Chapter 109: The Truth

Seeing Chen Pingping openly state that he had been monitoring him, Fan Xian couldn't help but have black lines all over his head.

"Chen Yuanzhang, I'm still here!"

"Hmm, I haven't forgotten."

Chen Pingping looked at him and said with a smile: "Your master Fei Jie is the head of the Third Department of the Overwatch Council. Do you think he could leave the Third Department alone and run to Danzhou to teach you poison without my nod?"

The meaning of these words was very simple: even the teacher who taught you was my person, so naturally, there was no lack of other eyes and ears in the Fan residence in Danzhou.

Fan Xian understood Chen Pingping's meaning and also knew that he had always been under the protection of the Overwatch Council when he was young. The reason he interrupted was just to ease the atmosphere here!

After all, in the original work, Chen Pingping's wheelchair contained a shotgun.

His act of stroking the armrest of the wheelchair now showed that he was extremely wary of Lin Yu.

If he was not careful, he might shoot decisively.

"As expected of the famous Director of the Overwatch Council!"

Lin Yu said with a smile: "But Chen Yuanzhang, who I am, is it really that important?"

Chen Pingping frowned, and after thinking for a moment, he actually nodded, crossed his hands, and placed them on the wool blanket.

"You're right, your identity is indeed not important."

"Since Fan Xian is willing to bring you to see me, it shows that he has absolute trust in you..."

"Isn't that enough?" Lin Yu smiled, glanced at the seemingly normal wheelchair armrest, and said, "As for this thing, I advise you not to use it on me. This level of firearm will only hurt yourself."

"..."

Chen Pingping's eyes froze for a moment, then he said calmly: "Knowing even this, you are indeed not an ordinary person. Fan Xian's changes over the past month are also because of you, right?"

Lin Yu nodded frankly: "That's right."

Chen Pingping pondered for a moment and said softly: "I don't know what your background is, nor do I know what your intentions are, but if you just want to use Fan Xian..."

Before Chen Pingping could finish, Fan Xian frowned and interrupted him without hesitation: "Chen Yuanzhang, there's no need to say such things. The relationship between Brother and me is not something you can understand, just like my mother and Uncle Wu Zhu."

Ye Qingmei and Wu Zhu?

Chen Pingping was slightly startled, then looked at the two thoughtfully, seemingly understanding Fan Xian's meaning.

Fan Xian reacted and hurriedly added: "Of course, I mean the degree of trust, not that Brother is my servant."

Lin Yu's mouth twitched, and he said irritably: "There's no need to explain this."

"Hehe..."

Chen Pingping couldn't help but laugh.

"Since you have a plan in mind, I won't say anything more."

"Let's talk about business. You came to find me because of the assassination at Niulan Street, right?"

Looking at Chen Pingping with a smile, Fan Xian straightened his expression and said: "That's right!"

"This matter is indeed related to Northern Qi, it's just that there is someone in the court acting as an internal accomplice..."

Speaking of this, Chen Pingping paused, looked at Fan Xian thoughtfully, and said: "Looking at your appearance, you should have already guessed it, so let's talk about the name you suspect in your heart first!"

Fan Xian said slowly: "Eldest Princess, Li Yunrui."

"Very good, very sharp." Chen Pingping showed appreciation, then shook his head and said, "However, Li Yunrui is not an ordinary person. To deal with her, suspicion alone is not enough; there must be solid evidence."

Fan Xian said calmly: "I have already sent people to chase Si Lili, and I should be able to catch her faster than the Overwatch Council. As for the batch of crossbows used to assassinate me, I already have a clue..."

"City Guard Assistant Regional Commander Fang Da?"

A smile appeared on Chen Pingping's face.

Fan Xian was slightly startled and asked in surprise: "You found out too?"

Chen Pingping laughed dumbly and shook his head: "If I didn't know about the big commotion your people made in the Assistant Regional Commander's mansion, I wouldn't be qualified to sit in this position today!"

After saying this, he raised his head, looked at Fan Xian, and asked softly: "Do you know why I returned to the capital early?"

Fan Xian shook his head.

Chen Pingping smiled lightly: "Because of you, or rather, because of the changes you've had over the past month."

When he first arrived in the capital, he was actually both gratified and disappointed by Fan Xian's performance.

What gratified him was that Fan Xian had grown into the image of the young lady; both her appearance and heart were very similar to the young lady's.

As for his disappointment, it was also Fan Xian's lazy and soft-hearted personality.

Fan Xian only possessed half of the four words "ruthless and heartless." Although he had ability, he had no ambition, which was far from the future successor of the Overwatch Council in Chen Pingping's heart.

But now, Fan Xian had changed for some reason and began to take the initiative to cultivate trusted aides and build his own forces.

Although he didn't know what had changed Fan Xian, this kind of change was something Chen Pingping was happy to see.

That was why he had rushed back to the capital early, just to check for gaps and fill them for Fan Xian.

"You have ambition and ability, which is good."

"But having the heart to do things also requires matching means."

"On this point, what you've done is not enough, and can even be called rough!"

"Especially those three people by your side, their strength grew too fast. If it weren't for the short time and my cover for you in the Overwatch Council, I'm afraid their names would have already appeared in the eyes of the major forces in the capital!"

Chen Pingping praised Fan Xian's changes and also criticized his immaturity without any politeness.

Fan Xian felt a bit embarrassed listening to this. Just as he wanted to add a word to save face, he found that Chen Pingping opened the drawer under the desk, took out three black waist tokens, placed them on the table, and pushed them over.

"..." Fan Xian was startled, "What is this?"

"The waist token of the Sixth Department of the Overwatch Council." Chen Pingping said with a smile, "The Sixth Department is responsible for assassination, so they can hide their appearance and enter and exit the key places of the capital openly."

Good stuff!

Fan Xian's eyes lit up, and he looked at Chen Pingping with burning eyes:

"For me?"

Chen Pingping nodded with a smile, then said softly: "If you want to do things, I will help you. I will check for gaps and fill them for your shortcomings. As long as you encounter problems, no matter what difficulties they are, you can come to me."

Hearing this, Fan Xian couldn't help but feel moved and accepted the three waist tokens of the Sixth Department.

Seeing this scene, Chen Pingping nodded with satisfaction, and then asked with a smile: "Fang Da is in your hands, right?"

"... That's right."

"Hand him over to me; I'll take the initiative to attack Li Yunrui for you."

"Okay, but Fang Da is poisoned right now. With the teacher not here, I'm afraid the Overwatch Council..."

"Don't worry, the Third Department doesn't just have Fei Jie; your senior brothers' methods are no worse than yours."

"Then there's no problem!"

Leaving the Overwatch Council, Fan Xian and Lin Yu returned to the Fan residence.

At the same time, the assassination case at Niulan Street also gradually spread under the promotion of the Overwatch Council.

The Qing Kingdom was strong and had been peaceful for a long time, and the capital, as the primary place, was heavily guarded. Even ordinary murder cases were rare, let alone assassinating the son of the Household Department Vice Minister Fan Jian in broad daylight on the street.

Not only that, the assassins even used bows and arrows in the capital!

For the people of the capital, this was simply the most shocking heavy news in the past month.

The people began to discuss it, guessing the culprit behind the assassination at Niulan Street.

Forced by public opinion, early the next morning, the Overwatch Council and the Ministry of Justice jointly posted the "culprit behind the scenes" of this case, which was the courtesan Si Lili of the Drunken Immortal House, who had the identity of a Northern Qi secret agent.

The case had reached this point, and it seemed to be completely clear—it was Northern Qi that assassinated Young Master Fan!

The people of the capital were shocked one after another. What they were shocked by was not only Northern Qi's move to assassinate Fan Xian, but also Fan Xian's feat of counter-killing the assassins.

That was an Eighth-Rank expert and many assassins holding crossbows!

Fan Xian was actually able to counter-kill them all. This kind of plot in novels and storybooks was truly something people loved to talk about.

For a time, inside and outside the court, everyone was discussing the assassination at Niulan Street and the scholarly and martial Young Master Fan.

At the gate of the Fan residence, Fan Xian sent away a luxurious carriage and returned to the residence with a headache.

"Who was that?"

Lin Yu asked with a smile.

Fan Xian sighed: "Jing Prince's Heir Li Hongcheng, here to apologize to me on behalf of the Second Prince."

Lin Yu raised his eyebrows: "Is it too late to apologize now?"

"Of course it's too late!" Fan Xian sneered, "The Second Prince thinks I don't know anything and wants to reconcile with me, not knowing that it's just not his turn yet."

"After dealing with Li Yunrui, I will naturally aim my spearhead at him!"

"Speaking of this, Fan Xian paused, then said with a headache: "But I didn't expect this matter to have such a big impact. Those imperial students heard about this and angrily went to find the Northern Qi envoys, almost smashing the Court of State Ceremonies!"

Lin Yu laughed dumbly. Chen Pingping's move was indeed interesting.

First, aim the spearhead at Northern Qi, ignite public opinion through national hatred and family grudges, and when the timing is ripe, throw out the evidence of Li Yunrui's collusion with Northern Qi to formally attack her.

The greater the people's anger toward Northern Qi right now, the stronger the backlash will be after Li Yunrui is exposed.

It's just a pity that it will take some time for the incident to ferment, and Lin Yu probably won't be able to see it.

Thinking of this, Lin Yu asked with a smile: "Today is the last day, there are still more than ten hours until I return. I plan to go to the North Pole to take a look. Do you want to go with me?"

"North Pole... the Temple?"

Fan Xian hesitated for a moment, then shook his head and said: "Forget it. Now that the news has been released, the palace may send an imperial decree at any time to summon me into the palace. I really can't get away."

Lin Yu was not surprised, nodded with a smile, and said: "Then let's contact in the group!"

After saying this, his figure flashed and disappeared into the silver light.

Fan Xian was slightly startled and couldn't help but mutter: "He ran away just like that; it's too fast..."

(End of chapter)