Chapter 103 Untitled again

The two rains before the most head in the beginning of autumn came suddenly and went abruptly, carrying an inexplicable flavor, it seemed that the first rain was just to welcome Chen Pingping’s return, and the second rain was to send Chen Pingping away. When everything on the court in front of the palace was over, the misty autumn rain just stopped, the dark clouds in the sky were blown away, revealing an extremely high and extremely light and clear sky, and except for the wetness of the rain in the streets and the bricks, everything reverted back to the ordinary.

The people of Kyoto looked at such a shocking scene today, but no one dared to discuss anything, and dispersed silently along the various street entrances. Those officials in front of the palace gate looked at each other, actually do not know what to do next, His Majesty has returned to the palace, the young master holding the old dean’s body to leave, the rainwater flowing on the ground did not converge into an idea, so they were confused.

Rushing back to Kyoto, Fan Xian and the 500 black cavalry had already violated countless rules of the Qing Laws and the rules of the Supervisory Yuan, not to mention that when he entered Kyoto, he stabbed so many court officials to death, and made a scene in front of His Majesty, according to the theory, this is a big crime that can’t be forgiven, but His Majesty didn’t say anything, so who can punish Fan Xian, and who dares to punish Fan Xian’s crime?

At this very moment, Dr. Hu walked down from the top of the palace, and many officials saluted him. Today, this university scholar has remained silent, he looked at the wooden platform washed by the autumn rain extremely light those blood marks, the tip of the eyebrow suddenly twitched, looked back, only to see seemingly in an instant aged more than a dozen years old former bachelor Shu Wu along the foot of the city despondent departure, did not say hello to these people.

Grand Maester Hu’s heart dimmed slightly, but he knew that he could not be controlled by this emotion, Lord He had already gone to the palace, and he had to gather the aftermath here clearly. His gaze slowly swept across the faces of the officials of the six ministries, three temples and three courts, and he calmly said, “The great punishment is over. Open the city gates, and it shall be business as usual.”

These officials in front of the palace couldn’t help but let out a huge sigh of relief when they heard these words. They had been terrified about how they should handle the matter of young Lord Fan next, but looking at the moment, at least for a short time, His Majesty the Emperor was able to control his anger without handing over such a dangerous job to the ministers below.

Grand Maester Hu did not care about the reactions of these ministers, his eyes narrowed slightly, no one from the Supervisory Court was seen in the six ministries, three temples and three courts, which was normal because the organizers of the Supervisory Court’s eight divisions were all locked up in prison at this time, and that Lord Little Fan seemed to have quietly left a long time ago.

Not only the Supervisory Yuan was controlled by the inside and outside cooperation, Hu Da Da Shi’s brow flashed a heavy color, he knew that there are people in the palace was also controlled, such as early this morning last risked his life to His Majesty’s admonition to plead for mercy of the Ning Cai Ren and Prince Jing, at this time are placed under house arrest in the palace, and do not yet know how the situation is.

And it seems that Miss Fan hasn’t come out since she healed His Majesty’s wounds last night. Thinking of these things, and thinking of the ten thousand elite troops of the Kingdom of Qing that were still stationed outside of the Supervisory Academy today, Grand Maester Hu’s heart chilled, knowing that he had to find Fan Xian immediately, and say something to this young lord who had the strength and guts to fight hard against the Imperial Palace.

The midday sun shone fiercely on the river of flowing crystals outside of Kyoto, and the water was clear and cold. It was only slightly warmed, and did not rise in any kind of rapturous fog. On the opposite side of the river was a relict elegant courtyard, with gray walls and green and yellow bamboos, chilly. The water on the tiles was sunburned into a piece of wet marks, but more time reversal of the summer.

Just in this early fall boring summer, a black carriage from the flow crystal river on the bamboo sedan chair speeding past, steadily stopped in the door of the courtyard.

This courtyard is exactly Ye Qingmei then residence, the death of the eldest princess, Fan Xian once to the river several worship place, since the Ye family affair, will be the royal family income in the treasury industry, became a courtyard, just so many years, his majesty the emperor seldom to come here, and there is no which the queen of the emperor dares to ask to come to this temporary residence, so it is has been empty for more than twenty years, just three years ago, the eldest princess planning Kyoto affair Only three years ago, the eldest princess planning for the events in Kyoto, do not know for what kind of emotional considerations, in this temporary residence for a few days.

Because of this courtyard quiet less people come, and because of this courtyard carries the history of cold flavor, let all people have some respect far away from the impulse, so the inner court for here care is not how to use harsh, only four royal guards resident in this.

Looking at this black carriage ignoring the royal seal outside the courtyard, so directly rushed over, these several guards face strange color, walked forward, but before they had time to say anything, was the black carriage behind a group of people with crossbows and arrows over, disarmed and bound.

An official of the Supervisory Court walked forward and silently pulled the carriage curtain open.

Footsteps sounded faintly, and a rain-soaked, pale Fan Xian stepped down from the carriage holding Chen Pingping’s corpse, the rain dripping down his close-fitting black clothes and the Supervisory Yuan official’s uniform on the old man in his arms, making a pitter-pattering sound.

The door of the Taiping Farewell Courtyard opened, Fan Xian didn’t look at these ministers and walked in solemnly, and with a creak, the door was closed immediately behind him, and those officials of the Supervisory Yuan immediately dispersed separately, taking control of all the key positions at the head of this bamboo bridge, and watching the surroundings vigilantly.

After a while, only a rush of hoofbeats with a hint of chaos could be heard, and hundreds of exhausted black cavalrymen drove over along the official road on the other side of the Flowing Crystal River.

Immediately after that, another thunderous sound of hooves stopped a little further away, it was unknown whether it was the Kyoto Guard Division or the Forbidden Army’s troops.

Finally a black carriage drove over and stopped right across the bamboo bridge, and on the carriage stepped down a frosty-faced official, none other than Yan Bingyun. He didn’t cross the bridge, but just quietly looked at the officials of the Supervisory Yuan at the entrance of the courtyard at the other end of the bridge.

Those officials of the Supervisory Yuan who had followed Fan Xian to the Taiping Special Courtyard were mostly officials from one place, except for a few members of the Qi Nian team who were scattered throughout Kyoto. With the help of the palace, Yan Bingyun was now able to temporarily control the situation in the Founder’s Eerie Building of the Supervisory Yuan, but he was unable to control all of the eight divisions of the Supervisory Yuan, especially the one division.

How tough and scenic was Fan Xian’s sole one place back then, and the officials of one place treated Fan Xian as if he was an ancestor, and today, when that big show in front of the palace came to an end, and when Fan Xian left the square in front of the palace with Chen Pingping’s corpse in his arms, the officials of one place met him in a black carriage shortly afterward.

Yan Bingyun narrowed her eyes and looked at her fellow officials at the other end of the bridge. He didn’t feel strange about the high prestige Fan Xian had within the courtyard, especially within one place, he just felt strange, his majesty had also sent people to keep an eye on one place, the news wasn’t flowing well, Fan Xian had just returned to Kyoto, how did these one place officials know about it? How did these officials know that Fan Xian had just returned to Kyoto, and how did they meet him so coincidentally, this was really a bit puzzling.

Yan Bingyun didn’t know that the young mistress of the Fan Mansion had reacted at the very first moment after the news of Chen Pingping’s assassination of the Emperor came out, she had prepared for her husband in advance, and had been secretly keeping in touch with one of the places, and when Fan Xian had single-handedly ridden through the court, the people of one of the places had already begun to move.

As for the several hundred exhausted but still not to be taken lightly black riders, they had received Fan Xian’s prior orders and were scheduled to gather at the Taiping Residence. Before Fan Xian entered the capital, he thought clearly that no matter whether he could save Old Cripple or not, these people would always need to meet at Taiping courtyard.

Yan Bingyun stood at the end of the bridge in silence for a long time, straightened his wet official clothes, and walked towards the bridge alone. The creaking sound kept ringing, and he finally walked to the end of the bridge, and in a place where the officials and spies were wary, hateful, and disdainful, he saluted, and said in a deep voice, “Four places, Yan Bingyun, seeks to see the dean.”

Fan Xian did not know that Yan Bingyun had already appeared outside the Taiping Special Courtyard at this time, but he was able to think that there were definitely people who were going to come to see him, to persuade him, and he was even able to accurately understand that he had walked out of Kyoto step by step, and that he didn’t know how many people were following him, or how many of the Qing Empire’s elite troops were assembled outside the Taiping Special Courtyard at this time, waiting for the success of their persuasions. …… Or unsuccessful, this is the will of that emperor old man, right?

But he did not consider these, also too lazy to consider these, he just feel very tired, very tired, the body is very empty, those usually abundant as the mountain water of the true qi, it seems that in the previous wail all spit out, the turbid qi in the chest spit out, the true qi also spit out, the only thing that remains is emptiness.

Fan Xian felt that his footsteps had never been as heavy as today, his body had never been as weak as today, and the old man in his arms was obviously very light, but why was he getting heavier and heavier? The old man in his arms was obviously very light, but why was he getting heavier and heavier? Heavy enough that he could not hold him anymore.

Slightly wet hair on the forehead, he held Chen Pingping line through the lawn, line through the branch of the flower tree, line through the party surrounded by a small lake, came to a secluded place.

There were flowers on the wall, and he gently picked a small yellow flower that was cowering and opening. Then he reached out and gently pressed in a corner of the flower wall, only to hear a few creaks, the ground slowly appeared a hole, there are stone steps down to explore, not too far, at this time the sunlight in the sky can be completely mapped to the dry slate below.

The fact that there was a secret room in the Taiping Villa must not have been a secret to those old men back then, even the eldest princess, who was still young back then, had once found one in the Villa. After the Ye family incident, the emperor should have also come to the courtyard to check the whereabouts of the chest, but he didn’t find it, plus he always had some strange emotions towards this courtyard, so he never came back.

As for Fan Xian, this secret passage was familiar, because after opening that chest many years ago, Uncle Wu Zhu had once brought him to the Taiping Farewell Courtyard and went down along this passage to find the bullets most needed for that burning stick.

Step by step, he seemed to be walking into the underworld, but in fact, it was only a secret room about three feet above the ground, the interior was dry and clean, with no other furnishings or treasures, just a few chairs and a few coffins.

Fan Xian put one hand on the edge of the coffin, and with a slight force, lifted the lid, and then carefully put the old man’s thin body in his arms inside, and took a small porcelain pillow and carefully placed it on the back of his head. Looking at the silk inside the coffin, Fan Xian slightly inclined his head and did not cover it for him.

Chen Pingping’s eyes were tightly closed, and her naked body was covered only with the official uniform of the Supervisory Yuan that Fan Xian had taken off. Fan Xian stood beside the coffin quietly looking at his thin cheeks and deep-set eye sockets, and suddenly felt that this all-black garment suited him a bit better than those gorgeous silks.

That all-black garment was the official uniform of the Procuratorate, and the one that came off Fan Xian was naturally the system of the Procuratorate’s dean, and it seemed to Fan Xian that it was difficult to say what Chen Pingping would do in this life, but he thought the other party would like to die as the Procuratorate’s dean.

Fan Xian just stood quietly next to the coffin looking at the sleeping Chen Pingping, thinking about earlier in the court, in the fall rain, this old man seemed to be in his own arms gradually falling asleep. Before he fell asleep, he held his hand tightly, he should not be afraid, right?

Looking at that old and pale face, Fan Xian suddenly remembered many things. When he was very young, this old man who liked to use a woolen blanket on his lap, letting Mr. Fei Jie teach himself, letting him learn the ability to protect himself in this treacherous world, letting him familiarize himself with all the structure of the regulations in the Supervisory Court from a very young age. Probably from the day he was born, the old man had already thought of leaving the Inspectorate, which he held most dear, to himself.

Fan Xian thought of the scene when he saw Chen Pingping for the first time, it was in the dark room of the Supervisory Yuan, obviously the two were meeting for the first time, but he looked at the old cripple on the wheelchair, but it was as if he saw a long time not to see the elders, a natural closeness just like that lingered in the hearts of the two people. That day Fan Xian lowered his head and gently hugged the skinny Chen Pingping, plastering his face, just like today, he hugged and plastered his face.

Watching the fish and discussing the world by the shallow pond, gently playing with the small flowers, and chasing and dancing in the two wheelchairs in the Chen Garden, probably could never be recreated again, right? Can’t think anymore, Fan Xian closed his eyes tightly, then opened his eyes, lowered himself to the small yellow flower in his hand, and gently flicked it into Chen Pingping’s white hair at the temples.

After a long time of silence, Fan Xian did not say anything more, closed the upper lid of the coffin, picked up the prepared nail from the side, aimed at the side seam of the coffin lid, and then utilized his energy in his palm, and slashed down.

Several muffled sounds rang out one after another, and Fan Xian silently slapped his palm one by one, nailing all the nails down, nailing the entire coffin to death, and locking the old man in another world, a world that he could no longer touch.

After all this, Fan Xian looked at the black coffin and began to stare. This was only a temporary disposition, there would come a day when Fan Xian would have to send the old man back to his hometown, or a place of clear mountains and beautiful water that no one knew about, instead of letting him stay forever near this dark Kyoto, even though this was the Taiping Farewell House, and Chen Pingping thought that she would like to live here very much, but it was still too close to the capital, too close to the imperial palace.

Fan Xian’s body shook slightly, feeling endless weariness and exhaustion begin to well up in his mind as he took a seat on the tall wooden chair beside him, his legs stepping on the edge of the chair as he buried his head deeply in his knees, his hands hanging feebly by his side.

The marks on his right palm that had been cut by the nails began to bleed, and the blood dripped to the ground.

Fan Xian sat with his head buried like this, not knowing how long he had been sitting there, for how long, when the rainwater that had accumulated on the lawn of the Taiping Buyeo above his head began to flow down the stone steps, wetting and freezing layer after layer.

The sunlight was slowly shifting in the sky, and the light in the underground dark room was flickering on and off, not knowing whether it was the angle of the light or the thickness of the cloudiness that brought this about. A sound reached Fan Xian’s ears, and he slowly raised his head from between his knees, walked off the chair, took another look at the silent and dark coffin, and walked up the already wet stone steps.

After a strange sound, the secret door above the stone room was tightly closed, and no more sunlight or running water could penetrate, returning this place to peace and darkness.

Fan Xian walked along the grassy pathway beside the lake towards the entrance of the Taiping Residence, and when he reached a place not far from the wooden door, he heard the muffled report of a subordinate. A complex expression flashed across Fan Xian’s indifferent face, and after softly saying something, he sat down on a broken tree in the courtyard.

The wooden door opened, and Yan Bingyun walked in and stood in front of Fan Xian, her head lowered, not speaking for a long time, perhaps not knowing how to speak.

“Speaking from the day the palace began to stir, you should have been involved from start to finish, then I don’t want to leave out any details.” Fan Xian sat wearily on the roots of a broken tree, his right hand resting on his knee, his face somewhat unhealthily white.

Yan Bingyun glanced at his right hand and realized that it was bleeding, and her heart shook slightly, but she did not explain herself in too many words, but calmly said, “On the second day of the first month, I was summoned into the palace, and when I received the decree, I began to make arrangements. As for Grandmaster He’s seizure of Gouda in Dazhou, and His Majesty’s use of the matter to keep the abbot in Dazhou before capturing him with the Kyoto Guard Division, I only know the general idea and not the details.”

“Tell me the details you know.”

Yan Bingyun looked at Fan Xian who had his head lowered, realizing that today’s young Lord Fan was different from any usual moment, his facial expression was so calm, so calm that it was palpitating, not at all like the reaction a normal person should have.

From that early morning when the Kyoto guard division escorted the black carriage into the capital, to the quarrel in the imperial study in the palace, to His Majesty’s serious injuries, to Chen Pingping being injured by the celadon cup and being sent down to the Supervisory Court’s prison, Yan Bingyun did not hide any details, and even the ugly role that he himself played in it, he clearly gave it all up.

Fan Xian was silent for a moment, slowly raised his head, looked at him and said: ”Then what are you doing following me at this time? Is it because you want to drag that old cripple back for a few more cuts? Or do you have to let him die without a burial?”

Yan Bingyun did not need to control his emotions in front of him, a hint of grief that was by no means fake appeared on his face, and he said in a hoarse voice, “My humble servant must come to see you, dean, and I want to make sure that you don’t go mad.”

“What is madness? Rebellion?” The corners of Fan Xian’s lips curled slightly, his laughter chilling, “Aren’t those troops from the Kyoto Guard Division and the Forbidden Army outside the Buyeo used for this very thing?”

At this time, there was a smoky atmosphere outside the courtyard. Obviously, the earth had just received an autumn rain, but it was now dry, who knew how many troops had been ambushed outside the Taiping courtyard, and how many experts had been used to suppress Fan Xian.

Yan Bingyun forcefully controlled her mind and looked at Fan Xian and said indifferently, ”No matter what, the old dean has already gone, and no matter how angry you are, you can’t change all that. Even if you can escape from Kyoto, what can you do? Not bad, Deng Ziyue is in Xiliang, Su Wenmao is in the inner library of northern Fujian, Xia Qufei is in Suzhou, the cadres of Qinian’s group, the most powerful officials’ spies in the courtyard, have all been branched out by me, sprinkled in the places where you have the tightest control, my lord, and once you leave Kyoto, you can re-collect 60% of the Supervisory Yuan’s power, but …… what can you do? ”

Fan Xian looked at him indifferently, not saying a word at all.

“Good, now you are the master of the Dongyi City Sword Lodge, there are countless swordsmen under your hand for you to drive, plus at this time the great hall under the leadership of the 10,000 elite soldiers stationed in Dongyi City, but …… that 10,000 elite soldiers can’t see that the great hall under the ability to completely control, back up 10,000 steps to say, the great hall under the great hall could be because of you, or because of the old abbot will turn against His Majesty?” Yan Bingyun’s lips were a bit dry, her throat was a bit congested, but she still said forcefully, “Shizi Hongcheng is in Dingzhou, he is your closest friend, but even if he rises up for you, those Dingzhou troops will listen to him?”

“I have to say, nowadays in this world, only you have the strength to stand against His Majesty, but …… you are still not His Majesty’s opponent.”

“Finished?” Fan Xian looked at him with slightly narrowed eyes, shook his head wearily, and said, “If you want to convince me, shouldn’t you take out the handwritten letter that Chen Pingping left for you?”

Yan Bingyun’s body shook, he had thought that what he had done within the Supervisory Court these days would definitely enrage Fan Xian, but he hadn’t expected that the other party had already found out everything from the very beginning.

Fan Xian looked at him, “But even if you take it out I don’t want to see it, it’s nothing more than to take care of the so called big picture, in order to prevent the Supervisory Academy from going out of control at a moment’s notice, and being forcefully wiped out by his majesty……. So you have to become his majesty’s second dog, and forcefully keep this courtyard in order to gain the trust of that man, you have to do something.”

“I know you’re not feeling well, not feeling well.” Fan Xian looked at the slightly disoriented Yan Bingyun and said indifferently, “But you asked for this, thinking that there is a kind of pleasure in enduring humiliation? Wrong, you’re merely still in over your head, you’ll listen to what he wants to do, Chen Pingping? If he wants you to kill him, you kill him too?”

“The old dean is considering for the lives of thousands of sons and daughters of the Supervisory Academy, for the people of this world.” Yan Bingyun said in a slightly hoarse voice, “So what if I suffer some misunderstanding and become a thorn in the side of the officials in the courtyard? Do you want me to stand by and watch the world go into chaos?”

“Why can’t the world be in chaos? For the sake of the people of the world?” Fan Xian suddenly laughed strangely, coughing in his laughter, coughing out a few threads of blood, “How many of these people …… under the sun have considered for them?”

“I don’t forgive you.” Fan Xian quietly looked at Yan Bingyun, but every word that came out was chilling, “All for the sake of Qing Guo, all for His Majesty, all for the sake of the world, this is your attitude, but not mine. For the sake of the people I care about, even if tens of millions of people die, so what? And you didn’t do all of this for me …… so, I don’t forgive you.”

Yan Bingyun knew that underneath Fan Xian’s gentle exterior was a heart that loved and hated extremely strongly, and after a long period of silence, he suddenly spoke, “I don’t need anyone’s forgiveness, the old dean’s choice was in agreement with mine, so I did this, and for the sake of Qing Guo, I’m capable of doing any kind of thing.”

“Very well, that’s how one might become a good subject for His Majesty, because to those dead old people, he might be a good emperor.” Fan Xian slowly stood up, “But to me, neither he nor you are people to bet an ounce of trust on, for there is something more than a partner in your hearts.”

“Prince Jing and Crown Princess Ning are under house arrest in the palace, and Miss Fan is also in the palace.” Yan Bingyun suddenly felt a bit cold and spoke sharply.

Fan Xian answered him with a mocking and indifferent voice: “To His Majesty, this is a matter of course.”

Watching Fan Xian walk towards the wooden door with weary steps, Yan Bingyun’s heart suddenly tightened violently, an unquenchable fear surged through his heart, it was not a fear for himself but a fear for Fan Xian, he yelled out, “Where are you going?”

Fan Xian’s hand on the wooden door stiffened slightly, and without turning around, he said wearily, “Going home to sleep.”

Walking out of the wooden door of the Taiping Farewell House, looking at one of the officials of the Supervisory Yuan at the bridge as if they were on the verge of an enemy, looking at the hundreds of dusty black riders on the other side of the bridge who had already suppressed their fatigue and were barely integrating into a defensive formation, Fan Xian sighed in his heart, on the other side of the bridge, on the other side of the green, yellow and fallow forests, the army that the Emperor’s father had used to suppress himself, was not to be resisted by these subordinates he had brought back to the Capital in such a hurry.

The bright sun shook his eyes for a moment, and it was only then that he felt that exhaustion and sadness could do so much damage to humans. He walked across the bamboo bridge with weak steps, and gently gave a few orders to his subordinates who were still following him to the death in such a tense moment.

Black cavalry vice commander and one of those officials silent for a long time, but also know that the young master is for their own lives, no more words, all kneel on the ground, I do not know kneeling is in front of the young dean, or buried in the peace in the courtyard of the old dean.

After kneeling, hundreds of people mingled together and retreated towards the west along the beautiful and quiet Liuxi River. Yan Bingyun, who had been following Fan Xian in silence, gave those people a complicated look, walked across the bridge with him, walked up the official road, and then saw the thousands of cavalrymen spread across the fields on the other side of the official road, fully armored, which were lined up in dense rows, and made an astonishing noise.

Fan Xian expressionlessly looked at these powerful forces for a moment, hands behind his back, slowly walked over, in the countless pairs of vigilant gazes walked to the body of that marshal, hoarsely said, “Remove the scouts and pursuers ambush, I want none of my people to be injured.”

Ye Chong narrowed his eyes slightly, and a cold aura worked slightly in his eyes.