Presently, Baoyue Brothel had spread a large net throughout the world. Although all the powers knew that the largest brothel alliance in the world was the property of the Fan family, they had no way of controlling it. After all, this was proper business. Regardless of which country's laws, they could not control it. Baoyue Brothel's conditions were good. They were polite and considerate to the girls in the building. The guests were truly happy, and labor and management were harmonious. Furthermore, they had Fan Xian's power as a backer and Xia Mingji and Zhaoshang money house as financial support. In a short four years, they had spread their tentacles to every place.
Although Baoyue Brothel's intelligence gathering was not as professional or powerful as the Overwatch Council's, at least it provided Fan Xian with another source of information.
In the end, the Overwatch Council was the official spy organization of the Qing Kingdom. There was always a faint fear in Fan Xian's heart. If one day the Emperor had him hand over the Overwatch Council, then his eyesight and hearing would both decline greatly. For example, this secret report regarding the Great Prince proved the benefits of Fan Xian's strong support for Baoyue Brothel.
As for the information in the secret report, the Overwatch Council's report and even the Qinian Unit's secret report did not mention a single word. If Baoyue Brothel had not leaked it out, Fan Xian would not have known that another good show was about to play out in Jingdou.
Of course, Fan Xian knew that this matter could not be blamed on the Overwatch Council and the Qinian Unit. After all, it involved the face of the royal family and the Emperor's family matters. Even if the official spy organization had found some information, before it could be confirmed and with the internal court and Imperial Censorate watching, they could not report it to him without evidence.
Baoyue Brothel did not care about this. In the organization structure under Fan Xian's control, Baoyue Brothel was more like the Imperial Censorate. It had the freedom to hear rumors and discuss official matters. The secret report mentioned the Great Prince taking on a Secondary fei. It was just a rumor that occasionally spread through Jingdou.
Wind from an empty cave was not without reason. Fan Xian furrowed his brows and thought about what had happened in Jingdou.
If it was just the eldest prince taking on a secondary wife, it would have been a small matter. There was no need for him to be so nervous. But the key point was that the Bao Yue House's report made it very clear that the selection of a secondary wife was completely decided by the palace. The eldest prince did not know about this beforehand, and it was rumored that the eldest prince was very conflicted about this matter. He had already entered the palace and argued with the king twice.
Fan Xian's head hurt. He knew what kind of person his elder brother was. Although the Great Prince understood the big picture, when it came to family matters involving the root of the family, he was very stubborn. Additionally, his relationship with the Great wangfei was harmonious. How could he agree to another marriage in the Palace?
For the Palace to want him to take another Secondary fei, there was clearly a deeper level of consideration. Regarding this, Fan Xian knew very well.
Ever since the Jingdou rebellion had truly been quelled and the Emperor had once again found his love for his eldest son, the first thing he did was not move the Great Prince to the border army as a Commander with real power. Instead, he secretly prepared for the Great Prince to take on a secondary fei. Thus, the matter of taking on a secondary fei had actually been carried out in secret for a long time. However, it had been forcefully resisted by the Great Prince and had not truly surfaced.
The Great wangfei was the Great Princess of Northern Qi. The honeymoon period between the Qing Kingdom and Northern Qi had already ended. For the sake of future battles, the Emperor would not allow his eldest son to be controlled by a Northern Qi woman. In the final Northern expedition, the Great Prince was clearly the best choice for the vanguard Commander. The Emperor's intentions were clear. He would first have him take on a secondary fei. Then, he would find an opportunity and an excuse to depose the Great wangfei.
The meaning was clear. It was a pity that the Qing Emperor's sons were disobedient. The Great Prince had never been such an obedient person, which was why he had been able to resist for two years. However, from the news from the Bao Yue House, it seemed that the Palace was preparing to bring this matter to light and directly make the decision.
Fan Xian hugged his knees with a headache. He was very angry. He had a strong opinion of the Great Prince. He thought to himself, Since the Emperor is forcing him so fiercely, what are you afraid of if you agree for now? Delay it as long as you can. Do you really have to wait for the Emperor to give an edict and then have you go to the Palace and play a game of refusing to submit?
How could a member of the royal family have the right to be a saint of love? However, the Great Prince and the Great wangfei, this married couple, had a sense of a long-lasting relationship. It made Fan Xian feel great admiration and sigh at his own inferiority.
Other than admiration, what made Fan Xian's head hurt was that the intelligence report from Bao Yue House was vague but secretly revealed a piece of information. After the Emperor and Lady Ning discussed it, they temporarily suppressed their anger and prepared to have Fan Xian return to the capital to persuade the Great Prince to take on a secondary fei.
It had to be said that after the Jingdou rebellion and the deaths of the Crown Prince and Second Prince, the Qing Emperor's attitude toward his remaining three sons was much warmer than before. If it had been in the past, the Great Prince would probably have long been imprisoned in his manor if he dared to forcefully resist an edict. It was not like now, where he could resist his temper and let Fan Xian go persuade him.
The Emperor's secret edict would probably take some time before it reached Fan Xian's ears. Baoyue House received the news much faster. Fan Xian held his head and thought, What exactly is going on? When the Great Princess of Northern Qi had traveled thousands of li south to marry the Great Prince, he had been the one to officiate the wedding. Was he going to be the one to break off the marriage after four years?
Just as he had sighed earlier, the affairs of the world were truly hard to predict.
…
…
It was morning. The sunlight from the east shone through the lonely autumn trees in the Qingzhou military yamen and cut into a few large patches of light, illuminating the paper windows in the room. A serving girl carried a plate and passed by the window, casting a shadow on the window.
The Shadow stood quietly by Fan Xian's side and looked at his worried face without saying a word. The best assassin in the world was used to standing quietly behind Chen Pingping or Fan Xian, blending into the shadows of the building or scenery. He was used to seeing the constant worry of the last and last masters of the Overwatch Council, but he was still not used to talking to them and giving them advice. His mission was to kill people and did not include these pitiful things that used his brain.
After returning from the grasslands, the Shadow took off his herdsman's clothes and returned to Fan Xian's side. Just like in the past few years, he was very quiet. However, Fan Xian occasionally noticed that the best assassin in the world would occasionally glance at Thirteenth Wang, who was resting in the courtyard. His gaze was complicated and strange.
"I cannot return to the capital right now." Fan Xian knew that the Shadow was not Yan Bingyun, Deng Zi Yue, or the chatterbox Wang Qinian. Waiting for him to speak was an impossible matter. He rubbed the space between his brows and said, "First, the Xiliang Road matter has not ended. Second, since there is no news from the capital, it is not appropriate for me to rush back like this."
"This is only a small matter." The Shadow knew that Commissioner Fan wanted to talk to him. He paused for a moment and then said, "Don't worry too much."
Fan Xian shook his head and sighed. "It is not a small matter. You don't know how stubborn the men of the Li family are. Take Chengqian and the Second Prince for example. They would rather die stubbornly than lower their heads to the Emperor. Although the Great Prince's personality is much more open-minded, in his bones, he has the taste of Dongyi people's desire for freedom. With the Emperor pressuring him like this, who knows what kind of frightening response he will make? "
Not waiting for the Shadow to open his mouth to reply, Fan Xian's face was full of melancholy. He continued, "The Emperor, and perhaps everyone in court, seems to firmly believe one thing. Those who are not of our race must have different intentions. Otherwise, why would no one believe that the Great Prince will inherit the throne just because he is half Dongyi? He is half Dongyi, and his wangfei is a Northern Qi person. In the current situation, the Emperor wanting him to depose of his concubine actually has the intention of protecting him and placing him in an important position. "
In the Jingdou rebellion, there were three people who had performed meritorious deeds. They were Fan Xian, Ye Zhong, and the Great Prince. At the time, the Great Prince held the Imperial Army in his hands and controlled the vital points. However, he resolutely carried out the Emperor's so-called posthumous edict and successfully controlled the situation of the rebellion to a level that the Qing Kingdom could accept. Because of this matter, the Emperor's attitude toward him had changed greatly. It was no longer as cold as it had been in the past.
"Accurately speaking, the Emperor feels some guilt toward the Great Prince," Fan Xian said quietly as he rubbed the spot between his brows. As Fan Xian rubbed his aching brows, he quietly said, "So he wants to make it up to the Great Prince. Given the Great Prince's lifelong ambition, the best way to make it up to him is to be the vanguard and fight for the Qing Kingdom from the South to the North, unify the world, and shine on the battlefield. The Emperor has truly decided to use him as Commander, which is why he has to depose the Great wangfei. "
Thinking of this, he also felt some resentment toward the Emperor. The Great wangfei was the Great Princess of Northern Qi. It did indeed affect the Great Prince's decision to be the Commander of the Northern Expedition. But, why did he have to use such unconventional methods as taking a secondary fei to resolve it? This was not the demeanor a ruler of a country should have. It was more like an old man who was angry with his son. Suddenly, his heart jumped. Did the Emperor still not learn from his past experiences and still maintain a powerful suspicion? Is he using all kinds of methods to eliminate these suspicions in the bud?
Fan Xian's heart gradually grew cold. He realized that he had made a mistake these years. He had still underestimated the Emperor's powerful desire for power and the Emperor's natural paranoia and coldness.
It was difficult to be a son. It was even more difficult to be the son of the Emperor. It was even more difficult to be the son of the Qing Emperor. Fan Xian let out a shaky breath. He knew that after he returned to the capital, he would probably be stuck between the Emperor and the Great Prince. It was better not to think about this problem for now.
But he was a little curious. He didn't know whose daughter the Emperor had appointed to the Great Prince's side concubine was, and which noble or minister was so unafraid of death that they dared to send their daughter into the mouths of the tigress Great Wangfei, the Great Prince, the male tigress, and the old tigress Concubine Ning.
After the Jingdou rebellion, the Emperor remembered Lady Ning's merits and took into account the Great Prince's face. After a delay of more than 20 years, he finally made her an imperial consort. However, after this Dongyi female slave became an imperial consort, she still did not change her past shrewish personality. She was still full of tiger nature.
The Great Prince's family was a tiger forest.
In any case, it could not be Ruoruo. Fan Xian was confident of this. Presently, the Emperor trusted and favored him greatly. He also knew that for the sake of Ruoruo's marriage, he had not hesitated to beat Hongcheng into a lewd person. Naturally, he would not use this to seduce him and lose the big for the small.
Fan Xian stood and pushed open the door. He welcomed the courtyard filled with the colors of autumn and no longer thought about the troubles in Jingdou. It was already late autumn. As far as the eye could see, the military yamen was filled with a clean and distant color. The sky was very high, and the clouds were very light. It made one feel a sense of open-mindedness at a glance.
The city of Qingzhou was close to Xi Hu and had the air of the grasslands. Perhaps only in this kind of place could people cultivate a cheerful and beautiful mood, such as the unusual Great Prince of the royal family, or the unusual Ye Ling 'er of the nobility.
Fan Xian smiled slightly as he gazed at the girls in the courtyard. He thought to himself that the Great wangfei's present situation was very difficult, but the Second wangfei seemed to have gradually shaken off the shadow of the Second Prince's death. There were always some good things that happened in the world.
…
…
Thirteenth Wang's body recovered quickly. He was now able to wander around the Qingzhou military yamen in a wheelchair. Because of Ye Ling 'er's words, Fan Xian couldn't be bothered to do any more useless concealment. He called for a few girls to be responsible for pushing the cart and sent a few subordinates of the Sixth Bureau to follow him and protect his safety.
During these dozen days, Fan Xian had been busy communicating with Dingzhou and leading the counterattack in Xiliang Road. He also had to carry out private transactions with the grasslands. He was very busy and didn't pay much attention to Thirteenth Wang's movements. However, he was not blind. He could see that this lonely and desolate Qingzhou military yamen had gradually changed because of Thirteenth Wang's awakening. Occasionally, a hint of spring seeped through the autumn garden.
When Thirteenth Wang sat in his wheelchair and occasionally rested in the garden, not far from him, a girl would be sitting and doing other things, such as embroidery or playing dumb and looking at the scenery.
At that time, Thirteenth Wang would become a dumb goose and stare in a daze at the dumb goose looking at the scenery.
Other than greeting each other when they bumped into each other, this young man and woman did not say any idle words. They just foolishly played out their roles. They wanted to sing to the sky but were also afraid that their red palms would lightly tug and disturb the unfocused clear waves.
Fan Xian was the little ancestor of the Overwatch Council, and Ye Ling 'er was the little ancestor of Qingzhou. After she gave the order, they no longer went out of the city every day to intercept the Hu people galloping out of the grasslands to gather grain like they had in the past year. Instead, they stayed obediently in the military yamen. The old subordinates in the military yamen were all chased out, leaving only the servants and serving girls.
Thus, there was now an additional scenery in the Qingzhou military yamen's little garden. It was the appearance of the two dumb geese that Fan Xian was secretly laughing at in his heart. If one were to use a more beautiful phrase, it would be the scenery, the people in the scenery, and the people looking at the scenery.
For two people who admired each other, each was the other's scenery, right?
…
…
As her teacher, Fan Xian knew what kind of woman Ye Ling 'er was. Sometimes, when he asked himself honestly, if he was a woman, he would probably also be shaken to the core by the 38 knife marks on Thirteenth Wang's front. Furthermore, Thirteenth Wang was a silent, gentle, and handsome person. How could such a person not move Ye Ling' er, who had been born in the military?
Although Ye Ling 'er's identity was somewhat troublesome, Fan Xian was not worried about it. Two years ago, the Emperor had secretly given a gracious edict allowing Ye Ling' er to remarry and choose her own husband. This was a great grace. As long as she liked someone, the Qing court would probably snatch him for her even if it meant fighting for him.
The problem now was Thirteenth Wang's identity. Although he secretly worked for the Overwatch Council and the Emperor also secretly knew of this matter, he was, after all, Sigu Jian's last disciple and the 13th disciple of Dongyi's Sword Hut. Ye Ling 'er had once been the Second wangfei, yet she was going to marry an ace from Dongyi. No one knew if she would be able to get past the Palace.
Of course, if Dongyi could completely lean toward the Qing Kingdom under his leadership, then these obstacles would not exist. Fan Xian decided to put some effort into this matter. It could be considered making it up to this pitiful girl on behalf of the Emperor and Ye Zhong.
There was only one problem.
Fan Xian looked at the two people in the garden with amusement. Rubbing his nose, he thought that these two people were still in a strange state. Someone had to expose them. Most importantly, it was not strange that Ye Ling 'er liked Thirteenth Wang. What exactly was Thirteenth Wang thinking? No matter how noble Ye Ling 'er's identity was, she was, after all, a true widow.
He knew why Thirteenth Wang was attracted to Ye Ling 'er's profile. It was very lonely. Fan Xian knew that the real Ye Ling' er was not like this.
Particularly … embroidery.
Fan Xian shivered. Ye Ling 'er had actually embroidered in front of Thirteenth Wang and pretended to be delicate and timid. If this matter got back to Jingdou and reached Wan' er's ears, his wife would probably faint from laughter.
He decided to tell Thirteenth Wang the real Ye Ling 'er so that his young friend, whom he admired greatly, would not find out after marriage that his life was a major misunderstanding.
Just as Fan Xian was walking down the stone steps and preparing to disturb the "supercilious" young man and woman, the Shadow behind the door quietly said something. He immediately stopped his steps.
These days, the Shadow had carefully hidden his tracks to prevent Thirteenth Wang from discovering anything. Fan Xian knew the complicated relationship between the Shadow and the Sword Hut. He also knew the Shadow's true identity could not be known by anyone. Sigu Jian and the Shadow had an irreconcilable hatred. Looking at Sigu Jian's favorite disciple in the autumn garden, the Shadow's mood was not as happy as the man and woman in the garden.
A moment later, Fan Xian said, "We'll go next spring. He won't die so early."
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