Just then, from over the courtyard wall came a woman’s cheerful shout, "Yang Ge, I want to eat glutinous rice balls too!"
Yang Ge responded loudly, smiling, "Okay, okay, okay, once they are ready I’ll call you!"
Upon hearing this, the smile on Fang Ke’s face slowly faded.
He rolled up his sleeves and followed Yang Ge into the kitchen, "Is there anything I can help with?"
Yang Ge pointed to a corner where a clay pot was located, "Inside there is glutinous rice. Take out five bowls of rice to soak... Don’t throw out the rice water; I’ll use it to wash the cured meat."
Fang Ke acknowledged, skillfully took out a clean big bowl and crouched in front of the clay pot to scoop up rice, then casually asked, "How are things going with the girl next door, huh?"
Sitting behind the stove stoking the fire, Yang Ge, without lifting his head, replied, "You’ve known the family next door for a while, haven’t you?"
Fang Ke paused in his task, clenched his teeth, and responded, "Yes!"
Yang Ge: "Why did you refuse to tell me before, but now you want to talk?"
Fang Ke: "Back then we were just green and couldn’t get involved in big matters."
Finally, Yang Ge looked up at him, "Who exactly are the people next door?"
Fang Ke watched him, "The Xie Family."
Yang Ge: "Which Xie Family?"
Fang Ke: "The one we overthrew."
Yang Ge: "The traitors who conspired with the enemy?"
Fang Ke: "Exactly, that Xie Family."
Yang Ge frowned, his mind spinning with thoughts, but then his expression relaxed again.
He picked some twigs and stuffed them into the stove to kindle a bigger flame, "What do you think?"
He remembered that Shen Fa handled the case against the Xie Family, and it was that case which facilitated his promotion to Northern Town Prefectural Commissioner.
If that was the case, the people next door living next to him must have been arranged by Shen Fa.
Moreover, Emperor Xiping almost seemed to investigate even the color of his underpants; there was no way he didn’t know the Xie Family lived next door.
Since those people were still alive, it must mean that Emperor Xiping tacitly allowed them to live...
Fang Ke understood what Yang Ge was asking but hesitated before answering.
Only after he finished soaking the rice did he reply, "I hold little influence and my insight might not be sharp, but from what I know of Shen, if that family next door had been involved in ’nurturing rebels to consolidate power,’ they would not have survived!"
Yang Ge was skeptical, "A whole family, how could they possibly know nothing at all?"
Fang Ke patiently explained, "What you may not know is that a powerful family like the Xie Family, which has prospered for several hundred years, maintains a strict hierarchy. Each lineage and each branch manages its own affairs independently — some enter the government, some venture overseas for business, some educate, some farm. The real decision-makers might only number five or six people.
"Besides, who would be foolish enough to shout about ’nurturing rebels to consolidate power’? We investigated this matter for half a year in both the capital and outside, and it was only at the end that we traced it back to the Xie Family."
Yang Ge: "That seems off? I remember when we traced it back to the Xie Family, they were already dealing in arms. Wasn’t that easy to investigate?"
Fang Ke: "You might want to think again about where we found the Xie Family’s merchant ship."
Yang Ge: "Wasn’t it on the Bian River... No, at that time, we found the ship as it was moving south with the current."
The enemy was in the north, while the Xie Family’s ships headed south.
The source of this c𝐨ntent is freeweɓnovēl.coɱ.
Fang Ke: "Those arms were sold to Jiangnan. We misled a Tartar spy, making him aware that every water and land checkpoint from the capital northward was under surveillance, to force him to contact those in the court who were traitorous.. Even Shen did not anticipate that the Xie Family would be involved!"
He had been Shen Fa’s personal messenger and was involved in the entire operation against the Xie Family, so he knew considerably more.
After a moment of reflection, Yang Ge shook his head with a hint of headache, "Forget it, I don’t want to think anymore. It’s best not to get involved!"
Fang Ke breathed a sigh of relief, "It’s best you think that way!"
Yang Ge glanced at him sideways, "If you don’t want me meddling in this mess, why are you speaking in their favor?"
Fang Ke chuckled, "Wasn’t I unaware of what you were thinking? What if you really hit it off with Miss Xie? My words could make you feel better, right?"
"Are you cursing again?"
Yang Ge laughed and cursed, "You’re the real turtle!"
Fang Ke quickly corrected himself, "Yes, yes, I’m the turtle!"
Yang Ge couldn’t be bothered with him. His hands deftly mixed the chopped meat, tofu residue, sticky rice, and five-spice powder together. Only after he finished did he speak, "What was Shen thinking indeed? Why would he arrange for them to stay next to my house? Isn’t he afraid I’ll collude with them and betray the country?"
Fang Ke hesitated for a long time before answering, "About that, I had pondered that privately before. Perhaps at that time, Shen thought you were too... too idle and wanted to find something for you to do!"
Yang Ge paused, suddenly realizing something. He slammed the prepared sticky rice ball into the bowl and burst out cursing, "That scoundrel treats me too outrageously!"
He suddenly realized that Shen Fa truly intended to make him and the girl next door, Miss Xie, together, using the Xie Family’s sins and guilt to tie him down and force him to serve Wei like a horse!
"What a way to deceive a gentleman with propriety!"
Yang Ge was so angry that he wished he could ride to the capital right now and pin that scoundrel to the ground and give him a good beating, "To think I considered you a friend! Pah!"
What do you call a heart that plays with tactics?
This is it!
Fang Ke sat behind the stove, crouching like a quail, his head buried, silently chanting, ’You can’t see me, you can’t see me...’
But Yang Ge wouldn’t let him off, "Do you know when your Shen is coming to Luting County?"
Fang Ke’s body shook, and without thinking, he replied, "I don’t know, I’m not clear, don’t ask me!"
"I shall remember this grudge!"
Yang Ge muttered resentfully, his hands skillfully steaming the prepped sticky rice balls, "There will be payback for this!"
Fang Ke whispered cautiously, "You better not say I talked too much, but Shen can’t handle you, training me is just a flick of his wrist!"
Yang Ge looked down on him, "Look at your lack of backbone!"
He put the bacon into the boiling pot and stacked the steamer above the water surface.
He clapped his hands, "All set, just wait to eat, come on, come out and spar with me a bit!"
Fang Ke’s face soured as he dawdled and was reluctant to get up, "Forget it, just with my poor skills, you could beat me single-handedly!"’
Seeing his timid demeanor, Yang Ge felt that bullying him was indeed pointless.
He paced around the kitchen a couple of times, annoyed, "Ah, no way, I’m heading to the capital tomorrow to pound that guy... thinking you were my brother, and you play tricks on me?"
Fang Ke grew a bit panicky, "Considering how busy Shen is, he still remembered to prepare the New Year goods for you. Maybe just let him off this time, he is now the Prefectural Commissioner after all, and he cares about his face..."
Yang Ge knew how skilled he was, and he knew how skilled Shen Fa was too.
If Yang Ge really set his heart on going to the capital to beat up Shen Fa, it definitely wouldn’t be much more troublesome than beating him up.
"No way, I can’t swallow this anger!"
The more Yang Ge thought about it, the angrier he became, thinking if it weren’t for his early suspicion that the neighbors were up to no good, he might have really fallen for that scoundrel’s evil plan.
Miss Xie, showing up in a small place like Luting County, that’s really like bringing a sledgehammer down on a nut!
"I’m entering the capital tomorrow, and you better watch your mouth!"
He glared, eyes fierce as he stared down Fang Ke, "If I go there and can’t find him, I’ll come back and deal with you!"
Fang Ke was not just a little panicked this time, but truly very panicked, "Please, if you hadn’t let me know it would have been fine, but now that I know and don’t report to Shen, if he finds out, won’t he beat me to death?"
"Please, for my sake, let Shen off just this once, and you can pick another day to beat him up, I promise I won’t talk too much!"
Yang Ge smacked the table, "You don’t say, I don’t say, how would he know you told me? Just watch your own mouth, this beating is set, I say even the Emperor can’t save him!"
Fang Ke stared at him, his face somber and fearful, feeling only pity, smallness, and helplessness...
Dismissal?
That’s like setting a tiger free to return to the mountain, isn’t it?
Talking about beating up the Prefectural Commissioner and not even delaying it!
Across the whole world, there couldn’t be another husband as fierce as you!