Joy of Life

Fan Xian did not know what was happening internally in the Ming family. For him, the they were a rock. He had put pressure on it, but, for now, he couldn’t crush it. He had patience. Fishing could not be rushed.

He was at the Suzhou branch of the Baoyue Brothel. The business was going well. The girls were were all busy welcoming guests. Few people noticed the male owner and female shopkeeper respectfully escorting a figure quietly to the top floor.

Pushing open the window to gaze out, he saw many workers in the back beside the small lake, digging in the mud. The money and labor required to expand the lake was not a small sum. He couldn’t resist sighing and asked, “It is necessary?”

Shi Chanli smiled slightly and said, “Following your instruction, we sent the branch’s plan and layout urgently to the North. The reply came the day before yesterday. What the Second young master means is that the lake is too small and the land is not open enough. The guests who come will feel that it is narrow and cramped. We might as well put in the effort and extend the lake forward by a few hundred meters.”

Fan Xian gave a pained smile. It looked like Sizhe far away in Northern Qi still thought about the Baoyue Brothel often. It required an enormous sum of money. Sizhe only had to say a word, while he had to mobilize many hands to make it.

“This noise and smell won’t it interfere with the business?”

“We’ve surrounded it with cloth. The guests in the building don’t usually notice that side. Although the business at the moment is good, we can only dig out the lake right now...otherwise, when spring is in full swing and summer is approaching, that is the best time for business. At that time, it would not be convenient to dig it.”

Fan Xian nodded and didn’t say anything. He trusted his brother’s eye for business. He had come to Baoyu Brothel today mostly to find information. He looked at the file his subordinate had delivered and furrowed his brows. “Where did that housekeeper of the Ming family escape to?”

The Ming family housekeeper had the same surname as the housekeeper Fan Xian had hit as a child in Danzhou, both were surnamed Zhou. This person was not very simple. All these years, he had been the old matriarch’s trusted aide and was responsible for managing the accounts of the mysterious Junshang Conference. After Xia Qifei had almost been assassinated outside the Jiangnan Restaurant by the Junshang Conference, the Overwatch Council had begun to secretly investigate the whereabouts of that housekeeper and prepared to secretly capture him. They wanted to obtain important information from him.

The Zhou housekeeper seemed to have completely disappeared within a day. He no longer appeared at any of the Ming family industries. They didn’t know if the Jiangnan Road officials were hiding him or something else. Even with the Overwatch Council’s methods, they still had not found a trace of his whereabouts.

Deng Zi Yue walked in from outside of the room and reported to Fan Xian the matter of the Fourth Ming master being captured by the Suzhou government. Hearing him asking about the whereabouts of housekeeper Zhou, he couldn’t help furrowing his forehead. This matter was his responsibility, and there had not been any progress after all these days. He felt very ashamed.

He furrowed his brows and shook his head. A moment later he said, “If he hasn’t already been silenced by the Ming family, then...”

“It is very likely that he is just casually hiding in the Ming Garden.” Fan Xian knew that if they really wanted to hide the accounts master, the Ming Garden would be the most dangerous but also the safest method. He couldn’t resist laughing and said, “Are we really going to go into the Ming Garden to grab him?”

Deng Zi Yue gave a pained smile. “Without solid evidence, how can we go into Ming Garden to grab him? The other party is an inherited count and, furthermore, if this matter becomes too serious, the governor would certainly be forced to put pressure on you.”

Fan Xian sighed and felt this matter was already becoming unamusing. He waved his hand and said, “If we break in and fail to catch him, it will be difficult to explain it to the governor. If we can confirm that he is in there, we could try being savage this once.”

“We just can’t confirmk,” Deng Zi Yue said helplessly.

The two were just chatting when an Overwatch Council spy suddenly knocked carefully on the door. Deng Zi Yue glanced at Fan Xian and walked out the door to say a few quiet words. His face immediately became serious. He said a few more words in a low voice and quickly turned around. He came close to Fan Xian’s ear and said, “There is news from the island.”

Fan Xian’s spirit was startled. That pirate dock had been silent for so long, he almost thought that he wouldn’t be able to use that little island to defeat the Ming family. Hearing this news now, he said with great joy and interest, “Speak.”

Deng Zi Yue glanced at him again and carefully said, “The people on the island...are all dead. Everyone is dead.”

...

...

With a bang, Fan Xian expressionlessly slammed his palm against the table beside him. The table didn’t shatter, and the tea bowls didn’t break, but this one palm clearly demonstrated his anger and discontent. The Ming family really acts ruthlessly and cleanly. He furrowed his brows and asked, “What about our person?”

The Overwatch Council had a spy on the island. Fan Xian was worried about his life.

Deng Zi Yue said, “He was lucky and survived. When the Quanzhou side got to the island, they just happened to pick him up.”

Fan Xian’s expression was slightly heav. “What is his name?”

“Qing Wa.”

“Where is he?”

“Just arrived in Suzhou. He is recovering in the secret residence.”

“Let’s go.”

...

...

Qing Wa thought he was dreaming, that he had been dreaming for days. After the island had been circled and annihilated by the soldiers, only he survived. Encircled by carnivorous birds in the sky and bodies on the ground, he tried to find the escape path that his captain had once left behind. He went to the hidden crescent to find a boat to sail.

However, he didn’t expect that the Ming family’s silencing had been done so absolutely. All the boats on the island had been destroyed, even the pirate captains quick three-masted ships had been sunk to the bottom of the water.

Looking at the sails that had changed color with the sinking, Qing Wa felt hopeless. The island was isolated. If the Quanzhou side found that things had changed and braved the danger to send someone else to the island, it would still take a lot of time. Could he survive on this island by himself with no water or food?

The spies of the Second and Fourth Bureaus received strict outdoor survival and intelligence gathering training when they first entered. It was fortunate he had the skill at hand, as he, Qing Wa, managed to survive on the island by himself.

There was no water on the island, fortunately, it rained. There were no wild animals on the island, but there were bodies...and the birds that ate the bodies. There were fish and clams in the ocean, so he survived with determination and nausea.

Finally, his colleagues from Quanzhou braved the danger and once more came to the island. The extremely weak Qing Wa was finally lifted onto a boat. He could also finally have a good sleep.

In his dreams, he thought about those birds that he ate and that there might be rotting human flesh in their stomachs...Qing Wa still couldn’t help having nightmares.

He slept for a long time, from Quanzhou to Suzhou. Once he woke up, he found an extra young and delicate official standing in front of him looking at him with admiration and tenderness.

The Overwatch Council official beside him reminded him, “It’s the commissioner.”

The commissioner? Qing Wa was startled and fought to get up to pay his respects.

Fan Xian quickly stopped him from getting up. His eyes narrowed slightly as he looked at this Qing Kingdom version of Robinson Crusoe and a sigh of admiration rose in his heart. Political battles were not taking another to dinner, it was a game of life and death. However, whenever a sacrifice was necessary, it was actually that of the lower officials.

Fan Xian took out a pill and fed it to him, then he used a golden needle to help him circulate his blood. He carefully treated him for a long while before confirming that it would not leave too many residual effects. When the other party had sufficient attention to speak, he began to ask questions.

In their conversation, Fan Xian obtained a lot of useful information, which Qing Wa never had time to send back to the mainland. For example, the pirate captain was connected to Ming Lanshi’s concubine.

He coldly said, “No wonder that concubine suddenly went back home to visit family, she’s probably long sunk into the river to feed tortoises...if one marries a bastard,[JW1] the only end is tortoise food. She was pitiful. Zi Yue, immediately send someone to that concubine’s family home to check. I want to see how Ming Lanshi is going to explain this.”

Qing Wa had also managed, against all odds, to save a letter. This was solid evidence. Even though the Ming family could still deny it, they could still use it to make a fuss.

“As for the soldiers on the island, do you have any thoughts?”

Fan Xian stared at Qing Wa’s eyes as he asked. Although he knew the man had barely managed to survive on the island, had endured a long distance journey right after getting back to land, and was already extremely weak, he couldn’t help it. He had to know. This truth was stuck like a thorn in his heart, and it made him anxious.

That group of sailors were clearly sent by the Ming family, so they were also sent by the Eldest Princess. Fan Xian very much wanted to know who in the army was standing on the Eldest Princess’ side. He thought the Emperor would also be interested in this matter.

It could not have been Yan Xiaoyi. Even though Yan Xiaoyi was the Viceroy who had come out of Qing Kingdom’s Southern battles and was a powerful ninth-level superior official, his military power had always been tightly watched by the Overwatch Council. Fan Xian knew that Yan Xiaoyi did not have this kind of naval power.

“Back in the day, the Quanzhou sailors were the court’s strongest power on the water,” Deng Zi Yue glanced at Fan Xian and said gently. “However, after the Ye family incident, to clean out the Ye family’s influence in the Quanzhou navy, the court split the Quanzhou navy into three. Now, the Jiangnan navy’s nominal leading yamen is in Shazhou. You should have met the official from Shazhou. To go from Shazhou through the ocean to the island to kill people...the distance is too far. Furthermore, the trip is made on Yangtze River and is easy to reveal traces of themselves. I think it should be them.”

Fan Xian nodded. His emotions stayed completely steady at the mention of the Ye family. He turned his head to look at Qing Wa.

White bubbles formed at the corner of Qing Wa’s mouth. He was thinking hard about the soldiers that had come that night. He knew this matter was very important. It could help the Council determine which power dared to act in collusion with the pirates.

He opened his mouth with great difficulty and said, “When the soldiers came onto the island, it was just before dusk. There are a lot of reefs around the island, yet they could still force their way onto the island despite the dim lighting. They should be professional sailors rather than land soldiers who had borrowed boats...I once saw clearly one of the soldier’s face, looking at his facial structure it should be someone from the North.”

Fan Xian furrowed his brows, “Could it be Dongyi’s navy?”

Qing Wa shook his head with difficult and reported, “They spoke occasionally. It wasn’t a Dongyi accent.”

Fan Xian gazed at Deng Zi Yue. They saw the unease in each other’s hearts. The Qing Kingdom had three great navies. In the North was the Jiaozhou navy, stationed near Shangdong Road, and it was very powerful. If the other party was a competent and capable person on the Eldest Princess’ side, then the Eldest Princess’ control and power in the army was much more powerful than what he and others had imagined.

Since the Emperor refused to let him have a thread of military power and always appeared to be very confident and mysterious, Fan Xian was certain that the majority of the Qing Kingdom’s military power was held in the Emperor’s hands. It was under this premise that Fan Xian could do things with relative confidence. Now, he had suddenly discovered that his estimation of the Eldest Princess and the princes’ power had suddenly advanced by leaps and bounds. How could Fan Xian not be vigilant?

The Ye family would gradually fall toward the Second Prince, and the North fighting Viceroy Yan Xiaoyi now had another navy.

“Who does the Jiaozhou navy belong to?” Fan Xian asked with furrowed brows.

Deng Zi Yue lowered his voice and said, “The local commander sailor is a full first-level genera. He does not need to listen to Yan Xiaoyi’s orders. He’s never seemed to have any leanings, after all, he was born to the Qin family, but his relationship with Ye Zhong and them is not bad.”

Fan Xian gently curled his fists and shook his head. He didn’t say anything more. Looking at the exhausted Qing Wa on the bed, a light smile rose to his face and he said, “Recover well. After you’ve recovered, come and work for me.”

He very much admired this young Overwatch Council official who was able to go undercover on a pirate island and successfully survive in the end. This kind of talent should become his trusted aide.

Qing Wa was surprised. He hadn’t expected that after his narrow escape, he would be able to run into such good luck. For a moment he froze on the bed and didn’t know what to say. It was not until Fan Xian had led the people of the Qinian Unit out of the room and the official of the inspection division of the Fourth Bureau of the Overwatch Council stationed in Quanzhou laughed and congratulated him that he finally woke from his daze. He knew he had finally made it...he had finally woken from his nightmares.

Fan Xian was a bit angry. All the news today had been bad. It looked like he had to quickly send the council report back to Jingdou to have the old cripple be more attentive and not always stay in the Chen Garden looking at beautiful girls. Your successor has run into problems, surely you have to solve them?

“Sir, good news.”

Just as Fan Xian was silently cursing his bad luck, Deng Zi Yue, forcefully suppressing his joy, respectfully reported.

“What news?”

“That accounts master of the Junshang Conference...we have his whereabouts.”

“Where?”

“Sir is wise. The information has been confirmed. That person is in...the Ming Garden.”

Fan Xian sighed. “Finally there is something to do.”

[JW1] Tortoise and bastard/cuckold are the same words in Chinese, so Fan Xian is making a pun