Only a few pieces of snow remained on the pavilion on the other side of the lake. They were warmly and thinly divided into countless white pieces. It was as if many patches had been added to the dark pavilion. The snow in Jingdou stopped on the 29th of the twelfth lunar month. Within three days, the servants in King Jing's manor had long swept all the snow from the grass on this side of the lake.
However, the weather was cold, so there were no fresh and tender blades of grass on the grass. There were only white grass that had stiffened after death. Yet, no one took care of it. It appeared rather desolate.
Fan Xian followed quietly behind King Jing. They walked into the depths of the garden, but his gaze lingered on King Jing's slightly hunched back.
After entering the manor, Minister Fan came out and blocked King Jing's offensive of dirty words. It was lively for a while, but before he even saw Rou Jia and Hongcheng, King Jing suddenly suggested that Fan Xian follow him for a walk. Although Fan Xian wasn't sure what the King's intention was with this suggestion, seeing his father secretly nod his head, he let him go.
Along the way, there wasn't much scenery in the garden. Even the vegetable fields that King Jing served day and night were just a few pools of mud. King Jing walked in front and didn't speak, so Fan Xian could only follow in silence. As he examined the King's back, his thoughts had long floated elsewhere.
This King was not normal. The history books had seen this kind of self-restrained and even self-defiling absurd Kings. However, it was rare to see a noble like King Jing who did it so straightforwardly and truly had no desire for power.
Particularly with his old appearance, no one knew what kind of mental blow he had experienced in the past.
The two of them stopped by the vegetable fields. King Jing said in a raspy voice, "The first time I saw you, it was in this vegetable garden."
Fan Xian thought of that poetry gathering and how he was always a guest in the sorrowful autumn. He thought of how his mind had been filled with lewdness at the time of seeing a smiling white-clothed woman in the vegetable field and then seeing a farmer. He couldn't resist laughing and replied, "You always like to tease the younger generation."
"I'm not the only one who grows vegetables in the capital," King Jing said.
Fan Xian was startled, thinking that this was not nonsense. Although Jingdou was wealthy, there were still many poor commoners. It was common for these commoners to grow vegetables under the walls of their courtyards to supplement their daily diet. But since King Jing had said so, he naturally had his reasons, so Fan Xian listened quietly.
"That old guy from the Qin family also likes to grow vegetables, but he only grows cabbages and carrots." King Jing said with a hint of mockery, "Soldiers only know how to fill their stomachs. They don't know that growing vegetables is also an art."
Fan Xian's heart jumped. He carefully thought over the prince's words and didn't know how to respond for a moment.
King Jing walked into the muddy vegetable field and put his hands on his waist. He looked at the desolate scenery around him. After a moment of silence, he said, "Have you found out who did the attack in the valley?"
Fan Xian closed his mouth tightly. Of course, he knew that the attack in the valley had been single-handedly arranged by the old killing god of the military, the old Qin Master. The problem was, this was presently Qing Kingdom's biggest secret. Other than Chen Pingping and himself, presumably not many people knew. King Jing had first talked about the old Qin Master growing vegetables and now he was talking about the attack in the valley. Was he hinting at something?
But, King Jing often did not ask about political affairs and did not have any deep connections with the civil and military officials of the court. What right did he have to say that the attack in the valley was done by the old Qin family?
However, King Jing did not say anything, so Fan Xian did not know if his guess was correct. Furthermore, he could not tell the other party about the Qin family because it involved the deepest of secrets. He could only smile bitterly and say, "The court has been investigating this entire time, and the Council is also investigating. We only know that it has something to do with the military. However, the witness is already dead. There are no clues at all."
King Jing turned his head to glance at him as if surprised by his indifference. He thought that the kid did not understand his meaning. He huffed angrily and said, "Idiot!"
Fan Xian smiled bitterly and thought to himself, in this kind of matter, couldn't he pretend to be stupid?
"The city-guarding crossbow is the Ye family's." King Jing stared into Fan Xian's eyes. "But, don't forget about the Qin family."
The prince's words were too direct. Fan Xian couldn't pretend anymore even if he wanted to. Other than the suspicion in his heart, he was also particularly moved. This old man was too good to him. He furrowed his brows and said, "I have no enmity with the Qin family."
The prince huffed and didn't continue to say anything. Lifting his feet, he walked out of the mud vegetable patch and headed deeper into the garden.
Fan Xian looked at his back and vaguely guessed something. The reason the prince dared to guess that the Qin family would act was certainly because of what happened back then. However, the connection between the Qin family and the Taiping Courtyard murder case was a secret that even his father did not know. Even Chen Pingping had only found out after a dozen years of investigation.
How did the prince know?
Thinking of this, hot blood surged in Fan Xian's heart. He didn't care anymore. He caught up and grabbed King Jing's sleeve.
King Jing started and slowly turned his head.
Fan Xian looked at him and said sincerely, "What exactly happened back then? Why did no one under heaven know that the Qin family was involved? Why was this matter not brought to light when Jingdou bled that night? "
…
…
"You ask too many questions," King Jing sighed and said. King Jing sighed and said, "Although I'm just an idle King who doesn't do proper work, you have to remember that I'm still a member of the royal family … As for why I know what the two old fellows behind you don't know, the reason is very simple. It's because I was still young back then, and I was still with my mother."
The corners of the prince's brows twitched. He revealed a mischievous smile. "I was young and always liked to hide and seek everywhere. So, sometimes it was easy to overhear things. As for what I overheard, no one else knows in all these years."
Fan Xian forced a smile and stopped. The prince's willingness to point out the Qin family was already a sign of unusual love for him. However, if that matter involved the empress dowager, who was the prince's own mother, how could he continue?
"Yunrui was young at the time. This matter had nothing to do with her." King Jing was silent for a moment and then suddenly said, "I still want to make this clear to you. You've followed Fan Jian and the Overwatch Council since you were young and learned a lot. However, there are many things that have also become laughable."
At this moment, the old and the young stood on the cold ridge of the field. Not far away was the wall of King Jing's manor. Outside the wall was the unchanging and bleak sky of Jingdou. Fan Xian listened to the prince's words beside him and felt incomparably warm in his heart.
"What matter?"
"Regardless of whether it is Chen Pingping, that old dog, or your father, they are both masters of scheming. Thus, they always like to make things very complicated. Most importantly, they don't trust anyone, and the one they trust the least is each other." King Jing smiled coldly. "This is the stupidest thing. Chen Pingping even suspected Yunrui in the past. He didn't think about how old Yunrui was at that time."
Fan Xian forced a smile. The mutual suspicion and wariness between his father and Chen Pingping had existed ever since his mother's death and had grown deeper and deeper. It had only improved after he had entered the capital.
"I've swallowed the matter of the old Qin family for so long. Today, I'm telling you not for you to take revenge," King Jing said calmly. King Jing calmly said, "I just feel that you have offended the military enough. Our Qing Kingdom has always been founded on the military. If you don't know who your true enemy in the military is, I am worried that you will die casually."
King Jing said the words "casually" very seriously. He didn't want anyone else to die casually like this anymore.
Fan Xian bowed to the ground and then straightened his body. He asked the question he cared about the most.
"Sir, why are you so good to me?"
…
…
Hearing these words, King Jing suddenly froze. After a long time, he suddenly laughed. His laughter grew louder and louder, sharper and more mournful. He laughed until his stomach hurt. He squatted on the ridge of the field and held his abdomen, unable to raise his head for a moment.
Fan Xian's mind was in a mess. He stood woodenly to the side and looked at the prince beside him. He looked at the white hair on his head that did not match his actual age fluttering in the cold wind. He looked at the tears squeezed out of the corners of his eyes because of his smile.
After a long time, King Jing straightened his body and furrowed his brows in thought. He then said, "I also don't know."
He then walked down the ridge of the field.
Fan Xian continued to follow silently behind him.
"The Emperor and I were both raised by my mother," King Jing said calmly. His face had long recovered its usual weathered calmness. "At that time, King Cheng's manor was not very eye-catching. It didn't have much status in Jingdou, so my brother and I could still play around. Your father followed us every day. Additionally, there was Chen Pingping, the study companion that the palace had invited. The four of us mingled together every day. I was the youngest, so I was the most bullied.
"Later, my brother and Chen Pingping went to my mother's old home in Danzhou to play. After they came back, they happily said that they had met an interesting girl there." King Jing smiled. "Not long after, that girl arrived in Jingdou and found King Cheng's manor."
Fan Xian also smiled. "That was my mother."
"Yes." King Jing leisurely thought about the past. "I remember when I was young, I pestered your mother every day to play. Yes, at the time, I called her Sister Yezi … your mother loved me very much, so my brother could not let Chen Pingping bully me anymore. This was very good."
The old and the young talked as they walked. In a moment, they had arrived outside a study. Although Fan Xian wanted to listen more to King Jing talk about the past, he still put his attention on the study because it was clear that few people came to this study. King Jing liked to grow vegetables and did not like to read.
King Jing pushed open the door and entered. In a raspy voice, he said, "Sit."
Fan Xian did not brush away the dust on the seat and sat down calmly.
King Jing rummaged through the bookcase for a while and finally found a thick book. He handed it to Fan Xian and said, "Read."
Fan Xian accepted it with both hands. He glanced at the cover and saw that it was a book on agronomy. He couldn't help glancing at King Jing gloomily.
King Jing was silent for a moment and then said, "Concerning your mother, I don't have much to say. You asked me why I was so good to you … actually, that's not right. I wasn't good enough to you. At least, I was kept in the dark by them for almost 20 years."
King Jing slowly walked out of the study and faced Fan Xian with his slightly slumped back. His voice was slightly dispirited. "I always thought she had no descendants."
— — —
Fan Xian sat on the dusty chair and casually flipped through the thick book on agronomy. In his heart, he was thinking about what King Jing had said earlier. In reality, he could faintly capture King Jing's thoughts. It was a touch of youth and bitterness that could not be verbalized, but a thought that he remembered for a lifetime.
When a young man was just beginning to grow and there was a gentle, beautiful, all-powerful, and all-accepting sister by his side, it was hard to avoid a story like this happening.
When he had been reborn into this world, he was already a mature soul. In his previous life, how could he not have had such an experience? Which man had not had such an experience? However, for normal people, after they grew up, there would always be truly sweet fruits that would fill in their spiritual world.
King Jing's normal experience of growing up was clearly interrupted by the great history of the Qing Kingdom. The Ye family was destroyed overnight, but King Jing could not be angry and had nowhere to be angry. Thus, his hair turned gray early, and his figure was slightly slender. He only respected the fields and not the palace.
Fan Xian's fingers flipped through the slightly yellow pages of the book. Suddenly, his fingers froze.
He saw a few thin pieces of paper stuck in the thick book. His heart jumped. He quickly flipped through the book and found a few more thin pieces of paper.
The handwriting on the paper was strange and yet familiar. The writer's brush was clearly not good enough. The strokes were straight and stiff, like a matchstick building block.
The contents of the paper were not out of Fan Xian's expectations. It recorded some suggestions from someone to someone else, such as the Overwatch Council and the matter of merchants. There were also a few notes about what they wanted to eat that day and where they planned to play the next day.
Fan Xian smiled and said to himself as he looked at the pieces of paper, "The other things you wrote have probably all been burned by the people of this world. Who would have thought that the little boy from back then would still have a few left behind."
He tilted his head and said, "However, your handwriting really isn't as good as mine. Furthermore, your strength is focused on the big parts and not the small parts. If you're not used to using a brush, then use a goose feather. Oh, right, I opened a small workshop in the palace treasury that specializes in making pencils. In these things, I'm much smarter than you …"
After a moment of silence, Fan Xian thought about it and put the pieces of paper into his clothes. Presumably, King Jing also needed this kind of relief. He stood up with a peaceful smile on his face and walked out of the study.
… …
King Jing was not outside the study. Fan Xian had come to this manor many times and did not need a serving girl to lead the way. With his hands behind his back, he swayed and swayed until he arrived outside a row of large rooms. This row of rooms formed an independent little courtyard. On the courtyard door hung a large copper lock.
Fan Xian looked at this lock and couldn't resist smiling. Walking up the steps, he knocked heavily on the door and yelled, "If you don't open the door, I'm leaving."
"Don't go! Don't go! "
A series of urgent shouts came from the courtyard. Someone quickly ran over. The large wooden door made a thud. That person must have hit the door. From this, one could imagine the person's urgency.
The door opened a small crack. Fan Xian narrowed his eyes and looked in. He couldn't help but jump in fright. He found that there was also an eye looking out from the other side. There were clearly a few patches of eye wax at the corners of the person's eyes. His hair was messy, and he looked extremely haggard.
"Damn it!" Fan Xian spat.
"You're the ghost!" Locked in the room, Crown Prince Jing, Li Hongcheng, let loose a torrent of abuse. "Hurry up and fish me out!"
Fan Xian saw that he was truly pitiful and couldn't help but sigh. However, before he could finish sighing, he laughed again and scolded, "His Highness locked you up. How am I supposed to fish you out?"
"Go plead for mercy for the old man!" Li Hongcheng was about to go crazy from being locked up. It wasn't easy to see someone who wasn't afraid of his father. How could he let it go? He scolded, "You kid, do you have any conscience? You tricked me, you slandered me, you used filthy words to spray me, I accepted it all … but I've been locked up for so long. Don't you have any sympathy? Remember when you first came to Jingdou, did I treat you badly? I took you to the brothel, I let you pick up girls … "
Fan Xian plugged his ears and listened to Li Hongcheng's continuous scolding. He knew that this guy was truly too wretched. He smiled bitterly and said, "His Highness locked you up for your own good. Otherwise, if you went out and messed around with those brothers again, in the end, it wouldn't necessarily end well for you."
"If I die, then I die!" Li Hongcheng laughed coldly. "It's better than being suffocated to death."
Fan Xian took a few steps back and looked at the layout of the courtyard. He couldn't help but say, dumbfounded, "Heavens … it can't be, you've been locked up in this courtyard … for a year, right?"
…
…
Li Hongcheng was startled and scolded, "Then I would have gone crazy a long time ago. Usually, I'm just not allowed out of the manor. Although it's all prison, the manor's prison is always a bit bigger."
Fan Xian rubbed his nose and nodded his head in admiration. "With the manor as a prison, the heart cannot be free. The crown prince's words are indeed philosophical."
Li Hongcheng sighed sorrowfully. "Don't provoke me anymore … originally, it was good for me to stay in the manor and listen to the drama. In the end, as soon as you returned to the capital, you were assassinated. Then, you went to kill people. My old man didn't say anything and immediately locked me back in the little courtyard. Tell me, who did I offend?"
Fan Xian looked at Li Hongcheng's pitiful appearance through the crack in the door. He couldn't help but feel sympathy and remorse in his heart. He knew why King Jing's manor was like this. It was because King Jing didn't want his son to be involved in those matters. As soon as he returned to the capital, he made a big move against the Second Prince's faction. If Li Hongcheng was still tied to the Second Prince, who knew how he would deal with him?
"Alright, alright." Fan Xian looked around and saw that there was no one around. In a small voice, he said, "I'll get you out and take you to have fun. But, you have to promise me that you won't go see those people."
Li Hongcheng was overjoyed and nodded repeatedly. He only said with suspicion, "Don't break this lock. If I want to escape, I don't know how to fight my way out."
Fan Xian took out a key from his belt and mockingly said, "Don't forget, I came from the Overwatch Council."
…
…
The large copper lock opened with a click. King Jing's crown prince, Li Hongcheng, who had been locked in the little courtyard without seeing the light of day, finally saw the light of day. He took large steps out and looked at the open surroundings. He took a deep breath and patted Fan Xian's shoulder heavily. "At least you still remember old times."
In reality, with such a big commotion, how could the servants in the manor not know? However, since the person in charge was Sir Fan junior and the person they were saving was their own crown prince, no one dared to stop him.
Right at this moment, a clear and bright voice that was slightly anxious and fearful suddenly resounded.
"Brother! Why did you run out on your own? " Not far to the left of the stone steps stood a young noble lady wearing an apricot red robe. Her little face was red with anxiety. "Be careful, Father will beat you to death."
Fan Xian turned his head in surprise and looked at the young lady. He saw that she still had that weak and meek appearance. However, there was more elegance and grace between her brows than in the past. He couldn't help but feel shocked. It had only been a year since he had seen her. How had the little girl become such a pure and lovely young lady?
The young lady also saw Fan Xian's face clearly and was shocked. She covered her mouth. After the pleasant surprise in her eyes, she suddenly seemed to think of something. Immediately, a thread of mist formed in her eyes and she looked like she was about to cry.
Fan Xian's heart was filled with fear. If one had to say who he was most afraid of in Jingdou, other than the Emperor in the Palace, it would be this young lady in front of him who had deep feelings for him. He remembered that when she was young, she clung to his side every day. Fortunately, the dust had long settled. He was her … cousin. His heart relaxed a great deal. However, suddenly seeing the young lady's sad appearance, his heart also felt a bit uncomfortable.
The young lady finally calmed her emotions. She walked in front of Fan Xian and bowed slightly. Using a mosquito-like voice, she said, "Greetings, Brother Xian."
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