Days Before The Imperial Banquet - 24.3
Jin Fa Chung had arrived early at the imperial palace's Heavenly Hall were the morning court and other official meetings and occasions were held and was already seated in his imperial throne way before any of his court ministers and military officials have arrived.
He was lost in his thoughts and had a deep frown on his forehead while his head was supported on one hand as he leaned back on the throne.
When some of the officials arrived and saw his dark expression, most mistook it as anger and annoyance due to them arriving later than him; the emperor so everyone's chatter faded into a tense silence.
The time for the morning court to start has long passed yet the emperor showed no intention of starting.
In fact, Jin Fa Chung isn't planning on starting the morning court any time soon. He was still waiting for someone to arrive.
Usually Jin Fa Chung hates his officials being late for court but there are some exceptions.
Like the situation at the Fan family.
When his son; Jin Meng Yao came back yesterday and relayed to him the news that there was some sort of incident at the Fan Estate that put the entire place into a state of complete lockdown.
Although his son didn't have any information on what exactly happened, that doesn't mean that he; Jin Fa Chung has no way of finding out, after all, he is the emperor.
After sending out a couple of his trusted subordinates to gather some information, the news he got was far from pleasant.
An assassination attempt on the Fan family's old patriarch; Fan Song Xue!
The news filled him with alarm and outrage yet what shocked him even more was how ruthless and decisive the Fan family acted!
He already heard that his old sworn brother; Fan Hui Zhong had returned to the capital and truth be told, he was immensely happy about that.
Jin Fa Chung was well-aware how the other high-ranking families and officials thought that the Fan family has weakened over time and how the Lei Palace's power and prestige has deteriorated in Fan Hui Zhong's absence but the actions they did gave all the hungry wolves that were eyeing them an intense shock that sent fear running down their spines!
They didn't just retaliate against the assassin, instead they used it as an opportunity to weed out any spies and traitorous people they have had on the inside!
They didn't care whether or not the people they captured had malicious intentions or were mere informants. Among all that were captured, none were spared!
To top things off, the heads of all the people were all sent to their employers with no exceptions and considerations whether they were from the military or high-ranking nobility.
All were sent the same message.
If you mess or even try to meddle with the Fan family then you better be prepared to they face the consequences of incurring the wrath of the Lei Palace and especially the infamous Lei Wangye.
Quite frankly, Fan Hui Zhong's actions caused turmoil to a lot of people and it wasn't just restricted to the people involved but it even spread to those who just bore witness to it.
For Jin Fa Chung, he could care less about the power that Fan Hui Zhong displayed. After all, they have crossed through blood and fire together and the trust they had with each other is incomparable.
What Jin Fa Chung cared about is who would actually have the audacity to attempt and assassinate Fan Song Xue and what could they possibly gain from succeeding?
Seeing that the ruler had stayed mute while lost in his own thoughts, his officials had no choice but to endure the stiffling pressure and remain silent.
It was at this time that the closed doors opened once again and upon hearing it, some officials felt sorry for the poor chap who would incur the emperor's wrath on himself due to his tardiness while some felt extremely thankful that someone actually broke the silence.
Looking towards the massive doors, there were a multitude of expressions on the ministers' and military officials's faces when they saw the people who just entered.
With faces that had varying degrees of shock, surprise, fear, happiness, nervousness and even bitterness and resentment; all still had one thing running through their minds.
When exactly did Fan Hui Zhong come back and what under heaven's name is he planning?
As countless different thoughts ran through everyone's head, the moment Jin Fa Chung saw Fan Hui Zhong enter, his eyes brightened and the overcast expression on his face lifted to be replaced by a wide, grinning smile.
To everyone's immense surprise, the emperor stood up from his seat and actually made his way down to personally welcome the Fan brothers!
Giving Fan Hui Liang a satisfied look, Jin Fa Chung clapped him
on the shoulder and said, "Hui Liang, good man! It's good that you dragged your brother here today! This bastard has been back for days now yet still hasn't come in and visited This One!"
Scratching his head, Fan Hui Liang just shook his head and smiled before speaking.
"Please excuse us, Your Majesty. Older Brother has just been a bit busy..."
As if remembering what happened the past couple of days, Jin Fa Chung nodded in agreement before turning to meet Fan Hui Zhong's smiling gaze.
"Ahh, This One almost forgot what's happened this past few days! Come, come... Now that you two are here, we can now start the morning court."
Hearing the emperor's words and seeing his demeanor, understanding dawned on everyone.
To think that the reason that court was delayed was all because the emperor was waiting for this two!
This caused waves of reaction in everyone's hearts. While some merely nodded in acceptance and understanding of the situation, others lamented that it was unfair while some were taking the situation into account and was making adjustments with their way of thinking and planning.
Oblivious to everyone's thoughts, Jin Fa Chung placed his arm around Fan Hui Zhong's shoulders and led him atop the stairs where an elaborate chaise seat was placed one step lower the emperor's imperial throne, giving everyone there another shock to their system!
Purely basing it in just the emperor's action alone, everyone can clearly see his stance on the matter!
Those who originally had plans of voicing their complaints and making moves to make things a bit harder for Fan Hui Liang in court had no choice but to swallow them down, giving them a bellyful of anger.
"Ahh, Brother Zhong, it's been such a long time! How have you been? You know, This One wasn't able to get any news from you other than the what your brother tells This One!" Jin Fa Chung asked the moment they've sat down.
Smiling slightly, Fan Hui Zhong casually replied, "Well, don't blame my brother. It's my fault. I didn't really send much news back so there wasn't really much he can do about it."
"Fine, fine... Now tell This One then, what have you been up to and what are your future plans?" Jin Fa Chung asked curiously.
Upon hearing the question, a lot of ears perked up.
"I'll be staying here at the capital from now on and if you'll have me, I'd like to offer my support in strengthening our kingdom once more."
"That's great! Would you like to have your old post back or do you have something else in mind?"
Fan Hui Zhong chuckled lowly and answered with a smirk.
"My old post is already with my brother so I was thinking of doing something else."
"Hmm? What did you have in mind?"
"Not to hide anything from Your Majesty but I am planning to build my power and influence back up."
Hearing Fan Hui Zhong's words, a contemplative look showed on Jin Fa Chung's face as he spoke in a somewhat leisurely manner.
"Is that so? Care to elaborate?"
Nodding his head, Fan Hui Zhong opened his mouth to speak and said, "I am sure everyone here knows about the small personal army that I built up to act as a deterrent for my Fan family before I left?"
"En. The Lei Sha Di Army. What about it?" Jin Fa Chung nodded in a matter-of-fact manner.
"Well, based from my present observations since I came back, I came to the conclusion that its strength isn't quite upto par... After all, there are still quite a good number of people that think that it's quite easy to get into! So I thought that maybe we've been too lax that's why I had to deal with handing out menial punishments this past few days."
Hearing his words, there were people who practically choked with disbelief and anger!
For crying out loud, what he considered were menial punishments was an actual death sentence to those he caught!
Despite of the sudden tense atmosphere among his officials, Jin Fa Chung laughed in amusement before teasingly asking, "So the matter of you sending severed heads out is lax?"