The doctor suffers from amnesia, but not complete amnesia.

"The rumors circulating outside have somewhat damaged the reputation of Duke Wei's sister. Although Duke Wei now bears the surname Wei, his sister is still a princess of the Great Yan. How can she be humiliated by such gossip? Therefore, it is essential to choose a husband of equal social standing to quell these rumors."

"As it happens, your eldest grandson seems to be still unmarried—what do you think?"

"Yes—of course I'm willing!"

Chen Fan blurted it out almost without thinking.

Not to mention that this was originally a marriage between equals, the Chen family is now in a precarious situation. At this time, being able to establish a kinship with the royal family would be a great protection!

If he had previously thought that there was an irreconcilable conflict between Wei Yanwu and the current emperor, he had now completely dispelled that idea—Wei Yanwu was already helping the emperor to reorganize the court, so wasn't this conflict just something to be shown to others?

Perhaps this talisman doesn't seem very significant, but if the Chen family has it while the Cai family doesn't, then even if the emperor eventually has to deal with them all, there will definitely be a certain order of priority—even in a purge, this lineage will be able to escape unscathed.

"That's good. Lord Wei will soon ask His Majesty to grant him a marriage. As long as you don't object, I should be able to see Young Master Chen at Longmen next year."

"Thank you for your trouble, Your Excellency! Thank you for your trouble, Lord Wei!"

Chen Fan immediately perked up and began writing a note. Then he stood up from his seat, held it with both hands, and handed it to Qiao Yelan, who was several generations younger than him.

Qiao Yelan smiled, holding the stack of paper in her hand, which was clearly more than a single sheet of paper, but said nothing and simply accepted them all.

Seeing that Qiao Yelan accepted the gifts without saying a word, Chen Fan felt much more at ease. He returned to his chair with a genuine smile on his face.

"Now that things have been explained, I will take my leave—but I urge Lord Chen to attend the grand court assembly tomorrow."

"Of course, this old minister will definitely be there to cheer on Your Majesty."

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“Eunuch Wang, go back and report to His Majesty that everything is going smoothly. Minister Chen is a pragmatic man and has made up his mind to pledge allegiance to His Majesty. He will make a clean break with His Majesty in court tomorrow.”

"Yes, Lord Qiao, this servant will go and report right away!"

Wang Zhi, his face full of admiration, was about to enter the palace with great joy.

"Wait a moment."

"Lord Qiao, is there anything else you need?"

"Before Eunuch Wang was the chief eunuch, where would he usually hide silver notes if he wanted to?"

"what?"

Wang Zhi was stunned.

"Hidden silver notes, the kind that you're afraid someone will see and steal."

Qiao Yelan added.

"Uh... I usually keep it close to my body, I even sleep with it, and I keep it under my nose when I take a bath, after all, the palace... you know."

"I spoke hesitantly," said Eunuch Wang.

"I see. So where are Tibetan silver notes usually kept?"

"Usually, we just put it in a box and place it on the roof beam or in the rice jar."

That's perfect—

Qiao Yelan took out a silver note from his briefcase.

This was the smallest denomination banknote in the stack of silver notes Chen Fan had given him, but the number on it was still enough to make an ordinary person's heart pound.

The stamp on the banknote was exactly the same as the one he had received from Manager Wang and then handed over to Zhu Ronghui to withdraw money from.

"Tonight, send someone to kill the entire family of the captured gatekeeper. Then put this silver note in a box and hide it in a secret place in their house, either on the roof beam or in the rice jar, making it look as if the gatekeeper hid it himself."

"The slave understands."

"Also, this time we must leave a child behind, and the child must be taken away alive. We must leave enough traces to prove that the child was taken away alive—then flee far away, taking the child directly to the Eastern Kingdom, to prevent the Dali Temple from finding anything through the traces."

Although Wang Zhi had some doubts, he still memorized every word, took the silver note, and went to give the order.

A slight smile curved Qiao Yelan's lips.

The killing was to deliver the final blow to the Tsai faction, while reporting it and settling the matter were separate issues.

The reason why Qiao Yelan explained things so thoroughly and comprehensively to Eunuch Wang, dissecting and breaking down the entire conspiracy so clearly and plainly—

This is all for this moment.

Because explaining it to Wang Zhi was essentially explaining it to the emperor.

After clarifying the matter, whether he takes Wang Zhi to the Chen residence or not will not arouse any suspicion. Neither Wang Zhi nor the Emperor will. In the end, Chen Fan's behavior will only lead them to believe that Qiao Yelan's persuasion efforts have been successful, and they will not doubt what kind of rhetoric Qiao Yelan used to convince Chen Fan.

Just like when Qiao Yelan went to see the Grand Tutor, and the Grand Tutor left, the young emperor was only delighted and didn't ask Qiao Yelan what he had said at the Si Sui Terrace.

The Tower of Babel is not a charitable organization, and Qiao Yelan is not a loyal minister entrusted with the care of the young emperor. After planning this scheme for so long, what he wants is not "Jian's favor with the emperor".

Now, taking Minister Chen under Wei Yanwu's wing is merely a way to collect some interest.

If the Emperor of Great Yan suddenly becomes incompetent, or dies a bizarre death like Helhunzoren, Qiao Yelan doesn't want to frantically help Wei Yanwu or his child ascend the throne, just like she did in Letania.

Now, all the backup plans are ready.

In the imperial court, Wei Yanwu had the Grand Tutor as a pillar of stability to keep the officials in line.

In the imperial court, Wei Yanwu used two powerful claims of legitimacy—Dongguo and Victoria—to tempt the Ministry of War.

So the biggest need at that time was actually funding, and that was definitely something that Qiao Yelan had to solve—oh, don't misunderstand, not using the funds from the Tower of Babel.

Qiao Yelan never does anything that would increase his own costs.

That's why he wanted to bring Minister Chen in—this old man had been sitting in the Ministry of Revenue for decades, and he also controlled the Wangji Trading Company; who knows how much money he'd made through smuggling.

When the time comes, if Qiao Yelan doesn't smash this old man's gold coins to the ground, then Lord Chen should be thanking his ancestors for eight generations.

Chapter Ninety-Three: Falling Apart

As the former absolute ruler of the Great Yan court, Prime Minister Cai looked rather haggard when he attended court.

Everyone could see that the Prime Minister hadn't had a good rest—while, in contrast, His Majesty the Emperor, full of energy, was scrutinizing the ministers in the court with piercing eyes.

When Minister Chen of the Ministry of Revenue walked in, he surprised many of the ministers.

Chen Fan's expression remained normal; he showed no signs of fatigue, and even the lingering shadow from the turmoil in the Ministry of Revenue seemed to have vanished.

This is rather puzzling.

Look at the expressions on the faces of Minister Gao and Prime Minister Cai—how come you, Lord Chen, are so carefree?

Cai Yan also noticed this.

Originally, today was the last grand court assembly before the New Year. If he could get through today, he would have a full fifteen days of rest and could legitimately communicate with Chen Fan and others to discuss ways to get through the current situation by visiting relatives and friends during the New Year. He was slightly relieved because of this.

But when he saw Chen Fan's performance, his heart skipped a beat for no reason.

So... he already has a solution?

Cai Yan felt a sense of unease, because he still hadn't figured out how to help Chen Fan get through this difficult time without leaving a trace—now that the other party was behaving this way, it meant that he was no longer worried about it.

But if Chen Fan had that ability, then the current power in the court shouldn't be called the Cai Party, but the Chen Party.

He had originally intended to close his eyes and rest for a while to prepare for the upcoming audience and the emperor's possible questions—but now, he couldn't relax at all.

This feeling of unease persisted until the grand court assembly began.

After that, as if it were all his illusion, the emperor was not angry, and no other accidents occurred. The ministers reported the results of this year's work and the plans for next year in an orderly manner—and this continued smoothly until the grand court assembly was about to end.

Could it be all bark and no bite?

Just as Cai Yan breathed a sigh of relief, a commander of the Imperial Guards walked in from outside.

Logically, this was against the rules of etiquette, but the Grand Tutor of the Ministry of Rites acted as if he were blind, completely ignoring it.

"Your Majesty, there has been a new development in the case that Your Majesty previously ordered us to assist in solving, hence this report."

"The grand court assembly is almost over, so you can speak now."

"Yes—the Imperial Guards and the Court of Judicial Review received a report at dawn today that another family massacre has occurred in the capital. In this case, the entire family was wiped out, and very few traces were left behind. Only one child is missing. According to the investigation at the scene, he should have been abducted alive."

One sentence was enough to make all the officials gasp in shock.

The emperor's face darkened again.

"Which family was killed?"

"Yes...the entire family of the gatekeeper from Prime Minister Cai's residence that we arrested yesterday."

The commander knelt on the ground and uttered words that were earth-shattering.

All eyes turned to Cai Yan.

Cai Yan stood there, completely dumbfounded.

He didn't do it.

He was quite certain of that.

However, based on the description, it seems that he was the one who did it.

When the gatekeeper was arrested, Cai Yan was worried and had no choice but to kill him. However, since the gatekeeper was in the Imperial Guard's camp and could not be reached at all, he left a child alive as a hostage, to threaten the gatekeeper into not saying anything he shouldn't have.

This was such a plausible reason—so plausible that even the civil and military officials in the court found it reasonable.

It was another case of annihilating an entire family, handled cleanly and efficiently, and even left behind a child—they all remembered from the Dali Temple's previous report that the bodies of Zhu Ronghui and his family had been identified, except for a five-year-old daughter who was missing and whose whereabouts were unknown.