After leaving the small temple, Fan Xian was followed by three people, whether they were secret agents from the Embroidered Uniform Guard or palace personnel. But regardless of which side they belonged to, Fan Xian wouldn't allow anyone to follow him today.

Having shaken off these three "nails," Fan Xian confirmed that no one else was tailing him before proceeding with his next move. Upon exiting the alley, he didn't take a carriage, as any contact with people could leave behind clues that the Northern Qi might trace. On the damp streets, the number of pedestrians gradually increased. Using the crowd as cover, Fan Xian lowered his head and silently walked among the citizens of this foreign land.

According to the Anti-Surveillance Protocol of the Supervisory Council, he should now find a cloth shop or similar establishment, then exit through the back door and go through several more changes of direction to reach his destination. However, Fan Xian didn't adopt this method. Firstly, he was confident that no one was following him. Secondly, he believed that too many changes of direction and too much contact with people would actually make it easier to be discovered. Instead, he cautiously and secretly entered an official's residence along the way, though it was unclear what he did there.

Coincidentally, the sky over Shangjing began to rain again, the silent yet tangible rain effectively concealing his movements.

……

……

Near the Jiaofang district in the southern part of Shangjing, there was a commoner's residential area called Zhangjia Store. This place was a melting pot of various characters, with a chaotic atmosphere, but the public order had been relatively good in recent years. Coupled with the low cost of living, it had gradually become lively. Those small merchants without much capital began to muster their courage and save their money, acquiring some shopfronts on this street and starting their own businesses.

This place was unlike Xiushui Street, as it sold daily necessities, which were cheap, and the quality was naturally not very good. The third shop on the east side sold oil. The oil was overseas palm oil imported from Dongyi City. Although it was cheap and tasted good, the color wasn't great, especially in winter, when there would always be a layer of white flocculent matter. Therefore, richer households generally preferred rapeseed oil produced in Qidong.

Fortunately, the majority of people were not wealthy, so this oil shop, which didn't even have a signboard, could still survive. However, it didn't dare hire many people, employing only an old shopkeeper and a helper who also served as a shop assistant.

Today, it had been raining off and on for several times, and there were already few pedestrians in Zhangjia Store, making it seem even emptier. However, the oil shop's business wasn't affected by the weather. Anyone who ran out of oil would naturally come. Therefore, the old shopkeeper wasn't too worried, and instead moved a long stool to sit in front of his shop, watching the rain outside in a daze.

Perhaps the shopkeeper was truly old. The young assistant in the shop felt that the number of times the shopkeeper had been dazing this year was much more than before.

"Shopkeeper, I want to buy oil." A person stood at the entrance of the oil shop, blocking the dim light from outside. The old shopkeeper waved his hand, signaling him to come in himself.

The person lifted his rain hat, revealing a plain face. He smiled, walked into the shop, and said to the yawning assistant, "Young man, I want to buy oil."

The assistant said with a smile, "What kind of oil would you like? In addition to palm oil, we also have a new batch of rapeseed oil from Qidong." The assistant's attitude was respectful, but he was thinking to himself, "Of course people who come to our shop are here to buy oil. Wasn't that a pointless thing to say?"

The person said, "Give me half a jin of palm oil."

The assistant responded crisply, "Alright." He skillfully filled the oil and put it on the scale, then realized that the person's hands were empty, and couldn't help but scratch his head, "Sir, what will you use to hold it?"

"Do you have jars here?"

"Yes, wooden jars are three Wen each." The assistant was very happy to make an extra sale.

The person took the oil jar but didn't speak, seemingly still considering something.

The assistant asked curiously, "Would you like anything else?"

"Do you have sesame oil?"

……

……

"Do you have sesame oil?" The question was very soft, not very loud, but the old shopkeeper's withered right hand, resting on the long chair outside the shop, trembled slightly.

The assistant said impatiently, "Our shop doesn't have such good stuff. In this whole Zhangjia Store, who can afford sesame oil?" As he was speaking, the old shopkeeper had already slowly walked back to the counter, waving his hand to signal the assistant to leave, and looked at the customer with a smile, explaining, "Sesame oil is too expensive. Except for sacrifices to heaven, generally no one buys it. And it's still more than half a year until the days for sacrifices to heaven, so the shop hasn't stocked up yet."

The person smiled and said, "Besides sacrifices to heaven, sacrifices to people are also possible."

The old shopkeeper smiled even more respectfully and said, "Then tell me the quantity, and the shop can order it for you."

The conversation had reached a crucial point, so both of them spoke in quieter voices. However, the person's memory must have been very good, as he clearly and accurately stated the exact amount of oil he wanted to buy: "I want to buy seven jin, three liang, nine qian, four hao... of palm oil."

The old shopkeeper quickly calculated on the abacus, then looked troubled and said, "There's some problem with this price, sir. Let's talk inside."

"Very well."

The old shopkeeper told the assistant to watch the shop outside, then led the customer into the back room. Only then did the assistant realize that this person wasn't here to buy oil, but to sell it. He stuck out his tongue, thinking that he was lucky he hadn't offended this boss who was selling sesame oil.

———————————————————

This sesame oil merchant was naturally Fan Xian in disguise. He followed the old shopkeeper into the back room, only to find that the rendezvous point was completely different from what he had imagined. It was bright and clear.

Without tea or greetings, the old shopkeeper stared into Fan Xian's eyes, his old, cloudy eyes carrying a hint of caution, and asked, "The guest comes from the South?"

Fan Xian nodded.

The old shopkeeper made a gesture to invite him to speak. Fan Xian sighed inwardly, thinking that the procedure Yan Bingyun had set up was too cumbersome. Helplessly, he had to recite another number that he had firmly memorized.

Only then did the old shopkeeper confirm the other party's identity and relax completely. He fumbled in his sleeve for a long time and placed a poisoned dagger on the table. Fan Xian understood that if the person who came was a Qi spy, the old shopkeeper had to kill himself at the first opportunity.

This was also why Yan Bingyun felt so humiliated after being captured alive.

The old shopkeeper looked at him and asked, "What position does the adult hold in the Supervisory Council?"

Fan Xian shook his head and said, "I don't think the current situation allows us to be long-winded."

The old shopkeeper gave a bitter smile, "It's been a year, a full year since we received any news from above. After the head was taken, the imperial court hasn't sent anyone to take over. I thought the imperial court was preparing to put us into a silent period."

The so-called silent period was when a secret agent system lurking in an enemy country would immediately cease all operations after a gap appeared, in order to avoid exposure. This period could be just a month, or it could be... ten years.

Fan Xian frowned. Yan Bingyun, as the head of the network, being captured was originally the most unlikely thing to happen in the two countries' spy war, because Yan Bingyun himself didn't need to carry intelligence back to the country or personally investigate these dangerous matters. However, Princess Chang played this trick, causing the entire Supervisory Council's northern network to be paralyzed.

With Yan Bingyun in the hands of the Northern Qi, the imperial court and the Supervisory Council naturally didn't dare to risk contacting these lower-level agents, which caused this one-year window.

"I hope that after a year of suspension, everyone's body hasn't rusted."

"Please rest assured, sir." The old shopkeeper knew that the person in front of him must be an extraordinary figure in the Council since he was able to come and replace Yan Bingyun, and he could faintly smell the scent of blood on the other party. The old shopkeeper answered particularly carefully, "Please give your orders, sir."

"Three things, some urgent, some not." Fan Xian looked at the old man in front of him, knowing that the other party and the unknown number of Council secret agents below must have had a very difficult year, like orphans drifting abroad with no home to return to. So he deliberately softened his tone, "The most urgent thing is to find out where Xiao En is being held immediately. The second thing is to investigate the real reason for the rift between the Empress Dowager and the Emperor."

This was something Fan Xian had never understood, and the young Emperor seemed to have overeaten.

The old shopkeeper's expression didn't change, even though he knew that both of these tasks were extremely difficult. He just quietly waited for the adult in front of him to issue the third order.

"The matter of investigating Xiao En should be quick, and the matter of the palace can be slow." Fan Xian pondered, "As for the third order, I think you should know that the Internal Treasury has been smuggling to the north all these years."

The old shopkeeper narrowed his eyes, and an unusual light appeared in his eyes for the first time, "That's the problem of Xinyang. Sir, has the Council finally decided to take action?"

Fan Xian shook his head and said softly, "Investigate... investigate it thoroughly, but don't touch them at all. But control all the joints that can be controlled. In the future, if the Council wants to take action, you must ensure that you have enough things in your hands to completely clean up this line."

"Understood." The old shopkeeper knew that this was a long-term task that could be done slowly.

Fan Xian was thinking about other things. He didn't know if Cui's matter was his mother-in-law deliberately testing him, or if the other party currently needed something from him, so he was temporarily tolerating him. Although Xiyan's matter, and the Guangxin Palace's matter, Xinyang didn't know that Fan Xian had done it, the conflict in the Ministry of Justice's hall had gradually brought his conflict with Princess Chang to the surface.