Chapter 112 – Miss Fan in the Palace

His Majesty the Emperor waved his hand and all the people outside the Fan Mansion were removed, this was the power a feudal monarch had, he could do as much as he wanted. As for those subordinates and subjects who died outside the Fan Mansion because of the war between their father and son, who cares?

It wasn’t quiet in the imperial study, and after Grandmaster Hu left, His Majesty began to play chess with Fan Ruo Ruo, a habit he had developed over the last few days. Emperor Qing’s middle and forefinger gently flicked a black disc and placed it on the slightly reflective chessboard, saying in a harmonious voice, “By the looks of it, Fan Jian didn’t teach you this in the palace.”

Fan Ruoruo into the palace has been a whole eight days, wearing the body is the Fan House of hard work, through the palace of a few ladies to send the family clothes, a should be mainly in plain colors, and this brilliant palace looks, some incongruous light. Although everyone knows that Miss Fan is a hostage in the palace, but this hostage identity is not bad, His Majesty treats her even more not bad, the morning county princess outside the palace, the palace also has its own nobleman care, a dietary living wear is not too big a problem.

She respectfully sat on the opposite side of Emperor Qing, her hands gently placed on her knees, and responded, “The chess path is too complicated ……”.

His Majesty raised his eyes slightly and asked amusingly, “I remember that before An Zhi entered the capital, you were already a famous talented girl in Kyoto.”

“It’s just that those Lu men who make a fuss over nothing like to talk about it, I can’t do poems or paintings, so I really don’t know where this reputation as a talented girl comes from.”

Eight days in the palace, from the beginning of nervousness, fear and helplessness, to today’s quiet and calm to stay, Fan Ruoruo fully released the calmness of the iceberg, on the one hand, it is the nature since childhood, but more importantly is Fan Xian’s more than ten years of subtle, although the opposite man is the emperor of the country of Qing, but ultimately the other party is still a person, and is not a monster.

Of course, this was also due to the fact that His Majesty the Emperor acted extraordinarily like a regular person in front of Fan Ruo Ruo.

“I’ve seen your poems, they’re considered not bad amongst the boudoirs, only when compared to An Zhi, naturally it’s not good to compare them, so it’s no wonder that you’re making such a claim.” His Majesty the Emperor smiled and said, “Talent is not in the external exposure of all kinds of skills, but lies in the firmness of the heart, you can save my life, it is considered to be a wonderful hand, the name of a talented woman, it is also appropriate.”

“Your majesty is blessed by the heavens, my daughter is just ……” Fan Ruo Ruo naturally answered according to the flavor of the conversation before the king, but unexpectedly his majesty the emperor was laughing, said, “Death naturally can’t die, but with more steel balls in the body. I’m sure it won’t be too comfortable.”

Just at this moment, Yao eunuch gently flashed into the imperial study, stood in front of his majesty’s body, said softly: “In the Qing temple died a person, they are waiting in the front hall at this time.”

“Waiting? Is it waiting for a crime?” His Majesty the Emperor gently played with the black matte chess pieces, his voice chilled as he said, “I’ll spare them this time, if there are any further delusions, let them go jump off a cliff at Dadong Mountain on their own.”

Eunuch Yao answered in a low voice and added, “After Lord Little Fan left the Qing Temple, he went to the Imperial College and met with University Sergeant Hu.”

The emperor was silent for a moment and then smiled and said, “It was already known earlier, the …… shadow at the Qing Temple has returned.”

Eunuch Yao was silent. Regarding these things, he didn’t have any power to advise, he understood His Majesty’s heart very well, and definitely wouldn’t be as confused as those ascetics who wore hats like hats, what kind of person was Fan Xian? He was His Majesty’s most favored subject, the bastard son, even if His Majesty wanted Fan Xian to die, there was no way he would let these people below him act on their own.

“The problem is that nowadays it’s unknown how young Lord Fan left the Fan Mansion and how he entered the Temple of Qing, and there was a period of time in between when it was unknown where he went.” Eunuch Yao said with a slight stoop.

Emperor Qing frowned slightly and said nothing, waving his hand and letting Eunuch Yao leave the imperial study. During the course of this conversation, Fan Ruoruo had been quietly listening on the side, Eunuch Yao did not avoid her, because these days the palace lackeys had long gotten used to the fact that beside His Majesty the Emperor, there was always such a woman with a clear brow and a sense of quiet and coldness listening on the side, no matter if it was a meeting of the Imperial Study Room or a more pressing political matter, His Majesty did not avoid her.

It was just that today’s talk was about Fan Xian after all, her closest elder brother, so Fan Ruo Ruo still slightly lowered her head, as if she did not want to hear this, and even more so, she did not want His Majesty to notice any difference.

His Majesty the Emperor did not glance in her direction, and was only silent. A moment later, the Emperor suddenly smiled slightly. There was no sign from the inner court of what Fan Xian had done in his desperate attempt to leave the house today, but at least it was known that that shadow from the Sixth Division of the Supervisory Yuan had returned, and that a dozen or so ascetic monks had once fought with this duo in the Temple of Celebration.

Thinking of those bald ascetics, the smile on the emperor’s face suddenly converged, and a hint of disgust flooded his eyes; he hadn’t expected that these fanatical Qing Temple cultivators would actually dare to make a move against Fan Xian without asking for a holy order, and this caused Emperor Qing to feel a considerable degree of displeasure.

While thinking of the shadows that truly hosted the six divisions of the Supervisory Court, the Emperor’s eyes narrowed slightly, but a hint of extreme interest flowed out of them. Chen Pingping had served him for decades, but had always kept many of his secrets, and in the past, the Emperor had not cared about anything because he was convinced of his loyalty, so although he knew that there had always been a shadow floating around that black wheelchair, he had not bothered to delve deeper into the true origins of that shadow.

Now that he naturally knew, the emperor’s eyes were flooded with a light, the same sword light that the white-clothed swordsman had stabbed out on the Hanging Temple a few years ago, and this light was a bit blinding, making his eyes squint even more, and in his heart, he actually had some hidden expectations that this youngest brother of the Four Gu Swords would do something.

No need to consider what Fan Xian did today, the emperor knew that Fan Xian must have contacted his most trusted subordinates in Kyoto today, and sent some extremely important information in the direction of Xiliang, Dongyi, and Jiangnan at the same time.

This was a very simple matter, the general situation was such that Fan Xian must mobilize all of his power if he wanted to continue to maintain his independence in front of the pressure of the dragon chair. However, His Majesty the Emperor simply didn’t bother to pay attention to the specifics of those messages, because in his opinion, Fan Xian, no matter how much he jumped, was still ultimately on top of this river and mountain.

This river and mountain was originally within the palms of Emperor Qing’s hands.

Moreover, the emperor was curious as to what kind of things he could do with this son he favored and admired the most, who was under house arrest in the middle of Kyoto. If he was facing the Ye Qingmei of that year, for the sake of the people on this mountain, for the sake of the survival of the entire country of Qing, for the sake of the will of too many people, perhaps there is no need to say anything at all, Ye Qingmei will only be silently far away, no longer exist in the land of Qing. And what kind of choice would he and Ye Qingmei’s son make? This was a point of great interest to His Majesty the Emperor.

Was this the bad taste of calmly spectating the struggles of the next generation under a kind of absolute confidence? In fact, this was nothing more than the fact that His Imperial Majesty had not even thought of knocking Fan Xian off the deep end until now, because in his opinion, this son was merely misunderstanding himself.

His Majesty the Emperor merely did not want to explain, did not care to explain. It was a process of asking the heart, he sat in the palace forcefully, waiting for Fan Xian to come into the palace to explain, to ask for forgiveness, and then only at that time would His Majesty tell Fan Xian in a conciliatory voice that the old black dog that died was not as loving as you thought, that the old black dog just wanted to kill all of the Li royal family, and had also killed you, and that even though your name was Fan, your name was actually Li.

Blah, blah, blah? But how do you explain what happened to Ye Qingmei? Perhaps His Majesty the Emperor didn’t want to touch on that at all.

“I’m going out for a walk.” His Majesty the Emperor opened his mouth and said, and although his voice was calm, it was clear that because of what Grand Maester Hu had said earlier when he entered the palace, His Majesty had some certainty about dealing with Fan Xian’s matter, and so he was in a more relaxed mood to think of going out in the middle of a late night like this.

There were only two people in the imperial study, and His Majesty’s words were naturally addressed to Fan Ruo Ruo. Fan Ruo Ruo was slightly stunned, stood up, took a thin cloak in black fur and gold silk, carefully draped it for His Majesty the Emperor, and then assisted his right arm, slowly walking to the side of the wooden door of the Imperial Study.

As soon as the wooden door opened, there were already a dozen eunuchs and palace maids waiting outside, and Eunuch Yao humbly lowered his body and pushed a wheelchair to wait. From the time His Majesty the Emperor opened his mouth to make a sound, to the eunuchs outside preparing this, it only took a very short time, the reaction was extremely fast.

However, when the Emperor looked at the wheelchair outside the threshold, his face did not show the slightest appreciation, he only coldly glanced at Eunuch Yao, ignoring those lackeys outside the door, and then, with Fan Ruo Ruo’s support, he marched towards the palace at night.

Being given a cold look by His Majesty, cold sweat flowed out from Eunuch Yao’s body. Eight days had already passed, in fact, not many people knew that the battle between the monarch and the courtiers in the imperial study that day had left His Majesty extremely injured, although it was not life-threatening, the emperor’s body had still suffered damage that would be difficult to recover from in a short period of time, and coupled with Chen Pingping’s words that cut through his heart with every word on that day, it seemed that His Majesty’s mental condition was not particularly good either.

That was why Eunuch Yao had prepared this wheelchair, but he did not expect that His Majesty was extremely unhappy with it. He immediately reacted, whether it was because he didn’t want his subjects to know the true state of his body, or because this wheelchair made His Majesty think of the old dean who caused him anger and pain, he had done a big mistake today.

This kind of mistake can’t be made, and fortunately, His Majesty is a master who is more lenient to his lackeys than his relatives, and won’t move his anger easily, so Eunuch Yao doesn’t have to worry about his own life.

He wiped a handful of cold sweat on his forehead and led a group of eunuchs and palace maidens, quietly restrained their voices and followed behind, watching the front of the Fan Family Miss gently holding His Majesty forward, the crowd did not dare to follow too close.

The lights hanging in the palace corridor are not bright, just to illuminate the stone road underfoot. In the past, once night falls, the nobles will be closed in the palace, only those who want to do something eunuchs and palace maidens, will walk on these quiet corridors. Today’s dim light, shining on the body of His Majesty the Emperor and Fan Ruo Ruo, dragging out long or short shadows, so that the eunuchs and palace maids encountered on the road each felt shuddering, and hastily fell to their knees by the side of the road.

Just as Eunuch Yao guessed, the emperor’s earlier displeasure was precisely because of the wheelchair at the entrance of the imperial study. Once he saw this wheelchair, his majesty naturally thought of the old black dog in the wheelchair who often walked side by side with him in the palace in the dead of night, talking about the world’s situation, the tipping of the royals, drawing up plans, and estimating the number of deaths in the past few decades.

Emperor Qing was a human being, he missed those scenes back then, and because of that, because of Chen Pingping’s betrayal, which made these wonderful scenes worth remembering, but suddenly had a lot more weirdness and disbelief, so he felt angry.

In addition to anger, there was also a trace of complexity in his heart. Several years ago, due to the Hanging Temple incident, Fan Xian was seriously injured and nearly died, and when he recovered from his injuries on a winter snow day, that young man also entered the palace in a wheelchair and accompanied His Majesty the Emperor to talk for a long, long time.

That was the first time His Majesty had ever talked with Fan Xian. Although it still didn’t point out the relationship between them, and it wasn’t like that time in the small building, but for Emperor Qing, it was also an extremely important meeting.

When he saw the wheelchair tonight, he thought of Chen Pingping and Fan Xian after his injury, his emotions were complicated, and he slowly said, “The reason why I want to kill that old dog by a thousand cuts is because this person is vicious to the extreme, and hypocritical and deceitful to the extreme.”

Fan Ruo Ruo held his arm, keeping her distance, and did not find it too hard, but hearing these words, she felt that His Majesty’s body weighed as if it were a Tarzan. The king wants the minister to die, the minister has to die, especially since Chen old dean’s treasonous act is clear to the heavens and the earth, no one can possibly question His Majesty with this matter, except Fan Xian …… More crucially, His Majesty doesn’t have to explain anything at all, just like within the past couple of days, he never thinks of taking the initiative to explain anything to Fan Xian, yet on such a night in early fall However, on such an early fall night, when it was just himself and His Majesty, His Majesty opened his mouth.

Were these words spoken to himself, or did he want to use his own mouth to speak to his elder brother? Fan Ruoruo bowed her head slightly and did not respond, but she kept pondering in her heart.

“That old dog deliberately died in my hands in the end, in order to make An Zhi resent me and hate me. This kind of person who never forgets his wickedness till death, how can I allow him to die quickly.” The emperor’s voice was a bit tired, looking back at Fan Ruoruo, and then back again, looking at the quiet night palace, saying, “Tomorrow I will issue a decree to let An Zhi enter the palace to ask for peace.”

Fan Ruo Ruo’s figure slightly condensed, one hand holding His Majesty’s arm, his body squatted very slightly, blessed, and said sincerely, “Thank you, Your Majesty.”

The emperor’s face was expressionless, as if he didn’t think that in the midst of this cold war, he himself had given in first, yet he still had to let the daughter of a courtier’s family show her gratitude, but what made him feel a hint of movement was that after saying these three words, Miss Fan never expressed anything again, only holding his arm peacefully and continuing to walk around the palace, without mentioning a word of her own departure from the palace.

“You …… are different.” The emperor turned around and looked at her with deep meaning, “I used to often take Chen Ya Tou for a stroll in this palace, but only less after she got older, and she’s a lot naughtier than you.”

“I am naturally not as good as my sister-in-law.” Fan Ruoruo lowered her head and answered softly. The emperor smiled, did not say anything, think beside this little girl is really light and self-preserving to the extreme, but it is also pitiful to say, since Lin Wan’er grew up, probably there are not many people who will accompany the emperor like “real” juniors, because the son of heaven has no family, in the hearts of the living or dead emperors, the father is not the emperor. …… can never be a real father.

And in Fan Ruoruo’s heart, it was also filled with doubts and feelings. These days together, this unfamiliar and majestic and incomparable His Majesty the Emperor seemed to have gradually stepped down from the altar of the gods, and also took off the golden and blinding coat outside, and became more like an ordinary elder, or rather an elder who was gradually showing old age after a serious injury.

In the quiet night palace, Miss Fan helped His Majesty to take a walk, this scene fell in the eyes of many people, and this is not the first time that people found out that His Majesty treats Miss Fan unusually, since His Majesty was injured in the Royal Study Room, Miss Fan came to the palace to save her, all the people in the palace know that His Majesty treats this young lady differently.

People with a little bit of intelligence know that Miss Fan’s status is now a hostage, but there are no more such hostages in the world, in the palace life according to the rules of the year of County Princess Chen, in addition to returning to the palace at night to rest, the whole day, the Miss Fan will be in the imperial study with His Majesty, His Majesty and even in the discussion of the state of affairs, are not to avoid her.

The several university scholars under the door of the middle school were naturally shocked by this scene as well, only that they were all people of status and position, so they naturally wouldn’t rumor anything blindly, and only that University Scholar He tended to look a bit unnatural with his expression when he saw the Miss Fan family within the Imperial Study Room.

Inside the palace is not the same, there are many mouths to feed, and for a while there is a lot of talk. Humans are always extremely forgetful species, the palace eunuchs and palace maidens, perhaps have forgotten that thunderstorm in the seventh year of the Qingli, that bloodshed in the palace because of the rumors, and re-invested in the great work of gossip.

Perhaps because three years ago too many people died, this season the palace added in many new eunuchs and palace maids, they do not know the royal temperament hidden in the murderous, perhaps because of his majesty’s attitude towards the fan family miss, really puzzling, so about the imperial study rumors, gradually spread in the palace.

His Majesty is a not much like women’s bright king, more not like a lustful master, over the years, the palace is only a total of a dozen female masters, and there are only those four, would have been reasonable, no one will guess to those aspects, but His Majesty to treat the Fan family Miss attitude is really different, coupled with another major event in the palace in the last two days, could not help but touch the heart of too many people. This big event is the draft, three days ago.

This big event is the draft, three days ago the start of the draft. Qing Palace has been stopped for more than ten years of selection activities, reopened the curtain.

No one could understand why at this moment, His Majesty would suddenly have the idea of enriching the harem, could it be that the crisis of approaching middle age had suddenly made this monarch think of having a young man in his youthful frenzy?

Starting from three days ago, the selection of the talent show hosted by the Taishang Temple and co-organized by the Inner Court and the Ministry of Ceremony had begun. Since Qing Kingdom was already unfamiliar with this whole procedure, the Ministry of Rites appeared to be in a bit of a panic. The seven states and counties of Qing had not yet received the decree, and those showgirls who might be lucky enough to be chosen for the palace had not yet heard any news, so the first one to start moving was still Kyoto.

This is a rare opportunity, those in Kyoto hibernation for too long in the princes and nobles, ministers and celebrities, all want to seize this opportunity, in such a chaotic program, still rushed to the night before, will be the first batch of the age of the government women sent to the palace.

Calm for many years of the palace, because of those youthful women into the station, suddenly many more youthful and compelling, even if it is already into the night, but the showgirls where the palace courtyard, still from time to time out of the crisp sound of laughter.

Spring, pervading the palace in early fall, so the people in the palace, only to the imperial study to bet a little suspicious eyes. If the Sacred Heart was truly moved, how would that Miss Fan, who had won the Emperor’s heart, be placed?

“All a bunch of fools.” Yi Gui Concubine’s eyes were slightly lowered as she gently pulled the third prince’s hand and said with a cold smile, “Who is His Majesty and who is your teacher? It’s amazing that such ridiculous words would be rumored in this palace.”

“Most of the palace is full of stupid people, and there are so many newcomers that perhaps they have all forgotten many things.” Third Prince Li Chengping smiled, yet this teenage prince’s smile was a bit far-fetched, and a heavy color of worry was hidden between his increasingly clear brows.

Yi Gui Concubine looked at her son, sighed softly and said, “His Majesty is a bright master, naturally he would not do those ridiculous things. This time picking the showgirls to enter the palace, and the one in the imperial study is not half related, your father is …… only ……”

Her words did not finish, Li Chengping raised his head, looked at his mother and said melancholically, “I heard that tomorrow father will call Mr. into the palace, but picking the showgirls …… I’m afraid that father will not be able to believe in Mr. as in the past after all.”