Joy of Life: I'm really not a saint

Emperor Qing opened his eyes and thought of the news that the spy named Zheng Tuo had brought back a few days ago. His mood gradually calmed down and he regained his former composure and dignity. He said calmly, "Has Fan Jian come to the palace to ask for an audience?"

"Not yet."

Emperor Qing nodded slightly. Fan Jian silently took all the blame and criticism, which saved him a lot of trouble. His aversion to Fan Jian gradually faded.

Years of affection are one of the few things that can move this emperor.

He could no longer be the Minister of Revenue, no matter whether he was willing to resign or not, after such a scandal happened, even with his own protection and the joint guarantee of other ministers, the crimes of dereliction of duty and concealment made it impossible for him to continue to stay in this position.

Of course, it was unrealistic to dismiss him completely, and he would compensate him in other ways. In addition, Fan Xian was far away in Jiangnan, and now that the news had spread, Emperor Qing would keep Fan Jian in Kyoto to serve even if it was to get him back to Beijing as soon as possible.

One reason was to save face for Danzhou's mother, and the other was to let Fan Jian be a hostage.

I wonder which side An Zhi will lean towards now that he knows that I am his biological father?

I will exchange the title of a duke for the authority of a minister. I think Fan Jian will be grateful to me.

"That's all for the Ministry of Revenue. As for those officials and the Crown Prince, let's wait until the accounts are sorted out before we talk about it." Emperor Qing said coldly.

Eunuch Hou did not say anything. When it came to matters concerning the Crown Prince, he always chose to avoid answering.

"The biggest trouble now is Anzhi's identity issue!"

Faced with leaflets distributed all over the city, and the matter being related to the identity of the prince, the court would definitely have to issue an announcement to explain the matter.

Whether to dispel the rumor, investigate the trends of all the news and put it out, or admit its authenticity, there will be completely different results and new troubles.

Even the Emperor Qing showed a trace of worry: "Li An, Li An, how much do you know?"

I am sick.

I wanted to take a day off today.

Thank you to everyone who voted for recommendations and monthly tickets, thank you for your support.

Chapter 237 Late Autumn in Kyoto.

Although the capital of Qing Kingdom is located in the heart of the country, it is also located in the south on the map of China in previous eras.

In the south, due to abundant water vapor, it rains all year round.

This rain was a bit dull at first, but slowly it seemed to wash away all the haze. At least the people in Kyoto breathed a sigh of relief.

The pressure brought by the upper class of Qing Kingdom has disappeared, and the people living in Kyoto have regained their vitality.

Unspoken rules are a good thing.

Many officials understand this.

In the Qing court, apart from the Qing Emperor's words which were final and could not be refused, almost all officials acted according to the unspoken rules.

Now that the mess has been exposed and Emperor Qing has no choice but to compromise, the matter is considered over, and the idea that the law does not punish the masses has almost become deeply rooted in people's minds.

The imperial palace, the harem.

Taking advantage of the rain, Prince Jing entered the palace in a carriage.

His status is somewhat transcendent. As the brother of Emperor Qing, the brother who is still alive, although he has no official position, he is very respected. He serves as a bridge between the ministers and Emperor Qing, playing a lubricating role.

Everyone knows that Prince Jing is your Majesty's younger brother and the Queen Mother's youngest son. He is a very kind person, loves flowers and plants, and is free and easy.

Therefore, when Prince Jing came to the harem, many palace maids and eunuchs bowed and greeted him with a smile, without any sign of nervousness.

"You all go down."

Prince Jing is a bit absurd on weekdays, but he also has the dignity of a royal family.

He did not treat himself as a guest at all. Instead, he waved his hand and asked all the idlers in the Queen Mother's bedroom to leave.

"Mother! Mother! Are you awake?"

Prince Jing was not young anymore, but he still walked towards the Queen Mother's bed with a playful smile on his face.

"You bastard, what are you doing here yelling so early in the morning?"

Although the Queen Mother was blaming him, she couldn't stop smiling. With the help of Prince Jing, she sat up and leaned against the head of the bed and said, "It's okay that you act ridiculously all day long, but why are you still like this in the palace? Besides, didn't you take away all the more valuable flowers and plants in my back garden?"

"Mother, I did not come to the palace today to destroy your flowers and plants!"

Without waiting for the Queen Mother to say anything else, Prince Jing opened up and reiterated all the major and minor events that had happened in Kyoto recently.

The Queen Mother's smile faded a little, and she asked, "I have heard of what you said. What's the big deal?"

"Mother, my dear mother! Is Fan Xian really my nephew?"

The Queen Mother frowned, looked at her startled son with some displeasure and said, "Why don't you go ask your brother if you want to know something?"

"How dare I say that!" Prince Jing seemed to have thought of something, and shuddered violently, his expression also changed for a moment. "Judging from your reaction, it must be true! When did you know about it, and why did you keep it from me before?"

Prince Jing has a very good relationship with Fan Xian. They seem to have a vague sense of sympathy for each other. Prince Jing had this feeling before he knew Fan Xian's true identity.

He did show to others that he was fascinated by flowers and gardening, but who wouldn't get annoyed after looking at these things for so many years?

Perhaps only Fan Xian can understand his mood.

And a few days ago he unexpectedly learned that Fan Xian was his own nephew, which made him happy but more worried.

He understood what kind of person his brother was. To say that he was heartless and ungrateful was a compliment. Cold-blooded and ruthless was his nature. After Fan Xian's true identity was exposed, not only did all the forces not tolerate him, but even Emperor Qing...

Which three types of people does Emperor Qing trust most?

The first is Hong Sixiang, an absolutely loyal servant. More often than not, Emperor Qing not only trusts Hong Sixiang, but also respects him. Whenever he has something important to entrust Hong Sixiang with, Emperor Qing will always call him "you", which is completely the humble attitude of a younger generation to an elder.

Of course, facing this level of treatment, Hong Sixiang gave his life to Emperor Qing and was eventually killed by Li An.

The second type is a stupid, irritable, and incompetent useless person like the queen.

Because he had a sense of superiority towards the queen, like a creature with high IQ over a creature with low IQ, he developed a feeling of "I believe you are absolutely no threat to me". Since she was no threat to him, he could naturally trust her.

In Chen Pingping's words, there is no one more stupid than the Queen in the entire Nanqing Palace. The most important thing is that the Queen is the most easily exploitable tool.

When Emperor Qing set up a plan to assassinate Ye Qingmei, the Empress Dowager and the Empress were provoked by Emperor Qing intentionally or unintentionally, and their hatred for Ye Qingmei immediately reached the maximum. Then, after Emperor Qing led Chen Pingping, Fan Jian and Wu Zhu away from Taiping Villa, the Empress Dowager and the Empress's relatives immediately rushed to Taiping Villa with knives and killed Ye Qingmei, who was weak after giving birth.

After Emperor Qing returned, he pretended to avenge Ye Qingmei and killed all the members of the Queen's family, leaving only one or two people. Not only did he show his magnanimous spirit as an emperor to the outside world, but he also eliminated the largest foreign relative force.

In order to consolidate his imperial power, he played power politics with great clarity.

The Queen suffered a loss and had no place to complain. After all, all this was a conspiracy secretly promoted by Emperor Qing, who took advantage of his low IQ. The Queen was used as a cannon fodder without knowing it, and lived in fear all day long. She could only pin all her hopes on the Crown Prince, hoping that when the throne was handed over in the future, she could also be proud to be the Queen Mother.

The third type is someone like Prince Jing who can handle things clearly.

He can see everything clearly. You can say that he is afraid to resist or that he is trying to save himself in order to accumulate strength. In short, only by surviving can he have everything, right?

It is said that smart people who choose to give in are actually safer than stupid people.

"I only found out about it not long ago. I used to feel a little strange when looking at Fan Xian." The Queen Mother did not say the word "hate". Now that Fan Xian has become Lin Wan'er's husband, it would be inappropriate to say those words again.

"I have another matter to attend to in the palace today, which is the Fan Mansion."

"If you are here to plead for Fan Jian, you are too late. His Majesty does not intend to pursue the matter any further."

Prince Jing heaved a sigh of relief when he heard this, then thought of something else and asked, "What about Fan Xian?"

"It will be the same after what happened before."

The conversation between the two was somewhat confusing, and it was unclear whether it was Emperor Qing's opinion of Fan Xian or the Queen Mother's opinion of Fan Xian.

The Queen Mother's slightly cold words startled Prince Jing. No matter what, Fan Xian was the Queen Mother's grandson. Was she going to treat him like this just because of that deceased woman?

The Queen Mother's meaning was very clear, just like when Fan Xian first entered Kyoto. After all, the Fan family had done a lot for the royal family, and it would not be good to treat them unfairly.

"The other grandchildren were all involved in the Ministry of Revenue this time, and they did something really bad. You don't have to go to the palace every day. Fan Xian's last name is Fan after all. Now the Overwatch Council and the Imperial Household Department are interested in him. Acknowledging his identity is harming him!"

The Queen Mother is old and doesn't want to think too much.

But she had no say on what the eldest princess would do.

I'm not in the right state of mind. I'll write it during the day tomorrow.

I won’t mention their names one by one here, thank you readers for your support.

Chapter 238 The princes join forces.

That night, the Queen Mother scolded the Crown Prince in the Hanguang Palace. Her words were cold and without any warmth, but there was still concern in her words. She said that His Majesty was already furious because of the previous incident, and the Queen Mother could block all this anger for the Crown Prince.

After that, he ordered his men to bring various properties worth four hundred thousand taels and asked him to balance the accounts of the Ministry of Revenue.

From now on, no matter for the sake of the status of crown prince or the dignity of the royal family, she can never act like this again. After all, she can protect him once, but she can't protect him forever.

The prince lowered his head and thought about Fan Xian's true identity. Everything that happened after he entered Kyoto was a complete disgrace to himself.

Today's reprimand by the Empress Dowager and the situation that angered his father were also due to the design of Fan Jian from the Fan Mansion. From then on, he began to resent the Minister of Revenue.

The Second Prince has been well behaved recently. It seems that the main enemy at present is the Fan family!

No matter if he ascends the throne or Fan Xian has the last laugh, it is impossible for him to let the other party go. Not to mention the previous conflicts, even the matter of the Ye family and the persecution of Ye Qingmei by the Queen are irreconcilable blood feuds. Fan Xian will never give up the power in his hands. As for the support of the prince to ascend the throne, the Fan family can even think about it.

"The Queen Mother is right. I will go down and clear this matter up right away. I will never do it again!"

Seeing that the Queen Mother had closed her eyes and started to doze off, the Crown Prince bowed and said, "Then I will leave first. I hope the Queen Mother can rest early and take care of herself."

The prince silently took a few steps back facing the Queen Mother, then turned around and galloped away.

When he left Hanguang Palace and was on his way to the East Palace, he could not wait to call his confidant and told him to do something: "Send a message to the Second Prince and invite him to the East Palace for a gathering tomorrow."

Just when his men were about to leave and pass on the message, the Second Prince's men arrived and brought the Second Prince's proposal - to gather on the Liujing River at noon tomorrow!

The prince was stunned at first, but after thinking for a moment he laughed, agreed to the proposal, said he would definitely come, and then waved the visitor away.

Seeing the back of the person who came to deliver the message, the prince sneered, but his heart was full of jealousy.

This man looked strong and powerful, his steps were steady and of consistent rhythm. Besides being a master, he was also a member of the military!

"My second brother is really lucky. He has many skilled warriors under him. The eight generals before are now soldiers in the army!"

Previously, the crown prince had been quite resentful of the Second Prince's marriage to the Ye family, which had given him such a huge boost for nothing. But when Ye Liuyun got into trouble, the crown prince could only feel relieved.

Now both of them are wise people. If they want to deal with Fan Xian, relying solely on their own strength is not enough.

The Crown Prince and the Second Prince must put aside their past grudges and join forces to defeat and kill the bastard from Danzhou!

As for who will sit on that chair next, the Crown Prince and the Second Prince will have a real fight with real swords and guns.

Winning or losing is another matter, but at the very least, Fan Xian must not be allowed to sit on that chair.

The next day, it was a rare sunny day.

The Liujing River is still crowded with people at this time. Although it is late autumn, the women on the pleasure boats are still dressed in thin clothes, shining with color and full of passion.

When the prince arrived, the servants who had been waiting outside led him to a flower boat. At the bow, the second prince had a subtle smile on his face.

"It's rare. It's been many years since we brothers have been able to drink and chat happily together."

"How could I not come if my second brother invited me? But the situation is unpredictable now, so we still have to prepare for the rainy day."

"Hey? Today we are only talking about romance, nothing else! Please!"

Although the prince was usually a little dull, fortunately the elite education that the royal family had received over the years took effect and he stopped talking instantly.

The two of them walked into the flower boat, drinking and chatting happily, it was very lively.

It can be seen that the prince had made a lot of preparations when he came, and with the opportunity handed over by the second prince, everything went smoothly. The two of them seemed to have put aside their past grudges, as if no unpleasantness had ever happened between them before.

Just like that, with complete tacit understanding, the two seemed to have reached some kind of agreement.

Even though things were going so smoothly, when the two of them looked at each other inadvertently, they could still see a hint of worry and uneasiness in each other's eyes.

The power in Fan Xian's hands is too strong!

If you think about it carefully, his power is the strongest in Kyoto, and on the surface, he is only second to Emperor Qing!

Peace and tenderness filled the space between the two brothers, but underneath, each of them had his own agenda.

However, when the banquet was coming to an end, the prince lost his temper and said something to break the peace: "I will not care about what happened before, but before I deal with Fan Xian, please stop trying to win over the people around me."

Hearing this, the Second Prince's expression quickly turned cold, and he even stopped pretending.

"He Zongwei is now valued by His Majesty and has been promoted to the position of Left Censor-in-Chief. Although he was your subordinate before, he is only interested in fame and fortune and is actually a slave of three surnames."

From what he said, the second prince did not admit that he was the one who did it.

As for the Ministry of Rites and the prince's close ministers, they were actually controlled by the eldest princess.

"So, he is not the princess's man either?"