Most of the departments in Kyoto that handle national affairs are concentrated in the area east of Tianhe Avenue. Not many civilians reside here, and the roads are particularly wide. On both sides of the road are many beautiful or magnificent wooden structures, which house the decentralized centers of power that govern the country. For example, the old Ministry of Military Affairs is located at the entrance of the road, with an extremely large stone lion placed at the entrance, baring its teeth and claws to the rising sun every day. In the shifting light and shadows, it actually looks a bit strange, like a prehistoric behemoth, and does not really reflect the military might of Qing Yu Nian.

The true center of power in Qing Yu Nian, however, lies in the deep palaces of the northern city, with layers upon layers. The buildings of the Imperial Palace are not taller than the various departments, except for the towering watchtower. But the thick palace walls and the incredibly vast square inside create an extremely sacred feeling.

The officials of Qing Yu Nian are well aware that His Majesty, the wise and talented Emperor in the palace, will not get entangled in the specific details of officialdom. So, for them, the most terrifying place in the entire Qing Yu Nian bureaucracy, the place with the greatest power, is neither the various departments nor the Imperial Palace—but the square, gray-black building in the west of the city, which looks gloomy and terrifying.

The Overwatch Council is located here. Qing Yu Nian implements a system of three councils and six ministries. The three councils are the Overwatch Council, the Education Council, and the Military Council, which was upgraded from the old Ministry of Military Affairs. Among these three councils, the Overwatch Council has the greatest power. It has independent investigative and arrest powers, and even, in certain cases, can be granted the power of judgment by imperial decree. Moreover, no other institution has the power to supervise it.

In a sense, it is a wild beast without reins, or a secret service agency in the hands of His Majesty the Emperor. No, it should be said that the Overwatch Council was originally a secret service agency that His Majesty the Emperor placed in plain sight.

However, the officials of Qing Yu Nian are always worried. The current Emperor is so talented that he can subdue the insidious Dean Chen and the countless secret agents and hidden strengths of the Overwatch Council. But what if… in the future, who will pull the reins of this beast? What's more, the officials who suffer from the Overwatch Council are always secretly complaining that the Overwatch Council is not a beast, but a cunning and despicable stray dog.

At this time, in the Overwatch Council's room without a trace of light, a very secret conversation is taking place.

"The assassin in the fire at Danzhou Port is indeed in the council's organization, under the jurisdiction of Dongshan Road. And foreign organizational affairs have always been the responsibility of the Fourth Bureau. The Department of Internal Affairs found out that an official from the Fourth Bureau is a distant relative of the Second Madam in your household, so this task should have been arranged in this way." Fei Jie said, looking at the Dean with a hoarse voice.

"Identity?" This is the most important thing the old man cares about.

Fei Jie squinted his eyes, his brownish pupils full of uncertainty: "I believe that among the eight people who know about this matter, no one will leak it. And Fifth Master, although he was Miss's personal guard, he rarely took action back then. No one in the world has ever seen him in person. The only person who met him, Ye Liuyun, is now a Grandmaster and is even less likely to travel to Danzhou. There is no such coincidence in the world, so there is no need to worry about others deducing his identity because of Fifth Master."

The Dean's fingers were thin and bony, and he gently tapped on the table, lost in thought: "Back then, I wanted you to kill all the Black Knights who saw Wu Zhu that night. You pleaded for them. Looking back, it was still wrong."

Fei Jie smiled, a strange look flashing in his brownish pupils, which had been dyed by poison for too long: "Many people died that night."

Fei Jie, at least on the surface, was not very afraid of the old man in front of him, who held a high position and great power. After all, his identity and qualifications were there. He smiled and said in a hoarse voice: "Unnecessary killings are extremely stupid. You forgot, Miss once said that."

"Oh." The old man also smiled, seemingly thinking of many pleasant past events. But in such a smile, he issued a very sinister order.

"Dongshan Road is under the command of the Fourth Bureau. Since the documents are fully signed, there is nothing wrong with the procedure, so Dongshan Road does not need to be held responsible for this matter. Deal with the rest of the people as you see fit." He smiled and muttered to himself: "Actually using my power to kill the person I want to protect, is this a coincidence, or are some people testing something? That Second Madam, she doesn't seem so simple."

He continued: "Yan Ruohai of the Fourth Bureau is not supervising properly, signing indiscriminately, killing people randomly when they are not his own sons, what a mess! Suspend his salary as Director for three years, and send his eldest son, that Yan Bingyun, to the north. He's not allowed to come back until he gets two high-level goods."

After saying this, the Dean picked up the document that the Department of Internal Affairs had already drafted, wrote the final conclusion, and signed his name - Chen Pingping.

Every time Fei Jie saw the Dean's shriveled and ugly signature, he wanted to laugh, but he had to hold it back. He knew that this very feminine signature would cause several high-ranking officials to die and would cause a higher-ranking official's son to sneak into the enemy country in misery, and that he would not be allowed to return home until he obtained particularly valuable intelligence, which was probably worse than death.

The old man smiled self-deprecatingly: "Fan Jian and I grew up together since childhood. I didn't expect that now I would have to worry so much about his family's affairs. Have your capable people investigate whether that Second Madam and 'that person' have any connection."

Fan Jian is the name of the Earl of Sinan, who is Fan Xian's father.

Fei Jie frowned, his brownish eyes flickering slightly: "Impossible, they should have thought that the baby had already died."

"You misunderstood my meaning. I also believe that they couldn't possibly know that Fan Xian is Miss's son."

The Dean smiled: "His Majesty has always demanded that nobles, civil officials, and us maintain a distance. Although it was very secretive when I sent you to Danzhou back then, it was still possible for the other party to discover it. Whether it is the Empress Dowager or the Prime Minister, they must be very curious about the relationship between our council and the Earl of Sinan. Those forces hidden in the dark are using the Second Madam's hand to test our and Fan adults' reaction to this matter. It is only right, so we should not overreact, understand?"

Fei Jie suddenly had a suspicion that the Danzhou assassination might have occurred because the Dean had deliberately leaked some information.

……

……

The old man pushed his wheelchair to the window, lifted a corner of the black cloth, looked out of the window, and said faintly: "Also, regarding the matter of the box, regardless of whether Wu Zhu is telling the truth or not, as long as it doesn't fall into the hands of the enemies in the north."

"It's a pity we don't know how big the box is or what it looks like." Fei Jie came to his side and looked out the window along with the old man's gaze.

"After I go to hell, come and play cards with me as soon as possible." Dean Chen said with a smile.

Fei Jie knew that the Dean was not as old as he looked and said with a smile: "I'm a good person. I'm going to heaven in the future."

A black shadow floated over like the wind from the corner of the secret room, pulled down the black cloth, and prevented the excessively strong sunlight from shining on the old man. This person's movements were silent. It was the expert who had killed the staff-wielding mage outside Kyoto many years ago with a single sword strike.

Fei Jie pointed to the black shadow and said: "I guess he will come and play chess with you."

……

……

Outside the window, the sun was bright, and the glazed tiles of the main halls of the distant Imperial Palace were flashing with a bright golden light.

The pedestrians on the road in front of the window consciously detoured to the opposite side of the street when passing by the entrance of the Overwatch Council, as if afraid of being contaminated by the gloomy aura here.

At the entrance of the Overwatch Council, there was a wide stone monument with a few sentences written on it, painted with real gold: "I hope that the people of Qing Yu Nian can all become free people. When subjected to abuse by others, they have an unyielding heart. When subjected to disasters, they have an unyielding heart. If there are unjust things, they do not fear the heart of correction. Do not fawn on jackals and tigers..."

The signature was three words: Ye Qingmei.

No one knows who Ye Qingmei is, but all the residents of Kyoto know that when the Overwatch Council was established, this stone tablet was erected here, forever glittering with gold, a piece of light, echoing the golden palace eaves in the distance... seemingly hiding all the darkness in those two buildings.

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