Don't ask where people go

Chapter 1431 Understanding
Hong Tai led Fu Congnan to the front and said sternly, "General Fu, why don't you let your people get out of here!"

"Why?" Fu Congnan sneered, "If I don't survive today, none of you will survive either."

Fang Zilan's face was as cold as frost. "Fu Congnan, are you looking for death?"

"Miss Fang San, or should I call you Miss Zhen?" Fu Congnan curled his lips, but there was no smile in his eyes. "That day in the Jiangnan camp, you dared to kill my deputy general without any evidence. You just wanted to avenge that kid named A Shi. Am I right?"

Fang Zilan supported Fang Lihui with one hand and quietly grasped the hilt of the knife with the other hand. "I was wondering how Yao Wu and his men could collude with the bandits? As the head of Feiling Mountain, you should have looked down on them. It turns out that you are the culprit, but you have cleared yourself of the crime."

"You don't have to avoid my words." Fu Congnan did not respond to Fang Zilan's words, but looked at her steadily and said, "For such an irrelevant boy, you can even kill the deputy general in the army. Now that Fang Lihui has become like this, you can't let me go."

"You are quite self-aware." Fang Zilan snorted, "I want to kill you, not only for Fang Lihui, but also for what you have done..."

"I admit what I did." Fu Congnan interrupted Fang Zilan in a cold voice, "Colluding with bandits, taking lives, selling arms, smuggling salt and grain, I admit it all. But, will they admit it?"

He almost questioned each word until he finally fell on Hongtai, "Ask him, will they recognize it? Can they recognize it?"

The crimes arising from corruption, whether they were mentioned by Fu Congnan or those they had done, could result in beheading at the very least, or confiscation of property and extermination of the entire family at the worst.

If Fu Congnan had not torn his face off and gone to a dead end like he did today, no one would recognize him, and no one could recognize him.

After a day, Fang Ziqin had questioned half of the officials in the Imperial Hospital. They were all like ordinary officials. They were unwilling to say anything at first. When they wanted to speak, Fang Ziqin did not give them a chance, so she was unable to get anything out of them.

The maid on duty outside the palace couldn't help but whisper to her companion, "I usually see the queen acting indifferently, but I didn't expect that she would be like this when interrogating someone. If this continues, when will there be any results?"

"That's right. Isn't it said that the queen was a famous lady in the capital before she got married?" The companion echoed, "Why is she so timid after entering the palace? If the Empress Dowager hadn't moved to a palace outside the capital, I'm afraid our queen wouldn't know how to live..."

"You're gossiping in Fengyi Palace, don't you want to live?" Qiu Shui shouted, frightening the two palace maids so much that they couldn't stop trembling, "Miss Qiu Shui, we know we were wrong..."

Qiu Shui snorted coldly, "Shut your mouths tightly, and go down to receive your punishment."

Seeing the two palace maids disappear into the night, Qiu Shui turned around and walked back, but unexpectedly saw Fang Ziqin not far behind her.

"My lady." Qiu Shui walked over quickly and gathered Fang Ziqin's cloak. "It's a cold autumn night. Why did you come out?"

Fang Ziqin said calmly: "Qiu Shui, do you also think I should find out something?"

Qiu Shui paused, "Your Majesty has her own reasons for doing things. You should find out what you should find out. If you can't find out, of course there are also benefits."

"Tomorrow, we will conduct the trial just like today." Fang Ziqin did not comment, "But we must spread the news that nothing has been found." "Your Majesty means..." Qiu Shui was stunned, Fang Ziqin said faintly, "The news that nothing has been found today has not been told to His Majesty. Qiu Shui, go ahead and remember to inform the Censorate."

"Yes." Qiu Shui took the order and left. All the way, she was thinking that it would not be difficult to inform His Majesty about this matter, but as a person from the harem, how could she inform the Censorate?

However, after Qiu Shui informed Li Shengxuan of this matter, he told Xiahou Zhang: "Go and tell the officials of the Censorate that there has been no progress with the Queen, and order them to start with the secret letter of accusation and continue to follow up."

Ah Wan nodded thoughtfully, swung her handkerchief randomly, and changed the subject: "It's almost Double Ninth Festival, why are the chrysanthemums in our yard not blooming?"

"It was already summer when we planted them, and we didn't expect them to bloom." Fang Zilan added, "It's good enough that they survived. We'll see next year. This year, we can go outside to enjoy the chrysanthemums on Double Ninth Festival."

"Outside?" Awan frowned slightly. Just as she was about to say something, she saw the housekeeper walk in quickly. "Master Fang, someone from the palace has sent a flower note."

"What kind of flowery note did you send for Chongyang Festival?" Fang Zilan sat up straight and waved, "Bring it here and let me see it."

The housekeeper hurriedly handed over the flowered note and explained, "Someone from the palace said that because things have not been going smoothly this year, the Grand Empress Dowager and the Queen Mother have asked to go to the palace temple outside the capital to pray during the Double Ninth Festival to pray for the capital. They will set off tomorrow."

"Your Majesty, do you mean to hold a banquet to celebrate the Double Ninth Festival?" Fang Zilan quickly scanned the contents of the flowery paper. The housekeeper nodded and said, "This is what the person from the palace conveyed. After all, the war on the front line was tense during the Mid-Autumn Festival a while ago, and all the celebrations in the capital were stopped. Now that the world is at peace, we should celebrate it properly."

"Okay, I got it." Fang Zilan casually placed the flowery note on the table. "Go tell the person from the palace that I will definitely be there on time. Also, ask for me if I can bring relatives to the Chongyang banquet, and how many people I can bring? Ask everything clearly."

"Okay." The housekeeper nodded in agreement, and then heard Fang Zilan say: "Thank you for the hard work of the people coming to the palace. Don't forget to give them the reward money."

After the housekeeper left, Awan helped Deputy General Cao sit over and said, "In previous years, Double Ninth Festival has never been organized with such fanfare. Even the palace banquets were very simple."

Fang Zilan picked up the teacup and took a sip of water, then said happily, "It's great to have festivals to celebrate, banquets to eat, and things to play and enjoy. Why bother about so many things?"

"I find that you are really carefree now." A Wan picked up a melon seed, and Fang Zilan smiled, "Go through the gates of hell a few more times, I guarantee that your heart will be bigger than mine."

A Wan shook her head and said, "Who can compare with you..."

"Eat less melon seeds, it's easy to get angry." Fang Zilan said as she stuffed Awan's teacup into her hand, "Drink tea. And you too, Lao Cao, drink more tea."

"Boss, I'll do it myself." Deputy General Cao drank several cups of tea in a row. Mo Han poured tea and water for him while saying, "Deputy General Cao, drink slowly. Be careful of the heat."

Deputy General Cao put down his teacup and before he could say anything, he saw the housekeeper hurried in again, "Master Fang, someone from the palace said you can bring your relatives, but the number of relatives and followers you bring cannot exceed six."

"I see." Fang Zilan responded, and the housekeeper said, "Mr. Fang is here, do you want to invite him in?"