Fairy, I really am a villain!

It was also emphasized that he should go alone. If he took Fang Qingxiao with him, the other party might just run away when they saw him from a distance... But since the place was in the city, there was no need to worry about safety.

"Go find Xiaodie and ask her to inform my sister that if I am not back by night, she should go to Xinyuezhai to look for me."

"Little understands."

After giving the instructions, Fang Xiwen walked out.

Chapter 363 Alliance

Someone invited him to an appointment again.

In recent days, there have been many people who have tried to win him over, flatter him, or even join him.

From the perspective of anyone with a discerning eye, Fang Xiwen no longer represents just the Fang family: the Si Tian Jian, which has always maintained a neutral stance, has received help from the Yun family; and from the Wang family, with whom he has a marriage relationship, Ba Dao is suspected of secretly entering the capital.

In addition, since he entered Shendu, he has attacked the Song family, investigated Liu Zhuo, killed people, confiscated properties, and suppressed bandits... Now, two Beijing officials have fallen at his hands, not to mention that one of them is close to Yang's party.

At one time, Fang Mansion had received many visitors. Among these people, some came to visit openly, pretending to form an alliance, but in fact they did this to put pressure on Yang's party and use him as a bargaining chip;

There are also those who truly want to form an alliance and communicate secretly, but in fact they make their own positions clear.

But more people, such as those who can truly confide in the Wang family, are still dormant; these people were able to survive the persecution of the Yang Party and remain in the court, so they naturally will not jump out so easily.

"It's a mixed bag... Then, who is the person who sent this note?"

Fang Xiwen rubbed his hands while talking to himself, and a ball of dust fell on his palms.

Now he was walking towards the two-story courtyard of the famous family. Today, he was going to count all the cash he had obtained from the raid on Liu Xiwang's house and hand it over to Hu Churen.

"If you trust me, I will return the money to the people."

To Fang Xiwen, it naturally didn't matter whether he could believe it or not, he just hoped that the old man would live long enough to spend the flowers;

To King Rui, although Hu Churen, a high-ranking official, was worth winning over, he could not imagine a scenario in which Hu Churen could leave the capital alive, taking into account the cabinet and the emperor's will.

There is also a key point. The Second Prince did not inform him about this matter. Whether it was unnecessary or he did not want to involve him, Fang Xiwen was kept in the dark for the time being.

"Master Fang."

When I entered the courtyard, several trusted men were already waiting there.

"Clear up the account books again, and when you're done, move them to Governor Hu's new residence."

"Yes!"

He moved a chair and sat down beside it.

The reason for counting is that the cash transfers were recorded in clear accounts, to show Fang Xiwen's sincerity in not being greedy;

Li Wuji was probably quite dissatisfied with such behavior, because it was against the rules, but he was afraid that Liu Xiwang would use the fact that he had worked with Liu Xiwang to make trouble for others, so in the end he could only swallow the loss in silence.

"Report to the Lord, the 46,834 taels of silver have now been fully counted!"

"Okay, let's move out."

Following behind the Kong brothers with his hands behind his back, Fang Xiwen pondered as he walked, and soon he knew who had sent the note.

~~

Yang Mansion.

In a quiet room with simple decoration, two people were sitting opposite each other playing chess.

On the cushion on the left was Yang Jing, wearing a Bagua Taoist robe, holding the white piece and pondering.

His appearance is consistent with his style - kind, frugal, and gentlemanly; although he is handsome, he is not beautiful. Talking with him is like a spring breeze, and he is like the other side of his domineering and arrogant brother.

"My Lord, do you think he will come?"

The chess player was a middle-aged scholar with a mustache. He was not good-looking and asked with his eyebrows slightly raised.

Hearing this, Yang Jing dropped a move and said, "Fang Xingyun has met everyone he can. If he wants to unite these sometimes weak, sometimes stubborn, greedy and fence-sitter families, he must be firm in his attitude, otherwise the Wang family and the Yun family are just empty talk."

"Indeed, he had no reason to refuse."

"Besides, as long as Fang Xingyun is smart enough, he will guess that this is our second contact. Even if it is just to confirm the authenticity of the previous intelligence, he will definitely keep the appointment."

"My lord is wise."

After this conversation, the two were silent for a short time, and the black and white chess pieces on the chessboard fought against each other more and more fiercely.

"In this case, we have to consider our own affairs. My lord, I think it is a little urgent to meet you now," the scholar advised kindly, "The young prime minister has already suspected us."

"What if he is suspicious? He wants to bet all his treasures on Prince Li, but I don't want that. I have to leave myself a way out."

"It's too hasty. Besides, Fang Xingyun may not be King Rui's man. Maybe he is loyal to the Great Jin?"

"Heh," Yang Jing smiled and said, "The wedding banquet is coming up soon. If I'm not careful, Fang Xingyun will die and I'll lose an ally for nothing. If I tried my best to remind him, at least I won't regret it later."

After saying that, he placed another white piece and captured the entire dragon on the board.

"My Lord, do you mean that I am only here to give him some advice?"

"How to do it is up to you." Yang Jing looked at him, "Do you know why I sent you there?"

Upon hearing this, the scholar was shocked and broke out in a cold sweat on his back.

Having served as Yang Jing's aide for more than ten years and calling him "lord", how could I not understand what he meant?

This means that advice and temptation are all up to the scholar himself.

When they meet Fang Xingyun, if this man is really capable of competing with Yang Tianxiu, he will be able to guess the intention of the note, and this cooperation will have a chance to be achieved.

If he couldn't see it, the scholar would have to die on the spot in front of Fang Xingyun, taking all the responsibility for the private contact, letters and notes, thereby clearing Yang Jing of suspicion and allowing the latter to continue to lie dormant.

Be so cautious and so fearful.

All the black pieces on the chessboard have been eaten.

The scholar stepped back, threw the hem of his clothes in front of him, and bowed deeply to Yang Jing: "If Kong De never comes back, I have only one request, which is to ask you to take good care of my wife and daughter.

please! "

Boom boom boom!

"Ah."

~~

Xinyuezhai was run by a wealthy businessman in the city. It was a place for nobles to entertain guests privately, similar to some small garden buildings.

A few moments before noon, Fang Xiwen arrived and was led inside.

The layout of the wing rooms is very elegant.

As if to prevent him from getting bored, a musician was placed behind the landscape screen, playing the piano. The silhouette cast by the lights was very beautiful.

However, Fang Xiwen simply moved the chair around the screen and sat in front of the pianist.

She was a woman with a cold temperament, different from a certain pretending to be silly girl. This person's eyes were really cold. She didn't care about his behavior and focused on playing the piano.

But Fang Xiwen didn't think of letting her go. He clapped his hands and said, "Come here and pour me a cup of tea."

The woman paused in plucking the strings, looked at him coldly, and did nothing.

"If you don't want to do it, get out and find someone who can do it!"

Hearing this, the musician finally moved, poured a cup of tea, and brought it to him with one hand.

"Hasn't anyone taught you tea etiquette? Go back and play your music."

Fang Xiwen slapped the tea she had poured away, waved her hands in disgust, and watched the woman sit back in her original seat.

He immediately understood what was going on. This person was here to monitor him, and not only that, he was also an expert swordsman.

When pouring tea, the woman's wrist movements were quite skillful and she also showed an obvious tendency to dodge when the slap was thrown...but this is not the key point. The key point is that she and the person who invited her are probably not in the same group.

The first thing to be clear is that this is not the first time that a message has been conveyed to him in this way.

For example, the letter I received at the yamen before.

There is a line in it that says 'When he was practicing in the palace, he was able to communicate with the Emperor's Sword...' It seems nonsensical, but it hints at the identity of the writer to the extreme.

The person who has access to this information must have a certain status in the Yang Mansion, and may even have a very close relationship with Yang Tianxiu.

Based on this inference and tracing back further, the reason why Yang Tianxiu's tomb robbery was discovered as early as the Dingjun period was because the Yang family servants handled the stolen goods in an unclean way - those women's ornaments are still in his mustard seed ring.

The judgment at that time was that there was a factional struggle in the Yang family, and someone deliberately disclosed Yang Tianxiu's evil deeds, so he asked the servants to use such a bad method, with the intention of leading others to investigate him.

Through these two clues, the candidate can be basically locked in, and the information transmitted twice is also a clear hint: those who are on good terms with the Wang family will not believe him for the time being, and those who want to have the best of both worlds will come directly to his door. If he wants to hide it like this, he must have his own "difficulties".

——The person who invited him was the eldest son of the Yang family, the marriage partner of the Song family, the one who had been dormant... Yang Jing.

Guessing this, and at this point in time, Fang Xiwen roughly knew what he wanted to talk about: it was nothing more than something about the wedding banquet the day after tomorrow, either a suggestion or a threat.

"What are you looking at?" He caught a glimpse of the zither player's gaze, and immediately chuckled, then stood up to close the doors and windows. "There's still some time before the guests arrive, so come and play with me~"

"...I sell my art but not my body."

"You're just a bitch, pretending to be noble here. I don't even like you, ugh!"

After several provocations, Fang Xiwen caught a glimpse of her clenching her fist, then lowered her eyes indifferently.

Although the cold light flashed only for a moment, he could still clearly see the strong murderous intent in it... As expected, this woman was not in the same group as Yang Jing.

If the latter had any intention of harming him, there would be no need for him to act like this.

After confirmation, Fang Xiwen stopped making trouble and drank a few cups of tea by himself. Finally, it was noon.

After a quarter of an hour, the door was pushed open and a scholar in a silk gown and a mustache walked in.

The man was in his thirties or forties, not very good-looking, and a bit rat-like, but his eyes were bright when he spoke, giving people a sense of sincerity.

"Third Young Master, I'm sorry to have kept you waiting." He bowed.

"Well," Fang Xiwen moved to the table and paused, "Was the previous note written to me by you?"

"That's right," Kong De nodded, "I asked you to come here because I have something important to discuss with you."

"What's the important matter?"

Fang Xiwen poured him a cup of tea and tapped the table with her index finger. Kong De froze slightly.

After a slight pause, Kong De put his hand on the teacup and said, "There is something I want to show you, sir. Please come forward."

"What is it——"