From various sources, the information converged at that detached residence in the southwestern corner of Shangjing. The envoy confirmed that Xiao En had secretly entered Shangjing. As for where he was being held, it was estimated that only the mother and son in the palace and that Lord Shen of the Zhen抚司 (Zhenfu Si, the Garrison Command) knew. The matter was strange. The Northern Qi court welcomed him grandly at Wudu River, but his return to the capital was silent. It seemed that Shang Shanhu and those who wanted Xiao En dead were still engaged in a tug-of-war.

For Fan Xian, Xiao En's life or death was not within his consideration. To be precise, once he entered Shangjing of Northern Qi, Fan Xian simply did not have the ability to worry about Xiao En's life or death before he had enough confidence to use the dark forces lurking in the north.

Unless Wu Zhu came, or rather, unless Wu Zhu brought that box to Fan Xian.

This was another question that had been缠绕 (chanrao, entangled) Fan Xian: why had Uncle Wu Zhu, who was always indifferent and inhuman, insisted on not entering this northern land this time? Could it be that there were people on this land whom he did not want to see?

On the other hand, it was clear that the proposal Fan Xian had thrown to Marquis Changning was beginning to work. The huge benefits contained in that proposal successfully seduced some people, and a meeting with Lord Shen of the Zhen抚司 was secretly arranged. Fan Xian knew that these things seemed secretive, but that mother in the Shangjing palace would definitely be watching all of this in the dark.

The other party would not completely believe Fan Xian, but they would always give it a try.

Fan Xian did not completely believe the other party, but he always hoped to catch something with the bait he had thrown out.

Wei Shaoqing seemed to be dragging his feet on the surface, but in fact, both sides of the negotiation had felt that the process was gradually speeding up. Although it was still later than the bottom line that Fan Xian strongly demanded, the Honglu Si (Honglu Temple, the Court of State Ceremonial) and the Zhen撫司 secretly issued a joint document on a fair and sunny day, and the envoy finally got the opportunity to meet Yan Bingyun.

On this day, the sky was clear, and there was not a single cloud on the porcelain-blue sky. Fan Xian put his hand on his brow, shielding the somewhat blazing sunlight, and a smile bloomed at the corner of his lips, thinking of the opening he often used when writing compositions in elementary school in that life.

He was very happy, and also a little faintly excited—although during the journey, before this transaction was reached, the darkness hidden deep in his heart had almost made him make certain exchanges, but fortunately, all of this had not become a reality—just like he had said a long time ago, Fan Xian admired this Mr. Yan whom he had never met, and he admired him very much.

A son of a high-ranking official who was able to give up wealth and go to a remote foreign country, and undertake espionage work in the northern frontier extremely dangerously, and did it exceptionally well, successfully infiltrating the upper echelons of Northern Qi. Just from this point alone, Fan Xian knew that this Mr. Yan was much more outstanding than himself in many ways.

The place where Yan Bingyun was being held was a heavily guarded manor in the suburbs of Shangjing. Not far from the manor was a military camp, and inside and outside the garden were guarded by the Northern Qi Jinyiwei (the Embroidered Uniform Guard). The large iron gate of the manor slowly opened, and the group did not get out of the car, but drove directly in, following the stone path hidden in the lawn. After a while, they came to the outside of a small building.

This building was not as quaint as other buildings in Shangjing. It was built entirely of solid stone, without a courtyard. From the corner tower, it was thought that it would have a panoramic view of all moving objects on the lawn. It was truly a good place to imprison people.

Today, only Wang Qinian came with Fan Xian to visit Yan Bingyun. Gao Da belonged to the Tiger Guards, and Lin Jing and Lin Wen belonged to the Honglu Temple system, which had little connection with the affairs of the Surveillance Bureau and were not convenient to come.

Wei Hua said to Fan Xian with a calm face: "Lord Fan, as you can see, this place is full of birdsong and flowers, and the grass bows gently in the wind. Our court treats your people quite favorably, right?"

Fan Xian's expression was even more indifferent than his, and he said lightly: "Even if it's a Qiong Palace wonderland, after living in it for a long time, it's still just a prison cell."

The vice pacification commissioner of the Jinyiwei beside them spoke: "Even if it's a prison cell, it's much more comfortable than the Surveillance Bureau's prison." When this high-ranking Jinyiwei official thought of the miserable state of the old man when his subordinates received Xiao En at the border, he became very angry.

Fan Xian frowned. He hated this vice pacification commissioner the most. After the envoy entered the capital, the corresponding personnel for liaison between the two sides should have been this guy, but who knew that the other party had hidden himself. Fan Xian still hadn't figured out the official positions of Northern Qi. Clearly, he was a member of the Jinyiwei, but why was the head called the Zhen撫司 commander, while this subordinate secret agent was called a pacification commissioner? When he first heard this name, he almost thought the other party was from the military.

"Why are you talking so much nonsense? I want to go in and see people." Fan Xian gave the pacification commissioner a cold look, thinking that Xiao En had suffered for twenty years in the south, but after Yan Bingyun was arrested, God knows how much torture he had suffered. It was already not easy for him to be alive until now.

—————————————————————

Before seeing Yan Bingyun, Fan Xian had imagined many scenarios: for example, Mr. Yan being hung on a torture rack, his skin torn and flesh mangled, ten steel needles nailed into his fingers, all of his toenails peeled off, revealing the tender flesh inside, the smooth skin on his body already scorched by branding irons, and even his young gums already entering the old age stage in advance, completely bald.

Of course, this was the worst possible scenario.

Fan Xian had also imagined that perhaps Mr. Yan was sitting on a soft couch at this time, surrounded by flowing cloud brocade quilts, and four or five Northern Qi beauties, naked thighs and half-exposed breasts, were surrounding him, holding grapes and feeding him, the grape juice flowing onto Mr. Yan's extremely elastic pectoral muscles, and the beauties beside him carefully wiping it away with soft towels.

Of course, this was the worst possible scenario.

There was also a strange imagination that always lingered in Fan Xian's brain. Perhaps when he first met Yan Bingyun, the other party would pounce over like a wounded tiger, wanting to tear himself to pieces, and complain with tears and snot that the people in the courtyard didn't care about his life or death, and complain that the adults in the motherland had come too late.

Of course, this was the least likely possibility.

But no matter how he imagined it, Fan Xian still felt that human imagination was indeed quite poor, and his own imagination was not much better when he walked into that room. He looked at the young man sitting in the chair, opened his lips slightly, and was quite surprised in his heart. He never thought that Yan Bingyun's current situation would be like this.

Wei Shaoqing and the vice pacification commissioner obviously did not expect this situation either, and exclaimed in surprise.

……

……

The room was decorated very elegantly, with a large bed, a desk, and some everyday furnishings. It did not look like a torture chamber, but rather like a homely room. Fan Xian was not sure if this was temporarily arranged by the Northern Qi side knowing that he was coming. His eyes were just looking at that chair.

Sitting in the chair was a young man with a cold expression. This young man had an extremely handsome face, thin lips, and flying eyebrows. In physiognomy, he was an extremely unfeeling person. What surprised everyone was that at this time, a girl was lying on the young man's lap, and the girl's soft sobbing echoed in the quiet room!

Fan Xian finally closed his stunned lips tightly, but his heart was confused. He thought with a wry smile, he and his group were so worried about this Northern Qi spy chief of Qing, but who knew that in this prison cell, a romantic drama was being staged, instead of the 007 torture scene he had imagined.

The young man in the chair was naturally Yan Bingyun. When he discovered that a few people had walked in from outside, and that two of these people were actually wearing Qing official uniforms, he frowned. With just this frown, a cold aura began to permeate the room.

This coldness even woke up the woman who was sobbing on Yan Bingyun's lap. The girl raised her head in some astonishment, looking back at the people at the door. At this time, Fan Xian realized that this girl was born with clear eyebrows and bright eyes, and her eyes were full of gentleness. She must be a young lady from a wealthy family, but he didn't know how she would appear in the heavily guarded prison cell.

"Miss Shen?" Wei Hua was shocked and shouted, "Someone come! Please take the young lady out."

"Shen?" Fan Xian frowned again, feeling that this matter was becoming more and more interesting.

Several Jinyiwei poured in from outside the door. Wei Hua's face was livid, and he cursed, "How do you people do things? You actually let Miss Shen come to such a dangerous place!" The vice pacification commissioner was also full of anger and slapped several slaps directly, after a few loud smacks, the few Jinyiwei who were responsible for guarding the serious offender covered their faces and walked up to Miss Shen, but they did not dare to reach out.

"Miss Shen? If you still don't leave, don't blame this humble officer for resorting to force." The vice pacification commissioner bowed to Miss Shen.

Wei Hua also walked to her side and softly persuaded, "Younger sister Shen, let's go back, otherwise, if Uncle Shen finds out about this, he will beat you to death."

……

……

Fan Xian's eyes did not make contact with Yan Bingyun. He just quietly looked at the woman lying on Yan Bingyun's lap. This girl was surnamed Shen, and she was able to enter the manor strictly guarded by the Northern Qi Jinyiwei. Without asking, she must be the daughter of that Lord Shen.

He just didn't know what relationship this Miss Shen had with Yan Bingyun. Fan Xian thought with a wry smile, could it be that our Mr. Yan is actually playing a beauty trap?

Miss Shen stood up quietly, looking at Yan Bingyun, who had been silent all the time, and a crazy and vicious hatred slowly appeared in those gentle eyes. She bit her lip and said word by word, "I only want one sentence from you, which of the things you said before was true?"

Yan Bingyun tilted his head slightly, and his eyes, without a trace of emotion, looked back and said softly, "This official is a staff member of the Fourth Bureau of the Southern Qing Surveillance Bureau. Miss Shen should be very clear that naturally, not a single word is true."

Wei Hua glanced at Fan Xian, who had been watching coldly, fearing that this young lady would continue to speak, which would make these Southern Dynasty officials laugh, and quickly ordered people to pull Miss Shen out of the door.

Miss Shen coldly shook off the hands of those Jinyiwei, looked at Yan Bingyun, who was still unmoving in the chair, and said with great sorrow, "Good, good, a truly affectionate and intentional Yan Bingyun."