"This is what you taught me."

Fan Jian sighed, his fingers gently rubbing, feeling the texture of the paper.

On the paper, a charcoal pencil had drawn a woman's portrait. Though only a few strokes, it captured the woman's expression and appearance with remarkable vividness.

Especially the eyes in the portrait, so compassionate, gentle, playful... looking at Fan Jian who was looking at her.

"His Majesty had the court painter secretly draw your portrait in the palace," Fan Jian said with a smile, looking at the woman in the painting, "But for me, your face has always been in my mind, very clear."

"Whenever I want to talk to you, I can't help but draw one."

"Drawing you playful, drawing you cold, drawing you sad, drawing you happy."

"So many of you, which is the real you? It's a pity, there's no way to ask you anymore."

Fan Jian sighed and held the paper to the candle flame, burning it. He watched the delicate face gradually disappear in the flame, and said absently, "If His Majesty and I hadn't returned to Danzhou for the summer that year, we wouldn't have met you, and there wouldn't have been... the things that followed."

"Perhaps, I would still be that painter lingering in brothels all day long." The Minister of the Ministry of Revenue tugged at the corners of his lips, a self-deprecating smile rising, "You said that the world needs the profession of artists. It's a pity, in the end, I became the person with the strongest smell of money in the entire Qing Kingdom."

The flames on the paper gradually burned to the center, leaving only some gray-black fragments.

"You always regarded me as the most trustworthy elder brother," Fan Jian said finally, "I am very grateful for your trust, so rest assured, even if I don't have the ability to change too much, at least, I will insist on standing in this capital, watching Xian'er gradually grow up."

A gentle knock came from outside the study.

"Come in," Fan Jian said with a smile.

Madam Liu came in carrying the sour plum drink, gently placing it on the desk, her face bearing an indelible worry. The matters of the palace had long been transmitted from Consort Yi to the household. As the current mistress of the Fan residence, she certainly knew what kind of predicament her husband would face in tomorrow's court session.

Fan Jian glanced at her and sighed, "Rest assured, His Majesty will not be too harsh on me."

A hint of resentment flashed in Madam Liu's eyes, she said softly, "If His Majesty remembered the old days, he wouldn't be provoked by those villains to investigate the Ministry of Revenue. Which of the six ministries is completely clean from beginning to end?"

Fan Jian shook his head and said, "Have faith in His Majesty, matters involving important state affairs cannot be taken lightly."

Madam Liu knew that her husband did not want to continue this sad topic, and nodded helplessly.

Fan Jian raised the bowl and, facing the lingering scent of burnt paper above the desk, said, "A toast to each other."

Then he drained it in one gulp.

Madam Liu was slightly stunned, wondering who her husband was toasting to.

—————————————————————

The next day, the court meeting resumed. As everyone expected, His Majesty sternly criticized the Ministry of Revenue's poor performance over the past two years, attributing most of the blame for the empty treasury to the Ministry. Because Minister Fan Jian of the Ministry of Revenue was still claiming illness and absent from court, no one in the Ministry could defend themselves, and the leaderless officials of the Ministry of Revenue pitifully endured the attacks of the entire court.

The imperial court issued a clear decree, beginning to investigate the Ministry of Revenue's deficits over the years, with the Imperial Censorate specifically implementing it, the Ministry of Personnel, Ministry of Justice, and Court of Revision assisting, the Grand Academician Hu of the Department of the Secretariat overseeing the investigation, and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince filling in the gaps.

There had been rumors of investigating the Ministry of Revenue, so this matter did not surprise people. But when this formation was laid out, the ministers still felt a hint of astonishment. With such a large array, it seemed that His Majesty really wanted to make the Ministry of Revenue suffer.

Wonder what Little Fan from Jiangnan will react after learning about this?

That afternoon, the officials from various departments jointly investigating began to move into the Ministry of Revenue's yamen. In addition, the Kyoto garrison was responsible for dispatching troops to guard the various warehouses and workshops, while the officials initially investigated the account issues of the Ministry of Revenue's seven departments.

For a time, the originally bustling Ministry of Revenue's yamen near the big pagoda tree became even more noisy. Fewer officials came to receive money today, but many more officials came to investigate the money.

The Ministry of Revenue officials nervously welcomed these senior officials who came to investigate with imperial decrees into the yamen. After much tossing and turning, they cleared out a sufficient number of grand master chairs for the senior officials to sit down, and then the Left and Right Vice Ministers reported on the Ministry of Revenue's operations in the past two years. Someone had already begun to sort out the account books under the supervision of the Imperial Censorate, in preparation for the investigation.

Grand Academician Hu and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, sitting in the center, did not make things too difficult for these Ministry of Revenue officials, offering gentle words of encouragement and waiting for the specific investigation to begin. However, the officials from the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of Justice rarely found an opportunity to make things difficult for these Ministry of Revenue officials, and they would not miss it. They used threatening words and loud rebukes, directly stating that the Ministry of Revenue was a den of dirt and grime, not a place to manage the country's money and grain.

Grand Academician Hu couldn't help but frown, knowing that the heads of these two departments were quite at odds with the Fan family. If he didn't keep a close eye on them, he was afraid that the investigation would really turn into a means for the other party to attack dissidents.

Faced with such a grand display, watching so many important figures sitting in the hall, including the Left and Right Vice Ministers, all the Ministry of Revenue officials felt somewhat defeated, and even felt a sense of despair. Today, Minister Fan was not in the yamen, and these Ministry of Revenue officials felt isolated by the entire court, knowing that what they were about to face was the biggest hurdle in their careers and even their lives.

The officials from the Imperial Censorate supervised the work of sorting out the account books. Before long, they had cleared out as many as seven large bamboo baskets of account books, which everyone laboriously carried to the main hall.

His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was taken aback by so many account books, and said in surprise, "With so many account books, matching them one by one, how long will it take?"

The Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue said angrily, "Reporting to Your Highness, the Ministry of Revenue has seven departments, corresponding to the financial affairs of the seven circuits of the country, and four clearing departments corresponding to river works and other matters, three major warehouses, the Xishan Book Workshop and other seven workshops were also transferred to the Ministry of Revenue from the Internal Treasury Transport Department last year, and there are seventeen warehouses near Kyoto, and the Baoquan Bureau and Qianfa Hall are responsible for minting money, as for the grain transport's warehouse yamen is far away in Hangzhou, and..."

This Vice Minister spoke endlessly, without stopping for the time it takes to drink a cup of tea.

The Prince's head was in a muddle and quickly stopped him.

The ministers from various departments who came to investigate the Ministry of Revenue were dumbfounded. They only knew that the Ministry of Revenue was responsible for managing money, but they never thought that there would be such a complex organizational structure below. To investigate this thoroughly, it seemed that it would not be a matter of one or two days.

The Vice Minister said with a fake smile, "Your Royal Highness, the account books of this Ministry are still being sorted out. The seven large baskets placed here are the account books of the Shandong Circuit's Silver and Money Department. Because Minister Fan ordered this official to be responsible for sorting out the account books of this circuit a few days ago, they were moved out quickly. As for the total account books, it will take at least ten days to clear them out."

The Crown Prince was nearly choked by the Vice Minister, and rebuked angrily, "This Prince doesn't care how many account books you have here, nor does he care how many days it will take, but since His Majesty has issued an edict to investigate, you'd better hurry up, otherwise don't blame this Prince for accusing you of secretly resisting the edict to investigate!"

Who knew that the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue would still say indifferently, "Your Royal Highness, this official naturally doesn't have the courage to do so, but since the ministers are here to investigate according to the imperial decree, they must first draft a procedure. Which department should the investigation start from? In addition to the account books, when should the inventory of the silver in the warehouse begin? Even if there are several million taels of silver to count... I'm afraid it will take several days to count."

The Crown Prince waved his sleeve angrily, too lazy to argue with this cunning official. Anyway, when the problem is found out, you will suffer the consequences.

Grand Academician Hu watched coldly from the head seat, feeling very strange. Under Minister Fan's management, this Ministry of Revenue was indeed very different from the other ministries. Although the Vice Minister was not a small official, daring to contradict the Crown Prince so openly was too interesting.

Knowing that the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue was angry today, he couldn't help but smile and comfort him, "What Vice Minister Yu said is not wrong. Since it is an investigation, it should be carried out in an orderly manner, and it is best not to interfere with the daily operations of the Ministry of Revenue. The government affairs of the entire country require the transfer of silver and money from the Ministry of Revenue. If the investigation disrupts the administration of the Ministry of Revenue too much, His Majesty probably would not want to see it."

This Vice Minister Yu was obviously much more respectful to Grand Academician Hu, cupping his hands and saying softly, "Everything is as the Grand Academician instructs."

Since it was unknown where to start the investigation for the time being, all the account books of the Ministry of Revenue had to be sorted out first, and then special officials would be transferred to conduct a verification. The Imperial Censorate, the Ministry of Personnel, and the Court of Revision all had such professional talents, but judging from the looks of it, it would take at least a few days to start.

At this time, an official suddenly suggested to Grand Academician Hu, "In this official's opinion, why not... first take out the account books of the warehouse and the Jiangnan Department to take a look."

The hall fell silent.

The warehouse stored the country's treasury, and if the Ministry of Revenue had indeed transferred the treasury silver to Jiangnan, according to the deduction of the entire court, it must have gone through the Jiangnan Department's account books. This official directly proposed to first transfer the account books of the warehouse and the Jiangnan Department, obviously targeting this rumor.

Grand Academician Hu was slightly startled, but could not find any reason to object, and he really wanted to know whether the Ministry of Revenue was really so bold as to privately transfer the national treasury to Jiangnan. After a brief discussion with the Crown Prince, he ordered the officials of the Imperial Censorate to go with the Ministry of Revenue officials to first transfer the account books of these two places.

Nothing happened overnight.

Nothing happened the next day.

Nothing happened the third day.

The Qing Kingdom's court's investigation of the Ministry of Revenue fell into the boundless ocean of account book warfare from the very beginning. The officials who were determined to find something wrong with the Ministry of Revenue were instantly submerged by the account books that were as numerous as the snow on the mountains.

In the spacious hall, the account books were piled up like small mountains, and the dust from years of old paper filled the air, making it difficult for the investigating officials to breathe. Everywhere were yellow papers and numbers that caused visual fatigue, making these officials dizzy and confused.

In the quiet investigation hall, the sound of flipping pages, the crackling of abacus beads, and occasionally a few sips of tea echoed continuously.

The quiet and monotonous repetitive sounds, when mixed together, easily induced sleep.

Therefore, although the senior officials sitting in the grand master chairs did not have to personally face the terrifying and complex numbers, they still felt physically and mentally exhausted, and felt very sleepy.

The officials from various departments who were investigating had been busy for several days, performing calculations and comparisons on the numbers in the account books, but no problems had occurred.

Currently, they were investigating the numbers of the warehouse and the Jiangnan Department, and they had not yet found a handle that could overturn the Ministry of Revenue.

This surprised everyone, even Grand Academician Hu, who secretly leaned towards the Fan family. With so many account books, even if it was not intentional, even if it was an unintentional clerical error, there should be some, right? In such a massive amount of calculation work, had the Ministry of Revenue made no mistakes at all in the past two years?

So-called water that is too clear has no fish, and accounts that are too clear are fake. There is absolutely no possibility that such perfect accounts exist in this world. If there were, they must be fake accounts.

That's what Grand Academician Hu thought, and that's what the investigating officials from the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of Justice thought, so they investigated more vigorously. As long as they could find a trace of a loophole, they could affect the whole body and drag the entire Ministry of Revenue down.

However, when this warm but tedious afternoon ended, the clerks from the various departments who were buried in the account books looked up, exchanged incredibly astonished glances, and shook their heads at their respective superiors, causing countless emotions of disappointment to surge in the hearts of those investigating officials.

There were no problems, at least the Ministry of Revenue had no problems in the account books of the Jiangnan Department and the warehouse.

The Ministry of Revenue that had been investigated at present was very clean, exceptionally clean, as clean as a naked virgin after a bath.

……

……

"Something's not right." Yan Xingshu, Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, who arrived at the Ministry of Revenue this afternoon, shook his head and said to Grand Academician Hu beside him, "It's too abnormal."

Grand Academician Hu nodded.

Yan Xingshu narrowed his eyes, thought for a while, and said, "Of course, you can't find any problems by investigating the accounts of these two places alone. Certain people are not fools, knowing that the court's suspicion is in this area, of course they will smooth out the accounts in this area to the extreme. However, all the accounts and warehouses are under our control, and the physical objects and numbers must match. If there is really a problem with the Ministry of Revenue, then it must be the transfer of silver to smooth things out. I see... We can't just stare at these places in the next step, we should expand outward, investigate the seven departments and three major warehouses, all the account books must be checked together, and we will definitely find out the tricks."

Grand Academician Hu frowned and said, "Not to mention that the difficulty is too great, but it will definitely take a long time."

The Crown Prince listened from the side, and a strange feeling suddenly surged in his heart. Could it be that none of these officials around him had reaped benefits from the warehouses and workshops under the Ministry of Revenue? How could they have such great courage to infinitely expand the scope of the investigation? After thinking about it, he also agreed with Yan Xingshu's opinion, and being able to deal with the Fan family was what he most wanted to see now.

The news of a comprehensive investigation of the accounts was quickly transmitted from the Ministry of Revenue to the Fan residence. Fan Jian, who was claiming illness in bed, did not change his expression, but muttered to himself, "An artist who makes fake accounts, of course, must strive for perfection. Investigate, the wider the investigation, the better, the bigger the problems found, the better."

……

……

(Busy being sick, busy buying tickets, busy packing, going home tomorrow, physically and mentally exhausted.)