Joy of Life Season 2 Episode 9 Recap, Plot

> Joy of Life Season 2
> Joy of Life Season 2 Recap

Li Chengze left the Vegetable Collection Bureau with Xie Bian. They walked back to the palace. To ensure Li Chengze's safety, the streets were cleared wherever they passed. In an instant, the streets were deserted. The commoners and street vendors left in a hurry, causing fruits and vegetables to scatter everywhere. Li Chengze casually picked up a string of trinkets from a roadside stall that he liked. Before leaving, he thoughtfully left some silver coins. Li Chengze was utterly baffled.

He couldn’t understand why Fan Xian had summoned him to the Vegetable Collection Bureau and openly accepted a bribe from Eunuch Dai right in front of him. Xie Bian also couldn’t guess Fan Xian’s intention. Li Chengze couldn't openly impeach Fan Xian but was unwilling to miss such a good opportunity to suppress him. Their conversation was overheard clearly by Deng Ziyue, who was hiding nearby.

The next morning, Qing Di received a joint memorial from the Censorate censors, accusing Fan Xian of corruption and accepting bribes. Qing Di asked Eunuch Hou to hand the memorial directly to Fan Xian. Eunuch Hou reminded Fan Xian to submit a petition to explain himself, but Fan Xian was indifferent and slow to respond, which sparked much discussion among the censors. Fan Xian had no choice but to send Wang Qinian to deliver a calligraphy scroll to the censors.

On it were four bold characters: “Yin Yin Kuang Fei” (“Mad barking dogs”), insulting the censors as wild barking dogs. They were furious and collectively impeached Fan Xian and Eunuch Dai. There were even ridiculous rumors among the public that Fan Xian was Eunuch Dai’s godfather. When Eunuch Dai heard this, he nearly fainted from anger.

He cursed Fan Xian for pushing him into a hopeless situation and couldn’t help but pour out his grievances to Hong Zhu, who tried to comfort him with kind words. Fan Xian had deliberately stirred up the situation, aiming to shake the political scene in the capital to its core. He asked Yan Bingyun to use the influence of the Imperial Inspectorate Fourth Division to investigate officials outside the capital.

Although Yan Bingyun didn’t want to get involved, he couldn’t resist the persistent persuasion of Wang Qinian and Gao Da. Liu Ruyu, upon hearing that Fan Xian had been impeached, was deeply worried and wanted to enter the palace to speak with her sister, Noble Consort Yi, to find out more. Fan Xian had already made thorough arrangements and advised Liu Ruyu not to get involved in this mess.

Fan Sizhe was heading north to Northern Qi, while Li Chengze’s men closely tailed him, looking for a chance to capture him alive. During an inspection, Fan Xian saw his colleagues eating meat, while Deng Ziyue was eating dry rations alone in a storeroom. Fan Xian learned that the money to buy meat came from the fifty taels of hush money Wang Qinian gave to Deng Ziyue.

Deng Ziyue had accidentally witnessed Eunuch Dai bribing Wang Qinian, and Wang Qinian had shared fifty taels with him to keep quiet. Fan Xian also discovered that Deng Ziyue was diligent in his duties, did not embezzle, did not accept bribes, did not falsify accounts, and was humble towards his colleagues, earning a good reputation. In fact, Deng Ziyue had once been an upright and unbending man.

It was unexpected that after years as an official, he had become so submissive. Deng Ziyue came from a humble background in Dingzhou. As a young man, he had great ambitions. Years ago, a commander in the border army forged accounts and used the excuse of buying horse feed to swindle government silver. Deng Ziyue broke through heavy defenses to deliver evidence to the Imperial Inspectorate.

Chen Pingping, recognizing his bravery and integrity, specially approved his admission into the Imperial Inspectorate. Over the years, Deng Ziyue had seen through the darkness and injustice of officialdom. As a minor official with little influence, he had no choice but to restrain himself and become a yes-man. Fan Xian offered to be Deng Ziyue’s backing and encouraged him to stand tall and return to his former self.

But Deng Ziyue had already lost all fighting spirit and only wanted to protect himself. Fan Xian harshly scolded him to provoke his pride and rebuild his confidence. Deng Ziyue then vowed to help Fan Xian reform the corrupt bureaucracy. Fan Xian asked him to ghostwrite a self-defense letter, which only contained eight characters: “Jian Chen Dang Dao, He Zui Zhi You” (“With treacherous ministers in power, what crime is there? ”). The number of impeachment memorials against Fan Xian grew.

Qing Di was overwhelmed and decided to let Fan Xian and the censors confront each other in court. Yan Bingyun received evidence collected by the Fourth Division on corrupt officials outside the capital and immediately handed it to Chen Pingping. Chen Pingping dispatched his personal guard, Shadow, overnight to deliver the message to Fan Xian, telling him to calmly defend himself at court the next day.

Li Chengqian, worried that Fan Xian couldn’t out-argue the eloquent censors, waited for him early outside the palace hall and gave him repeated reminders. Fan Xian was already confident, which slightly reassured Li Chengqian. When Fan Xian noticed that Xin Qiwu was deliberately avoiding him, he loudly called out to him, forcing Xin Qiwu to greet him with a forced smile. All the censors arrived to confront Fan Xian at the court. Unexpectedly, Qin Ye, the Chief Minister of the Privy Council, had arrived early.

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