The night rain fell on foreign soil, making the familiar pitter-patter sound. Fan Xian took a sip of tea and said to Wang Qinian beside him, "Immediately write a secret letter and have the Bureau investigate the relationship between the Cui family and the Xinyang faction."

Wang Qinian glanced at him and said softly, "We can't touch the Eldest Princess."

"Of course, I know we can't touch her." Fan Xian was well aware that the things the Eldest Princess did were, in fact, tacitly approved by His Majesty the Emperor. However, the unpleasant meeting with Shen Zhong today only strengthened a certain idea in Fan Xian's mind. "I just want to find out how much power the Xinyang faction actually holds in the court."

"Yes." After Wang Qinian acknowledged, he continued, "That young master Cui is still kneeling outside. My lord... do you think we should let him up? After all, the Cui family is a prominent clan in the capital and has several high-ranking officials in the court."

Fan Xian's eyes were fixed on the intelligence sent by the Bureau, ignoring Wang Qinian's words. Since the envoy was in Shangjing, Fan Xian dared not use the intelligence system of Northern Qi before Yan Bingyun returned, so the source of intelligence had shrunk somewhat, which made him very annoyed. After a while, he seemed to have heard what Wang Qinian said, and said softly, "Let him kneel. As a Qing Yu Nian citizen, he's being used as a pawn by the Northern Qi people. I'll just educate him on behalf of my mother-in-law."

...

...

The rain gradually subsided, dripping from the eaves. This villa was an old building, so there were slight depressions where the raindrops fell. Fan Xian draped a robe over his shoulders and walked outside, looking at the young master Cui kneeling in front of the stone steps, without saying a word for a long time.

The others in the envoy had long avoided this small courtyard, so it seemed particularly quiet here.

"You should be very clear about what you need to do if your family still wants to do business in the north," Fan Xian said coldly, looking at the young master Cui, who was soaked to the bone. "I'll spare your life for today's matter. Write a letter to Xinyang yourself. As for how the Eldest Princess will punish you, that's your business. But while I'm in Shangjing, I don't want to see you sitting together with those people from Northern Qi again."

Young master Cui kowtowed heavily, burying his upper body completely in the accumulated water on the ground, trembling and unable to speak.

"Let me remind you again, I am the Head of the Supervisory Council. Even if the Eldest Princess protects you, I will still have many ways to make your Cui family suffer if I really want to," Fan Xian said. "Although this is a very vulgar threat, I think, for someone as foolish as you, if I don't make it clear, you'll still be used as a knife by the Northern Qi people next time, and that would be very bad."

Young master Cui still knelt there miserably. He only realized the enormity of his mistake when he woke up in the backyard of the Pan Shan Woods. Leaving aside Fan Xian's feared identity as the Head of the Supervisory Council, just the fact that he was the Eldest Princess's son-in-law meant that he was no more than an ant in Fan Xian's eyes. Today, he had acted on his own, wanting to see what kind of business the Supervisory Council wanted to do with Northern Qi, which was originally for the Eldest Princess's sake, but if Fan Xian really intended to deal with him, the Eldest Princess would probably be too lazy to protect him.

With Fan Xian's current power, what were aristocratic families but insignificant existences?

"Let's be frank," Fan Xian said, looking at him, word by word. "You're working for the Eldest Princess, so naturally I won't make things difficult for you. But I want to do some things right now, so I hope you can see the current situation clearly."

"Yes, Lord Fan," young master Cui said, his voice trembling. "This humble one was wrong."

"We are all Qing Yu Nian subjects. No matter what happens in the court, once we leave the territory, we must remember that you and I are both Qing Yu Nian people. Don't let outsiders laugh at us. That is what angers me the most."

...

...

After this little episode, the Xinyang faction maintained their respect for the envoy very carefully. And the Northern Qi side truly felt Fan Xian's power, or rather, the power of the Southern Qing Yu Nian Supervisory Council. Shen Zhong had always traded with the Xinyang faction, so when Fan Xian proposed this deal through Marquis Changning, he didn't take it seriously. But looking at the current situation, that rumor seemed to be true—if Fan Xian really took control of the treasury next year and the Eldest Princess lost power, and Shen Zhong's Zhenfu Department offended Fan Xian, then a large source of income would be cut off.

The Northern Qi palace also learned about this matter. The Empress Dowager severely reprimanded Shen Zhong, who was filled with trepidation, thinking that no one could have expected that Fan Tisi would not even give him a chance to bargain, and the news that young master Cui had knelt in front of the envoy all night also reached the ears of the Jinyi Guards. Shen Zhong knew that he had to re-evaluate Fan Xian.

However, no one expected that Fan Xian actually had no intention of discussing this deal with them. Several times, Shen Zhong sent people to invite Fan Xian, but Fan Xian coldly turned them away, putting on an attitude that he didn't want to talk anymore.

"My lord, what exactly do you want to do?" Wang Qinian was Fan Xian's most trusted confidant. There were many things that even the Supervisory Council didn't know, but Wang Qinian knew them clearly. He knew that his lord had secretly done many things to deal with that Eldest Princess of Xinyang, but the Eldest Princess didn't seem to have noticed yet.

But now, Fan Xian was putting on an act as if he wanted to reconcile with the Eldest Princess, which Wang Qinian didn't understand at all.

"I want everyone to not know what I want to do." Fan Xian straightened his clothes, not turning his head, and said softly, "The Eldest Princess currently needs something from me, so I naturally have to take this opportunity to obtain some benefits."

Wang Qinian still didn't understand, and Fan Xian didn't explain further.

—————————————————————

That afternoon, a carriage drove directly into the envoy's residence through a side gate. This carriage looked very shabby, very ordinary, and unremarkable. Whether it was the decoration of the carriage or the appearance of the coachman, there was nothing unusual about it. But everyone in charge of the envoy's security could clearly feel the tension within the envoy. Outside, there were shadows everywhere, all of them Northern Qi Jinyi Guards.

Fan Xian looked at the carriage and said something that seemed completely unrelated to the moment, "It seems Si Lili has also arrived in Shangjing."

A young man in a white shirt opened the carriage door, slowly moved his feet, stood there, looked at the sky above his head, squinted slightly, and then lowered his head to scan the crowd in the courtyard looking at him. He could easily feel the atmosphere of the courtyard from these people, and couldn't help but have a slight smile on his lips.

Fan Xian stepped forward, deigning to help Yan Bingyun's intact right hand, carefully helping him out of the car, and said softly, "Welcome home."

For the Qing Yu Nian people, the envoy's location was like their homeland. Yan Bingyun had been imprisoned for a year and had long been resigned to his fate. Although he still couldn't accept the agreement to exchange Xiao En for him, he couldn't help but be touched when he stepped on the soil of the envoy and heard Lord Fan's words of welcome home.

There were no civil officials from the Honglu Temple system in the small courtyard. Apart from the seven Tiger Guards, they were all Supervisory Council officials who were lurking in the envoy. Everyone looked at this young man who had difficulty walking and bowed in unison, "Greetings, Lord Yan!"

The sound was not impassioned, nor was it loud, but one could feel the sincerity of everyone.

Yan Bingyun smiled, didn't say anything, just said softly, "I was surprised to come out alive."

Fan Xian held his hand and laughed, "I'm also surprised that all your fingernails weren't pulled out."

These future right-hand men of the Supervisory Council spoke in extremely gentle voices at this time, only audible to each other.

...

...

Yan Bingyun returned to the envoy, and half of the mission to Northern Qi was completed. Fan Xian was relieved and said a few words to Wang Qinian, then helped Yan Bingyun into the inner room, and then said, "Take off your clothes. I'm not gentle."

Obviously, someone like Yan Bingyun wouldn't misunderstand anything. He slowly tore open the white clothes on his body, revealing his lean and well-proportioned naked body. Fan Xian raised his eyebrows, thinking of his feelings when he changed clothes at the Third Bureau in Kyoto, and found that the other party was indeed much calmer than him.

He took out the medicine box from the box, picked some with his fingers, and then began to apply it evenly on Yan Bingyun's body. Wherever his fingers passed, there was a rise and fall, and the horror of the scars was indescribable.

"I always thought you were just a lucky person," Yan Bingyun said coldly. "But Lord Fan, seeing the wounds on this official's body, can still be so calm. It seems that you are much stronger than I imagined."

Fan Xian's fingers stopped under Yan Bingyun's left chest. The bones there were obviously broken and reconnected, bulging out a large piece, and the outside was light red new skin, which looked very ugly. "That's because you don't understand my growing experience."

"I thought I knew very well," Yan Bingyun looked coldly into his eyes. "Lord Fan, I know your life from birth to twelve years old very well."

Fan Xian tilted his head slightly, looked at the other party, and didn't say anything.

Yan Bingyun also fell into silence, as if he didn't want to continue on that topic. After a while, he said, "Thank you, my lord, for healing this official. But I want to make a prescription for the wound medicine. This official should be more proficient than my lord. Please allow this official to write a prescription later and ask the people of the envoy to help grab a few doses of medicine."

Fan Xian ignored him, still concentrating on applying the medicine, while also supplementing it with the healing methods he had learned since childhood.

"Eat it." Fan Xian unceremoniously stuffed a pill into Yan Bingyun's mouth and said coldly, "When it comes to healing and detoxification, no one in the world dares to clamor in front of me except Fei Jie."