Chapter 487: Chaos

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

Fan Siwen sat in the reception pavilion with a cold expression. Seeing that Fan Zijin continued walking straight ahead without even looking sideways, he shouted, “Unfilial son, you still know how to come back?!”

Fan Zijin turned to look at him tiredly and frowned slightly. “Why are you looking for me?”

Fan Siwen looked at him in disappointment. “You’ve been studying hard for more than ten years and finally passed the Palace Examinations, but you gave up on taking the Hanlin Bachelor examination. Aren’t you aware of the rule that all Hanlin Bachelors have a bright future ahead of them?”

Fan Zijin sneered. “Father, when did you become so naive? Those are just lousy rules summarized by scholars. Putting everything else aside, there’s a living example here today. Was Minister Qin a Hanlin Bachelor? That didn’t stop him from becoming the prime minister, did it?”

“You!”

“Besides, when did I say that I was going to become an official?” Fan Zijin originally wanted to go home and rest. Having been running around for Qi Haoran for the past two days, he was about to collapse from exhaustion. But now that he saw Fan Siwen, he no longer felt sleepy. If he had to rest here, he would not be able to sleep well.

At the thought of this, Fan Zijin turned around and left, leaving Fan Siwen staring at his back in anger and disappointment. He didn’t understand why his brilliant son liked to hang around that kid from the Qi family.

If Fan Siwen could still love Qi Haoran like a nephew in the past, there was only rage towards him now.

Only jinshis could take the Hanlin Bachelor Examination. And only the candidates who passed the Hanlin Bachelor Examination could enter the Hanlin Academy with the top three scholars of the Palace Examinations. Entering Hanlin was equivalent to becoming an official of Grade 3 and above, and there was hope for them to become ministers in the future.

Fan Siwen was good at studying back then, but he did not manage to become a Hanlin Bachelor. However, Fan Zijin’s ranking was not bad. With his ability, he could probably make it. However, he postponed preparing for the examination for Qi Haoran, and in the end he even decided not to take the examination altogether.

Who was he lying to when he said that he didn’t want to take the exam? Then why did he sign up at that time?

After running out, Fan Zijin finally went to the courtyard on Qixia Street and casually found a room to sleep in. When he woke up, the sun had already passed the middle of the sky. As Yanmo helped him put on his clothes, he said, “Second Master, Fourth Madam is here. She’s sitting in the courtyard next door.”

“Did Fourth Master send a letter?”

“Yes, he expedited the delivery. Fourth Madam came over as soon as she got it.”

Fan Zijin turned around and left. Yanmo hurriedly followed behind. “Master, let’s eat something before going over.”

Fan Zijin waved his hand and got someone to open the side door and go straight to the small courtyard next door. Mu Yangling was lying on the table writing her plan. When she saw Fan Zijin enter, she showed Qi Haoran’s letter to him. Then, she waved her hand and asked Spring to go to the kitchen to get some food for him before continuing writing her plan.

Spring walked around the kitchen and finally brought a bowl of meat porridge for Fan Zijin. Fan Zijin ate the porridge with one hand and read the letter with a cold expression. When he finished the porridge and finished reading the letter, he wiped his mouth and said, “We can’t let Haoran take the blame. He’s right. If he takes the blame, he will never be able to get rid of this sinister and vicious reputation. At that time, not to mention him, even Eldest Cousin will have to bear the consequences.”

With such a sinister and vicious younger brother, Qi Xiuyuan still wanted to fight for the throne? No one would have faith in his character. After all, he was the one who raised Qi Haoran.

Mu Yangling showed him her proposal and said, “So the first thing is to collect evidence of the seven people’s crimes and calm down the public opinion first. Only when a second voice, or even more objections, appear, can everyone calm down and think about what truly happened. This will buy more time for Haoran.”

“The second thing is to find someone to spread the news. Regardless of whether it’s someone who wants to silence them, kill them for revenge, or if it’s really bandits who couldn’t stand the oppression and killed those people in anger, let’s muddy the waters first.”

Fan Zijin nodded and rubbed his hands. “Perhaps we can also guide everyone to think of the real culprit on a small scale…”

“No.” Mu Yangling said, “Haoran doesn’t want to drag the Emperor down with him. Moreover, I’m also worried that once the Emperor is implicated, he will throw Haoran under the bus entirely to save his own skin. With a word from him, Haoran might be convicted.”

Fan Zijin shivered and quickly composed himself. “You’re right. This matter can’t implicate His Majesty.”

He thought for a moment and said, “Aside from this, we have to hurry up things on Haoran’s side. At the very least, we have to obtain evidence of those officials being corrupt. Only then will it be more convincing. Looks like I’ll have to visit a few officials from the imperial censor’s office…”

Fan Zijin touched his chin as he spoke.

“Isn’t Father-in-law the imperial censor? He…”

Fan Zijin waved his hand and said, “Forget about it. I’ve already begged him four times. Uncle simply refuses. In fact, he’s skipped morning court assembly for three days, probably for fear of being implicated.”

Mu Yangling was discouraged. She didn’t expect her father-in-law to be so afraid of trouble. No matter what, Qi Haoran was still his son. His son was being bullied outside, and he didn’t even have the guts to say a word.

As Fan Zijin did not have Qi Feng’s help in the court, and he himself did not have the qualifications to go to court, he could only look for his old connections. Even his father had been approached by him.

This made Fan Siwen extremely depressed. They had just quarreled this morning, alright? He had already sworn to ignore this unfilial son, but this kid could still turn around and ask him for help without changing his expression.

Fan Siwen didn’t know if he should scold him for being shameless or praise him for not caring about trifles.

Anyway, in the morning court the next day, Qi Haoran’s second plea arrived. He explained again that he had not instructed anyone to lead the bandits to attack the official residence. As for the evidence gathered by the officials, he was also puzzled. Therefore, he asked the Emperor to send someone down to investigate and ask the officials who had evidence to clarify the source of the evidence to prove his innocence.

At the end of the memorial, he asked the ministers this: He had no grudges with those seven people. He didn’t even know them before he went to Hengzhou. After he came to Hengzhou, he was focused on exterminating bandits. Other than interacting with the magistrate of Hengzhou, he had never even met anyone else. Why in the world would he order the bandits to kill them?

Moreover, this was the extermination of someone’s entire family. Qi Haoran felt that he was open and honest. He did not dare to say that he was a gentleman, but he was definitely not a sinister and vicious person. How much hatred must one have towards someone to kill his entire family?

Furthermore, there was evidence that could lead to him. Qi Haoran felt that someone was framing him, so he wanted the Emperor to clear his name.

Qi Haoran was filled with righteous indignation and his words were agitated. He even swore on the memorial that if he did such a thing, he would be struck by lightning and his entire family would die a horrible death.

This oath was too vicious. Hence, the officials who were originally clamoring to punish Qi Haoran calmed down a little. Thinking along Qi Haoran’s line of thought, Qi Haoran indeed had no motive to kill. This was because just as he had said, he had not interacted much with these seven people previously, let alone had any grudges. After arriving in Hengzhou, he only met the magistrate twice because of the extermination of the bandits. Then, he devoted himself to leading the garrison to surround and kill the bandits.

All of these could be verified.

One night, the bandits suddenly attacked the official residence. In the next two days, they spread to Yongzhou and killed the families of the seven officials. However, it was not the same group of bandits who did this, but four groups of people. No one knew why they suddenly wanted to kill the families of the seven officials and even gathered those killings in those few days.

However, there was evidence that before the accident, there were people from the garrison in Hengzhou who secretly sneaked into the city to meet someone. An official received a report that the contact was a bandit who had participated in the murder of a county official under the jurisdiction of the magistrate of Hengzhou. That was why everyone targeted Qi Haoran.

Qi Haoran was the leader of the garrison in Hengzhou, alright? Who else to impeach but him?