Chapter Twenty-Four: Tofu as White Jade

  It was a long time before Fan Xian calmed down, his cold sweat sticking his clothes tightly to his body.

  He retrieved the slender dagger from the assassin's shoulder, the sound of the blade separating from bone and flesh was terrifying, leaving him stunned for a moment, and then removed the small, sinister crossbow from the dead assassin's sleeve.

  A long, slender dagger coated with black paint to prevent reflection, but Fan Xian knew that the black coating made by Fei Jie's own hands not only contained poison, but also a drug that could amplify the pain of injured humans. He carefully inserted the slender dagger into its scabbard made of hard rhinoceros skin, glanced at the assassin's corpse lying on the bed and Old Ha's feet under the bed, then turned and left.

  Pushing open the door, Wuzi was standing quietly at the corner of the stairs. His voice came over: "What if no carriage comes?"

  Fan Xian lowered his head, remained silent for a long time, and finally overcame the terrible feeling brought by killing someone for the first time. He raised his head and revealed a trademark smile: "I'll keep him occupied until you arrive."

  Still going down from the back wall, in the training of climbing cliffs outside Hangzhou Port, it finally worked today. Fan Xian's feet landed on the ground and walked forward, knowing that Wu Zhu would definitely leave him, and when he was in danger again, he would appear.

  Walking through the market, surrounded by the hustle and bustle of people, he remained silent, his right hand hanging down by his thigh slightly trembling.

  He dragged his heavy footsteps to the vegetable market, and stopped in front of a stall. It was a tofu stall, run by a woman in her twenties with a gentle face, wearing an apron, with white and tender hands.

  "Winter sister." Fan Xian smiled and greeted her, this was Dong'er, the little maid who had been driven out of the Earl's estate by him. When she was very young, Fan Xian often fell asleep in her arms, and they had a good relationship. After Dong'er left the estate, she set up a tofu stall at the market, so Fan Xian often came here to buy tofu to take home.

  Dong Er saw that it was him who had arrived, a gentle smile appeared on his face, and he led him in: "Young Master, how did you come?"

  Sitting on a small stool, another resident came to buy tofu, and Dong Er looked at him with some difficulty.

  Fan Xian nodded, letting her go take care of the business first. He turned around to find a crib behind the stall, with a two or three-year-old little girl sitting on it, her face rosy and chubby, stretching out her tender hands to play with the small bell tied in front of the bed.

  Fan Xian reached out and picked up the little girl, playing with her. Dong'er turned around and saw this, hurriedly came over to take her into his arms, scolding: "Don't get your clothes dirty, going back will have those servant girls washing again."

  Fan Xian chuckled and said: "Dong Er sister, when I was as old as your daughter, you used to hold me in your arms every day."

  Dong Er smiled and said, "My young master, why are you comparing yourself to us servants?" It was somewhat strange, as Dong Er had been kicked out of the Earl's estate by Fan Xian for tasting his food before him during dinner, but from her tone, it seemed she didn't hold much resentment towards the young boy.

  Fan Xian scratched his head, unsure of what to say. Dong Er seemed to notice that he was in a bad mood, so she teased her daughter and said: "Call Young Master, little... young... master..."

  "Call me Young Uncle." Fan Xian insisted.

  ……

  ……

  He sat in the tofu stall for a long time, watching Dong'er cut the tofu, weigh it, wrap it in paper, and tease the little girl beside him to call himself "little uncle". After a long while, Fan Xian finally drove away the chill from his heart and stood up to bid farewell to Dong'er.

  Dong Er said with some difficulty: "You've come all this way, but I don't have anything good to eat here."

  Fan Xian smiled: "Dong Er sister, don't I have enough food?"

  "That's true." Dong Er covered her mouth and laughed, the young woman's shyness was all revealed, she suddenly said: "Thank you, sir, for buying these things for Xiaoyu."

  Fan Xian smiled and shook his head: "As long as you don't blame me for driving you out of the Earl's estate, it's fine."

  Dong Er smiled slightly, not saying a word. She trusted the small boy in front of her, although she didn't understand why he had gotten angry that day when they were eating. But she knew he wasn't doing it on purpose, especially since after she left the house, the young master would often secretly send her some silver money. Later, after she got married and had a child, their life was still relatively comfortable. She started selling tofu mainly because she knew this way the young master could easily come visit her.

  Fan Xian waved goodbye to Doufu Donger and walked out of the vegetable market. As he turned back, he saw that beautiful woman still cutting tofu in the water with her slender figure slightly leaning forward, which was as plump and tender as ten years ago when she held him in her arms, without any signs of aging.

  Fan Xian had Winter leave the estate for her own safety, as she was his personal maid and would be in danger if anything happened to him.

  In Fan Xian's "Childhood Memories", he liked his personal maid, Winter, and enjoyed leaning on her. He would often fantasize about what he could do when he grew up, but he forgot a very important point: as he slowly grew older, Winter was also growing older day by day. This year, he was twelve years old, while Winter was already in her twenties.

  The story of Bao Yu and Qing Wen seems to have ended halfway.

  "When you were born, I had not yet been born. When I was born, you were already old. You regret that I was born late, I regret that you were born early. When you were born, I had not yet been born. When I was born, you were already old. Regretting that we were not born at the same time, every day is a good day with you."

  He was on the one hand imagining how Winter would love him to death, while on the other hand humming a tune as he returned to the Earl's estate, trying to convince himself that he had already forgotten about the assassin and Old Ha's two pairs of dead fish eyes staring at him.

  —————————————————————————

  Because he had eaten a poisonous "cat button" mixed with bamboo shoots at noon, and strangled someone's neck in the afternoon, Fan Xian's appetite became extremely poor, and he only casually scooped up some food for dinner before throwing down his bowl and returning to his bedroom.

  As night fell, he became a little hungry and came alone with an oil lamp to the kitchen, quietly and without disturbing any servants.

  He went into the kitchen, washed a fish cleanly and efficiently, the knife in his hand flying like a bird, and in an instant he had scaled and gutted it. Then with a few swift strokes of the knife he chopped some ginger into fine shreds, the knife falling onto the chopping board without making a sound. Next he mixed some vinegar into a small dish containing the shredded ginger.

  Build a fire, boil water, and steam fish until it's tender.

  Squatting on the ground, staring at the stove beside him, staring at the slowly rising steam, Fan Xian suddenly thought of something a bit funny: Fei Jie teacher and Wu Zhu uncle, because of their mother's reason, were teaching themselves how to kill people and how to avoid being killed, but objectively, they had also taught themselves how to be a good doctor and how to be a successful chef.

  These two days I've been sleeping less, so my body isn't feeling well, my throat is swollen and painful. I also really enjoy chatting with everyone in the book review section, making myself seem quite busy and hardworking. As a result, the Q&A chapter that was originally prepared seems to have gone to waste. The editor scolded me severely, thinking that as a leader, I don't take care of my body well enough. Starting from next week, management of the book review section will be fully handed over to the editor. Next week's highlights shouldn't be as pitiful as this week's. Answering everyone's questions will also be concentrated in the Q&A section related to content. However, some things that involve later content are really inconvenient to answer, like the button, it has to be kept, after all, I'm telling a story. Thank you for the recommendation votes over the past two weeks, and I hope you'll give me another one tomorrow, sincere thanks, bowing out.