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When Lu Songli arrived at the main hall, he shared his speculations with his father.
“Fan Quan?” Lu Desheng slapped his thigh, afraid that it was indeed him!
“The Emperor knows about this Fan Quan.” At that time, he hadn’t paid much attention to this matter, but now it seemed that he had been careless.
Lu Songli raised an eyebrow. Fan Quan, this person, had already caught the Emperor’s attention so quickly?
Madam Jiang listened for a while, seeing that the father and daughter were going to discuss official business in the main hall instead of moving to the study, she sat outside the door with a basket of sewing tools, keeping watch and preventing eavesdropping.
It was already winter, and Chang’an City was quite cold in winter. The corridors of the Lu family’s residences were hung with straw curtains to block the wind. There was also a brazier at her feet, so she didn’t feel too cold sitting at the door.
At that moment, Chen Rong brought in the collected information.
Money can make the devil push the millstone, and the tasks assigned by Lu Songli were not difficult. Moreover, this debate platform was held in public, and as the undefeated champion of four debates, Fan Quan’s every word and action attracted the most attention. His eloquence was brilliant, his perspectives were novel, so naturally, someone would record his words and actions. Although it would take some time to compile them into a book, Lu Songli and her father didn’t mind looking at the original manuscripts.
The more Lu Desheng looked, the more furrowed his brows became.
Lu Songli read faster than her father. After quickly reading it once, then a second time, by the time she finished, she could basically see the issues within.
“Dad, look, doesn’t Fan Quan’s arguments resemble your early style?”
Her father belonged to the school of sophistry. When accusing others, regardless of the angle and direction, it was very cunning and unexpected, with a surprising angle leading to victory. Fan Quan seemed like a junior version of Lu Desheng.
“Yes, that’s it. He said, why does this argument not feel quite right?” When he first looked at it, he also felt something was off. It was only after his daughter’s reminder that he realized the overwhelming sense of familiarity.
Family knows family matters. If it weren’t for the fact that he had never taken on disciples himself, Fan Quan’s confrontational style, which was so similar to his own, would have made him think that this was his disciple. Over the years, there were people who came to seek apprenticeship, but for some reason, Lu Desheng subconsciously didn’t want to accept them. He had initially thought he was afraid of letting his disciples starve their master. Later, after his daughter analyzed the simplest and most effective way to defeat him, he understood why he had been so resistant to taking on disciples. If he took on disciples and trained them, it would be a dead end for him.
“Dad, this Fan Quan is indeed very suspicious. Our speculation should be correct.”
Lu Desheng also felt the same way.
For Fan Quan to have such a performance at the debate platform in Hongsheng Restaurant, whether it was imitation or learning from someone, at least it indicated that Fan Quan had a deep understanding of his father. And to learn from his father, there must be a template. After all, Lu Desheng’s information was not easy to collect, spanning a long period of time. Fan Quan’s ancestral home was in Longquan, a small town outside Chang’an City. He wasn’t even a local of Chang’an, and the Fan family was just an ordinary gentry family. He shouldn’t have this ability.
This information further confirmed her speculation. Fan Quan’s debate style was clearly aimed at her father.
Lu Desheng and Lu Songli were about to continue their discussion when Lu Mingzhi entered.
“Mom, Dad, Second Sister, I’m back.”
Lu Songli greeted him to sit down, then asked him, “Mingzhi, do you know your senior brother named Fan Quan?”
Lu Mingzhi blurted out, “He is intelligent, knowledgeable, has strong reasoning abilities, good eloquence, and a profound knowledge.”
“Anything else?”
“He is from Longquan Town, and his family has some reputation there.”
“By the way, Father, Second Sister, Senior Brother Fan said he wanted to visit you.” When Lu Mingzhi saw that his father and Second Sister looked at him upon hearing this, he was startled and quickly added, “But I refused.”
You’re really out of breath!
The father and daughter exchanged glances, and indeed, this brought them one step closer to their suspicion.
“Mingzhi, don’t you admire Senior Brother Fan? Why did you refuse his visit?”
Lu Songli could clearly feel that Mingzhi had admired Fan Quan quite a bit before agreeing to the visit. Logically, such a request wouldn’t be excessive, and her brother should have agreed. But he didn’t, which made her curious.
He wasn’t sure how to answer his sister’s question. In reality, visiting each other’s homes is quite common among peers, but Lu Mingzhi couldn’t quite explain why he felt such resistance. The more Fan Quan persisted, the more he felt pressured, and after being repeatedly asked and goaded by others, he ended up snapping, asking “Why should I?” and the conversation ended unhappily. The rest of the story, he felt, was too embarrassing to share.
Lu Mingzhi’s nature wasn’t the best; he was quite particular about certain issues. He restrained himself around family but rarely compromised outside.
After hearing her brother’s thoughts, Lu Songli sighed. Her brother inherited their father’s beastly intuition. She, on the other hand, used a calm, analytical approach to understand the issues with Fan Quan and the Hongsheng Restaurant. Her brother relied on intuition to avoid danger—an impressive inheritance.
What Lu Songli didn’t know was that in the later parts of the original story, after the original protagonist’s death, Lu Desheng discovered something amiss and was gathering information for revenge when Fan Quan appeared. Her brother, Lu Mingzhi, admired Fan Quan greatly, and Fan Quan also expressed admiration for Censor Lu and wanted to visit. Her brother then introduced him to their father.
In the original story, Lu Mingzhi wasn’t as perceptive. This can only be attributed to the butterfly effect.
The father and daughter continued their discussion. Lu Mingzhi stayed and listened, and though they didn’t directly involve him, listening in was fine.
They discussed the possible actions of the Xie and Zhao families based on the method she had previously simulated for removing her father from power.
With both families stoking the flames, Lu Songli estimated that the preparations were nearly complete, and a move from them was imminent.
According to her earlier reminders, her father had privately reached a preliminary consensus with Emperor Kang Cheng that his position would remain as a fifth-rank inspector and not be elevated.
In reality, if Emperor Kang Cheng genuinely wanted to promote her father, it wouldn’t be impossible. The position of Inspector General/Imperial Censor was quite good, still an inspector but of a higher rank.
If Zhou Chengzhong knew, he would probably exclaim, “Who did I offend?” The position under him would be unstable.
While Lu Songli thought this, she believed Emperor Kang Cheng wouldn’t take such an action. The Inspector General was the head of the Inspectorate, and the emperor knew her father’s character. Having one such inspector in the court was sufficient; more might cause the emperor a headache.
Thus, moving her father from his position as an Censor wasn’t a viable option. Now, they needed to deal with the “sword” prepared by the Xie and Zhao families—Fan Quan. Once they passed this hurdle, they would be closer to their goal.