Chapter 22 – The Thunder of the Son of Heaven and Fan Xian’s Lost Card

Fan Xian entered the imperial study for a long time already, in the beginning, of course, picking the most important things to say, nowadays the most concerned things in Qing Guo is of course about the situation in the Western Liang Road, and the plan that his majesty let the Supervisory Yuan prepare four months ago, to what extent has it actually been implemented, Fan Xian talked eloquently all the way, and his majesty, the emperor, listened quietly without a trace of dissatisfaction on his face, and even gave a few words of relief to Fan Xian, saying that he had worked hard in a rare way.

Feeling that the environment was suitable and the timing was just right, Fan Xian’s eyeballs turned, and then looked at this opportunity to say a few words about the side consort of the great palace, but the main theme of this gossip was completely different from the response he had discussed with the king in the royal residence, and he even directly humiliated the Wang family’s young lady with words, and at the same time, expressed his own as a courtier, unwilling to be involved in the family affairs of the royal family’s strong will.

His Majesty, as Fan Xian expected, once he heard this, he became furious, criticized and reprimanded, pointing out Fan Xian’s identity as the Secretary of the Taishang Temple, and also spoke harshly on the matter of the Prince’s side consort. This pass storm, but did not let Fan Xian produce a little fear, he and the unfathomable emperor old man with a long time, although always unable to see each other’s heart deepest, but at least for its people’s temperament and preferences to feel a clear, but where such a bombardment of reprimand, often on behalf of the matter is not serious.

As expected, Fan Xian took the opportunity to propose that since he was the Secretary of the Imperial Standing Temple, and His Majesty was going to marry the Wang family’s young lady to the Grand Prince, he had to think of the face of the Heavenly Family, and should not teach the Wang family’s young lady a few things – things that should normally be done by the palace’s old grandmothers, and Fan Xian, the young man, snatched them up, which was a bit comical! –But His Majesty the Emperor had not laughed, and had directly told Fan Xian to stay out of this idle business, but had not been angered either.

I’m afraid that His Majesty had already known about the story at the entrance of the royal residence, and had guessed why his favorite son had insisted on refusing, and what benefits he was asking for.

When Fan Xian was feeling a little more at ease, he heard the words “Merchants Money Bank”.

These four words were like a deep brand that burned his heart at once, causing him to lower his head and remain silent for a moment. He knew why the emperor chose this moment to make himself accountable to the Merchants Money Bank, because in the past two years he had gotten used to this kind of sudden heavenly thunder.

If he wasn’t thick-skinned enough, I’m afraid that he would have been thunderstruck in these two years.

This is the so-called holy heart that is hard to gauge, right? Fan Xian thought in his heart. Although His Majesty had favored himself to no end, allowing himself to be wild and arrogant amongst the Qing dynasty and the countryside, he still did not forget to knock himself down from time to time.

Yes, this was the kind of knocking that a monarch would give to his closest person, to wake him up, lest this person get a little carried away and instead misuse the bond between a monarch and a subject or a father and a son. After the rebellion in Kyoto, whenever Fan Xian had made a great achievement for the court, or after being heavily rewarded by His Majesty, His Majesty would gently throw out something or a name that would give Fan Xian the creeps and make him realize the position he was in.

The rod that the Emperor used to beat Fan Xian with in the court was the officials of He Zongwei’s faction, while in private, the real thunderbolts that were hammered down were the things that Fan Xian had done in secret.

Counting on one’s fingers, the things that have acted as the thunder of the Son of Heaven during these two years include Xia Mingji’s details, Xia Qifei’s relationship with the water fortresses in the south of the Yangtze River, the smuggling of that boy Fan Sichert in the north of the country, as well as the first thunderbolt of Xu Maocai’s impure thoughts, and why Wang Thirteen Lang has defected to Fan Idle, and so forth, and so on and so forth…….

Each thunderbolt hit Fan Xian straight in the heart, knocking him out cold, he seemed to have no secrets in front of His Majesty, and if these crimes were really turned over, they would all be punishable by death. Of course, he knew that the emperor could not use these crimes against him, but was only reminding him, but even so, he was still cold, feeling that the emperor on top of the dragon couch could engulf himself with a single exhale.

Fortunately, Fan Xian is not a general courtier, in the face of the thunder of the son of heaven, his way of coping with the world is also unparalleled, only one rely on their own thick skin, the confession of the crime is absolutely recognized, but the things to do continue to do, anyway, the emperor does not want to kill him, he continued to mix so.

Just today can not be mixed, because the investment bank for Fan Xian is too important, whether it is the use of the Supervisory Yuan, or to move to the river to repair the dyke of silver, Wan’er presided over the Hangzhou will do good deeds, and even the whole family as well as the Chen garden’s luxurious life, all from the investment bank’s income.

The most critical thing is, the investment money bank inside once hid Beiqi small emperor several million taels of silver, once people know, this charge of selling the country, even if Fan Xian again how to play filial son howling mourning also can not cover over.

A few lines of cold sweat slid down his back, three years ago, when the Ming family’s old man, who was a deadbeat, was subdued, the Merchants’ Money Bank was forced to come to the forefront, and he guessed that this matter would surely arouse His Majesty the Emperor’s suspicion, and that the Ministry of the Treasury had not even transferred so much silver, and that the Emperor would surely think about where the silver in the money bank had actually come from.

Fan Xian had made a lot of preparations for this secret, confirming that he had already cleaned up the accounts in the north, and in the past, His Majesty had asked about the source of the silver money in the Merchants’ Money Bank, but at that time, Fan Xian had used the world’s most famous rumor to put it off–everyone assumed that the mysterious shares of the Merchants’ Money Bank were the result of a decades-long operation run by the Northern Qi’s Brocade Guard, Shen Chong. Commander Shen Chong had saved up a secret fortune after decades of operation.

But today, His Majesty the Emperor asked to his face, and also pointed to Miss Shen, who had been married to Yan Bingyun for less than three months, naturally warning Fan Xian that Miss Shen had always been in your control, but also always in my eyes, and that bluffing reasons like the Shen family’s legacy shouldn’t be trotted out again today.

Fan Xian behind the cold sweat and more two lines, just has entered the late fall and early winter, although the fireplace inside the imperial study is still cold, the body wearing the official uniform is quite thick, for a moment to see traces of his face is still strong to keep calm: “your majesty, to explain what?”

The emperor’s face clouded over, very unhappy that in such a private conversation, this kid actually wanted to muddle through.

How did he know that Fan Xian was drumming straight in his heart at this time, secretly thinking that that little emperor in the north would not be remembering his own hatred for sniping the Northern Qi spies on a large scale in the Western Liang Road, thus throwing out this secret agreement back then and killing himself through Emperor Qing’s hands? Could it be that the Northern Qi side hated himself so much? To actually be willing to spend such a large price to get rid of themselves?

Fan Xian’s face was no longer able to remain calm, his forehead slightly sweating, thinking that since that little monster from Northern Qi dared to throw the knife, who knows if he dares to throw the money bank?

At this moment, he caught a glimpse of His Majesty the Emperor’s face, and saw the obvious displeasure on his face, and at the sight of this displeasure, Fan Xian’s heart was overjoyed.

If the emperor really knew the inside story and wanted to take himself down, how could he be so “sincerely” displeased with his cultivation and mindset?

Fan Xian awkwardly smiled, dry cough two times and then said: “Merchants money bank at the beginning of that silver …… is indeed not the Shen family’s treasure, but …… minister’s own private money.”

This sentence answered extremely skillfully.

If it is the general minister heard this sentence, will certainly curse Fan Xian shameless disgusting, Merchants Money Bank at the beginning of the millions of taels of silver for the bottom, who’s private money can be so much? But on the contrary, when His Majesty the Emperor heard these words, he clearly showed a look of knowing everything, and said faintly, “Indeed. When did Old Five give this money to you?”

Fan Xian let out a bitter smile before respectfully responding, “It was just before I traveled down to Jiangnan, and Uncle Wuzhu knew that I wanted to use the money.”

The emperor looked at him and shook his head, saying, “Old Five is also fooling around, what would you do with such a large sum of silver given to a small child like you.”

Fan Xian breathed a huge sigh of relief in his heart, knowing that His Majesty had indeed thought of the old Ye family back then, as he had expected, but his face remained oddly smiling, as if he was casting aspersions on His Majesty’s eye for this money, and as if he was casting aspersions on His Majesty that he was still unaware of the fact that the inner treasury of the south of the Yangtze River had already earned him a few multi-million taels of silver after he had taken over the reins.

The emperor obviously saw what Fan Xian’s expression was hiding, and irritatedly rebuked him in a low voice for a few moments before he suppressed his anger and said as if he had no intention of doing so: ”Originally, this inner treasury was left behind by your mother, so do I still look down on those millions of taels of silver? Just your mother left you the silver, don’t spend it recklessly.”

Fan Xian did not dare to slack off, hurriedly the Merchants money bank into the use of silver money one by one, these things in fact, His Majesty the emperor is clear beyond measure, but a Tsubo a Tsubo said clearly, always better, and at this time to say that understand, in the future can not turn over the old scores again.

The emperor satisfactorily touched the beard under the jaw, nodded and said: “used to do good deeds of course excellent, Chen girl is also able to do things, you do not always shut her in the house, when there is nothing to do, let her into the palace to accompany me.”

Fan Xian secretly thought to himself why he had ever shut down his petite wife, she is now busy in charge of the entire Fan family clan affairs, coupled with the fact that because of the matter of the rebellion in Kyoto, for the emperor’s uncle inevitably gave birth to a few points of resistance, their own unwillingness to enter the palace.

“The west side of the matter you deal with it well.” The emperor stood up, suddenly thought of a tsun thing, as if unintentionally asked: “Where did old five go?”

“I don’t know where uncle went.” Fan Xian also hurriedly stood up and said, “Still, I saw him once two years ago.”

“This kid, always likes to play missing, how did he learn to have the same temper as Uncle Ye Shi?” The emperor said with a bit of a headache, then waved his hand, signaling Fan Xian to go out.

The door to the imperial study was finally pushed open, and Fan Xian walked out with a calm face, seeing Eunuch Yao waiting at the side and nodding his head. Eunuch Yao hurriedly bowed low and asked in a lowered voice, “How is His Majesty’s mood?”

Fan Xian smiled, the dark clouds on his face quickly turned into a piece of sunshine, incomparably bright, but his mood was a bit heavy – every time he entered the palace to meet with His Majesty the Emperor, it was his crucifixion day, and that kind of ubiquitous pressure and the sense of authority of the emperor’s patriarchs added up to it made him feel very sad, especially if he had to endure this kind of unexplained thunderbolt today from time to time, and it really was very Not refreshing.

Especially when the emperor asked about the whereabouts of the Five Bamboos at the end of the day, Fan Xian couldn’t help but feel coldly sarcastic in his heart. Now that one of the two great masters of the foreign country was dead and one was abolished, Ye Liuyun’s existence appeared to be unnecessary for Qing, and this character, whose nature was like that of an idle crane, had literally drifted away after assisting the Emperor of Qing in completing the Great Eastern Mountain’s situation, and certainly could not possibly reappear. And although the Emperor had acted naturally when he asked about the Five Bamboo, Fan Xian was clear that the Emperor had always had a secret vigilance and wariness of Uncle Five Bamboo.

As for why this was the case, Fan Xian of course knew full well.

Walking along the long eaves of the Taiji Hall toward the high imperial city, his face gradually calmed down. Private conversations like today’s within the imperial study had taken place many times, and from his discomfort the first time he was faced with Heavenly Thunder to the ease with which he was able to cope with it today, Fan Xian didn’t know how much he had grown.

Standing at the high Taiji Hall, looking at the stone steps engraved with dragon clouds, Fan Xian took a deep breath, letting the cold early winter air quickly enter his chest, so cold that it was incomparably moderate.

The things that the emperor knows are the things that Fan Xian is not afraid to let him know, these thunderbolts knocking though terrible, but still can’t crack the hard shell on Fan Xian’s heart, he still has a lot of secrets that he still successfully hides from the emperor, such as the Merchants’ Money Bank, such as the Qing Yu Tang reported the deaths of several of the big shopkeepers, such as the real whereabouts of Uncle Wuzhu, such as the Dongyi City control of a small domestic country, which is slowly molding into a certain kind of small workshop.

For example, his body is a soul that does not belong to this world, such as he knows another similar soul, how movingly appeared in this world, and how heartbreakingly disappeared in this world.

All of these were unknown to the omnipotent Emperor Qing, and this, in turn, was Fan Xian’s bottom line. His Majesty the Emperor knew even less that his two biggest cards, the chest and Uncle Five Bamboo, had left him for who knows where.

His eyes narrowed as he looked at the fortified imperial city on the opposite side of the long imperial road, his gaze crossing the walls and penetrating straight through the cold clouds in the sky, as if he had seen some of the past from many years ago, as well as the blood and fire killings of two years ago.

The eunuchs and palace maidens who were walking quietly inside the palace looked at the young man under the Taiji Palace and hurriedly bowed low, but in their hearts, they were wondering, what was little Lord Fan in a daze?

Fan Xian’s gaze passed through the clouds and seemed to fall above the snowy plains of the extremely distant north, and he seemed to see a man with black cloth over his eyes, carrying a box, moving forward in solitude and determination towards an unknown place of divine splendor.

With every step, that person stepped through countless snowflakes, and with every glance, he saw through infinite false images.

Fan Xian smiled gently in the shadows of the temple, sincerely wishing that Uncle Wuzhu could find himself, which, perhaps, was the most important thing in a lifetime of life.

Nowadays, the best business restaurant in Kyoto is Yishiju, although the proprietor of this restaurant has long since not been the Cui family that was under the protection of the eldest princess back then, and the Cui family was uprooted by the Supervisory Yuan a long time ago because of smuggling to the Northern Qi, but the business here is still as good as ever.

The most popular place for students from the Imperial College and foreign scholars to visit is Tanyu Bookstore. Under the crackdown of the Eight Offices, the streets of Kyoto have been empty for years of women selling ruby books with their children in their arms.

The best business inn is the Tongfu Inn, the most guests of the tofu store is the private property of the Fan family, as for the business of the most red-hot and highest level of the greenhouse …… is of course the embrace of the moon building.

Kyoto tour, nowadays the big easy, often is in a stone residence on the meal, in the same blessing inn accommodation, the road to eat a bowl of soybean flower, pacing into the Tanya bookstore to buy two books, the night and then go to embrace the moon floor embrace a few good people into the arms, the joy of life will seem to be complete.

The reason for this was undoubtedly because of the man named Fan Xian.

The One Stone House was the beginning of Fan Xian’s legendary life, from Tanyuzhou to Kyoto, his meeting with Prince Jing and He Zongwei began in this restaurant. With the status and position of these three people nowadays, the One Stone Residence naturally took on a touch of magic, but of course, the key was that the story of Little Lord Fan’s Black Fist Surprise in Kyoto had already spread throughout the world through countless storytellers.

The Tongfu Inn, on the other hand, was the birthplace of the Four Sons of Fan Clan, and the other three were Fan Xian’s properties. Let’s not repeat the litany of halos on Fan Xian’s body, as it’s a tiring thing to do, and just note this fact to realize Fan Xian’s reputation and status in the entire country of Qing today.

There were many who hated Fan Xian, and even more who loved him, but few would have such mixed feelings about him as the owner of the medical center across the street from Tanyu Bookstore.

The medical hall had just purchased its hands and had yet to open, and the medicines were stacked in what appeared to be haphazard but orderly piles.

A girl wearing a plain color brocade single goblin, is supporting her jaw, in the room full of medicine smell daze, but did not even notice that outside the medical hall has been surrounded by too many idle people, if not there is the mansion guards as well as the secret agents of the hidden Supervisory Board to stop, I’m afraid that those people would have already crowded into the medical hall.

Bitter Lotus Master’s closed disciple, the amazing medical skills of the Fan family Miss, the little Fan Lord’s favorite sister, finally out of the Green Mountains, back to her hometown of Qing, Kyoto, Kyoto, in the Kyoto people’s surprise in the eyes of the room full of strange fragrance of the smell of medicine, began to miss some people.

Some were far away, traveling alone on the snowy plains, while others were about to come to her.