***

[lentereli]

"Радость жизни"
Haitang smiled slightly and nodded. "There is nothing from with using the people's silver on the people. Only, if Northern Qi has natural disasters in the future, I hope that Sir Fan will not be miserly with his support."

Fan Xian didn't even think about it before smiling and saying, "Naturally."

Haitang did not seem to expect him to answer so quickly. She couldn't help pausing for a moment. She didn't know if the other party really thought this way or if he was just saying it without much thought. After all, those people who truly had no sense of nation…was too rare.

Haitang shook her head and said, "Let's not talk about the matter of silver for now, but what you did today truly surprised me. I have seen too many corrupt and powerful officials, but I never thought you would use the money you took from corruption and use it on this matter."

Fan Xian slowly raised his head and gave a sly smile. "Is it difficult to understand? It's actually very easy to understand…it is just like what I said to Wanli earlier. Money is just a tool. It is only a method to obtain happiness in life and in your heart. Earning money is difficult, and spending money is even more difficult. How do you spend it comfortably? Some people like to buy horses. Some people like to buy beautiful woman. Some buy manors and become landlords. Some like to buy official positions."

"And all these, for me, are all too simple matters," Fan Xian continued. "Since I am going to spend money to buy happiness, then I will spend the largest amount of silver to buy the world's biggest happiness."

"Your own happiness…everyone's happiness…enjoy happiness?" Fan Xian began to use Mencius' teachings to educate Haitang.

Haitang smiled slightly and said, "In the end, you still just want your life to be better. Just like what you wrote in your letter before. You wish that this world could be a little more perfect, so your life in it would be a little more comfortable."

"Correct," Fan Xian smiled and said. "Even if I have a life of luxury, with wealth and power, if one day the country collapses and the people die, how will I enjoy life? Even if I raise my voice to sing, with beauties to accompany me as I travel the world without carrying a shred of a cloud, but my body is hungry and rotting with black crows pecking at food, how could I be happy? To raise a dog to bite people and to laugh, this is a hedonistic lifestyle with no character. I cannot find joy in that."

He finally came to a conclusion. "If one person is happy and tens of thousands are not, that is not good…if everyone is happy, then that is truly good."

Haitang stared at his eyes and suddenly couldn't resist shaking her head. "I really can't tell which words are true and which are false. Just what kind of person are you exactly?"

Fan Xian thought about it and then said with great sincerity, "Why does no one believe, I am…actually a good person."

Haitang lowered her head, hiding her eyes that were as clear as lake water. In a quiet voice she said, "A good person…tomorrow the bidding opens of the palace treasury. Do you plan to keep being a good person?"

Fan Xian's expression calmed. "Sometimes, not only am I not a good person, I am even a bad person. A murderous dictator. However, these two sides are not conflicting."
Какой сияющий мудак

Фань Сянь и Бинъюнь
Yan Bingyun approached to stand by Fan Xian’s side and spoke, "you are a very manipulative person."

Fan Xian, curiosity piqued, asked, "Why would you say that?"

"You use everyone around you, and have them believe you have their best interests at heart…" Yan Bingyun’s lips raised slightly.

Fan Xian calmly replied, "You don’t have a brother. You would never understand such a relationship. I really am looking out for him, in the hopes that he will one day become a better person. Perhaps my methodology is a little too harsh, and there is every chance it will all be in vain, but what else can I do? This is as far as I can go with my level of power. At the very least, I can tell myself I played a significant in the role of Fan Sizhe’s ascension to adulthood."

"This is what I wished to point out." Yan Bingyun followed his line with a nod. "You are still a cruel person."

Fan Xian went silent, knowing that Yan Bingyun was sure to continue his dialogue.

"The second master is still young, and the state of affairs between our kingdoms is complex… and yet fully aware of this, you happily exile him. It’s as if you’re sweeping him under a rug so that you can halt the possibility of others blackmailing you. Your course of action is so radical, I would be surprised if the second prince could think this far ahead." Yan Bingyun relayed his dialogue with cold earnestness.

Fan Xian faintly smiled and responded with a question, "How do you think a person should live their life?"

Previously, Fan Xian had posed this question to Ruoruo, Sizhe and Wan’er. In this world, Yan Bingyun was now the fourth recipient of Nikolai Ostrovsky’s ultimate question.

Yan Bingyun heard the question clearly and shook his head before replying, "Mine is rather simple: As an officer of the Overwatch Council, and one who is loyal to the emperor and kingdom, I strive to elevate the position of our land so it may one day dominate the whole world."

"To dominate the whole world?" Fan Xian mocked his response and further added, "What is the purpose in doing that?"

Yan Bingyun was shocked. As a young person of the Qing Kingdom, born at a time when their homeland were rapidly expanding, people tended to harbor this desire naturally. It was a passive thought, accepted by all. It was strange to hear someone question the desire for why they sought to extend the reach and further the prosperity of their kingdom. And after having asked, Yan Bingyun had no idea how to explain this concept to Fan Xian at first.

"When the land is divided, many countries sprout up, and the concept of war is a difficult circumstance to avoid. Civilians lose their homes… if this is an unavoidable conclusion to the creation of a multitude of different countries, then why not have one sole, dominant one? There would be no need for more war."

After much deliberation, Yan Bingyun eased his mind.

Fan Xian shook his head and said, "I never believed in the idea of dominating the world. When the land is split up for too long, it tends to come together. But when the lands are together for too long, the desire for segregation and independence tends to disrupt the peace you speak of. So, the lands separate once more. This unification and division tends to come and go every few hundred years. If the lands that split up have no desire for war, where then does it come from? Unification… it is not an effective method to avoid war and foster everlasting peace. It is a seed that’s future harvest is war. If everyone did not think of it that way, then perhaps the world would indeed be peaceful."

Yan Bingyun looked at him with a mocking face, and spitefully said, "That is a childish thought!"

"I understand." Fan Xian sighed and continued, "but for the duration of my existence, war is the last thing I desire to be involved in. In the last year, the number of people who were killed at the hands of our council tallied up to around four hundred. In August, when the river burst its banks, over ten thousand people were estimated to have died. If a war was to begin, I am only afraid another one hundred thousand people would be a victim of it."

"Even though our qualms with the other kingdoms have been suppressed for now, it is not something that will last forever. It is only a matter of time before more war visits our lands." Yan Bingyun scoffed and finished by saying, "Even if you were to collect the four Great Grandmasters as your personal fighters and used force to quash the ambitions of vying royal families, what would occur following your death?"

Fan Xian laughed and said, "After I die? After me, the flood."

The most barefaced sentence spoken by Louis the Fifteenth finally made Yan Bingyun’s face change. He shook his head and sighed, before saying, "I thought you were the benevolent sort, merely shrouded in darkness. Hearing what you have just said, I knew I was being too polite to you… you are not just cruel, you are an extremely selfish man."

"I think you have misunderstood. I told you before that I wasn’t a saint." Fan Xian frowned and continued by saying, "although it would not hurt for me to try and become one."

"A saint who is in charge of the Overwatch Council?" Yan Bingyun looked towards Fan Xian as if he had just seen a ghost.