Chapter 61: The Black Umbrella and the Brightness of the Nose in the Imperial College

As the black carriage passed through Dongchuan Road, Fan Xian just withdrew his gaze from his own bookstore and medical center, and with a twist of his head, he saw the ancient gate of the Imperial College.

The Imperial College is a relatively sparse building complex, there is no Yamen Mingtang and other buildings on the street, there is no high courtyard wall, that is, the gate, in fact, has never been closed, the green trees inside to explore out, the sound of reading everywhere is also penetrated, all the Confucianism and meditation.

Just as the Privy Council once called the Military Academy, the old Ministry of War, now also and the Ministry of War in the six ministries of the mixed unclear, the Qing Dynasty in these decades once played several times the new policy, but also so that the name of the Imperial College changed again and again, with the Museum, the Institute of Education, in any case, is how difficult to export, His Majesty will be how to randomly change.

However, the world’s scholars still customarily called this area the Imperial College, and later the court’s official documents also recognized this naturally. Candidates selected from all the counties, as well as the best sons and daughters put forward by the powerful and noble houses in Kyoto, all gathered in this complex to study the classics, history and the way of governance.

This is the highest school of Qing, the teacher is naturally the top of the group, such as has become the court imperial newspaper routinely used calligraphy of Mr. Pan Ling Pan, such as under the door of the current Chinese scholar He Zongwei’s teacher Zeng Wenxiang, such as a few years ago, Shu Daoshi also used to part-time professor of the Imperial College, and then today’s dynasty of the first person of the civil service, Hu Daoshi, but also from time to time to come to the Imperial College of the students to give these lessons.

There are so many bullish baked teacher, plus the special status of the Imperial College, inside the students would have had a very good future, so the students of the Imperial College can not help but some bullish baked up. The general government is not willing to deal with the Imperial College at all, and the slightly enlightened style of learning in Qing Dynasty is such that the general ministers refuse to go in – they are very afraid of being questioned by these students and finally fleeing in a mess.

However, Fan Xian never had such worries, his relationship with the students of the Imperial College had always been good, especially after the fourth year of Qingli, he served in the Imperial College, acting as the nominal deputy of the head of the Imperial College, coupled with the fact that later on, Fan Xian’s talent amazed the world, and then dragged a carload of books of Zhuang Dazhong from Northern Qi back to the Imperial College, his position in the Imperial College became even more lofty, and deeply admired by the students.

The carriage stopped quietly at the entrance of the Imperial College, and a scholarly official came up to meet him. Fan Xian got off the carriage, looked up at the gate he hadn’t seen in half a year, and smiled. This simple and ancient gate was actually newly built later on, with some ancient meaning rubbed into it. Spent so much silver, in fact, it is also just Nan Qing in terms of learning, there is always some from the depths of the inferiority complex, especially in certain corners related to the flavor of history.

The sky suddenly started to rain, although not big, but scattered rain hit the dark-colored wooden door of the Imperial College, became particularly eye-catching, from mottled gradually tend to halo, the floor of the slate is also about to accumulate water.

An official of the Qiyin group was silent as he took out the lotus garment from the cart and tried to put it on for him. Fan Xian shook his head. Although he enjoyed wearing a black lotus garment, taking his closest subordinates with him, lining up in a zigzag formation, and traveling like a ghost in the quiet autumn night of Kyoto, today was in the Imperial College, and he didn’t want to appear too special and startle those hot-blooded and innocent students.

Mu Feng’er held up the umbrella and sent him through the gates of the Imperial College.

At this time is already in the afternoon, the sun had already moved west, at this time by the clouds a cover, was swept by the rain, the light has become darker, the whole wide courtyard is full of the meaning of seclusion, walking along the green trees, actually did not see a person, empty and quiet to the extreme.

Thousands of students of the Imperial College are still in class, as a professor of the Imperial College, Fan Xian of course counted clearly, just frowned and thought, how did the sound of reading stop so neatly?

Like bees suddenly acting collectively, and like a mountain wind pouring into a narrow natural stone kettle, the quiet courtyard in the Imperial College suddenly resounded with a buzzing sound, the sound getting closer and louder and louder, it turned out to be the sound of countless people’s discussion and laughter mixed together.

Class is over, hundreds of young scholars at the same time out of the various courtyards of the Imperial College, walked to the center of the wide walkway, dense, crowded together, a fresh energy, suddenly filled the entire space.

Some young people forgot to bring umbrellas, shouting loudly and cheerfully, jumping on the wet green stone pavement, head on to break through the layers of rain, running toward their own school building. And more students are good and calm, with a calm smile, open the umbrella around them. At one time the entire courtyard bloomed countless umbrella flowers of different colors, but there were no bright colors, mostly green and grey and plain.

Thus Fan Xian, who originally did not want to be conspicuous, became a different plant in the sea of plain umbrellas because of the large black cloth umbrella above his head, instantly attracting everyone’s attention.

“Little Lord Fan!”

“Teacher!”

“Sir!”

The students gathered around in surprise and saluted Fan Xian. Most of the students had only seen his appearance from afar, while some had been fortunate enough to have followed him in doing editorial matters on the scriptures and histories of the great family of Zhuang, so they shouted extra hard.

Luckily, there wasn’t any congestion, probably because these students also knew that Fan Xian was busy in the imperial court and was also busy with the major events in Dongyi City recently, so they all suppressed the joy in their hearts, and after saluting and asking for good health, they made way for the middle of the road.

Fan Xian nodded his head with a smile, spoke a few words with the familiar students and faculty, looked up at the sky, and did not dare to delay any longer, so he said goodbye and headed deeper into the Court of Contemplation.

Behind him and the officials of the Supervisory Board, the students of the Imperial College were still excited and whispering curiously, all speculating why Lord Fan came to the Imperial College today, and whether or not His Majesty would return Lord Fan to the Imperial College after the matter of Dongyi City was over? Will His Majesty give him back to the school and let him continue to lecture?

Collecting the black umbrella and placing it by the door, a cool rainwater dripped down the tip of the umbrella, writing a big one character and wetting the high wooden threshold. Fan Xian took the towel that the instructor received, and after haphazardly wiping his hair, which had been dampened a bit, he entered the inner room, bowed to the university scholar behind the case, and said with a smile, “Come to see you.”

Hu Daoshi took off the glasses on the nose, suspiciously looked at him for a while, before recognizing him, said with a smile, “I rarely do not have to stay in the corner room today, just want to hide in the quiet, you can not let me slow down?”

Nowadays the door under the Chinese book to Hu Daoshi as the head. After all, his majesty’s age is also gradually older, energy is always less than the middle age when in full bloom, and the king also seems to want to open up a lot, will be a lot of political affairs are thrown to the door under the middle book, no longer do everything himself. In this way, the power of the door under the book of some of the affairs is busy, with some sharp-eyed officials said privately, now the door under the book of the Chinese, has gradually to become the year of the Xiangfu, and the head of the university scholar Hu University scholar in the hands of the authority, also seems to be day by day to the year of Lin Ruofu close.

Fan Xian does not believe in this, the emperor since a thousand hard work to bring down his own old Yue, naturally will not allow the emergence of another Lin Ruofu. However, he also knew that Hu Da Daoshi had been working hard on political affairs all day long, and was indeed working hard. Smiling, he stepped forward and made another bow, saying, “If it were not for business, I would not dare to bother you.”

Hu Daoshi and his relationship is extremely good. On the one hand, because in the text of the ancient and new debate, their position is quite consistent, both sides appreciate each other’s temperament, so the achievement of a good personal relationship. On the other hand, it was because in the matter of the Kyoto Rebellion, Grandmaster Hu had done Fan Xian a great favor, and Fan Xian was the first to save his life in the end.

“Speak.” Grandmaster Hu placed his glasses on the table, making a soft clicking sound. After a slight pause, he sighed and said, “I guess it’s not a good thing to ask you to do it yourself.”

Fan Xian smiled and looked at the glasses on the table, but instead of immediately saying what he meant, he said, “Is this crystal mirror working well?”

As in previous years, Grandmaster Hu possessed a youthful appearance that did not match his age at all, but Fan Xian knew that the chief of the civil officials had some minor problems with his eyes. After chatting about it once in a while two years ago, Fan Xian took it to heart, letting the inner treasury side mull it over for a long time, and finally seeking out a foreign crystal from the side of Dongyi City to match a unique pair of eyeglasses to him.

Dr. Hu has been very grateful for this matter, because day and night toiling in politics, reviewing the papers, eyes are bad, that is going to be a big problem.

It was only the manual grinding and the lack of a machine for optometry that caused Fan Xian to only know that Hu Da Daoshi was presbyopic, but he didn’t know exactly how much it would help.

“Quite good, quite good.” Grand Maester Hu said with a smile, “Come on, just based on the sentiment of these glasses, I’ll do whatever you want to do, and anyway, the young eunuch won’t ask me to do any confusing things that go against the law and the decree.”

This words, Fan Xian dumbfounded, nearly lost his smile, thinking that this university scholar seems righteous, did not expect the original or this cautious and cunning. The two of them knew in their hearts that any problem that Fan Xian’s ability could not handle on his own was definitely a problem within the courtroom, and that Grand Maester Hu’s words were cunning to the extreme.

Fan Xian smiled and shook his head. Just as Grand Maester Hu thought that he was having a hard time opening his mouth and stroked his whiskers in secret relief, he suddenly narrowed his eyes and said, “Kyoto Prefect Sun Jingxiu, he’s a good official for miles ……”

Senior Hu’s fingers tightened, nearly pulling his beard off, coughing twice in a row, he really hadn’t expected Fan Xian to open his mouth so directly. Regarding the position of Kyoto Prefect, as the head of the civil officials, he of course knew what caused the current situation, only that His Majesty was helping He Zongwei to the throne, and he, the Grand Maester, had no choice but to remain silent.

He tentatively glanced at Fan Xian and said, “This Lord Sun …… wasn’t the rumor that year personally suppressed by the young lord?”

Fan Xian was too lazy to turn these corners with him again, and directly sat down beside him, saying next to his ear, “I have nothing to do with his daughter, but this Lord Sun I really want to keep it down.”

“This is His Majesty’s intention.” Grandmaster Hu did not shy away from anything in front of him and directly moved the emperor out.

Fan Xian sneered, “It’s just He Zongwei dancing youthfully and movingly there, what does it have to do with His Majesty.”

Grand Maester Hu laughed, knowing that this kid would never admit to anyone’s face that the Kyoto Prefecture issue was His Majesty’s idea, or else he was trying to fight His Majesty openly.

Fan Xian continued, “I’ll just ask, what exactly is Sun Jingxiu’s performance on his exams these past three years?”

“This ……” Grand Maester Hu lightly stroked his short beard and said after a moment of silence, “Two years in the upper middle and one year in the middle, but it’s just mediocre.”

Kyoto Prefecture is indeed a key position, so for the three years of examination results, Hu Daoshi firmly in mind, off the top of his head. Fan Xian coldly laughed, said: “Do not say these eyes cover gossip, the university scholar heart understand, Kyoto prefect this position, originally is not a person to do, either to offend this government, is to offend that side of the ministry Yamen, year after year performance, year after year do not hit.”

“Bailiff Mei was also at best a middle leveler that year.” Fan Xian rubbed his wrist and said, “Sun Jingxiu had two years in the upper middle class, and is already an outstanding official, plus this person is not good at camping and ganging up on people, so to have this comment, it is really rare.”

Hu Daoshi was silent for a moment, after all, he could not resist his own conscience guidelines, and gently nodded his head. He also knows that the position of Kyoto Prefect is difficult to do, Sun Jingxiu is really a very rare subordinate, if he is still in charge of the Kyoto Prefectural Office, his own university scholar to do the errand will be much smoother.

“If we really take him out, who will replace him?” Fan Xian said with a straight face, “I’m here today, not for personal feelings, not for a fight, I just want to ask, could it be that the Grand Maester wants to watch the Kyoto Prefecture change five more prefects in the next three years, and finally make such a mess that no one dares to come in as a prefect any more, or even play the charcoal swallowing and sickness trick?”

Grand Maester Hu sighed, saying with difficulty, “I am also unwilling for Lord Sun to leave his post, but I just have never figured out why there is this rumor coming out of the palace.”

He stared into Fan Xian’s eyes and asked softly, “Is it because you and that person had another quarrel?”

The only person in this world who dared to quarrel with His Majesty was Fan Xian. Fan Xian smiled self-deprecatingly and said, “It has nothing to do with quarreling. In fact, you should be able to see clearly that His Majesty is using this matter to establish authority for He Zongwei. Not to mention that Sun Jingxiu is now my man, even if I say that he’s an idiot, I’m still going to bail him out.”

“Earlier, you were saying that regardless of personal feelings, this time he has become your man again.” Grand Maester Hu shook his head with a bitter smile and said, “What do you want me to do? If I step forward, his majesty will surely be able to guess that he was entrusted by you …… Lord He is also quite a man of good talent, so why do you have to be so angry with him.”

Fan Xian was silent for a long time before saying softly, “This anger must be placed. In this world, either the east wind overpowers the west wind, or the west wind overpowers the east wind. I will not give He Zongwei the slightest hope, the slightest possibility, the slightest fluke, a history of success.”

“Why?” Grand Maester Hu asked suspiciously as he saw him speaking seriously, his heart slightly startled.

Fan Xian did not answer this question, as it involved him making a proclamation that he would try to drag out the time to keep the power at hand under the emperor’s oppression. He slowly stood up and said, ”I’m going to the palace tonight to quarrel and force His Majesty not to issue an explicit decree. In this way, the problem of the Kyoto Prefecture is the pressure of the Central Committee under the Gate, and I need the Grand Maester to help me fight it from there.”

Grand Maester Hu did not answer, seemingly waiting for his next explanation.

Fan Xian smiled and said, “Sun Jingxiu is a good official, and shouldn’t just disappear into a boring power struggle for reasons that are really as simple as this.”

Without waiting for Grand Maester Hu to open his mouth, he spoke quietly, “This Imperial College is a nice place, youth is forcing its way in, and these students are going to join the dynasty as officials in the future, so as a gentleman, we should not only teach them what to do, but also use the real situation in the dynasty to help them build up some confidence.”

“An official, as long as he is willing to do something, he will be safe and sound.” Fan Xian stared into Grand Maester Hu’s eyes, “If Sun Jingxiu collapses like this, what will you take to teach these students? What purpose would the guidelines stated in the Grand Maester’s book serve?”

Being cornered by Fan Xian, Grand Maester Hu was silent for a long time, knowing that this young lord was a man of his word, if he didn’t agree, maybe he would really use his prestige in the Imperial College to incite the students to do something, he couldn’t help but sigh and say, “Come on, as long as his majesty doesn’t invent a decree, I’ll come to the rescue of Lord Sun.”

Hearing these words, Fan Xian finally smiled happily, arched his hand, and without saying anything more, he wanted to take his leave.

Grand Maester Hu picked up the crystal glasses on the table and said with a smile, “Even if it’s a favor to return this glasses to you …… However, don’t you think I’m returning the favor a little too big?”

Fan Xian was in an extremely good mood and said, “The big deal is to let the inner treasury make a few more pairs, and prepare one for each of the big and small princes in your family.”

Grand Maester Hu was so secretly sarcastic that he couldn’t help it, and scolded him with a laugh, “I mean, Lord Xuezheng said the other day that you have to hurry back to the Imperial College to give lessons to the students when you’re able to finish your business in Dongyi City.”

Fan Xian smiled and responded, “If you don’t say anything about this, I’m prepared to come and do it.” This was sincere, entering the Imperial College today and looking at so many young students, Fan Xian was in a good mood, he seemed to think of his previous life when he went to school, and he knew that these students would inevitably be the pillars of the Kingdom of Qing in the future, and if he was able to influence them in advance in some way, at some point in time, perhaps this would be his own life-saving weapon.

Fan Xian excused himself and left, and Grand Maester Hu continued his business alone, accompanied by the dim light. I don’t know how long it was, but when it was still not completely dark, an official gently walked in and whispered something in his ear.

Grand Maester Hu was silent for a long time, and the corners of his lips couldn’t help but float out a bitter smile as he said softly, ”It turns out that there was even such a scene at the Sun House banquet today. I really don’t know what this young lord was thinking, making such a pompous scene, completely unsuited to his previous darkly astringent nature.”

That official is naturally Hu Daoshi’s close confidant, there are many puzzled looks on his face, said doubtfully, “And this matter is full of bizarre, knowingly know that it is the palace’s intention, little Fan Taoshi still hard to resist, even go so far as to beg to move the teacher, for a Sun Jingxiu, is it worth it?”

“Not just Sun Jingxiu ah.” Grand Maester Hu sighed again, waving his hand for the official to go down, instructing, “There is no need to mention this matter again, as long as His Majesty doesn’t issue a decree, I’ll bail out an individual on behalf of Lord Fan Jr. and there should be no harm in doing so.”

The official answered in a deep voice and took his leave.

Grandmaster Hu’s still young face changed color in the dim light as he pondered over Fan Xian’s earlier passage, speculating on Fan Xian’s true intentions. East wind versus west wind? He rubbed his somewhat tightened brow and couldn’t help but smile bitterly, Lord He is only unqualified to be the east wind, young Lord Fan is fighting His Majesty!

Just why fight? Could it be because of the resentment towards His Majesty’s move to cut power, so he vented it here? Grand Maester Hu fell into deep thought, always feeling that this was not the case. It had been three years, and His Majesty’s reduction of the Supervisory Yuan’s power had been moving forward, while Fan Xian had always retreated dutifully before the palace went any further, retreating without the slightest hint of unhappiness.

Why does Fan Xian not retreat? Is it because he is worried that if he retreats too much, he won’t have anything in his hands in the future to fight against others? But besides His Majesty, who do you need to fight against?

Grand Maester Hu’s brows were furrowed extremely tightly, but he couldn’t figure out this matter in any way. Suddenly, his fingers stroked to his wrinkles, slightly alarmed, quickly and slowly with the fingers to wrinkles, and quietly from under the table to take out a small porcelain bottle, from the bottle to pick a little creamy oil things, carefully coated in the face, slowly patted some of the skin of his cheeks more smooth, a few wrinkles appear unobtrusive.

Hu Daoshi put the porcelain bottle into the table to hide, smiled mockingly, His Majesty’s father and son things, why should they think so much, they can not really turn the other cheek – but is their own face, Hu Daoshi’s lips of self-deprecating meaning more and more thick, and even some faint sadness.

He is not too young, so he pays extra attention to facial maintenance, because he knows that his historical mission is to become the centerpiece of His Majesty’s court a hundred years from now, so he must not look old. If His Majesty thought that he was already old, he would surely have some other ideas to go and keep a younger paved minister for his son.

Everyone has his own secrets, his own helplessness, his own sorrow.