20demayo Chapter 1155 Fan Xian has compiled the information!
Chapter 1155 Fan Xian has compiled the information!
Fan Xian closed his eyes and took a deep breath. The damp, cold scent of the drizzling rain mixed with the salty, fishy smell of the sea breeze filled his nostrils, but it couldn't cool the ever-burning fire in his heart. These fragmented clues were gradually piecing together a truth he both longed to know and feared to face.
Ye Qingmei had met quite a few people back then.
This realization became increasingly clear in Fan Xian's mind. From Master Kuhe of Northern Qi to Xiao En, who was now imprisoned in the dungeon of the Supervisory Council and exchanged as a hostage, and then to those former subordinates scattered in various countries who seemed to have nothing to do with Ye Qingmei but always played a role at crucial moments—Ye Qingmei's footprints were far more extensive than anyone imagined.
Based on all the information available now, plus what Di Renjie told him, Fan Xian can now be fairly certain that Ye Qingmei was the key person who pushed Emperor Qing to the throne.
Fan Xian thought of Ye Qingmei, and with her, of the special weapon she left behind, the Barrett mortar, and her letter. Now, Fan Xian finally understood the Barrett's purpose: it wasn't a case of using a cannon to kill a mosquito; rather, the Barrett had likely been prepared long ago specifically to counter a Grandmaster.
The heir apparent of Prince Cheng back then was the later Emperor Qing.
The notebook that Di Renjie took out belonged to Ye Qingmei. It detailed how she secretly mobilized resources, how she maneuvered between the imperial court and the martial arts world, and how she used the technology and knowledge left behind by the temple to gradually elevate the heir who was originally ineligible for the throne to the pinnacle of power. The power she wielded was astonishing—not only the rudiments of the Censorate and the funds of the Imperial Treasury, but also the talented individuals hidden among the common people who believed in her ideals.
But it is precisely because of this that Ye Qingmei wielded immense power.
Fan Xian put down his notebook and walked to the other side of the room. There hung a map of the Southern Qing's territory, marked with different colored silk threads indicating various spheres of influence. He took out a red thread and traced it outwards from the capital—the Censorate's network of secret agents throughout the prefectures, the Imperial Treasury's workshops and businesses in the twelve states, and those academies, clinics, and artisan guilds that, while ostensibly unrelated to the court, were in reality deeply influenced by Ye Qingmei...
This net is so dense that it could keep any monarch awake at night.
Fan Xian took out copies of the letters left by Ye Qingmei from his pocket. These letters were scattered in different places; some were in Danzhou, some in Northern Qi, and some were even found in the vault of the Taiping Money Exchange in Dongyi City. Piecing them together, a clear outline could be seen—
Ye Qingmei herself did not follow the temple's will in doing so.
"The Temple hopes that this social order will continue to develop in the long term," Fan Xian murmured to himself, repeating the sentence from the letter. In a recently found letter, Ye Qingmei wrote: "The Temple views this world as a nursery and humanity as crops, seeking only stable growth, not flowering and fruiting. But humans are not plants or trees; how can they be confined in cages forever?"
Ye Qingmei, however, wanted to advance human progress once again. In her letter, she mentioned phrases such as "enlightening the people," "breaking down class barriers," and "promoting the investigation of things." In this feudal imperial world, these ideas were like throwing stones into a pond, bound to stir up a storm.
There is a fundamental difference on this point, and that is where the conflict lies.
Fan Xian was now almost certain that Emperor Qing was the mastermind behind it all. This conclusion weighed heavily on his heart like a cold stone. He recalled the vague records in the Censorate's files, the fleeting glint of cold light in Chen Pingping's eyes whenever he mentioned the past, and the complex and unreadable look in Emperor Qing's eyes when he looked at him—admiration mixed with apprehension, warmth concealing distance.
Otherwise, given the control Ye Qingmei held over the Supervisory Council and the Imperial Treasury back then, plus the many people who trusted her, it would have been difficult for her to die even if she wanted to, or at least she wouldn't have died so mysteriously.
Fan Xian's fingers tapped unconsciously on the table. His mother possessed enough power to overthrow a small country, yet she still died silently on the night of her delivery. The only explanation was that the person who killed her knew her inside and out and possessed even greater power than her, or—more accurately, possessed her complete trust.
Fan Xian, being a posthumous child, was naturally not acknowledged, so he was placed by Fan Jian's side and raised in Danzhou.
Fan Xian walked to the bronze mirror, looking at the face reflected there—a face that resembled neither Emperor Qing nor entirely Ye Qingmei. This face bore witness to his journey from a mischievous boy on the shores of Danzhou to the powerful Director of the Censorate, deeply entangled in the vortex of power. If everything had gone smoothly, if no one had secretly pushed things along, he should have remained forever an illegitimate son of a remote coastal town, utterly uninvolved in royal secrets and the affairs of the world.
This explains why there were previous claims that he was not allowed to enter Beijing.
Fan Xian recalled Emperor Qing's seemingly caring but actually warning words before he left the capital: "Danzhou has beautiful scenery. If you wish to stay here for a long time, I can build you a better residence." At the time, he only thought that the emperor was concerned about Lin Xiaowan and did not want her to get involved. Now, he thought that it might be a manifestation of Emperor Qing's inner conflict - he wanted to send this son who might know the secret far away, but he was also wary of Ye Qingmei's bloodline in him.
Fan Xian had to admit that if he hadn't had this suspicion about history and that he might be a time traveler, an unloved illegitimate child would likely have stayed in Danzhou his whole life, never getting involved in any of the secrets about the royal family and Ye Qingmei.
And now, Fan Xian seemed to understand why Wu Zhu had always been kept by his side.
This was left behind by Ye Qingmei, but it was also a means of protecting against the temple.
Fan Xian suddenly understood. He had witnessed Wu Zhu's combat prowess firsthand; it was beyond anything a human could achieve. If Ye Qingmei had truly left the temple simply because it wanted to, how could she have such a protector? Unless... Wu Zhu himself was connected to the temple, and his mother had somehow managed to get this temple envoy on her side.
What was incomprehensible before, Fan Xian has now figured out most of the issues. The current outcome is simply a matter of who was involved back then and how to take revenge.
At the same time, Fan Xian also realized something else: he had underestimated Gao Yao's strength.
Gao Yao—this mysterious merchant who suddenly appeared in Kyoto—has built a business empire that has permeated every aspect of the Southern Qing economy in just a few years. At first, Fan Xian only thought of him as an ambitious nouveau riche, but various information obtained from the Overwatch Council forced him to reassess this opponent.