Chapter 3: Doubts
Fan Xian faithfully stepped out of the study, breathing in the crisp winter air of Cangshan Mountain, stretched his waist very comfortably, and followed the sound of the gusts of mahjong, and easily found where his wife and a few other girls were, and watched as the emerald green and incomparable pair of mahjong subs on the table tumbled under the palms of those white, pretty, soft hands.
When he saw that his sister on the side of the table was holding the book of poetry from the previous dynasty sent by the second prince and watching it carefully by the light of the snow, Fan Xian’s heart was again moved.
Being too famous really isn’t a good thing, pigs are afraid of being fat, people are afraid of this. Fan Xian smiled bitterly, since the night banquet, the crown prince and the second prince although on the surface with their own no interaction at all, but Xin Shaoqing and King Jing son Li Hongcheng this guy can not be less to go to the Fan House, and even after he hid to Cangshan Mountain, but still did not stop the other side to send the New Year’s gift.
On the thirtieth day of the year, this set of people on the Cangshan Mountain had returned to Kyoto, just a few days, Li Hongcheng was chasing after the flavor ran over, grinding and pestering to be on the Cangshan Mountain together. Fan Xian which dared to promise, and finally had no choice but to bring Zojia little girl into the mountain.
Seeing that he was staring blankly after entering the house, the first person to notice was County Head of Roujia, and the little girl said crisply, “Brother Idle, do you want to play cards?”
Fan Xian thought of Brother Bao when he heard the three words Brother Idle, and hurriedly waved his hand, smiling, “County Lord play, my humble servant will walk around casually.”
Hearing him deliberately speak in a rusty manner, County Lord Roujia pouted, but held back from showing her displeasure, looking pitifully cute. Lin Wan’er on the side couldn’t help but say, “My husband, otherwise you can play a few games.”
“No.” Fan Xian waved his hand even more sharply and left the edge of the card table. Unexpectedly, his feet touched something soft and fuzzy, and he was slightly stunned, looking down, only to realize that under his feet was a box. The box was piled with hay rags, on top of which three fleshy kittens were sleeping, the kittens squinting their eyes and wrinkling the tips of their black noses in a very cute manner.
Fan Xian was shocked, “What’s going on here?”
Only then did Lin Wan’er realize that the cat was sitting at his feet, and fearing to scare the kittens, she hurriedly stepped away from the table to pick up the box. This card naturally couldn’t be played. She smiled and responded, “Big Daughter-in-Law Fuji was afraid that we would be bored out of our minds on the mountain, so she sent three cats over today.”
Fan Xian came close and realized that the three kittens were yellow, black, and white, extremely similar in appearance, but with vastly different fur colors, so he couldn’t help but laugh, “You girls, you can’t even fill your stomachs for yourselves, let alone raise cats.” He reached out and carried the black one from the box into his arms and hugged it. Feeling like a little meatball of fun on his chest, he gently scratched the back of the kitten’s head. The kitten opened its eyes, glanced at him, and resumed its deep sleep, not seeming to resist his body odor.
“Got a name yet?”
“No. First small yellow small black small white called it.”
“Well, Little White sounds good.”
After dinner, Fan Xian sat on the main seat, Fan Si Zhe sat next to him, and the two brothers listened to the report from the person who came from the Fan Mansion in the capital. At the end of the year, the Fan Clan’s fields in the outskirts of the capital, as well as the fiefdom in Tanyuzhou, and some fragmented properties, all had to report to the capital government. Fan House in the capital has always been Liu’s main, now she has been corrected, that is naturally even more to do up the name, but do not know why, this year, after she dealt with these things, shouted to Mr. Cui wrote a letter, picking the important items of income and expenditure written, and let a person into the Cangshan Estate, to report to the young master of the word.
Fan Xian could understand Aunt Liu’s meaning, so he didn’t do anything on purpose, but instead listened attentively to the third steward’s report, occasionally interjecting a few words and asking a question.
The third steward finished honestly. Fan Xian closed his eyes and thought for a while, then opened his eyes and asked Fan Si Zhe next to him, “Do you see any problems.”
Fan Si Zhe touched the three pockmarks on his left cheek with his fingertips and shook his head, “There’s nothing wrong, big brother, but this account has always been mother’s, so how come the two of us have to go through a hand this year?”
Fan Xian smiled slightly, knowing that this guy who was originally a little bully was talented in some ways, but appeared to be as white as a sheet of paper in others.
The third butler said respectfully again, “The New Year’s goods from various places should have entered the capital a year ago, it’s just that this year there was a lot of snow in the east and north, so there was a delay of some days. In addition to those southern rice fruits and gourds that were sent up the mountain last time, the various dried meats and wild foods from the north side of the manor house a few days ago, as well as the flower teas that were given over by the old ancestor of Tanyu State, the number of letters are all written in the letter. Thinking that the eldest young master, young grandmothers, young miss, young master, and the county princess are all staying in the other properties, so madam has prepared some more of each kind, and is going to send them to the mountains in three groups, which should be enough to last until the middle of spring.”
“We don’t need that much, just send some fresh stuff. Three is too much, but one more will suffice.” Fan Xian casually responded, “Just remember to get more of the flower tea that Grandma sent from Tanyuzhou.” From time to time, he had told Wan’er Ruo Ruo about life in Tanyuzhou, and among them, the tea with a faint floral scent had been spoken of I don’t know how many times.
The third steward smiled and responded, “The tea has arrived today. The last two sets are mainly food and small items, mainly to prepare for the two young masters who plan to stay until the start of the spring exams.”
Fan Xian heard clearly, secretly praised Liu’s decency, housekeeper, and did not say much, let him go down to receive the reward rest.
The spring exams will come, Fan Xian as the Imperial College fifth grade Fengzheng, always have to go back to the capital inauguration, it is impossible to stay in the Cangshan Mountain. And after the end of the April exams, immediately the agreement between the two countries need to go back to the ambassador, that private prisoner exchange agreement also need to start immediately, all the things seem to be piled up.
In fact, from Fan Xian’s heart, the exchange of prisoners should be last year should start, not to mention those captured Qing soldiers in a foreign country will suffer what kind of crime, single mention that never met but make him secretly admire the speech Bingyun speech Prince, as a Qing in the North Qi secret spies leader, in the enemy’s country in captivity for half a year, I do not know how much to suffer from the crime.
Just between the two countries, always cumbersome, and after winter, the northern border of the cold and difficult to travel, so will return to the matter to be delayed until the end of spring. But every time he thought of that Yan Bingyun might stay in a bitterly cold house and suffer, Fan Xian was enjoying the winter in Cangshan Mountain, and he could not help but reduce a few flavors.
He had known for a long time that he was the right person for this mission to Northern Qi, but he did not resist this post; after all, if he could establish his own power in the Supervisory Court, it would always be good for the future. Moreover, whether it was in Tanyu or Kyoto, his seventeen years of career had already made him realize from the depths of his heart that he was indeed a part of the Kingdom of Qing.
Fan Xian was willing to do something for this kingdom, not this court.
At night, Fan Xian completed his routine training and returned to the mountain villa somewhat exhausted. Stuffing his nightshirt, which was full of snow sludge and sewage, into a prepared bag, he tossed it aside.
During the training, he felt very tired as he lay alone in the snow, chasing after those targets in the pale moonlight, his gaze frozen in a straight line as he stared at those black rocks that had burrowed out of the snow surface and remained motionless for a thousand years, or the snow rabbits that were in the midst of running in a sharp change of line. And these days, Gojutsu had disappeared again after giving him that what’s-his-name, Mom and Dad’s. So in the middle of the training, with no one to talk to, no one to look at you, the feeling of loneliness and despondency was as if you were back in a previous life.
It was quiet in the mountain villa, only a light was still lit in the master bedroom. That was Wan Er waiting for him to return. Fan Xian smiled faintly and raised his steps to walk that way. During the day there had been a burst of sun, so there was a puddle of water accumulated on the green stone, reflecting brightly in the moonlight, and he circled around and leapt over the corridor railing, but at this moment, his heart stirred, and he fixed his footsteps.
He is now standing at the other end of the corridor, sister’s room door, suddenly, his ear tips, frowned, eyes in the stern color gradually, turn around a palm pressed on the door, slightly spit force, overbearing true qi immediately will be the wooden door latch shocked into two cuts, and his people are also along with the night wind in general, drifting to the side of the bed.
The bed was messy, but it was empty, and Ruo Ruo had indeed disappeared.
Fan Xian calmly put his hand into the bedding, and found that except for the foot warmer, all the other places were cold, so it seemed that Ruo Ruo had been gone for a long time. His heart trembled slightly, could it be the work of an enemy he didn’t know about? But still forcefully calmly turned around, shined, left hand backdrew the slender black dagger, then prepared to go into the night to find someone.
“Brother!”
Outside the door, Fan Ruo Ruo held up a lamp, looking with astonishment at her elder brother who was standing on his bed with a dagger. Fan Xian was stunned, and seeing that she was unharmed, he couldn’t help but relax his body’s spirit, and couldn’t help but close his eyes and intensify his breathing a few times, and only after a few moments did he ask with concern: “Where have you been? Is it alright?”
Ruo Ruo was clad in a silver woolen jacket, and inside was a single garment, looking pitiful. She looked at Fan Xian as if she hadn’t expected it, and was a bit stunned, and only after a long time did she smile reluctantly and say, “Brother, you’re asking me with a knife, it’s so scary.”
Fan Xian bitterly laughed and shook his head, taking the slender dagger back into his boot, walking forward and holding her slightly thin shoulders, “You’re the one who’s scary, walking outside and hearing that it’s abnormally quiet inside, not even the sound of your breathing, scared me to death.”
Fan Ruo Ruo laughed, “Brother is really, running outside in the middle of the night, but said I scared you.”
“What exactly did you do?” Fan Xian still curiously pursued the question.
Fan Ruo Ruo’s face reddened and she lowered her head in shame, “There are some things that brother shouldn’t ask so clearly.”
Fan Xian was stunned and then realized, and smiled bitterly, “It’s not like there’s no toilet in the room, and the night winds are cold in this mountain, so don’t freeze.”
“I know.” Fan Ruo Ruo smiled shyly and pushed him out the door, “Sister-in-law is still waiting for you.”
Outside the door of the room, Fan Xian gently fisted his cold fingers, the temperature of his sister’s bedding indicated that she had been out for some time, definitely not up all night, it should be that she got up and went somewhere after he left the mountain village.
Thinking of this, his heart can not help but give birth to great doubts, but just but forcibly suppressed, no longer pursuing prying. In this world, who all have their own little secrets, we need to respect – at first in the Kyoto Tanyu communication, Fan Xian is so educated sister, his own as a brother, but also need to do an example.