I am a prince in Zhutian Films

Chapter 99: Self-righteous Fan Xian

Every year during the spring examinations, Kyoto has the heaviest flow of people. Dongcheng District and Xicheng District are relatively better, but Nancheng and Beicheng are crowded with countless students.

Today is the day of the full moon banquet in Prince Ding's Mansion. In an inn in the south of the city, a student took a bath, changed into clean clothes, and went to Prince Ding's Mansion with the prepared gifts.

At this time, the banquet had been set up in the palace, and guests arrived one after another with invitations. Guo Baokun was responsible for welcoming the guests outside.

"This student, our prince does not receive students."

Guo Baokun smiled politely at this rather shabby scholar who didn't fit in with the people around him.

It was the time of the Spring Imperial Examinations, and every year there would be students coming to visit. However, everyone knew that Prince Ding's Mansion never received visiting students, no matter how famous they were.

This year, the palace happened to be holding a full-month banquet, so many scholars came. Some came to see the young poet Fan, some came to pay a special visit to Li Chengzong to congratulate him, and some came to make friends and inquire about news.

In short, the scholars who came here today all had their own reasons. They were all students from wealthy families. This poor scholar like the one in front of him was the first one.

The scholar bowed and said, "My teacher, Liu Qing from Quanzhou, asked me to come and congratulate His Majesty the Third Prince. Please let me know."

Guo Baokun naturally didn't know any Quanzhou Liu Qing, but the doorman at the door knew him. After all, Liu Qing was quite famous in Prince Ding's Mansion back then.

So, when the gatekeeper heard the scholar say that his teacher was Liu Qing, he walked past Guo Baokun and said with a smile, "Sir, wait a moment. I will go and report."

"Trouble."

Soon, Fan Wujiu followed the doorman out.

"My name is Fan Wujiu, are you Brother Liu's student?"

"That's right. I have met Mr. Fan."

Fan Wujiu hummed and laughed, "Not bad, you are in high spirits. Come on, I will take you to see the head of the family."

"Thank you, Mr. Fan."

Seeing this, the people behind were surprised. All the people who came to the palace today were high-ranking officials in the court, all dressed in gorgeous clothes. The person in front was dressed simply, and it was obvious that he was a poor student who participated in the spring examination this year. He was actually invited into the palace, and it was Fan Wujiu, one of the three personal guards of the palace, who came to invite him personally. Who was this person?

The scholar followed Fan Wujiu all the way into the palace hall. The first thing he did when he saw Li Chengzong was to bow and say, "I am Yang Wanli from Quanzhou, and I am here to meet His Highness the Third Prince."

Such a coincidence?
If he remembered correctly, this Yang Wanli was one of the scholars that Fan Xian valued, and he was a top-ranked Jinshi in the imperial examination this spring.

Unexpectedly, he was actually Liu Qing's student.

Li Chengzong was stunned for a moment, then smiled and said, "Is your teacher okay?"

"Thank you for your concern, Your Highness. My master is still in good health. He should have come to congratulate Your Highness in person, but he was busy with his promotion to prefect at the beginning of the year, so he asked his student to come to congratulate Your Highness on his behalf."

Taking the gift and a letter handed over by Yang Wanli, Li Chengzong asked with a smile if he wanted to stay in the palace for the time being. Yang Wanli said no, and Li Chengzong naturally would not force him. There was actually nothing for both parties to talk about, and Yang Wanli seemed to be a little unsocial. Both the host and the guest said some polite words, and seeing that he had nothing to say, Li Chengzong asked Fan Wujiu to receive him.

Yang Wanli had just made the arrangements when Fan Jian and Fan Xian arrived.

Accompanying the father and son were two fifth-rank officials who had just been transferred to Kyoto.

"Student Sun Yunnian (Tang Qingnan) pays homage to His Highness."

These two people were the top scorers in the spring examination in the first year of the Qingli period when Li Chengzong was the chief examiner. They were also the two most promising people in the spring examination that year.

They originally served as local officials with remarkable political achievements. Because Fan Xian recently got rid of a group of people, they were transferred to Kyoto, one to the Ministry of Justice and the other to the Ministry of Revenue.

"Why are you here with Si Nanbo and Fan Tisi?"

"I happened to meet the two adults outside the door." Sun Yunnian explained.

Li Chengzong nodded and said with a smile: "Now that you have been transferred to Kyoto, you still have to be a good official. I don't ask you to be incorruptible, but I ask you to do more practical things for the people."

"We both have always kept your words in mind."

Li Chengzong hummed, looked at Fan Xian and said with a smile: "Fan Xian, congratulations, this year's students will call you their master."

"I was actually quite nervous about being asked to preside over the Spring Examination, fearing that something might go wrong. It just so happens that the Third Prince has presided over the Spring Examination before. In addition to congratulating the Third Prince today, I also want to seek his advice."

Just yesterday, the Crown Prince and Lin Ruofu submitted a petition requesting that Fan Xian preside over the Spring Examination, and Emperor Qing has agreed.

This was definitely a good thing, but what made Fan Xian uneasy was that the second brother actually submitted a petition asking him to preside over the Spring Examination.

Now they are still investigating corruption, but the second brother requested that he preside over the Spring Examination. Even a fool knows that the second brother will take revenge on him over the Spring Examination.

He discussed it with Fan Jian last night, and Fan Jian suggested that he talk to Li Chengzong.

"Are you afraid that your second brother will retaliate against you?" Li Chengzong said bluntly.

“There are concerns about this.”

Li Chengzong shook his head and smiled, "I presided over the Spring Examination that year because I took full control of the matter. There is nothing worthy of your reference. If you are really worried, you might as well find Guo Baokun instead of me." "Guo Baokun?"

Fan Xian was stunned for a moment, then he reacted and asked, "Are you talking about looking for the Minister of Rites Guo Youzhi?"

"Except for the one time when I presided over the Spring Examination, the Ministry of Rites presided over the Spring Examination every year. As for the ins and outs of the Spring Examination, naturally the former Minister of Rites Guo Youzhi and the current Minister of Rites Guo Zheng know the most."

Li Chengzong paused and said with a smile: "As for whether to go to Guo Youzhi or Guo Zheng, it depends on your choice."

As soon as these words came out, Fan Jian said, "I'm afraid Guo Youzhi won't be willing to help with this."

Obviously, in Fan Jian's mind, Guo Youzhi takes precedence over Guo Zheng.

"I'll say hello to Guo Baokun."

"Please trouble your Highness the Third Prince."

"Mr. Si Nan, you are too polite. Please find a place to sit and treat it as your own home. There are too many guests today and I am really overwhelmed."

As soon as he finished speaking, Shadow pushed Chen Pingping in.

After the greetings, Sun Tang and the other man left very tactfully.

Only Li Chengzong, Chen Pingping and Fan Xian were left in the hall.

"Third Prince, congratulations!"

"President Chen has difficulty walking, so there's no need to come specially. Just deliver the gift."

Chen Pingping was stunned and also joked: "I originally wanted to come here to share in the good fortune, but His Highness doesn't seem to welcome me."

"President Chen, you must be joking. I'm afraid your coming here today is not just to share in the good fortune."

"Indeed, I heard that there is some rift between the Third Prince and Fan Xian. I am here today because of this matter."

"Dislike?"

Li Chengzong pretended to be puzzled and asked tentatively, "Dean Chen, are you talking about my second brother's smuggling? If that's the case, then Dean Chen has misunderstood. At least I don't care about it. The one who should care is Fan Xian."

Without waiting for Chen Pingping to speak, Fan Xian said with a hint of anger: "Yes, I do care. The second brother is smuggling and has harmed countless people. Why do you turn a blind eye to it? In your eyes, are national laws not important at all?"

"Fan Xian!" Chen Pingping called out in a serious tone.

"It doesn't matter."

Li Chengzong waved his hand, looked at Fan Xian and said, "You said that my second brother was involved in smuggling and harmed countless people. Then I want to ask, who did he harm?"

"Shijia Town was the center of smuggling operations. It was burned down not long ago. No one survived. Thousands of lives, in your eyes, are not as important as the life of the second brother?"

"How do you know it was sent by my second brother?"

"Who else could he be?"

"you ask me?"

Li Chengzong sneered, "You are the director of the Supervisory Council. Shouldn't this matter be investigated by your Supervisory Council? You come to ask me, are you kidding me? In the absence of evidence, you conclude that it was done by the second brother. Your behavior is simply shameful. The law requires evidence. Do I need to tell you such a simple truth? If you are so obedient to the law, I can only say that you are just killing people indiscriminately and you are self-righteous!"

Fan Xian was about to speak, but Chen Pingping beat him to the punch.

"Fan Xian, please investigate the case in Shijia Town carefully. Based on my understanding of the Third Prince, he probably has some guesses. It should not be the Second Prince's doing."

Chen Pingping winked at Fan Xian, then looked at Li Chengzong and asked, "Does your Highness also think that Fan Xian's investigation into corruption is due to factional strife?"

"I know that the party dispute was spread by my second brother."

Li Chengzong changed the subject and said with a laugh, "But does it matter whether it is a party dispute or not? In the current situation, how many people would believe it if I said it was not a party dispute?"

"You don't believe me?" Fan Xian took over the conversation, looking indignant as if to say, "How could you not believe me?"

"To borrow a phrase from Dean Chen, it doesn't matter whether I believe it or not, what matters is whether the world believes it."

"If I say that Fan Xian is doing this for the sake of national law and justice, would Your Highness be willing to believe me?"

For national law, for justice?
Who wouldn’t say this?
But is there anyone who can really do this just for the sake of national law and justice?

Maybe he could do it by relying on his reputation, but it was absolutely impossible for Fan Xian to do it.

At least that's what Li Chengzong thought.

(End of this chapter)