"What is the Banxianzhai?"
"This is the study. Father said that this study will only be used by you in the future. We'll talk about it after you get married. I've already asked Seventh Ye, the shopkeeper, to go to the Old Heng Restaurant and order a plaque. The name will be 'Banxianzhai'. "
Fan Xian felt that something was wrong. "Then what is the Banxianzhai Poetry Anthology?"
"Hmm? The poem you recited in the hall that day has already been compiled into a collection by the Imperial Scholar. His Majesty was prepared to have it printed in the name of the Imperial Library. It was I who begged my father to go and ask for this errand. "
After the Xishan paper shop was robbed, the royal merchants were stripped of their duties and investigated. It took a long time for them to recover. In addition, the palace treasury received a warning from the palace and did not dare to target Danbo Bookstore again. Danbo Bookstore had finally recovered, so it was only natural for them to prepare for a grand project. Seventh Ye, the head shopkeeper, and Sizhe, the little shopkeeper, had their eyes on this poetry anthology that had been produced by the Emperor at first glance. The money from the Palace was only part of the reason. Furthermore, the Palace had allowed it to be privately sold after it had been printed. This was a large sum of money.
Who wrote this poem? Fan Xian. Who was Fan Xian? Fan Xian was the owner behind the scenes of Danbo Bookstore. Regardless of whether it was the Seventh Ye shopkeeper of Qingyu Hall or Fan Sizhe, who stood behind the shopkeeper with a sinister smile, none of them would allow the court to benefit from this profitable business. Fan Sizhe had always hated his brother for refusing to hand over the last ten chapters of Story of the Stone. Now that he had the poetry anthology, how could he let it go?
Fan Xian wrote the words "Banxianzhai Poetry Collection" on the paper, and then wrote his own name, laughing bitterly in his heart. That night, in order to cover his tracks, he pretended to be drunk in the hall. As a result, he lost control of his temper and couldn't stop himself. In these poems, there were countless allusions that couldn't be explained clearly. If he wanted to explain these allusions clearly, he would need to write countless history books.
You have to prepare the Four Great Masterpieces, right? Did you get the book from World Talks Newspeak? Analects of Confucius? The Book of Songs? Heh, don't complain that it's too little. An elevated version of Zizhi Tongjian? A transmigration version of Sima's Historical Records? No one would have any objections even if he wrote everything down.
Thinking of this amount of work, Fan Xian shuddered in fear. If it really continued to expand like this, Danbo Bookstore would probably become a disseminator of the advanced culture of his previous life, fulfilling the great ambition he had made in Danzhou. He said, "If the Imperial Library's revision doesn't work, you have to take it back. I'll revise it myself. I drank too much that day, who knows what nonsense I spouted."
He made up his mind. If he could fool them, then he would. If he really couldn't, then he could only endure the pain and use being drunk as an excuse to delete everything. After all, people who drank too much were prone to amnesia the next day.
"This is out of print." Fan Sizhe shook his head, "I think in another five years, when you say that you don't want to write poems anymore, you can make a comeback in the poetry world. I think you'll earn a lot of money."
Fan Xian smiled and shook his head. His gaze suddenly fell on a piece of pink paper in the corner of the study. He asked curiously, "What is that?"
Fan Sizhe said, "A gift list."
Fan Xian was slightly startled. Only now did he remember that the day of his wedding was approaching. But with so many things that had happened recently, there was no need to hide it. His mood was slightly different from what it had been at the Temple of Qing. In the end, he and her mother could not coexist. Right now, the Emperor could still control everything. When the time came, the Eldest Princess would certainly kill him.
In other words, he would certainly kill the Eldest Princess.
The wedding that he had been looking forward to for so long was gradually approaching, but Fan Xian felt a little uneasy and sad.
— — —
A few days later, Danbo Bookstore's Banxianzhai Poetry Anthology was finally published. This time, Danbo Bookstore had the right to print it, and Fan Xian personally made bold and decisive cuts. He thought he could relax a little, but unexpectedly, the bookstore held a ceremony. Using Fan Xian's name, they invited Crown Prince Jing, vice-minister of the Office of the Grand Herald, Xin Qiwu, and the others.
Fan Xian was shocked. Only his talented sister, Fan Ruoruo, was willing to show her face in public as a spokesperson, and they began to sell it in a lively manner. But he himself used the excuse that he wanted to maintain the mystery of a generation's immortal poet to hide in the royal courtyard and fall in love with Lin Wan 'er.
An eighth-level functionary spat out a hundred poems on the spot, shocking the great Zhuang Mohan and causing him to vomit blood and flee. This story had long since spread throughout the Kingdom of Qing. Although some of the poems had already spread to the common people, this poetry anthology was said to have been personally edited by the author, which was naturally very unusual. As expected, once the poetry anthology was published, paper was expensive in the capital, and Fan Xian's reputation immediately soared to another level.
Last night, there was an autumn wind in the house.
Fan Xian looked gently at his fiancée and smiled. "The method you suggested won't work."
Lin Wan 'er frowned and cutely pouted. "I haven't gone out for a few days."
In fact, this young girl also knew about the recent events in the capital. Although she had grown up in the palace, the concubines all treated her as if she were in the palm of their hands. On one hand, she was weak and gentle, and could not cause harm to those concubines. On the other hand, it was because His Majesty seemed to particularly love her.
As for the Eldest Princess's "words", she naturally did not see them, but she gradually heard some rumors. Later, before the Eldest Princess left the capital for Xinyang, she had once come to the courtyard. Mother and daughter were actually strangers, and after sitting across from each other for a while, the Eldest Princess got into her carriage and left the capital.
Although Lin Wan 'er did not know what connection Fan Xian had with her mother's departure, she was sensitive enough to feel that Fan Xian's mood was not as relaxed and happy as it had been in the past. So she suggested that they find another day to go out and enjoy the autumn scenery. The red leaves of the West Mountains of the capital were very famous.
But hearing the two words "West Mountains", Fan Xian thought of the paper mill that monopolized the capital's use of paper, and thought of the Eldest Princess behind the mill, who seemed to be looking at him gloomily and timidly.
Fan Xian knew that the Eldest Princess's departure from the capital, the most fundamental power was still the Emperor. His "words" only gave the Emperor a reason to convince himself and the Empress Dowager.
To explain here, the current Qing Kingdom's court and commoners all called the flyers that fluttered like snowflakes that day "words". This was because it was believed that when the people had no way to appeal, they would put forth their opinions.
During this period of time, the capital had actually repeated this kind of "words" action a number of times, which made the Overwatch Council nervous for a while. Only after they had caught one of them did they find out that it was actually the hard laborers of the Taiyuan Road copper mine who had come to the capital to complain to the Emperor. But they could not enter the Attendance Hall, so they had learned this method.
The Overwatch Council went to the root of this, and in the end discovered that it was actually the West Mountain Paper Mill that provided these poor laborers with paper!
But no matter how hard they tried, they could not dig out the person who had helped these laborers write their grievances. They only knew that the incomparably smooth handwriting came from the hands of a fortune-teller next to the Temple of Qing. But when the Overwatch Council went to the Temple of Qing to search, they found that there was no fortune-teller there at all — except for the High Priest who seemed to have never left the temple in his life.
The matter of the copper mine was naturally handled by the First Bureau. Very quickly, the officials of Taiyuan Road were arrested and brought back to the capital, where they would be executed in a month. But the court could no longer tolerate this kind of action, and strengthened the control of paper. But Director Chen of the Overwatch Council did not punish the hard laborers of Copper Mountain. In the eyes of the officials, Director Chen seemed to have become much more soft-hearted.
He came to his senses and looked at the slightly worried Wan'er. He smiled and walked up to her, gently stroking her smooth chin. He warmly said, "What are you thinking about? The Eldest Princess has returned to Xinyang. If we have a chance after we get married, we will naturally have to visit. "
This was, of course, a lie. Fan Xian hoped that he would never go to Xinyang, and hoped that the Eldest Princess would grow old and die in Xinyang. Of course, he also knew that before he could truly shake the power of the Eldest Princess and her mysterious companion, the Emperor liked to play tricks to lure the snake out of its hole. The Eldest Princess would one day return.
Lin Wan'er forced a smile and said, "See? I entered the palace yesterday. You know what has happened in the capital recently. The ladies are fine, but the Empress Dowager seems to be a little unwell. The Emperor is not as friendly to me as he used to be."
Fan Xian sighed in his heart, thinking that the Emperor was having a headache over who the prince was in cahoots with her mother. How could he be the same as before?
The two of them chatted for a bit. Suddenly, they heard what seemed to be the sound of a nanny coming up the stairs. Fan Xian reflexively leaped up and climbed onto the windowsill, preparing to jump out. Lin Wan'er giggled and said, "Are you really used to it?"
Fan Xian laughed with some embarrassment. Looking at Wan'er's slightly pale face, his heart was filled with tenderness. He went forward and pulled her into his arms. In a low voice, he said, "Don't tire yourself out before the wedding. As for the illness and other things, don't be afraid. You have me. You have me in the future. "
The green tree branches outside the window stubbornly maintained their vibrant color in the autumn wind, trying to prove that no matter how bleak the outside environment was, it still had a yearning for beauty.
At the corner of the stairs, the servant girl Siqi saw the young master and the young lady in each other's arms. She couldn't help but stick out her tongue playfully. She thought to herself that the young master of the Fan family was a gifted scholar, but he was still so shameless.
— — —
With the wedding at hand, the entire Fan manor began to move. The Eldest Princess was not in the capital, so the arrangements were made by Imperial Concubine Shu in secret. The entire Fan manor, besides feeling proud, became even more cautious. They were afraid that they would not be careful enough and would not conform to the rules.
But the rules themselves were a very difficult thing to do. Lin Wan'er's status as a princess only worked in the palace. In the outside world, she was still the illegitimate daughter of Prime Minister Lin, who had only been forced by the Emperor at the beginning of the year to recognize her. So whether the wedding would be carried out in the style of a princess or a normal marriage between the children of ministers could not be confirmed.
Lady Liu entered the palace again and finally received clear instructions from the Empress Dowager. Although the Empress Dowager did not like the Lin family participating in the marriage of her precious granddaughter, she still had to bow her head to the rules of the world. She acquiesced to the participation of the Lin family, and at the same time announced that the wedding would not be carried out in the style of a princess.
Although the high-ranking aunts of the Fan family, who knew the inside story, were a little disappointed, they thought of the marriage with the Prime Minister's family, which was also something to be proud of. So they eagerly began to make preparations.
But no one had expected that the splendor of Fan Xian and Lin Wan'er's wedding would be more memorable than the wedding of the princess and the son-in-law for years to come.
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