Joy of Life: I, a man, became the Queen of Northern Qi?

Chapter 196 Fan Xian’s despair.

The Imperial Palace of Qing.

Royal study room.

The sunlight shone on the yellow glazed tiles, creating bursts of golden light, which gave people a sense of oppression for no reason. Emperor Qing was originally dealing with the memorial comfortably, but after listening to the report from the eunuch next to him, he narrowed his eyes slightly.

"Look carefully, are they both drunk?" Li Yunqian opened his eyes, threw the brush in his hand onto the table, and continued with a strange smile, "Tell me the whole story."

Eunuch Hou immediately stepped forward and placed the brush on the table. He looked at the ink stains scattered on it and began to wipe them carefully, his movements full of restraint.

"The Second Prince was indeed very drunk. According to the waiter at Yishiju, he saw with his own eyes that the Second Prince drank three pots of wine, and was finally carried back by the servants of the mansion."

After cleaning the stain, Eunuch Hou returned to his original position with his body bent and said softly, "The reason is that the Second Prince sent someone to invite that person to a banquet without knowing the truth. Perhaps the person who delivered the message was a little rude, so only one person survived. After his legs were crippled, he crawled onto the street. This incident was witnessed by many people."

"No need to read it." Emperor Qing said softly to Eunuch Hou, "You can leave now."

After a pause, Eunuch Hou asked hesitantly, "The eldest princess is waiting outside the palace now. Your Majesty, would you like to see her?"

Emperor Qing laughed and said, "It's better not to see her. Go out and tell her to stay in Guangxin Palace to cultivate her character, read more books when she has nothing to do, and go to the Queen Mother less to complain. Don't really think that Zhuang Mohan's matter can be let go so easily."

Seeing Eunuch Hou leave quietly, Emperor Qing sighed softly.

In addition to Emperor Qing, there was another person left in the hall at this time. He was Hong Sixiang who had returned injured a few days ago.

It seemed that old eunuch Hong was in a bad mood. He stood quietly in the corner with his eyes half closed as if he was resting. He moved his ears and looked towards Emperor Qing.

Seeing that Emperor Qing was silent, he was the first to break the silence and said, "Your Majesty, the Queen Mother..."

"No need to say it!"

Emperor Qing glanced at Hong Sixiang and said coldly, "I know that the Queen Mother has met Zhuang Mohan, but I didn't expect Yun Rui to do such a thoughtless thing. I'm afraid she is also a person with little luck."

The Princess and Zhuang Mohan reached a cooperation in private, and Emperor Qing knew what they needed from each other:
One person wanted to ruin Fan Xian's reputation and break up the engagement;
One person wanted Sean to return to Northern Qi alive.

Li Yunrui knew that Zhuang Mohan was Xiao En's elder brother, so how could Li Yunqian, as the emperor of Qing, not know this? However, she should not satisfy her own selfish desires at the expense of the interests of Qing, nor should she target Fan Xian, who was her own flesh and blood, and the only bloodline left by Ye Qingmei in this world!
What's more, Fan Xian is still the hope of Qing Kingdom's literary world!
The farce at the banquet that day, the princess not only failed to suppress Fan Xian's reputation, but also made the latter famous in the world for being tied to the Queen of Northern Qi in poetry! It should be understood that not everyone can compare with the Queen of Northern Qi, who has the cultivation level of a grandmaster.
Even the common people in Kyoto were comparing the two. Not only were they equally matched in the number of poems, but also in terms of quality!

But Emperor Qing clearly understood that the common ground between the two was because.
Temple!

Of course, in an invisible battle, there are winners and losers.

Judging from the current results, Fan Xian won and the princess lost!
As for the loser, it was obvious that he would have to pay the price. Emperor Qing had already made up his mind to send the princess to Xinyang.
Hong Sixiang was slightly stunned when he heard Emperor Qing's harsh comments about the eldest princess.

However, these are His Majesty's family affairs. As a minister in the palace, there is only one reason why he is still staying in the palace at this time. I am afraid that His Majesty wants to talk to him about the person who made the second prince drunk!

The wrinkles on his face slightly opened up, and he said in a deep voice: "Queen An did not kill the people from Yishiju. Now that her identity has been exposed, it is not a smart move."

"You are wrong. In my opinion, she did something very smart!"

Emperor Qing looked coldly at the old man who had been with him for many years, "You are not a fool. Think about it carefully. Would a man who could kill Uncle Liuyun by trickery reveal his identity because of a swordsman under the second son?"

Hong Sixiang did not answer immediately, but just lowered his head even more.

Looking at his left arm that had not yet healed, he sighed and said, "She was telling us that although she was injured in the battle in the palace a few days ago, she has now fully recovered."

"Is this a warning?"

Warning?
There was a gleam in Emperor Qing's eyes.

After thinking for a while, he suddenly asked, "Did the person who came that night really use the Four-Gu Sword Technique?"

Hong Sixiang recalled the situation that night, and a somewhat old voice sounded, without any hesitation in his emotions, "Although I was tricked that day, I was confident that I would not be wrong. The level of that person was between the middle and upper ninth rank, but he was very familiar with the layout of Kyoto, especially in the middle of the night. He was able to lead me around most of Kyoto in such a dark environment. It was amazing!"

Hong Sixiang rarely evaluates someone in this way.

Anyone who can be called amazing must be truly amazing! His left arm is proof of that!

"I don't know why, although he is only at the level of the upper middle ninth rank, his four-sided sword technique is already perfect. This old servant was unable to defeat him, and was injured by him because I was anxious to return to the palace to rescue you. I am really ashamed of your majesty!"

Hong Sixiang's voice became more hoarse.

He was the chief eunuch in the palace and was responsible for the safety of the imperial palace.

After all, his actions were motivated by his desire to hunt prey, but they were a bit reckless. What is even more unacceptable is that he did not bring the person back after his reckless behavior.

However, Emperor Qing was not concerned about this. He simply asked indifferently, "So, you are sure that the other party is from Dongyi City?"

Eunuch Hong responded softly, "I'm sure!"

"Although I was unable to injure that man during the fight, I was careful enough to grab a piece of cuff fabric. After comparison with the Supervisory Council, I was able to confirm that the fabric was made by Tianxiang Satin, a time-honored brand in the city. Not long ago, during the peace talks between several countries, the Dongyi City delegation had ordered some clothes from Tianxiang Satin."

"All signs indicate that the person who entered the palace first was from Dongyi City. After all, there are not many people who can practice the Four-Gu Sword Technique to such a high level, and the Four-Gu Sword Master's disciple Yun Zhilan happens to be one of them."

Despite what Hong Sixiang said, Emperor Qing still smelled a conspiracy.

The possibility of putting the blame on others is greater!
After all, they were going to enter the palace to assassinate him, so why not just kidnap a passerby on the street, strip him of his clothes and avoid any future trouble?
But there is one thing that Emperor Qing can be sure of, the assassins in the two rounds are not from the same group!

"No! The Grand Master that night was not the Demon Queen of Northern Qi!"

Emperor Qing frowned slightly. He knew the specific injuries of the person who fought with him that night. It was impossible for him to recover to his original state in such a short time and appear in Yishiju to drink without any abnormality.

Now that the Demon Queen has revealed her whereabouts, there are two possibilities:

One possibility is that she was indeed the one who broke into the palace that night, and that she was just bluffing with her injuries today, hoping to arouse her suspicion and achieve some purpose;
And another possibility: the Grand Master who appeared that night was someone else!

"Dongyi City's Si Gu Jian." Emperor Qing snorted coldly and said, "True and false, in this situation, do you think that muddying the waters will keep Dongyi City out of the matter and prioritize provoking Qing and Northern Qi?"

Hong Sixiang was puzzled.

In the past few days, he also talked with Yan Shendu, who was temporarily acting as the commander of the palace guards. He learned from him that there were three assassins who appeared in the palace that night!

One of them was a great master. In addition to leading away his own ninth-rank master, another ninth-rank master entered the Hanguang Palace and stole valuable items after bewitching the queen mother. Therefore, he also aroused the queen mother's anger.
Your Majesty must have some guesses about who that Grandmaster is. But it is not easy to gather the other two ninth-rank masters. After the fire in the palace that night, officials of the Northern Qi delegation saw Lang Tao and He Daoren coming out of the room to investigate. This is the best evidence!
Where in this world do so many ninth-grade experts come from?

I heard that there are more than a dozen ninth-grade sword masters in the Dongyi City Sword House.
"Your Majesty, I will go to the Dongyi envoys now."

Emperor Qing shook his head and said, "There has been a large search for assassins in the capital these days, but nothing has been found. No matter which possibility this is, your trip will not yield any results. I guess the other party wants to lure me out of the palace to investigate." Li Yunqian did not continue with the rest of the words.

In a subtle way, Emperor Qing's ideas completely met Li Ang's needs.

What he wanted was Emperor Qing's fear and suspicion!
No matter what happened in Kyoto today, no matter how big a commotion it caused, Emperor Qing did not dare to leave the palace easily!
Fan Xian would never have thought that he thought he had a good plan and forced Wu Zhu to wear the silky clothes, but he was too clever and almost exposed himself. If it weren't for the Iron Judge's intervention to save him, Emperor Qing would not have believed that it was Dongyi City who did it, and would have focused his attention on him and Wu Zhu behind him.

"My Great Qing Dynasty! We just suffered a defeat, and we are still being disturbed by others. Why is that?"

In the past few days, Emperor Qing also went to pay his respects to the Empress Dowager twice, but each time he tried, the Empress Dowager did not clearly state what was lost, which made him a little embarrassed.

Suddenly, Li Yunqian changed the subject and asked Hong Sixiang:

"What has Fan Xian been doing these days?"

Hong Sixiang was a little confused. Could it be that the eunuch had not yet reported these matters to His Majesty?

However, he still told the truth: "I heard that Master Fan fell ill after getting drunk that night, and he has been recuperating at home for a few days. Because his reputation has spread throughout Kyoto, countless scholars and dignitaries have come to visit him in the past few days, but they were all blocked by Si Nanbo."

"In the end, even the descendants of several founding fathers came to visit him, and even Minister Fan couldn't refuse him. Perhaps because of too many times, Mr. Fan got a little tired of it, and announced in public that he would no longer write poetry from now on. It's really a pity!"

This incident caused quite a stir before the leaflets were distributed.

The people in the city just thought that Master Fan was mad at the visitors and that was why he said such nonsense. They did not take it too seriously and scolded those who went to disturb the Fan Mansion, causing endless discussions everywhere.

However, these things gradually subsided due to the commotion in the palace and the search for the assassin.

"No more poetry? But that's enough."

Emperor Qing murmured and looked out the window.

Next to the tide-watching pavilion, the lake was still calm, with only a few fish occasionally surfacing to breathe heavily.
Fan Mansion.

Fan Xian stepped on the wardrobe and used the force to leap to the beam. He was no longer as cautious as before. When he really saw that the place where the box should have been placed was empty, even though he had been told in advance, he still silently closed his eyes and a wry smile appeared on his face.
He had already obtained the secret in the box, but it was still frustrating to lose it just like that.

After a long silence, his smile became more bitter. He stretched out his trembling fingers to wipe the little dust on the beams. At this moment, Fan Xian just wanted to light a cigarette to calm himself.

He has been in this world for nineteen years.

Before he knew the Queen of Northern Qi, he always felt very lonely, and the box left by his mother was a great comfort. But now this comfort has been taken away!

After a while, he finally spoke to break the silence and asked, "Uncle, is the other party really the Queen of Northern Qi?"

"I do not know."

Wu Zhu sat behind Fan Xian at some point. Although he was on the beam, he felt as comfortable as walking on flat ground. His eyes were covered with a black cloth, but when Fan Xian turned around, he still saw an emotion called sadness on his face.

Wu Zhu tilted his head, not understanding why he was expressing such emotions, but his tone was still cold and indifferent as he said: "But the other party does have the cultivation level of a Grandmaster."

Fan Xian nodded calmly, and the two of them landed on the ground. After pondering for a moment, he finally regained his composure.

"Although the Fan Mansion is not a dangerous place, my father has hidden a lot of power in the mansion, and you are here to protect it. How did the other party know about the box?"

"Although the place where I put the box is a bit dark, it has been covered up. It is definitely not a place that can be easily discovered by outsiders!"

Wu Zhu seemed to sense that Fan Xian's words were a little strange: "So, she knows you very well, even very familiar with you."

"But is that possible?"

Fan Xian began to doubt himself, even questioning his life in Danzhou for so many years. The bitter smile on his face seemed to be fixed. "Uncle, do you have any other keys to the box?"

"No."

"Then there is no other way to open it except the key, right?"

"Yes."

Fan Xian nodded. If that was the case, if Li An'er wanted the things in the box, he would definitely come back to find him.

Thinking of this, he felt a little less nervous.

Maybe I should prepare myself now to deal with the other party's next visit.
Suddenly, he had an idea and took out the book "The Kingly Way and Tyrant Skills" that he had obtained through an inexplicable transaction. He looked at Uncle Wu Zhu in the room thoughtfully and asked tentatively, "What did the other party say when he took the box away?"

There was no way Wu Zhu didn't know what the box meant to him.

Even if he really didn't take it seriously, Wu Zhu would never let the box fall into the hands of others, because there was a letter from his mother in it.
Wu Zhu shook his head. This time he did not answer honestly. He just said, "Those words will bring you danger."

"uncle!"

Fan Xian lowered his voice and asked Wu Zhu in annoyance, "Is it better to live a peaceful life in a muddle-headed way, or to live only one day in a clear mind? I want to know the answer!"

The letter in the box let him know that he had not traveled through time and space, and all this seemed like a joke played by nature.

Humans brought him here using something called technology.

His mother Ye Qingmei helped him see part of the truth about this world, and his fellow villager in Northern Qi might be able to help him understand more!
With such an opportunity in front of him, why would he worry about any danger?
"She said that the young lady's death was caused by the Queen, with the Queen Mother's acquiescence, and Emperor Qing was the mastermind behind it."

There was no surprise. Just as Li An expected, Fan Xian would learn all this at this time.

Just as Fan Xian was stunned to the point of losing consciousness after hearing this, Wu Zhu suddenly spoke again:

"Chen Pingping did not deny it."

(End of this chapter)