Joy of Life

After Gao Da confirmed there were no enemies around him, he slid his long knife back into its sheath with some confusion. The surface of the blade and the opening of the sheath made a dry raspy sound.

The black-robed swordsmen of the Sixth Bureau and the secret agents disguised as pedestrians nearby reported, at almost the same time, that there was nothing strange. Fan Xian’s subordinates looked at him with a strange expression not sure what happened in that split second in the carriage.

Teng Zijing cleared away the shattered wooden carriage wheel from in front of him and carefully prepared to help him up.

Fan Xian shook his head and waved his hand, indicating he was fine. He then realized how much trash his unconscious anger had brought to this quiet street and how much trouble he had brought his subordinates.

With that long knife on his back, Gao Da walked toward him and asked, in a quiet voice, “Sir, what happened?”

“Nothing.” Fan Xian forced a laugh and raised his foot to walk forward.

The Overwatch Council worked very efficiently. Before long, another completely new black carriage drove around the corner and stopped in front of everyone. Teng Zijing rubbed legs that were feeling watery from the fright and prepared to take over the reins. Fan Xian scolded him, “Look how frightened you are. Go back and rest.”

Teng Zijing smiled and made a sound of agreement. He handed the reins to Mu Feng’er.

Without needing orders, there were already people beginning to clean up the street to prevent startling the people of Jingdou. The carriage began to move again. Fan Xian sat in the carriage thinking and still did not say anything. Mu Feng’er drove the carriage on the quiet steps. The further they went, the more anxious he became. He couldn’t resist turning his head to speak through the curtains, “Sir, the Palace is very anxious.”

There was an edict summoning Fan Xian into the Palace to discuss matters, yet he was sitting in the carriage and wandering the streets. It was Mu Feng’er who had gone earlier to the manor to convey the edict. He knew that no matter how arrogant Sir Fan junior was, the Emperor in the Palace would probably be reluctant to scold him. But, what about himself? So, he screwed up his carriage and began to press further.

Fan Xian cared nothing for Xi Lake or the Palace. All he could think about was the lawsuit. He opened his mouth and cursed, “I’m thinking about something, so don’t bother me!”

Around the carriage, the people met each other’s eyes. They all felt that it was very strange. They didn’t understand why the Commissioner’s mood was so bad today.

In the eyes of the all the officials, the Commissioner of the Overwatch Council, Fan Xian, was someone who was warm on the outside but had sinister and ruthless methods. However, in the eyes of the members of the Overwatch Council, Sir Fan junior was a superior who was very lenient in front of the Emperor, very generous in his actions, and magnanimous with his words and in his personality.

Never mind cursing out loud, Fan Xian wouldn’t even use harsh words with his trusted aides. Everyone was confused and unsure what matter had made Sir Fan junior lose his composure in such a way. However, no one dared ask.

The carriage didn’t head straight for the Royal Palace, rather, under Fan Xian’s insistence, it came to the Overwatch Council.

He stomped down the carriage in three steps and walked into the square black-grey building without even looking at it. Along the way, he occasionally ran into officials who were working in the Overwatch Council. They saw the Commissioner’s extremely baleful expression and all jumped with fright, before quickly moving the side and greeting him.

Just as he was about to enter the Overwatch Council, Fan Xian suddenly stopped his steps.

He stopped too quickly. Behind him, Gao Da and Mu Feng’er both didn’t react in time and almost crashed into each other.

Fan Xian didn’t look at them. He only turned his neck and looked backward, searching desperately...as if he wanted to see if there was anything strange behind him.

For a person to twist their heads to look at their butt, it was truly a very difficult action. Even Fan Xian, who had the flexibility of a ninth-level ace, found it very difficult.

His neck began to ache. His body also reacted and began to spin in place as if his butt, covered by black official robes, was too shy to come into contact with his gaze and was desperately trying to escape.

He twisted his head to look at his butt and spun in place.

One round after another.

...

...

This action of Fan Xian’s was truly too absurd and hilarious. This was the front gate of the Overwatch Council, and he was the lofty Commissioner. Yet, he was like a cat...endlessly spinning to try and see his own tail.

To the side, Gao Da and Mu Feng’er look at the scene with their mouths wide open. The corners of their eyes began to twitch. They were completely speechless. They wanted to laugh but didn’t dare to. They didn’t understand what Fan Xian was doing.

While the officials inside and outside the Overwatch Council doors also looked at this scene in a daze. they all became countless statues and stared open-mouthed at the Commissioner spinning in circles.

Everything was completely silent. The Overwatch Council officials’ valiant nerves allowed them to maintain their silence. They didn’t know whether or not the Commissioner, who had suddenly turned mad, was testing them.

With great difficulty, Gao Da closed his lips as he watched Fan Xian, thinking, Perhaps the young master had spent too much time with the Lin family’s young master and had also gone crazy?

Fan Xian suddenly stopped his rotating dance and stood where he was.

Although he had only spun a few times, for the people watching this from the side, the few revolutions he had taken had felt like years to them.

Fan Xian stood where he was in a daze. Suddenly, he stretched out his hand to point behind him and asked Gao Da, “Has my walking posture ever changed?”

“No.” Gao Da shook his head with some confusion.

Fan Xian felt a bit more at ease and let out a sigh. He scratched his head and then said, “I also felt like everything was normal.”

Gao Da and Mu Feng’er both didn’t understand. Fan Xian suddenly shivered and furrowed his head in disgust. He wiped his sweating hands in the front of his robes and walked into the Council.

It was only after this group of three people had disappeared into the main hall by the Overwatch Council’s front doors that the Overwatch Council officials who had turned into statues came alive again. They were all at a complete loss. They met each other’s eyes and saw the amusement. Then, discussion burst forth from them all.

Fan Xian didn’t know that his loss of composure had given his bored subordinates endless fodder for discussion for these winter days. He also didn’t have the time to bother about these things. He walked directly into the secret room, without even greeting the baffled Yan Bingyun. Straightaway he had him bring him all the Northern intelligence report files from the last one and a half years.

The Second Bureau acted quickly. In less than a quarter of an hour, a small mountain of Northern intelligence files had been piled on the table in the secret room. Fan Xian waved his hand and rudely asked Yan Bingyun to leave. Yan Bingyun furrowed his brows. He could see that Fan Xian’s uneasy state of mind. After he left the room, he quietly asked Gao Da and Mu Feng’er a few questions but did not receive any clues.

File after file was opened and closed again. Fan Xian furrowed his brows and sank deep into thought. Most of the files were about stories and news related to the royal palace in Shangjing. In the past, Fan Xian had read most of the contents, particularly those that were related to the Northern Qi Emperor. They were at the center of his focus.

In the past, it was difficult to deduce the Northern Qi Emperor’s personality from these chaotic and unmethodical intelligence reports. However, Fan Xian now had his own guesses and deductions about the Northern Qi Emperor, so it was now much easier to use them to find clues in these files.

It was always easier to make daring conjectures and carefully search for the evidence with a goal in front. In just a moment, Fan Xian had already, through his own guesses, connected countless details from old case files and gradually come close to an absurd truth.

It was a truth that was enough to shock the world and make countless people lose their heads. It even made Fan Xian feel gloomy and uneasy.

It was clearly written in these files. The Northern Qi Emperor had been raised by the empress dowager since his youth, even his nannies had never been changed. In the dozen or so years, it was still those two people. Given his status as an Emperor, he only had two nannies. There were also very few serving girls assigned to him. It was truly at odds with Northern Qi’s extravagant style.

The Northern Qi Empress dowager’s example was that, back then, the Wei Kingdom had been overthrown because of their grandiose. She wanted to teach the Emperor to live a plain and simple life from his youth. The Northern Qi Emperor in people’s minds did not lust after women. The four common-born concubines were enough to explain a great many things in Fan Xian’s eyes, at this moment.

Just as the Second Prince had said in Prince Heqing’s manor, for the ruler of a nation, marriage was the ultimate weapon in balancing the court. Logically speaking, it was impossible to not take a few daughters of official as concubines.

This was a stupid action but, as Fan Xian only realized today, this was the only choice of the mother and son...no, the mother and daughter in the Northern Qi royal palace.

If the Northern Qi Emperor married the daughters of major officials yet never consummated the marriage, this message would reach the nobility and attract people’s speculations. Furthermore, even if they didn’t consummate the marriage, they would have to sit together and sleep together. There would eventually be an official’s daughter who found something strange.

Only by marrying common-born girls could this be completely controlled.

Even with the pervasive intelligence methods of Qing Kingdom’s Overwatch Council, they still did not, to this day, have a completely detailed description of the Northern Qi Emperor, much less any distinctive features on their body. This one point was enough to demonstrate the strict protection the Northern Qi royal palace had for the Emperor’s body.

All of this, in Fan Xian’s certainty, pointed toward a great secret that could never be announced to the world.

Not marrying daughters of major officials, being so careful while washing...other than proving that the Northern Qi Emperor had a hidden trouble, it also comforted Fan Xian a little.

The Northern Qi Emperor wasn’t homosexual, he...she was a woman.

...

...

Fan Xian rubbed his slightly irritated eyes and raised his head. Leaning on the chair, he thought deeply about something. His right hand still held the intelligence report Si Lili had sent through the secret channel. However, there was no need to read it anymore. Since the Northern Qi Emperor was in such a situation, Si Lili must know everything about it. These endless reports from Shangjing must be filled with overstatement and padding.

Fan Xian’s right hand tightened slightly and immediately relaxed. A sudden thought flashed across his mind as he suddenly remembered something Haitang had once said in Shangjing.

“My sisters and I think it is possible...”

Sisters? The corners of Fan Xian’s lips revealed a glimmer of a bitter smile. Sisters? For the Northern Qi Emperor, Haitang Duoduo, and Si Lili to be sisters, isn’t that a bit too overpowering? They had played him in the palm of their hands. It truly made one angry.

The person that was with him that night, was that really the Northern Qi’s little Emperor? That faint scent of the gold osmanthus...if it really was the little Emperor, why would she risk such danger to spend one night with him?

Fan Xian’s brows furrowed. He returned to the files, closely examining the reports from the Shangjing royal palace from a year and a half ago.

He was very self-aware of himself. Although he knew that he had the title of a so-called immortal poet in this world, that Zhuang Mohan had always shown him great approval, that he had been born with a good appearance, that he had written a few sappy lines, and had said a few cheeky words...he didn’t think was a walking aphrodisiac able to attract every woman in the world to kneel down, regardless of life and death, at the foot of his black robes—particularly Northern Qi’s little Emperor.

Judging from the cooperation between Jiangnan and the North, she was a very powerful and far-thinking person. It was impossible for her to drug and rape him just because she liked Fan Xian’s beauty.

As for emotion? Although Fan Xian believed in love at first sight, he didn’t think a woman who had spent many years dressed as a man and an Emperor who had lived in such wariness and danger would be so indulgent with their state of mind.

Then there was only one explanation.

...

...

After cleaning out the last year and a half’s worth of reports, Fan Xian once again lifted his head, pleased. In this year and a half, the little Northern Qi Emperor still held court each day. There was never a day where the Emperor did not attend. The Emperor also did not travel or not leave the palace to hide from the heat or to hunt.

In any case, the little Northern Qi Emperor has never left the people’s sight for more than two days. The medicine being supplied by the Imperial Academy of Medicine in Shangjing’s royal palace were as usual. Given Fan Xian’s acuity with medicine, in his opinion, there was not any trace of a fetus-protection medicine. Of course, if the other person had done it secretly, there was no way to know.

However, based on the present situation, it was impossible that the little Northern Qi Emperor was pregnant.

This deduction made Fan Xian relax a great deal. He unconsciously stood up and stretched. He was most afraid that after having a one night stand with the Northern Qi Emperor, the other person had become pregnant.

It was not because he wasn’t ready to be a father. It was because he was not ready to be the father of an Emperor. He particularly didn’t want to become the other person’s method of impregnation under the circumstances of having been drugged and raped.

Borrowing seed, borrowing seed. Since nothing had come of it, then it didn’t matter. Fan Xian’s gloominess had long dissipated. Men were often like this. Physical relations with a woman really didn’t mean much. Even if it was under these forced circumstances, he could still comfort himself into making it a pleasure.

Suddenly, he thought of Ye Qingmei.

“The cycle of karma and retribution does not feel good!”

Fan Xian smiled mirthlessly. He had a rather delusional thought that although he could not compare to his mother in many ways, at least there was one in which he had fought to a draw with her—both of them had slept with an Emperor.

He unconsciously did not think further that this incident was far more wretched compared to his mother’s trick. He heavily patted his butt that had become numb from sitting. He felt some lingering fear and a helplessness as he left the secret room in the Overwatch Council.

Sitting on the carriage headed toward the Royal Palace, Fan Xian held a pencil specially made by the Overwatch Council. He thought carefully for a while and then wrote a line of characters on the white paper.

“I know what you did last summer.”

He sealed the letter and handed it to Mu Feng’er to have him give it to Wang Qinian in the secret little courtyard in the west of the city.

Fan Xian’s subordinates were long used to the Commissioner using the Overwatch Council’s secret channels to send love letters to the girl in the North, so Mu Feng’er did not think this was strange.

Fan Xian watched his retreating figure and couldn’t resist shaking his head. Wang Qinian knew who this letter was for. However, this was not a love letter. It wasn’t just for Haitang herself, rather, it was for the three girls.

He had been tricked by the other party. Now that he had realized it, he had to use this for his own benefit, at least some kind of mental benefit. So, he sent a letter with a row of characters to scare them.

Given the intelligence of the little Northern Qi Emperor, they would understand what he meant.

Fan Xian played with the narrow pencil with two fingers and then placed it in a pocket in his robes as he shook his head. He had suddenly thought of something. Before the Great Princess had left, the little Northern Qi Emperor had personally gifted her that gold osmanthus fragrance bag...given the Emperor’s intelligence and meticulous nature, would they not guess that he would be able to recognize the unique scent for what it was?

He furrowed his brow and thought that perhaps the female Emperor, after a one night stand, had some lingering feelings for him in the depths of his heart. Unable to hide it forever, she sought a way to remember him.

He felt that perhaps he was thinking too much into this. He sighed and stopped thinking about it, saying quietly in his heart, I should have guessed long ago. It is impossible for someone so obsessed with the Story of a Stone to be a man.

...

...

The royal study had filled with people long ago. Fan Xian stood with an awkward expression at the very back. The moment he entered the royal study, he had been thoroughly scolded by the Qing Emperor, so he did not have the special honor of sitting.

Perhaps of the officials in the room felt a sense of schadenfreude. However, they knew that the more viciously the Emperor scolded him, the more Fan Xian was favored. So, they didn’t allow the feelings of joy to show on their faces.

Fan Xian knew he deserved to be scolded. The matter was one of national importance that involved the military, yet he had delayed so long before entering the Palace and had made the Palace send for him a number of times. To be so blind to priorities and the needs of the country, it was no wonder that the Emperor would be so angry.

However, in Fan Xian’s perspective, although the matter he had investigated today was a domestic one, it was also a national one. But, this matter could certainly not be expressed, only kept in his heart. So, he didn’t make a sound as he was scolded.

He didn’t make a sound, but he forgot to ask for forgiveness. The Emperor’s expression did not take a turn for the better. He huffed coldly a couple of times and then left him out in the cold.

The Emperor had summoned Fan Xian into the Palace today with the original intention of finding an opportunity for him to come into contact with the high-level decision-making setting that Qing Kingdom used to face sudden events. He had intended for this to be an educational opportunity. However, Fan Xian had come very late so, the Emperor was not very happy.

The discussion had started long ago. The initial decision was to have Ye Zhong lead troops 300 li west and put some pressure on the gradually stirring forces in the direction of Xi Lake. At the same time, Yan Xiaoyi, the northern Governor, would return North early to make a stand against Shang Shanhu’s overwhelming attitude.

As for the rest of the matters, Fan Xian didn’t hear a single word of it. He only knew that the Emperor had finally fulfilled his promise to him and was sending Yan Xiaoyi away. As for Ye Zhong...

Fan Xian unconsciously raised his head. He saw that a general, whose figure was not very tall and was rather rotund and sturdy, on the second seat to the right was glancing at him occasionally with droopy and listless eyes. His gaze seemed very distant.

This was Ye Ling’er’s father, the previous Commander of the Jingdou garrison the current Governor of Dingzhou, Ye Zhong.

Fan Xian glanced at him and smiled warmly. Suddenly, he heard Eunuch Yao announcing the edict and heard the words, “In the seventh year of the Qing calendar...” His heart jumped. Only then did he remember that the New Year had already passed and the alluring incident that had happened in the little temple...should have happened in the summer of the year before last and not last year.

...

...

After the emergency meeting in the royal study ended, the Emperor kept Fan Xian behind. He didn’t scold him again, he only stared at him. Fan Xian knew that he had been in the wrong today and didn’t dare to be stubborn. He forced a smile and asked for forgiveness.

The Emperor furrowed his brows and said, “Were you not at Prince Heqing’s manor earlier? Where did you go after?”

Fan Xian smiled and replied, “Something suddenly came up at the Council, so I had to rush over to handle it.”

The Emperor said, unhappily, “What matter could be more urgent than unrest on the borders?”

Fan Xian’s expression didn’t change. “It was a message from the North. Shang Shanhu had received an edict to go South and is now 300 li from Yanjing...and he isn’t leading troops.”

The Emperor’s expression cleared slightly and he said, “So, it is like this. It is already a rarity that the Northern Qi Emperor dares to use Shang Shanhu. However, he doesn’t even give him a mere 300 soldiers. Looks like his mind is only so open.”

Fan Xian thought to himself that there had been many Emperors in this world, but there were very few whose self-confidence had reached such a perverted state. Immediately after, the Emperor asked a few more casual questions about the gathering in Prince Heqing’s manor. Through his speech and expressions, it seemed that he was very pleased with the Great Prince’s action.

Fan Xian’s heart shivered slightly and knew that the Second Prince was right. Although the Emperor incited his sons to fight, he would still not let them suffer unendurable losses.

They spoke a bit more, but Fan Xian’s uneasy state of mind was noticed by the Emperor, who then dismissed him.

Fan Xian wiped at the cold sweat on his forehead. As he flashed out of the side corridor of the Taiji Palace, he abruptly came to a stop and looked at the tall and sturdy general in front of him. He quietly became more cautious.