Chapter Sixteen I'll give you the kitchen knife

  But between the lines of the letter, there was always a hint of melancholy that didn't quite match Fan Ruo's age. It seemed that after the death of the madam in Kyoto Prefecture, the aunt who had given birth to a son became more and more arrogant, and the little girl was left alone in Kyoto, with her father busy with official duties, so her days might have been a bit problematic.

  He picked up his pen, dipped it in some ink, and after a moment's thought, began to write back. In the letter, he wrote very implicitly, telling his sister to first try to spend more time with Marquis South, to appear weak and lovely in front of their father, never complaining, but occasionally revealing a hint of resentment.

  The second step is to show off in front of that aunt and the arrogant younger brother, as the saying goes, "good people are often bullied", if you want not to be bullied, at least you have to show your intention to fight back.

  The third step is to be nicer to the servants at home, especially those of Earl Sarno's staff, and to adopt that pure and innocent look, watching Uncle show off his tedious admiration.

  Then, slightly offend the current mistress of Kyoto Prefecture as much as possible, suffer a little, and then find a way to let the master know about this matter - any man will have an inexplicable protective desire, not to mention his own daughter. Believing that under the influence of those around him, Count Sannan will surely remember that his deceased wife left him with a daughter.

  But this kind of home wrist also needs to grasp the degree, Fan Xian casually made two dark sentences, thinking that if Ruo Ruo is smart enough, she should understand her own meaning, and doesn't know whether this self-taught trick from past life will be useful.

  He anxiously waited for a reply, afraid that his reckless decision would bring trouble to the eleven-year-old girl.

  Two months later, Fan Ruoruo's reply came back. It was unclear whether these tactics had taken effect or if the Kyoto government had never had a so-called stepmother abusing daughter incident to begin with. In any case, Fan Xian could very clearly see that his sister had been very happy recently.

  In the letter, Fan Ruoruo asked in confusion why she should be kind to the servants at home. Fan Xian then came to his senses and realized that not everyone viewed relationships between people in the same way as he did in a society with such strict social hierarchy. So he wrote another letter, telling a few small stories to illustrate that respecting others was beneficial not only to them but also to oneself.

  Fan Xian had originally intended to copy a few stories from "The Decameron" into the letter he was sending to Kyoto, as he recalled that authoritative commentators had always praised Boccaccio for extolling love and advocating social equality and gender equality in his book. However, upon further reflection, Fan Xian became increasingly uneasy, remembering that there were indeed many erotic passages in "The Decameron".

  This was a small episode in Fan Xian's life, but it gave him a sense of spiritual dependence. It seemed that whether the little girl in Kyoto lived well or not had also become an indicator of his happiness index.

  Far away in Kyoto, Fan Ruoruo was still young, but she could also sense from these letters that the brother far away in Danzhou was different from ordinary children. This pair of siblings with a huge psychological age gap corresponded like this, and it's clear that Fan Ruoruo had been influenced by Fan Xian to some extent. The language and tone used in her letters were much more mature than those of an average little girl, and she began to have some very subtle changes in the way she viewed the world.

  In spring, there are kites; in summer, fish; in autumn, green birds; and in winter, geese. With letters going back and forth, the days pass by like this.

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  Every time Fan Xian wrote a letter to Fan Ruoruo, he couldn't help but smile wryly and shake his head. His arm had been in constant pain over the years, either swollen or aching like needles piercing through it. Sometimes his right hand was too weak to lift, so he would use his left hand to write, which led to Fan Ruoruo in Kyoto being astonished by her brother's meticulousness, changing handwriting with every letter.

  It all started on that night six years ago.

  After Fei Lao left, Xiao Fan was very lonely. One evening, he secretly crawled out of the dog hole and came to that strange, often closed grocery store outside. He found the back door familiarly, took the key from under the thick grass leaves at the corner of the stone steps, opened the door and went in.

  The grocery store was originally pitch black, until Fan Xian arrived at the back door, when a weak oil lamp inside was lit. Little Fan Xian sniffed and easily found the yellow wine prepared for him by Wu Zhu, smiled sweetly, and took a bowl to drink on his own.

  Wu Zhu didn't drink, and Fan Xian hadn't even seen him eat, so he was already used to it. Drinking alone by himself, but this scene looked a bit absurd, a six-year-old boy actually drinking like a heroic wandering swordsman, whoever saw it would think they were seeing things.

  But Wu Zhuo let Fan Xian drink as he pleased, never interfering with his intentions, and even began to prepare a few small dishes to accompany the wine.

  Although he was drinking yellow wine, after drinking too much, he still felt a bit dizzy. Fan Xian squinted his cute drunken eyes and looked at the blind man whose face had no expression, seemingly forever young: "Uncle, why is it that for so many years, your appearance hasn't changed? It's as if you won't age."

  He continued to ask himself: "It seems that an invincible strong man can really stay young forever... However, you haven't practiced internal strength before, have you?"

  "Uncle, how many truly formidable people are there in this world? How are they ranked?"

  " Ninth rank? How is it ninth again?" The little guy who was drunk with excitement didn't even notice the slip-up in his own words.

  "What's your level?"

  "What's wrong?"

  "What level is the white idiot who practices the Four Directions Sword in Dongyi City?"

  "Is there no class?"

  "What level is Ye Liu Yun, the master's uncle of Kyoto?"

  "Still no level?"

  Actually all of these words were Fan Xian asking himself questions. In the end he chuckled and said, "That won't do, I also want to cultivate until I reach no level."

  The blind man, Wu Zhu's hand was slowly and steadily cutting the radish threads. His knife moved quickly, but the blade would withdraw as soon as it touched the wooden board, with an accuracy that was terrifying to behold. The cut radish threads were all of uniform thickness, as if they had been measured with a tool, not differing by a single hair. They lay on the chopping board, glistening and beautiful.

  Wu Zhu lifted his head, hesitated for a moment, walked over to Fan Xian's side and handed him the kitchen knife.