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The Qing Kingdom’s emperor had been waiting for Fan Xian to come defend himself. He would have ignored the issue and hopefully have the matter fade from the people’s memory. Were he not to mention anything further about it, it would be reflective of other emperors from different eras; it was quite effective at making others forget about a certain subject entirely.

The Emperor did not expect Fan Xian to not do anything, however. The man in question had showed no care at all thus far. His attitude was one of innocence. He pretended he did nothing wrong and appeared to merely allow others at the palace to clean up this mess. What he did not know was that Fan Xian harbored unruly thoughts. In his heart, Fan Xian was telling himself, “You are the Emperor. You are supposed to protect me. And now, because of these small matters, I must throw away my reputation? If in the future I really do take action against Xinyang and get rid of the eldest princess, are you just going to throw me to the Empress Dowager so that I may die a slow and torturous death?”

If it was just some regular chancellor having these allegations held against them, they would not have the encouragement or luck Fan Xian had. One could not guess the Emperor’s heart. As a chancellor, one would always have to take advantage of the Emperor’s favor. If for whatever reason he did not, and he sought that chancellor dead, nothing could be done to avert such a fate.

But Fan Xian himself knew that he was no ordinary chancellor, and even the Emperor did not guess that this he knew. Therefore, this entire ordeal was quite amusing for Fan Xian, and he sought to find out how far the Emperor would bend for him.

It was now seven days since the allegations against Fan Xian became public. Fan Xian was in his carriage outside the palace. Upon getting out, the Qinian Unit encircled Fan Xian and escorted him inside. He was clothed entirely in black, standing upright in pride so that others could see clearly who this person was. His face was expressionless.

The officers that had gathered at the gates of the palace all knew that this person was a popular guy. That is not to mention that this was the person who displayed his bodyguards out in the open. This was Fan Xian.

Today was the day where a court meeting was to be convened. The Emperor had issued a command for Fan Xian to appear and listen. Every officer knew what the subject of their discussion was to be on this day, and they were each excited about it. A few good friends of the Fan family had also come, and Fan Xian spoke with them a while. With the lame excuse of telling him that the weather was cold, they vacated and moved to a more private corner of the palace whenever they did so.

At this time, on both sides of the plaza, there were six officers clad in red uniforms. Fan Xian’s men, who were clothed in black, stood in direct opposition of these officers, staring them in the eyes. Fan Xian took no notice.

The officers in red belonged to the Imperial Censorate, who had gone against Fan Xian. He looked at them coldly and with a lowered voice, said, “All of you look like pigs; how can you expect to look like clean officers?”

Deng Ziyue walked beside Fan Xian and said, “The First Bureau has been investigating them the past few days and were unable to find anything. These Imperial Censorate officers all hail from poor families, and one’s reputation is what they each value the most. This is why people decide to lean on them. Even if they were to accept a mere gift of biscuits, they would do so with great caution and trepidation. Everything they do is done with the utmost care.”

Fan Xian frowned and replied, “If the officers aren’t corrupt, then the world is coming to an end!”

Deng Ziyue gave a wry smile and thought that Fan Xian’s response was a little ridiculous.

The Imperial Censorate officers looked coldly at Fan Xian without any essence of fear. Fan Xian knew that his opponents weren’t afraid of him in the least, and so he thought, “If the officers are no longer corrupt, then what is the point of hiring a Commissioner for the Overwatch Council? They are politicians that fight exclusively with words. It is not as if I could assassinate them and go about my day.” No matter what was to happen in the court, the very least that Fan Xian suspected would occur was that he may be exiled back to Danzhou.

Fan Xian understood that the rarest thing one would likely find in this world was a clean officer. He also believed in the First Bureau’s ability to investigate. If their search had been thorough, then the men before him truly were clean. Fan Xian also understood that the worst enemy an officer could be confronted with was a collective of truly clean officers. Thinking of this, he began admiring his young and beautiful mother-in-law, for she could actually command these officers to go against him. She really was something.

While Fan Xian was lost in thought, he had no idea that each of the officers were looking at him in return.

What Fan Xian had done this month was hide his true self and mask his own intelligence, and merely pretend to be a corrupt officer that was as sinister as he was manipulative. “They possess enough evidence to charge me, but why has the Emperor not yet done anything?” They were not afraid of the Emperor punishing them for going against his cherished Fan Xian, for they still believed him to be a fair and true lord. But even if this was not to be, the officers were doing their duty and had no fear of death.

But the officers in the Imperial Censorate were said to have had an unfortunate past few days. First, it was because the campaign they had initiated against Fan Xian in the government received very few signees. As polite as others were to their requests, whenever an officer heard the petition that they were to sign was against Fan Xian, few dared to go along with them. Secondly, they requested to the scribes that they produce a few articles attacking Fan Xian, but they refused. Again, this was entirely because the crux of the matter was Fan Xian himself, and they dared not criticize him. It was slightly humorous, for they had publicly criticized many other officers in the past.

And that which made the Imperial Censorate’s officers fume was the attitude of the youths at the Imperial College. The officer that went to visit the college to lecture and tell the students about the “bad man Fan Xian” was promptly kicked out. No one was willing to believe what was being said of Fan Xian, who was the scholar of the generation, Zhuang Mohan’s soon-to-be successor, son of the Finance Minister, and all-around idol of every young student. That’s not to mention he was every young girl’s dream man, too. No one believed he was cheap enough to be bribed for such a small amount of coin.

“13,400 tael? That’s it?”

The Imperial Censorate had stumbled into their worst streak of luck yet, for nothing they did yielded the results they desired.

At this time, the wind began blowing a little harsher. It made the officers that were outside the palace shiver in the cold. Their faces changed as they looked into the sky, noticing the presence of rain clouds forming above once more. They each ran under the small eave that extended beyond the palace’s door frame. The Royal Guard did not dare jeopardize the health of those old men by letting them get soaked in the rain, and so they did not stop them.

In the autumn, the capital always changed. After the wind, rain would swiftly follow, fluctuating from small raindrops to torrential downpours. The blue-tiled pathways of the palace were now wet, and their color had darkened.

Near the palace gate, there was only a line of Fan Xian’s men and a line of the Imperial Censorate’s officers standing there. Although they stood in the rain, they had no reaction. Fan Xian squinted and looked toward them, saying, “Officer Lai, you should get out of the rain.”

He was talking to the right-hand man of the Imperial Censorate’s leader, a third-rank officer, Lai Mingcheng. Officer Lai coldly looked his way and responded, “Mister Fan, do you thinking standing in the rain like this will wash away the crimes you have committed?”

Officer Lai bowed and said, “Today, we will meet before the Emperor, and I will bring you down.”

Fan Xian raised his eyebrows, thinking of how foolishly assure he was of his own victory. Although he did not saying anything, he firmly believed Officer Lai would be the one to get knocked off his pedestal. Fan Xian bowed in return and said, “Really? I am not sure if you’ll be singing the same tune once they discover you are framing a member of the royal family.”

The right-hand man was taken aback with a rage so fierce he could not reply. He clenched his fists and walked toward the gate of the palace. The officers that had followed him kneeled in the rain.

“Ah, the old ‘kneeling before the gate’ trick again?” Fan Xian viewed these people as equal parts humorous and pathetic. He sighed and said, “The purpose of life is fame. I have no idea why the government keeps you lot fed.”

Those few officers who were kneeling looked back with anger in their eyes.

Fan Xian saw this, but he was not concerned. He merely raised the hood of his cloak, smiled and said, “I am black. No matter how I wash it, I will always be black. And you guys are red. If you get washed by the rain, you may end up black, as well.”

The uniform that Fan Xian wore was composed of slick, waterproof material. The water droplets that fell upon him bounced off like stars. The black of his outfit, however, was a little unnerving to behold.

The bright red uniforms that the Imperial Consulate’s officers had been wearing were now soaked in the rain. The color deepened to appear almost black as he had said.

The officers looked down and saw their clothes, before turning their heads to the sky to feel the rain upon their faces. Stubbornly, they did not say a word.

They were waiting for the other subjects of discussion in the court to be heard first. The Emperor seemed to notice the presence of Lai Mingcheng and the Overwatch’s Commissioner Fan Xian and frowned. He ordered a eunuch to command those two to appear before him. He coldly told them, “Before the officers present here, speak.”

The right-hand officer tidied his clothing and spoke out loud. “What I have to say is already in the document. It is my desire that the lord evaluate these matters and resolves the issue at the forefront of everyone’s mind, clearing the air and restoring order to the people of the capital and the members of the government.”

The Emperor looked at Fan Xian and said, “Why did you not submit your defense claim to the palace secretary?”

Fan Xian politely bowed and spoke, “Because I did not write one.”

The Emperor became mad with rage and yelled, “How arrogant! The Imperial Censorate’s job is to impeach government officials who are deemed corrupt. People like you who are so arrogant and haven’t a care for anything are the first I have laid my eyes upon in this court. Do not think that you may ride the good graces of your family’s predecessors and that you have done well for the kingdom this year, imagining that I would not punish you.”

Fan Xian knew that the Emperor’s fury was not derived from Fan Xian’s behavior, but of the fact that he had to deal with these matters at all. Fan Xian apologized and said, “I really did not know I had to write one. I acknowledge that I have done wrong.”

The Emperor’s face was one of serenity once more and he said, “For the sake of your recent entry into the field of politics, your father being busy at work and the old man Chen Pingping’s inability to teach you this, I will forgive you this once. Today, the reason I commanded you to arrive here before us was to hear of how you sought to defend yourself before me and all these officers.”

Fan Xian’s facial expression appeared awkward. After a long delay, he said, “I really haven’t a clue on how to debate and defend myself in court.”

With a gloomy demeanor, the Emperor told Fan Xian slowly, “So, do you admit your crime?”

Fan Xian looked up with a bitter face and said, “My lord, I do not plead guilty. The reason why I am not defending myself is because the Imperial Censorate’s accusations are ridiculous and appear to be pulled from out of thin air. I have no idea what is going on. I have been accused of bribery and yet I don’t know who supposedly bribed me. Therefore, I am unsure of where to begin my defense.”