Compared to the residents of the capital who were waiting to see a good show, Fan Xian was not in high spirits. He was carefully writing notes in his study, trying to re-transcribe the Intelligence Analysis Report from the Overwatch Council in the tone of a young master who had lived in the capital for a long time, with a hint of scholarly judgment. This was to prevent the officials of the Honglu Temple from dropping their jaws in disbelief after hearing his advice, suspecting that besides His Majesty's Overwatch Council, Qing Kingdom had another terrifying intelligence agency, and this agency was working for a mere eighth-rank Assistant Director of Music.

Fan Ruoruo was also not in good spirits. While copying with her delicate handwriting, she pasted the notes together and said, "Brother, this is really strange. Where did you get this intelligence? Why don't you use it directly and insist on making the reasons so absurd?"

Fan Xian rarely kept things from his sister; he even confided in Ruoruo more than Lin Wan'er. He said with a bitter face, "I was just being lazy and wanted to borrow the other side's strength, but who knew it would produce such a meticulous and terrifying dossier? The source of this intelligence cannot be exposed, so it cannot be directly handed over to the Honglu Temple."

"Who is the envoy from Northern Qi this time?" Fan Ruoruo was actually very happy that her brother could finally openly participate in court affairs. Although Fan Xian had been educating her since she was very young, she was, after all, a girl who grew up in the world of Qing Kingdom, and always thought that a dignified man making tofu every day could only be regarded as entertainment and could not last long.

"Not from the Emperor's faction, nor the Empress Dowager's faction, nor the Crown Prince's faction, but the soft rice party." Fan Xian said casually while organizing the intelligence on the table, "It's the Marquis of Changning, the younger brother of the Empress of Northern Qi. I heard he's also a great talent. But the most prominent figure in the Northern Qi delegation this time is not him, but his teacher. A literary master of Northern Qi, named Zhuang Mo Han, who is admired by all scholars in the world. I don't know what price Northern Qi paid to get him into the delegation. When the time comes for the debate before the throne, I'm afraid His Majesty will have to give him some face, and this butcher style of asking for land and money will probably have to be restrained a bit."

"Zhuang Mo Han?" Fan Ruoruo exclaimed, a glow suddenly appearing on her face.

This was the first time Fan Xian had seen a fan-girl expression on his sister's face. Ruoruo had always been a very refined woman, and except for her immense admiration for her brother, she had always been indifferent to other scholars. For some reason, Fan Xian felt a slight jealousy and said, "Fortunately, the dossier clearly states that this Zhuang Mo Han is already seventy years old, or I would really have to be careful."

Fan Ruoruo said with a blush, "Brother, you're always so improper."

Fan Xian laughed and said, "It would be really improper if you really liked that old man." Seeing Ruoruo becoming angry, he quickly waved his hand and said, "Seriously, what I told you in the manor that day, do you have any ideas?"

That night, the moon and stars were sparse, and the brother and sister were worrying about the future marriage of the little girl on the field ridges. However, after Ruoruo worried for a while and saw that none of the young talents around her caught her eye, she had no choice but to give up. At this moment, Fan Xian remembered something and frowned, "When we accidentally met the Emperor by the Liujing River last time, didn't he say something?"

"What did he say?" Fan Ruoruo rarely showed a confused expression, as if the brother and sister were too shocked at the time, and their memories were a little blurred.

Fan Xian closed his eyes for a long time, then suddenly opened them, slammed the table, and exclaimed in surprise, "His Majesty wants to arrange a marriage for you!"

"Ah?" Fan Ruoruo was frightened.

What are the children of officials most afraid of? It is marriage. If they are lucky, like Lin Wan'er who was matched with Fan Xian, that would be fine. But if they were like Ren Shaoqing of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, who was matched with a shrewish princess, and never had a good life, that would be terrible. And among all marriage arrangements, the most terrible is the imperial decree from the palace. The Emperor's will cannot be violated, even if he wants you to marry a wastrel, you can't find a place to reason with him.

If in previous years, officials' families still had the possibility of sending their daughters into the palace to seek the Emperor's favor, this Emperor did not like women, so this path was blocked. Even the Crown Prince and the two adult princes did not dare to take in too many concubines. Although the Crown Prince's reputation for lust was spread throughout the capital, there were only three lonely concubines in the Eastern Palace.

Fan Ruoruo also remembered that the Emperor seemed to have said that sentence inadvertently, and she was frightened. Tears gradually filled her eyes, and she said with a trembling voice, "What should I do?"

Fan Xian's mind was working extremely fast, and he immediately calculated the possible families, narrowing his eyes and said, "The First Prince, the Second Prince, the Heir of Jing Wang, although Father is only a Vice Minister, based on the status of the Fan family, it is estimated that His Majesty will only choose among these three for the marriage. If he chooses to marry the son of which minister, then don't be afraid. If you don't want to, I naturally have a way to reject this marriage."

If the object of the imperial decree was the son of a minister, and his sister was unwilling, Fan Xian would naturally think of many ways. After all, behind him now stood his father, Chen Pingping, and the Prime Minister. The so-called trinity of great figures, even the Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace was now trying to win him over. As long as it was not those two princes and the Heir of Jing Wang, Fan Xian had the confidence to disrupt all marriages that his sister did not want.

But the greatest possibility was still those three youngest and most noble. Fan Xian paused and suddenly couldn't help but curse, "I said Li Hongcheng, this kid, goes to brothels every day, but refuses to get married. It turns out he's waiting here!"

Looking at his sister's frightened expression, Fan Xian smiled and comforted her, "The First Prince has been fighting in the Western Wilderness for many years and is said to be brave and extraordinary. Although I have never met the Second Prince, I heard that he is also a very powerful figure. As for Li Hongcheng, the Heir of Jing Wang, we brother and sister are both familiar with him. Besides being a little flirtatious, there is nothing wrong with him. If you really marry Li Hongcheng in the future, with me standing by your side, let alone visiting brothels, I won't even let him take a concubine into the house. Don't worry, sister."

It would have been better if he hadn't comforted her. The more she analyzed it, the more Fan Ruoruo felt that this matter was real and seemed to be coming soon. She said sadly, "Brother, but I don't want to marry any of these three."

Fan Xian sighed and didn't want to continue discussing this growing trouble. He teased her softly, "What's wrong with that? When they see you in the future, they have to call you a what-concubine. If the Second Prince really becomes the Emperor in the future, you will rule the world... Wouldn't you become my old mother?"

This joke was not funny at all, so Ruoruo did not smile through her tears. There was an awkward silence in the study. In the silence, the brother and sister had their own thoughts. Ruoruo's heart was filled with confusion, but Fan Xian's heart was filled with determination. If something really happened in the future, he had to prepare some means.

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The negotiation venue was not very spacious, it was set in the largest room of the Honglu Temple. There was no long table between the Northern Qi envoys and the Qing Kingdom's reception officials, but they just sat on their respective chairs like they were chatting at home, with tea on the tables, talking about things. Fan Xian insisted on sitting in the lowest and most inconspicuous chair, watching this scene coldly, and thought of a word from his previous life: tea party.

Although he was nominally the deputy envoy of reception, because the process had not yet entered the final stage, and he insisted on sitting below, the Honglu Temple officials could not do anything about it.

Beneath the gentle exchanges, there was a hidden exchange of swords, and before long, the ministers of the two countries, who had already seen the difference on the battlefield, began to raise their voices gradually, and the buttocks of some impatient ministers were even about to leave the chair surface.

"Humph! I don't know whether Northern Qi won or our dynasty won in this battle in the Northern Wilderness?" A sixth-rank registrar in the Honglu Temple could no longer bear the other party's unreasonable statement and stood up and reprimanded sternly.

"Battles are dangerous, and His Majesty of Great Qi is concerned about the people of the world, so he stopped the war with benevolence and righteousness. The victory or defeat has not been determined, so how can we know who is the winner?" If the envoys of Northern Qi didn't have thick skin, it would be impossible for them to be sent as shock troops. Seeing the way the little mustached man spoke so confidently, even Fan Xian, who was always calm, couldn't help but want to rush forward and beat him up.

Xin Qiwu, the Vice Minister of the Honglu Temple, smiled slightly, but Fan Xian saw a hint of insidiousness in this smile, an insidiousness accumulated from Qing Kingdom's twenty years of victory. He only heard this high-ranking Qing Kingdom official say softly, "If that's the case, please return, envoy. Our two countries will fight another battle, and after we have truly fought out a victory or defeat, we can negotiate again."

What is this? This is naked threat, this is naked state terrorism, this is naked rogue behavior.

Fan Xian did not reveal a shocked expression on his face, but in his heart, he was full of admiration, "This Vice Minister Xin is really dare to say."

As expected, as soon as this statement came out, the Northern Qi side began to attack the Qing Kingdom officials for speaking recklessly, causing irreparable damage to the friendship between the two countries. Unexpectedly, Xin Qiwu continued to reply coldly, "When has there ever been such a thing as friendship between our two countries?"

"Wei Xiaobao's negotiation is probably in this style." Fan Xian tutted in his heart. The dignified Vice Minister of the Honglu Temple was actually acting like a rogue in the exchanges between the two countries. If Qing Kingdom was not indeed strong, such a situation would never have occurred.

The negotiations in the Honglu Temple were always well-coordinated, with the good cop and the bad cop taking turns. Sure enough, another registrar with a benevolent face stood up, "Gentlemen, do not forget your own duties, and do not let your emotions affect His Majesty's original intention to repair the relationship between the two countries."

The two sides flung their sleeves and left, and the tea party ended. The high-level officials had already made their positions clear, and the things that really fought on the negotiating table were left to the hard-working lower-level officials.

It's just that the negotiations fell into a stalemate and could not move forward for a while. And Zhuang Mo Han, the master of the Northern Qi delegation, rarely came out to see people after entering the palace and talking with the Empress Dowager once. Fan Xian was a little puzzled. Was that old man here on vacation?