Chapter 53 – Snowflake and Beanflower Before Dawn

The sedan chair slowly left the long street, that negative long bow of the strong man, also disappeared, this place empty ground snow, filled with white fog.

With the departure of the sedan chair, the coughing sound gradually weakened, the fog on the street gradually dispersed, although the surrounding area is still dark, but it appears to be much clearer than before. A piece of snowflakes quietly scattered down from the top of the dome of the sky, warm and gentle, fluttering, like a god in the high sky gently shaking the flower tree.

Clouds open, the layers of dark clouds suddenly cracked a large slit, revealing the silver moon, clear light gradually diffuse, the long street illuminated clearly.

At the back of the street, the eaves of the residential houses that were stacked one on top of the other extended into the street, and because of the moonlight, some oddly shaped shadows were reflected on the ground.

One black shadow suddenly twitched and twisted like some kind of creature, and then slowly and silently retreated backward, shrinking back into the mass of shadows, never to be separated again.

Fan Xian was lying on his back on the corner of a distant gatehouse, wearing a black-on-white snow jacket, and he withdrew his eyes from the corner of the street that had been obscured by the stone beasts, sighed softly, and puffed out a white mist in the darkness. The ice filaments that had congealed on his eyebrows snorted and shattered with a few snorts, and he leaned back toward the sky a little wearily, stretching his aching muscles all over his body, his eyes glowing at the silver moon in the night sky above him.

Touching the hardened box beside him, he subconsciously shook his head and narrowed his eyes, tonight he had put down a large sum of money, prepared so well, and looked like he could succeed, but was broken by that Eunuch Hong. What a failure.

He was not prepared to utilize the chest, after all, this thing was too sensitive and could not be used lightly until the last moment. Just to snipe Yan Xiaoyi, a strong man who already stood at the peak of humanity, his hand couldn’t touch the hard case, his heart had little certainty, it was a confidence booster, the last resort.

Fan Xian lay in the remnants of the snow on the roof of the building, panting heavily for a couple of moments, calming the emotions of defeat and the flash of anger that came from nowhere.

Someone crawled over, and Fan Xian lifted his snow jacket to hide the thing, a flash of complex emotions in his eyes.

Wang Qinian came up to him and said, “It’s Eunuch Hong.”

Fan Xian nodded, “You’ve worked hard today.”

Everyone in the Supervisory Court was busy with all the bloodshed this night, but Wang Qinian, Fan Xian’s most trusted confidant, appeared to be doing nothing. Only Fan Xian himself knew that the task he had given Wang Qinian was to keep an eye on Yan Xiaoyi’s movements.

He knew that Yan Xiaoyi wouldn’t miss this opportunity, so he didn’t want to miss it either, and Wang Qinian’s performance didn’t let himself down, a strong person on the ninth rank actually hadn’t been able to notice that his movements were actually all under Wang Qinian’s watchful eye.

Supervisory Yuan double wings, the world’s most skillful at tracking and searching for traces of the people, really is not a vain name.

Wang Qinian’s face was very white, whiter than the remaining snow on top of the building and the silver light in the street. Tracking Yan Da Dudu was undoubtedly one of the most terrifying tasks in his life, the sense of fear and pressure made this forty year old middle-aged man a little close to being unable to withstand it, and his mind and spirit had long since reached the extreme point of collapse.

And he wondered if he had seen something he shouldn’t have.

Fan Xian calmly said, “I do trust you, to be precise, a lot of my things are based on my trust in you.”

Wang Qinian understood what that meant, Little Lord Fan was the one who bumped into himself when he first entered the capital, and then used that as the center to start forming the Qinian group, spreading out from the group and gradually putting the Supervisory Yuan under his control.

And he himself is undoubtedly under the sky to know the most secrets of the small Fan adults, such as the night after the chanting of poetry in front of the temple that year, the key ……

The next day came the news that there was an assassin in the palace, and Wang Qinian certainly knew who that assassin was, and as for the key, well …… surely it was used to open something.

So Fan Xian has not been killing himself to silence, Wang Qinian is very some surprise, and touched, is really that kind of touching, the heart has a kind of impulse called a soldier for a friend to die, obviously this kind of impulse for more than forty years of age for him, is very dangerous and not worth it, but he is still in the bottom of the heart retained this wonderful feeling.

The sound of two night lords chirping came from under the gate tower, Fan Xian listened with his side ear and after confirming that it was clean, he made a gesture to Wang Qinian beside him.

A feeling of fear flashed through Wang Qinian’s eyes as he had also vaguely heard of that legend and was aware of the relationship between that legend and Lord Little Fan’s mother.

He knew that his life had been completely handed over to Lord Little Fan from today onwards, it was a trust between each other, and that trust in itself was something very scary and life-threatening.

With a flip of his palm, his entire body slid down from the top of the gate tower, sliding in a strange, comical gesture, like a large praying mantis, with long arms and legs, but silently, and in no time at all, he descended to the ground, walked to the middle of the street, squatted down, inspected the breath of the pretender, confirmed that he was still alive, and made a gesture into the air.

This gesture was naturally for Fan Xian to see. Fan Xian looked at this scene and couldn’t help but smile, the old king really did have two brushes, with this light hand in hand, no wonder he had been active in the north for a year and hadn’t let those guys from the Brocade Guards catch a hint of a handle.

The camouflaged person who was injured by Yan Xiaoyi’s string intention was exactly the double that Fan Xian carried at all times when he was on a mission to Northern Qi, and this double helped him a lot back then, so naturally he had to take it out to bait the enemy today.

A few more strange birds chirped under the gate tower, and a few secret agents in black lotus coats searched over, bringing the carriage from Fan’s house, picking up both Wang Qinian and the double, and all of this appeared to be as quiet and natural as it could be. Just at this moment, the clouds in the air and close, clear light did not, Kyoto and sank into the darkness.

Before morning, when it was darkest, the snowflakes rose again. Fan Xian came alone to a store in front of the west of the city, all the people’s houses were still in deep sleep, and the stores had not begun to make preparations, even the earliest noodle stalls had not yet begun to prepare the bashful rice, but only this store had already opened, with the tantalizing smell of beans inside, to dispel the darkness of the pre-dawn hours, and waited for the morning sun to come.

Under the snowflakes, Fan Xian sat on a small table outside the store, holding a bowl of bean flowers in his hand as he slowly drank, the flavor of the bean flowers was good, there was no slag, not too much of a bean flavor, and the aroma was refreshing, and it was even a bit better than the one made by Tanyu Dong’er.

This was a very natural reasoning, because this tofu store was one of the most famous in Kyoto, and was the first industry run by the youngest master of the Sinanbo House after entering the capital.

This tofu store was Fan Xian’s own.

Fan Xian slowly drank soybean flower, his face was calm, but in his heart, he laughed bitterly, his own rebirth for twenty years, but really is a useless second generation, for this world did not bring what kind of change at all, the biggest change …… is probably the practice of this tofu, right?

Mother is too capable, too amazing, in that short years, actually grabbed all the things that can be done, so what can be left to do for themselves?

Like all those powerful ministers in history, playing with power, enjoying wealth and riches, not thinking about the life and death of the one who is in power, and just muddle through life?

Just like what he had been thinking before, Fan Xian’s face gradually became worried, always feeling that there was a big longing deep inside his heart, but he could never catch what that longing actually was.

He was a bit annoyed and depressed, and when he thought of the incident in the street and the longbow Yan Xiaoyi carried behind him, his mood lowered.

“Fuck …… me,” Fan Xian cursed an expletive in a very soft voice, in a very gentle manner.

There was fog tonight, which was actually not good, although this was the environment that the shadow had long ago judged, but he had not thought that Yan Xiaoyi’s mind was so powerful to that extent that he could defy the layers of fog overlapping each other, and accurately judge where he was.

Moreover, the medicine hidden in the fog did not seem to have the slightest effect on this Ninth Grade Upper Extremely Strong Person. True qi was deep to a certain degree, and ordinary medicines were indeed of little use. Fan Xian smiled to himself, there really was no such thing as perfection in this world, and the odorless white medicinal mist was indeed much less effective.

But even so, in the environment of certain death that he had managed to create tonight, Fan Xian would still be brave enough to try and kill Yan Xiaoyi.

He was not the emperor, his confidence came from his own strength as well as his luck that was better than the world, unlike the emperor who was so inexplicable. So he was used to striking first, removing all the powerful characters that might threaten him, and Yan Xiaoyi, naturally, was the one who bore the brunt of it.

If there would be a great upheaval in the Qing Dynasty in the future, Fan Xian always insisted that being able to weaken the other side by one point would be an extremely good thing for his side. Yan Xiaoyi was not in the army, but in the capital, and he had pre-empted it, so this could not have been a better opportunity. If the other party was allowed to return to the camp of conquering the north, then trying to kill the other party would be a fool’s errand.

So Fan Xian was sitting on the table at this time, feeling defeated and angry.

Why did Elder Eunuch Hong come out to break the game!

Fan Xian’s right hand, which was holding the bowl, trembled a little, and with a frown, he slammed the bowl in his hand to the ground, the porcelain bowl breaking into countless pieces. He rarely had this kind of display of anger where he couldn’t control his emotions, and from this, it was clear that Elder Eunuch Hong’s sudden appearance today had indeed annoyed him to the extreme.

“Why?” His brows furrowed extremely deeply, and he could never figure this out. Elder Eunuch Hong’s appearance at the palace to break the situation was obviously either the Emperor’s or the Empress Dowager’s intention, but what exactly were the mother and son with the most power in the Kingdom of Qing thinking? Could it be that they hadn’t seen the current situation clearly? If he was able to kill Yan Xiaoyi, and had already cleared out the forces of the second, the growing weakness on the side of the eldest princess would instead calm down the situation of the entire royal family.

That somewhat terrifying fluctuation might gradually calm down in this regard.

The Emperor was obviously clear on this point, so why would he nod his head and allow Elder Eunuch Hong to step in and stop himself from playing against Yan Xiaoyi? Could it be that the Emperor was a madman who just loved the idea of his own sister moving step by step towards the path of rebellion?

A self-mutilator?

Fan Xian thought with some annoyance, the corner of his lips spread a bitter smile, it seems that the emperor’s family, really is a nest of perverts, all too much of this world is not too lively.

But …… is the emperor not afraid …… that he will be driven down from the dragon chair? A succession of questions, the one that had plagued Fan Xian for a long time, made his expression a little ugly. What exactly was the emperor thinking?

What is the emperor thinking, only he himself is clear, Chen Pingping is also clear, as Chen Pingping said back then, a person standing in what kind of position, will have what kind of vision, make judgment and choice in line with this kind of position.

Today’s Kyoto of Qing, still belongs to the stage of fermentation, Fan Xian would like to take the risk to terminate this process, so as not to suddenly swell the dough later on, and today’s appearance of Elder Eunuch Hong clearly indicates that the emperor does not need Fan Xian to worry about this.

So Fan Xian was distressed.

New out of the first grid of fresh tofu served out, the top is still hot, tofu store fellows respectfully scooped two bowls, respectively, put net white sugar and shredded squash and sesame oil scallion soy sauce …… fragrant sweet and salty two flavors, sent to the small table, and then retreated back.

The people of the tofu store all know this odd habit of Lord Fan, the proprietor does not throw away the tofu store because it does not earn much money, but also never come here to see during the day, but every month or two, will come to order two bowls of tofu in the early hours of the morning when it is darkest. Not many people knew about Fan Xian’s hobby.

Fan Xian was very tired tonight, with a feeling of exhaustion, he used a porcelain spoon to haphazardly pick at a bowl of tofu, sending a bite into his lips, sweet and silky feeling. There are snowflakes also fell into the bowl, let him abruptly associated with shaved ice this long-forgotten term, feel a little better, he shaved a few mouthfuls, seems to abruptly make up for a lot of spirit.

There was another bowl that he didn’t move.

Three carriages broke the calm of Kyoto and slowly drove up to the front of the tofu store, the swordsmen on top of the front and back two carriages jumped out of the carriages, vigilantly gazing in all directions and setting up their defenses.

Yan Bingyun lifted the curtains and stepped down from the middle carriage, after a busy night, this Fan Xian’s brain, obviously also very tired, pale face, with a trace of emaciation.

He walked over to Fan Xian’s table, obviously a little surprised that Fan Xian would actually be eating tofu here alone.

Fan Xian nodded and gestured for him to sit down, at the same time pushing the bowl of tofu mixed with shredded scallions and squash over.

Yan Bingyun didn’t eat it, and took out the dossier from his arms and began to explain in a low voice what had happened this night. When he heard that the people to be killed and arrested were basically in place, Fan Xian nodded in satisfaction.

“Huang Yi didn’t die.” Yan Bingyun glanced at him.

Fan Xian looked up and asked, “What happened?”

“The poison under the nails was very strong, but it seems that the princess’s other residence has an expert in detoxification ……,” Yan Bingyun said, “So Huang Yi saved his life.”

Huang Yi was a schemer in the Princess’s residence, and although he hadn’t been able to do any kind of harm to Fan Xian, and hadn’t shown any over-achievement, since Fan Xian had moved to remove all potential threats, Huang Yi was also a part of this night’s plan.

Fan Xian didn’t like the idea of having some kind of hostage capture or some other kind of doggerel unfolding in the years to come because of his momentary weakness.

“Not an expert in detoxification.” Fan Xian shook his head, “I understand the means of the three divisions’ masters and brothers very well, and that poison master in Dongyi City is not the same as our faction …… It seems that the Rapunzel’s infiltration in the Supervisory Academy back then was very effective, and in addition to the dead Zhuge, she also prepared a lot of antidote pills.”

Yan Bingyun said, “The nail buried in the Princess’s other residence has not yet been exposed, I took it upon myself to have him removed.”

“Very good.” Fan Xian nodded approvingly, “Take your own decisions on these matters, don’t let the people below take unnecessary risks, it’s best to stay alive.”

Although the words were spoken, Fan Xian knew in his heart that this was the second failure of the night.

Yan Bingyun spoke again, “The living mouthpiece you were going to take a confession from is dead.”

Fan Xian looked up at him and knew that he was talking about the only living witness in the valley sniping, the Qin family’s private army. There had been no clues or evidence in the valley sniping case, so the only hope was that living witness, and since he was locked up in the Heavenly Prison of the Supervisory Yuan, with the Seven Divisions and the Three Divisions guarding him at the same time, there was no way that he could have died just like that.

He forcibly suppressed that odd emotion in his heart, looked at Yan Bingyun with a smile or not, and wonderfully did not lash out.

“Eunuch Hong came just now.” Fan Xian said to Yan Bingyun, “What do you think?”

Yan Bingyun was slightly startled, and after a long time, he said softly, “One, the master feels that you’ve gone over the line tonight. Two, whether he dies or you die, it’s not what the master wants to see.”

“Don’t say master, I would think of the old cripple’s hateful tone.” Fan Xian said with a frown.

Yan Bingyun laughed and turned to ask, “Even though it was something that His Majesty nodded at, but you took the opportunity to make such a big deal out of it this night, and tomorrow at the great court meeting, this court will surely be swarmed by the group of ministers, and I’m afraid that both Grand Master Shu and Grand Master Hu will have to open their mouths. Lord …… His Majesty will have a certain attitude to release under this kind of pressure, you’d better be well prepared.”

“Afraid of what?” Fan Xian glanced at Prince Xiao Yan’s pale face and said in a self-deprecating manner, “His Majesty has long wanted to cut the power of the Supervisory Academy, so doesn’t this give him a good opportunity? If I didn’t know this, I wouldn’t have rushed around this night to strike …… before cutting the power, I always have to sweep away some of my enemies.”

When a crunching sound, he threw the spoon into the slightly cool porcelain bowl, his face was like ice and frost, said, “Tonight really want to make things, is one thing did not make, really a big loss.”

Yan Bingyun said, “In a few hours, it will be the grand court meeting, you have to go to the court today to report on your duties, be prepared to be depreciated by His Majesty.”

Fan Xian closed his eyes and slowly said, “Some days ago, His Majesty let you young officials into the palace, the meaning he expressed was very clear, just where would those old guys give up their positions? This night the Supervisory Yuan made a big sweep, even if we will be punished afterward, those unclean guys will have to retreat a few …… courtroom to free up some seats so that His Majesty can install his staff, we are working for His Majesty, and he will always have to accept our love.”

Yan Bingyun frowned slightly, still having a hard time adapting to the fact that Fan Xian dared to address His Majesty in such a manner, and was also a bit displeased, so he had no choice but to maintain just the right amount of silence.

Fan Xian, however, didn’t bother to look at his face, and said softly to himself, “This night is almost over, and I just feel some regret that the family I’ve been waiting for never made a move.”

Yan Bingyun knew which family he was talking about, but had to pretend he didn’t know, for a moment his face was a little hesitant, then he smiled bitterly and said, “You still don’t think it’s lively enough? You don’t have a single person around you at this time, so you always need to pay some attention to safety.”

Fan Xian glanced at the Inspectorate’s swordsmen scattered around and shook his head, “I’m different from you, you have to bring these people with you, I …… don’t think there’s much of a difference between bringing or not bringing them.”

“If you bring people, how will those people dare to make a move? It’s all a bunch of cowards who only kill in the dark.” Fan Xian sneered, “I sat in this store alone for half an hour, but no one has ever dared to come, which makes me somewhat underestimate the so-called Iron Blood Army.”

Yan Bingyun shook her head speechlessly. Fan Xian looked back at an alleyway in the darkness of the night, tapped the tabletop next to the tofu bowl with his finger, and said, “Eat it, it doesn’t taste good when it’s cold.”

In the alley some distance away from Fan’s tofu store, there were seven people in night clothes, moving corpses to the wagon, with blood slowly dripping from the wagon, landing on the snow and emitting a faintly fishy odor.

The three corpses had been chopped into a dozen or so large squares of flesh, obviously horrific injuries caused by long knives. The leading one of the seven nightwalkers took the cart driver’s seat, glanced at the vague lights of the tofu store in the distance, rubbed the reins against the somewhat itchy calluses on his tiger’s mouth, grinned, and said softly, “Young master, eat slowly.”