Chapter 14 Inside and Outside the Ombudsman’s Office

Pulling a clerk who passed by and looking at the other’s dead face, Fan Xian somehow felt a little nervous, but also a little affectionate, seeming to have found that peculiar flavor of Fei Jie’s old comrades, and smiled sweetly as he greeted, “Hello.”

The owner of that deadpan face, like the rest of the people in the Supervisory Academy building, looked at Fan Xian with a very marvelous gaze, and only after a long time, said, “Hello.”

These two words were said a bit stiffly.

Fan Xian swallowed a mouthful of saliva and asked with a smile, “It’s really presumptuous, just …… why is everyone staring at me.”

The man laughed, revealing miserable white teeth, and he found this young man with a slightly shy smile very interesting, asking rhetorically, “If in a place where no strangers had ever come in, and everyone suddenly found a stranger, do you think that everyone wouldn’t stare at him?”

Fan Xian came to a realization, then was filled with confusion as he asked, “Isn’t this the Office of the Procuratorate? An imperial institution, don’t strangers ever come to conduct official business?”

The man pointed to the door and kindly explained, “Look over there.”

Fan Xian took a look and realized that there weren’t many people in front of the Supervisory Court, and the pedestrians were also walking around to the other side of the street from a long distance away.

The man laughed, and his smile was a bit terrifying, the old skin on both cheeks wrinkled to a point: “The people of Kyoto have always avoided our offices, and as for official business, our Supervisory Yuan never conducts official business, only court affairs, and His Majesty’s express order is that court affairs do not allow the other six ministries to be involved in them, so we have never had much dealings with the other offices. ”

Fan Xian laughed bitterly, “So that’s how it is, it seems I’m really a reckless trespasser.”

The man asked curiously, “You don’t know what our Supervisory Court does?”

Fan Xian responded, “I probably know a little.” He was, after all, a disciple of Lord Fei Jie’s disciple from the third division of the Supervisory Academy, so he still knew a bit about the duties of the Supervisory Academy.

“Then you still dared to just barge in.” The man shrugged, “The average person would treat this place as if it were Hades on earth.”

Fan Xian laughed helplessly, “Maybe it’s because I’ve seen Yama when I was very young?”

The man laughed and patted his shoulder, “Very good, very good.”

The skin on Fan Xian’s right shoulder under his clothes gave birth to some small goosebumps, thinking that the tone of this man’s speech, how was it like Sun Erniang patting those guys on the case?

“Is there something I can help you with?” The man smiled.

Fan Xian immediately felt that the other person had turned into the front desk of a restaurant speaking foreign language in his previous life, and he shook his head to get rid of this inopportune distraction, pinched a piece of broken silver in his sleeve and shoved it over, and politely asked, “May I ask if Fei Jie is here?”

The man froze and opened his mouth, but no words came out for half a day, and immediately afterward, Fan Xian realized that the other man’s expression was no longer the carelessness he had previously shown, but had changed to one of deference with a bit of fear: “You’re looking for Lord Fei?”

As he said this, he flicked his finger beautifully, popping the crushed silver that Fan Xian had stuffed into his sleeve back into Fan Xian’s sleeve. Fan Xian raised an eyebrow, knowing that the other party’s hand looked simple, but was actually beautiful, and had been steeped in handwork for at least a decade before he could be so accurate, which made him realize that this seemingly unusual official of the Supervisory Yuan was actually a deeply hidden expert as well.

Fan Xian nodded, acknowledging that he was here to find Fei Jie, and then noticed that the man vigorously wiped the right hand that had tapped his shoulder.

“Lord Fei is not here.” The man politely replied back, stealthily taking a few steps backward to distance himself from Fan Xian, “Lord Fei has gone to the Border County Inspector.”

Fan Xian slapped his head, then remembered that he had heard from Fuji Zijing that the head of the Inspectorate would need at least three months to return home to save his family this time, and according to Teacher Fei Jie’s lazy man’s temperament, the only superior who could control him was absent, so he naturally had to sneak away as well.

After bidding the man farewell, he prepared to leave. Before leaving, Fan Xian suddenly smiled and asked, “What is Your Excellency’s name?”

“Your honor, Wang Qinian.” Seeing that this young man with a slightly shy smile had dared to come to the Supervisory Court by himself and call Lord Fei Jie by his first name, this Supervisory Court official called Wang Qinian thought that the other party must not be a simple person, and so he called himself a subordinate official.

Fan Xian knew that when the other party heard that he was looking for Fei Jie, he subconsciously associated himself with poison and other dangerous existences, which is why he wiped his hands and backed away again. He looked at Wang Qinian with a smile, “If Lord Fei is back, please notify him and say …… that his student has come to the capital.”

Fei Jie’s student? Wang Qinian already had the urge to chop off his right hand at this time, cursing himself for his own personality that likes to touch the east and the west, he coughed twice and answered.

Walking out of the gate of the Supervisory Academy, the sunlight in the sky spilled down across the tall trees on both sides of the road, and the shadows of countless leaves wrapped around Fan Xian’s entire body. He walked west for a while and sat on the railing next to the flowing water, his hands propped up on the side of his body as he looked at the group of people coming and going on the street, not knowing where to go for a while.

He didn’t want to go back to the Fan Mansion, even though there was a gentle and sweet sister there, but when he thought of Liu, his father, and that little fat boy who should have been happily studying every day, but was now forced to compete with himself, his heart felt a little uncomfortable.

What belonged to him, he was brave enough to fight for and would not give up.

But Fan Xian actually wasn’t really quite sure what was truly his own in this world. After all, he had once had the experience of another life, and there was always some sense of distance from this world.

He hid the fact that he was looking for Fei Jie from his father, and although his father certainly knew that Fei Jie was his teacher, he always felt that Fei Jie seemed to be a bit more trustworthy, probably due to the sense of closeness that he had brought about by the fact that he had followed old man Fei around to enjoy the corpses so soon after arriving in this world.

The fact that Mr. Fei Jie was actually not in Kyoto caused a slight problem with the arrangements Fan Xian had made before entering the capital. So he was thinking about what he should do first next.

While thinking about these things, he had already jumped down from the railing and began to subconsciously walk back. When he passed by the entrance of the Supervisory Academy again, he paid attention for a moment and noticed that the pedestrians on the road were indeed walking on the right side of the street, avoiding the main gate of the Supervisory Academy, as if they were afraid of the foul aura seeping outwards from that building.

He squinted his eyes toward the building’s entrance, the sky’s thin clouds suddenly dispersed, the light of the sky sprinkled down, but his eyes were shaken by a piece of golden light.

Rubbing his eyes, he looked towards the golden light, only to realize that there was a wide monument at the entrance of the Supervisory Academy, perched on the ground like a crouching tiger, the monument material was made of stone, and some words were written on it.

Fan Xian frowned, thinking that these words looked somewhat familiar, as if he had seen them somewhere, but after racking his brain, he was unable to find out where they came from. His eyes moved downward, and then he saw the inscription.

That somewhat unfamiliar, yet incomparably dear name.