364 A Slight Change

Chapter 364: A Slight Change

Translator: Nyoi-Bo StudioEditor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

For Fan Xian, the pity was naturally for the fact that Ming Qingda did not lose his composure in front of the attack he had hidden for so long. It was admirable naturally for the same reasons.

Xia Qifei's true identity was definitely one of the best kept secrets in the world. The Ming family had no idea that the Seventh young master was still alive in this world. After being rescued by the old boss of the Jiangnan water bandits, he had become the group's leader. The Ming family even had some business interactions with the Jiangnan water bandits. If Ming Qingda knew about Xia Qifei's identity, he probably would have long thought of a way to get rid of him.

Today, faced with the ghost-like appearance of the Seventh young master, the master of the Ming family was only slightly astonished before at least recovering a superficial calm. This kind of ability to temper his emotions was indeed worthy of the leading millionaire of the Qing Kingdom, the master of a large Jiangnan family.

Although the Ming family had deep connections in Jingdou, they couldn't have known about this. Even for Fan Xian, it was after having decided this year's plans last autumn that he began to focus on the Ming family and start his research. Not until then did he find, in Jiangnan as a cohesive whole, this trace of a useful chink.

Of course, the credit for this goes to the current head of the Fourth Bureau of the Overwatch Council, Yan Bingyun, and young his ability to summarize information, analyse intelligence reports, and meticulous pursue clues. It was this somewhat always unassuming high level official of the Overwatch Council that successfully dug out Xia Qifei's most secretive identity.

Without Yan Binyun helping Fan Xian lay the foundations, this trip to Jiangnan would certainly not have succeeded so smoothly.

The Ming family forced down the shock in their hearts and silently left the door of the palace treasury's courtyard behind, walking out onto the street sealed and locked by soldiers. A carriage had arrived earlier to pick them up and drove toward the Ming Garden outside of the city. Who knew how chaotic the Ming Garden would be tonight from the news of the Seventh young master's revival, and what kind of response the Ming family will come up with.

Fan Xian stood at the entrance of the courtyard and watched with a small smile as Ming family's carriage disappeared into the dusk.

The officials and Jiangnan merchants behind him saw this scene and felt an involuntary chill run through their hearts. They felt that the slight smile at the corner of the imperial envoy's lips appeared to be unbelievably chilly and cold-blooded.

The crowd could not resist sending a glance to Xia Qifei. They still seemed unable to connect the head bandit of the Jiangnan water bandits to the Seventh young master of the Ming family, who had been considered dead for many years. They knew that with the imperial envoy as a support and the will in the rumor from many years ago concerning the massive Ming family property, there would be quite a fight in future days. Although the Ming family could completely deny everything, this matter would always become intense.

As for the Jiangnan merchants, what benefit could they obtain from this?

The heads of the Lingnan Xiong family and Quanzhou Sun family met each other's eyes. They were both thinking of the gathering that night at Jiangnan Restaurant…should one more person be invited?

However, today's cards had been revealed suddenly, and the Jiangnan merchants were at a loss for the moment. Furthermore, if they stretched out a hand to Xia Qifei now, it might be overly forward. Besides, no one knew what Xia Qifei was thinking.

Fan Xian only knew that in the action report Yan Bingyun had drafted for him for his Jiangnan trip, he recommended a split approach. Attack the Ming family and be gentle with the rest of the merchants. Xia Qifei taking all these lots had already faintly forced the Jiangnan merchants to join together to begin competing with the Ming family tomorrow for scraps. Now that Xia Qifei's questionable identity was revealed, the Jiangnan merchants should be able to smell the plot and opportunity within.

Danger and opportunity always came in a pair, and merchants have a natural ability to take risks.

Thus, Fan Xia made a hand gesture toward Xia Qifei.

He then saw Xia Qifei approach Xiong Bailing and Sun Jixiang with a slight smile. He said something quietly to them under their slightly shocked gazes. The merchants all began to laugh gently as if talking about an amusing topic. Then, the crowd dispersed and left the large street.

Fan Xian turned back and said a few words to Xue Qing and Eunuch Huang. He took another glance at Guo Zheng, then left under the protection of the Tiger Guards. As he exited, he turned his head and swept his gaze across. He saw that although Xia Qifei was not leaving in the same direction as the merchants, he was sure that there should be a chair for Xia Qifei at the Jiangnan Restaurant gathering.

…

…

The Ming family had suffered losses and was being frenziedly attacked by Fan Xian. The two representatives backing the Ming family, Eunuch Huang and Guo Zheng, did not seem agitated or to care. They smiled slightly at Governor Xue Qing and saluted him, then said a few more quiet words.

Xue Qing furrowed his brows slightly and shook his head. He placed both his hands behind his back, boarded his official sedan chair, and left.

At this moment, there was only Eunuch Huang and Guo Zheng left outside of the courtyard doors. They watched with narrowed eyes as the Jiangnan governor's sedan chair gradually made the turn before their expression immediately became uglier.

Guo Zheng said in a cold voice, "This governor does things much too carefully. What is scary about jointly signing a letter to the Emperor?"

Eunuch Huang chuckled. "Sir Guo, how many people in this world can be like you and carry righteousness on iron shoulders? Like last year in the hall of the Ministry of Justice, you were not afraid of noble power and strictly questioned Fan Xian. The Palace looks on this matter with great approval."

Guo Zheng smiled self-deprecatingly. "Don't bring that up."

Eunuch Huang calmed down and said in a quiet voice, "Xue Qing has always been deeply trusted by the Emperor. And in officialdom, he is smooth, evasive, and difficult to grasp. Fan Xian secretly having Xia Qifei come out to take the lots this time…as the Imperial Censorate, you could write of the rumors to the Emperor, but you have no way of getting actual evidence. Xue Qing would definitely not participate in this. My question earlier was only to test his attitude. As you know, the place I am looking at is not in Jiangnan."

Guo Zheng smiled slightly and said, "Naturally. Officials are forbidden from being involved in businesses. This rule of the court has been set for many years, but how many have actually followed it? Even if Xia Qifei is Fan Xian's pawn and we found solid evidence to bring to the court, the Emperor would probably just smile and be done with it. He has never cared in previous years. Now that Fan Xian is deep in royal favor, there would be even less of a problem."

Their gazes met again. Guo Zheng continued to smile and said, "Jiangnan's matter is always going to end in Jingdou. From where do you think Fan Xian got this much silver? Although we cannot investigate how the silver came to be in Jiangnan, we can still check whether or not the rooms that should be filled with silver…have now been emptied by the Fan family."

Eunuch Huang chuckled darkly and said, "The princes in the Palace also had this thought. We'll let the imperial envoy mess around in Jiangnan. In a few days, the capital is probably going to start checking the Ministry of Revenue."

…

…

Fan Xian stood in the study of the Hua Garden, leaning forward slightly to see the small hand holding the brush at the table seriously writing characters.

Among kids of this age, the Third Prince's characters were well-written. Graceful but not soft, the structure had strength yet was smooth on the outside. It concealed and did not reveal; it had strength but did not implement. Using the character to see the person, Fan Xian knew very well that this prince, who was so like his younger self with a constant shy smile on his face, was truly not a simple character. However, he was still very young, and there were many things he didn't see clearly.

Other than managing the Jiangnan matter, Fan Xian's most important work was carrying out his responsibilities as a siye of the Imperial Academy. He was responsible for the Third Prince's learning and cultivation. As for the Third Prince's learning, Xue Qi had kindly invited a famous Jiangnan scholar to give lessons to the Third Prince and had been kicked out of the door by the young master.

After Fan Xian returned to Suzhou and heard of this matter, he flew into a rage and led the Third Prince personally to the Jiangnan academy to apologize. He then coaxed the gentlemen to return to Hua Garden as tutors. Then, he locked the Third Prince in the study and viciously slapped the palm of his hand a few times.

When the ferrule landed on the palm of a hand, the sound was very crisp. Particularly when it landed on the palm of the Third Prince, the ferrule seemed more arrogant and proud.

By the time Xue Qing had heard of this matter and hurried over, the punishment had already been administered. The governor looked at the red-eyed but still obedient Third Prince and couldn't help feeling a shock in his heart. Although Fan Xian was personally appointed by the Emperor to be the prince's teacher, to actually strike out…Sir Fan junior's daring was indeed bigger than usual.

After this matter became well-known, the Jiangnan scholars uniformly showed approval that the imperial envoy was indeed worthy as the light of literary men to show such reverence for teachers and respect for learning. Fan Xian originally excellent reputation became even more beautiful.

What everyone didn't know was that Fan Xian teaching the Third Prince had nothing to do with the Emperor. It was purely because he didn't want to fail in the solemn duty Yi Guipin had entrusted to him.

"Your Highness, that's sufficient," Fan Xian said gently, looking at the Third Prince leaning on the table and writing.

"Teacher, there are still two pages left." The Third Prince turned his head in shock as if he didn't expect Fan Xian to be so gentle.

Fan Xian smiled and said, "Your palm still hurts, right? You can make up for it tomorrow. You can rest today. Go out and play."

He rubbed the Third Prince's head; this action seemed overly intimate. Even as the teacher, logically speaking, he should remain lofty and not be casual with his words or smiles.

However, the Third Prince liked this. Perhaps the children who grew up in the palace were all somewhat touch-starved, whether it was on their bodies or in their hearts. The kid scrunched his eyes into a smile and saluted before running out of the room. He ran so quickly, one wondered what fun things waited for him in the Hua Garden[JW1] .

Watching the Third Prince leave, Fan Xian's heart felt empty for some reason. He began to miss his little brother, far away in Northern Qi's Shangjing. Wang Qinian had sent a letter saying Sizhe was busy taking control of the Cui family's routes to the North with the help of the Overwatch Council. However, Seventh Ye was unable to leave the control. It was a big matter and quite a lot of hard work for a youth to deal with.

As for why the Third Prince was so excited to leave, Fan Xian also knew the reason. He had instructed the Third Prince to hang around Haitang and ask to be apprenticed under the tutelage of Tianyi Dao. With his honor as a prince, Fan Xian figured that Ku He would not object too much. Even if this did not work out, having the Third Prince learn some martial arts from Haitang to protect himself and forcefully create a student-teacher reality was actually good for everyone. A knocking sound came from outside of the study and woke Fan Xian from his thoughts. He raised his head and looked out to see Shi Chanli had his head twisted to look at the garden while his fingers were unconsciously knocking on the door.

He couldn't resist laughing and said, "Come in. What is so interesting out there?"

Shi Chanli gave a pained smile and stepped into the room. "Teacher, only you would dare to let the Third Prince learn skills from Haitang…she is, after all, the sage girl of Northern Qi…if this matter gets back to the capital, it will probably cause even more trouble."

"What trouble?" Fan Xian smiled and said. "The Emperor has instructed me to take the Third Prince down to Jiangnan. Of course, I am going to teach him well. As for such things like martial arts, Haitang is a much more appropriate choice than me."

The two did not discuss this topic further. Shi Chanli had a pained expression and said, "Yang Jimei came here again and insisted on taking me out to eat."

Yang Jimei was the largest salt merchant among the two rivers region. The Hua Garden that Fan Xian was living in was made available by him. Fan Xian was aware that this salt merchant was someone close to Xue Qing, so he always gave him some face. Hearing Shi Chanli saying this, he knew that although Yang Jimei did not obtain any benefits this year, he had great expectations for the palace treasury next year.

He smiled and said, "This garden was originally his. If he wants to come see it, of course, we cannot stop him…this is him knowing that he can't fawn on me, so he is fawning on you. Just go eat. You'll be doing business in Jiangnan in the future too, so knowing a few of these local powers will always have benefits."

"Where is he preparing to take you?" Fan Xian asked.

"Jiangnan Restaurant."

The two most prestigious restaurants were the Jiangnan Restaurant and Zhuyuan Restaurant. When Fan Xian arrived in Suzhou, the welcome party of officials, led by Xue Qing, had been set at Jiangnan Restaurant. Now that the Ming family's Zhuyuang Restaurant had been half bought and half scared into the Third Prince's hands and preparing to be turned into a branch of the Baoyue Brothel, if Yang Jimei wanted to take someone out, it would have to be the Jiangnan Restaurant. Fan Xian thought that his question was a bit unnecessary.

He muttered to himself and then said, "Today the Jiangna merchants are sure to be gathering in Jiangnan Restaurant…the Ming family needs to deal with the matter of Xia Qifei and probably will not send someone to attend. Yang Jimei insists on inviting you out today. I'm sure he wants to use this opportunity to curry favor with the royal merchants. This opportunity…you can give it to Yang Jimei. When the time comes, lead him into the banquet."

Everyone one in Suzhou knew that the shopkeeper of Baoyue Brothel, Shi Chanli, was actually Fan Xian's trusted aide. Without Shi Chanli as the middle person, the royal merchants should be very happy to accept the arrival of Yang Jimei. Of course, Fan Xian was not only returning Yang Jimei and Xue Qing a favor, he also had other arrangements.

"At the banquet, keep your ears open wide," Fan Xian said. "With the Ming family absent, those royal merchants will not avoid you. Perhaps they will purposely use your ears to tell me about their plans for tomorrow."

Shi Chanli nodded, but still felt nervous. "Should I pay particular attention to Xia Qifei?"

Having stayed in place with Fan Xian for long, the usually hard-working scholar, who read the classics, had begun to habitually look at all the world through conspiratorial lenses. This question clearly showed that he did not particularly trust Xia Qifei.

Fan Xian smiled and said, "Relax. Xia Qifei is a clever man. He wouldn't be stupid enough to betray me now; it would not be beneficial for him at all."

Shi Chanli gave an embarrassed smile and asked again, "Do you have any words you want me to bring to those Jiangnan royal merchants?"

"Hm…" Fan Xian lowered his head and thought for a while before saying, "Just say that I support them acting without reservations. Even if they lose everything this year, next year I will compensate them."

He raised his head and warned, "Of course, you have to polish it slightly. Don't say it so explicitly."

Shi Chanli took his orders and prepared to leave when he suddenly remembered a matter Yang Jimei had mysteriously brought up. "Earlier Yang Jimei said that Jiangnan has an organization called Junshang Conference. Its powers are somewhat mysterious and unknown, so please be wary."

Fan Xian thought about it and felt that Junshang Conference was a very unfamiliar name. It seemed like the case files of the Overwatch Council did not have any records. He furrowed his brows and said, "Mysterious…does not necessary mean powerful. I know now."

…

…

After Shi Chanli left, Fan Xian's forehead tightened more and more. An organization that even he had not heard of. What exactly did it represent? He gave a call.

Gao Da, who had been standing guard outside the door, strode forward into the room. Recently, Fan Xian kept less and less of the things he did from him. One reason was that he was purposely using the Tiger Guards to show honesty to the person on the dragon chair in the capital. For another, he wanted to try the four words "moving people through emotions," to see whether or not it was possible to change these powerful Tiger Guards into truly "his people."

Fan Xian furrowed his brow and said to the head of the Sixth Bureau Swordsman, whom he had Gao Da call over, "How many are there still in Suzhou?"

This question was about the number of Sixth Bureau swordsmen. The Tiger Guards the Emperor had transferred over were limited. Some needed to stay beside Fan Xian, and some needed to stay with the Third Prince; they could not be moved. The swordsmen of the Sixth Bureau of the Overwatch Council were mostly being led by the Shadow all over Jiangnan, fighting with those aces Dongyi had sent over. Thus, the people that Fan Xian could mobilize were actually limited at this time.

"The Sixth Bureau still has seven people…there are a lot of Fourth Bureau investigators stationed in Suzhou province though," The subordinate replied.

The proper boss of the Qinian Unit, Wang Qinian, was in Northern Qi. Deng Zi Yue was in Jingdou, and Su Wenmao had been left by Fan Xian in North Min, in the three workshops of the palace treasury. Thus, this person was considered Fan Xian's most direct subordinate. Coincidentally, he was also from the Sixth Bureau back in the day, so he was the most knowledgeable person in the Qinian Unit about defense.

"Don't move the Fourth Bureau people," Fan Xian sighed and said. "They are not experts in fighting and killing. If one them gets hurts and Yan Bingyun finds out that I've been misusing his people, given his personality, who knows how he will react. After returning to the capital, I'll have to suffer a scolding."

Gao Da, who was listening to the side, and the member of the Qinian Unit both laughed.

The subordinate asked with puzzlement, "Sir, what are we doing today?"

"Protecting a person," Fan Xian said. "Take the Sixth Bureau swordsmen and get over to Jiangnan Restaurant. Find Xia Qifei and tell him directly that I have give him these guards. At the same time, tell him not to be suspicious. Once the palace treasury bidding matter is concluded, I will immediately take them back."

Don't use the people you suspect, and don't suspect the people you use. Whether or not Fan Xian had placed spies around Xia Qifei, no one knew. At least on the surface, other than the few old officials from the Ministry of Revenue, the Overwatch Council did not watch Xia Qifei's every move. This was how the two sides worked together, so Fan Xian's decision today to transfer people to Xia Qifei's side needed a bit of explanation.

The subordinate furrowed his brows and said, "Sir, if everyone is shifted over, what about you and the Third Prince?"

Fan Xian glanced at Gao Da and smiled confidently. "My safety will naturally be the concern of Sir Gao Da. Your duty is to ensure that before the palace treasury bidding, Xia Qifei is not harmed in anyway."

Hearing these words, Gao Da gripped the handle of his knife and saluted.

The subordinate did not continue to ask questions. He quietly accepted his orders and prepared to open the door to make the arrangements.

Fan Xian furrowed his brows and suddenly said, "Be careful."

…

…

The old Ming matriarch's mood seemed bad today. She didn't even touch the warm and nourishing pigeon soup she had every day. She sent it back to the little kitchen. The old Ming master and young master Ming went straight to the back garden after they returned from Suzhou and had not come out since.

The various uncles and nephews from each house had also received orders. Their faces were filled with worry as they crossed the Ming Garden's beautiful corridor and passed the lake and pavilion, heading toward the matriarch's garden. The confused serving girls and servants watched as the Fourth young master, who only liked to walk birds; the Third young master, who only liked to take concubines; and the Sixth young master, who only liked to practice with the martial masters and win prizes, all walk in a rush with unhappy faces. Usually, it was rare for the Ming family to gather together all their sons, but they were all here now and there was no explanation. What important thing had happened?

In a moment, the entire Ming Garden was enveloped in a nervous and tense atmosphere.

However, things like rumors also traveled much faster than the postal system the Qing Kingdom was very proud of. Before long, all the servants in the Ming Garden knew about the shocking news. It turned out that at today's palace treasury bidding there suddenly appeared an enemy who dared oppose the Ming family, and that enemy…was actually the Seventh young master rumored to have died many years ago.

The Ming family master of the previous generation had loved Seventh young master's mother the most. In his will, he seemed to have left much of the property to the tragic fated Seventh young master.

However, all these years have passed, and the Ming family had fallen into the pocket of the eldest son. What exactly would happen now with the sudden appearance of such a person?

"Everyone calm down."

The wrinkled-faced matriarch looked coldly at the hall filled with the Ming family men and felt a great rage welling up in her heart. These men became so panicked after running into such a small matter. How could she rest easy handing such a big family business over to them?

"Sister, to suddenly have such rumors appear…it's not the children's fault they are panicked."

Sitting beside the old matriarch was a concubine of the previous Ming family master. Since she had curried favor well with the wife, she had lived. She looked at the old matriarch's face and said in a trembling voice, "If that…Xia person really is Seventh, what are we going to do?"

[JW1]"明园" Original said Ming Garden, which was a typo.