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In the dark, the unlucky calls of birds rang out. The clouds parted, and the moon shone out. Occasional black shadows flitted across the tips of trees.

“Up the mountain,” Fan Xian said to Deng Zi Yue as he and Gao Da returned to the carriage. “Go quietly.”

Deng Zi Yue nodded and gently moved the reigns. The horse with the bite pulled the carriage and rounded the deathly silent courtyard toward the back of the city. Behind the courtyard was a mountain, hidden in the darkness. With spring trees blocking, if anyone was looking down from there, they wouldn’t be able to discover the group.

In the carriage, Fan Xian silently took off his gloves. They were as thin as a layer of skin. He used the gloves to carefully wipe the blood off the soft sword and confirmed there was no trace of blood left. He then sheathed the sword once more around his waist and flicked his index finger firmly. Some powder flicked onto the gloves. With a swoosh, they went up in flames.

Gao Da glanced at him, took out a metal bucket from under the chair, and placed it in front of him. Fan Xian threw the burning gloves into the metal bucket. He watched the gradually shrinking flame with narrowed eyes. The fire in his eyes also gradually went out. Before too long, the carriage had driven up the mountain.

Below, the courtyard was still silent. The people inside were either dead or fainted, so they could not make any noise. No one knew that homicides had taken place inside, so no one would come to look.

Who knew what Fan Xian was preparing to see as he remained behind on the mountain?

Deng Zi Yue gently stroked the horse’s back. He entered the carriage and silently sat down.

Fan Xian lifted a corner of the curtain and gazed downward. After looking for a while, there was still no change.

“It will probably be some time before the other party discovers this.” Deng Zi Yue looked at the sky and thought it should be exactly midnight. He advised Fan Xian, “It won’t be this early.”

Fan Xian smiled and knew that he was indeed a bit anxious. He quietly said something to Gao Da and then leaned against the back of his chair, closed his eyes, and rested.

Gao Da lifted out a rug and covered him with it. Gradually, his slightly cold body warmed up. Fan Xian felt drowsiness overcome him in the warmth and fell into a deep sleep.

...

...

After an indeterminable amount of time, Fan Xian opened his eyes and made a noise.

Deng Zi Yue lifted the curtain and gazed downward. He lowered his voice and said, “They’re here.”

Fan Xian lifted the rug and placed his head near the window. He narrowed his eyes as he looked down. He saw that outside of Yuan Meng’s hidden manor suddenly came a person. He gently knocked on the door with great familiarity. The rhythm of the knocks clearly hid some kind of secret signal. It looked like he was the middleman responsible for the communication between the Jiangnan powers and Yuan Meng.

He wore simple cotton clothes, and his face was normal. He knocked on the manor door for a while and found that no one answered him. He seemed to be a bit surprised and nervous, and immediately retreated into the darkness.

Fan Xian, who was monitoring from the mountain, was not anxious, he knew this person would come back.

As expected, the person did not go far. In a moment, there was an extra head above the northwest corner of the wall that sneakily looked out. It was that person looking into the garden to see what had happened.

He summoned the courage and jumped into the garden. The three people on the mountain were no longer able to see what he saw in the garden, they only heard a very stifled cry. It should be that he had finally found the tragic scene of the large number of bodies and puddles of blood in the garden.

The manor door was immediately pushed open and a man rushed into the darkness with his head lowered. He was probably going to his master to report.

...

...

Fan Xian stretched in the carriage and yawned. It was only now that he noticed that the edges of the sky had gradually become white. He couldn’t resist smiling. “The day is almost here. If the other party wants to hide this matter, they will have to act quickly.”

Deng Zi Yue nodded. “Each manor has people watching. There will be a report tomorrow on who receives the message tonight.”

Fan Xian smiled and said, “Have a guess. Who exactly do you think will manage the funeral matters for Master Yuan today?”

Deng Zi Yue gave a pained smile and said, “The Suzhou government...will certainly send people here. Sir, I can keep an eye on things here. You should go back to the manor and rest.”

Fan Xian smiled and didn’t say anything. Yuan Meng’s death startled the Jiangnan official who was secretly protecting her. The murder was done at night, and the peeping came in the morning. Whichever official could know of Yuan Meng’s death within such a short time and hurried here to manage the funeral matters...of course, was the official who played a dishonorable role in this matter.

This morning they should be able to find out just which people in Jiangnan Road were the Eldest Princess’ trusted aides.

Fan Xian also had no other choice. The Overwatch Council did not have enough people in Jiangnan, so it was impossible for them to place a fatal spy in every manor. They could only use the method of splitting up the monitoring and use the killing of Yuan Meng to investigate.

...

...

The Suzhou Zhizhou had been busy every day listening to Song Shiren and Chen Bochang debate in court. Not only did he neglect his official duties, his spirit had also been greatly drained. Every night, he fell into a deep sleep. He even rarely was intimate with his favorite third concubine. When he was called out from his bed early this morning, his mood was angry.

After he had heard the message, it was like a basin of cold water had been poured over his head. All of his anger disappeared without a trace in an instant. Shock and deep worry surged in his mind.

Yuan Meng was dead? This had happened too suddenly. How would he explain this to the Second Prince, the Crown Prince, and...the Eldest Princess?

As he anxiously pulled on his clothing, he ordered someone to send the advisor in the manor to him. When the advisor arrived, the Zhizhou was already dressed. With a trace of resentment, he said, “Why did you come so slowly? Yuan Meng is dead!”

All the advisors were trusted aides to these old officials and hid nothing from each other. Of course, this advisor also knew of Yuan Meng and gave a pained smile. “It is what it is. Since the imperial envoy had come to Suzhou, and yet Master Yuan still refused to leave, the final result was certain death.”

The Zhizhou furrowed his brows and said, “She was hidden so secretively...do you mean that it was the Overwatch Council that had acted?”

“Other than the Overwatch Council, which other power in Jiangnan could kill Yuan Meng without a sound?” the advisor analyzed. “You must not panic right now. In any case, Yuan Meng has already died. It is impossible for the Overwatch Council to find out our connection to her...if you react badly right now, it will actually cause the Overwatch Council to discover your connection to this matter.”

The advisor’s considerations were indeed sufficiently prudent.

The Zhizhou thought for a bit and then furrowed his brows. “But...it seems a bit strange. If it was the imperial envoy who acted, why did he kill Yuan Meng instead of having her captured? If the imperial envoy wanted to use the Ministry of Justice’s wanted posters to move me, he should not have dealt with it like this.”

The advisor had also not understood this point. “Yuan Meng was someone close to the Second Prince and the Crown Prince, although the Ministry of Justice has put out wanted posters, no official under heaven dared to brave the danger of offending the noblemen in Jingdou to bring her to justice. You don’t need to be overly worried. Everyone knew of this. As for why the Overwatch Council didn’t capture her alive...I think perhaps Master Yuan knew she couldn’t endure the Overwatch Council’s punishment and so committed suicide.”

“We need to go see.” The Zhizhou made up his mind. “We need to at least know some details.”

The advisor resolutely and decisively advised against it. “Sir, you cannot go.”

“Hmm?” The Zhizhou furrowed his brows. “Why? Naturally, I will not go in an official capacity. It is almost daybreak. If it is not quickly tidied up and words gets out...the Ministry of Justice in Jingdou is sure to have things to say, and the Overwatch Council will use this as an excuse to show off. How will our little Suzhou government answer the Emperor’s questions?”

“If the Overwatch Council wanted to use this as an excuse to show off, they would not have this made this into a dead problem,” the advisor reminded him. “Who knows how many eyes are watching right now over there? You definitely cannot go. As for the funeral arrangements, I will go later in disguise with a few trusted aides.”

The Zizhou thought and knew it was indeed better this way and allowed the suggestion. This official and advisor thought they had responded prudently enough, but they never thought that when the advisor disguised himself as Chen Qiyuan and slipped out of the manor, a spy hidden in the alley outside of the Suzhou yamen had seen this scene clearly.

When the Suzhou government advisor arrived at the outside perimeter of the Yuan Meng’s secret residence in a curtained sedan chair, he found that there were already some strange people on the streets. His heart clenched. He lifted the curtain to see before he felt at ease. He furrowed his brows at a man in a cloth shirt who had hurried over to the sedan chair and said, “What exactly happened? How did the people just die like this?”

That cloth-clothed man was the Suzhou thousandman and one of the officials roused from his bed today by the news of Yuan Meng’s death. He was originally meant to be stationed outside of the city. Since his manor was inside the city, he was actually the first to get here. Hearing the advisor’s question, this thousandman said in bad temper, “You ask me? Who am I going to ask?”

The advisor was startled and came down from the sedan chair. The two looked at each other’s clothing and couldn’t stop themselves sighing and smiled bitterly. A proper official and advisor were both forced to dress in the clothing of commoners.

“Are the streets clean?” the advisor asked carefully as he slightly turned his face and hid his appearance.

The thousandman said, “Relax, my subordinates have already cleaned up. There shouldn’t be anyone watching nearby.”

The advisor nodded and walked shoulder to shoulder with the thousandman toward the manor.

When they entered the yard and saw the tragic sight of corpses covering the ground, the advisor couldn’t help throwing up. He covered his mouth and nose and said, “Where is Yuan Meng’s body?”

“In the room?”

The advisor forced down his revulsion and fear, and walked into the room to have a look. He saw Yuan Meng’s state of death with her eyes wide open. He went forward to confirm that she had died before the advisor felt himself relax a little. He sighed and said, “I really don’t know how we are going to explain this to the capital.”

“We’ll clean up and then worry,” the thousandman said with hatred. “Daybreak is about to arrive. If we let people see this, it will probably spread immediately through Suzhou, and then what will we do?”

“No one came from the Ming family?”

“Those unscrupulous businessmen...they’re afraid the imperial envoy is watching in the shadows and refuse to show their face.”

...

...

The two walked out of the manor and ran into a few people who had arrived later. A number of people grouped together and spoke with serious expressions. They felt that this should be the work of the Overwatch Council, but it also shouldn’t be the Overwatch Council who did it. The discussion went back and forth and twisted this way and that, yet they still did not know how to deal with this.

“The wounds on the body had been ruined, although we can tell it should belong to a sword. It is difficult to discover the style of the sword. We only know that one person acted and, of course, it was an ace,” a figure who looked like an expert in criminal law said in a deep voice. “If it was the Overwatch Council killing people, why hide it?”

In the end, it was still the advisor of the Suzhou Zhizhou who made the decision and said coldly, “It is better if this case is not solved. All of us need to retreat and have our subordinates clean this all up. If the Overwatch Council does not bother with it, then bury this matter. If the Overwatch Council truly had us followed...in any case, don’t let it drag us down. When they ask questions, just say we received a report and so came to see the situation.”

The thousandman spat and cursed, “I’m a martial general, how could I be here looking at the case?”

The advisor rolled his eyes and him and said, “Who asked you to come in such a rush?”

There was nothing to fight about. The people began to split off to their tasks. Those responsible for cleanup went and cleaned up. Those responsible for burying the bodies went and buried the bodies. Those responsible for going home to write up documents went to write documents. As for whether this matter would be reported, that would have to wait to see the news from the imperial envoy.

As these people were busy, they did not discover on the mountain in the distance there was a completely black carriage that slowly drove away like a specter.

...

...

The people were killed by Fan Xian, but it was these officials of Jiangnan Road who were burying them. However, he definitely didn’t have thoughts to take advantage of them. As for the wounds on the bodies being treated by him again, it was because he didn’t want the Sigu sword’s wounds to get out. Since it was impossible to frame Dongyi, there was no need to brave this danger. Most importantly, he couldn’t let the Emperor in the Palace know that he could use the Sigu sword. Otherwise, the Emperor would certainly think of the assassin at the Hanging Temple and the younger brother of Sigu Jian. The Overwatch Council would bring a terrifying result.

The carriage moved slowly. Fan Xian smiled coldly in the carriage and said, “One Yuan Meng has died, and the officials of the Jiangnan Road are shocked to this extent...are these all dogs raised by the Eldest Princess?”

Deng Zi Yue glanced at Gao Da and guessed that the commissioner wanted to borrow Gao Da’s ears to complain to the Emperor in the Palace. He smiled and replied, “The Eldest Princess was in Jiangnan for a long time, of course, she would have some trusted aides.”

“Did you see clearly everyone who had come today?”

“Some of the faces were unfamiliar. Since these people all came from their manors, I’m sure the spies should have seen clearly. We will have confirmed information in a moment,” Deng Zi Yue sighed and said. “Only the Ming family is ruthless. They know this matter should not be touched and are refusing to come out.”

Fan Xian also felt it was unfortunate. He originally thought that even if he couldn’t use the Yuan Meng matter to scoop out a piece of flesh from the Ming family, at least it would make them feel bad.

In a moment, the carriage arrived at Hua Garden. Fan Xian felt a bit tired and waved his hand to have the others go rest while he returned to the back residence.

Sisi was lying on the table waiting for him to come back. Seeing him enter the room, she quickly poured hot water for him to soak his feet.

She knew that the young master did not want too many people to know of tonight’s event. So, it was not suitable for her to order the serving girls to bring hot food. Thus, she personally went to fetch the swallow’s nest that had been kept warm in water and served it for him to eat.

Fan Xian drank all of the porridge in one go with satisfaction and soaked his feet. He then laid on the bed and fell into a deep sleep.

He did not wake from this sleep until the afternoon. He didn’t know what changes Yuan Meng’s death had brought to Suzhou within this one day. He also did not care much.

Knowing he was awake after Sisi’s announcement, Deng Zi Yue walked in looking somewhat haggard. He handed the file in his hand to Fan Xian.

He took it over and had a look. On it was recorded all the yamens in Suzhou that had strange movements early in themorning. He couldn’t help but narrow his eyes and sighed. “These officials in the city are all enemies. Are they going to let me live? They’ve certainly managed to stay calm after Yuan Meng’s death.”

Deng Zi Yue smiled bitterly and said, “The officials are stuck in the middle. They don’t have it easy either.”

Fan Xian shook his head and smiled coldly. “Since we have the list, the lives will be even more difficult in the future. Send the list back to Jingdou and have the Second Bureau begin to investigate old files. For the people we want to move, we have to dig out their dirty pasts, even...if they took a dozen liang of silver a dozen years ago, I want it dug out.”

Deng Zi Yue knew that in the process of Fan Xian deciding to move the Ming family, along the way he was going to move these officials a little. He didn’t dare make a loud noise and quietly acknowledged the order.

Fan Xian read until the end and the fire in his eyes gradually grew. He threw the file down on the table with anger and cursed in a low voice, “As expected...as expected Xue Qing also knew of this matter. This man certainly had fun swinging on the wall!”

For Fan Xian, any information the Jiangnan officialdom revealed because of Yuan Jingmeng’s murder would not surprise him.

The Eldest Princess had done business with the Ming family in Jiangnan for a long time, so, of course, most of the people in the officialdom of this area belonged to them.

Given the power and position in Fan Xian’s hands, he did not worry much about facing this kind of opposition. What he needed to know clearly was where the Jiangnan governor Xue Qing was going to stand on this matter.

Xue Qing was a borderland official. Even with Fan Xian’s imperial envoy identity, there was little he could do about him. Furthermore, the governor controlled the civil administration and military affairs. The power he could control in his hands was too powerful. If even he stood against Fan Xian, the forces against Fan Xian defeating the Ming family became unusually powerful.

Deng Zi Yue saw his slightly angry expression. He carefully and comfortingly said, “The governor’s manor also received the message, but they haven’t made any noises or any kind of reaction. Sir, the other party is, after all, the governor of a road. If the officials below have connections to the capital and Yuan Meng wanted to hide in Jiangnan, this matter could not have been hidden from him. However, he does not wish to offend you, and he certainly does not wish to offend the princes in the capital. This matter cannot explain anything. Governor Xue Qing should still be waiting.

Fan Xian muttered to himself and found his reactions did seem to be a bit over the top. Perhaps the tension hidden below the disorganization of these few days had made him overly sensitive. He couldn’t help smiling self-deprecatingly and said, “Thank you for your kind words, however...go make the arrangements still. The day after tomorrow, I...will go once more to visit Xue Qing.”

Deng Zi Yue was startled, and it seemed like he wanted to say something.

Fan Xian glanced at him and smiled. “If you have an idea, just say it. Why are you being like a girl in front of me?”

Deng Zi Yue smiled and said, “I don’t think you should go visit Sir Xue Qing in a rush.”

“Oh? Why is that?” Fan Xian asked.

Deng Zi Yue replied, “After all, right now the governor is still in the center. If you go visit, given your personality, I’m afraid you immediately force the governor to pick a side...what if the governor doesn’t do as you want, then what? In my opinion, it is best to let Governor Xue Qing maintain his stance of watching the game. We will continue to do what we are doing. We will continue to pressure the Ming family. Every day that the governor doesn’t make up his mind is another day where there is none to contend with you. Then, we will have more time to do what we need to do.”

He continued, “You want the governor to make up his mind, but in reality, the longer it takes for the governor to make up his mind, the better it is for us.”

Fan Xian furrowed his brow and said, “Right now we are just gently knocking against the Ming family. Xue Qing can continue to watch the show. If later in the year I strike hard, Xue Qing won’t be able to keep watching the show. At that time, he will have to pick a side...I am not completely confident.”

Deng Zi Yue thought about it and smiled. “I think it we should at least wait until you’ve been to Wuzhou.”

Fan Xian understood his meaning. Xue Qing was the previous Prime Minister Lin Ruofu’s favorite student back in the day, and Lin Ruofu was Dabao and Wan’er’sf father, his father-in-law. Even if Xue Qing didn’t need to support him for his father-in-law’s sake, his father-in-law was certain to know about Xue Qing’s bottom line.

“Makes sense.” Fan Xian immediately felt a large weight lifted off his chest. He laughed loudly and said, “He’ll make our victory more likely. Although that old father-in-law of mine is almost rusting, his weight is still significant.”

Deng Zi Yue chuckled.

Fan Xian saw Deng Zi Yue’s exhausted expression and asked curiously, “You didn’t sleep this morning?”

Deng Zi Yue respectfully replied, “I had to confirm these reports so it took some time.”

Fan Xian wanted to urge him to relax a bit, but thinking of his previous behavior, it seemed like he didn’t have much of a stance to persuade the other. He couldn’t resist smiling and suddenly thought of another matter. He asked, “Zi Yue, before you entered the Qinian Unit...you were in the Second Bureau, right?”

Deng Zi Yue glanced at him in astonishment and nodded. He didn’t know why the commissioner was suddenly asking this question.

“Wang Qinian will return at the end of summer.” Fan Xian gazed at him and smiled. “The Council is preparing to have him take over the First Bureau, thus Shangjing in Northern Qi needs someone who can control the situation. You’ve been with me for almost two years and have seen some things...do you have the daring to go to the North?”