Chapter 1: First Entry into the Fan Mansion

The Fan Mansion was situated in the east city of Kyoto, some distance away from Tianhe Road, and out of sight of the Imperial Palace. The people who lived here were all dignitaries, and there was no room for commoners, so it seemed relatively quiet. On the cold and clear street, there was a house gate every ten feet or so, and outside each house gate there was a pair of stone lions quietly squatting, dozens of stone lions just staring boredly in front of their own house gates, staring at the carriages that traveled through the street.
The black carriage slowly passed through the street, no curious eyes on either side of the road. When it reached the side of Fan’s house, the carriage turned into a side alley with some difficulty, and stopped at the corner gate under the shade of a tree.
Fan Xian lifted the curtain and helped Fuji Zijing’s hand off the carriage, his face was expressionless as he looked at the surroundings and nodded his head in an unnoticeable manner.
With a creak, the wooden door was pushed open, and the subordinates inside greeted him, glancing curiously at Fan Xian and mumbling as if they didn’t know how to address and salute him.
Fan Xian smiled and said nothing, following Fuji Zijing toward the door. The subordinates breathed a sigh of relief and began to carry the luggage that was stuffed all over the carriage.
There was a boy waiting at the door, half-rotten, guiding the two of them inside. All the way in, only to see the courtyard deeper and deeper, within the wigwam flat grass, flower branches shallow water, the scenery is quite elegant, and along the way encountered some grannies, once someone came, are convergence of voice quietly guarded in the road, a little bit of not see the chaos.
The deeper you go, you haven’t even reached the inner courtyard yet, Fan Xian can’t help but marvel at the grandeur of the old mansion in Kyoto, which is dozens of times bigger than the mansion in Tanya Harbor. To be able to have such a large mansion in Kyoto, it seemed that his father’s power was indeed extraordinary.
If he were a normal person, when he first entered the mansion for the first time, he would always be a bit panicky and cautious, even when Sister Lin first entered the Rongguo Mansion in the Dream of the Red Chamber, she didn’t dare to speak much for fear that she would make a mistake and lose her own face and that of the Mansion.
But Fan Xian is not a normal person, two lives, life and death, so that he has no reason to give birth to some sense of freedom. Furthermore, he has long been accustomed to the identity of the illegitimate son, according to the mentality of the past life, also do not feel that this identity has any shame, but feel that their father should be ashamed of the right, and thus extend to go, is not going to care about the face of the Fan House.
So he walked all the way, all the way to look, with a smile, without a trace of constraint, although there are still a few shyness in the smile, but these shyness are just some cover color. He looked at the scenery in the mansion, tsk tsk tsk, when passing the weeping willows, caressing a stroke, when stepping over the shallow lake arch bridge, looking into the water golden scales, seemingly incomparably casual.
His demeanor along the way, all fell in the eyes of the whole house subordinates, these subordinates can not help but some curiosity, this has been heard for more than ten years of the “young master” turned out to be such a character, can not say that there is a very good, there is a very good, but always feel that the young man has a flavor, just this flavor do not know how to use words to say.
To the front of the inner courtyard, Fuji Zijing whispered to remind: “young master, this inside I can not go in, you enter it ……” thought, still can not help but remind: “young master speak … … … “Along the way, Tou Zi Jing vaguely appreciated Fan Xian’s unperturbed behavior, and thinking of the secret rivalry between the Fan family in the capital, he couldn’t help but want to remind him of something, but as soon as the words came out of his mouth, he realized that he was a bit of a wannabe, and didn’t know how to word it.
Fan Xian knew what was on his mind and was slightly touched, smiling and arching his hand, “Fuji Da is at ease.” Then he urged him to remember to pack up his luggage, which he might want to use at night, and how.
In this kind of moment today, actually can still be good enough to think about how the night, Fuji Zijing knows that the beautiful young man in front of him has a far more mature mind than the average person of the same age, after hearing these words, slightly feel at ease, smiled a smile, and went to rest in the side yard with that boy.
The boy who led the way was replaced by a maid, a little girl who was still quite young and beautiful. Fan Xian followed the little girl and entered the backyard.
A middle-aged woman came over with a brass basin, half-squatted and bowed, and then washed his face, the temperature of the water not too hot, not too cold, just right.
Fan Xian was silent, wiping his hands and handing the towel back before saying thank you.
The middle-aged woman was a bit surprised to hear these two words and retreated in a slight panic.
Fan Xian smiled, then remembered that Kyoto was not Tanyuzhou, and that his politeness to the maids and sisters was somewhat redundant and out of place when put here.
Even after entering the inner courtyard, he was not standing in the center hall, but was led by a maid to stand at the side door. The wall of the side door is painted white, above the doorway, there is a slightly protruding black rain gable.
Standing for a long time, but no one came to pay attention to, do not know whether the old house to give himself this bastard’s horse horse, Fan Xian heart gradually born a trace of restlessness, and then deeply inhaled a breath of air pressure down, raised his eyes to look at that side of the black eaves, look carefully, found that this quite ancient style of building, really elegant.
In fact, Fan Xian wrong blame them, those maids stand aside, not deliberately cold, just know the identity of the teenager, a time do not dare to go forward, one does not know how to address, after all, the other is not the Fan House of the main room; Secondly, the head of the family has not yet arrived, the subordinates do not dare to make a fuss. However, at this time, someone had naturally gone to inform the master of the house.
Fan Xian waited for a while, smiled to himself, and called out to the little girl who led him in.
The little maiden had a clear face, her face was smooth and tender, and she was still extremely young, asking in a thin voice, “What does the young …… master …… want.” She originally wanted to call young master, but thought of the problems involved, so she couldn’t shout out, but swallowed that word master, holding her face red.
Fan Xian looked at this little girl’s appearance, laughed, and said, “Bring me a chair.”
The little girl went as she was told, and moved a wooden chair from the hall, which was a bit heavy, and she was slightly out of breath from moving it.
Fan Xian went forward and placed the chair on the floor, and with a slight smile, he sat on it, looking up at the rainy eaves above his head, not caring about the gazes around him.
The maids saw this young man even so sitting on the chair, surprised – elders have not yet arrived, the younger generation should be tied hands in front of the steps, which has such a big reason?
In the corridor, there was a sound of very small footsteps, and a very faint fragrance came with the wind, invigorating people’s spirits. Fan Xian looked sideways and saw a noblewoman walking over with a smile on her face. The woman had a pretty face and eyes like paint, her skirt was slightly shaking and her gold bells were slightly messed up, but with the noble aura on her body that was contained but not revealed, people didn’t feel how flashy she was, and instead felt that she deserved to be like this.
Fan Xian took a breath and stood up from his chair.
The woman’s eyebrows were like distant daisies, and when she smiled, the court was full of light, and looking at Fan Xian from afar, she said, “Idle son has had a hard journey, so sit down.”
Fan Xian smiled sweetly and said, “Good day, Auntie.”