(Yesterday I went for a physical, and the results will be out next week. The known ones are fine, but... my blood pressure was very high, 110 to 150, which scared both the doctor and myself. I guess it's a result of this damned writing work. It's better today. Everyone should exercise more, watch their diet, and not sit in front of the computer reading or playing games all the time. Your health is the most important thing.)

...

...

The Northern Qi Emperor in the mountain pavilion suddenly lost his smile and returned to the silence he often held when alone. He had grown up in the palace since he was a child, and faced the most difficult test of his life when his father first passed away. Although the Empress Dowager, with the strong support of National Preceptor Ku He, helped him through this ordeal, such a beginning destined his life as an emperor to be very unfavorable.

Yes, there were many reasons for this unfavorableness, but the most important one was naturally the secret hidden in his heart, in the Empress Dowager's heart, and in National Preceptor Ku He's heart, a secret that could never be spoken.

For this secret, the Northern Qi Emperor had made too many sacrifices and changes that somewhat twisted his personality. He could not have close relationships with too many people, he could not be too intimate with his sisters, he could not do whatever he wanted wantonly. For more than ten years, the people around him had never changed. Even taking a bath was like facing a formidable enemy, with strict security. The concubines in the harem were still filled with resentment...

To divert the attention of Southern Qing, and to make the officials in the court more alert, he and his mother had acted out the drama of mother and son being at odds for so many years. It was really exhausting.

He didn't want to bear these burdens, but since he had already taken them up, as a descendant of the Zhan family, inheriting the ambition and will of his grandfather to conquer the world, he had to play his role well.

It must be admitted that he had done a very good job these years. No one could find too many faults with the young emperor. He indulged, and even secretly induced Shang Shanhu to raid Shen Zhong's house in the rain, confiscated the Shen family's property, and firmly controlled the Jinyiwei in the hands of the imperial family. He placed Shang Shanhu under house arrest for a year to weaken his vigor, and then released the tiger to suppress the aggressive Qing army in the south. He suppressed the powerful clans within the borders of the country, and colluded with Fan Xian outside the borders.

One move after another... Under his management, the Northern Qi government had become more and more well-organized in the past two years, especially the Jiangnan affair, which proved the young emperor's foresight and cunning.

Even if the person in charge of the Jiangnan Neiku wasn't Fan Xian, he would probably have the ability to secretly seek some benefits. But the Northern Qi Emperor knew clearly that the level of benefits was also divided into many kinds. No matter how he imagined it back then, he never thought that he could obtain so many benefits for his court through Fan Xian.

He gently patted the railing, looked at the clear water in the mountain stream, sighed, and muttered to himself: "But what do you rely on to come? Why give all those benefits to me?" A cold and sarcastic smile appeared on the corner of his lips: "The illegitimate son of the Qing Emperor... how much difference can he have from his father?"

In the years of learning to become an emperor, the only object the Northern Qi Emperor could find in the real world was, of course, the powerful monarch of Southern Qing. He knew what kind of formidable character that senior colleague was, with both ambition and wild ambition, yet skilled in forbearance.

"You will eventually grow old, and you are already old..." The Northern Qi Emperor frowned slightly, his eyes shifted slightly, looking towards the distant south. Thinking of the recent news of the Southern Qing Kyoto imperial family struggle, he said softly: "Even if you were a lion in those years, breaking up the Great Wei and leaving my Great Qi barely surviving, you are old after all, and your whole person exudes a decadent smell. I really hope that you can continue to be so insidious and rotten, and force him to come over to me."

These words seemed to be sighing at every detail of history, as if he was increasing his confidence, because everyone knew that no matter how sensitive, suspicious, and bastard the Qing Emperor was, history only believed in history itself, and the past history had already proven that the Qing Emperor was the only victor in the world in the past thirty years.

The eyes of the Northern Qi Emperor narrowed, and his lips curled up slightly as he muttered to himself: "I hope you can survive this time, so that I can defeat you openly on the stage of the world."

...

...

He couldn't quite understand Fan Xian, but Fan Xian couldn't see him clearly either.

As an emperor, no matter what color the heart in his body was, his primary consideration was of course his throne and the world. If the relationship between Fan Xian and him could continue to be peaceful and mutually beneficial, the Northern Qi Emperor would spare no expense to satisfy Fan Xian's requirements, such as Haitang, such as Fan Ruoruo's apprenticeship.

But if Fan Xian threatened Northern Qi in the future, the Northern Qi Emperor would definitely use all the power at his disposal to eliminate Fan Xian with extreme coldness and ruthlessness.

It had nothing to do with emotions, nothing to do with national affiliation, and nothing to do with men and women.

In this world, there are only three kinds of people - men, women, and emperors.

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The stream under the pavilion flowed down the mountain, flowing to the side of the lowest layer of palaces, and gathering into a pool of clear water at the foot of the mountain. On the west side of the clear water, there was a small gap made of white stone, and gurgling clear water flowed out of this gap, but it did not cause the pool water to move at all.

At this time, in the woods behind this pool of clear water, a large group of eunuchs and maids were waiting with their heads lowered and their voices lowered. No one knew that His Majesty the Emperor was in a daze in the pavilion on the mountainside. They only knew that the two most noble people in the entire Northern Qi besides His Majesty the Emperor were in a daze by the pool.

National Preceptor Ku He, dressed in sackcloth, wearing a bamboo hat, and barefoot, looked like an ascetic monk, was sitting on a stone on the side of the clear pool, holding a fishing rod in his hand.

And the Empress Dowager of Northern Qi, the woman who did not know how much effort she had put in and how much she had endured the name of being a power-grabbing and chaotic government in order to make her son sit firmly on the throne, was sitting next to Grand Preceptor Ku He with a smile on her face, her eyes and eyebrows full of peace and tranquility.

In those years, the Zhan family rose from the chaos of the world, forcibly inherited the Great Wei Tianbao with military force, but continuous wars continued. I don't know how many fierce generals in the imperial family died in the fierce offensive of the Qing Emperor. After that Zhan surname emperor died of illness, only she and the Northern Qi young emperor were left in the entire palace.

At that time, Chen Pingping of Southern Qing used spies, and the political situation in Northern Qi was turbulent. Princes and nobles clamored, and the situation in the palace was precarious, but even under such circumstances, this woman still made her son sit firmly on the dragon chair.

The most important thing was, of course, the tough stance of the grand preceptor beside her at this time. But it also proved that this Empress Dowager was definitely not as mediocre as she looked on the surface.

Ku He's eyes looked calmly at the unrippled water surface.

The Empress Dowager smiled slightly, but she thought of the changes in Shangjing City in the past year or so. When the court changed that year, she asked Marquis Changning to risk his life to leave the palace and seek Shen Zhong to bring people to support them. Shen Zhong and the Jinyiwei made great contributions, but when the emperor grew up, he could not tolerate Shen Zhong continuing to be arrogant, so he had the idea.

The Empress Dowager felt guilty towards Shen Zhong, but her son's mind was made up, and she knew that she could not persuade him, so she acquiesced in the occurrence of this matter - the people of the Zhan family seemed to always be so persistent and could not be influenced by others, such as her son, such as the one beside her.

But she still wanted to continue her efforts, because the Northern Qi Emperor had a long talk with her all night yesterday, and she always felt that this matter was not as good as imagined, and asked her to persuade National Preceptor Ku He - so there was today's greeting by the pool.

"I haven't seen Li Yunrui, but I have exchanged many secret letters with her." The Northern Qi Empress Dowager said slowly. In front of Ku He, she would naturally not call herself "Aijia". Although her face was still dignified, her tone of voice was like she was just a ignorant little girl.

Ku He smiled and said: "The three countries are far apart. When Zhuang Mohan was invited to the south, he had never seen the Southern Dynasty princess."

The Empress Dowager sighed and said: "So Zhuang Dajia left a regret for life."

Ku He shook his head: "But I have seen that princess, so I know that this woman is not simple. This change in the Southern Dynasty Kyoto happened so quickly, without any movement, which is really beyond my expectations."

"What Dou Dou means is..." The Empress Dowager said after a moment of contemplation: "After all, the confrontation between the two countries is a competition of national strength. It's better not to take risks."

"Why doesn't he come and talk to me, his grand master?" Ku He said with a smile: "The child is still young after all, and probably doesn't understand why we old guys are still so vigilant even though the Qing Emperor has behaved so badly these years."

He continued: "Because I know, and you also know, that the Qing Emperor is really not an ordinary person. In the second generation, there was no grandmaster, but there was an emperor who used troops like a god..." His brow furrowed, "The longer he forbears, the more uneasy I feel."

The Northern Qi Empress Dowager sighed and said: "Even so, there is no better way."

The old man smiled, took off his bamboo hat, revealing his big bald head, and said heartily: "Remember that Ye Liuyun also liked to wear a hat and run all over the world... Even such a person can be used by Li Yunrui, I believe that this princess will think of a way."

At this point, the Empress Dowager knew that she could no longer persuade the national preceptor to change his mind, and said respectfully: "Uncle, take a look again. Let the Southern Dynasty handle their own affairs, it will always be good for us."

"There is not much time left." Ku He's fishing rod did not tremble at all, and he said slowly: "If we old guys can't solve this problem when we are alive, who will solve it in the future?"

These words were so consistent with what the grandmaster in the thatched cottage said.

The Empress Dowager's hand trembled slightly, and she said with a smile: "What about Haitang? Besides... there is also Fan Xian in the south."

Ku He laughed and said: "Fan Xian, this young man will have to see his own good fortune. If he is smart and strong enough, he will probably gain the greatest benefit from this matter, which can also be regarded as a gift from my dynasty to him. Given this young man's temperament, since he has received such a great favor from Dou Dou, he will always remember the kindness of my Northern Qi."

In the final analysis, these Northern Qi rulers knew that in terms of national strength, Northern Qi, which had been plagued by problems for a long time, was still unable to catch up with or surpass Southern Qing in a short period of time. In the general trend, Southern Qing would still be the main attacker and Northern Qi would be the main defender for more than ten years, so there was the saying of accepting kindness and remembering good.

"I originally thought that the crown prince or the second prince of the Southern Dynasty had a better chance." The Empress Dowager frowned and said.

Ku He shook his head: "How could Fan Xian, a person who is so afraid of killing, give them a chance to take the throne? If there is really such a possibility, do you think he would really be reluctant to kill... In this entire world, there are not many people who can survive under Fan Xian's murderous intentions."

The Empress Dowager was slightly stunned, not expecting the national preceptor's assessment of Fan Xian's strength to be so strong.

"Don't forget, there is still a blind man behind him, but Ye Liuyun cannot be a bodyguard for the princes of the Southern Dynasty."

Ku He smiled, picked up the fishing rod in his hand. The thin line on the rod was tied to a fish hook, and he did not use a rope to fish like some people do, in order to seek a dog-shit realm.

The fish hook came out of the water, dripping a few clear beads, and fell into the water again. The clear water in this imperial palace seemed to be excited by these few clear beads, and the water waves surged, and the green water plants at the bottom of the water swayed helplessly.

Countless fish, either golden or green, jumped out of the water, jumping happily, and clapping the water surface to express their gratitude to the ascetic monk holding the fishing rod.

...

...

The sound of the water gradually returned to silence, flowing out of the gap in the clear pool, forming a white jade belt, and then moistening half of the hillside. Along the stone-paved imperial waterway, it flowed out of the palace walls and into the Yuquan River. The mountain stream in the palace was only a tributary of the Yuquan River, but in fact, the reason why the Yuquan River got its name was because of the name of the mountain stream on the green mountain in the palace - Yuquan, Yuquan.

The water of the Yuquan River flowed into Shangjing City, not far from the palace walls, passing through a garden.

This was exactly the garden of Haitang girl, seeking tranquility in the bustling area of Shangjing, which was a rare good place. So in the past, Fan Xian had ridiculed her for just being good at her name, but he had never thought that such a pastoral place was full of nobility in secret, and there was no trace of rural meaning.

At this time, two girls walked out of the garden, boarded the carriage outside the garden, and headed towards the city.

It didn't take long for the carriage to arrive in the busiest area of Shangjing City, and the speed of the car naturally slowed down. When passing by an antique shop, the coachman seemed to hear the call of the woman in the carriage and stopped.

Haitang put down her right hand that pulled up the curtain and turned to Fan Ruoruo and said, "It's your brother, do you want to go down and say hello?"

Fan Ruoruo smiled and said, "Since he is treating us today, let's not meet him in advance. Let's go shopping in Shangjing City first."

Haitang nodded, and the carriage started again, without disturbing the people in the antique shop.

Inside the antique shop, a slightly fat young man was looking down at the goods inside. This person was none other than Fan Sizhe, the second young master of the Fan family, who was kicked to Shangjing City by Fan Xian, suffered countless hardships under Haitang's hands, and finally managed to take over the northern route of the Cui family.

Whether it was because he had disguised himself, or because the life of being away from home had made this young man somewhat precocious, at this time his eyes and eyebrows were full of peace, without any of the arrogance and violence of the past, which made him look much more mature than his real age.

He was going to host a banquet at the Shangjing branch of Baoyuelou tonight, and he knew in advance that his sister and Haitang, the two people he was most afraid of, were coming, so he came out to buy gifts at the antique shop in advance, so that these two must be in a happy mood. However, after looking for a long time, and even asking the shop owner to bring out all the hidden goods for him to see, he still couldn't find anything satisfactory, which made him feel a little unhappy.

Behind him were still those Northern Qi master bodyguards wearing scimitars. Although the Fan brothers knew that this was definitely a group of people monitoring them from the Northern Qi royal family, Fan Sizhe was as daring as Fan Xian, and still used them casually, without changing the manpower.

There were other people in the store looking at the goods. It could be seen from the clothes of those people that they were either rich or noble. This antique shop was extremely famous, and the goods sold were also extremely expensive, so the people who dared to come in to pick things were all big figures in Northern Qi, either giants or dignitaries.

These people did not know Fan Sizhe, but seeing that he brought four master guards, they secretly guessed that this young man must be a low-key young master from some family.

At this time, the shop owner walked in with a wooden tray covered with red cloth with extreme solemnity, approached Fan Sizhe and said, "Young master, if you want a pair, this is it."

Fan Sizhe picked up a corner of the red cloth and saw that there were a pair of jade lions on the tray. The carving was excellent, and the lions were tiger-headed and very cute. He couldn't help laughing, thinking that giving this pair to his sister and Haitang was really appropriate and a bit of a vent for himself.

"That's it." He waved his hand.

Unfortunately, the dignitaries who were looking at the goods next to him also took a fancy to this pair of jade lions, so they begged Fan Sizhe to be kind enough to let them have it. A rich young master was even willing to give a red envelope to show his sincerity. In big places like Shangjing, Kyoto, or Dongyi City, there were generally not too many scenes of robbing goods by force, after all, the people in the field were either rich or noble, and no one knew who they would offend.

In Shangjing City, Fan Sizhe had always been low-key. There was still his name on the wanted notice of Southern Qing, so except for the Jinyiwei and the Qing royal family and relevant officials, few people knew his true identity. If it were in the past, Fan Sizhe might have agreed to such a gentle request from this rich young master, but today he really liked this pair of jade lions, so he hesitated and didn't speak.

This hesitation made those dignitaries feel quite unhappy, thinking that they had already given enough face. If it wasn't for the Marquis being invited to participate in a very important gathering and entrusting the matter of purchasing gifts to the young master, these people really needed this pair of precious jade lions as a gift, why would they have to talk to this stranger.

At this time, those people separated, and a noble child of about twelve or thirteen years old came out, pointing at Fan Sizhe's nose and scolding: "In Shangjing City, no one dares to compete with me for things!"

Fan Sizhe's brow furrowed. If it were in the past, he would have punched him in the face, but as he grew older, his temperament became much more stable, and he asked: "Who are you?"

One person kindly reminded: "This is the little master of Marquis Chang'an's family."

Marquis Chang'an and Marquis Changning were the Empress Dowager of Northern Qi's own brothers. This identity was indeed noble enough, but after Fan Sizhe was slightly stunned, he laughed evilly.

"Your dad is going to give gifts tonight, right?" No matter how much Fan Sizhe improved, he was still a lawless guy in the past. He gritted his teeth and stared at the child's eyes fiercely, and said: "Little brat!"

As soon as these words came out, the people on the opposite side surrounded him, and the crowd was angry, as if they were about to do something.

Fan Sizhe sneered and led four scimitar guards out of the antique shop.

Outside the shop, on the carriage, a scimitar guard's eyes flashed a different color, and asked Fan Sizhe: "Boss, do you know that young master?"

Fan Sizhe spat and scolded: "That little bastard, my brother broke his hand back then, but he hasn't made any progress... If he dares to provoke me again, I'll break his other hand!"

Inside the antique shop, everyone looked at each other in dismay, thinking that the guy just now was really bold, and dared to scold the young master of Marquis Chang'an's family as a little brat in person!

Without further ado, the young master collected the gift, endured his anger, and happily returned to his mansion, followed his father, and came to the Baoyuelou branch that had just opened in Shangjing City for less than four months, preparing to attend this extremely important gathering.

However, when he entered the building, sat next to his father, and looked at the fat man who was chatting and laughing with his cousin in the first seat, he was immediately dumbfounded.

His cousin was called Wei Hua, and was the most outstanding young man in the entire Wei family. Now he was deeply appreciated by His Majesty and held the important position of commander of the Jinyiwei Zhenfu Division. In the entire Northern Qi, he possessed extremely terrible power.

However, such a powerful figure was now chatting and laughing with that young fat man without restraint, just like old friends. There seemed to be a hidden vigilance in his eyes.

The young master of Marquis Chang'an's family stared blankly at this scene, thinking what kind of person is the fat brother who scolded me as a little brat just now?

...

...

While Fan Sizhe and Wei Hua were talking, he glanced at the table with the corner of his eye, and found that Marquis Chang'an had actually brought his incompetent son here. He thought how could the old thing have such a young son at such an old age, could it be that he was wearing a hat... While he was slandering, he smiled at Marquis Chang'an and greeted him.

He initiated this banquet today, and did not invite outsiders. All the members of the Northern Qi royal family and relatives were invited. The purpose was also very simple. The news from Southern Dynasty was clear that Li Yunrui had collapsed, and it seemed that there was no one in Qing that could threaten his brother. Then he must seize this opportunity to expand the entire business.

And doing business with Northern Qi is actually doing business with the people of the Northern Qi Emperor's family. So he invited all the Wei family, and also invited Haitang and his sister to help him hold the table.

What was Fan Sizhe afraid of? All the low-priced goods from the south were in his hands, and the products of Neiku were continuously delivered to his hands by Xia Mingji. If the Wei family wanted to make a fortune, they had to rely on him.

He smiled and looked at the young master of Marquis Chang'an's family whose face had changed slightly, and winked, his meaning was very clear, where is the old man's pair of jade lions?