Chapter 104

I have to say, this Fan estate is truly grand; whether it's the architecture or the courtyard, it's much more stylish than Xiang Yunye's Marquis estate!

All the way inside, I saw the courtyard getting deeper, with rockeries, grass, flower branches, and shallow water; the scenery was quite elegant.

Along the way, I met many servants and laborers, men, women, old, and young, all of whom were present, and the number of people was an order of magnitude more than the Yun estate.

Not only that, the area of the Fan estate was also extremely vast; a single inner courtyard was comparable to the entire Yun estate.

The capital is under the feet of the Son of Heaven, where every inch of land is worth an inch of gold; a mere Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue naturally would not be enough to own a mansion of such scale.

In fact, besides being the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, Fan Jian was also a confidant of the Qing Emperor when he was a hidden dragon.

His mother was the Qing Emperor's wet nurse when he was young; counting from this relationship, he was also the Qing Emperor's milk brother.

From this, it can be seen how close the relationship between Fan Jian and the Qing Emperor was.

He had great power in the capital, and even controlled an elite force of the Son of Heaven's personal guards, which were the Tiger Guards responsible for protecting Fan Xian when he later went on a mission to Northern Qi.

Lin Yu followed Fan Xian to the inner courtyard, and before he even got close to Fan Jian's study, he sensed at least three hidden auras.

If there were no accidents, these were the Tiger Guards by Fan Jian's side!

Lin Yu turned his head to look at Fan Xian.

Fan Xian could also sense the aura of the Tiger Guards and naturally understood Lin Yu's meaning.

"Don't worry about them."

Fan Xian whispered: "Those who can stay in the Fan estate are all Tiger Guards selected by my father. Although they are loyal to the Emperor, they will never gossip behind my father's back."

Lin Yu nodded and soon followed Fan Xian to outside the study.

Fan Xian let Lin Yu wait outside the door, while he himself knocked open the main door and walked into the study.

Inside the study, a middle-aged man with a solemn face was sitting behind a desk, using a brush to copy a calligraphy scroll.

From the appearance, Fan Jian's features were quite upright, and he kept a four-inch beautiful beard on his chin that high-ranking officials in the capital liked most; looking at him, one knew he was serious in temperament and did not like to laugh.

Seeing Fan Xian return, Fan Jian frowned, lowered his eyelids, and said indifferently:

"What is it?"

Fan Xian smiled: "A friend from Danzhou is visiting and wants to stay at the Fan estate for a while."

As soon as these words came out, Fan Jian frowned again, glanced at the tall figure reflected on the door, and said expressionlessly: "Is this the reason you ran back to the Fan estate on the way to the banquet?"

As he spoke, he threw down the brush in his hand with force and said coldly: "Absurd!"

"Just a man in white from Danzhou, is he more important in your heart than the Second Imperial Prince's invitation?"

Hearing this, Fan Xian's smile instantly disappeared, and he hurriedly said: "Eh, eh, Father, you can't say that randomly—"

"I'm saying it randomly?" Fan Jian laughed out of anger and interrupted him: "Yes, before attending the banquet, I did instruct you not to take sides, but I didn't tell you to offend the Second Imperial Prince either!"

"I'm not referring to this..."

Fan Xian really wanted to remind his father not to offend Lin Yu, but it was not easy to directly reveal Lin Yu's identity, so he could only sigh helplessly and chose to skip this topic.

"Father, don't be anxious, meeting Brother Lin is indeed the reason I came home, but it's only one of them!"

"... Is that so?"

Fan Jian calmed his mood slightly, sat down again, and said with a cold face: "In front of your friend, I'll give you some face. Speak, what other excuses do you have?"

Fan Xian said lightly: "Nothing much, just that I encountered an assassination on Niulan Street."

"What?!"

Fan Jian stood up abruptly and said urgently: "Did the assassin hurt you?"

This was the first time he had shown a concerned expression in front of Fan Xian.

Fan Xian was stunned for a moment, then felt a warmth in his heart and said with a smile: "Don't worry, my son has masters like clouds around him; how could a few mere assassins get close to me?"

Hearing this, Fan Jian fell silent, thinking of Fan Xian's three guards who were as strong as monsters.

After a little thought, he said in a deep voice: "I won't ask how the three of them became strong, but you must tell me clearly about the assassination, one by one!"

Fan Xian originally had this intention, and immediately stated the time and place of the assassination, as well as the identities of the assassins.

Fan Jian initially showed anger, but as he listened, he calmed down and said expressionlessly:

"To kill you, they dispatched dozens of crossbowmen and death soldiers, a mage who uses wind arts, two grand-disciples of Sigu Jian, and the Northern Qi Rank 8 hard-body master Cheng Jushu; it really is a big deal!"

"To be able to transport this group of people into the capital, the person behind it is definitely not simple!"

As he spoke, he stared at Fan Xian: "You also caught three alive?"

Fan Xian smiled: "They have already been brought back to the Fan estate!"

"Very good!" Fan Jian's eyes revealed a cold light, "Leave it to me!"

Fan Xian hesitated: "After the Overwatch Council discovers it, they should come to ask for the people, right?"

Fan Jian said coldly: "Even if Chen Pingping comes, he must let me interrogate them first before talking!"

Fan Xian gave a thumbs up: "As expected of you, truly overbearing!"

"Less of this grinning here!" Fan Jian said irritably, "You've been assassinated, and you still haven't made any progress... You go back to your room first, I'll go check on this matter, and at the latest by tonight, I will definitely give you an explanation!"

Speaking to the end, murderous intent flowed in Fan Jian's eyes, and he also stood up abruptly and walked toward outside the study.

"Hey, hey!"

Fan Xian hurriedly called out to Fan Jian: "Father, Brother Lin's matter..."

"You make the decision yourself!"

Fan Jian walked out of the study without looking back.

Outside the study door, Lin Yu, who had been watching the show, smiled and bowed: "I am Lin Yu, greetings, uncle."

Fan Jian gave a casual 'en' and originally did not intend to pay attention to this so-called friend of Fan Xian.

But the moment he saw Lin Yu, that unworldly temperament still made him subconsciously stop his steps.

"... Are you from Danzhou?"

Fan Jian looked at Lin Yu suspiciously, seemingly unable to imagine that such a character could appear in the remote Danzhou.

However, Danzhou was his hometown after all, and for one's hometown, people always have filters.

Seeing Lin Yu nod in response, Fan Jian did not doubt it, but instead asked one more question.

"How are your classical studies?"

"Passable."

"Looking at your temperament, you seem like a scholar; you must be here to participate in next year's spring imperial examination, right?"

Fan Jian looked at Lin Yu with appreciation and said with gratification: "It's been a long time since I've seen a young talent from Danzhou!"

"If you pass the spring imperial examination next year, I will make the decision to transfer you to the Ministry of Revenue to take up a post!"

As he spoke, he patted Lin Yu on the shoulder and turned to walk toward the front courtyard.

Fan Xian watched with a pounding heart in the study, and only after Fan Jian left did he breathe a sigh of relief and laugh awkwardly: "Brother Lin, don't mind it, my father is just like this."

Lin Yu glanced at him: "When did I mind?"

Fan Xian said helplessly: "I'm just worried that he might offend you."

Lin Yu snorted lightly: "The heart of a petty person, measuring the belly of a gentleman!"

Fan Xian rolled his eyes: "Yes, yes, yes, I am the petty person, you are the gentleman..."

As they spoke, the two came to the corridor and walked along the corridor toward Fan Xian's room.

Lin Yu recalled the conversation between Fan Xian and his father just now and asked in a low voice: "I have already told you the general plot of Qing Yu Nian, and you seem to have made some moves—tell me, what exactly are you thinking?"

"What else could I be thinking..."

Fan Xian's eyes turned cold: "Of course, it's to rebel against his mother!"

After finishing, he remembered Lin Yu's strength and hurriedly added: "I'm not talking about now!"

"At least I have to wait until I marry Wan'er and take over the Overwatch Council and the Inner Treasury before I can start preparing."

Lin Yu had black lines all over his head: "I didn't urge you to rebel, why are you so excited?"

Fan Xian smiled awkwardly and did not answer.

He knew that Lin Yu had said things like killing the Emperor and letting them sit on the dragon throne to Su Haoming and Xiang Yunye, which was why he was worried that Lin Yu would directly kill his way into the imperial palace and kill the Qing Emperor for him.

"To be honest, the current Qing Kingdom is actually quite good; the common people's standard of living is good, and they are quite respectful to the Qing Emperor."

"Under such circumstances, rebelling directly is definitely not going to work, and I don't have the ability to take over the vast Qing Kingdom."

"Therefore, I plan to use the Overwatch Council and the Inner Treasury to train myself first, build up my own name, and when the time is ripe, reveal the identity of the Emperor's bastard, and participate in the struggle for the throne in a legitimate way."

Lin Yu said speechlessly: "Can the words 'bastard' and 'legitimate' be put together?"

Fan Xian smiled: "As long as I kill the Qing Emperor and all the imperial princes, then it is naturally legitimate!"

Lin Yu tutted: "Can't tell, you're quite ruthless!"

Fan Xian shook his head: "Saying is saying, when it really comes to that time, I don't know what I will do either."

"In short, take it one step at a time. This assassination right now is a good opportunity for me to get the financial power of the Inner Treasury!"

The predecessor of the Inner Treasury was the Ye Trading Firm founded by Fan Xian's mother, Ye Qingmei, which was once the richest in the world and held the wealth of the world.

Later, Ye Qingmei died, and this trading firm was taken over by the Qing imperial family, renamed the Inner Treasury, and became the royal purse.

Now, the financial power of the Inner Treasury is controlled by the Eldest Princess Li Yunrui. Li Yunrui has never married in her life, but she once had a secret affair with the current Prime Minister Lin Ruofu and gave birth to an illegitimate daughter, who is Fan Xian's fiancée, Lin Waner.

The Qing Emperor conferred the title of Princess on Lin Waner and announced that whoever could marry Lin Waner could take over the financial power of the Inner Treasury.

According to the plot, this assassination was the handiwork of Li Yunrui and the Second Imperial Prince, just to prevent Fan Xian from taking over the Inner Treasury.

Fan Xian smiled: "The Qing Emperor has a strong desire for control. If someone doesn't want me to take over the Inner Treasury, he insists on letting me take over the Inner Treasury!"

"To tell you the truth, I have already discussed it with Wan'er and decided to get married next month. I sent the set wedding date to the imperial palace before, and the Qing Emperor didn't give me a definite answer, but this time, it will be different!"

(End of chapter)