Chen Pingping coughed twice and whispered, "Your Majesty, what should we do next?"

Emperor Qing glanced at him and suddenly sighed, "Do you remember what excuse the Queen Mother used to levy the Ye family?"

Chen Pingping said softly: "Treason."

"Yes." The emperor said expressionlessly, "You and Fan Jian also agreed with this proposal back then. After all, these are things left by Xiao Ye. First, they cannot be messed up, and second, they cannot be left alone. After she left, only the royal family has the ability to collect them and protect the continued operation of the Ye family's industries."

"That's right." Chen Pingping said calmly, "At the beginning, we thought that since she was already gone, she wouldn't mind any crime she was charged with. But we didn't expect that seventeen years later, it would become a bit tricky."

The emperor said coldly: "What's so difficult about it? The decree came from my mouth, and I will vindicate the Ye family. Who in the world dares to say anything?"

“No.”

Chen Pingping answered firmly.

This reaction seemed to be somewhat beyond His Majesty's expectations.

Chen Pingping continued, "Your Majesty may have sympathy for Fan Xian, but this is absolutely not allowed. After all, Your Majesty should still consider the Queen Mother's feelings."

Emperor Qing frowned and said, "...what do you think we should do?"

Chen Pingping smiled and said, "Just ignore it and let Fan Xian never admit it."

Emperor Qing sighed, "Fan Xian will inevitably feel awkward if this is handled this way. How do you expect him to cope with the situation in the court?"

Chen Pingping's expression remained unchanged: "Taking over the inner treasury and the Supervisory Council is a move made by a lone minister."

Emperor Qing laughed and scolded, "You old man, do you really want to confirm his identity and let him inherit the Supervisory Council?"

Chen Pingping also smiled and said, "The Supervisory Council is a national treasure and must be controlled by His Majesty. The position of the president must either be appointed by His Majesty himself or given to someone in the royal family. But if the prince is in power, he will inevitably have the intention of treason."

"In the whole country, only Fan Xian's identity is the most suitable..."

Emperor Qing nodded slightly, obviously agreeing with Chen Pingping's judgment.

Chen Pingping looked at his expression and suddenly asked, "But Your Majesty, the Princess..."

Emperor Qing came back to his senses and the smile on his face gradually faded.

After a moment of silence, he waved his hand and said, "Let's see what she does next!"

Chen Pingping insisted, "What if the princess comes to Your Majesty to add insult to injury?"

Emperor Qing said slowly: "Then wait until the delegation leaves and let her go back to her own fiefdom!"

Chen Pingping sat in his wheelchair and bowed with a respectful look.

He knew that expelling the eldest princess from the capital was the emperor's most severe punishment.

And this punishment was only because she secretly won over important officials of the court in the Supervisory Council. For other actions, even the subsequent betrayal of Yan Bingyun, she was only scolded by the emperor at most.

This is the royal family, the high and mighty Tianlong people of Qing Kingdom.

Just as Chen Pingping was mocking him in his heart, Emperor Qing glanced at him and suddenly smiled bitterly, "I have had a glorious life, but I never expected that I would become a real lonely man in my prime. Apart from you and Brother Jian, I can't find anyone I can completely trust."

“…”

Chen Pingping was stunned for a moment, and just when he was about to say something, Emperor Qing waved his sleeves.

"Go ahead. Zhuge betrayed the Supervisory Council and deserves death. Go and deal with him..."

"Your Majesty... obeys your order!"

Chen Pingping bowed and said yes. The eunuch Hou who was waiting on the side immediately came forward, pushed the wheelchair and turned to leave.

But when he turned around, a hint of coldness and murderous intent flashed in the deepest part of Chen Pingping's eyes.

...Trust?

Xiao Ye also trusted you back then, but what was the result?

Your Majesty, trust can lead people into the abyss...

…

…

At the same time, Fan Xian was happy to see the news spread, but he pretended to be secretive on the surface and no longer went back and forth between Fan Mansion and the bookstore as frequently as he had in the past few days.

Fan Xian stayed indoors and did not go out, but the rumors in Kyoto became more and more intense.

Some people even secretly spread the rumor that Young Master Fan was actually the biological child of the emperor and the mistress of the Ye family, but because of his illegitimate status, it was inconvenient for him to enter the royal family, so he was fostered in the home of Minister Fan.

There is no doubt that this is also the work of the Supervisory Yuan.

But the eldest princess had spread the news first, so even if we investigate further, we can only put the blame on the eldest princess.

The referee, the referee, the witnesses, and the organizers are all my people.

Even your actions were instigated by me behind the scenes, how can you fight me?

Fan Xian laughed at the princess in his heart, but soon he put it out of his mind.

After all, the reason why he did this was not just to frame the eldest princess, nor did he care about the subsequent impact of the news.

Because in a few days, the situation in the capital of Qing Kingdom will change completely!

In the following days, the Honglu Temple of Qing State began negotiations with the Northern Qi delegation.

As the deputy envoy in charge of reception, Fan Xian should have been involved.

But due to the messages left over the past few days, the emperor tacitly agreed that he did not need to participate, and the Honglu Temple turned a blind eye.

At the same time, because Chen Pingping had captured Zhu Ge in advance, and the eldest princess was extremely frightened by the news that Fan Xian was the emperor's illegitimate son, she did not meet with the Northern Qi literary master Zhuang Mohan to trade as in the original novel.

She was busy dealing with the traces of the leak and didn't want the emperor to find out that it was her who did it.

Unfortunately, the emperor already knew about it and had been waiting for her to explain it herself.

But the eldest princess was hoping for a lucky break and she only greeted the emperor in normal ways when she met him several times, with no intention of surrendering herself.

The emperor was very disappointed, and finally summoned her one night. He told her with a sneer the results of the Censorate's investigation and the death of Zhu Ge, the head of a department.

The princess finally understood everything. She collapsed on the ground in a daze and was dragged back by the palace guards and put under house arrest.

The reason for the house arrest was mainly because the Northern Qi delegation had not yet left.

Once the peace talks were over and the Northern Qi delegation left Beijing, the emperor would immediately exile the eldest princess to her fiefdom.

What the emperor didn’t know was that this day might never come.

…

…

Three days later, the negotiations between the two countries gradually came to an end.

Because the eldest princess of this world did not have time to betray Yan Bingyun, the Northern Qi delegation was at a disadvantage in the negotiations. Even though they argued their case, they were ultimately forced to cede territory and pay compensation.

Emperor Qing was very pleased and ordered a banquet to be held in the palace for the envoys of the two countries.

After this banquet, the Northern Qi delegation was about to leave Beijing and return home in shame.

Because of this, Fan Xian, as the deputy envoy in charge of reception, naturally had to go to the palace for the banquet.

After all, the Honglu Temple had already written a very good political achievement for him at the emperor's instruction. Although everyone knew that this was just gilding, it still had to show up at this last moment.

At the Fan Mansion, Fan Xian packed his clothes and asked his sister Fan Ruoruo to take care of everyone in the mansion. Then he and his father Fan Jian got on a carriage and rushed to the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests located in the outer city of the imperial palace.

Inside the carriage, Fan Jian looked at Fan Xian with a complicated expression.

Ever since Fan Xian confronted him, Fan Jian has been staying at home, making it clear that he does not want to choose between Fan Xian and the emperor.

But at this moment, facing the turmoil in the city, Fan Xian still had a calm smile on his face.

Seeing this scene, Fan Jian finally couldn't help himself.

"What on earth are you going to do?"

Fan Xian smiled slightly and did not answer. Instead, he solemnly instructed: "Dad, no matter what happens at the banquet later, don't be impulsive. If you really can't help it, think about your aunt, think about Ruoruo and Sizhe, and grandma in Danzhou..."

Fan Jian was shocked and asked, "You want to challenge the emperor in front of the palace?"

Fan Xian shook his head: "It's not me, it's someone who wants to make trouble for him."

Fan Jian frowned tightly: "Who, the Heavenly Palace?"

“…”

Fan Xian sighed: "Dad, it's not that I don't want to tell you, it's just that there are some things that you can't know."

This statement was naturally Fan Xian's way of pretending to be profound.

There was no way. Everyone around him, whether it was his adoptive father Fan Jian, his fiancée Lin Wan'er, his future mother-in-law the eldest princess, or his two blood brothers the crown prince and the second prince...

These people were either his relatives or friends, or his enemies.

But no matter what their identity and position are, they have an inseparable relationship with the emperor.

If Fan Xian wanted to act according to Nie Changchuan's advice, it would inevitably make the emperor's relatives and friends sad, so Nie Changchuan suggested that he should stay out of this matter and pretend to add fuel to the fire and go with the flow.

This way, they wouldn't develop any new grudges against Fan Xian.

After that, the Fan Mansion's carriage fell silent and drove into the palace in silence.

Outside the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, there was loud music and ceremonials, big red lanterns were hung high, and guests from all over were coming and going, creating a scene of great prosperity.

The Northern Qi envoys and the Dongyi visitors were welcomed by the guests of Qing State and stepped into the long corridor with smiles on their faces. Looking at the expressions of the three parties, it seemed that the world was unusually peaceful and the wars and assassinations of the past few days had never happened.

Fan Xian and his father Fan Jian got off the carriage and blended into the crowd of officials.

After entering the main hall, Fan Xian separated from Fan Jian.

As Fan Jian was the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue and a close confidant of the emperor, he naturally had the highest seat ranking.

Fan Xian was of low rank and only served as the deputy envoy in charge of reception, so he was arranged to sit at the table in the middle.

Sitting behind a table filled with food plates and wine, Fan Xian raised his eyebrows and glanced around with a smile on his handsome face.

There were many famous people gathered in the palace, and beautiful palace maids were walking back and forth in the grand palace, serving food and wine to the guests.

Sitting on the side of the guests of honor of Qing Kingdom were many royal family members and important court officials familiar to Fan Xian, such as the crown prince and the second prince, as well as his future father-in-law, Prime Minister Lin Ruofu.

In addition, there were many department heads and some princes and nobles whom Fan Xian had never seen before.

A quick glance revealed that in the entire Qing Kingdom court, it seemed that only President Chen of the Supervisory Council was absent due to illness.

Opposite the Qing courtiers sat officials and envoys from the Northern Qi delegation and the Dongyi City delegation.

Among them are Si Gu Jian's first disciple, the ninth-rank master Yun Zhilan, and a heavyweight figure in the Northern Qi delegation, Zhuang Mohan, a literary master who is regarded as a teacher by scholars all over the world for his annotations on scriptures and countless articles.

...Very good, everyone came!

Fan Xian nodded slightly, chuckled, and picked up a glass of wine.