Chen Pingping, of course, didn't believe it. The old-timers from back then knew that the box was in Miss Ye's possession. But when Miss Ye was killed, she never used the box. This indicated that the box wasn't in the Taiping Courtyard at the time. Moreover, Chen Pingping's thorough investigation of the Taiping Courtyard afterward didn't uncover any trace of the box.

Such an extraordinary object couldn't simply be lost.

Then only Wu Zhu knew the box's whereabouts. As Fan Xian grew up, surviving in the treacherous environment of the capital, if Wu Zhu was away from Fan Xian due to injury, he would surely give the box to Fan Xian to carry with him at all times, to avoid any potential dangers.

This was Chen Pingping's deduction, and it wasn't far from the truth.

He was only wrong on one point because neither he nor the Emperor had ever seen the box in person, so they had no idea of its volume and size.

Indeed, Fan Xian was carrying the box, but it was impossible to conceal the box from everyone's eyes and carry it around. When Fan Xian was ambushed in the valley due to his carelessness, the box was who knew where, adrift on some weak water.

…

…

Meeting the old cripple's playful gaze, Fan Xian spread his hands out sincerely and said, "I really don't know anything about any box."

He had to keep this secret. Even if this old man could guess something, he couldn't admit it. Otherwise, if the Emperor knew that the box was in his hands, as a ruler, he certainly wouldn't allow a mysterious treasure that could kill masters to stay by his son's side.

The Emperor would ask for it. So Fan Xian wouldn't admit it from the start.

Chen Pingping shook his head, too lazy to continue questioning, knowing that the little guy always wanted to keep some protective treasures for himself.

Fan Xian smiled and changed the subject: "Uncle Wu Zhu, that inexplicable box, that's one of the two things you didn't calculate. What's the third?"

Chen Pingping looked at him sarcastically: "The third thing is simple. I didn't expect that the carriage in the courtyard could block for you for a while. With your and Shadow's abilities, escaping from the snow forest alone shouldn't be difficult. Even if you were injured, you wouldn't have ended up in this state... You've been in the courtyard long enough, of course, you know that masters and assassins live in completely different worlds. It's easy to snipe a master, but extremely difficult to snipe an assassin... But apart from the people in the courtyard, not many people know you're a ninth-rank assassin."

"What I didn't expect is that I didn't expect you to be so foolish." Chen Pingping looked slightly angry.

Fan Xian was slightly stunned, then sneered and said: "Are you referring to me killing my way into the snow forest to remove those crossbows? Is that foolish? Even if I could escape... what about my subordinates? Don't forget, in this valley incident, I lost nearly twenty subordinates in total. I didn't scold you for being cold-blooded, but you scold me for being foolish."

"Cold-blooded?" Chen Pingping looked at Fan Xian with a smile that wasn't a smile. "Have you forgotten that what our Supervisory Council needs most is cold-bloodedness? Where has your past indifference gone?"

Fan Xian clenched his fists slightly and said in a low voice, "They were my people."

"They're just your subordinates. If you can't bear to sacrifice them, what will you do in the future if you have to sacrifice someone more important? Your actions easily exposed your cold exterior, revealing your weakness. That's what's called foolish. A strong person isn't just physically strong, but also mentally strong. Weakness will only lead you to die without a burial place." Chen Pingping narrowed his eyes, and a cold light shone out.

"That's not weakness!" Fan Xian retorted without hesitation: "That's what I had to do."

"Don't care too much." Chen Pingping yawned and said: "Don't have too many things you must do. I just think your mother-in-law must be very happy, finally knowing where your weakness lies."

Fan Xian's heart trembled, feeling a sense of foreboding. He frowned and said, "I only care about the people I care about. No matter how many other people... die in front of me, I won't even bat an eyelid."

"Your mother cared about everyone in the world." Chen Pingping closed his eyes and said: "In this respect, you are smarter than her, stronger than her, but it's still not enough. You can only live a few days longer than her at most."

Fan Xian clapped his hands and said gently: "There's nothing to talk about these things. Anyway, it's best if we can all live to be a hundred years old."

He spun his wheelchair around, lifting the front wheels, circling Chen Pingping halfway.

Chen Pingping looked at this scene and couldn't help but laugh, saying: "Is this fun?"

"It's fun." Fan Xian said seriously: "You've been sitting in a wheelchair for so many years, and you don't even think about developing some games to break the boredom. It shows that you're really a boring person, immersed in the dark world all day long. What's the point of living like this?"

If it were up to Fan Xian, it would be best for Chen Pingping to stay out of it, go to some big mountains in the last few years of his life, take his beautiful concubines around him, and spend a honeymoon or something. It would be better than dedicating his whole life to boring political conspiracy career.

However, he also knew that for Chen Pingping, calculating these things might not just be work, but also a kind of enjoyment, a kind of art, so he didn't say much.

"After I die." Chen Pingping raised his withered hand and waved it casually in the air in this garden, "This garden is yours. These women inside, you can keep them if you want, or let them go if you don't want to."

Fan Xian understood that the old man naturally wouldn't care about the lives of these beauties, but having been together for many years, there must be some feelings, so he nodded naturally.

"How to deal with the Qin family's problem?" Fan Xian suddenly asked. Although Chen Pingping told him to focus on the overall situation and not reveal his weapons now, he always needed to give something in return.

Chen Pingping shook his head and said, "Everyone wants you to die. The Qin family isn't particularly good, nor particularly bad. If you act now, you will ruin my overall plan. Endure it for now, and watch them lose their entire family in the future. That in itself is a very happy thing."

Fan Xian frowned slightly, a hint of helplessness appearing on his handsome face: "Endure it again?"

"In this regard, you should learn from your father." Chen Pingping said with a smile that wasn't a smile: "If everyone in the world is dead, I think your father is still alive... Don't say this isn't ability, being able to survive is the greatest ability in itself."

Fan Xian suddenly raised his eyebrows like swords and said slowly: "I am, after all, a young man. I must express my attitude on this matter. Otherwise, if any Tom, Dick or Harry dares to try to kill me, it will always be inconvenient."

Chen Pingping looked at him.

Fan Xian didn't seem to feel the old man's cold gaze, smiling and said: "I'm giving you face. I won't touch the Qin family. I'll help you cover it up, waiting for that moment of explosion. But I still have to kill a few other people to accompany my subordinates in death."

The wrinkles on Chen Pingping's face deepened, and he sighed, "What does the others have to do with this valley assassination?"

"Didn't you say that everyone wants me to die?" Fan Xian said with a smile: "In that case, regardless of whether they are related to this assassination or not, I'll kill a few first to establish my prestige. I think His Majesty won't blame me too much."

Chen Pingping shook his head disapprovingly: "Yan Xiaoyi didn't get involved in this matter in the first place. Why do you have to form a deadly feud with him?"

Fan Xian sneered: "What about Yan Xiaoyi's son? Half a year ago, you only said that he had a very powerful son, but you didn't tell me that San Shi was also killed by him, nor did you tell me that this little Arrow brother is staying in the Kyoto garrison."

Chen Pingping was silent. He hadn't told Fan Xian everything about this matter in the first place. It seemed that Fan Xian had found out with his own strength, so he couldn't say much more, but slowly said: "You want to take revenge... but it's inconvenient to move the old Qin family, so you're planning to kill indiscriminately?"

"The old Qin family has already been pushed to the Princess Royal's side by you." Fan Xian reminded him unceremoniously: "I'll cut my mother-in-law with a knife, let them bear some of the anger for the old Qin family, what's the problem?"

"There's no problem." Chen Pingping said in a gloomy voice: "It's just that your way of doing things... is a bit unreasonable."

Fan Xian sneered and said: "I'm too lazy to waste my breath when I meet someone as reasonable as you. Don't you know that we young people are used to being unreasonable?"

--------------------------------------------------

The winter in Kyoto was cold. Although it hadn't reached the coldest days of the end of the year, the snow embraced the houses and jade railings blocked the vermilion walls. Heavy snow fell from time to time, and the entire Kyoto was shrouded in cold air. The wide vermilion walls of the imperial palace were all wet with snow, appearing somewhat black.

Just like the change in the color of the red palace walls, all the civil and military officials knew that the mood of His Majesty the Emperor of Da Qing was also somewhat gloomy and dark.

The news of Fan Xian's assassination had already shaken Kyoto. Everyone gradually knew the details of the matter, and they also guessed that there must be powerful figures in the military involved in this matter. Whenever they thought that problems had occurred in the army that His Majesty the Emperor controlled most strictly, the civil and military officials were silently vigilant and dared not say a word too many.

In the small court meetings in the following days, in addition to all government affairs, the most discussed was Fan Xian's assassination. The investigation was led by the Supervisory Council, in conjunction with the Dali Temple and the Privy Council, and had already begun. However, after drawing portraits and searching for them, the two hundred heads could not find any clues, and the living person captured by the Supervisory Council was already dying, just barely hanging on, and there was no way to question him for the time being.

Apart from the five city-defending crossbows and clothing and other clues, the investigation into the assassination of the Imperial Envoy made no progress at all.

Although His Majesty the Emperor's expression was still calm, the ministers who were fortunate enough to participate in the court meeting could feel the anger hidden in His Majesty's eyes growing stronger and stronger. They just didn't know when this fire would spew out and burn these ministers to ashes.

In fact, everyone knew why Lord Fan was ordered to be the Imperial Envoy in charge of the Jiangnan Road last year and hurriedly left the capital.

That was because the rumors from Northern Qi directly revealed the secret relationship between His Majesty and Lord Fan. In order to prevent the Kyoto situation from turbulent, and to preserve the face of the royal family, and to get the Qing Kingdom court and people out of this somewhat embarrassing secret news... His Majesty transformed and exiled Lord Fan to Jiangnan.

But no one expected that Fan Xian would do so much when he arrived in Jiangnan: reorganizing the Internal Treasury, hosting bidding, and strongly supporting river construction. In just half a year, he turned his hands into clouds and rain, solving the national treasury emptiness problem that had plagued Qing Kingdom for several years. Finally, taking advantage of the opportunity to return home to visit relatives, he cleaned up the nest of rats in Jiaozhou.

Dang Xiaobo, the vice general of the Jiaozhou Navy, had already been escorted back to Kyoto, obtained a confession, and the case was ironclad, and he was executed in the autumn. The Jiangnan treasury silver had already been transferred back to Kyoto, and the imperial court finally had the confidence to begin a large-scale repair of the river embankment, disaster relief, and tax reduction. All of these were Fan Xian's contributions to the Qing Kingdom court.

The ministers were thinking in their hearts that such a person certainly couldn't always stay in Jiangnan. He was afraid that he would eventually return to the capital. Moreover, His Majesty must have thought that after a year, the news would have faded, and the forces in Kyoto should have learned to accept this situation. The exiled illegitimate son was finally going to stand on the court in a legitimate way.

But no one thought that Lord Fan would be assassinated on his way back to Kyoto to report on his work!

This was not only an assassination of the Imperial Envoy, nor was it just an assassination of a dragon seed. This matter had already touched the bottom line of the imperial court. If this matter could not be investigated clearly, it could only show that His Majesty's control over Qing Kingdom was far less than in the past.

In the inheritance competition that was gradually emerging today, this signal was undoubtedly like a blood-red mark in the wounds of huge whales in the sea, enough to attract countless sharks to greedily eat!

But the case remained like a cloud of fog, and it took a long time to see the inside clearly. If it was delayed for a few more days, he was afraid that His Majesty would be furious and would disregard the consequences and severely punish them with heavenly thunder.

And the prudent ministers in the court were most afraid of this situation. They were worried that His Majesty would be hurt by Fan Xian, cherish his face, and indiscriminately attack and punish without evidence, and expand this matter to a point that Qing Kingdom could not bear.

"Please think twice, Your Majesty!"

An old minister standing in the civil official line came out and knelt under the dragon chair, saying sadly.

…

…