Chapter 253 Fan Shu
When Fan Shu heard Chi Yuan's question, his eyelids trembled, and then he slowly opened his eyes.
He looked at the ground, his lips tightly pursed, and he was reluctant to speak, his expression changing constantly.
This person is really strange. Since he is a descendant of the Fan family, he should be very anxious to take revenge. Why doesn't he say anything now?
Chi Yuan pressed the issue, "When the princess arrived in Yangzhou, you secretly spread rumors about Yu Liang, confident that the princess would investigate, right?"
Fan Shu remained silent.
The look of wanting to say something but hesitating made Qu Ling furious.
"Since you don't want to talk about it, then forget it," Qu Ling stood up and said in a cold and hard tone, "Kill him."
She turned and was about to leave.
Fan Shu finally lost his temper and shouted, "I haven't committed any serious crime, why does the princess want to kill me?"
"You seduced a married woman, and according to the law you should be caned and exiled. You also secretly spread rumors, intending to frame an official of the court. Sparing your body intact is already a gesture of kindness on my part."
She waved her hand, and the guards immediately drew their swords and stepped forward.
Fan Shu panicked and shouted, "I admit to seducing Li Niang, but I absolutely did not frame Yu Liang. He deserves to die!"
"Why don't you tell me when I ask you? Are you waiting for me and the prince to coax you into telling me? Or do you want to sit back and reap the benefits, waiting for us to bring Yu Liang to justice while you walk away clean?"
Fan Shu stammered and was speechless.
Qu Ling gave Su Shang a look.
Su Shang stepped forward, grabbed Fan Shu by the back of his collar, and threw him heavily at Qu Ling's feet.
Qu Ling looked down at him condescendingly, her voice as cold as ice. "Have you thought it through? I'll only give you one chance. If you don't speak, from now on, forget it forever."
Fan Shu's back ached from the fall, but he gritted his teeth and looked up, a hint of stubbornness flashing in his eyes. "How do I know if you will go along with Yu Liang?"
Qu Ling raised his eyebrows, "Then what do you want?"
"Please, Princess, take me to the capital to meet His Majesty!" Fan Shu's voice suddenly rose. "I am willing to report everything truthfully before His Majesty!"
The room fell into deathly silence.
Pei Jingming couldn't help but sneer.
This person can lurk beside Yu Liang, so he should be a smart person. Why would he say such things at this time?
Qu Ling had not expected him to make such a request. A hint of surprise flashed across his eyes, then turned into a strong mockery.
"Forget it," Qu Ling held his forehead, "I'll give you a chance."
Fan Shu was very happy.
Unexpectedly, Qu Ling said next, "Push him out first and give him thirty beatings. It won't be that easy to file a complaint in front of the emperor."
Two guards dragged Fan Shu out, one on each side. The other men in the room were so scared that they hugged each other and trembled.
Why is this princess so scary?
He wants to kill people as soon as he opens his mouth.
So many people have died since she came to Yangzhou.
"I say, I say..."
Fan Shu was dragged out and was in a state of panic.
If he is beaten with thirty sticks, he will lose his life, not to mention meeting His Majesty.
"Since you want to say it, then say it nicely." This time it was Chi Yuan who spoke.
Fan Shu was thrown in front of Chi Yuan and didn't dare to play tricks anymore. "Where do you want to start?"
"First, tell me why you insist on seeing His Majesty before you speak."
Chi Yuan kindly reminded him, "It's better not to lie in front of the princess and the prince."
Fan Shu opened his mouth and accepted his fate. "Only by meeting His Majesty can I implore His Majesty to return the grain transport business to the Fan family. Only by meeting His Majesty and returning to Yangzhou can I revive the Fan family's reputation."
He was very unwilling, or rather, very greedy.
After being captured, Fan Shu was not afraid.
Prince Rui must have found out a lot of things since he was able to find him outside the governor's mansion.
Revenge was about to succeed, and Fan Shu wanted more.
If he had just been arrested, he would definitely tell everything.
After one night, he became greedy.
Chi Yuan said, "After so many years, the canal transport business has long since fallen into the hands of others."
"That was originally my home!"
Fan Shu was very excited.
"If Yu Liang hadn't framed Lord Lu, the grain transport business would never have fallen into the hands of others."
So what's wrong with him coming back?
Chi Yuan said, "Your Fan family was able to get the canal transport business because of your close relationship with Lu Yuan. If Lu Yuan hadn't been in charge of the canal transport at the time, this business wouldn't have fallen into your family's hands."
"Grain transport has always been controlled by the imperial court, and then the business was divided among merchants. When did it become your Fan family's?"
"Does that mean my Fan family deserves to die? The business was allocated by the imperial court, so how could it have earned hatred and ended up with the tragic death of the entire family?"
Fan Shu's eyes were red and his voice was trembling.
Chi Yuan was very patient, "So the princess and the prince want to get to the bottom of this matter, right?"
"Since you know everything, why don't you tell me? The Fan family is not wrong, and you are not wrong to want to revive the Fan family, but the first thing you should do is to avenge the Fan family, instead of using this matter to threaten the princess."
"Fan Shu, we have to do things one by one, understand?"
Chi Yuan's voice was not loud, and there was no anger in it. He just spoke patiently.
In Fan Shu's eyes, his kindness was obviously completely different from that of the two Rakshasas beside him.
As Chi Yuan comforted him, Fan Shu burst into tears.
Qu Ling didn't say anything unpleasant this time and sat down again.
Fan Shu cried for a while before telling his story.
After the death of Lu Yuan, the former governor of Yangzhou, the canal transport business soon collapsed.
That's nothing.
The Fan family was forced to survive in Yangzhou.
Mr. Fan prepared to take his whole family away from Yangzhou and return to his ancestral home.
But he was robbed and killed on the way.
The whole family was killed, and he was the only one who survived.
The young master of a wealthy family became a beggar overnight.
It was a good friend of his father who found him, raised him, and told him that it was all Yu Liang's fault.
He wants revenge.
After careful planning, he finally got close to Yu Liang and became his advisor.
He worked tirelessly, exhausted all his energy, and even sacrificed himself to seduce his wife, just to find more clues.
Li Niang kept her mouth shut and never revealed a word about Yu Liang.
What he found was evidence of Yu Liang's bribery and corruption.
But who can I give this evidence to?
If he left Yangzhou and went to the capital to file a complaint, Yu Liang would quickly become suspicious and hunt him down.
It wasn't until the new emperor ascended the throne, something happened in Jiangnan, and Princess Jia'an was coming that Fan Shu came up with a plan.
The night Princess Jia'an first arrived in Jiangnan, Yu Liang did not want to go to greet her.
He still remembered Yu Liang's original words, "I heard that the princess had committed a crime in the capital and was exiled to Jiangnan by His Majesty, who solemnly appointed her an imperial envoy."
"Besides, she came here because of the Jiangnan students' boycott of the exam. This matter involves the Nian family. If I go to greet her with great fanfare, wouldn't that be an insult to the Nian family?"
Fan Shu actually wanted to meet Princess Jia'an.
He also found out that the princess was not a member of the royal family, but was extremely favored.
So, he advised Yu Liang, "After all, the princess has come to Jiangnan on orders. If you don't go to greet her, you'll inevitably be caught. It's better for me to go. If the princess really asks, just say that you're seriously ill and you're afraid of passing out."
Yu Liang naturally agreed.
When he arrived at the dock, he just saw the second master of the Nian family being thrown into the water.
Princess Jia'an didn't seem to care whether anyone came to greet her or not.
At that moment, Fan Shu was very disappointed.
She was not as furious as one might have imagined. It turned out that the princess was just here to avoid disaster.
Even if I give her the evidence, it will be useless.
The turning point was the drama in front of the Nian family’s door.
Princess Jia'an killed two people with a snap of her fingers.
Princess Jia'an killed someone, and the Nian family couldn't find any reason to blame her.
Fan Shu saw hope again.
What surprised him even more was that Princess Jia'an was secretly investigating Yu Liang.
Yu Liang was very corrupt, and few officials were clean.
As long as the imperial court investigates, Yu Liang will not be able to escape.
He decided to add fuel to the fire, and disguised himself and told the beggars in Huayu Lane about the bad things Yu Liang had done.
Chi Yuan asked, "Since you have evidence of Yu Liang's guilt, why don't you just present it to the princess directly? Why go through so much trouble? Isn't that just adding unnecessary steps?"
Fan Shu's Adam's apple moved, and his voice was a little bitter.
"Yu Liang is colluding with the King of Liang, and it has become common for officials to protect each other. How can I, a powerless advisor, dare to gamble?"
"Who knows whether the princess will seek justice for me or go along with them?"
He paused, "I don't know why the princess wants to investigate Yu Liang, but it's always a good idea to be more vigilant."
Before things are concluded, the most important thing is not to expose yourself.
He looked at Pei Jingming, his eyes full of confusion, "Prince, how do you know my real name? And how did you happen to catch me and Li Niang..."
A trace of embarrassment passed across his face.
Pei Jingming raised his eyebrows, "Didn't you reveal this information yourself?"
"Since I'm deliberately concealing it, how could I say something that would be detrimental to myself?"
Fan Shu immediately retorted, "I approached Li Niang to learn more about the inside story, but this is not a glorious thing. Yu Li Niang is not in a good mood either, so how could she say it out loud?"
Pei Jingming looked at the man beside him, the one who had let the cat out of the bag last night, and asked, "Where did you hear Fan Shu's real name and the scandal?"
The man was already grinning from ear to ear after hearing what Fan Shu said, and now he was even more incoherent. "I...I heard it from others. It's said in the alley that the wife of the governor and the legal advisor are close."
"We heard it too," several others echoed. "It's always been said that way, but no one dared to say it to people."
Fan Shu was completely stunned, and all the color drained from his face.
He felt a chill down his spine; it turned out that his identity and his secrets had long been passed around by word of mouth.
He dared to spread the news about Yu Liang in Yangzhou City because he chose the right time.
With the imperial examination approaching and the princess's intimidation, Yu Liang was too overwhelmed to care about the rumors on the streets.
Unexpectedly, it was because of this that he escaped a disaster.
"It seems that there is someone hidden in Yangzhou City that we don't know about."
Pei Jingming clapped his hands and laughed, "This guy is quite interesting. You spread the news to attract our attention, and he exposed your secrets."
Fan Shu was puzzled.
It is impossible for someone to know both his identity and his relationship with Li Niang.
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