looked back and said softly, “This official is an employee of the Southern Qing Supervisory Court in four places, Miss Shen should know very well that naturally none of the words are true.”

Wei Hua glanced at Fan Xian who had been coldly watching, fearing that if this young lady continued to speak, she would make these Southern Qing officials look at her as a joke, and hurriedly ordered people to pull Miss Shen out the door.

Miss Shen coldly shook off the hands of those brocade guards, looked at the chair still motionless as a mountain, Yan Bingyun, and said with poignant fullness, “Well well well, what a sentient and righteous Yan Bingyun.”