Chapter 1: The Manor

The imperial edict of the court had already been sent to Dongyi City long ago, but Dongyi City just returned the state letter with humble words and flattering words, offering a large amount of gold and silver, but dead refused to admit that they had any relationship with the matter of the manor under the Cangshan Mountain – it was a response that could be thought of with the buttocks, while the great master who was alone in the Dongyi City Sword Residence kept his pride while not wanting to bring a disaster of soldiers and swords for the millions of people around Dongyi City to bring the plague of soldiers and swords, so he had no choice but to remain silent.

The situation in the north is a little tense, the North Qi Yin mess Qing domestic politics is the evidence of the fact, by the other side of the defense, so the two sides of the border on the military, by the respective control of those small vassals between the small clashes occur from time to time, seems to be a war is about to break out.

While dark clouds drifted in the north of Qing, Kyoto was in the height of summer, and people were roaming freely, enjoying the peace and affluence brought by the prosperous times. Fan Xian was also one of them, and although the matter of Niulan Street wasn’t counted as one’s own final act, it was still an account to oneself and to those who died. And in the process of dealing with this matter, he learned a lot of things, although every step he took, in fact, is relying on the power of the Supervisory Yuan, but understand a lot of the Supervisory Yuan’s business process, in addition to Fei Jie teacher said back then, more than many of the most direct understanding.

Summer is difficult, Fan family and Guo family lawsuit finally broke, in the eyes of many people, this has been a small matter, since Fan Xian has become the Taishang Temple Concordance Lang, that in the future is naturally going to be Shang Palace which Princess’s nobility, the district Guo family against the Palace, where still dare to do more, so long ago withdrawn the lawsuit, Fan Xian has finally got the permission to leave the capital.

After that horrible thing happened, Fan Xian immediately dared to go out of the capital, can not be said to be a very bold move. However, nowadays, he was always surrounded by people to protect him, both from the Fan residence and from the Supervisory Yuan, and now Fan Xian had a shadowy identity, the Supervisory Yuan’s chief supervisor, and in addition to Wang Qinian, he had recruited some new faces from all over the world to join his staff.

Early in the morning, while the hot sun was not out, the three young masters of the Fan House got into the carriage, and under the protection of the guards and Qinian’s squad, drove out of Kyoto to the Fan family estate not far from the capital. This trip was not to escape the summer heat, but to pay homage.

In the graveyard there are guards set up fruits and candles and offerings, Fan Xian silently looked at a few new tombstones, the feelings of the heart is very complex, after rebirth has been upholding the idea of the heart in this moment, but also became a little trance.

The smoke from the fire of the paper money was extremely heavy, Fan Si Zhe could not bear the smoke and retreated to the carriage, while Fan Ruo Ruo was holding back the smoke, half squinting her eyes, holding her brother’s sleeve standing in front of the tomb. She knew that the three guards who lay here in front of her had died for the sake of her brother, so her heart was also a piece of gratitude. Moreover, she had been educated about this in Fan Xian’s letters since she was a child, so she didn’t think that worshipping her subordinates was something out of order.

In the smoke, several new guards stood behind Fan Xian without saying a word. I don’t know whether they were being smoked or choked by the fire, but the eyes of the several big men were a little red in color, and the way they looked at the young master’s back was solidly a little different. After a while, one of the guards kindly advised, “Young master, you’ve come to see these brothers, if your heart is in the right place, it’s too smoky here, so it’s better to go back to the manor first.”

Fan Xian’s eyes were also badly smoked, so he smiled, rubbed them, and listened to his words and got into the carriage. In the car, Fan Si Zhe was looking at the account books of the Tanyu Bookstore for the last month, and when he saw his brother and sister come up, he moved his position and suddenly lowered his voice and said, “Big brother, isn’t this a trick to buy people’s hearts?”

Fan Xian mood is a little gray, a slight smile not to care about him, only to take the hand will be his big head of hair rubbed mess, said: “you ah, always have to believe that this world is always something is true, ruthless may not be true hero ……”

Fan Ruo Ruo softly picked up, “How is a compassionate son not a husband.”

Fan Xian gave his sister a somewhat surprised look, “You ……”

Fan Ruo Ruo bowed her head and explained, “Brother said it once the other day, so I memorized it.”

Finding his sister so attentive and intelligent, Fan Xian was pleased and said softly, “Remember, it was said by a person surnamed Zhou.”

Fan Si Zhe glanced at it and grunted, “Yo, changed your pen name again? When will you bring out the last dozen or so editions of the Stone Records.”

Fan Xian now which still have the spirit to whole those, but listening to the word pen name, but for no reason a embarrassment, thinking that his own old explanation of who wrote it, is indeed a bit redundant.

At this time, he was slightly annoyed, so he continued to teach Fan Si Zhe: “The heart of the people may be able to buy, but this kind of feeling is natural, if people have no feelings, then it will become a monster? To live in the world without caring about anything, without recognizing one’s relatives, without feeling for life and death, even if one becomes an immortal, what’s the point?”

Fan Si Zhe shook his head and retorted, “You’re not an immortal, so how do you know if it’s good to be an immortal.”

Fan Xian responded extremely quickly, “I’m not an Immortal, I’m a human being, so I know that it must feel terrible to be a human being who becomes like an Immortal and can’t really live forever.”

Speaking here, suddenly Fan Xian thought of Uncle Wu Zhu, and a strong uneasiness and self-reproach welled up in his heart, he was very worried that when Uncle Wu Zhu got really old in the future, he would really turn into a lonely old man who couldn’t speak – just that Wu Zhu insisted on disappearing into the darkness of the night, and there was no way for Fan Xian to take the initiative to find him at all.

The carriage left the clan’s cemetery and drove along the widest ridge between the farms, heading towards the village with some difficulty. The carriage had just arrived at the bottom of a large slope on the outskirts of the manor, and there were already people from the manor coming to welcome them. Here not only live sharecroppers, but also some of the Fan’s big family in the scribble family, in Kyoto such a prosperous and expensive place can not stay, had to go to the edge of the farm, but they do not have a field, but also can not let go of face and sharecroppers in general planting to pay the rent, the Sinan Bo Fan Jian is not a willing to spend the money to take care of the poor relatives of the Lord, but can not look at the death of these people starvation, so at present, these people of the Fan clan just to help Fan Fu! Take care of the farm, take care of the affairs here, some monthly income to support the family.

Strangely enough, Fan Jian never mentioned the matter of Fan Xian’s ancestor worship, and Fan Xian had forgotten about it. Originally, there were still some questions in his heart that he couldn’t explain, but nowadays, in Kyoto, no one has already scorned Fan Xian as an illegitimate child, and in the Fan clan, they even knew that the future wealth of the Fan clan might depend on the beautiful young master, and so they were extraordinarily deferential.

Taking the tea handed over by the elder, he drank it all in one go, and nodding to the surrounding area, Fan Xian then walked to a small courtyard by the forest in the west under the guidance of his family’s guards. This was the courtyard of Fuji Zijing, and once he entered the courtyard, he found that Fuji Zijing had already climbed up long ago, and was standing in the courtyard in a disciplined manner, waiting. Tou Zijing looked at Fan Xian and said with difficulty, “Young master, I want to go out to welcome you, but Hou San’er won’t let me.”

Fan Xian was not polite to him, and took him into the hall, explaining, “Don’t blame Hou San’er, this is what I said.” Hou San’er was one of the guards who had recently come under Fan Xian’s command, and had previously entered the Tianzhuang to fight in the front. Fan Xian looked at Fuji Zijing’s slightly rich face and asked, “How are your legs these days?”

Fuji Zijing laughed a bit, “It’s fine, I can already move, so I’ll probably be able to return to the capital in a few days.”

“If you think it’s not easy to recuperate here, simply go back to the capital to recuperate.” While talking, Fuji Zijing’s daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law came in to pay respects to the master, Fan Ruo Ruo beside the reward money, and pulled Teng Zijing’s five-year-old daughter asked a few questions, and then held the child went out, leaving the men in the house.

Fan Si Zhe was still counting, and even Teng Zi Jing’s greeting was just a hmmm. Fan Xian gave this brother a hopeless look and listened to Teng Zijing explain, “First stay in the manor, after all, his wife and son are here, and when he’s healed, he’ll naturally go back to the capital to serve the young master.”

These two are now considered to have experienced life and death together, so their speech seems much more direct, Fan Xian nodded and said appreciatively, “Wife and child in a hot bed, you are also good at enjoying yourself.”

Fuji Zijing laughed, “If it’s hot today, the kang is even hotter, but it will catch fire.”

The climate of Tanyu State was very good, warm in winter and cool in summer, so no one used a kang, but after entering the capital, it coincided with spring and summer, so Fan Xian did not have the opportunity to sleep on a large kang, and at this time, listening to these words, he pressed the kang underneath his body, and realized that it was quite comfortable and cool, and, with a twinkle in his eye, he thought that after his marriage, if he wanted to live for a certain period of time in the Cangshan Mountains, he seemed to think that he would have to figure out how to make a kang for that to be possible.

The young master’s mind slipped to the snowy mountains of winter after October, and said, “Young master, eat some fruit and go back to the house, there’s not much to eat in the manor, and if we delay some more hours, it will be too late to go back to the capital, and I’m afraid I won’t be able to get in the gates of the city.”

Fan Xian smiled and waved his hand, “I reported to father before I came here, today the three of us will stay in this manor for the night and return tomorrow. The first few months have been laboring in the capital, it’s rare to have a chance to have some peace and quiet, although I don’t dare to stay for long, but you should always entertain for one night.”

The first time he realized that he was going to spend the night, he hurriedly called his daughter-in-law in and asked her to prepare the guest room, hot water and other things, although the life in the field is not rich, but it is better than the number of people, as soon as he heard that the great master of the Fanfu family was going to spend the night here, a dozen middle-aged daughters-in-law opened up, and in a short time, they were all set up. With a twinkle in his eye, Fan Xian leaned over to Fuji Zijing’s ear and said, “These people who are following me, you arrange for a closer place to stay.”