Chapter 22: There is no one worth believing in this world.

The crown prince moved, in the heart of the detailed calculation, after a long time finally made up his mind, a slap on the table and said, “good, this palace will give Fan Xian a chance, I hope that he will not let this palace disappointed.”

Donggong planned to finalize, Guo Baokun was gloomy, Xin Qimo was excited, and the Crown Prince felt that he was wise and tolerant, only that these three people did not know that the Empress and the Eldest Princess had once thought of assassinating Fan Xian back then, and that the real powerful force behind Donggong had already clashed with the force behind Fan Xian twice, once in Tanyu State, and once in Niulanjie Street as well as under Cangshan Mountain.

Of course, they were even more incapable of knowing that a few years later, things would turn out to be that absurd and unbelievable. The night of the palace always seemed more distant and darker than other places, hiding all the truths and past, and making it impossible to really see what kind of face would be in the not-so-distant future.

With the information of the Supervisory Board as the backbone, the negotiation in the latter days suddenly changed in the wind and clouds. The Northern Qi side still wanted to use the tactic of cowhide sugar, delaying for a day, hoping to wear out the patience of the Qing dynasty and the countryside. How do you know that the really powerful Honglu Temple Minister Xin Qiji adult, already aggressive momentum, in these two days on the negotiation table, become more killed, incarnated into a big axe, one by one to the other side of the hacking over!

After three rounds of negotiation, including the exchange of prisoners, tribute, title and so on, all the problems were solved, leaving only the last difficult bone to gnaw on, that is, the redrawing of boundaries between the vassal states.

Fan Xian, as the deputy reception ambassador, had been watching this process with cold eyes, and was very impressed by Lord Xin Shaoqing’s knowledge and vigor. He really did not think of the Prince side, the original is not all some of the corpse of the generation, not all of the East Palace near people like Guo Baokun like owe praise. Xin Shaoqing in the negotiation of the free time, also have time to communicate with Fan Xian or secretly observe, for Fan Xian so young, but has such qi cultivation kung fu, feel a little surprised, but also more and more feel that can not see through the depths of this young nobleman.

On the whole, the negotiation went smoothly, except for the help of the Supervisory Yuan in organizing the dossier, Fan Xian didn’t put in much effort, but he would always be rewarded in the future, so Fan Xian was very satisfied with his current life.

The bookstore side has Qingyu Hall’s Seven Leaves Shopkeeper to take care of it, and Fan Sicheng also works as a bookkeeper from time to time, so he doesn’t have to worry about it at all. Two months after the wedding thing, naturally have Lin House Fan House of those mothers-in-law busy to and fro, even Liu’s are very happy Fan Xian to be the fake emperor’s side horse harnessed by the side of a team of horses the fact, do enough stepmother’s role, busy round and round – to know that married to the emperor’s daughter, Fan Xian should not be inherited the title of the family again.

What’s more, Lin Wan’er another layer of identity there, the palace of those old maids often come to the house to talk about, every few days is a certain lady’s decree, so that the Sinan Bo Fan Jian are a little anxious. For Fan Xian, who has no knowledge of the court’s etiquette, these things are naturally something to be escaped from. It was only Lin Wan’er and her sister Ruo Ruo, who helped her brother memorize the rituals, who were immersed in this pain every day.

The second prince had asked Prince Jing to speak on his behalf twice, wanting to invite Fan Xian for a meeting. But the last summer vacation encounter with the crown prince had left Fan Xian with some shadows in his heart, so he pushed it to the end of the month, hoping that things would have calmed down a bit by then; after all, it appeared that the Eastern Palace seemed to have changed its attitude toward the Fan family. It wasn’t that he had the guts to refuse the prince’s invitation, it was just that he used the name extremely well, and didn’t dare to linger in the flower alleys when he was working for his country.

In this period of time, the only let him some hidden worry, is the north qi mission that has been living in seclusion ZhuangMoHan everyone, and the east barbarians mission that the four gu sword of the first disciple, these two a literary and military, are the world’s top characters, this time in Kyoto is too quiet a bit, ZhuangMoHan also invited by the empress dowager in the palace to stay long to give lectures, and the four gu sword of the first disciple of the cloud of the Lan has been stayed in the mission.

Fan Xian paid most attention to Yun Zhilan. After all, Zhuang Mo Han’s Wen family reputation has no conflict with his own, while Yun Zhilan and his own is the revenge of taking life. However, being in Kyoto, Qing, I believe that the other party would not be foolish enough to come at himself with a single sword to seek revenge, so the thing that really bothered Fan Xian at the moment was actually only related to a key.

At night, he looked at that black leather box and fumed, the lock mouth there looked to be brass, but he had tried it before, and the slender dagger left behind by Mr. Fei Jie couldn’t even scratch a mark on it, so it seemed that there was something odd about the material. Behind the brass keyhole, there seemed to be a mechanism of some sort, but if he couldn’t get the key, he couldn’t even see what that mechanism looked like.

Fan Xian had tried to find some way to get to know Eunuch Hong in the palace, but after a short attempt, he realized the fact that although he seemed to be making a good living in Kyoto, he was in fact still a long way from being at the top of the hierarchy in the world. The crown prince and the second prince to draw in themselves, just look at their own behind Fan Lin two house on the part, not their own has what is surprising. As for the area of the Imperial Palace, because one did not need to look at the eyes of the courtiers, one simply could not come into contact with it.

Wan Er’s eyes were not convenient to enter the palace often at the moment, so there was simply no one who could help himself. It would be difficult for himself to recognize Hong Si Itch even if he wanted to, let alone dragging him outside the palace for an hour as Uncle Wu Zhu said.

When the second prince came to invite Fan Xian through his worldly son Li Hongcheng, he had cleverly borrowed the mouth of a bystander to try and see if he could use this to recognize Eunuch Hong in the palace, but Li Hongcheng straight away shook his head, that old dog would only lie down in the empress dowager’s palace to take a cool ride, and it was simply impossible for him to go out of the palace.

“By the looks of it, there’s only a change of method.” With a snap, Fan Xian kicked the box back onto the bed and looked at Uncle Five Bamboo, who seemed to be asleep in the corner, “There’s no way I can drag Eunuch Hong out at all.”

Five Bamboo slowly raised his head, “I can lure him out, or, you can try to find the key in the palace.”

Fan Xian was startled, thinking that with his average level of four or more and six or less, could he go inside the palace and seek death? However, as he narrowed his eyes a little, he thought that this seemed to be a more feasible path for the moment. Uncle Wuzhu had always said that his “potential” was only at the level of the third grade, but he had been able to kill Cheng Jushu, so it seemed that Wuzhu had been underestimating his ability to utilize his true qi because he had been too calculating. -Of course, this could never be said.

“If it’s really too risky, why does it have to be this key?” This was a question that had been hovering in Fan Xian’s mind for a long time, “It seems a bit uneconomical to take such a big risk if it’s just because of curiosity.”

“You don’t want to know, what has the young lady left for you?”

“Want.” Fan Xian sat on the bed, his head slightly lowered, “But I think that Lord Mother must want me to live on in this world happily, peacefully, and cheerfully, and if in order to know what she left behind, she would cause her own son to be put in danger, perhaps, Mother wouldn’t want that.”

Five Bamboo also bowed his head, the black cloth covering his eyes blending in with the night around him, and although he did not look at Fan Xian, Fan Xian still felt a chill.

“You’re happy with your current life.”

Five Bamboo’s voice was cold, and as always, he rarely used questioning phrases, just calmly stating a fact. Fan Xian was stunned, thinking to himself that after he had joined the capital, especially during the period after the summer, he seemed to be really enjoying the power and wealth as well as the peace of mind that came with being the son of a powerful nobleman.

“But you can’t manipulate your own life.” Five Bamboos continued icily, “Everything in front of you is constructed within the planning of Chen Pingping and Fan Jian.”

A coldness grew in Fan Xian’s heart, understanding what Five Bamboo meant by that, but even after two lifetimes of being a human being and believing that he had seen the coldness and insidiousness of the human world, he still couldn’t believe that judgment, and lowered his voice to say, “Can’t you even trust them?”

Five Bamboo’s voice grew colder and colder, “It is my habit not to trust anyone.”

“That would be a hard life.” Fan Xian closed his eyes, seeming to simulate a vision of living in eternal darkness.

“What will you do when they die?” When Five Bamboo asked a rare question, he hit Fan Xian right in the gut.

Fan Xian frowned and said, “I see.”

Ignoring his statement, Five Bamboos continued without a trace of emotion, “It is not intrigue, power, or anything else that can protect you from yourself, it is only strength, and you must remember that.”

Fan Xian rose from the edge of the bed and bowed respectfully to this servant, this teacher, this elder brother.

“I don’t know what’s in the chest that the lady left you, but I do know that you must have enough strength to protect yourself and deter your enemies. Determination is also a strength, so I want you to find that key.”

“Yes, I’ll get right on it.”

When Fan Xian raised his head, he realized that Uncle Five Bamboo had once again disappeared into the darkness of the night. In the course of these ten years together, Five Bamboo would rarely say so much in one breath, except for reminiscing about his mother on rainy nights.

Fan Xian understood the other party’s meaning; this Kyoto prosperity pinning down his bones and soul had indeed caused his own calmness and strength, which he had polished since childhood, to show a hint of weakness. This was a warning, a warning not to rely too heavily on the power of the so-called family and his mother’s legacy. These days even though he had worked hard to cultivate the overbearing true qi in his body, and worked hard to familiarize himself with those three poison needles on his body, it was truly like what Uncle Wuzhu had said, that his heart, in fact, wasn’t as strong as it had been back in Tanyuu.

The only thing that can protect each and every one of us is our own strength. A child without a mother is like a blade of grass, the grass must also run outside the cracks of the stone, don’t pay attention to what the sunshine and rain, put their own roots deeper, and make their stems stronger, this is the right way.