"It seems like I did nothing last summer."

Si Lili held her head, feeling a bit of a headache. Ever since Fan Xian mentioned this sentence in his letter to Duo Duo, the young emperor of Northern Qi and the two women beside him had fallen into endless thought. No matter how they calculated, they couldn't figure out what they had done to Fan Xian last summer.

The letter only contained one sentence, written so bluntly that it felt like a warning, or even a threat. The Northern Qi side didn't understand what could have made Fan Xian so angry.

Of course, they didn't realize that the reason was simply because Fan Xian had miscalculated the year. He had intended to warn the female warriors of the North about the ruined temple, which he already knew about.

The young emperor of Northern Qi frowned and said coldly, "Last year, I sent him a good sword through Wang Qinian's hand. Even if he saw through that matter, he should at least be grateful, why send a letter to intimidate my little martial aunt?"

"The Great Wei Emperor's Sword?" Si Lili covered her mouth and smiled charmingly, radiating beauty. "Or the Great Wei Heir-Appointing Sword?"

The sound of the words was the same, and it took the young emperor of Northern Qi a while to understand the joke, but he didn't laugh. Instead, his face darkened slightly.

Si Lili's heart stirred slightly, knowing that the emperor didn't like her being too presumptuous, so she quieted down and knelt to the side.

The young emperor of Northern Qi slowly sat up, smoothing his hair back from his temples, and tied his black hair up. His eyebrows were straight and handsome, and he said calmly, "Let's not talk about this. Fan Siz辙 is hosting a grand banquet tonight. I'll have Wei Hua attend on my behalf. What do you think?"

"Your Majesty is wise," Si Lili said seriously after thinking for a long while. "Binding the second son of the Fan family in Shangjing will surely make Fan Xian more obedient in the South. Even if he has other ideas, he will still have to consider his younger siblings."

"Speaking of younger siblings, that martial aunt Ruo Ruo should also be arriving today." The young emperor of Northern Qi waved his hand with a smile, appearing effortlessly carefree. "As for your statement, it's false. It's not that we're holding the Fan family's children in Shangjing to threaten Fan Xian, but rather that Fan Xian sent his younger siblings to our country, asking us to be nannies."

He snorted and continued, "What kind of person is Fan Xian? Since he dares to send them, he's obviously not afraid that we'll use them as hostages. That guy, he seemed so gentle and magnanimous in the palace back then. You don't know how ruthless he is until you deal with him…"

Si Lili covered her mouth and laughed, "But Your Majesty still agreed. What I meant by 'binding' wasn't about taking hostages… If Fan Ruo Ruo and Fan Siz辙 live well in Northern Qi, Fan Xian will be happy too, and maybe… one day he'll come and join us?"

"It's not that simple." The emperor of Northern Qi laughed self-deprecatingly. "He's doing well in Southern Qing. Now that Li Yunrui has lost power, no one dares to touch him. How could he abandon the supreme authority in his hands to join me… As for his arrangements, it only shows that this person is as sensitive and suspicious as his imperial father, always having backup plans. He's just treating my country as a fallback for his family."

He sighed, "Unfortunately, in Jiangnan and in the Southern Dynasty's treasury, there are too many places where I need him. Even though I know he's using me, I can only agree."

Over the course of a year, the emperor of Northern Qi and Fan Xian each chose their representatives and began smuggling goods to the North through the old Cui family route, via Xia Mingji and Fan Siz辙, with both sides making a large profit. Although they were extremely secretive in order to prevent the Qing emperor from becoming suspicious, even if it was discovered, it wouldn't involve these high-level figures. However… the two sides were already tied together, so Fan Xian was able to confidently leave his siblings in Northern Qi.

What he said earlier was true; the young emperor of Northern Qi is now just a good nanny that Fan Xian found.

What’s more, Fan Xian has already guessed the truth about the events in the ruined temple, making him even more unreserved in his use of the Northern Qi emperor.

"Why does Fan Xian need a backup plan?" Si Lili asked, puzzled. "Does he always believe that Qing is not a place for him to stay for long?"

"That's what I'm most interested in." The young emperor of Northern Qi laughed. "What kind of person is Fan Xian? He started looking for a way out while climbing up in the Southern Dynasty. Does he think that one day he will turn against his emperor? It's really… a bit hard to say, hard to explain."

He paused and continued, "Do you remember the time he sent you back to the capital?"

Si Lili was stunned, then immediately thought of the gentle time spent on the journey north, the endless spring scenery in the carriage. Her face flushed slightly, and she lowered her head without answering.

The young emperor of Northern Qi laughed heartily, but there was a hint of sourness in his laughter. He used his finger to lift Si Lili's chin and said gently, "Lili, I… don't like it when you're by my side, but still thinking about other men."

Si Lili lowered her head and didn't say a word, a smile on her red lips.

The young emperor of Northern Qi snorted coldly, realizing that this girl was becoming less and less afraid of him. He withdrew his hand and said, "Didn't you once say that Fan Xian detoxified you on the way back north… In that case, he also saved you and my lives. So I don't understand, his cooperation with me for his own selfish gain is a later matter, but before that, he didn't seem to want me to die… plus the matter of the backup plan I mentioned earlier."

His brow furrowed tightly, unable to figure it out.

"Fan Xian… does he even consider himself a… Qing citizen?"

……

……

Si Lili slowly raised her head, smiling as she looked at the worried emperor. She didn't say that Fan Xian had already guessed, when he was still in Shangjing, that the emperor wouldn't harm himself because of the poison in her body. Although she is now a noble imperial concubine, deeply loved by the young emperor of Northern Qi, and there are some unclear relationships between them, she is deep in the palace… not at all concerned about the threat from the Southern Qing Surveillance Bureau, nor does she need to accept Fan Xian's remote control. But for some reason, when she thought of that young man's hateful gentle smile, Si Lili's heart softened, and she hid many things for him.

Perhaps it was to see the look of rage on the face of the emperor in front of her, who has always had far-sighted eyes, in the future?

"Southern Qing is the great enemy of our dynasty." The young emperor of Northern Qi said with a frown, "I understand clearly the beast-like thoughts of the Qing people. Even if Fan Xian has endless resentment towards the Qing imperial family because of the Ye family matter back then… he is still a Qing citizen after all, why would he give me… no, this dynasty so many benefits? Is he not afraid that my Great Qi will rise up and make their Southern Qing look bad?"

Listening to these words, Si Lili also stopped her playful thoughts and fell into silence. She was originally a descendant of the Southern Qing imperial family, with an irreconcilable hatred for the current Southern Qing imperial court, so she turned to Northern Qi. But Fan Xian is, after all, the illegitimate son of the Southern Qing emperor. Although the Southern Qing emperor has many surveillance and restrictions on him, in just three short years, he has become a leading power figure in the Southern Dynasty… What else is Fan Xian dissatisfied with? Why would he secretly conduct so many transactions with Northern Qi?

It's definitely not because of herself… Si Lili thought with self-deprecation, and it's not because of Duo Duo, let alone the emperor. Fan Xian, although a lecherous person, will never change his mind because of women.

After a long silence, she suddenly had a flash of inspiration and said, "Unless… he has never truly considered himself a citizen of Qing."

After saying this, she shook her head, not even believing it herself. A strange light flashed in the eyes of the Northern Qi emperor, then a faint disappointment surfaced.

If Fan Xian really didn't consider himself a citizen of Qing, then maybe one day he would really come to Northern Qi… If Fan Xian were to come, he would naturally bring countless benefits, such as the secrets of the Internal Treasury, the internal intelligence of the Surveillance Bureau, and his identity!

A Qing Dynasty prince, a successor designated by Zhuang Mo Han, defecting from Qing to Qi… What kind of shock would this cause in the world? What kind of benefits and dangers would this bring to Northern Qi?

If Fan Xian really came to defect, the ambitious emperor of Northern Qi would definitely accept him regardless of any danger… but he knew that this speculation was impossible. Everyone knows that Fan Xian is a genuine Qing citizen, and the Qing emperor would not be so stupid as to force his most promising son to a dead end, taking that final step.

In fact, it's just that the people in this world can't understand the thinking of Fan Xian, a modern person.

Ever since Fan Xian said that sentence in the cave, he had already accepted his role as a person of this era, but he didn't have much concept of home or country. Because of his childhood growth environment and the friends around him, he naturally had deeper feelings for Qing. But in his view, the disputes in this world are actually just a kind of internal entanglement, like the eldest branch fighting the second branch.

Like the Spring and Autumn period, like the Warring States period, jumping around doesn't have any moral shame. The concept of treason has never existed in his mind.

This is the unique psychology of a foreign population.

——————————————————————

Walking along the quiet stone path of the Shangjing Imperial Palace upwards, the eunuchs and maids opening the way carefully supported him, afraid that the young man wearing the dragon robe would accidentally fall. The eunuchs holding the whisk and water bottle behind him were even more tiptoeing, heads lowered, not daring to make a sound.

The young emperor of Northern Qi didn't look too good. He had hated these servants surrounding him since he was young, making it difficult for him to relax for a moment. However, the rules of the court have always been like this, and no matter how angry he is, he can't change it, unless he kills all these servants… but what can he do if he kills them all?

Next to the third layer of the palace, a green tree slowly drooped its branches, gently resting on the black eaves, complementing each other beautifully. The emperor stared blankly at this scene, thinking to himself, he walks and wanders in this palace every day, why has he rarely noticed these scenes?

Is it because he sees them too often and habitually forgets them?

He suddenly remembered what Haitang had relayed, that the man from Southern Qing learned how to walk like his martial aunt Haitang in this palace… That man seemed to be walking very happily, his eyes rolling quickly, very greedy, as if he wanted to take all the beautiful scenery in this palace into his eyes… Could it be that the man was born to like these extremely beautiful things, so he could write those extremely beautiful and clean words?

The young emperor of Northern Qi lowered his head, put his hands behind his back, and fell into deep thought.

After a moment, he raised his head, a confident smile on his face, but his feet turned in a direction, heading up a mountain path on the right. At the end of that mountain path, the sound of flowing waterfalls could be vaguely heard.

The eunuchs and maids beside him were startled, thinking that the emperor wasn't going to plant osmanthus on the top of the mountain? Why did he turn that way again? But no one dared to stop him, so they could only follow silently.

The mountain path turned several times, arriving at a platform on the cliff, with a pavilion on the platform.

The emperor of Northern Qi pointed to the pavilion, and the eunuchs and maids around him rushed over immediately, placing embroidered stools, lighting incense, and sweeping away dust.

The emperor walked into the pavilion, looking at the stream below the pavilion, and the spring flowers on the cliff. His heart stirred slightly, and he softly recited, "Slapping the railings, the mountain wind is cold on my temples with forest flowers, a loud song startles the floating clouds."

The people around him immediately showered him with flattery, "Your Majesty…"

The emperor of Northern Qi laughed self-deprecatingly, thinking that Fan Xian had only said three words to him in this pavilion: "Good line."

……

……

"Flattering me, flattering so carelessly… Fan Xian, you are still the only one." The emperor of Northern Qi laughed, standing by the railing, looking at the beautiful scenery of his world.

"Everyone, retreat, everyone get out." He suddenly ordered.

The eunuchs and maids in the pavilion looked at each other, thinking that the mountain stone was cold, and if the emperor caught a cold, how would they explain it to the Empress Dowager? But they knew that the current Northern Qi was already the emperor's country. Although this emperor was young, his ambition was extremely firm. After Shen Zhong's death, the emperor strongly advocated releasing Shang Shanhu to the south to fight against Southern Qing, and presided over several major changes in the court. Even the ministers no longer dared to look at him as a child.

The pavilion immediately returned to its usual quiet.

The emperor of Northern Qi stood by the railing and took a deep breath, thinking of Fan Xian's suggestion, thinking that this kid was right. After a moment, he thought of another thing, his brow slowly furrowed, and he whispered to himself, "Fan Xian, what exactly are you thinking?"

"Worrying about the world before the world worries, and enjoying the world after the world enjoys?"

"Is this world… ultimately the world of Southern Qing, or… the entire world?"

The emperor of Northern Qi's brow gradually relaxed, vaguely realizing the truth of the matter, the corners of his lips lifted upward with a somewhat strange smile, and he said softly, "If you come to join me, how about I bestow upon you a prince? It's better than your current minor duke status."

……

……

(Taking a day off tomorrow…)