The rain continued to fall. The umbrellas among the pedestrians in the alley were like a few pitiful flowers blooming.
Fan Xian smiled slightly and glanced at this impetuous young man. He found that the other party was already drenched, so he didn't say anything. If the other party really was a bad person, in that instant, Fan Xian had at least five ways to immediately incapacitate the other party.
Clearly, he was just a poor scholar buying roast chicken to make up for the banquet. Fan Xian didn't stop. He raised his umbrella and walked forward. He walked confidently, and the young man who had squeezed into the umbrella also walked confidently. Without a word, he stood to Fan Xian's right and used his cloth umbrella to block the sky above his head. His demeanor was calm as he followed.
Like this, they walked dozens of steps under the umbrella. Fan Xian increasingly felt that the young man's temperament was rather cute. If he was a normal scholar, he wouldn't have so rashly squeezed under someone else's umbrella. Furthermore, he walked silently for dozens of steps without a trace of discomfort. So he tilted his head slightly and carefully looked him over. He found that the young man's appearance was rather ordinary. However, his eyebrows were very thick. It was as if someone had used a brush to paint them thickly.
Teng Zijing followed two steps behind.
The two people under the umbrella continued to walk silently. It was unclear whether they were competing in patience or something else. In the end, it was Fan Xian who smiled and asked, "I said earlier that it was inappropriate. What was inappropriate?"
Seeing that the owner of the umbrella had spoken, the young scholar smiled politely and said, "If an official is corrupt, he naturally won't put his mind on political affairs. If you want a corrupt official to be capable, I'm afraid this in itself is a very laughable matter."
Fan Xian smiled and found that the umbrella could not hold the two of them. The young scholar's right shoulder was already wet. So he quietly shifted the umbrella over to the other side and replied, "Even if a corrupt official is negligent in political affairs, it is still better than someone who doesn't know anything and blindly messes around after becoming an official."
The young scholar raised his eyebrows as if he didn't understand. "As long as he is willing to work, it is better than neglecting political affairs."
Fan Xian's hand tightened around the umbrella handle. He shook his head and said, "If a river dike is not repaired, it will probably break every few years. If an honest official who doesn't know how to work the river works blindly repairs the dikes, perhaps there will be a few quarrels every year. Do you think the commoners living along the river hope that the county is an incompetent and diligent official, or an incompetent and lazy corrupt official? "
The young scholar was momentarily at a loss for words. After a long while, he chuckled and said, "I'm afraid this is also a special case. There are always some things that a government official must do, such as measuring the fields and distributing grain, providing disaster relief to the people, and adjudicating cases and prisons. If he is a lazy official, I'm afraid that his administration will also be in a mess."
Fan Xian smiled and said, "So, the key lies in ability, not purity or greed."
Actually, this view of his was not necessarily correct. It could be said that he had been influenced by the official novels of his previous life. But this kind of argument was quite fresh among the people of the Kingdom of Qing. The young scholar who shared the umbrella with him couldn't help but be interested. He asked, "If an official has ability but is extremely corrupt, does the court just let him be?"
For some reason, when Fan Xian heard this, he thought of his own father-in-law, the famous evil prime minister of the Kingdom of Qing, Lin Ruofu. Everyone knew of his greed, but His Majesty knew of his ability, and so he continued to use him. Thinking of the young scholar's question again, he could only shake his head and say, "Governing officials is a difficult and complicated matter. There is no simple and effective way. But if we only ask for the court's supervision and self-cultivation, then we can extravagantly hope that the officialdom will be clean and tidy. "
"If the court strengthens its supervision, can't it prevent corruption?" The young scholar frowned, his thick eyebrows squeezed together like rafters. "Let's say that Guo You, the Minister of Rites, has already been imprisoned. If the Overwatch Council had been like this a few years ago, the atmosphere in the exam hall would have been corrupted to what it is today."
Fan Xian actually didn't have much of an opinion on politics, but deep in his bones he was not afraid of harming the country. His interest was piqued, and he continued, "If Director Chen of the Overwatch Council bribed Guo You and allowed his nephew to be recorded as a first-class official, then who do you think will supervise this matter?"
The young scholar didn't think much of it. "Of course there will be His Majesty, who is as sharp as lightning."
Fan Xian was even more unconvinced. "How could it be so easy for one person to rule the world?" In fact, he knew that the Emperor must have some secret means to keep the Overwatch Council in check and balance. These means might even include the power that his father had never revealed. But some of the inexperienced political ideas of his previous life made Fan Xian scoff at the Emperor's work. He never thought that the Emperor, who saw the world as a juicy piece of meat in a bowl, would have the spirit to care about all the injustices in the officialdom.
Casually talking, the two under the umbrella arrived outside an inn. The young scholar smiled warmly. "Thank you for your gift, Master. I have arrived."
Fan Xian tilted the umbrella to one side and glanced at the name of the inn. Coincidentally, it was also the place he was looking for. He smiled. "I'll go in with you. I'm going to the inn to find someone."
The name of the inn was very common, but also very common — Tongfu Inn.
When he entered the inn with the young scholar, he learned that his name was Shi Chanli, who was also an examinee entering the capital. But it was not convenient for Fan Xian to say his name, so he only told the other that his surname was Fan.
"Who are you looking for, Master Fan?" Only now did Shi Chanli realize from the young man's clothing that he must be the son of an influential family. His words were not as unrestrained as they had been under the umbrella, but more reserved. "I'm here to visit a friend. It's not convenient for us to talk. If fate wills it, we will meet again."
Having said this, he bowed to Fan Xian and walked to the corner of the inn's front hall. There was a wine table there. Next to the table were two people who looked like students competing with each other. Next to them was someone who was already drunk and unconscious, sleeping on the table. Seeing that there were no dishes on the table, it seemed that they were waiting for Shi Chanli's roast chicken.
Fan Xian squinted and saw that the drunk person at the table was Yang Wanli, whom he had come to visit. He smiled and followed Shi Chanli to the table.
Shi Chanli didn't know that Fan Xian was still behind him. He put the roast chicken, wrapped in oil paper, on the table and laughed at the two people who had stopped competing. "Hou Jichang," he said, "you called me to bring food, but you didn't leave me some wine."
Hou Jichang smiled and said, "This wine of mine is a low-quality wine that I bought from the alley earlier. Although the taste is not good, the quantity is sufficient. Let me introduce you, this is the scholar from Shandong Road, Cheng Jialin. Just as he reached out his hand in Cheng Jialin's direction, he was surprised to find a smiling, handsome young man standing behind Shi Chanli. This young man looked somewhat familiar.
"Brother Shi, who is this?" Hou Jichang asked.
Shi Chanli was startled. He turned his head to find that Fan Xian had followed him to the wine table. "Master Fan," he said with a wry smile, "I only borrowed half an umbrella. There's no need to charge me for shelter from the rain."
Fan Xian could see that Shi Chanli was somewhat afraid of him. He guessed that Fan Xian was from a rich family and didn't dare to get too close to him. So he smiled and said, "I wouldn't dare charge you. I'm just a bit hungry for the roast chicken you brought."
Shi Chanli said helplessly, "Master Fan, aren't you looking for someone?"
"You can wear out iron shoes in fruitless search, but by chance you'll find it without any effort." Fan Xian smiled. When he first met Sheng Yan on the banks of the Liujing River, he had said these words, but there had been no reaction. But today, he used it on these scholars, and sure enough, Hou Jichang and the others immediately understood what he meant. They were very interested and asked, "Master Fan, are you looking for us?"
Fan Xian pointed at the drunk Yang Wanli and said, "Master Yang and I are old friends, so I've come to pay a visit."
Hou Jichang laughed. "I've never heard of Wanli having such a generous friend in the capital. Come, come, Master Fan, please sit. Here is some wine and roast chicken. I'm glad you don't mind." Shi Chanli had always liked Fan Xian's way of talking, and seeing that he was a friend of a friend, he didn't put on airs and offered his seat.
On the other side, Cheng Jialin had been trying to wake Yang Wanli up, and he couldn't help but smile at Fan Xian. Fan Xian was curious about something else. He cupped his hands and bowed to Hou Jichang. "How should I address you, brother?"
"Hou Jichang."
"Master Hou, why are you so sure that I'm a generous young master?" Hearing the name Jichang, Fan Xian couldn't help but want to laugh. "I don't think I'm born fat," he said. "One look and you can tell that I'm a person who eats his fill and has nothing better to do."
Hou Jichang smiled and apologized, saying: "Gongzi's clothes are worth a lot of money, how can an ordinary scholar afford to wear it. As for the word 'generous', it's just that we're used to it. I hope you don't mind. "He felt that this young man looked familiar, but his vision was a bit blurry from the alcohol, so he couldn't remember.
"Not at all, not at all." Fan Xian smiled warmly and sat down at the table. Scholars were free and easy, and they didn't care too much about an uninvited guest. Yang Wanli wouldn't wake up for a while anyway, so other than Cheng Jialin, who urged Fan Xian to drink a few cups, Hou Jichang and Shi Chanli began to compete with each other as if no one else was present. Before they'd had enough, they began to discuss the Dao again.
This was not the mysterious Dao, but the Dao of a country's economy and people's livelihood. Fan Xian picked up a chicken leg and slowly nibbled on it while listening to the two debate. He found that Hou Jichang's way of thinking leaned towards the school of Legalism. He placed great emphasis on the law, while Shi Chanli was a sentimental person who placed great emphasis on education.
But in the end, the one leaning towards the school of Legalism wasn't blindly demanding, and the one who placed great emphasis on education wasn't blindly admonishing. They really were two very clear-eyed scholars. Occasionally, when he talked about the political affairs of the various counties, he would analyze them carefully and not just talk about them in general. He was not like other scholars who always focused on the word 'world', but he did not know that the word 'world' was much broader than the eyes of the vast majority of people in the world.
The more Fan Xian listened, the more pleased he became. Hou Jichang's name was one of the names he'd written down. It seemed that he had a good eye. But this Shi Chanli's temperament was warm and easy. How come he had no impression of him in the exam hall?
As he was feeling pleased with himself, he suddenly heard the gentle Shi Chanli slam the table and angrily say, "In the end, it's all that Sir Fan junior's fault!"
Fan Xian couldn't help but be surprised.
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