Fan Xian walked on the street without feeling anything. The rain soaked into his clothes, making them cold and wet, but his heart was still burning. He looked at the streets of Jingdou again. The four-wheeled carriages walking on the streets, the glass windows of the rich families by the street, the kaleidoscopes he had seen before, and the slippery soaps … all of these things connected with him in an instant.
It was as if all of these things were imprinted with his mother's aura. This street, this house, this world, everywhere had the scent of that woman.
At the end of the letter, it said, "I am very lonely."
Before today, Fan Xian had also been very lonely. From now on, he was no longer lonely. He laughed loudly in the rainy street. His laughter traveled far and woke up some of the pedestrians who had already taken advantage of the rainy night to sleep early.
Someone cursed at him.
He continued to smile.
Ye Qingmei was definitely not the little girl she appeared to be in the letter. Fan Xian was certain of this. His mother had an incomparably strong heart. Only in this way could she have such a brilliant life in this completely unfamiliar world, borrowing the unfamiliar sunlight.
In this familiar yet unfamiliar Qing Kingdom, you have let down that woman called Ye Qingmei.
The rain hit Fan Xian's face forcefully. Like a monster, he gradually became one with the pitch-black night. Perhaps this chest did not have any fundamental help to his life, but it gave him a feeling that he was not alone. It allowed him to walk more and more freely in this world and this rainy night.
Fan Xian walked alone in the wind and rain, but he smiled. Since he was going to live a full life, he had to live it naturally. Just like he had said to his sister in the beginning, when they looked back on the past, don't always feel that the word "sullen" was written on your face.
The autumn wind and rain worried people to death. Worry killed.
— — —
The matter of entering the Royal Palace at night could not just end like this. The Commander of the Jingdou Garrison, Sir Ye Zhong, who had never formally appeared on the stage, began to investigate this matter after receiving the Emperor's orders. Although his official position was the Jingdou Garrison, in recent years, he had been leading Dingzhou to the west to protect Jingdou from afar. By the time he rushed back to Jingdou, three days had already passed.
The discerning people in the Palace knew why the Emperor had chosen him. First, it was because the Ye family had received the Emperor's favor and was loyal. The degree to which they were trusted by the Emperor was only below that of Chen Pingping. As for Lord Chen Pingping, he naturally couldn't drag his crippled body to investigate such a trivial matter. Secondly, it was because the top three figures in the Imperial Guard system seemed to be under suspicion.
Ye Zhong also knew that this matter was very complicated. The commander of the imperial guards, Yan Xiaoyi, was discovered by the Eldest Princess many years ago. His martial prowess was known to be the best in the palace. The deputy commander, Gong Dian, was his junior disciple. As for that Eunuch Hong who never showed himself … Forget it, even Ye Zhong did not want to provoke him.
Besides, Ye Chong did not suspect any of them. He was only curious about the second person who infiltrated the Royal Palace, and why he would kill the Eldest Princess' personal maid outside Guangxin Palace.
The investigation was carried out in secret. Because the Overwatch Council had been exposed by the head spy of Northern Qi, which had angered His Majesty, they were powerless to cooperate, so it was difficult to make any substantial progress.
Until one day, after carefully investigating a few palaces, Ye Zhong came to Hanguang Palace. Then he smelled a faint, strange fragrance, and immediately thought of the old poison that had followed His Majesty in the army tent during the Northern Expedition. He then thought of what the guards had said. When the assassins attacked that night, Zhuang Mohan of Northern Qi was also in Guangxin Palace. Ye Zhong, who understood the cruelty of the palace struggles, thought of the matter in a very strange way.
So he immediately entered the palace to ask for His Majesty's forgiveness and resignation. He prostrated himself on the ground, his face full of shame.
"Is it that you can't find out, or that you don't dare to investigate?" His Majesty's face always had that smile that seemed to see through everything. The true officials would occasionally wonder if this was some kind of method to control his subordinates, but Ye Zhong knew the wisdom of the Emperor he served, so he answered honestly, "I can't find out, and I don't dare to investigate. It is not convenient for me to investigate the affairs of the royal family."
"Minister Ye, are you not afraid that I will reprimand you for being disloyal to your master, for failing to distinguish between public and private affairs, and for not cherishing your life?"
Ye Zhong did not dare to get up. He replied, "I dare not guess Your Majesty's intentions, but I am slow-witted and do not know where to start investigating."
"There is no need to investigate this matter. I know what I am doing." His Majesty's smile was a little cold, but Ye Zhong did not see it clearly from his kneeling position.
...
...
On the other side, the real suspect, Fan Xian, was still hiding in his manor these days. The main reason was that after he became famous for his poems, going to Taichang Temple to drink tea, or going to Honglu Temple to watch from the sidelines had become a luxury.
The negotiations were over, and Northern Qi's diplomatic mission had already left the capital, but Dongyi was still delayed for some time.
When the news had truly died down, the Dongyi diplomatic mission left the capital with a lot of silver, somewhat unhappily. They did not know that the fact that the Kingdom of Qing did not imprison them all after the night raid on the palace was already the result of His Majesty's magnanimity.
Now, Fan Xian could truly be said to have shaken the capital. No one paid attention to the power behind him, but focused on him personally. After all, in this world, he was the only one who could make the great Zhuang Mohan vomit blood on the spot. Furthermore, he was so young.
As if it had been discussed beforehand, the Crown Prince and the Second Prince increased their efforts to draw him to their side. Li Hongcheng often brought Rou Jia to the manor for tea, and Xin Shaoqing also used the excuse of not seeing him for a long time to visit.
But Fan Xian had many things to do, so for the time being, he pushed both sides away. In the banquet plan, he had only completed two parts. The first was to successfully find the key, and the second was to almost successfully frame Dongyi's Yun Zhilan, causing the court to increase their surveillance. This ninth-level ace was so badly battered that he could not even think of challenging Fan Xian to a duel until he left the capital, in order to ensure his own safety.
He had found out that the Eldest Princess was colluding with Northern Qi, but he had been waiting for the right time to throw it into the pot.
Two days after the Dongyi diplomatic mission left the capital, Fan Xian knew that the time had come.
Fan Xian could not use the secret agreement between the Eldest Princess and the young Emperor of Northern Qi to beat someone up, because there was no documentary evidence or witnesses. Fan Xian also did not dare to meet with the Emperor, although with his current reputation in the capital, it would not be difficult to meet with the Emperor. But he had a very complicated conjecture about the Emperor, and he could not guarantee that the Emperor, in order to protect the royal family's reputation, would not kill him after finding out about the Eldest Princess's scandal.
If it had been a normal citizen of the Kingdom of Qing, after encountering such a situation, they could only hide the secret forever in their hearts, not daring to tell anyone for the rest of their lives, until they vomited blood and died.
But not Fan Xian. He had the memories of two lives, and the knowledge of two lives. He knew the importance of public opinion, and its destructive power. He also knew that to deal with the crazy Eldest Princess, he had to use even crazier methods.
After the banquet, Xishan Paper Workshop, which had a monopoly on the paper industry in the capital, and the related industries of the palace treasury, still occasionally touched the business of Danbo Bookstore. But the Eldest Princess had no way to command the Eighth Bureau of the Overwatch Council, so she only did small things. And Fan Xian knew that this was the calm before the storm.
And he decided to act first before the storm arrived.
That night, Wu Zhu stood in a corner, listening to him speak. Ever since he had opened the chest, Wu Zhu had come to Fan Manor more often. It seemed that he was more worried about Fan Xian's safety. Fan Xian thought as he spoke. "If you don't want to leave any traces, then you have to rob everything."
Wu Zhu tilted his body to show that he understood.
Fan Xian continued. "These days, the ones who have been suppressing the business of Danbo Bookstore are the Xishan Paper Workshop and Wansong Hall of the palace treasury. So we have to rob the palace treasury's paper, and then use Wansong Hall's ink. But … Uncle, has anyone in this world ever seen the words you write? "
Wu Zhu said coldly, "Don't worry."
Fan Xian knew that his seemingly useless and absurd plan would certainly work. He smiled. "Things like flyers don't need to be too big." He used his hands to measure the size. "The key is to have a lot of copies. We have to put them up everywhere, especially in places like the Imperial College and the Imperial Library. We have to put up a few more copies. The students are young and hot-blooded, and are the easiest to provoke. And the scholars in the Imperial Library also like to play with their strength of character. After seeing the flyers, I think they'll be so angry they'll pull out their beards."
Wu Zhu said coldly, "The content."
"Hmm?" Fan Xian raised his eyebrows and sighed. "I really am like an underground member of the Party."
He began to recite in detail how the flyers should be provocative. He had to give details that seemed both true and false, such as how the Eldest Princess had spoken to Zhuang Mohan, how Yan Bingyun had suffered in hiding in Northern Qi, how he had been mercilessly abandoned by the nobles in the palace, how the Eldest Princess had harmed the interests of the court in order to seek her own interests, what benefits she had obtained, how many fake eunuchs she kept in the palace, how many old lovers she had outside …
Wu Zhu calmly analyzed. "No one would believe that the Eldest Princess would sacrifice so much just for some monetary gain."
Fan Xian raised his eyebrows again. "There aren't many people as smart as you in the world. As long as the people believe it, it's fine. As for the Emperor, let's give him a reminder. "
Wu Zhu said coldly, "The Emperor doesn't need you to remind him."
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