Chapter 608
Fan Xian had been in the royal study for a long time . At the beginning, he chose the most important matter to talk about: the situation in Xiliang Road, as well as how much of the plan the Emperor had the Overwatch Council prepare . Fan Xian spoke with assurance and composure . The Emperor listened quietly . There was not a trace of dissatisfaction on his face . He even offered some rare consolingly words and said that Fan Xian had worked hard .
Feeling that the environment was good, Fan Xian's mind spun . He used the opportunity to say a few idle things concerning the Great Prince taking on a Secondary fei . The gist of these words were completely different to what he discussed with the prince . He directly used his words to humiliate the young lady of the Wang family and, at the same time, expressed his strong unwillingness, as an official, to be involved in the matters of the royal family .
Just as Fan Xian expected, the moment the Emperor heard these words, he flew into a rage and reprimanded him strongly . He highlighted Fan Xian's role as an official of the Taichang Temple and said a few ruthless things on the matter of the Great Prince taking a Secondary fei . This storm of anger did not make Fan Xian develop any fear . He had interacted with this unfathomable old Emperor for a long time . Although he was still unable to see the deepest reaches of his heart, he at least thoroughly understood his nature and preferences . As long as he reprimanded loudly and energetically, it often meant that the matter was not serious .
As expected, Fan Xian took the opportunity to raise the suggestion that since he was an official of the Taichang Temple and the Emperor also wanted to give the young lady of the Wang family to the Great Prince, he had to think of the face of the royal family . Should he not teach the young lady some things? These things were usually done by old nannies in the Palace . For Fan Xian, a young man, to steal this work couldn't help but be funny . The Emperor had not smiled . He directly told Fan Xian to not meddle in other people's business, but he also didn't get angry .
The Emperor probably already knew of what happened in front of the manor and had long guessed what benefit his favorite son had hoped to achieve in firmly opposing it at the beginning .
Just as Fan Xian's heart was settling, he heard the words, "Zhaoshang money house . "
These four words were like a deep brand, immediately burning his heart and making him put his head down . He remained silent .
He knew why the Emperor would choose now to have him explain the Zhaoshang money house . During these two years, he had gotten used to these sudden claps of thunder .
If the skin on his face was not thick enough, he would have long been charred crisp on the outside by the thunder these two years
This is what is called a difficult to gauge imperial heart, right? Fan Xian thought to himself . Although the Emperor's favor of him could not grow further and allowed him to act freely and arrogantly in the Qing court, he still didn't forget to knock him sometimes .
This was a knock from the ruler on the person closest to him to wake him up so that he didn't get carried away and hurt the affection between ruler and official, or father and son . Ever since the Jingdou rebellion, every time Fan Xian performed a great service for the court or when the Emperor gave him a hefty reward, the Emperor would always lightly throw out some matter or name to scare Fan Xian to have him understand his place .
In court, the stick that the Emperor used to knock Fan Xian with was He Zongwei and his group of officials . The thunder that cracked down on him in private were about the things Fan Xian did in secret .
Counting carefully, the matters that had served as the Emperor's clap of thunder these two years included Xia Mingji's inside information, Xia Qifei's relationship to the Jiangnan water bandits, Fan Sizhe's smuggling in the North, the first strike concerning Xu Maocai's impure intentions, why Thirteenth Wang had given his support to Fan Xian, and so on and so forth .
Each clap of thunder struck right on Fan Xian's heart and left him cold all over . It seemed that he had no secrets in front of the Emperor . If these crimes were truly exposed, they would al result in beheading . He knew the Emperor would not use these crimes to deal with him . He was just reminding him . Even though it was so, he still felt cold all over . He felt that the Grandmaster Emperor on the dragon bed would be able to swallow him with a casual breath .
Fortunately, Fan Xian was also not a normal official . Faced with the wrath of the Emperor, his way of dealing with it was absolutely unique . Relying just on his thick skin, he admitted to all the crimes he had to but continued to do what needed to be done . In any case, the Emperor didn't want to kill him, so he continued to go on in this way .
He couldn't go on now because Zhaoshang money house was too important for Fan Xian . No matter if it was the Overwatch Council's use, the silver moved for the repair of the riverbanks, the Hangzhou Conference charity events that Wan'er organized, or even the luxurious lives of his entire family and the Chen Garden, they all came from Zhaoshang money house's income .
Most importantly, Zhaoshang money house had once hidden millions of silver that belonged to the little Northern Qi Emperor . Once that was known, the crime of being a traitor would never be hidden, no matter how much Fan Xian played the filial son and howled mournfully .
A few lines of cold sweat slid down his back . When he had dealt with that fearless dead pig of a Ming Master three years ago, the Zhaoshang money house had been forced to take the front stage . He had guessed the matter would draw the Emperor's suspicions . The Ministry of Revenue had not moved this much silver . The Emperor would certainly wonder where the silver from the money house had come from .
For the sake of this secret, Fan Xian had done a lot of work and confirmed that the Northern accounts were completely clean . In the past, the Emperor had also asked where Zhaoshang money house's money had come from . At that time, Fan Xian had used the most famous rumor in the world to muddle through . Everyone thought the secret stockholder of the Zhaoshang money house was the then-Commander of the Northern Qi Brocade Guards, Shen Zhong, and the money was his secret wealth that he had saved over decades .
Now, the Emperor had asked him to his face and had also mentioned the young lady of the Shen family who had been married to Yan Bingyun for less than three months . He was warning Fan Xian that the young lady had long been in his control, but the Emperor had also been watching her . He couldn't use the bullsh*t excuse of the inheritance of the Shen family .
Two more beads of cold sweat rolled down Fan Xian's back . However, it was already late autumn and early winter . Although there was a fire burning in the royal study, it was still cold . His official robes were very thick, so the marks couldn't be seen . His face was still valiantly maintaining a calm expression as he said, "Your Majesty, what is there to explain?"
The Emperor's expression darkened . He didn't like the fact that this kid was trying to muddle his way through such a private conversation .
He had no idea that Fan Xian's heart was drumming at the moment . Fan Xian wondered secretly if the little Emperor in the North held a grudge against him for the Northern Qi spies he had killed in Xiliang Road . Had he tossed out this secret, using the Qing Emperor's hand to kill him? Did Northern Qi hate him so much to pay such a price to get rid of him?
It became impossible for Fan Xian's expression to remain calm . Sweat beaded slightly on his forehead . He thought to himself that the strange Northern Qi creature dared to abandon a knife, would he abandon a money house?
He glanced around and saw the clearly unhappy expression on the Emperor's face . Seeing this unhappiness, Fan Xian's heart leaped for joy .
If the Emperor truly had the inside information about this matter and was going to bring him down, given his sophisticated cultivation and state of mind, how could he be so "sincerely" unhappy?
Fan Xian smiled awkwardly and coughed, "The Zhaoshang money house's first cache of silver was indeed not the treasure of the Shen family . It was my own secret stash of money . "
This answer was very clever .
If a common official had heard these words, he would curse Fan Xian for being shameless and disgusting . Zhaoshang money house had started with millions of silver as capital, who had so a large secret stash of money? When the Emperor heard these words, he revealed an understanding expression . Lightly, he said, "Indeed it is so . When did Lao Wu give this money to you?"
Fan Xian laughed uncomfortably and then respectfully replied, "Before I went to Jiangnan, Uncle Wu Zhu knew I needed money . "
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