Fan Xian didn't have time to explain. He smiled and ordered, "I'll talk, you remember." He didn't have time to grind the ink. He picked up a quill, dipped it in some of the ink left in the inkstone, and gave it to his sister. He then closed his eyes and began to recall the complicated layout of the palace courtyards and paths.
The more Fan Ruoruo wrote, the paler her face became. Because Fan Xian was trying to memorize, his face also became paler. The two of them looked like two white faces. With great difficulty, Fan Ruoruo drew most of the paths in the palace. Finally, Fan Ruoruo couldn't help but cry out in a low voice, "Brother, don't you know that this is a great crime?"
Fan Xian relaxed and sat down in a chair. He didn't speak for a long time. Today, he had spent half a day in the palace. He had to chat with the nobles and remember the complicated roads. In the end, he had to have a mental battle with the Eldest Princess for a long time. It was too exhausting and he couldn't recover for a while.
He was familiar with the laws of the Qing Kingdom, and he knew that the palace buildings were not allowed to be drawn. This was to prevent people from sneaking into the palace to do treasonous things. Fan Xian needed this map because he had already made a plan. In this plan, he would sneak into the palace that night to find the key.
He could ask Lin Wan 'er about the paths in the palace, but that was too risky. Furthermore, the paths taken by the masters of the palace were completely different from the paths Fan Xian had carefully planned. Even if Wu Zhu told him, it wouldn't work — like the hiding places behind the fake mountains, or the blind spots in the bushes of flowers, if he hadn't walked them himself, he wouldn't have been able to draw a map that satisfied him.
Fan Xian stood up and walked to the table to pick up his sister's drawing. Although it was done in a hurry, his sister's brushwork was still meticulous. He couldn't help but happily pat her on the head. "It's done. I'll invite you to Yishi Tavern for some seafood."
Fan Ruoruo was angry. She snatched the map back. "It's done? What's done? Do you know how big of a deal this is? No, I'm going to tell father. "
Fan Xian smiled bitterly. He thought to himself that the concept of the inviolability of the Emperor's power was indeed deeply ingrained in people's hearts. Of course, he also understood that his sister was mainly worried about his safety and the children of the manor. If others knew that he had secretly drawn a map of the Royal Palace, given the relationship between the Fan manor and the royal family, it would probably be very tragic.
"Don't worry, I'll rest in a bit. I'll immediately memorize this map and then burn it. No one will know." Fan Xian smiled and comforted his sister.
Tears welled up in Fan Ruoruo's eyes. "Brother, why did you draw this picture?"
Fan Xian sighed and lowered his head to look into his sister's eyes. Enunciating each word, he said, "Because there is something I want in the Royal Palace."
"You want to go to the palace to steal …?" Fan Ruoruo was so surprised that she wanted to scream, but she quickly covered her mouth.
Fan Xian said seriously, "Correct, but I didn't steal it. That thing was mine to begin with."
Fan Ruoruo shook off her shock and immediately recovered her usual calm and intelligence. She deduced the truth of the matter and lowered her trembling voice. "Does it have something to do with … Aunt Ye?"
Fan Xian smiled. "I can't hide this from you." It was a few simple words, but they were filled with the trust between brother and sister. He continued to smile. "It doesn't matter. What kind of person is your brother? He punched a seven-year-old child and kicked an old man in his seventies. He stood on an unmarked grave and roared. If you don't believe me, come out. But no one dared to make a sound. Haha. "
Ruoruo laughed with some difficulty. She didn't think her brother's joke was funny, but she was still worried. She knew that Fan Xian looked beautiful and gentle, but in reality, his heart was exceptionally hard and cold. She couldn't persuade him, so she could only let him be and pray at home every day.
"Actually, I'm very selfish." Fan Xian looked at the worry on her brow and suddenly calmed himself. "Every time there's something I can't bear alone, I'm willing to tell you. It looks like I trust you, but in reality, I just want to find someone to share the pressure with. But I never thought that this kind of pressure is actually a greater pain for you. At least I still have you to talk to. Who can you talk to? For example, my mother is the mistress of the Ye family, or I'm about to go to the palace to steal something. "
Ruoruo looked at him with a trace of worry. "Trust and pressure cancel each other out. I still like that you don't hide things from me."
— — —
The negotiations were still going on. The work of redrawing the border was very difficult. Originally, with the support of Fan Xian's analysis of the case, the official in charge of the Chamberlain of Honglu Temple of Qing was unusually tough. Several times, he almost forced the Northern Qi envoys to sign their names on the documents. But for some reason, perhaps because something had happened in Northern Qi, the Northern Qi envoys shamelessly and even hysterically dragged on, as if they were waiting for something.
This smell of conspiracy was immediately picked up by the experienced vice-minister of the Chamberlain of Honglu Temple, Xin Qiwu. That afternoon, after a fruitless negotiation, he held a small teapot and looked at Fan Xian, indicating for him to follow him out. Along the way, there were officials who paid their respects to the two envoys. With great difficulty, they found a quiet place. Xin Qiwu sighed tiredly. "Master Fan, do you feel that something is amiss?"
Regarding this negotiation, although Fan Xian had the correct attitude of observing and learning, he had participated from start to finish, and so he felt that the change in attitude of the Northern Qi envoys was a little strange. But if they had recently obtained a bargaining chip to rely on, it should have been laid out by now. There was no way they were still dragging on the negotiation table like a scoundrel.
He thought for a moment and suddenly frowned. "I'm afraid that Northern Qi is now thinking of a way to obtain a bargaining chip to use on the negotiation table."
Xin Qiwu looked at him and nodded. "I think so too. So tonight, I will enter the palace to see His Majesty and ask His Majesty to issue an edict ordering the Fourth Bureau of the Overwatch Council to assist the Chamberlain of Honglu Temple. If I don't find out what Northern Qi is thinking, I won't be able to rest easy."
Fan Xian leaned against the railing and narrowed his eyes in thought. What did Northern Qi want? Unreasonably, he thought of the Overwatch Council's spy network in Northern Qi, and of Yan Bingyun, who had been hiding in Northern Qi for four years.
Xin Qiwu didn't know what Fan Xian was thinking, but he said calmly, "I will enter the palace tonight, but I won't be able to obtain much on the surface. Deputy Fan, you can no longer hide your abilities. "
Fan Xian smiled bitterly. Xin Qiwu must have thought that his father had secretly helped him obtain the dossier. But the heavens knew that his father had secretly helped the Emperor manage a power that even he had never come into contact with. But after thinking about it, he felt that he really needed to ask. At the very least, he needed to ensure Yan Bingyun's safety in Northern Qi.
That night, in the hidden courtyard, Fan Xian summoned Wang Qinian and told him about his and Xin Qiwu's concerns. Wang Qinian's reaction gave Fan Xian an ominous feeling.
"The Council hasn't received a greeting from the crows for eight days." Wang Qinian's brows were tightly furrowed.
"This kind of information shouldn't be available to someone of your level." Fan Xian smiled and shook his head. "But I'm not going to ask you how you know. I just want you to remind the Council to be careful in Northern Qi."
Wang Qinian shook his head. "It's all one-way communication. If it's broken, it'll be hard to get it back. Besides, Yan Bingyun is the head spy of Northern Qi. If something happens to him, there'll be no point in contacting him again. "
"No matter what, we have to remind him to be careful." A cold light flashed in Fan Xian's eyes. He didn't like giving up on anyone for the sake of the country, especially Yan Bingyun. As the son of a high-ranking official, he had been undercover for four years and had sacrificed much. Fan Xian now saw himself as a part of the Kingdom of Qing and the Overwatch Council. Naturally, he felt a kind of admiration for Yan Bingyun, whom he had never met.
Fan Xian was thinking of something else. He looked at Wang Qinian calmly. "I have a mission, but I can't go through the Council. I hope I can ask for your help."
Wang Qinian looked at Fan Xian, confused.
"You can't tell Director Chen." Fan Xian's tone was calm, but Wang Qinian could hear the coldness in it.
"Yes." As soon as he said this, Wang Qinian knew that he had bet his life on this seemingly gentle, but actually ruthless, young man. As for the Council, Director Chen had only told him to listen to Fan Xian, and nothing else.
…
…
That night, the unfortunate news was finally confirmed. The spy network of the Fourth Bureau of the Qing Kingdom's Overwatch Council in Northern Qi had fortunately been largely preserved. But to everyone's surprise, as the head of the spy network, Yan Bingyun, had been captured alive by Northern Qi's internal experts in a silk shop in Shangjing!
For such an incident, it was usually broken through from the lower levels, and then traced back to the top. It was rare for someone at the top of the spy network to be captured in one fell swoop. For such a situation to occur, there was only one possibility: someone in the upper levels of the Kingdom of Qing had colluded with a foreign country.
Of course, the news of Yan Bingyun's capture could not be spread. Although that would be a blow to the Kingdom of Qing's reputation, it would be even more detrimental to Northern Qi's interests. Northern Qi needed such a leader in exchange for corresponding benefits, not just to strike at the enemy's morale.
As for the Qing bureaucracy, the eldest son of Yan Ruohai, the head of the Fourth Bureau of the Overwatch Council, had died four years ago. No one knew that he had been sent to Northern Qi by the royal court.
In the past few days, no one who knew about this had been able to sleep well.
In the most secret room of the Chamberlain of Dependencies, Vice-minister Xin closed his eyes and handed a piece of paper to Fan Xian. Fan Xian took it and looked at it. It was a painting of a thin cloud, flying high above the icy plains. During the negotiations that day, an unremarkable figure in the Northern Qi diplomatic mission had secretly handed it to Vice-minister Xin. At the time, the expression on that person's face had almost provoked Vice-minister Xin to draw his guard's sword and strike him.
The two words "Bingyun" were hidden in the painting. It seemed that the Northern Qi diplomatic mission had received the news and were preparing to make an offer.
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