Chapter 35: Spring of the Fourth Year of Qingli

  This was the first time Wu Zhu had seen his uncle, Wu Zhang, smile, or rather, it was the first time 16-year-old Fan Xian saw his uncle, Wu Zhang, smile at the moment he mentioned his mother.

  Wu Zhi's face outside the black cloth was not old, but always icy and rarely showed emotions, and it was even harder to see expressions of horror, sadness, or sorrow.

  There is no smile at all.

  So when he recalled the past with Miss when they first arrived in Kyoto, Qingguo, his lips curled up slightly, looking a bit awkward and stiff. But even so, it seemed that the person who never smiled, occasionally revealed tenderness, as if in the thousand-year-old ice that had not melted on the cliff, suddenly bloomed a beautiful snow lotus flower.

  Gentle beyond compare, beautiful beyond compare.

  ……

  ……

  It wasn't easy to wake up from my daze, but Wu Zhu had already returned to normal and replied calmly: "Not many people know that the young lady's name is Ye Qingmei. Those other idle people just call her 'young lady', but the name Ye Qingmei... even now, I think it's still quite famous in Kyoto."

  "Is that so?" Fan Xian's eyes widened, he felt that Wu Zhu's words were somewhat contradictory. If not many people knew that his mother was called Ye Qingmei, why was the name Ye Qingmei still quite famous? The reason he thought this way was because he didn't know about the stone tablet at the entrance of the Supervision Office, with those golden shining words and the signature.

  "Tell me about my father." Fan Xian's eyes flickered, lost in thought.

  "I only agreed to talk about Miss's affairs."

  "Hmm, you're quite sly, Takeru classmate."

  "I had a severe illness before you were born and forgot many things."

  Fan Xian covered his mouth and laughed: "Uncle is even more cunning than me... Hmm, never mind, let's talk about something else... What does that mother look like?"

  Wu Zhu thought for a moment and said: "Very beautiful."

  Although his tone of voice didn't carry too much complex emotion, Fan Xian always thought that Wu Zhu was very sincere when he said those three words. He smiled slightly and rubbed his hands together, sighing: "It turns out she's a beautiful girl."

  ……

  ……

  Although Wu Zhuo's storytelling skills were extremely poor, Fan Xian could still sense from the simple words that the story of the woman in Kyoto back then must have been very colorful. A strong urge arose in his heart to go to Kyoto, he had to go to Kyoto.

  Wu Zhu made a gesture with his hand, indicating that Fan Xian should get up and follow him.

  Fan Xian got up curiously and walked to the end of the room, watching as Wu Zhu lightly pressed a few times on the stone wall, which suddenly emitted a faint sound, then split open from the middle, revealing a secret room inside!

  Fan Xian followed Wu Zhuo into the room in surprise. The secret room was empty, with a thin layer of dust on the ground and a box carelessly placed in the corner.

  Because the room was empty except for this box, it was very eye-catching. It was a black leather trunk, about the length of an adult's arm, not very wide, so it looked relatively long and thin.

  "No one knows that before Miss and I went to Kyoto, we had stayed in Hanzhou for a while. This box was left behind by Miss, and I have been keeping it for you until now. From now on, you keep it yourself."

  Fan Xian's heart slightly stirred as he walked forward, using his hand to wipe away the dust from the black leather trunk. He looked at the opening of the box and found a cover similar to brass, covering the lock.

  He was very curious about what his mother had left for herself, but unexpectedly, after flipping through it for half a day, he found that the lid couldn't be twisted open, and this box simply couldn't be opened.

  "No key." Wu Zhu reminded him, seeing how busy he was.

  Fan Xian hung his head and said: "If you didn't say it earlier, what's the use of giving me a box that can't be opened?"

  "Before bringing you to Dantzhou, I had to leave the key there because some people needed to believe you were already dead."

  Fan Xian thought to himself that this trick was a bit too old, raised an eyebrow, took out the slender dagger from the scabbard on his calf, aimed at the top of the trunk and pondered where it would be easiest to strike.

  "Don't try it, this box is much sturdier than you think."

  It was clear that Wu Zhuo strongly opposed the violent opening, so Fan Xian smiled and stopped his actions, putting away his dagger. He patted the box and shook his head, sighing: "Maybe there are tens of thousands of taels of silver bills inside, what a pity, what a pity."

  Then he picked up the box and tried its weight, finding it still quite heavy, his curiosity couldn't help but weigh a few more times.

  "Where is the key?"

  Kyoto.

  Another very general answer.

  Wu Zhu turned around and prepared to leave the secret room. Seeing that he didn't notice him, Fan Xian's eyes rolled twice, his right elbow slightly bent, and a palm print was suddenly imprinted on the top of the box. This palm contained all his strength, majestic and powerful, breaking through the air and falling down.

  A loud "bang" echoed through the room, stirring up a cloud of dust that obscured more than half of the oil lamp's light.

  Wu Zhu's figure turned coldly around and looked at Fan Xian.

  Fan Xian was staring at his palm in shock, while the black box had no trace left on it except for some dust.

  It seems that in order to open this mysterious box, I must go to Kyoto.

  Fan Xian thought to himself, planning when he could leave Danzhou. His father in Kyoto probably wouldn't keep him by the sea "retired" forever.

  At this time, he did not know that the person sent by Earl Sannan to pick him up was already on the road.

  ———————————————————————————

  In the spring of the fourth year of Qingli, Teng Zijing sat in the only tavern in the port of Danzhou, wiping the sweat from his forehead and staring at one wall of the tavern.

  On the wall hung a piece of paper, made of high-quality materials, with many words written in small script. The handwriting was clearly that of Pan Ling, a great calligrapher from the Wenshuguan Hall, elegant and divine, upright and pure.

  If it were in Kyoto, a piece of this size by Master Pan would sell for at least three hundred taels of silver. Since we are in a remote place like Taniguchi Port, it's only fitting to have it properly mounted and displayed on the wall as if it were an object of worship.

  The content written on this is indeed very unsuitable for decorating a gate.

  Because the above-mentioned are some messy messages, yes, this is the legendary newspaper. The entire Dangzhou Port only has two newspapers, and the one from the parents' official is naturally placed in the government office. The tavern owner got his hands on this one, which was secretly bought at a high price from the earl's servant.

  Ordinary people can't see this novelty, so they think it's especially mysterious. Since it was written by Lord Pan Ling himself, the tavern owner bought it and hung it on the wall as his own treasure.

  He didn't know that this newspaper was stolen by Fan Dashi and sold, and Fan Dashi had already sold more than 20 copies to wealthy merchants in the city, making a good profit.

  Tōyama Kyō was about to go meet this Mr. Fan Da.

  ……

  ……

  Today's been busy and exhausting, so just this one chapter for now. After all, I did three chapters yesterday, sigh... piecework is really troublesome. Next week, I'll be recommending on Sanjiang, and I'll try to update three chapters a day, making a small explosion... everyone please support me with more votes when the time comes, bowing out.