Volume 2 Chapter 37 The Palace

  As soon as Song Shiran spoke, everyone knew what was going on. It turned out that these people were all living in the streets of Kyoto at night, and after a round of questioning by Song Shiran, they confessed that yesterday they had seen the sedan chair of the Fan Mansion come out of the Jingwang Mansion but not return to the mansion, instead heading towards the west of the city. Then, in the middle of the night, it was secretly carried back.

  Fan Xian narrowed his eyes slightly, watching the scene with some admiration for the Guo family's ability to gather so many people who had seen him before in just half a day. Zheng Tuo saw that he was not worried at all and felt anxious, lowering his voice to say: "Later on, even if you die, don't admit it, just say these people were bought by the Guo family with money."

  Fan Xian sighed and said, "Guo Baokun was indeed beaten up. With such severe injuries, could it be just because he wanted to frame me that he spent so much money on this? It doesn't make sense in terms of reason or emotion." Zheng Tuo couldn't believe that the young master would actually take the side of his enemy and was momentarily stunned.

  At this time, Song Shiran's lips curled up with a hint of sarcasm, looking at Fan Xian: "Master Fan wasn't in the mansion last night, was he? Why did so many people in Kyoto see you and not return to the mansion? I dare ask Master Fan, what were you doing sneaking around Kyoto's streets in the middle of the night, that you needed to be so secretive?"

  Kyoto Governor Mei Zhengli frowned and looked at Fan Xian, waiting for his response.

  A dead silence reigned in the court.

  Fan Xian let out a sigh, his face showing a hint of embarrassment and a faint awkward smile as if he had been caught with a secret, and replied softly: "Last night... I spent the night at Drunken Immortal Pavilion."

  Everyone knew what the Drunken Immortal Pavilion was, and thinking that this young master had spent the night in a brothel seemed to have a reasonable explanation. The onlookers burst into laughter, and amidst the laughter, there were naturally some sarcastic remarks about Fan Xian's words. Mei Zhengli heard this explanation and let out a sigh of relief, while Song Shiren still smiled and asked, "Drunken Immortal Pavilion? Does Mr. Fan have any witnesses?"

  "The young lady can testify." Fan Xian said somewhat awkwardly.

  Song Shi-ren paused for a moment. Suddenly, he sneered and laughed: "Is that so? But... Miss Si-li"

  Today I have left Kyoto and gone to Suzhou. This matter is really too coincidental, I don't know if someone is afraid that Li Li will say something she shouldn't.

  Fan Xian raised his head, staring at Song Shi-ren. Only then did he realize that the Guo Mansion had used some means to force the girl who was in charge of the case out of Kyoto. It seemed that the other party had been prepared early on. Seeing him speechless, Song Shi-ren was calm and collected, bowing to Magistrate Mei: "The matter is now clear. Mr. Fan hit first and then gave false testimony. Please, sir, have this offender taken into custody for trial."

  Zheng Tuo, who had been quiet for a while, suddenly laughed and said: "This is indeed a grand statement. Just because my young master went out at night, should he be saddled with such a serious crime?" Song Shi-ren pressed on: "Since Master Fan did go out, may I ask why you previously told Mr. He that Master Fan stayed in the mansion all night?"

  Zheng Tuo replied, "This matter of sleeping with flowers and lodging with willows is not good to hear about, so I had no choice but to...". Song Shi-ren cut him off with a smile: "Sleeping with flowers and lodging with willows? Where are the flowers now? And where are the willows?"

  He bowed to the crowd and said loudly, "Guo Gongzi and Fan Gongzi had a dispute over their ambitions the day before yesterday. Last night, they were ambushed by bandits. At that time, Fan Xian was also present, but he claimed that Fan Gongzi did not return all night and could not explain where he went. I ask you, isn't it obvious who the real culprit is?"

  Mei Zhi Li coldly looked at the lawyer, thinking to himself that no matter how much he talked, did he really think this was an ordinary criminal case? He couldn't help but look down on this famous smooth talker a few notches. Turning his head, he asked: "Fan Xian, do you have any evidence to prove your whereabouts last night?"

  Fan Xian thought for a moment and smiled. "Actually... yesterday I was fooling around with the Crown Prince of Jing, I don't know if that counts as an alibi?"

  Since the Crown Prince has been implicated, this case is no longer worth investigating. Mei Zhili's face was black with anger as he summoned both sides to come forward and said a few words in a low voice before announcing that the case would be temporarily suspended. Fan Xian was ordered to remain in the capital for further investigation and was not allowed to leave the city. The Guo family naturally did not agree, but since the other side had such heavy evidence, they had no choice but to return to their mansion to discuss further. The onlookers among the Kyoto citizens discovered that it ended with such an uneventful conclusion, as neither the Shangshu nor the Shilang families made a big fuss before dispersing after a brief commotion.

  Fan Xian and Zheng Tu walked out of the government office, only to unexpectedly find Song Shi Ren waiting for them outside.

  "Mr. Fan." Song Shiran smiled and bowed.

  Fan Xian didn't know what he meant and returned a courtesy.

  Song Shi-ren said in a low voice, "The Guo family has a favor to me, so today I had no choice but to offend them." Fan Xian suddenly thought of something and frowned, asking, "Has Miss Si really left the capital?"

  Song Shi-ren, after leaving the public hall, looked at this noble son and appeared extremely humble, responding with a "yes". Fan Xian stared into his eyes and asked: "Was it you who did it, or was it the Guo family?" Song Shi-ren was somewhat surprised and said: "I thought it was Master Fan who sent her out of the capital... Could it be that last night you were really at Drunken Immortal's Abode?"

  Fan Xian smiled bitterly and said, "Do you really think I was the one who beat up Guo Baokun?" At this point, the case had temporarily come to a close, but both sides still spoke with some reservations. After a few words, Song Shiran turned around and got into a small soft sedan chair, leaving the Kyoto Prefecture government office.

  Fan Xian looked at him curiously and said: "You've already offended me, why bother to make amends now?"

  "Song Shiren is a clever person." Zheng Tuo smiled and shook his head, saying in a low voice: "Young Master didn't say that he was drinking flower wine with the Crown Prince of Jing at the mansion. Song Shiren played such a trick, almost scaring me to death."

  Fan Xian smiled: "Everyone knows that this is just a formality in the public hall, why be so tense?"

  Zheng Tuo shook his head and sighed: "No matter how this matter develops in the future, it's considered to have completely offended the Guo Mansion."

  "It's always going to offend someone, so it's better to choose one that can be offended and offend them once."

  "Master, your... pen name, poetic name... will probably spread throughout Kyoto within a day."

  "It is what I have always wished for, but I dare not ask."

  "Admire admire."

  "You're welcome."

  Deep within the palace, the yellow glazed tiles shone with a golden light in the sunlight. The crimson high walls gave off an inexplicable sense of oppression. In the garden behind the hall, a kind-eyed and benevolent old lady was half-closing her eyes to listen to what the female official beside her was saying. Two noblewomen were attending to her in front, with exotic fruits and vegetables scattered on the stone table. One of the noblewomen had a dignified appearance, with phoenix-like eyes and crimson lips, her eyebrows and eyes full of subtle intentions and restraint. She peeled a fruit carefully and fed it to the old lady.

  "Empress, how is it you." The old lady opened her eyes, saw that it was she who had handed over the fruit, and smiled in surprise: "Let those children do these things, you rule the harem, be a model for the world. How can you be doing such things?"

  The noble lady smiled gently and said: "This filial piety must be fulfilled no matter what."

  It turned out that this noblewoman was the empress of Qingguo today, and the old lady she served was naturally the emperor's birth mother. The honest king's consort back then is now the empress dowager, but it's unknown what identity the woman in palace attire sitting on the other side has, to be able to sit alongside the empress.

  "That's enough." The Empress Dowager softly instructed the female officials: "All of you withdraw now."

  All the palace maids retreated, leaving only two old nannies. The Empress Dowager closed her eyes for a moment and asked, "What did you think of those few poems by that Fan child I heard earlier?"

  The queen smiled and said: "Children don't understand much about the pros and cons of words, they just sound good when heard."

  The Empress smiled and said, "It's not just good. That first poem with the fisherman's emotions is nothing special, but that second one, 'Endless Sorrow in Autumn', is something that only a great talent could write... But..." Seeing the Empress stop speaking, the Queen asked curiously, "But what?"

  The empress sighed and said, "It's just that the sentence has a heavy melancholy air, and at such a young age, how can you write with such an old man's tone? I'm afraid that child is also a person of poor fortune."

  Upon hearing this, another noblewoman who had been silent suddenly burst into tears, it was unclear what had caused her such distress. The Empress quickly comforted her saying: "The Dowager only said that. If that Fan Xian is truly unfortunate, the Dowager can simply pluck some good fortune from her fingernails."

  "Give it to him, and it will be filled up."

  The empress dowager was also annoyed by her crying and said with an unhappy face: "I only gave birth to three children, the emperor doesn't need to be mentioned, Li Zhi is greedy for fun, but he knows his fate, it's you this girl, who has been crying for decades and still hasn't cried clearly, really..." After all, she was her own biological daughter, plus her daughter had a hard life with no one to rely on, so she couldn't say harsh words.

  The noble lady sobbed and said, "My child is already an unlucky person. The Emperor brother insists on marrying her to the even more unlucky child of the Fan family. What will happen in the future? If Morning's illness doesn't improve, what then?" It turned out that this extremely weak and tearful noble lady was actually the possible mother-in-law of Fan Xian, the unmarried Princess Long.

  The empress dowager finally couldn't bear it and scolded: "The root of Chen'er's illness is because you, as her mother, didn't accumulate good fortune for her. Now you still have the nerve to say such things! What about that child from the Fan family? As soon as they said they wanted to give Chen'er a lucky break, without saying another word, they brought the child back from Danzhou. Not to mention that it's also a poor and nameless child, but just because of Fan Jian's loyalty to our imperial family, you shouldn't say that the Fan family is not good enough."

  The palace maid next to her had long since withdrawn, leaving only a few old ladies standing with their hands tied, as if they hadn't heard anything.

  The empress dowager's chest heaved with rage, and the queen hastily came over to rub it. The empress dowager pushed the queen's hand away, her tone slightly calmer as she said: "Besides, Chen'er will have to marry out eventually. With her status, whoever marries into the family among the high-ranking officials and generals in court won't necessarily live a good life. What was that Fan...Fan something called?"

  The queen hastily reminded: "Fan Xian."

  "Yes, Fan Xian, you also heard it before, he's indeed a talented child, and pairing him with Chen'er wouldn't be a loss for her either." The Empress Dowager took two deep breaths and said: "Besides, the Emperor has already agreed to this marriage, what's the point of coming here to make trouble again?"