Chapter 69 – Seeing Shen Chong on a Rainy Night

The rain hit the roof of the carriage, making a muffled sound of porpoising, and Fan Xian closed his eyes and rested his mind, not knowing how long he had been traveling, when he realized that the carriage had finally come to a stop. A pair of hands opened the door of the carriage, Fan Xian smiled faintly and raised his steps into the rain outside the carriage, only to find that there was an umbrella covering his head, shielding him from the wind and rain, and only the coldness of spring in the rainy alleys around him seeped in under the umbrella.

Wang Qinian was dressed in black, holding the umbrella to protect Fan Xian’s head, behind him seven tiger guards carrying long swords, silently lined up on both sides of Fan Xian.

Fan Xian is wearing a dark-colored thin cloak today, inside a layer of plain long shirt, and then hidden inside the night clothes prepared before leaving the capital, this body of plain through the killing dress, and then matched with his vigorous face, looks spiritual incomparable.

“Fan Tiji, this side please.” The brocade guard responsible for leading the way, with an expressionless stretch of his hand, introduced the crowd inside a courtyard. This courtyard was in the middle of a side alley, and Fan Xian slightly inclined his head, vaguely able to hear the bustle in front of him, smiled and asked, “It seems to be the backyard of a green house.”

The Jin Yi Wei officer leading the way stiffened his facial expression, then replied with a smile, “Lord Tiji has amazing ears, this is the backyard of the Shore Mountain Forest, and Lord Shen has always liked to entertain his honored guests here.”

Fan Xian knew that this place, Shore Mountain Forest, was rumored to be the highest-ranking place of pleasure in Beiqi, and the first founding emperor of Beiqi had been a frequent guest here. Smiling and nodding, he stepped all the way through the water on the stone slabs and walked into the backyard. Just see the courtyard bamboo shadow heavy, rockery layers, around can see the brocade guards scouts, these people are obviously guards, also did not deliberately hidden figure.

Along the way, Wang Qinian held an umbrella, seven tiger guards were silent at the back, with Fan Xian as the arrowhead, traveling indifferently and confidently to the depths of the small courtyard.

Along the way, seeing this line of counterparts from the enemy country in the south, those brocade guards couldn’t help but be a little surprised, surprised by the other party’s guts, surprised by the youth of the big shot in front of the other party’s head.

With a swish, Wang Qinian put away his umbrella and retreated behind Fan Xian in silence. Fan Xian put his hands behind his back and looked at the courtyard with narrowed eyes. The living room here was quite large, with a large flower round table in the center, and a large section of empty space around it, and all kinds of decorations were extremely exquisite. The round table is wide enough to sit down fifteen or sixteen people, but at this time there are only two people sitting.

One of them was dressed like an ordinary rich man, wearing a silk hat and a jade trigger between his fingers. When this person saw Fan Xian come in, two unusual cold lights began to blossom in that pair of normal to extreme eyes, looking straight into Fan Xian’s face, and only after a long time did he open his mouth and say:

“Fan Ti Si Si? I’ve heard a lot about you. At first sight today, you really are extraordinary.”

Fan Xian did not immediately reply to this polite remark, but savored in his heart that all along the way, the Northern Qi Brocade Guards had addressed themselves by the official name of Tisi, so it seemed that this conversation was a diplomatic negotiation between the Supervisory Yuan and the Brocade Guards, rather than the imperial court. He raised his right hand and used two fingers to extremely skillfully undo the belt buckle around his neck, the thin cloak on his body slid down his back.

Wang Qiche had followed behind him.

Fan Xian sat down on the other side of the large round table and looked at this rich man across from him, realizing that this person’s eyebrows were extremely thick, so thick that they looked as if they had been drawn, he couldn’t help but smile and say, “Your Honor Shen’s cross-eyebrows are cold to the world, so why are you so polite to me?”

It turns out that this is the Northern Qi Brocade Guards Zhenfu Division Commanding Officer Shen major people. Shen heavy hand control northern countless jinyiwei, really is the world counted out of the powerful figure, I do not expect to be so ordinary a rich man look. If not in the files of the Supervisory Yuan, for this person’s record is really exhaustive, Fan Xian certainly could not recognize each other’s identity.

“Not being polite.” Commander Shen sighed, looking at Fan Xian’s clean-cut face, and couldn’t help but shake his head, “Lord Fan is famous for his poetry and literature, and I, a great old man, was already extremely impressed. I didn’t think about the last two months suddenly got the news, Fan Xian Fan Poetry Fairy, actually into the South Dynasty Supervisory Yuan’s mention of the Lord …… this …… this official really can’t understand, Chen old man in the end in the thought of what? How can a person like Lord Fan live like a rat in a ditch like us?”

Fan Xian laughed, should say: “Shen adults self-effacing, thousands of miles for the official only for the money, no matter what to do, one is to seek in the court is favorable, the second is …… nothing more than is for their own families to seek a place to live.”

This is said some white, Shen Chong in the bottom of the heart sighed, for this first meeting of the southern counterparts, can not help but look down a few points, after all, is young people, speak and do things are a little rough. I really do not know how Chen Pingping actually think, also do not know the horrible emperor of the south, why would agree to the Supervisory Yuan this seems to be a bit ridiculous personnel arrangements.

In fact, Shen Chong as the Northern Qi Jin Yiwei Zhenfu Division Commanding Officer, has always been for the southern counterparts have a kind of indescribable envy, for the cripple sitting in a wheelchair, but also in respect with fear. He never understood, the southern counterparts, how to get the South Qing Emperor’s complete trust, not like himself, trembling in the court, do not know what day, will be the palace like a pair of broken shoes thrown away.

As soon as he wandered off, Shen Chong immediately woke up, he knew that the other party, as a proper ambassador, risked through the Changning Marquis to request a meeting with himself for what, the huge benefits hidden in that pile deal, by Shen Chong is not moved, by the palace is not moved.

“For such things as gold and silver, no one will be too much.” Shen Chong suddenly smiled and said, “It’s just that I can’t see clearly what benefit we, the Zhenfu Division, can get in this matter?”

Fan Xian waved his hand, and Wang Qinian and the seven tiger guards all retreated. Shen Chong also nodded, and the rest of the idle people in the hall retreated as well. Fan Xian was a bit surprised to look at the person sitting next to Shen Chong, that person was dressed in luxurious clothes, but there was no royal feeling that Fan Xian was familiar with between his eyebrows, so he thought that he wasn’t a character sent by the Northern Qi Imperial Palace to listen to the proceedings, so why was he able to have the qualifications to continue to sit here?

“This is Mr. Cui.” Shen Chong introduced.

The eunuch stood up and bowed to Fan Xian, but there was a somewhat reserved look on his face. Fan Xian frowned and asked, “A native of Qing?”

Shen Chong laughed out loud and said, “I thought the two of you knew each other originally. It’s good to teach Fan Tiji to know that this Mr. Cui is the second son of the Cui Clan of Southern Qing, and the Cui Clan and the Fan Clan have always been known together as the sons of the family.”

Fan Xian frowned and said, “Lord Shen, what do you mean by this?”

Shen Chong’s eyes flashed with a sinister look as he said faintly, “Doesn’t Lord Fan want to talk about trade? Well teach your lordship to know, in fact …… this sale, this official has been doing it for many years, so I want to know if Lord Fan has any more benefits for me.”

Fan Xian slightly inclined his head and looked at that Lord Cui, wanting to see something from the other’s face. Suddenly he opened his mouth and asked, “Mr. Cui, this feast today, did you yourself want to come, or did the elders in your family want you to come?”

“Such an event, how could I miss it?” Duke Cui didn’t seem to be very afraid of Fan Xian.

In fact, things have been very clear up to here, this Duke Cui obviously represents the interests of the Cui Clan, and behind the Cui Clan …… is naturally that Elder Princess who is far away in Xinyang. Fan Xian is not without thought, the eldest princess can seize a large number of benefits from the inner treasury, relying on the smuggling of this way, but he did not expect, in front of this jinyiwei Zhenfu Division Commander, even the eldest princess’s spokesman will be pulled to the table!

But he didn’t expect that the Commander of the Jin Yi Wei Zhen Fu Division in front of him would actually pull the spokesperson of the Princess to the table! What made Fan Xian even more furious was that the little bastard surnamed Cui actually dared to sit on the table and act as a bargaining chip for the other side. The Rapunzel was currently begging for help, so she couldn’t possibly sabotage her own affairs, so it was definitely this son of a bitch named Cui who had taken matters into his own hands!

Fan Xian took the initiative to liaise with Shen Chong, on the one hand, he wanted to take a road, on the other hand, he actually wanted to strike a blow at the source of money on the Xinyang side, he didn’t think that this Beiqi court had played such a hand, and put all the games that should have been a secret bidding game, all to the surface.

Seems to see his unhappiness, Shen Chong smiled and said: ”Lord Fan, in fact, this matter may as well be stated explicitly, we are all people who want to get rich. This Mr. Cui has some overlap with the sale you intend to make, I can’t have it both ways, so naturally I want to hear your opinions.”

Fan Xian regained his composure and looked at that Mr. Cui and said indifferently, “I didn’t expect Mr. Cui to have the guts to make such a big sale.”

“Where is it as big as Lord Fan’s guts.” Duke Cui replied with a faint smile.

Seeing that the scene was a bit awkward, Shen Chong smiled and said, “Duke Cui is also a son of a family, and his family has several great officials in the southern court, but he is just traveling outside at the moment, and one day in the future, he will also join the court as an official, so the two of you need to be more close to each other.”

Hearing this, Fan Xian let out a cold laugh in his heart, and looked at Shen Chong and said, “Lord Shen, you may have forgotten my identity, what kind of family and so on, can’t really be put in my eyes.”

After saying this, Fan Xian long stood up, is not even a greeting, directly out of the hall, early Wang Qinian umbrella followed by seven tiger guards holding the handle of the long sword, escorting the adults to the courtyard outside the line, all the way to kill, those brocade guards actually no one dares to stop.

Just listening to the carriage outside the courtyard, Fan Xian was so unceremoniously gone.

Seemingly not expecting Fan Xian to show such a fierce reaction, Shen Chong was stunned in place. He had been immersed in the officialdom for decades, and had seen many negotiations of all kinds of interests, but he had never met such a situation, and the style of behavior of this young governor, surnamed Fan, was really out of everyone’s expectation.

His eyes turned, turned his head and said with a gentle smile, “Cui Gongzi, this Lord Fan is really a man of nature.”

Duke Cui’s face was a shade of green and red, what Fan Xian had said earlier had really stabbed his pride greatly, what kind of family and so on, Fan Xian actually said that he didn’t care about it! He thought with hatred, “What is your Fan family? He drank a cup of mulled wine, but in his heart, he felt that there was something wrong.

Shen Chong looked at him and didn’t utter a word.

Suddenly, Duke Cui’s hands trembled, and only then did he think of Fan Xian’s status as the Supervisory Court, and thought that the other party was, after all, the son-in-law of the Eldest Princess, and turned white with fear, and then looked at Shen Chong’s eyes, which became incomparably resentful, and cursed, “Your Honor, Sir Shen, you tricked me into coming here, do you want me to die?”