Being a father for the first time, and finding a long-lost tenderness in his wife’s lap, Fan Xian slept extremely soundly, waking up only when the sun was high in the sky. Upon waking, a contented smile still lingered at the corner of his lips.

Opening his eyes, he found Wan’er was no longer by his side. He figured she must have gone to see their daughter. He couldn’t help but rub his head and smile, thinking that now he was a father, he had to be more thoughtful and careful in his actions and considerations. Thinking this way, he cast the recent deadly strife in Kyoto to the back of his mind, and his long-gloomy mood became unusually bright.

However, the bright daylight urged him back into the perilous human world. Fan Xian sighed, casually washed up with the help of a maid, put on his official robes, and entered the flower hall. He refused to eat a proper meal, taking a bowl of bird's nest porridge into the east wing. While eating, he looked at his daughter still sleeping soundly and exchanged a few jokes with Wan’er and Si Si. After paying his respects to his father and Madam Liu, he left the residence for the Imperial Palace.

The streets of Kyoto were still filled with a somber atmosphere, but with His Majesty's safe return to the capital, the hearts of the Kyoto people were much more at ease, and there were gradually more pedestrians on the streets. Fan Xian watched this scene through the carriage window, feeling a little more at peace in his heart.

Passing through the palace gates and walking along the long corridor, he arrived at the Imperial Study. As expected, he saw the diligent Emperor, wearing only a thin coat, reading memorials. Fan Xian was slightly taken aback, saluted, and stood up, silently waiting to the side, stealing glances at the Emperor's expression.

He was surprised to see that the Emperor's lips carried an elusive smile, naturally revealing a sense of contentment, unlike the lonely appearance after the father-son fratricide yesterday. Fan Xian was a little confused, thinking that he was only happy because he had just had a precious daughter. Where did the Emperor's happiness come from?

Thinking of this, Fan Xian admired Dean Chen all the more for being summoned to the palace last night. Perhaps only that old cripple could coax His Majesty to be so happy, seemingly forgetting the tragedies that had just occurred.

The Emperor put down the memorial, looked up, and said to Fan Xian in a warm voice, "There's no court meeting today. Why did you come to the palace so early?"

With Kyoto just stabilized, the officials of the six ministries were either imprisoned, fled, injured, or dead. Everything was still under military control, with the Imperial Guards as the main force and the Kyoto Prefecture as the auxiliary, maintaining the general order of Kyoto. Naturally, it was impossible to hold a grand court meeting as usual. But Fan Xian was a little strange, thinking that the situation was so tense, and there must be countless things to deal with in the palace. Even if the Emperor wanted to strip him of his supervisory duties immediately, as a close minister, he should still come to the palace to share his worries. Did he dare to shut himself up at home and live a small life?

He cautiously replied, "The rebel army will be subdued, but there are still some unstable places. I thought carefully, and I'm afraid His Majesty might have some instructions, so I rushed to the palace."

The Emperor smiled and said, "You just had a girl, and you don't say you'll stay at home a little longer. Could it be that you're really a busybody?"

Fan Xian laughed, knowing that Chen Pingping must have told the Emperor last night, and said, "After I'm off duty, I'll go back to the residence and hold her more."

"You are not a minister of the Department of Affairs. When did I schedule you for duty?" The Emperor glared at him and said, "You're so careless after having a child. You don't look like a father at all."

Fan Xian was stunned. Only then did he understand what the Emperor meant. It seemed that he was preparing to let him go home to take care of the baby. This was what he had hoped for, but hearing the Emperor's stern criticism, he felt a little depressed. He thought to himself that when it came to being a father, although he was doing it for the first time, he must be much better than the Emperor. He didn't even look at what happened to Chen Qian and the Second Prince…

Thinking of the two brothers, he immediately thought of Chen Qian waiting for death in the Eastern Palace, while he had just had a daughter. The expression on his face began to become strange, his lips moving slightly, not knowing how to respond to the Emperor's words.

Not knowing if the Emperor saw something strange in his expression, his face also changed slightly. However, he did not give any instructions regarding the follow-up handling of the rebellion. He said faintly, "You don't need to wait in the palace today. You go back first. It's your first day being a father, so you have to put some thought into it..." After a slight pause, the Emperor suddenly turned his head, as if thinking about something. After a moment, he said slowly, "Tomorrow, have Chen bring the child into the palace for me to see."

Fan Xian quickly thanked him, and also saw that the Emperor's mood had become worse again. Receiving the decree, he quickly withdrew from the Imperial Study. As soon as he left the Imperial Study, he was stopped by Eunuch Yao. He probably also received the news of the joy in the Fan residence, and congratulated him respectfully. Fan Xian didn't have time to chat with this eunuch, so he handed over a red envelope. But suddenly he thought of something and lowered his voice to ask about how to deal with the captured eunuchs, palace maids, and inner court guards in the palace.

Although the real reckoning should be after the situation was stabilized, the handling in the palace was always much faster than outside. Even if he hadn't taken action yet, the Emperor should have drafted a plan. Fan Xian was a little worried, and took this opportunity to ask the Emperor's close eunuch.

Although he was worried, he didn't show a trace of anxiety on his face, asking as calmly as possible, pretending to be the concern of a powerful minister supervising the country. Eunuch Yao knew the identity of this young man, and even more so knew his future power, so naturally he wouldn't be suspicious, and he picked out the most important things to say.

Fan Xian originally wanted to ask about the situation in the Eastern Palace, but after thinking carefully, he closed his mouth.

After saying goodbye to Eunuch Yao, he was a little dazed, and couldn't come back to his senses for a while. What shocked him was that the Emperor's disposition of these eunuchs, palace maids, and guards was so benevolent, completely unlike what he had guessed. Not to mention Hong Zhu, the head eunuch who seemingly did nothing, even the old nanny in Han Guang Palace, the newly promoted eunuchs in the Eastern Palace, and the palace maids in Guangxin Palace, basically none of them were killed. Most of them saved their lives, and they were just preparing to send a group of people out of the palace.

Fan Xian shook his head as he walked out of the palace, thinking that the sun must have risen in the west today? How did His Majesty suddenly become such a gentle person? Suddenly, a thought flashed through his mind. Thinking of the Emperor's gloomy face last night, and then thinking of His Majesty's gentle conversation with him earlier, he couldn't help but guess whether this person, after suffering a great shock, had finally figured out something and started to accumulate blessings for himself and the descendants of the Li family's Jiangshan?

In fact, the truth was not far from his guess. The Emperor was not a person who liked to kill indiscriminately, let alone a person who liked to kill. He was just firm and harsh, and didn't mind killing people. Like the servants in the palace, they were just following the Empress Dowager's orders and were not deeply involved in the rebellion. Moreover, the Emperor didn't care about rooting out the weeds... In addition, the Crown Prince and the Second Prince's attitude of resistance through death had caused some subtle changes in the Emperor's mentality.

...

...

The next day, Fan Xian and Lin Wan'er brought the little girl into the palace. For the first time, the Emperor showed the benevolence of an elder in front of the two of them. He held the baby girl and looked at her carefully for a long time, in a very good mood. However, when the Emperor gently stroked the baby girl's eyebrows with his fingers, Fan Xian was really frightened. In Han Guang Palace, he knew how powerful the Emperor's fingers were.

But the Emperor seemed to like this girl very much, especially her eyebrows and eyes. Fan Xian looked at this scene, muttering to himself, guessing whether His Majesty was starting to recall some traces of the past again?

Just as he was thinking, the Emperor told him to take the child to the various palaces for the concubines to see, while leaving Wan'er behind. Fan Xian was slightly stunned, but said nothing and obeyed the order. Now there was no mistress in the palace, so it was naturally impossible to say anything about the rewards for the child for a while, so it was left to be dealt with later. However, when Consort Ning held the child, she said that she wanted the palace to send a nanny and a wet nurse, but Fan Xian firmly refused, which made Consort Ning and Consort Yi, who was beside her, a little puzzled.

This was originally a joyous occasion, but too many people had died in the palace recently, so it was impossible to be happy. No matter how loud Consort Ning's laughter was, it couldn't dilute the eerie atmosphere in the palace. Consort Yi was just smiling gently, while the Third Prince Li Chengping's injuries had not yet healed, but he insisted on trying to hold the child, calling her "sister" with every breath.

Fan Xian's lips curled up slightly, thinking that this kid was indeed precocious to a terrifying degree. However, the seniority seemed to be a bit off. For some reason, he thought of his sister and Si Zhe, who were far away in Northern Qi. The incident at Mount Dong involved three countries, and Ku He was bound to die. He didn't know if they would have any problems over there.

Not staying for long, Fan Xian carried the child out, entered the Imperial Study to pick up his wife, and bid farewell to His Majesty to return home. The Emperor pondered slightly and then agreed, saying that the matter of giving a name would be discussed later. Fan Xian knew that His Majesty was busy dealing with the court affairs after the rebellion these days, and he was a little surprised that he still remembered these small matters.

After leaving the palace, Fan Xian didn't ask Wan'er what His Majesty had left her behind to say. But looking at his wife's red and swollen eyes again, he knew that this conversation between the uncle and niece was undoubtedly related to the Princess and the deaths of those two.

...

...

In the following month, under the Emperor's strong consolidation, the six ministries, three courts, and three divisions of the court gradually returned to the right track. The remnants of the rebel army scattered in the four fields were also completely wiped out. Ye Zhong led his army back in triumph, and the whole situation had been stabilized. Kyoto returned to peace, and the atmosphere of this rebellion finally gradually faded.

But Fan Xian resigned from his supervisory duties early in the morning, returning His Majesty's seal of office on the night of the imperial carriage's return to the capital. Although whether he resigned or not, no one regarded him as a supervisor now, who knew whether the mistakes made in these small places would cause great disasters in the future. Delaying it by one day meant one more day of risk.

He still returned to being the director of the Supervisory Council and the transfer envoy of the Inner Treasury, no longer having to worry about the problems in the court. The court affairs were naturally handled by the two Grand Academicians leading a group of civil servants, and the military affairs were naturally handled by the Privy Council. Neither had anything to do with him. In this way, apart from Yan Bingyun occasionally coming to the residence to report on his errands, and Su Wenmao and Xia Qifei from Jiangnan sending the court reports on time, there was nothing else that needed his concern.

However, there were some episodes in the middle. For example, Fan Xian didn't ask a word about how Young Master Yan survived. He didn't even want to go to the Supervisory Council now, let alone ask those troublesome questions. On the contrary, Xia Qifei said in a letter that Master Ming in Jiangnan had committed suicide after learning of the Princess's failure, which made Fan Xian sigh for a while.

Ming Qingda had finally died. Thinking of how he had fought with this old man in Jiangnan for a long time, he didn't expect him to die like this. Fan Xian couldn't help but feel a little lost, thinking that when the old man hanged himself, he might have really used the white scarf that he had given him.

Perhaps he was tired from the series of events in Kyoto, or perhaps the old injuries had been lingering, Fan Xian was really sick for a while. After recovering from his illness, he just stayed at home holding his child, coaxing his wife, being filial to his father, hiding in a small building and becoming one, not caring about the southeast, northwest wind outside the building, and enjoying family happiness.

Kyoto gradually calmed down, and the officials who had survived began to return to their usual scheming days after their minds had settled down. Everyone knew that the young Master Fan, who had made great contributions in suppressing the rebellion in the past month, rarely entered the palace, but just stayed at home to take care of his child. They couldn't help but be puzzled. Some self-righteous people thought that His Majesty had some other thoughts, but later news gradually came from the palace, saying that the Emperor loved the little girl from Master Fan's family very much, and that Master Fan's month of recuperation was also a grace given by His Majesty.

So everyone knew what they should do.

The Empress Dowager had just passed away, and the entire capital was dressed in white. All entertainment and pastimes were suspended according to etiquette, and even the restaurants had to be closed for a month. The Fan residence had a joyous event, so naturally it couldn't be celebrated in a big way. They didn't even dare to hang a red lantern at the door, so there was no sign of joy at all. However, every day at dusk, some officials would secretly enter the Fan residence, leave gifts, and leave without saying a word.

The Fan family, father and son, silently accepted the gifts, but they were too lazy to pay attention to the things that the officials had entrusted to them. They knew why those officials had to risk giving gifts and pulling strings during such a serious and tense time—after the rebellion was suppressed, a large number of officials who had followed the Crown Prince, the Second Prince, and the Princess in the past were taken down and imprisoned in the Supervisory Council's prison. And some officials who had not taken a firm enough stand in Kyoto were also kicked out of the government offices by the Emperor with a single stroke of his pen. The entire six ministries, plus the Dongshan and Jiangnan roads in the east, had a few hundred positions suddenly vacated.

Cats love fish, dogs love shit, and officials of course love official positions the most. These hundreds of positions made their eyes red, and they couldn't care about too much. The changes in the palace were too great, and many of the old connections had been broken. Most people had no connection with the Dingzhou army, and no one dared to give gifts to the cold-faced First Prince. It just so happened that Master Fan's birth of a daughter gave them a great opportunity to give gifts, so they naturally couldn't miss it.

A month later, Kyoto was finally stable. The Department of Affairs drew up a list of the vacant positions in the various ministries, temples, courts, and the two southeastern roads, and filled many of them with officials on the waiting list from the spring exams that year. Most of them were still kind and capable people. Those officials who had their names written on the list were overjoyed, thinking that the gifts they had given to the Fan residence had worked. Those who were not selected were secretly annoyed, thinking that the money they had prepared at home was too little, and Master Fan really didn't like it.

On that day, Fan Xian held his child, lowered his head to tease the little girl's tender red lips, and said to his father, "I didn't say a word."

Minister Fan took a sip of sour plum juice and said with a smile, "I'm about to resign from my official position. Who has the patience to go to the palace and say it?"

"Little Flower, Little Flower..." Fan Xian smiled at his father, then lowered his head again to coax his child. He had been holding the girl every day this month, and he really loved her more and more.

Minister Fan glanced at him and suddenly said, "Although His Majesty has given you an order to recuperate, you have also been recuperating for a month. You haven't gone to the Supervisory Council's office even once... What are you hiding from?"

Fan Jian's heart was shocked, afraid that his father would see through his thoughts, and said with a smile, "I'll hide when I can. After marrying Wan'er, except for the time I was injured at the Suspended Temple, I haven't had such a leisure time."

Mentioning the Suspended Temple, the corner of his lips trembled slightly, but he didn't let his father notice.

In fact, he had been hiding in the residence for the past month, refusing to go to the Supervisory Council, for only one reason—he was very afraid of meeting Chen Pingping. If he really met Chen Pingping, he was afraid that he couldn't help but ask him something, to verify something. Although the old cripple would still choose silence and severance out of love for him, if the old and young really met, how should they get along? There were many things that the Emperor didn't understand, but Fan Xian gradually saw clearly. The clearer he saw, the colder and more worried he became.

He spent these leisure days in such a way. The autumn in Kyoto became more and more intense, the weather became colder and colder, Kyoto became more and more stable, and the palace became more and more peaceful. Most of the eunuchs and palace maids survived and continued to serve people. Dai Gonggong, who had been reinstated, secretly spread the word that some of the people Master Fan had asked about were alive and some were dead. He was also very touched and said that only Master Fan in the world would take care of these poor people so much, and he also thought of how he was back then, and so on...

Asking about some names was actually just a guise. Fan Xian just wanted to finally confirm Hong Zhu's disposition. However, another piece of news that Dai Gonggong said made his expression freeze.

Tomorrow, the palace would issue an imperial edict.

Fan Xian knew very well what the imperial edict said. The Emperor's purpose in offering sacrifices to heaven was to depose the Crown Prince, and the issuance of this imperial edict finally proved one thing—the one in the Eastern Palace was already... Perhaps that person had been gone for many days, but no one knew. Fan Xian lowered his head, drank his tea, and didn't say a word. The expression on his face was not sad, but calm to the point of being frightening.

Lin Wan'er looked at his expression and knew what this guy was thinking. She asked carefully, "What's wrong?"

"I'm going to enter the palace tomorrow," Fan Xian said to her softly, "I have something to report to His Majesty."

Lin Wan'er looked at him worriedly.

Fan Xian comforted her, "It's nothing serious. I just promised someone something."

There were a total of more than 340 Kyoto officials involved in the rebellion. Including their subordinates, confidants, and family members, His Majesty had arrested a total of 4,000 people this time. The Supervisory Council's prison was already full, and the Ministry of Justice and the Court of Justice were also filled with people. In the end, even the West Study Hall of the Imperial Academy was emptied and used to hold prisoners.

According to Qing law, those who commit treason would have their nine generations exterminated. Even if there were cases of leniency, I'm afraid that two or three thousand heads would be cut off.

Fan Xian shook his head with a wry smile, thinking that if it were the him of that year, perhaps those two or three thousand heads would be cut off and it would have nothing to do with him? But... living to this day, he had already understood some principles. At least, he had to do what he had promised.

Moreover, judging from the situation this month, the Emperor's actions were becoming more and more gentle. Fan Xian had some confidence that at least the women and children should be able to live a few more. Not to mention accumulating blessings, just saying that the Crown Prince surrendered at least allowed the Qing soldiers to live a few thousand more people. Fan Xian had to repay this kindness.

Early the next morning, Fan Xian tidied up his official uniform. A thought flashed through his mind, and he turned back and picked up a piece of cloth and put it in his arms. The cloth had the red footprints of Fan Xiaohua's feet when she was one month old. At that time, everyone in the family felt that Fan Xian's actions were a bit strange, but they didn't expect that he was just reminiscing about the customs of many years ago... And taking this piece of cloth today was naturally preparing to attack the Emperor's heart.

After preparing properly, he got into the carriage, but unexpectedly saw that familiar person across the street was looking at him with a smile. Fan Xian looked down at his black Supervisory Council official uniform, then looked at the pure white clothes on that person, and said in a deep voice, "I said I wouldn't go, and I wouldn't go. Even if you dress up as Bai Wuchang every day to pull me, I still won't go."

Yan Bingyun walked over. A trace of a smile appeared on his indifferent face. He said, "This is Dean Chen's meaning. As a subordinate, I can only bother you every day... Are you going to enter the palace? Since you can enter the palace, you naturally have to return to the court to handle court affairs. You can't possibly wait for the Dean to ask for instructions from the palace."

Fan Xian spat on the ground. Suddenly thinking of the matter of entering the palace today, he frowned and whispered a few words in Yan Bingyun's ear. Yan Bingyun looked at him with slight surprise, thinking that everyone should punish the rebels, and that this matter was being carried out according to Qing law, and His Majesty had not carried out a large-scale implication, so why would the Director want to enter the palace to remonstrate?

He looked at Fan Xian like he was looking at a monster, shook his head, and said, "The court did not arrest people randomly. Those people are definitely not wronged. This subordinate does not understand. When did the adult's heart become so gentle?"

In the eyes of these confidants or friends, Fan Xian's gentle face had always hidden a firm and ruthless heart, which was why Yan Bingyun was so puzzled and looked at him with a frown. Fan Xian was a little embarrassed by his gaze, sighed slightly, and said, "After you and Miss Shen get married and have children... you will probably understand."