Film and Television: The Villain's Life Begins with Joy of Life

The next day.

Fan Xian returned to the assassination scene and spent most of the day investigating the surrounding area.

He had only been back at his residence for a short time when Teng Zijing came looking for him.

He sat at the table, holding a cup of tea in his hand. The tea had long since gone cold, but he was completely unaware of it.

Teng Zijing stood opposite him and repeated his conversation with Zhou Cheng from the previous night word for word.

"How could I be Emperor Qing's son? Doesn't that mean my father was cuckolded?"

Fan Xian's first reaction upon hearing this was disbelief, even finding it absurd.

Ye Qingmei held an almost sacred place in his heart.

He couldn't believe his mother had such a stain on her body.

He was grateful to Zhou Cheng for saving Teng Zijing, but he didn't believe a single word Zhou Cheng said.

In his opinion, rather than believing that Ye Qingmei was fickle, he would rather believe that he had not traveled through time and was still on Earth!

Teng Zijing opened her mouth, hesitated for a moment, and then spoke:

"I've always heard that aristocratic circles are quite chaotic..."

"Stop, stop, stop, stop!"

Fan Xian quickly waved his hand to interrupt him.

"Old Teng, let's not talk about these trivial things." He stood up and patted Teng Zijing on the shoulder.

"Our top priority is to find out who's behind this assassination attempt. We've survived by sheer luck this time, but what about next time? And the time after that? We won't have any peace of mind until we find out!"

He withdrew his hand, took out half a crumpled piece of paper from his pocket, and stuffed it into Teng Zijing's hand.

"Instead of wasting your time on gossip, you might as well help me find out the origin of these coded messages."

This was discovered by him during his investigation of the scene today, in a residential house near the location where the white-clad assassin appeared.

Only a small portion of the sheet remained, with burn marks on the edges, and a string of cipher text written on it that he couldn't understand.

Teng Zijing glanced at it but didn't say anything more.

Even after being "whitewashed" by an imperial edict from Emperor Qing, he was still considered a member of the Censorate. While they might not be qualified to investigate highly classified matters, they could still compare the coded communication styles of various factions.

He nodded and turned to walk out.

Fan Xian watched his figure disappear outside the door and sighed inwardly.

How could he not care about the conversation between Teng Zijing and Zhou Cheng?

He just... didn't dare to investigate further.

Fan Jian's affection for him, though deep and reserved, was genuine. He had previously suspected that Fan Jian was involved in Ye Qingmei's death, but after spending so much time together, he had long since dispelled his doubts.

If Ruoshi is his sister, then Sizhe is his brother.

He has found a true sense of home in this world.

Having an emperor as a father figure is certainly a good thing. At least when dealing with those princes, one doesn't have to be as hesitant and timid as one is now.

But he was worried.

He worried that if he really was Emperor Qing's son, and if Fan Jian really didn't know... then the bond he cherished most in this world would collapse.

At least for now, he feels that being Si Nanbo's illegitimate son and being able to marry Lin Wan'er is good enough.

Anyway, neither he nor Teng Zijing died. They could find the real culprit, wait peacefully until he married Lin Wan'er and returned to Danzhou, and then let everything in the capital go as it may!

As for the rest... let's just forget about it.

He really didn't want to get involved in any of the royal family's messy affairs.

"Master Xiaofan——!"

As Fan Xian was deep in thought, Wang Qinian's voice came from outside the door. Immediately afterwards, Wang Qinian strode in, his face filled with the excitement of having fulfilled his mission, and fine beads of sweat still clung to his forehead.

"We've found the origin of that token!" He slammed a token on the table. "It's a token from a Northern Qi spy!"

Fan Xian's eyes lit up.

This token was given to Wang Qinian by him.

It was an unexpected discovery they made while searching for Cheng Jushu's hiding place.

Wang Qinian felt that the symbols on the token looked familiar, so he volunteered to check them out. Unexpectedly, he actually found them out in no time!

"Cheng Jushu, a master from Northern Qi, a spy from Northern Qi..." Fan Xian murmured, a cold smile curling at the corner of his lips, "They've really gone to great lengths to deal with me. They've even arranged for people from Northern Qi to be stationed in the capital of Southern Qing."

He couldn't believe that he, the illegitimate son of the Marquis of Sinan, would be targeted by the Northern Qi.

The fact that Northern Qi was involved in the assassination attempt only shows that the person behind it had amazing power and was unwilling to reveal the truth. It is unknown how they used the Northern Qi spies.

"Has the origin of that batch of weapons been investigated?" he asked.

Whether it was a coded note or a token, it was difficult to trace in the short term.

The only clue we can follow now is the military equipment that was placed on the street corner back then.

Wang Qinian nodded confidently: "I investigated and found out immediately."

"Let's act now without delay!"

Fan Xian didn't want to wait a moment longer. He had finally found a clue that he could follow, and he was afraid that things might change if he waited too long.

Night fell.

Under the cover of night, two figures silently sneaked into the general's residence where the weapons had been stolen.

The mansion was very quiet.

It's abnormally quiet.

A sense of foreboding swept through Fan Xian's mind.

He quickened his pace and sneaked into the mansion.

He was suddenly jolted as he saw figures suspended in mid-air, their feet off the ground.

Undeterred, he walked through the corridor and pushed open the door to the main hall...

Fan Xian stopped in his tracks.

He has made up his mind.

Every man, woman, child, and elderly person in the household was hanged.

He untied a corpse and checked its pulse. It was still slightly warm; the person hadn't been dead for long.

Wang Qinian also inspected the area and returned with a grave expression: "Lord Fan, the entire family of the military commander... more than forty people, not a single one survived."

Fan Xian stood up, his gaze sweeping over the still slightly swaying corpses, and remained silent for a long time.

High position and high weight.

Ruthless.

For the first time, he truly felt just how cruel the power games in Kyoto could be.

The only clear lead has gone cold again.

......

On the way back, Fan Xian remained silent.

He felt as if he were trapped in a fog, surrounded by roads, but each road led to a wall.

Just when he felt he had no other choice, a sentence suddenly flashed through his mind—

Zhou Cheng said it.

"As for the murderer, I know, but I won't tell you. If you're so capable, go find out for yourself."

Prince Cheng knew the real culprit behind it all. It's normal that he didn't want to tell himself.

Why would Prince Ke Cheng know this?

What role did Prince Cheng play in this assassination attempt?

Is the person behind this connected to Zhou Cheng?

Zhou Cheng's social circle in Kyoto is notoriously small!

There are only a handful of people connected to Zhou Cheng.

Fan Xian then thought of the assassination attempt on Niulan Street.

Even the crossbowmen were prepared in advance; it was clearly a case of waiting for the rabbit to run into a trap.

What does this mean? It means the assassins knew his route all along.

Few people knew that he had gone to Zuixianju to keep his appointment with the Second Prince. Only Teng Zijing knew, and Teng Zijing would never betray him.

The only source of the leak could be the Second Prince.

"It's unlikely that the Second Prince wants to kill me," Fan Xian thought to himself. "If I really die, he won't escape the consequences either."

Fan Xian temporarily ruled out the Second Prince as a suspect and deduced the details of their meeting one by one.

He quickly thought of the place where the two had arranged to meet.

Zuixianju!

If the information truly leaked from Zuixianju...

A figure suddenly appeared in Fan Xian's mind.

Si Lili.

In his memory, Si Lili was nothing like an ordinary courtesan. After all, how could a normal courtesan dare to refuse the dignified Prince Cheng?

Although we didn't have much contact, her behavior that night suggested she was hiding a significant secret, even preferring to be tortured rather than be thoroughly investigated in the Kyoto Prefecture court.

There is also resistance to date rape drugs.

That kind of drug resistance training is usually used on undercover agents.

Coincidentally, the token he found corresponded exactly to the Northern Qi spy.

"Si Lili..."

Fan Xian murmured the name.

There was no concrete evidence. But his intuition told him that something was wrong with this woman.

Go find her?

He had some concerns.

Finally, he gritted his teeth.

---

Zuixianju was still brightly lit, with the faint sounds of traditional Chinese string and wind instruments drifting out, and the decadent and lively atmosphere could be felt even from half a street away.

When Fan Xian and Wang Qinian arrived, they were told that Si Lili had mysteriously disappeared.

Fan Xian and Wang Qinian exchanged a glance and headed straight for Si Lili's pleasure boat from where no one was around.

The pleasure boat was empty. The jewelry on the dressing table was still there, and the clothes in the wardrobe were still there, but the person was gone.

Fan Xian stood in the boat, his gaze sweeping over the neatly arranged furnishings, his heart sinking lower and lower.

Too late again.

"Young Master Fan!" Wang Qinian suddenly leaned closer and lowered his voice, "I know some tracking techniques. The person hasn't been gone long, so perhaps we can still catch up."

Fan Xian turned around abruptly, his eyes gleaming with surprise: "Really?"

Wang Qinian nodded and patted his chest confidently.

The two exchanged a glance, then turned and disappeared into the night without a word.

......

On the other side, Si Lili, dressed in plain clothes and wearing a face mask, rode her horse along the road.

That night, a group of men in black broke into her pleasure boat and forced her to hand over her secret agent token.

The moment she handed over the token, she knew that her identity had been exposed and that many more people would come looking for her afterward.

During the day, she was quietly making arrangements, while also waiting for an opportunity to escape.

Soon, the opportunity came.

The assassination attempt on Niulan Street has occurred; Fan Xian has been attacked, and all eyes in the city are on him. Those who were watching her have temporarily shifted their focus.

Seizing this rare opportunity, she disguised herself and quietly left Zuixianju.

Her escape plan was carefully calculated.

Six decoys simultaneously set off from different directions to draw the pursuers' attention. Each group had a double, a vehicle, and attendants, making them indistinguishable from the real thing.

She herself set off from the east, preparing to enter the sea from Danzhou, and then leave Qing Kingdom by ship to the border of Northern Qi.

She was confident that her plan was meticulous and foolproof.

Unexpectedly, less than a day after escaping, someone was chasing after them!

The ones chasing Si Lili were none other than Fan Xian and Wang Qinian.

Wang Qinian's tracking technology is truly remarkable.

In addition, the two were extraordinary experts who traveled at an extremely fast speed. As an ordinary person, Si Lili was still gradually overtaken even by Ma Li.

Seeing that the people behind her were chasing her too closely, Si Lili gritted her teeth and had no choice but to take a risky move.

She turned onto a secluded mountain path and sped off towards a mountain road.

There, she had already arranged a hidden agent.

Although Fan Xian and Wang Qinian sensed something was wrong, they still caught up.

As they chased along the mountain path, figures suddenly appeared from the dense forest around them, surrounding them completely.

Si Lili stood at the back of the crowd on her horse, looking through the crowd at the two trapped figures, and breathed a long sigh of relief.

She turned her horse around and rode away.

Before long, she retreated in a disheveled state.

The iron hooves shattered the silence of the mountains and forests, approaching like thunder from afar!

Two black torrents surged in, one after the other, like a tidal wave!

Black Knight!

The most elite Black Riders of the Qing Kingdom! Clad in iron armor, wielding countless spears, their hooves pounding through the rocks, their momentum unstoppable!

Wang Qinian was overjoyed, while Fan Xian stared blankly at the imposing black-armored cavalry in front of him.

As the Director of the Supervisory Board, he had naturally heard of the Black Riders, who were said to be invincible, but this was the first time he had ever seen them, and he was truly shocked.

Dozens of Northern Qi spies were swallowed up by the black torrent before they could even react.

Screams, the clash of weapons, and the crunching of bones underfoot mingled together, creating a symphony of death.

Si Lili's face was ashen.

The Black Knights have arrived.

Will Chen Pingping be far behind?

In the eyes of the Northern Qi people, Chen Pingping was a demon of the night, a nightmare they could never wake from. She was confident in her cunning and resourcefulness, but that person was Chen Pingping...

It’s over.

It's all over.

Fan Xian was just thinking about meeting the legendary figure when he saw the leading black-clad cavalry general dismount and walk up to him.

That was the organization in charge of the Sixth Division, Shadow.

"Dean Chen instructed you to go ahead and do it," Shadow's voice was as calm as reading an official document, "that you be allowed to do it."

Fan Xian was taken aback.

Chen Pingping didn't come?

The Black Knights have arrived, but Chen Pingping hasn't?

Before he could think it through, Wang Qinian dragged him to "receive" the ashen-faced Northern Qi spy.

......

That night.

The dungeon of the Imperial Censorate.

In the cold, damp passage, an oil lamp was lit every few feet, its dim yellow light casting flickering shadows on the stone walls, making the passage appear particularly eerie.

Dressed in black, Fan Xian quietly sneaked into the dungeon during a shift change.

On the way back to the capital, he tried to coerce and bribe Si Lili several times, but she remained silent. Once inside the Forensic Academy, because he was a party involved, he was not authorized to interrogate her according to regulations.

He thought that once Si Lili entered the Forensic Institute and witnessed those cruel methods, she would let go of any illusions she might have.

So he took a risk and decided to make one last attempt.

He walked deeper into the passage, the iron bars on both sides were empty. After walking for about half a cup of tea's time, he finally saw the solitary cell.

Behind the heavy iron bars, Si Lili, dressed in a white prison uniform, sat cross-legged on a straw mat, looking listless, though her hair was still neatly styled.

Fan Xian's footsteps startled her.

She looked up and gazed at me.

Under the dim light, her face was still beautiful, but it had lost its former liveliness, and there was only a lifeless grayness in her eyes.

Fan Xian walked to the iron railing and took off his face mask.

"Time is of the essence, I won't waste words." He stared at her. "Who exactly wants to kill me?"

Si Lili looked at him, and a faint smile slowly curved her lips.

"Get me out of here, and I'll tell you."

Fan Xian nodded without hesitation: "Okay. Tell me your name, and I'll get you out of here."

Si Lili did not speak.

She simply looked at Fan Xian, the smile on her lips slowly deepening into a mocking curve.

Fan Xian frowned: "You don't believe me?"

Si Lili remained silent.

That expression, that look in their eyes, said it all.

Fan Xian took a deep breath, suppressing the irritation in his heart, and lowered his voice:

"This is your last chance. If you don't confess now, you'll face severe torture." He paused, emphasizing each word, "Believe me, you have no other choice but to believe me."

The smile on Si Lili's face slowly faded.

She knew Fan Xian was telling the truth.

If she doesn't confess, what awaits her next are the inhumane methods employed by the Forensic Science Institute.

If I confess, will I live?

If the identity of the person behind the scenes is revealed, she will also be doomed.

As a spy for Northern Qi, she had long been prepared that if she were exposed and captured, she would die.

But her exposure wasn't because she gave herself away.

She was betrayed by the Northern Qi high command, by her own people.

She was unwilling to die in such a muddled and confused state.

Now, she is imprisoned, alone in this dungeon, with no one to even relay messages. She wants to survive, but has no way to do so.

Fan Xian's appearance presents an opportunity.

She raised her eyes, a resolute glint in them.

"I can tell you who's behind this," she said softly but clearly. "But before that, I need to see someone."

Fan Xian frowned even more deeply: "Who?"

Si Lili took a deep breath:

"King Cheng"