Chapter 75 – The Secret Sentinels of Shangjing

After coming out of the small temple, Fan Xian had been followed by three people behind him, and it was unknown whether they were spies from the Brocade Guards or the palace’s manpower, but regardless of which side of the character, Fan Xian would not allow anyone to follow him today.

After pulling out these three nails, Fan Xian confirmed that no one else was following him, and only then did he begin his next move. After exiting the alleyway, he did not take a carriage, as any opportunity to come into contact with people could leave traces that the Northern Qi side might find out. On the wet streets, pedestrians gradually increased, and through the cover of the crowd, Fan Xian kept his head down and walked in silence among the people of the foreign country.

According to the Anti-Tracking Code of the Supervisory Academy, he should be looking for a cloth store or something like that at this point, and then go through the back door, and then go through a few more twists and turns before he could get to his destination. But Fan Xian did not take this method, for one thing, he was confident that no one would follow him, and for another, he thought that too many twists and turns and too many contacts would make him easy to be discovered, so he just sneaked into an official’s residence very carefully on the way and did not know what he was doing.

Coincidentally, at this time, the sky of the capital began to rain again, the rain is silent but tangible, effectively cover his tracks.

In the vicinity of the southern city of Shangjing, there is a civilian settlement called Zhangjia Dian. This place is a mix of dragons and snakes, and the people are in chaos, but the security is not bad these years, plus the cost of living is cheap, so it is gradually bustling. Those who do not have much capital of small traders, also began to drum up the remaining courage, save up the money, in this street to put some stores, do business on the ground.

This place is not like Xiu Shui Street, selling daily necessities. The price is cheap, and the quality is naturally not too good. The third store on the east side of the street is such an ordinary place. This store is to sell oil, oil is from Dongyi City side of the overseas palm oil, although the price is cheap, taste is also good, but the color is not very good, especially in winter, there will always be a layer of white flocculent, so generally a little bit of money of the rich family, would rather use Qidong side of the rapeseed oil.

The good thing is that people who don’t have money are always the majority, so this oil store without even a signboard can still survive. However, it doesn’t dare to hire more people, except for an old shopkeeper, only one helper and fellow.

It has been raining repeatedly this day, and the pedestrians here in Zhangjiajian are already few, but today it seems even more empty. But the oil store’s business has nothing to do with the weather, who has no oil to eat, will naturally come, so the oil store’s old shopkeeper is not very anxious, on the contrary, moved a bench, sitting in front of their own house to look at the store outside the rain daze.

Perhaps the shopkeeper is really old, the store’s young fellows feel that this year the shopkeeper dazed a lot more often than before.

“Shopkeeper, I want to buy oil.” A man stood at the door of the oil store, blocking the dull sky light outside the store. The old shopkeeper waved his hand, signaling him to go in by himself.

The man lifted his rain hat, revealing a plain and unassuming face, smiled, walked into the store, and said to the yawning fellow, “Young man, I want to buy oil.”

The fellow smiled and said, “What kind of oil do you want? In addition to brown oil, this store also has a new batch of rapeseed oil from Qidonglai.” The fellow’s attitude was respectful, but in his heart he was muttering, “Of course the people who come to our store are buying oil, isn’t that a load of crap?

The man said, “Give me half a catty of palm oil.”

The fellow answered crisply, “Yes.” He filled the oil and put it on the scale in a sharp manner, and then realized that the man’s hands were empty, and couldn’t help but touch his head, “This guest, what are you holding?”

“Do you have a pot here?”

“Yes, wooden jugs are three cents each.” The fellow was happy to do an extra business.

The man took the oil jug but didn’t say anything, seeming to be considering something.

Curious, the man asked, “What else do you want?”

“Do you have any scented oil?”

“Do you have any scented oil?” The words were soft and not too loud, but the dry right hand of the old shopkeeper sitting outside the store propped up on the bench trembled slightly.

The store assistant said in a bad mood, “We don’t have such good goods in this store, who can afford to eat scented oil in this entire Zhangjia store?” As he was talking, the old shopkeeper had already walked back to the counter slowly and methodically, waving his hand to signal the shopkeeper to leave, looking at the customer with a smile on his face, explaining, “Incense oil is too expensive, except for the time of the Heavenly Sacrifice, generally no one buys it. There is still half a year left for this heavenly sacrifice, so the small store hasn’t stocked up yet.”

The man smiled and said, “In addition to sacrificing to heaven, it is also possible to sacrifice people.”

The old shopkeeper smiled more and more respectfully and said, “Then tell us the quantity, and the store can order it on behalf of the customer.”

The conversation came to a critical place, so the two spoke in a small voice, but the man’s memory must be very good, so that the following batch of slips catty said clearly and unambiguously, “I’m going to buy seven pounds, three taels, nine cents and four millimeters …… of brown oil.”

The old shopkeeper splits and plays the abacus, and then has a difficult face, said, “This price is a bit of a problem, this merchant, let’s go into the inner room and then talk about it.”

“That’s fine.”

The old shopkeeper instructed his partner to watch outside, and then led the guest into the back room, the partner only then realized that this person is not to buy oil, but actually to sell oil, could not help but stick out his tongue, thinking that he just thankfully did not offend the boss of this business of perfumed oil.

This perfumed oil merchant, naturally, was Fan Xian in disguise. He entered the back room with the old shopkeeper, only to realize that this was completely different from the joint location he had imagined, and that it was actually a bright and clear sky.

There was no tea, no pleasantries, and the old shopkeeper stared into Fan Xian’s eyes, a hint of scrutiny in his old, cloudy eyes, and said, “The guest came from the south?”

Fan Xian nodded.

The old shopkeeper made a gesture of invitation. Fan Xian sighed in his heart, thinking that this procedure that Yan Bingyun had gotten up to was really a bit cumbersome, and had no choice but to report another number that he had memorized firmly.

It was only at this point that the old shopkeeper confirmed the identity of the other party, and the whole thing relaxed, shivering and pulling half a dozen times out of his sleeve, and resting a small, hardened, poisoned knife at his hand. Fan Xian understood that if the person coming was a scout from Qi, this old shopkeeper would have to kill himself at the first opportunity.

This was also why Yan Bingyun had been feeling humiliated after being captured alive.

The old shopkeeper looked at him and spoke, “What position does your honor hold in the Supervisory Court?”

Fan Xian shook his head and said, “I don’t think the situation at hand allows us to babble.”

The old shopkeeper let out a bitter smile, “It’s been a year, it’s been a whole year since we received any news from the top, after the leader’s accident, the court never sent anyone to take over, I thought the court was preparing for us to enter a period of silence.”

The so called period of silence is that once a gap has appeared in the secret agent system lurking in the enemy country, it will immediately stop all operations so as not to be exposed, and this period could be just a month, or it could be …… ten years.

Fan Xian frowned, Yan Bingyun this big head was captured, originally is the most unlikely thing to happen in the two countries espionage war, because Yan Bingyun itself does not need to carry the transportation of information back to the country, personally probing these dangerous things. But the Rapunzel played this hand and paralyzed the entire northern network of the Supervisory Authority.

Yan Bingyun had been in the hands of the Northern Qi people, and the court and the side of the Supervisory Yuan naturally did not dare to risk contacting these downlines, which was why this one-year hiatus had been created.

“I hope that everyone’s bodies haven’t rusted out from the one year’s pause.”

“Please rest assured, my lord.” The old shopkeeper knew that since this person in front of him was able to come and take over Lord Yan’s duties, he must be a terrific big shot in the courtyard, and as he could vaguely smell the scent of blood on the other side, the old shopkeeper replied in an extraordinarily small-minded manner, “Please issue an order, Your Excellency.”

“Three things, both urgent and slow.” Fan Xian looked at the old man in front of him, knowing that the other party and even the unknown number of secret agents in the courtyard below must have had a very difficult time this year, like orphans drifting around with no place to go home to, so he intentionally softened his words a bit, “The most urgent thing is to find out where Sean is being held at once. The second thing is to find out the proper reason for the dislike between the empress dowager and the emperor.”

This was a point that Fan Xian had never understood, that young emperor seemed to have had a bit too much to eat.

The old shopkeeper’s face remained unchanged, and although he knew that either of these two tasks would be extremely difficult, he simply waited quietly for the lord in front of him to issue the third order.

“The matter of checking on Sean should be quick, and the matter in the palace can be slowed down.” Fan Xian murmured, “As for the third order, I think you should be well aware that the inner treasury has been smuggling to the north over the years.”

The old shopkeeper narrowed his eyes, and for the first time, a strange gleam appeared in his eyes, “That’s a problem on the Xinyang side, Your Excellency, has the courtyard finally decided to take action?”

Fan Xian shook his head and said softly, “Check …… give me a solid check, but don’t touch them even for a hair, but control all the joints you can, and in the future, if the courtyard wants to make a move, make sure that you have something in your hands that is enough to hunt this line down to the ground. ”

“Understood.” The old shopkeeper knew that this was a long term task and that he could take his time.

Fan Xian was thinking of something else in his heart, but he was wondering if the matter of Duke Cui was a deliberate attempt by his mother-in-law to test himself, or if the other party was currently begging for something, so he was temporarily tolerating it. Although the matter of the speech paper and the matter of the Guangxin Palace, the Xinyang side has never known that it was Fan Xian who did it, but the clash in the hall of the Ministry of Justice has gradually brought to the surface the conflict between him and the Eldest Princess.