Chapter Thirteen: Journeying Alone

  On the way, Fan Xian had arranged for Tong Zi Jing to be in his own carriage, so these words were not avoiding him. He frowned and said: "It's too coincidental. I just entered Kyoto, how could I have conflicts with people, but Si Li followed me all day, and then at the wine shop conflict, King Jing's son happened to be on the second floor of the wine shop. This kind of coincidence is hard to explain."

  Tōyama Kyō smiled and said, "This young master may be a bit rough around the edges, but he's not got any ill intentions in his heart. This kind of thing, the second mistress wouldn't dare to entrust him with it."

  "He continued: 'The second lady has only one son, but he is not good at reading or martial arts. He spends his days eating and drinking, wandering around and showing off, so the second lady looks down on her own son.'"

  Fan Xian's lips curled up in a wry smile: "It's precisely because she knows her own son can't be saved that the Lu family would take such ruthless action against me... It seems all mothers are stubborn. The Lu family... they want to make everyone outside think that Fan family's illegitimate child is just an incompetent young master."

  Tongzi Jing said, "Actually, you may not know that as long as the young master goes out, he will always stir up some trouble. So the second madam lets him follow you out, and there's no need to arrange anything, it will naturally lead you into a dispute."

  "You mean as long as I follow him and show off outside, I will naturally become a spoiled rich kid in the eyes of the world."

  "Not bad," said Fujiko Kyo with a smile: "Mrs. Nita's idea is simple, but it seems to be effective."

  Fan Xian burst out laughing and said, "This Liu family is quite interesting... they actually acknowledged Si Zhui as Pan Moju, so let's just mix everything together into a big mess of black, how interesting!"

  "It's just that I didn't expect the Prince of Jing to be in the tavern too." Fujiwara no Kyō replied, "Young Master handled it properly earlier. Although he seemed to have offended some scholars with his words, all scholars tend to have a bit of an arrogant air about them. People in Kyoto might think Young Master is arrogant, but that's still better than thinking him incompetent."

  "Is creating public opinion really that important?" Fan Xian smiled and said: "Is the Fan family really a fragrant pastry? Is the Liu family really as simple-minded as an ordinary woman?"

  He looked at Fujiko and said, "These are all problems, but actually none of them are my problem."

  Tōyama Kyō curiously asked: "Young master, where is your problem?"

  Fan Xian frowned with his handsome face: "My problem is that until today, I still don't know what my wife looks like before marriage, or if she's really ill to the point of death."

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  The horse carriage stopped at a lane entrance on the side of Tianhe Street. Looking far away, various government offices were still open for business, with buildings of all shapes and sizes flying eaves like phoenixes, pointing to the sky. In the distance, a square and unremarkable house stood there, looking gloomy.

  Fan Xian did not let Tong Zi Jing follow him, although it seemed that the other party had already made up his mind to put his future on this young master's shoulders. However, Fan Xian acknowledged that he was not Song Qi Li and did not have the ability to win people over. After all, he was his father's personal attendant - so there were some things that would not be let him know.

  He confirmed the direction of the Procuratorate in front of a sugar gourd stall, bought one, and walked towards it while biting, making his teeth sour to the point of falling out, and exclaimed that it was delicious.

  He walked into a bookstore, looked around and found that they were all familiar historical books. He called the clerk over and asked in a low voice, "Do you have 'Journey to the West'?"

  The shop assistant's face floated with a strange smile, and he replied in an extremely low voice: "Follow me, sir."

  He didn't avoid people, and in a small compartment next to the main hall, the shop assistant took out a set of books and handed them to Fan Xian. Fan Xian took a look and found it was exactly the same as the version he bought from that aunt earlier today, nodded in satisfaction, and paid the silver.

  "Leave the books for now, someone from the Fan residence will come to collect them later." The previous book had already been taken back to the residence by his sister, and these few books were too heavy to carry around, so Fan Xian planned to have one of the servants from the residence come to collect them later.

  The shopkeeper hesitated and asked: "Which Fan family?"

  "House of the Duke of Southern Yan." Fan Xian thought, could there be many more houses like this? He really didn't know that the Fan family was originally a large clan in the capital, and the House of the Duke of Southern Yan was just a side branch. It was only because of the old lady's influence over the past decade or so that it had become the most famous household in the Fan clan.

  The shop assistant replied with a bow and put the book away on the counter.

  Fan Xian casually asked a few more questions about how the book was selling, and after getting an answer, he silently cursed the pirated book merchant in his heart. The store clerk saw that this customer had bought the book but didn't leave immediately, so he smiled and chatted with him for a while.

  In this question and answer session, Fan Xian's ear tips moved slightly, almost imperceptibly.

  He smiled and chatted with the shop assistant while slowly mobilizing his true energy, and his hearing suddenly became more acute. He immediately found the sound he was looking for in the quiet environment of the bookstore.

  Two breathing sounds different from those of ordinary people.

  The breathing sound was extremely long and distant, clearly a person with true energy. Fan Xian knew that this should be the person his father had sent to protect or monitor him, and furrowed his brow.

  The shop assistant saw the guest suddenly frowning, although she thought that this beautiful young person's frown was also very beautiful, but thought she had said something wrong and couldn't help feeling a little nervous.

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  He emerged from the back door of the bookstore, and Fan Xian confirmed that the two followers behind him should have been successfully shaken off. He was slightly proud, thinking that the skills he had learned from Fei Jie in his youth, except for poisoning, were finally useful.

  As the crowd walked along the bluestone road on Tianhe Street, they looked around at the buildings on both sides of the street. These buildings were antique and elegant, especially in front of them, there was a gentle stream on each side of the road. If you want to go into those government offices from the road, you still need to cross that small wooden bridge over the stream.

  The water is as calm as a mirror, reflecting the shadow of the small bridge and the branches of the green trees stretching to the surface of the water. It looks very quiet and beautiful. Occasionally, petals from distant peach blossoms blown by the wind float on the surface of the water, drifting slowly.

  He walked along the path, his eyes gazing at the flowing water beneath his feet, a gentle smile spreading across his lips. Having been in Kyoto for several days, he couldn't help but think about complicated things and how far they were from his original intention in life, which made him feel mentally exhausted. At this moment, being cleansed by the clear spring scenery of Kyoto, he suddenly felt much better spiritually.

  As he arrived at the entrance of the Inspectorate, looking at this building made of bluestone and grey rock, Fan Xian furrowed his brow, thinking that this government office was too ugly, not matching with those ancient, elegant buildings around it. But as soon as he thought of Fei Jie's really unimpressive face, he reluctantly admitted that indeed, some people match their buildings.

  As he walked into the building, Fan Xian found it somewhat strange that the officials and ordinary people passing by were all looking at him, or rather, they were looking at him with a very peculiar gaze.

  He carefully looked himself up and down, making sure there was nothing that could attract attention, before lifting his head - but the curious gazes around him didn't change in the slightest.