The earliest person in the entire capital to know about the Censorate's collective impeachment of the court's rising star, Fan Xian, was none other than Fan Xian himself. Before His Majesty even saw those memorials, Fan Xian knew he was standing at the eye of the storm.

Mu Tie sat properly on the chair opposite Fan Xian and said, "The head was Lai Mingcheng, the Left Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate, last night. Because there's a confirmation process below, it was only delivered to our department today."

The First Bureau of the Supervisory Council was responsible for secretly monitoring the movements of officials. Such a large-scale joint memorial from the censors would have been immediately detected by the bureau's officials, or Fan Xian would have had to launch a second rectification movement out of anger. He nodded, flicked the papers in his hand, and asked curiously, "Just these charges?"

Mu Tie noticed that Supervisor Fan seemed a bit indifferent and frowned, saying, "My Lord, we can't underestimate this. After all..."

He stopped, and Fan Xian looked up at him with a hint of teasing in his eyes, and said, "Do you think I actually deserve these charges?"

The memorials of the censors were clear. Within the short month that Fan Xian had been in charge of the First Bureau, how much silver had he received from how many people, how many suspects had he privately released, and how he had allowed his subordinates to use violence in the streets. The last matter was only related to the court's reputation, but the first two were real crimes. Those silver notes passed to Fan Xian through the Liu family could be traced, and those officials who had been arrested by the First Bureau of the Supervisory Council and then released could not be hidden from the world.

These charges were enough to bring down any official.

Fan Xian rubbed his throbbing temples. He had been busy all day, and then this major event happened at night. He was genuinely annoyed: "The censors of our Great Qing Dynasty, two duck's tongues and a sheep's heart, good-for-nothing parasites, when did they become so unafraid of the powerful and influential? Or is my power not great enough, my status not esteemed enough?"

Mu Tie couldn't help but want to laugh, because the Supervisory Council had always looked down on the Censorate, but he forced the smile back, thinking that Supervisor Fan's last two rhetorical questions were somewhat rhetorical since everyone in Kyoto knew that Master Fan was powerful and esteemed.

This was actually something Fan Xian didn't understand. Why did the censors of the Censorate have the courage to offend him for no reason? His methods had been relatively gentle these days, and he didn't think he had offended these people. Moreover, he had been increasingly favored by the Emperor these days. Weren't these people afraid of making the Emperor unhappy?

Mu Tie saw his expression and knew what he was thinking, explaining, "My Lord, this is the Censorate's usual practice. They have always targeted the Supervisory Council. The Qing Law gives them this power, and His Majesty has always suppressed the Supervisory Council's covert methods, so every few days, those poor scholars will always find fault with our Council. It's just..." He frowned, "I didn't expect them to have the courage to directly target you, my Lord, and the charges are so serious."

Fan Xian reached into his teacup, dipped a few drops of cold leftover tea, and gently smeared it on his temples, rubbing them. The coolness calmed him down a bit.

The Censorate was a very special institution. In the previous dynasty, the Censorate was the highest supervisory, impeachment, and advisory body in the court, headed by the Left and Right Censors-in-Chief, with Deputy Censors-in-Chief and Assistant Censors-in-Chief below them. They were divided into Supervising Censors according to local jurisdiction, patrolling states and counties, specializing in the examination and impeachment of officials.

In the "Notes on Official Positions" written by the great scholar Zhuang Moh Han, it was written about the Censorate of the Great Wei Dynasty: "The Censor-in-Chief is responsible for impeaching all departments, clarifying grievances, and supervising all circuits, serving as the emperor's eyes and ears. Those ministers who are treacherous, villains who form factions, who abuse their power and disrupt the government, are to be impeached. All officials who are incompetent, corrupt, and undermine official discipline are to be impeached. Those whose scholarship is incorrect, who present memorials that disrupt the established constitution, and who seek advancement through such means are to be impeached. During court audiences and examinations, they work with the Ministry of Personnel to assess the virtue and ability of officials and recommend promotions and demotions. Major prisons and serious criminals are jointly tried in the outer court, and they work with the Ministry of Justice and the Court of Revision to adjudicate them fairly. When they are ordered to patrol the interior or appease foreign lands, they act according to their specific orders. The Supervising Censors of the Thirteen Circuits are responsible for investigating and correcting the evils of officials both inside and outside the court, either impeaching them openly or secretly... and the Censorate oversees all laws and regulations."

The Censorate of the Qing Kingdom was far from as glorious as it had been in the previous dynasty. The duty of Supervising Censors to patrol the various regions was abolished, the power to try cases was transferred to the Ministry of Justice and the Court of Revision, and most of the power to supervise the regions and secretly monitor officials was transferred to the Supervisory Council established by Chen Pingping. Now, it was just the emperor's eyes and ears, with only a mouth left but no real power.

What kind of people are officials? They are men. What do men like most? Besides beautiful women, it is power. Therefore, the current censors of the Censorate feel a sense of envy and resentment towards the Supervisory Council, a deformed behemoth that has taken away most of their power. Perhaps these scholars still yearn for the glory of the Censorate in the distant past, and they rely on their privilege of speaking out to impeach officials of the Supervisory Council from time to time.

However, with Chen the cripple's seemingly poisonous eyes watching, these censors have been quiet for a long time. Why have these censors suddenly launched an attack? Fan Xian thought carefully.

The dominance of the Supervisory Council in the supervisory institutions does not mean that the Censorate has lost its influence on the court. As the saying goes, many voices can melt gold, and three people can make a tiger. Even the dignified Eldest Princess could be forced out of the palace by Fan Xian's thousands of "written statements," so it can be imagined that words are enough to kill an official. Most of the censors in the Censorate came from poor families and were greatly supported by the scholars. In the past, when censors submitted memorials, they would always be echoed by scholars all over the world. After a round of verbal attacks, the court would always investigate. Even if no results were found in the end, that official covered in filth would no longer be able to stand upright in the court.

Fan Xian sneered, and in a flash, he knew what the problem was. It seemed that the news of the Supervisory Council's secret investigation into Xinyang and the Second Prince had leaked out. He remembered clearly that the former Left Censor-in-Chief, who wanted to break his legs on behalf of the Eldest Princess above the Ministry of Justice, was the Eldest Princess's kept man, and the talented He Zongwei, whom he was secretly investigating, was also in the Censorate now.

Before long, the secret memorial sent to the palace received a response. Fan Xian glanced at the box wrapped in golden yellow silk, shook his head, opened it, and saw only a blank sheet of paper with two words written on it.

"An Zhi."

...

...

Fan Xian's given name was Xian, and his courtesy name was An Zhi!

Now, he naturally realized that this name must have been personally chosen for him by the Emperor back then. He frowned, unsure of what His Majesty meant. When he sent the secret memorial, he knew that the Emperor would temporarily suppress the matter of the Internal Treasury's deficit, but the sudden addition of the Censorate's impeachment had made him misunderstand, thinking that the Emperor wanted him to endure this as well.

"Cannot be at peace." Fan Xian shook his head and said to Mu Tie, "Investigate those self-proclaimed incorruptible censors. Since they are accusing me of corruption and bending the law, then there must be reciprocity... it is impolite not to reciprocate."

Mu Tie was somewhat surprised and replied, "Director Chen once instructed us to treat the Censorate's memorials as if we were listening to dogs barking and not to pay attention to them... because the palace doesn't want the Supervisory Council to investigate the Censorate, to avoid embarrassment, and to encourage free speech, His Majesty has never given the Supervisory Council the power to arrest censors."

Fan Xian spat: "This time, they are not just barking, they are already opening their mouths to bite me. Why should we care about the court's reputation? I'm asking you to investigate. If you find any problems, of course, we won't take action ourselves. We'll throw them to the Court of Revision and the Ministry of Justice. Even if His Majesty suppresses it and doesn't accept it... what's the point of that wall outside the First Bureau of our Council?"

Mu Tie was extremely happy. The people of the Supervisory Council had been waiting for this day for a long time. He took the order with great enthusiasm and went to arrange for secret agents to begin investigating the illegal activities of the censors of the Censorate.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next day, Fan Xian played mahjong at home and enjoyed the good rain all day, not taking the censors' impeachment seriously at all. However, Wan'er and Ruo Ruo, who learned the news from him, were a little anxious because everyone knew the importance of official reputation.

It was not until the news of the censors' impeachment of Fan Xian had spread throughout the capital and the Secretariat had copied the impeachment memorials and sent them to Fan's residence that Fan Xian pretended to learn of the matter, looking surprised and angry, but still sleeping soundly at night.

Early the next morning, Fan Xian left the residence. According to the rules, officials who were impeached by censors must first put aside their work and submit a memorial to defend themselves. However, he did not follow the rules and instead went to Xinfeng Pavilion and led his family to launch an attack on the incomparably delicious Jietang buns.

This matter had caused a great uproar in the capital. No one knew what kind of means this rising star of the court would choose to fight back, because the censors' collective memorial was clearly well-prepared, and the charges were tightly biting, and even the officials who had entered and exited the First Bureau this month had been clearly investigated.

But no one expected that Supervisor Fan would not attack the censors but would attack the meat buns instead.

On the fourth day, the continuous rainy days finally stopped. Fan Xian led his family to the suburbs to admire chrysanthemums, taking the lead before the world to use his fingers to intimately caress the newly blooming small daisies.

...

...

Logically speaking, the Secretariat should have presented His Majesty's decree by now. Should he investigate or not? Should he question or not? Whether to wake up the young Master Fan, who had become popular too quickly this year, or to denounce the meddlesome censors of the Censorate, His Majesty should have an attitude! During the court meeting, Yan Hangshu, the Minister of Personnel, finally couldn't resist his curiosity and asked cautiously. But who knew that His Majesty only grunted from his nose and had no reaction at all.

The scene remained awkwardly deadlocked. The righteous and solemn faces of the censors of the Censorate gradually turned into embarrassment. They were planning to jointly submit a memorial again and prepare to widely recruit classmates from the ranks of civil officials and mobilize the students of the Imperial Academy.