Chapter 23: The Same Moonlight

Fan Xian sat in the car, thinking about the news that just Fuji Zijing reported at the entrance of the palace, his heart was a little anxious, if he had known that his sister had returned to Kyoto ahead of schedule, where would he have cared about what the Prince of the Nation’s Side Concubine, the soundless thunder in the imperial study, had long ago already been running to the Tanya Bookstore.

Three months ago, he received a letter from Ruo Ruo brought from Northern Qi, know that she can finally leave the green mountains, back home, Fan Xian heart natural joy, according to the sister’s letter of instructions, let Wan Er in Kyoto for the sister to carefully select a good location of the medical center.

Unexpectedly, Wan Er picked and picked, and finally picked the opposite side of Tanyu Bookstore, which was not far from the Imperial College. Fan Xian thought that this was not bad, and the three siblings could be considered neighbors on the street, but he did not expect that Ruo Ruo had returned earlier than the letter said, and according to Fuji Zijing, this girl actually stayed in the mansion for only a little bit of time before rushing to the location of the clinic with great excitement.

In these two years, Fan Ruo Ruo presided over all the chores on Castle Peak as the closed disciple of Master Bitter Lotus, and as a Nan Qing native and Fan Xian’s younger sister, she still had some hard work to do, despite having the tacit approval of the Bei Qi royal family and the support of Elder Brother Wolf Peach.

After presiding over the mountain gate, Fan Ruo Ruo would often go down the mountain, for the poor people of Beiqi treatment, she charges cheap, medical skill is extremely high, coupled with the name and big, not long, the whole Beiqi all know TianDongDaoSen inside, out of a house kind heart, compassionate heart of the medical woman.

This talented girl from Kyoto, after being taught by her elder brother for a long time, finally found her goal in life, and once she found it, she became extremely persistent, or else she wouldn’t have gone back to Kyoto, and instead of staying at home, she had to keep an eye on the progress of the medical center.

Fan Xian rubbed his brow with some curiosity, wondering whether his sister had become Hua Bianqi or Feng Hua nowadays. To realize that this was his biggest worry back then.

Today’s Dongchuan Road is crowded with people, lively and extraordinary, obviously not a festival date, but the influx of countless people watching, do not know the inside story, I’m afraid that will think that there is a juggling troupe is performing inside. Dongchuan Road near the Imperial College, these people to see the fun, but also most of the young students in the Imperial College, they stand on tiptoe, pulling the long neck to look in, expect to see when the famous Kyoto Miss Fan, in fact, what is the appearance of the birth of the family.

The rivers and mountains have talented people, four or five years past, when the Kyoto famous talent, a He Zongwei has been into the dynasty as an official, red for a while, another Hou Jichang is far away in Jiaozhou, soon to be forgotten. As for the Kyoto most famous several ladies, Ye Ling’er far away from Qingzhou, Lin Wan’er married a woman, no longer possible to become the topic of the people’s tea table, now in the gossip circle is just red, is the Wang family of young lady of the savagery, He family of young lady of the cowardice, the arrogance of a few distant relatives of the royal family in the Imperial College.

With Fan Xian once copied a comment: really not as good as a generation.

But Fan Ruo Ruo was an exception, she was famous in Kyoto for her poetic talent, but later on, she was greatly admired by the Imperial Hospital, and on the other hand, she joined the Bitter Lotus Sect, and gained an excellent reputation in Beiqi, so how could the people in her hometown forget? Today, when she showed up at the medical center in the middle of the afternoon, she was recognized by one of the instructors at the Imperial College, and as soon as word spread, it became the most sensational news in Kyoto today.

Fan Xian lifted the curtains of the car window and frowned, somewhat annoyed at the young scholars blocking the entrance of his own bookstore as well as the entrance of the unlisted medical center, thinking that these people were too wavy, and his face became somewhat displeased.

Looking at his expression, Mu Feng’er said in a low, chilling voice, “My subordinate will immediately drive these people away.”

Fan Xian was noncommittal. Fuji Zijing said softly, “I’ll clear the area.” Fan Xian then nodded.

He had managed to maintain his status as a purist in the minds of the readers all these years, and had successfully cleansed a lot of the dark colors of the Supervisory Court, so how could he let Mu Feng’er be corrupted. I don’t know what Fuji Zijing said when he got off the carriage, but the pedestrians and scholars who were blocking Dongchuan Road immediately dispersed, leaving a large area of land at the street entrance empty. But when those scholars passed by the black carriage, they all bowed to the carriage with extreme respect, and only then retreated silently.

It looked like these people knew the identity of the people in the carriage, and naturally they didn’t dare to be slow, especially since those scholars had already idolized Fan Xian, plus Fan Xian was now also a professor in the Imperial College, so they didn’t dare to stay any longer – being able to make a scholar bend over backwards to do something proved that Fan Xian wasn’t just a powerful nobleman.

Dongchuan Road quiet down, Fan Xian got off the carriage, suppressed the excitement of the heart, smiled and walked into the opposite side of the bookstore of the medical center, not as much as to check Wan Er will be this place to improve how, the eyes will be directly glanced at the inside, I did not expect to look at Ruo Ruo’s face, but only looked at that looks a little thin brocade witch, slightly thin waist.

Fan Ruoruo simply did not notice the changes outside the medical center, at this time has long been out of disorientation, is squatting in the inner room to organize those medicinal herbs, she also brought back from the North Qi Qingshan some of the South Qing rare precious medicines, at this time is thinking about how it should be stored.

Hearing the sound of footsteps coming from behind her, Fan Ruoruo didn’t get up, and directly said, “It’s not open yet, if it’s not an urgent problem, please come back in a couple days.”

Hearing this voice made Fan Xian happy, and together with the healer’s heart embedded in these words, he couldn’t help but smile with satisfaction, and said behind her, “If you really need to be sick, where would you wait for you to come back to cure, could it be that my own medical skills are inferior?”

Hearing this familiar and somewhat unfamiliar voice, Fan Ruo Ruo’s body slightly trembled, but immediately returned to calm, stood up, back Fan Xian organized his clothes, slowly turned his head, worshiped in style, said, “Brother is here.”

Although she deliberately suppressed her emotions, the frown on the girl’s face, the tiel in her eyes, and the curvature of the corners of her lips all showed the joy in her heart.

Looking at the color of joy on Ruo Ruo’s sister’s face, Fan Xian’s heart was mournful for no apparent reason, unknown and inexplicable. He looked at his sister in a daze, looking at this familiar face that he hadn’t seen for a few years, looking at the familiar icy intent on that brow that had melted into a pale sunshine in three springs in front of him, and sighed softly.

Then he took a step forward and gently touched his sister’s head.

Ruo Ruo slightly lowered her head and habitually sidestepped.

Just as in the spring of the fourth year of Qingli, when Fan Xian first came to Kyoto and entered the Sinanbo residence, the long-separated brother and sister only needed a few words and a small gesture to dispel some of the strangeness that time had created, and once again return to the situation many years ago between the active monkey and the sickly little monkey, and return to the words that had been spoken in those days of the south of heaven and the north of earth, and of the wild geese that had traveled by the side of the mountain.

Fan Xian foraged a box and sat down, looking at his sister who was still busy, saying, “Why did you arrive so early?”

“Didn’t brother come back early too?” Fan Ruo Ruo smiled and answered, lifting her arms and pursing her sweaty sideburns, “There was no delay on the road, so I arrived a few days early.”

“Thousands of miles to the south, not to say at home to rest for two days, this medical center in the matter naturally have your sister-in-law to arrange, you just ask the consultation, do not worry about this.”

Fan Xian disapprovingly glanced at her, and found that although his sister was still as thin as ever, her spirit appeared to be much better, and perhaps because she had been practicing medicine in the countryside for the past two years, her complexion had darkened a bit, and even the layer of ice and snow that was common in her eyebrows had gradually disappeared.

Although there are letters from time to time, but not as good as at the side of the care of the whole, Fan Xian heart some self-reproach, when he fled the marriage to leave the country is all his hand to arrange, look at his sister will sigh, I do not know if she has been living well for the past two years.

“The maidservants in the mansion have changed a few sets, I don’t know anyone, and I don’t have anyone to talk to, so I sat in the flower hall for a while, and thought I’d come to the bookstore to take a look, but I didn’t realize that my sister-in-law had picked a place across the street from the doctor’s office.” Fan Ruo Ruo naturally pulled her elder brother up, lest he sit on the box where she put the medicine, and said, “How can I give this medicine to people if I let your ass sit on it?”

“Who am I? I’m the Poetry Immortal, and if word gets out, I’m afraid others will still specialize in this box of medicine.” Fan Xian told an extremely cold joke, then said in surprise, “Where is your sister-in-law? Where’s Si Si?”

Fan Shangshu went back to Tanyuzhou with Liu to retire, taking away half of the maids and servants in the old mansion, coupled with the need for manpower in the manor house, the maids were older and had to be matched with relatives, but in a few years’ time, the entire Fan Mansion had become a bit strange to Fan Ruo Ruo.

Fan Xian was extremely sensitive to this, thinking that even the big sleepy girl of the fourth Migrant, now also became a county magistrate’s wife, a few years, Kyoto has really changed too much, do not let Ruo Ruo some unaccustomed to it.

“Sister-in-law and Si Si took the Vine family’s to the field.” Fan Ruo Ruo glanced at him curiously, as if she was puzzled why her brother asked such a silly question, “I only went into the city with Fuji Zijing today, so of course I didn’t run into them.”

But all the big families have their own farms and forests outside of Kyoto, let alone a big family like the Fan Clan, Fan Xian often traveled in these farms in past years, but he didn’t think about it for a moment, it was winter, it was time to prepare for the year-end, and now Wan’er, who was in charge of the Fan Clan’s industry, and Si Si, who was a good helper, were just too busy to do anything about it.

He rubbed his brow with some headache and said, “It’s a big deal for you to come back, no matter how busy you are, you should wait in the mansion.”

Fan Ruo Ruo gave him a look and said in a bad mood, “You and I both came back three days early, who could have that divine plan.”

Fan Xian slapped his butt and got up, smiling with a wide-eyed smile, “I can at least calculate that you should be hungry by this time.”

Nowadays, the front and back of the Fan Mansion had already been opened up, and the garden had been changed, so even the people living inside weren’t quite the same. Fan Xian is still used to live with Wan Er Si Si in the new house, the old house where his father lives is empty, there have long been servants will be Ruo Ruo’s room clean, as the original, Fan Ruo Ruo followed Fan Xian into the door to take a look, thinking of the ten years in Kyoto, the circles of the eyes will be red.

Fan Xian is the role of the most can not see the tears of women, of course, in addition to the mother-in-law has died – he rushed to get Ruo Ruo to the flower hall, at this time no one in the house, brother and sister sitting opposite each other, to wine each other, eat and drink, about their respective lives after the separation, but also painful. Only to say to the Kyoto rebellion, Ruo Ruo worry incomparable, speak to the lonely suffering on the green mountain and the eyes of the Northern Qi people, Fan Xian eyes some annoyed.

“How is my younger brother doing over there now?” Fan Xian put down his glass of wine and asked. Fan Si Zhe had been still dealing with the northern estates, and even though the two brothers had been exchanging letters and information, he still asked out of habit. From his sister’s words, Fan Xian realized that the original Si Zhe in the north also had some hard time, although the North Qi royal family did not do anything on the surface, but secretly also make some small insignificant trips.

Fan Xian pondered for a moment and then said: “Jade is not cut into pieces, the small emperor of Northern Qi will not really turn the other cheek for a while, just let him stay over there.”

In the past two years, Fan Sicheng had returned to Kyoto twice, and the Spring Festival of the ninth year of the Qingli calendar was also spent in Tanyu, but now the Fan family was forced to live apart in the south and north of the country, and it was extremely difficult for them to get together, and every time he thought about it, Fan Xian’s heart was in a state of great unhappiness.

The problem was that His Majesty could not allow him to resign at such a tense time, and it was true that his father should no longer stay in Kyoto, so it would be better to stay in Tanyuzhou and take care of his grandmother than to worry about an unfortunate end.

Fan Ruoruo nodded, in her heart she could not question her elder brother’s words. Whether it was her younger brother or herself, it was only under her elder brother’s arrangement that she was able to truly have a life that was completely different from that of the ordinary children of the powerful and noble, the most fulfilling kind.

“Rest first today, and we’ll talk properly again in time for tomorrow. This old Wang Tou isn’t here, and there’s a lot of things I’d like to say to someone, but there’s nowhere to say them.” Fan Xian mumbled a few sentences in a somewhat slurred manner, venting his rare depression, in this world’s chatting object, in addition to Lin Dabao Wang Qinian, of course, it was Uncle Wuzhu and his sister, who had been too much influenced by himself, who were the most suitable.

Fan Xian even dared to talk to these four people about the words of treason, the problem is that Dabao is too naive, will not say and then grin, Wang Qinian ran away, five bamboo uncle disappeared, the sister is not in …… but finally came back.

This kind of feeling is really good. Fan Xian could not suppress the joy in his heart, I do not know how much wine, naturally refused to take the antidote pills, taking advantage of the wine, actually lying on the table into the dreamland.

Fan Ruo Ruo looked at his elder brother who smelled of alcohol, shook his head hopelessly, ordered the subordinates to carry him back to his room, and personally covered him with the quilt, straightened out his long black hair, and carefully removed the needles from his hair – just as he did when he was injured a few years ago before Fan Xian’s wedding.

Returning to his room, Fan Ruo Ruo looked at the several fine needles that shone with all sorts of light at hand, and couldn’t help but smile slightly, thinking to herself that her sister-in-law should know about these poisonous needles as well, and wasn’t she afraid of sticking them out when they made out? Or do they have to clean it up every night?

She immediately woke up to the fact that she shouldn’t be thinking about this, and secretly blushing, she hurriedly put the fine needles into the box – Fan Xian’s last life-saving trick was originally made by the two of them, brother and sister, in the back of the house, so she naturally knew how it should be handled.

The house was old, the bedding was new, the people were old, and so were the matters of the heart. Fan Ruo Ruo sat quietly at the table, looking through the window at the garden outside, thinking of her brother’s earlier drunken and happy appearance, somewhat lost in thought. From the conversation, she knew that although her elder brother had a smooth life in Kyoto these years, there was always an unspoken pressure that made it difficult for him to be cheerful.

Sighing, she threw on a jacket and walked out of her room, strolling in the old moonlight in the garden. Behind her in the room, the would-be remnants of candlelight were looking for shadows to tell how bright its dreams had been. How it was that the moonlight, which was the same as in years past, was looking more and more alarming to her.

But Fan Ruoruo clearly know that all this is just delusion, and regardless of their own mind in the end can not be tolerated in this world, the most critical thing is that, from many years ago, brother will habitually take care of their own as a small child like care of the view, Jieyue heart and mind, has never had that kind of idea.

She could not help but slightly astringent helpless smile, secretly think hurry to open up the medical center, the world there are so many need to help their poor people, why suffer when this early winter scene, think of their own these difficult to declare in the mouth of the children’s home feelings.

Once thinking about these matters, the moonlight that falls on her pretty face seems to be calm. Several years of life in the north, so that the temperament of the girl has undergone great changes, calm no longer have that kind of indifference, but more a few points to afford to put down the calm and uncomplicated.

Not to mention the Miss Fan family back to the capital, caused what kind of sensation, only that the Fan House will be much more lively, got the news of Lin Wan Er line from the field rushed back, aunt and sister-in-law meet, have some warmth, especially see the niece and nephew, Fan Ruoruo is more than happy.

This family is happy, this is the Kyoto mansion in the anomaly, but this atmosphere can not be maintained for a long time, because Fan Ruoruo anxious to open the medical center, and the palace also let Fan Xian take Ruoruo into the palace to see the emperor.

The things of the medical center since someone to do, see the driving also spent only a day, but the second generation of the young people of the Fan House can no longer be idle, Fan Ruo Ruo in the Qingshan Mountain for several years, the first time to return to the capital, naturally, there are many elders and relatives to go to pay their respects to the walk.

The first stop is undoubtedly the King Jing’s residence, which has excellent relations with the Fan family.

In the past, this kind of visit was extremely unusual, but the problem was that Fan Ruoruo almost became the daughter-in-law of King Jing, but was later sent by Fan Xian to the Northern Qi Bitter Lotus, King Jing has been remembering this for the past two years, and when he saw Fan Xian, he would sigh long and short, and the situation between the two families was a bit awkward, so when Fan Ruoruo knew that she had to go to the King’s residence, she could not help but be a bit uneasy.

“What’s there to be uneasy about.” Fan Xian looked at his sister’s expression, thinking of Hongcheng’s suffering in Dingzhou, his heart trembled, and did not know whether he had done the right thing or the wrong thing back then, forced a smile and said, “In the New Year, Hongcheng is also going back to the capital, is it possible that you are ready to hide for a lifetime and not see it.”