chapter 25 the old man with the woolen blanket

Three minutes later, Fan Xian took out the piping hot fish dish by hand and drizzled it with some of the famous soy sauce sent from the south, the juice amber and very beautiful. Once the steamed fish mixed with the sauce, the aroma filled the kitchen. He found the leftovers from the evening and ate them beautifully with the steamed fish and ginger vinegar.

Early the next morning, he went to greet his grandmother, and while he was doing so, an underling came to report that the kitchen had been patronized by thieves last night. Fan Xian immediately understood what was going on and couldn’t help but laugh, rubbing the old lady’s shoulders while saying to the housekeeper, “I went to heat up some rice for dinner last night, so don’t be nervous.”

The man was dumbfounded, thinking to himself that at his age, the young master didn’t call out to his subordinates to do something, but wanted to play with these things on his own, and it wouldn’t be fun if he set someone on fire.

Fan Xian knew what the other person was thinking, and said to the old madam nicely, “Sun’er recently found a way to steam fish from a book, so I wanted to try it myself first, and if it tastes okay, I’ll be ready to honor grandma, and because I wanted to surprise grandma, I didn’t dare to let my subordinates know about it, and I didn’t think it would alarm so many people, so Sun’er knows it’s wrong.”

These words were reasonable and sensible, and the general public could not pick out any faults.

The old madam didn’t have any expression when she heard this, and said gently, “Whatever is good, just whatever you do, remember to clean up after yourself.”

The old madam of the Earl’s Mansion had always been strict with Fan Xian, and rarely had such a gentle tone, so Fan Xian felt slightly uneasy in his heart, and felt that his grandmother’s tone seemed to reveal a hint of pity for himself, why was that?

The old madam said softly again: ”I know about yesterday’s incident, butler Zhou is not very good, such a dangerous thing as you going to the kitchen at night, no one noticed, it’s really very uncharacteristic. I’ve already sent him back to Kyoto, leaving that family of broken goods to straighten out.”

Fan Xian’s heart was slightly shocked, then he remembered that after he came back from killing people, he had forgotten to deal with Butler Zhou’s matter, it was obvious that this time the assassin was able to blend into the mansion and poison it, and this butler couldn’t get out of it, and he had actually been so careless, he was really very bad at it.

After reading the books sent from Kyoto in the study for a while without any mood, Fan Xian left the residence again, and only when he passed by the vegetable farm did he deeply understand what Grandma’s phrase “No matter what you do, remember to clean up after yourself” meant.

One corner of the vegetable market had already burned to the ground, but miraculously it didn’t affect the neighboring buildings, and only burned that single small building cleanly, leaving nothing behind. Surrounded by residents talking about it, Fan Xian is short, rubbing on the sidelines and listening, knowing that two people were burned to death in this fire, their faces completely disfigured.

The place that was burned to the ground was the very building where Fan Xian had killed yesterday.

Destroying the bodies?

Fan Xian thought of what his grandmother had just said about having repatriated Butler Zhou back to Kyoto, and then when he connected it with this miserable ash decadence in front of him, he was suddenly chilled to the bone, and finally realized what had happened; he truly had not thought that his grandmother, who was more than stern and loving to himself, would be so meticulous in her thinking, and that she would even do something like this for the sake of her grandson’s safety.

When he thought of the old lady’s usual appearance of the old Buddha with her eyes closed, Fan Xian really couldn’t connect this image with the ruins that were still smoldering in front of him.

Fan Xian blended in with the crowd, looking at the black wood of the rubble in front of him that still smelled of charcoal, knowing that he had learned something else.

Some of the residents next to him noticed him coming and were ready to say something after greeting him, but Fan Xian listened as if he hadn’t heard anything as he left the vegetable market, unknowingly walking into the familiar grocery store.

“The housekeeper was driven back to Kyoto.” Fan Xian said.

Five Bamboo stood in the store, his body unresponsive to the quiet street, which was very empty as the residents had all run to the vegetable farm to watch the fun.

“The small building we went to yesterday was burned.” Fan Xian continued.

Five Bamboo still didn’t have any reaction.

Fan Xian grabbed the corner of his sleeve and whispered fiercely, “Do you think it’s stupid of me to forget to deal with Butler Zhou? I still need Grandma to clean up after me!”

Five Bamboo turned around and said, “Are you trying to make me sympathize with you? Is it because you feel that you are young and are not sure how to handle these things as they should be, so your pride is bruised and so you seek comfort?”

A rare hint of curiosity appeared in the blind man’s voice, which seemed much more vivid compared to his usual emotionlessness.

Fan Xian laughed, “I don’t have all that extra pride, I just feel bad about killing people. And ……”

He stopped talking, deep down inside he felt that he had crossed over to this world, and if it wasn’t for Fei Jie and Wu Zhu’s education of himself, he wouldn’t have possessed stronger abilities than the average son or daughter of a powerful noble, and perhaps …… he would have died long ago. In such a power entanglement, hidden and secretive background, more knowledge, it seems that there is no use, every person who stands on the top of the wind and waves of power, who is not proficient in those dirty and complicated means.

Compared with them, oneself is still really …… just a naive child.

“The feeling of killing, or the feeling of being killed, which do you prefer?” Five Bamboo asked.

Fan Xian didn’t know how to answer, naturally no one wanted to be killed.

“Since you already know the answer, don’t ask again.” Five Bamboos handed him a sign, “Also I feel the need to tell you that Old Madame kicked Butler Zhou out of Tanyuzhou instead of killing him because she didn’t want the old mansion in Kyoto to make too much noise inside because of this matter.”

Fan Xian looked at the familiar-looking sign and knew that it was the token of the deacon in the Earl’s Household, and that this sign was Butler Zhou’s. He raised his head and looked at Five Bamboo in confusion, “You killed him?”

Five Bamboo nodded.

Fan Xian suddenly thought of the assassin’s identity and scratched his head, “Why is the assassin’s use of poison and follow-through so similar to the methods of the Supervisory Authority?”

“Ask Fei Jie.”

During the Qingli Years, on a bright spring day, in a secret room inside that square, grayish-black, eerie-looking building on the west side of Kyoto, an old man with a thin face and no trace of beard by the side of his mouth was sitting in a wheelchair, with a soft, smooth, and beautiful woolen blanket covering his legs.

The glass window of the secret room was tightly covered by a black cloth, not leaking a single ray of sunlight in, this old man had a serious illness in the north many years ago, and since then, he had been a bit afraid of the light.

“Elder Fei, that matter in Tanyuu, how is the investigation going?” The old man looked at the white-haired, strange-looking peer in front of him, looked at the pupils of his brown eyes, and asked with a smile.

Fei Jie sat in his chair and sipped his tea, looking at the weird smile on the Lord Dean’s lips, thinking to himself who is the real old pervert, himself or him?