Ask the Nine Ministers

Chapter 124 Sin
The evening mist is heavy and the summer heat has not yet dissipated.

Fan Bing walked up the moss-covered steps to the back corner door of the West Hill Villa. The bulging brocade bag around his waist hurt his ribs - it contained his last fifty taels of silver.

He got it by pawning the golden hairpin that was Wen Jia's dowry.

It is his last fortune and his last confidence...

Boom!
dong dong!

Fan Bing raised his hand and knocked on the door.

In the silent night, the door slowly opened with a creak.

"Oh, I was wondering who it was, it turned out to be Prince Consort Fan."

The hunched figure of an old servant emerged from the shadow of the corner gate, holding the lantern high in his hand and shining it on Fan Bing's face, which was full of anxiety and greed, and spoke with disdain.

Everyone in the capital city knew that Fan Bing, the princess's consort, was just a nominal title and was actually an out-and-out gambler who used the princess's name to cheat people.

"My Lord, it's against etiquette to visit at this hour."

Next to Fan Bing stood Shunzi, an acquaintance introduced to him by the "gambling friend" and a worker in the villa.

He smiled obsequiously.

"Uncle Zhao, Mr. Fan has come here specially to wait for the princess on her orders. He has an errand to do..."

When Fan Bing heard this, he felt something was wrong.

But at this moment, he was risking everything, and as long as he could get into the Xishan Villa, he didn't care about anything else.

"Yes, yes, the princess called me here."

Shunzi smiled and gave him a look.

Fan Bing rubbed the silver ingot he had just obtained with his thumb, rolled his Adam's apple twice, and handed it over with gritted teeth.

"This is a little gift, Lao Zhao, take it and have some tea..."

Old Zhao hesitated for a moment, but still reached out to take it.

"My Lord, it's not that I'm ignorant and deliberately making things difficult for you. It's really because the princess has issued a strict order..."

What to pretend to be?

Fan Bing chuckled and patted the large bag he brought with him impatiently.

"I'm here to deliver something to the princess. Don't worry, once I'm done, I'll definitely give you some benefits!"

Old Zhao weighed the purse, rolled his cloudy eyes twice, and finally nodded.

"Then let's make a deal. The princess will entertain guests in Ninghui Hall. Once the distinguished guests are seated, someone will lead them and entertain them."

After saying that, he winked at Shunzi again.

"Take the Prince Consort in. Don't walk around in other places. Otherwise, if the princess blames you, we will both be in trouble."

"Old Zhao, don't worry, I'm here, nothing will go wrong."

Old Zhao glanced at him and weighed the money.

"Go ahead, go ahead, don't wander around."

Money can make the world go round.

Fan Bing turned his head and spat softly.

However, the convenience gained from his generous spending made him start to imagine.
After getting the money, he would run away to a place with beautiful mountains and rivers, get a few beautiful maids and concubines, and live a carefree life from then on, no longer having to suffer this humiliation.

The villa is built against the mountain and is the only place that can create such a scene of waterfalls and flowing springs.

Wen Jia's words saved him a lot of effort.

He went straight to the courtyard on the other side of the mountain. Shunzi followed him all the way to the waterfall, then he reacted in a daze and stretched out his arm to stop him.

"Master Fan, this backyard is a forbidden area. The princess doesn't allow anyone to come here, and you can't go there either..."

Before he could finish his words, Fan Bing's dagger was already at his throat.

"Do you think I was brought up by being scared?"

The blade left a line of blood on Shunzi's wrinkled neck, and Fan Bing looked cold and grim.

"If you take my money, then stay out of my business..."

Sunja's eyes widened and his body trembled slightly.

"Mr. Fan, you can't do that, you can't do that..."

Fan Bing looked around and saw that no one was paying attention. He thought that having this guy around was really a nuisance, so he made up his mind and smashed it down with the handle of the knife.

Shunzi’s eyes went dark and he fainted with a plop.

The key chain also fell to the ground with a clang.

Fan Bing's eyes lit up. He grabbed the key, walked closer to the flowing spring waterfall, and easily opened the camouflaged wooden door with a Pi Xiu.

When you go in, you'll find a whole new world inside.

The stone door in the stone wall was open, covered with a layer of fresh water stains, as if the person who opened it had forgotten to close it in a hurry.

Seeing this, Fan Bing was overjoyed.

"Oh my goodness! This luck has come, and nothing can stop it. If they hadn't been careless, how could I have opened it so easily?"

Without time to think, Fan Bing hurriedly blew out the fire stick, walked in through the open stone door, and lit the candles on the two bronze candlesticks.

The surroundings became brighter.

In an instant, the room was filled with golden light so bright that he could not open his eyes. He felt dizzy and as if he was surrounded by a mountain of gold and silver.

"so much……"

"There are actually so many..."

Boxes of jewellery are dazzling.

Boxes of Nanhong are brightly colored.

There are buckets and buckets of pearls, round and plump.

The golden whip fumigated with incense...

The beautiful Hetian jade sent as tribute from the Western Regions... the newly arrived agarwood from Nanzi...

Each piece is exquisitely carved and arranged in an orderly manner.

When the three-foot-high blood coral came into view, Fan Bing's breathing suddenly became heavy and his chest began to heave violently.

The Pixiu beast made of gold bricks holds a huge luminous pearl in its mouth, which glows a strange pink in the firelight. The most shocking thing is the bronze tripod - the golden Buddha head enshrined in the tripod is inlaid with sapphires as big as pigeon eggs, which serve as Buddha's eyes.

Against the backdrop of piles of priceless treasures, the piles of official silver produced in Jiangnan during the tenth year of Chongzhao were overshadowed and dimmed.

"Good Pingle! You are rich enough to rival a country, so don't blame me for stealing..."

With trembling hands, he began to bend down and pick up the money, stuffing the treasures into the sack one by one.

Too many! Too many!
There is no end to the collection! There is no end to the collection!
This is valuable, and that is also valuable...

Fan Bing looked at the room full of treasures and felt extremely regretful.

I should find some good friends to come with me, bring a few carriages, and transport all these treasures away...

Fan Bing's eyes turned red, and suddenly he heard the sound of jingling jewelry outside the door.

His scalp tingled and he thought to himself that something was wrong.

Turning his head suddenly, he saw Pingle standing at the entrance of the cave with an angry face. His red nails gently stroked the opened mechanism and he gritted his teeth.

"Has the dog I raised also learned to bite back at its master?"

"Princess..." Fan Bing's voice trembled, and his heart was full of fear.

The flickering candlelight was reflected in Pingle's eyes, and he sneered.

"Humph! I underestimated your ability to sneak in and pick locks. You are so capable! How could you easily open the Tiangong Lock that I spent two years to complete?"

"No. I didn't open it..."

He was used to showing weakness in front of her, and subconsciously wanted to make excuses, but when he saw Ping Le's sneer, he realized that this was not the time to explain.
Now that the criminal is caught red-handed, it's too late to say anything.

He grabbed the sack full of treasure and tried to escape.

Pingle called to his attendants in a stern voice.

"Catch him!"

Fan Bing was so frightened that his soul left his body. He stepped on the gold bricks, staggered, picked up an ingot of official silver, and threw it at Pingle.

Ping Le was furious: "What a dog! How dare you hit me?"

The insults, each more harsh than the last, enraged Fan Bing.

"Princess Pingle, you embezzled 300,000 disaster relief silver! Haven't the ghosts of the refugees who starved to death during the Luo River flood come to seek revenge on you?"

"You have seized the people's land, causing countless people to be displaced and homeless..."

"The soldiers at the border fought bravely, but you embezzled their military pay, leaving them without food and clothing..."

"You cheated in the imperial examinations and accepted bribes, ruining the future of those poor students..."

"Are you afraid of people knowing? I have to say it, I have to publicize it loudly. The evil Princess Pingle is a parasite of the country and a scourge to the people. Compared to you, I am a good person!"

Pingle's face suddenly changed.

"Cut off his tongue for me! Gouge out his eyes!"

Fan Bing dodged the sharp blade at close range, desperately overturned a golden tripod, and roared loudly.

"You evil woman, you have eaten so much human flesh, bones and blood, and you won't even spit out a bone. You are insatiable and cruel. You have so much, what's wrong with me taking some, what's wrong with me taking some from you!"

"I have done so many evil things for you, don't I deserve it? Don't I deserve it?"

For a while, everyone was chasing each other.

There was chaos in the cave.

Seeing Ping Le shaking with anger, the two guards rushed forward to restrain him.

A beast-like roar burst out from Fan Bing's throat.

Mountains of money are enough to make a person lose his mind.

He was a man with a manic temperament, and under the stimulation of money, he was like a struggling trapped beast.

During the fight, strings of pearls fell from the rosewood cabinet, and overturned gold bricks knocked over the candlesticks...

The flames instantly licked the piled-up shark silk tents and various silks...

"Shameless thing!" Ping Le was also so furious at his scolding that he rushed forward, pulled out the knife from the guard's hand, and stabbed him hard!

The tip of the knife pierced Fan Bing's heart.

Blood spurted out——

"you you……"

Fan Bing looked down at the bloody knife on his chest.

"You...dare to kill me?"

Ping Le sneered: "You know my secrets, yet you still dare to covet my wealth. Do you still want to leave alive?"

Fan Bing staggered and held onto the stone wall. In the tearing pain, he watched the room full of treasures twist and deform in the firelight. He also looked at the kind and compassionate blue-eyed Buddha head, as if seeking final salvation.

"Poisonous...woman...you must...die miserably..."

Ping Le's expression was icy, "This is the fate of betraying me."

Tongues of flame suddenly leaped up the green jade screen. Thick smoke billowed, carrying the sweet aroma of burning agarwood, filling the entire grotto. The gold, silver and treasures also seemed to take on a strange bloody color.

The maid Hong Xing urged anxiously, "Princess, hurry up, the fire is starting..."

Although the gold and silver did not catch fire, a large amount of silk, satin and precious spices were burning at this moment.

The rising smoke is particularly choking on a hot and stuffy summer night.

Thick fog poured out of the cave.

Pingle dropped the knife with a gloomy face and watched Fan Bing fall heavily to the ground. He took out a piece of silk to wipe the blood splattered on his face. Unable to bear the pungent smell of blood, he simply took off his coat and threw it into the fire.

"Fan Bing, it is your blessing to die in a mountain of gold and silver!"

Ping Le flicked her sleeves and hurried out of the cave. She was thinking whether to close the mechanism and let the fire go out by itself, or call the guards to put out the fire, when she looked up, she saw Lu Youan standing under the cool moon, looking at her coldly.