Chapter 10: Delivering Mountains, Water, and Cui Pots

Fan Xian didn’t know how to bargain, but in his previous life, when that pretty little nurse often accompanied him, she would tell him that when girls bought clothes, they would cut the price from one-third. Fan Xian wasn’t as good as the little girl, so he cut the price by two-fifths.

Who knew that this shopkeeper was actually taking his eyes and glaring at him, seemingly very tired of this son’s uneducated caliber, covering the box coldly and preparing to take it back to the inner room. Fan Xian was anxious, and opened his mouth to shout at him to come back and discuss the price again. Unexpectedly, Wang Qinian, who had been silent at the side, made a wink to Fan Xian. Fan Xian suspiciously followed him out.

“It’s only worth four hundred taels.” Wang Qinian said to him respectfully, “Your honor, wait for me to go and ask.” After saying this, he re-entered this store without a signboard, and after a while, he re-emerged, only that there was already an extra green and emerald to the core snuff bottle in his hand before he took the four hundred taels of silver tickets from Fan Xian’s hand and handed them over to the earthy-faced boss behind him.

Only after getting into the carriage did Fan Xian say softly, “Don’t oppress the good people with your official power.” He touched the snuff bottle in his belt and couldn’t help but puff out a laugh, “But it’s also good to bully this kind of treacherous businessman once in a while.”

Wang Qinian smiled slightly, the wrinkles on his eyes blooming like chrysanthemums, after all, he was also in his forties. He explained in a small way, “It’s not really a treacherous merchant, it’s just that the price he charged for this snuff bottle is at most three hundred or so taels, and we’re not bullying him by giving four hundred taels.”

“Oh?” Fan Xian looked at Wang Qinian with surprise: “Could it be that Lord Wang is actually very proficient in antiques and playthings, otherwise how could he see the real price at a glance, knowing that there is a lot of water froth in this line of work.”

Wang Qinian laughed again and said, “Your honor, have you forgotten what I was doing before I joined the academy back then?”

Fan Xian suddenly realized and said with a laugh, “It turns out that when you were a lone thief back then, you actually learned this knowledge in passing.”

Wang Qinian responded in embarrassment, “I was peddling around in those small vassal states and didn’t dare to ask for help, so naturally, I had to sharpen my eyes on my own.” With such a connoisseur in the antique world, no wonder he was able to cut down the price of the snuff bottle so easily earlier.

Returning to the front gate of the Fan Mansion, Wang Qinian’s squad withdrew, leaving the Fan Mansion to its own protective forces. At this very moment, the wire drawing screen fan that Fan Xian had ordered in another store before his head also arrived at the gate, and the subordinates hurriedly took it in, only that when the bill was finally handed over, the bookkeeper said to Fan Xian with some pain in his flesh, “Although this fan is good, but it’s too expensive, and since the eldest young master bought five at once, it’s not easy for me to report the bill to the Second Mistress.”

Liu happened to walk into the accounting room at this time, and hearing the words of the accountant, she looked at Fan Xian with a smile on her face and nodded her head, “Enter it into the account.”

Fan Xian smiled faintly and bowed to his aunt, “Good day, aunt.” The current situation between the two was too awkward to talk about closeness, and the animosity hadn’t yet had a chance to erupt into hostility. Fan Xian was a bit puzzled about something, and asked with a frown, “Auntie, I see that this house is cool, and it’s most comfortable in the hall, but why don’t I usually see any families using it?”

Liu smiled and shook her head and said, “This matter, you will understand better than anyone else, it’s not that the price asked by that business house is too high, no one can afford to buy it. Summer is just a few days, even if you dig an ice cellar, it’s not much more expensive than that fan.”

Fan Xian was quick-witted and understood in a moment, “This is …… the sale of the inner treasury?” Liu nodded, and Fan Xian sighed, “How is it possible to sell it for so much? With this craftsmanship, any merchant could have learned it, so why isn’t there another family selling it.”

Liu laughed: “Although no one has said anything on the surface, but we all know in our hearts that this is the business that the Emperor sold to enrich the inner treasury, who would dare to imitate it? Anyone who lets the Supervisory Yuan put a name on it is guilty of imprisonment and exile.”

Fan Xian shook his head, feeling that something was wrong. Liu asked curiously, “Why did you buy five at once?”

Fan Xian gently explained, “There’s one to be placed in the flower hall, one for father and aunt’s house, and the other three are to be given away, one for King Jing’s residence, and one for the Chancellor’s residence …… and one for the Duke of State’s residence.”

Liu’s mother’s family is also a large family in the capital, within three generations there was once a Duke of State, so as long as the mention of the Duke of State’s House in the Fan House, it is referring to the Liu family – Hongyi Duke Liu Heng.

Liu’s slightly stunned, did not think that this beautiful young man will be so thoughtful, not to mention did not think that the other side will take the initiative to show their goodwill, for a moment actually do not know how to respond, slightly lost in thought smiled, and then left the tent.

In fact, Fan Xian also saw Liu, only occasionally thought that he should turn around the relationship with the Liu family Liu. If he wanted to keep Fan Si Zhe firmly on his side in the future, avoiding the scene of a family fight that he disliked so much, then he must make sure that the Liu Clan would not once again do …… something that would make it impossible for both sides to ease up.

Small favors, small compliments and small respect naturally can’t have this effect, so it has to be taken one step at a time, Fan Xian has this confidence, Liu’s heart is divided into three pieces, one piece belongs to Sinan Bo Fan Jian, one piece belongs to Fan Si Zhe, as long as the interests of each other can be symbiotically enlarged, I think that Liu’s shouldn’t have too much to say about it either. As for the assassination when he was twelve years old, Fan Xian frowned, forcibly controlling his mind, convincing himself that the Empress and the Eldest Princess were his true opponents.

In the Chancellor’s residence, Lin Ruofu gently stroked the snuff bottle in his hand and said softly, “This is a fine emerald polished into a fine emerald, and the stopper is cleverly set in the place, but although it is made with internal paintings and the painting is good, it seems a bit redundant.”

Yuan Hongdao listened from the sidelines, knowing that Lord Chancellor meant what he said, he smiled and said, “A new son-in-law paying a visit to his father-in-law, bringing some gifts is what should be expected.”

Lin Ruofu smiled faintly, stood up, lifted that square scroll in front of the table with one hand, it turned out to be a painting, the painting is also an old man fishing alone at the riverside, where the river goes, the end is not visible, the whole scroll is full of ice and snow, beside the painting is a poem.

“Thousands of birds flying away from the mountains, ten thousand paths. Lone boat Demoiselle Weng, fishing alone in the cold river snow.” Lin Ruofu lightly recited the poem on the painting, sighed: “Although the painting is general, calligraphy is not surprising, this poem is not bad, always heard that Fan Xian is famous for his poems, it is true, just such a poem, do you still think that he just brought the son-in-law should be the meaning of the son-in-law?”

Yuan Hongdao smiled bitterly, thinking that this Mr. Fan is really inexplicable, knowing that the boss lost his son not long ago, the mood has not yet calmed down, but will be so poignant poems and paintings to send, a little contemplation, a bright light in front of his eyes, said: “Lord you see here.” His finger to a place in the painting.

That place to stay white ink, it is the side of the mountain peaks, the side of the cliff, vaguely visible in the snow, two very thin light ink line fluttering like a fork, like a smear of grass to struggle to stand up from the snow.

“This is …… it?”

“This is a bit of green from the snowy cliffs of the Cold River.” Yuan Hongdao explained with a smile.

Lin Ruofu looked at the extremely hard to spot grass on the painting, his face softened and he said softly, “It seems that even you like this teenager called Fan Xian.”

Yuan Hongdao did not shy away from anything and said with a smile, “Mr. Fan has a good family background, good talent, and an excellent disposition.”

“In your mouth, he’s rather like a perfect man.” Lin Ruofu smiled and shook his head, “If Chen’er can be happy by marrying him, then naturally that’s good.” Suddenly he lowered his voice and said, “It’s just that thing, you can really confirm it?”

Yuan Hongdao replied seriously, “That matter at the foot of Cangshan Mountain has been confirmed, and I heard that Fei Jie is currently negotiating over at Dongyi City.”

“Hmm.” Lin Ruofu half-closed his eyes and said, “I think the same way, in fact, I don’t care about Fan Xian’s talent and family history, I only care about his disposition and means, as long as the disposition is good and the means are ruthless, in the future, after I die, I will be able to protect our Lin family, and I will be able to protect my only pair of children, and that will be good.”

After the death of Lin Gong, in fact, the chancellor of the Lord is indeed some disheartened, the eldest son is a stupid child, daughter is not to see a side for many years, but he still have to rely on their own officials, rely on their own clan to consider the intention, so Lin Wan’er married to what kind of person, is his current considerations of the most important thing.

“How is it outside?” Lin Ruofu said with a gentle face.

“It’s good, it’s a bit better than what Lord and I imagined.”

“Why is the sky blue?”

“Because the sea is blue.”

“Why is the sea blue?”

“Because the light turns blue when it gets into the ocean water. …… Well, don’t listen to me, I don’t know much about these things, I’m basically talking out of my ass.”

“Why is the water in the pool clear not blue?”

“Because the water in the pool is shallow.”

“Huh?”

“Huh?” Inside the garden, Lin Wan’er’s elder brother sat on a rattan chair, his chubby body almost filling up the entire chair, and asked Fan Xian curiously, his eyebrows all filled with the innocence of a child’s, with only a few moments of stagnation occasionally showing in his gaze.

Fan Xian knew that the eldest son of the Chancellor’s residence did not seem to be in good health, but before he came, he had not thought that Wan Er’s elder brother was actually a demented child. For some unknown reason, the prime minister was slow to receive himself. He himself stayed in the back garden, but happened to bump into his great-uncle and had to accompany him to chat casually. He smiled and thought to himself, wondering if this fat demented child would occasionally rise up in anger and beat himself up.

“What’s your name?” Fan Xian smiled as he looked at his demented great-uncle, and after chatting for a while, he realized that the other party was actually just a little slower to react, like a child of a few years of age, and that being silly was somewhat adorable, at least more adorable than Mr. Fan Sicheng, the accountant.

Great-uncle flattened his mouth, his chubby cheeks appearing even rounder, the sides of his lips wrinkled up in two lines of flesh: “I’m called Dabao, my brother is called Erbao, and Erbao hasn’t been home for a long time.”

Fan Xian’s heart flinched, thinking of the dead Lin Gong, and in an instant, looking at the silly uncle in front of him, he actually did not know what to say.