Chapter 28: The Book Thief
Vote! Vote!
He really envied the scene of reading books with red sleeves and fragrance at night, which he had imagined when he was studying in his previous life. So earlier, he pulled SiSi to accompany him to write for half a day, smelling the incense in the room, the fragrance on his daughter's body, the soft tip of the pen and the smooth touch on the paper, enjoying that extraordinary peaceful and wonderful feeling.
But thinking that if the news of writing a book gets out, it may bring him a lot of unnecessary trouble, so he decides to write quietly by himself from now on.
Fan Xian always felt that he had to make preparations for his future life in Kyoto, both materially and spiritually. A long and beautiful piece like "Dream of the Red Chamber" was not something that could be improvised on the spot at a banquet like a poem, so it had to be prepared ahead of time.
He didn't know why, but he always felt that his future life would definitely be connected to the center of Qingguo, that distant Kyoto. Maybe it was because of his biological father who was a high-ranking official in the imperial court, or maybe it was because of that impressionable yellow-haired girl, or perhaps it was because of his own curiosity about a mother he had never met.
He thought for a moment, then picked up his pen again and finished writing about the unspeakable things between Baoyu and Qin Zhong. After the ink was dry, he put it in an envelope and prepared to send it to Fan Ruo Ruo, who was far away in Kyoto.
In the mansion of Fanzhou Port, Fan Xian did not keep any drafts. Every time he wrote an article, he would send it to Kyoto immediately. Because he really couldn't suppress his desire to share the beautiful experiences of his past life with people in this world. It was like someone who possessed the most beautiful jade stone in the world, which no one had ever seen before, and hid it under their bed for many years. They would feel an itch that they couldn't scratch, always wanting at least one person to know about the breathtaking beauty of the jade stone.
A collector who collects masterpieces for a lifetime without showing them to others is either an abnormal person or a thief who steals the painting.
But Fan Xian knew that he was definitely not a pervert, although he was indeed a thief, and wonderfully, no one in this world knew.
So Fan Xian completely ignored Fan Ruoruo's age and sent her the manuscript every month, telling her that this story was called "The Story of a Stone" written by someone named Cao Xueqin, whom he had occasionally met and obtained some manuscripts from to share with his sister.
Although in the first 15 chapters of Dream of the Red Chamber, there are still passages like Qin Keqing's dream encounter with Baoyu and Baoyu's initial experience with romantic love, but Fan Xiangruo is certain that Xiaofeng will not regard these as monstrous or consider her brother to be a lustful person after several years of correspondence.
As expected, Fan Ruoruo got the letter from Cao Gong and read it with a confused expression, treating it like a big mouthful of peonies. However, she slowly savored some flavor from it, especially after seeing Daiyu enter the mansion, she began to feel good about it, and every month she would send a letter to urge her brother to ask Cao Gong for more.
Fan Xian felt a pang of distress in his heart when he received the letter, thinking that since all the drafts were gone, it was impossible to update quickly, and later on, even if he managed to copy up to 70 or 80 chapters, he would still end up as a eunuch.
……
……
After finishing the copying work for today, Fan Xian began to read books as usual. His study had many miscellaneous books, all of which were sent from the Duke's residence in Kyoto. Every time he thought about this matter, his impression of that father whom he had never met would change a little, at least the other party knew what was most important for a person growing up.
In a country without AV or pits, Fan Xian's way to dispel boredom was to play hide-and-seek with the tyrannical true energy in his body every day, making the maids blush, and there were only these miscellaneous books in the study.
The contents of the books are extremely extensive, from farming to national laws and regulations, everything is included, and some scriptures in this world are even filled with bricks like a whole layer of bookshelves.
This bookcase was made by Fan Xian according to his own style, the style is very simple, each layer inside is filled with Yinzhou's Artemisia grass, this kind of grass can best prevent bookworms from damaging books, it's just that in this world there are only a few people who know about it, so in other mansions it is used as ordinary spices.
After reading books for many years, Fan Xian discovered many shadows of his previous life's learning in those classics, only with some slight differences in the way they were expressed. This realization made him give up the idea of plagiarizing Han Fei, Xunzi, Laozi, Sunzi and other masters to become a great academic master.
No matter what aspect of learning, including poison identification, cultivation, and reading, Fan Xian was very serious, using a calmness and diligence that did not match his age at all, constantly accumulating. Because he understood that he wasn't much different from others, he hadn't arrived in a perfect world with an average IQ of fifty, the advantages he could have were just a little bit of knowledge precipitated by the earth's society, and also the initial moment of awakening was much earlier than ordinary children's enlightenment.
A faint sound came from the oil lamp, a small spark flew out, and it suddenly became brighter. Fan Xian bowed his head to read, gradually falling asleep.
On the second day, after waking up early in the morning and washing up, Fan Xian first went to Grandma's bedroom to pay his respects, then went to the hall for breakfast. Since the assassination attempt, Fan Xian looked at Grandma with a different gaze than before, not only insisting on paying respects every morning as he had done for many years, but also often chatting with Grandma about family matters and telling her some short stories to make her happy.
It is said that one day, the Emperor summoned the Prime Minister, the leaders of the Senate, the head of the Imperial Censorate, the chief eunuch of the palace and a group of high-ranking officials to discuss state affairs in the grand hall. As a result, on that day, a meteor fell from the sky, a meteorite flew down from above, smashing through the roof of the hall, crushing several ministers who were kneeling below. The Emperor hastily summoned the imperial physician to come and treat them, waiting anxiously outside the sickroom. Before long, the physician came out, and the Emperor eagerly asked: "Physician, can the Prime Minister be saved?" The physician shook his head woodenly: "The Prime Minister is beyond saving."
The old lady looked suspicious, not knowing why the child was talking about Kyoto, and she didn't know how many sinister things had happened in her life, so she was always cautious.
"Your Majesty asked again: What about the Minister of Foreign Affairs? The imperial physician shook his head dejectedly: Alas... he can't be saved either. Your Majesty asked again: What about Hong Gonggong? The imperial physician still shook his head. Your Majesty was furious and scolded: Who else is there to save?! The imperial physician's spirit lifted, and he said: Congratulations, Your Majesty! Hong Fu has been saved!"
When she heard the last sentence, the old lady suddenly woke up, laughing so hard that her eyes were about to tear up, pointing at Fan Xian's innocent face and scolding: "You little rascal, if you were in Kyoto, just this joke alone would get you arrested by the Inspectorate."
