Chapter 696: Relationship

Editor: Atlas Studios

Fan Zijin had previously asked Qi Xiuyuan for the Duke’s Residence. His requirements were that it was big and beautiful, and that he could immediately move in with his luggage. He had also asked Qi Xiuyuan not to announce it first and to only officially give the decree when he returned to the capital.

When Qi Xiuyuan heard this request, he knew what he was guarding against. Actually, he could not understand his aunt and uncle’s actions. Logically speaking, with such a promising son, shouldn’t they be harmonious and be happy to share wealth and glory with this son of theirs? Why was there so much trouble?

As for the problem of Fan Zijin being stubborn, Qi Xiuyuan subconsciously ignored it.

Rong Xuan could see that Qi Xiuyuan was very biased towards this cousin, but he had no intention of reminding him. After all, Qi Haoran and Fan Zijin had been raised by the Emperor like sons. In the past, when Qi Xiuyuan was just a general, he had often made arrangements for them to help them pave a promising future. Although Madam Xia treated Qi Xiuyuan well enough, he naturally had a deeper relationship with Fan Zijin, who he had raised like a son.

Way before their arrival, Qi Xiuyuan had already shortlisted a few mansions for Fan Zijin, only waiting to let him choose the one he liked the most as the Duke’s Residence. But when he received this letter and went through the above-mentioned conditions one by one, only the residence of the fourth prince from the previous dynasty was suitable.

Considered relatively capable among his many brothers, the fourth prince of the previous dynasty also had the intention to fight for the throne. In addition, his mother was favored by the ex-Emperor, so when the time came, he chose a place not far from Minister Qin’s residence. The prince had exquisite taste, so the residence was built with opulence and elegance in mind. The stones, wood, flowers, and trees were all of top-notch quality. Qi Xiuyuan sent Rong Xuan to go over to take a look. After confirming that the layout and scenery suited Fan Zijin’s taste, he decisively designated that fourth prince’s residence as the residence of the Duke of Peaceful State.

Logically speaking, the Ministry of Works should be the one to bestow the official residences. However, Qi Xiuyuan directly asked them for the title deeds of a few fine residences. The Ministry of Works did not dare to ask about it and thought that the Emperor wanted to use these gardens as palace courtyards or had other uses for them. Hence, they simply obediently handed the title deeds over.

Qi Xiuyuan immediately sent the title deed to Fan Zijin. Then, Fan Zijin asked his men to clean up the house.

As that area was filled with houses that had been nationalized, they were all empty. Hence, no one noticed Fan Zijin’s people coming and going. In addition, they deliberately kept a low profile, so no one noticed.

Therefore, other than Rong Xuan, who had appraised the house before, no one knew that the residence of the Duke of Peaceful State had already been bestowed.

It occurred to the shrewd Qi Xiuyuan that the court officials and Fan Siwen would accuse Fan Zijin of being arrogant and unfilial as to move into the Duke’s Residence before the decree was issued. Thus, right after Fan Zijin entered the palace, he quickly issued the decree to bestow the Duke’s Residence. Also, he punished a seventh-grade clerk from the Ministry of Rites for failing to record the imperial edict stating the bestowment of the residence of the Duke of Peaceful State. As a result, the Ministry of Rites and Ministry of Works had yet to do the handover, causing the duke to have to pay for repairs and manage the Duke’s Residence by himself.

There was a possibility that the clerk might have missed out on a booklet, but it was impossible for him to miss out on an imperial edict. Furthermore, it was an imperial edict for the Duke of Peaceful State, the Emperor’s favored right-hand man. When everyone heard this, they knew that it was fake. They sympathized with the clerk who had been dragged out to take the blame. His official position was lowly to begin with, and if he was demoted further, he would become a gradeless official. They didn’t know if he could still stand out in this life.

However, the clerk was not sad at all. Right after he left the Ministry of Rites, he packed his things and brought his family to Jinhua County to be a county lieutenant.

By the time the imperial censors heard of the news and wanted to make a fuss to leave his name in history, they realized that the clerk had already gone to Jinhua County to become an eighth-grade county lieutenant. Fury ensued.

Though the clerk had been ‘demoted’ in name from the seventh-grade to the eighth-grade, it was effectively a promotion. Before, he was a clerk with no future. Perhaps after working in the capital for ten years, he would still be a seventh-grade clerk. Every year, he would receive 23 taels of silver and a few Dendrobiums1 of rice to survive. Now that he was sent to a high-grade county to be a county lieutenant, not only would it be easy for him to make political achievements and be promoted, he would accumulate wealth at a much faster rate than a clerk.

As expected, the imperial censors found the clerk and hoped that he could tell the truth and restore peace to the world. The clerk cried bitterly and repented, insisting that it was his own alcoholism that caused him to accidentally delay the Duke of Peaceful State’s matters.

The imperial censors gritted their teeth in hatred, but there was nothing they could do.

Without evidence, even if they made a report based on rumors, they would only be reprimanded in the end. In history, they would not even leave a mark.

However, the clerk felt that these imperial censors had nothing better to do. The feud between the Duke of Peaceful State and his father was just their family affairs. The Emperor’s willingness to help the Duke of Peaceful State slap Imperial Censor Fan’s face was also the Emperor’s private matter. Since it did not get in the way of national policies, what was there to remonstrate about?

As soon as Fan Zijin left the palace, he went straight to the Fan Residence in the name of paying respects to his parents.

After completing the necessary etiquette, he ignored the sulky Fan Siwen and returned to Duke’s Residence.

Fan Siwen was furious, but there was nothing he could do. With the Emperor covering for him, what could he possibly do to Fan Zijin?

Fan Siwen turned around to look for Madam Xia and said, “Little Madam Xia is pregnant. After all, this is Zijin’s first child. Go and bring her to our residence to take good care of her. My eldest grandson has to be born in the Fan Residence.”

Seeing Madam Xia lower her head in silence, Fan Siwen couldn’t help but frown. “Did you hear me?”

When Madam Xia looked up at Fan Siwen, she recalled what Fan Zijin had said to her just now. “Since we were young, Father has always been biased towards the concubine’s son Fan Zixiao, and neglecting me, the legitimate son. You keep quarreling and fighting with him in the name of seeking justice for me and Haoran, but in fact, it was just your selfishness. I’ve hated it the most when you and Father fought and quarreled. You clearly could’ve resolved the issues in just a matter of two sentences… In any case, even if my son can’t be like Little Treasure and Little Bear, he definitely can’t grow up in such an environment. Mother, he’s my precious child who carries my blood, born to be more noble than others. Why should he be bullied by the child of his step-uncle here?”

She had responded with, “Your father won’t make things difficult for your child because of Zixiao’s child. Also, I’ll be around.”

Fan Zijin had sneered. “Do you believe your own words? If you can abandon your selfishness and only care about me and the child, you can go to the Duke’s Residence to take care of Little Madam Xia. If you can’t, I’ll come to pay my respects to you on the first and fifteenth of every month. I’ll also bring Little Madam Xia to visit you when I’m free. As for other matters in my residence, I won’t burden you to worry about them.”

Madam Xia had always felt that Fan Zijin was her son. No matter how ugly things were now, he was still her son. However, Fan Zijin’s indifferent gaze at that time clearly told her that a son could abandon his mother because a son would also have his own son.

Feeling at a loss, Madam Xia did not promise to do what Fan Siwen was asking her to do.

Fan Siwen frowned. Seeing that his wife was in a daze, he sized her up carefully and realized that she also had gray hair at her temples. Fan Siwen paused and, feeling pity for her, he sighed slightly and said, “Forget it. I’ll personally talk to Zijin about this.”

The incident at the Duke’s Residence made Fan Siwen the laughing stock of the entire city, and the Fan Residence successfully attracted everyone’s attention. Also, some observant people realized that Qi Haoran and Mu Yangling were still staying in the Qi Residence after returning to the capital. But seeing that Madam Xu and Little Madam Wu were turned away when they showed up to visit, they couldn’t help but read too much into this.

Chapter end