Chapter 34 – The Old Man Who Grows Cabbages
“Impossible.”
Fan Xian lay on his bed, shaking his head and saying three words, yet immediately coughed, as if even his internal injuries knew that he couldn’t possibly trust his judgment completely, and under the agitation of his emotions, he inevitably reacted somewhat.
However, Fan Xian still felt that it was impossible, since his childhood, he had followed Mr. Fei to learn the introductory and superficial lectures on biological poisons, the regulations and departmental composition in the Supervisory Court, and the Supervisory Court’s unique methods of dealing with people and killing techniques, and from a very young age, his life had begun to be closely linked to the Supervisory Court, which was the most feared of the officials and people in the State of Qing.
In the eyes of others, he was a child, a child with some genius temperament at best, but he knew very well that Fan Anzhi at the time of Tanyu, his soul had already matured quite a bit, so he had long since realized that his future life would definitely be closely tied to the Procuratorate.
After entering the capital, the appearance of the waistplate of the Tishi, moreover, made Fan Xian understand the good intentions of those old men of the Supervisory Academy, the other party wanted to hand over the Supervisory Academy to himself, or rather return it to himself, or more accurately, return it to the woman of that year.
By now, Fan Xian has uncountable wealth, a reputation that is known throughout the world, and an extremely high status, all of which may be by virtue of his experience in two lives, the poems and lyrics of countless sages, and his own perseverance that he practiced since he was a child, but in his heart, he knows clearly that all of this is just a foreign object that is difficult to tie up in the body, and that he may lose it at any time, any place, and at any time.
The reason why he could still have all these until today was that he relied on the power of the Supervisory Yuan.
No matter which way you look at it, the Inspectorate was the foundation of Fan Xian’s existence in this world.
The sniping in the snowy valley was different from the assassination in the Hanging Temple, the serious injuries sustained after the Hanging Temple was a complete accident, the shadow’s strike was completely under Chen Pingping’s control, if it didn’t happen to be at that time that one’s hegemony rolls were practiced to the bottleneck, and it happened that one’s meridians were all broken, one must have not sustained such a serious injury at the end of the day.
But the sniping in the snow valley, that is in order to kill themselves, once unfolded, there is absolutely no possibility of retracting ……
If it was really as his father had said and he had guessed, this foundation had suddenly loosened up, and Fan Xian could have retreated at any time in a state of disarray. Regarding this conjecture, whether rationally or emotionally, Fan Xian was not willing to accept it, nor could he.
“Impossible.”
Fan Xian once again repeated these three words in a heavy tone.
He was the Supervisory Yuan’s Tisi, and after these two years of Chen Pingping’s deliberate letting go and support, he had long since planted his own manpower in the eight divisions, and the Qiyian group had become a special division, with himself in one division, Yan Bingyun in four, Fei Jie in three, Black Rider Heartless in five, and now with Jing Ge, and Shadow in six ……
Counting, today’s Fan Xian is no longer the loner he was at the beginning, and the resources of the entire Supervisory Academy have long been firmly in his hands, and he really can’t figure out that even if there is a traitor in the Academy, he can’t possibly completely keep himself in the dark and cooperate with his own enemies.
Unless it was him.
It was him that he thought of himself in the valley.
But he …… was so kind to himself, the hand that had been resting on the woolen blanket was so steady, and that thin disabled body seemed so dependable, that no matter where one was, one always felt that he was one’s greatest support, so that no matter what one did, one did not have an ounce of fear.
“There is never anything impossible in this world.” Fan Jian said coldly, “How was your mother back then compared to you now? The same is the left hand of the Supervisory Yuan, the right hand of the inner treasury, behind the old five, not to mention that she has more of us, the south has the Quanzhou naval division, than you today how? …… But in the end?”
Fan Xian fell silent, suddenly vaguely feeling that the things in the valley were only related to that incident many years ago.
“The Empress’s father, it was by my own hand that I cut off his head with a single knife.” Fan Jian looked down at his slender fingers and smiled, “But …… who knows if all the heads that should have been chopped off were chopped off?”
When Fan Xian first heard about this, he was shocked beyond belief, and looked at his father for half a day, unable to speak, and it was not until today that he realized that the Empress’s father was actually killed by his father’s own hands!
He knew what his father meant when he said, when the Kyoto bloodshed night is a big revenge on the Ye family toppling, but the Ye family foundation was so deep that it was subverted in one night, although it was while the emperor’s western expedition …… but Kyoto do not know how many powerful families are involved in this matter, some of the leakage of fish …… Even the culprits still exist, and it is not surprising.
Just …… Fan Xian broke the silence, a firm look spreading across his face, and said gently, “Father don’t say anything, I believe in Dean.”
Fan Jian sighed.
Fan Xian continued mildly, “Your words, in fact, he also once said to me …… I have also been thinking about the problems of that year, and found that before I entered Kyoto, you and Dean Chen were unusually indifferent to each other, and it was not at all like this now, and I understand that you all have guards in your hearts, it’s just that just as I unconditionally trust you unconditionally, I also trust him unconditionally.”
He coughed gently twice and continued, “Suspicion of a fellow human being is a terrible thing, and perhaps, some people have been deliberately hiding something just to make you and Dean Chen suspicious of each other.”
“I won’t be like that.” Fan Xian said in an aggravated tone, “I believe in my feelings, and only my feelings will not deceive me.”
His gaze looked out the window.
After a long time, Fan Jian smiled and said with relief, “It seems that for humanity, you still have faith in …… this, and your mother is very similar.”
Fan Xian also smiled and said, “It’s just for a specific few people.”
Fan Jian then calmly asked, “How are you going to handle this matter?”
“I’ll wait to see the results of His Majesty’s handling first.” After Fan Xian was silent for a little while, he continued to respond, “I’m just afraid that I won’t be able to find anything out from the investigation; the other party has invested such a large amount of capital into it, so naturally, they’ve also thought of a way to deal with the aftermath.”
He mockingly laughed, “Sometimes I don’t know where exactly His Majesty’s confidence comes from, this military is starting to have people stirring up, is he still as unconcerned as he was in the past?”
“Check, there’s always something that can be found out.” Fan Jian looked at his son, knowing that the young man was not overwhelmed by blood, and smiled gratefully, “The defending crossbows are all numbered.”
“I’m afraid that even this city guard crossbow was transferred from somewhere else, it’s not good to check on the wrong person.”
“You’re right.” Fan Jian lips corner floated up an odd smile, “His Majesty’s anger, the case investigation is extremely fast, in the afternoon got the news, there are a total of five city guard crossbows in the valley, just from the inner treasury C workshop factory, should have been sent along the road in the direction of Dingzhou …… just don’t know why, but a little later than the time of delivery, just happened to appear in the your way back to the capital.”
“Dingzhou?” Fan Xian frowned, “Is the Ye family going to be the scapegoat again? Can His Majesty be so cruel?”
“Of course His Majesty knows that this matter is fishy.” Fan Jian said, “It’s just …… what if the Ye family did this on purpose?”
“That’s why other evidence is needed,” Fan Xian asked softly, “Is there any value in the live witness I sent to the Privy Council?”
“There is.” Fan Jian laughed oddly again and said, “Your move is still the same as the one you used against the Second Prince back then, sending witnesses to the other side’s court.”
Fan Jian’s face was slightly quiet as he said, “It’s just a method, it’s best not to use it twice, at least this time the Privy Council didn’t fall for your trick.”
“Oh?” Fan Xian frowned and said, “How did they handle it?”
Fan Jian said with a slight smile, “They offered that living mouth like an old ancestor, afraid that he would bleed to death and not be able to handle His Majesty’s questioning. Immediately afterward, they sent this person to the Supervisory Court under the pretext that this matter must be investigated by the Supervisory Court, and that the military should have to avoid suspicion.”
Fan Xian was slightly stunned.
Fan Jian continued to laugh, “But the person was thrown at the Privy Council by you, the Supervisory Yuan naturally refused to accept it, and had it dragged back to the Privy Council …… Privy Council These military roughnecks really learned to be rogue this time around, and actually dragged this person back to the Privy Council again.”
The always dignified Minister of the Household smiled and shook his head, “This afternoon, the two yards are in this live on the body to compete, you give me, I give you, like this person is a hot potato in general, who also refused to take.”
Although today encountered ambush, Fan Xian mood is a little heavy, but listening to his father these words, still can not help but smile, seems to see in front of the eyes of this afternoon, in the Tianhe road, in the Qing dynasty’s power center seat, the two yards like dragging pork like, you and I …… that good man in the army, I am afraid that a lifetime has never thought that There will be this kind of treatment it.
“Finally how to deal with it?”
“In the end, the palace issued a word, the Supervisory Yuan income in the prison.”
Fan Xian sighed, “I can’t imagine that after sleeping for an afternoon, so many things have happened in Kyoto.”
Fan Jian quietly looked at his son, and slowly said after a long time, “You were ambushed by the army, this is the biggest thing after the night of bloodshed in Kyoto …… And you came back alive, I don’t know how many people will never be able to sit in peace again in the mansion, and I don’t know how many people will not be able to sleep in this night. ”
Fan Xian was silent.
“Are you really going to move?”
“I won’t move personally,” Fan Xian said softly, “but I’m going to make them ache, ache to the bone.”
Fan Jian nodded and said, “You handle it yourself, just …… don’t offend the entire military.”
“I have the measure.”
Fan Jian stood up and left his bedroom, finally saying, “You must live.”
This one night, there were countless people, sitting in their secluded rooms, restless and silent.
Fan Xian assassination news has long been spread throughout the whole of Kyoto, today’s routine great dynasty will be because of this unexpected event came to an abrupt end, according to the retreating ministers privately discuss, his majesty after hearing the news, performance is still calm, immediately ordered the forbidden army commander under the great hall out of the palace patrol, and also ordered Shu Hu two university professors in behalf of the son of heaven to comfort.
But also according to the palace of the Yao eunuch said, his majesty returned to the imperial study after, raw grip broken an official kiln porcelain teacup, long silence.
All people know that the emperor is in a state of shock and anger, but not everyone is in fear, those who presided over the valley, or secretly helped the valley of the characters, each with a ghost, each with a restlessness in their respective mansions to plan.
Since these people dared to kill people on the outskirts of Kyoto, they were naturally prepared to meet the wrath of His Majesty and the retaliation of the Supervisory Court, they just didn’t expect that after utilizing such a powerful force and making such thorough preparations …… Fan Xian hadn’t died!
“He actually didn’t die!”
His Royal Highness the Crown Prince in the Eastern Palace gritted his teeth as he grasped the embroidered cloth on the foot couch beside him with one hand, scratching the soft embroidered cloth into countless unsightly flowers.
The Empress Mother’s eybrows were slightly traced, coldly and nobly sitting across from him, saying in a cold voice: “Pay attention to your status, pay attention to your words, Fan Xian is a minister of the dynasty, if he doesn’t die, as the Crown Prince, you should be relieved, how can you be so disappointed?”
The Crown Prince laughed coldly, “This is the Eastern Palace, besides everyone knows that only one can survive between this Palace and him, Fan Xian, I’m afraid that everyone is guessing that what happened in the valley was arranged by this Palace, since this is the case, why do I still need to put on that kind of benevolence appearance?”
The Empress looked at him quietly, and after a long time said, “Do not worry, His Majesty will not suspect you, because …… we did not have this kind of strength in the first place.”
The crown prince was dumbfounded, only at this point did he wake up to the fact that among these forces in the dynasty, it was his own strength that was the weakest. This was partly because of Lao Er’s struggle for a number of years, and partly because he had lost the strong aid of the Eldest Princess, and there was also the reason for Fan Xian’s existence.
He smiled bitterly, “I didn’t think that it would become a good thing nowadays instead, mother is right, this palace doesn’t have the means to mobilize an army to kill people.”
“It’s just ……” a hint of cynicism flashed in the Crown Prince’s eyes, “It would be good if Fan Xian died.”
What a Fan Xian! Fighting the Ming family’s family property lawsuit in Jiangnan, but you’re trying to latch on to the big right and wrong of the first-born son having no innate right to inheritance, what do you think you’re thinking about that this palace isn’t clear about? The Empress Dowager is not clear? The Empress Dowager has already started to get angry …… The Crown Prince sneered, and in his heart, he was very grateful to the unknown force that, in such a situation, actually dared to snipe Fan Xian head on, helping many people in Kyoto to do what they wanted to do but did not dare to do.
There were many people speculating on this night as to which force was so bold as to dare to risk universal condemnation by murdering the Emperor’s favorites in the outskirts of Kyoto.
Everyone’s gazes were directed towards the Eldest Princess, for it seemed that only this nobleman had such madness, such audacity, and such strength.
“I’m sorry it didn’t work out this time.” In a secluded royal residence in Kyoto, the most powerful and beautiful one in the Qing Kingdom was lazily lying on top of a short couch with a fire cage at the foot of the couch, warm air rising.
Li Yunrui’s eyes were slightly narrowed, her eyes were full of lazy intentions, she looked at the second prince sitting on the lower hand side and said with a smile, “But this matter has nothing to do with this palace, this palace is not so stupid as to be in such a state, to deal with Fan Xian, there are simple methods.”
The second prince was slightly stunned, in fact, from the time he heard the news of the valley sniping, he thought that it was the eldest princess who did it, counting, only she had such boldness to dare not to look at his majesty’s face, even he was vaguely suspecting that this matter was not tacitly approved by the empress dowager’s grandmother.
Unexpectedly, he heard the Rapunzel’s very straightforward denial.
“Of course, this palace is grateful to that one.” Li Yunrui smiled and said, the woman in her thirties but did not have the slightest flavor of flowers will be disabled, instead, it was thick and charmingly incomparable open, every squinting of the eyes, every turn of the wrist, a flavor of the wind and flow naturally penetrated, she sighed: “If I can kill that son-in-law of mine is not bad, valley sniping, simple, brutal, direct, with a soldier’s style… …I like it.”
Her words suddenly paused, and the Second Prince didn’t know what to say, the interior was filled with a wordless sigh.
After a long time, the eldest princess slowly shook her head and said, “This can not kill him …… whether he is lucky enough, or what?”
The second prince and the eldest princess glanced at each other, and both saw the uneasiness and self-deprecation in each other’s eyes, Fan Xian …… was really a monster, a monster whose luck was too good to be true, or rather, everyone still underestimated his strength today when they valued him so highly. The details of the sniping in the valley had long since reached the desk of these nobles, and for the fact that in that situation, Fan Xian had not only returned to Kyoto alive, but had also killed all of the snipers and captured one alive, all of the powers were overwhelmed.
There was even a hint of hidden fear.
The Eldest Princess had no fear, she just thought faintly, if, just if, there was no such thing as that incident in Oxford Street back then, how wonderful this world would be.
“Continue to make good relations with the Eastern Palace.” The eldest princess lectured the second prince like she was lecturing her own child, “We need his name to convince the empress dowager.”
The second prince nodded, finally unable to hold back the intense doubt in his heart, he asked, “Who actually moved? It can’t be that President Chen suddenly suffered from insanity.”
“The numbers of the five city guard crossbows have already been found out.” The Eldest Princess mockingly looked at the Second Prince, “It’s something from your little wife’s mother’s family.”
The second prince firmly shook his head, “The Ye family’s power is far away in Dingzhou, even if two hundred strong people raided overnight, it is impossible to completely unperturb the Kyoto Guard and the Supervisory Yuan, as for these five city guard crossbows, it is …… ridiculous.”
“Above the imperial court, it never cares whether it is absurd or not.” The Eldest Princess said mockingly, “His Majesty and the Supervisory Court want to vent their anger, and in the case of not being able to find an outlet, the Ye family is bound to become this outlet.”
The second prince pondered for a little while before calmly saying, “Please ask auntie to take action.”
Although the Ye family was far away from Dingzhou, and had been repeatedly suppressed because of the Hanging Temple matter, but after all, it was still a powerful figure in the military, and now it had become a family with the Second Prince, and when this was a critical situation, the Second Prince naturally did not want the Ye family to be hit again because of Fan Xian’s assassination, and even if for the sake of the great things in the future, the Ye family would have to be preserved.
“I am not an immortal.” The Eldest Princess said calmly, “The wrath of the Son of Heaven, how can it be settled by a few words from these women in the palace?”
She quietly looked at the second prince and said, “Not to mention the Ye family, prepare yourself. I know my emperor brother, he will be very angry this time, and if he can’t find the root cause of the matter in the end, perhaps he will send down a universal favor and make everyone unhappy.”
The second prince bowed his head, knowing that many people were going to be unlucky, but he wasn’t too worried about it, the matter had nothing to do with him anyway, and still insisted on asking, “Who is it in the end? Aunt …… this matter is very tight, do not hide it from the child.”
The Eldest Princess’s eyes remained calm, but the corners of her lips curved up in a nice, slightly mocking curve.
“Everyone knows that I’m not on the right track with Fan Xian, because I want to protect you, and Fan Xian has already brightened up his carriage in Jiangnan to protect Lao San’s rise to power.”
The Eldest Princess smiled and said, “But you and I both know very well that we didn’t do what happened in the valley, and that makes things very clear.”
“Why don’t you deal with Lao San and only want to kill Fan Xian?”
“That means that this sniping has nothing to do with that chair.”
“It’s only related to Fan Xian himself.”
“And the only thing related to Fan Xian that’s enough to trigger the hand of a certain bigwig in the military, other than that chair, is that woman from back then.”
“Why would that military bigwig want to kill Fan Xian because of that woman?”
“It must be because he knew that if Fan Xian really came to power in the future, or helped the oldest three to the throne,…… once he knew certain things, he would definitely bring their family to an end for that woman.”
“In that case, it seems that that military bigwig must have something to do with that woman’s death back then.”
Do not need to draw out the cocoon, the eldest princess just slowly said sentence by sentence, as if talking about family life in general, it is incomparably close to leaning the original truth of the matter.
“But …… Kyoto bleeding night?” The second prince frowned and said, “Didn’t the people who had been involved in the Ye family’s affairs die out?”
The eldest princess smiled sweetly and said after a long time, “Empress Dowager, Empress Dowager, died?”
A trace of fervor suddenly appeared between her eyebrows, “And if I’m not crazy, since that military big shot was able to live all the way to the present with unparalleled splendor, that woman’s death back then, I’m afraid it’s not so simple yet……. Oh, I’m admiring him more and more, even more than when I was a child. ”
The second prince’s lips were dry, knowing who his aunt admired, and deep down he was also overwhelmed by his aunt’s inference, the truth of the matter, if this was really the case, then it could only be said that this heart of his aunt’s was really too allergic and clever and scary.
Just he also can’t be sure of this point, frowned after a long time and said, “But …… listen to the news, on Fan Xian’s way back to the capital, that eunuch of the great capital governor, once shot an arrow.”
The eldest princess laughed softly, “You are also clear, that military big shot although hiding in the mansion every day, but the hand is outside reaching out, Yan Xiaoyi’s son has been hiding under him, this time it seems …… that this big shot is also afraid that his majesty will really find out about him, and he is hardened by the desire to drag us into the water. ”
The second prince sighed and said, “So it seems that it’s actually all the people who want Fan Xian to die, I really don’t know how father will deal with it.”
“Be thankful to your Father Emperor.” The Eldest Princess smiled and said, “He has turned Fan Xian into a lone minister, while consciously and unconsciously pushing everyone to our side, the Ye family is like that, and so is that military bigwig today, oh my god, as much as I take things away from him to hand over to my good son-in-law, he gives me back something better, as much as I take things, how can the world, be so lovely? ”
Nei Ku, the Cui family, the Ming family, and even her own daughter …… Rapunzel slowly clenched her own fists, keeping a gentle smile on her face, but a hint of mockery flowed out of her words.
“I have always been in awe of him, yet I also clearly know that he has a fatal weakness.”
The Second Prince didn’t dare to answer.
“He is too suspicious.” The Eldest Princess smiled, “Those who are suspicious will lose.”
Undoubtedly, for the judgment on the political situation, for the Luo net in the field of fame and fortune, the Eldest Princess possessed a wisdom that the world could hardly reach, but for the matter of the valley sniping, she only guessed the surface part, as for the deepest reason, I’m afraid that except for one person, no one was clear about it.
Even the military bigwig who presided over this valley sniping was not clear himself.
Kyoto City, a quiet mansion, this mansion took up half of the street, broad luxury incomparable, a system, are in accordance with the king’s residence manufacturing, inside and outside the courtyard of all kinds of trees, in the dark night looks like a giant people messy long hair, stabbing to the lonely and lonely sky.
An old man wearing a cotton robe is watering the vegetable ground in front of his own private courtyard, the old man is wearing a pair of cotton shoes, which are already a bit worn out after the end of the shoes. He wears a pair of cotton shoes that are already a bit worn out at the end. Wearing cotton robes and shoes, plain and simple, this is the disposition forged by countless years of military service.
He loved planting vegetables, especially in his old age, rarely go to the yard to sit in the class, more like to toss a few points of the family’s vegetable fields, the family’s sons and grandsons know this hobby, get a lot of rare vegetable seeds to.
But he does not plant, he only grows cabbage and radish, the two most commonly eaten in the army. He is different from that confused Prince Jing, he is not relying on this field to send his grief, he is just used to it, used to planting vegetables, used to simple and direct.