Fan Xian strolled out of the study room, breathed in the leisurely winter air of Cangshan Mountain, and stretched comfortably. Following the sound of mahjong, he easily found the location of his wife and the other girls. Fan Xian's heart skipped a beat as the extremely emerald green mahjong pieces rolled under those Bai Shengsheng's pretty soft hands.
When he saw his sister at the side carefully reading the anthology of poems from the former dynasty sent by the second prince under the light of the snow, Fan Xian's heart skipped a beat again.
It's really not a good thing to be too famous. Pigs are afraid of getting fat, and people are afraid of this. Fan Xian smiled wryly. Since the banquet, although the crown prince and the second prince had no contact with him on the surface, Xin Shaoqing and Prince Jing's son Li Hongcheng had often visited Fan's mansion. It can block the annual gift from the other party.
At the time of New Year's Eve, the group of people on Cangshan Mountain had already returned to the capital. In just a few days, Li Hongcheng ran over after Wei'er, obstinately pestering them to go to Cangshan Mountain together. How could Fan Xian dare to agree, and in the end he had no choice but to bring the little girl Roujia into the mountain.
Seeing him entering the room, she was in a daze, and the first thing she noticed was Princess Roujia. The little girl said crisply, "Brother Xian, do you want to play cards?"
Fan Xian thought of Brother Bao when he heard the words "Brother Xian", he quickly waved his hand, and said with a smile, "Princess, let's play, and the servants can walk around as they please."
Hearing that he deliberately spoke unfamiliar words, Princess Roujia pursed her lips, but resisted not showing displeasure, looking really pitiful and cute. Lin Wan'er on the side couldn't help but said: "Master, why don't you come and play a few games."
"No." Fan Xian waved his hands more urgently, and left the edge of the card table. Unexpectedly, he touched something soft and fluffy under his feet, he was slightly startled, looked down, only to find that there was a box under his feet. There were hay rags piled up in the box, and three chubby kittens were sleeping on it. The kittens squinted and wrinkled their black noses, looking very cute.
Fan Xian asked in surprise, "What's going on?"
Only then did Lin Wan'er realize that the cat was under his feet, afraid of scaring the kitten, she quickly walked away from the table and picked up the box. Naturally, this card cannot be played. She responded with a smile: "The daughter-in-law of Teng was afraid that we would get bored on the mountain, so she sent three cats here today."
Fan Xian leaned closer and found that the three kittens, one yellow, one black and one white, were very similar in appearance, but their coat colors were very different. He couldn't help laughing and said, "You girls can't even feed yourself, let alone raise cats. Cat." He reached out and took the black one from the box into his arms, holding it. Feeling the fun of a small meatball on his chest, he gently scratched the back of the kitten's head. The kitten opened its eyes, glanced at him, and fell back into a deep sleep, as if it didn't interfere with his breathing.
"Did you take a name?"
"No. First Xiao Huang Xiao Hei Xiao Bai called."
"Well, Xiaobai sounds nice."
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After dinner, Fan Xian sat in the main seat, Fan Sizhe sat next to him, and the two brothers listened to the report from the people from the Fan residence in Beijing. At the end of the new year, Fan's farms in the suburbs of Beijing, the fiefs of Danzhou, and some fragmentary properties have to report to the capital. The Fan Mansion in Beijing has always been in charge of the Liu family, and now that she has rectified, it is naturally more justifiable, but for some reason, this year, after she finished handling these matters, she called Mr. Cui in the mansion to write a letter, picking important I wrote down a few income and expenditures, and sent them to Cangshan Bieye to report to the young master.
Fan Xian could understand Aunt Liu's meaning, so he didn't do anything deliberately. Instead, he listened to the report of the third housekeeper very carefully, and occasionally interjected a few words to ask a question.
The third butler finished speaking honestly. Fan Xian closed his eyes and thought for a while, then opened his eyes and asked Fan Sizhe next to him, "See if there is any problem."
Fan Sizhe touched the three pimples on the left cheek with his fingers, and shook his head: "It's okay, brother, but this account has always been taken care of by mother, why do you want us to fight together this year?"
Fan Xian smiled slightly, knowing that this guy who was originally a bully was very talented in some aspects, but in other aspects he seemed like a blank slate.
The third housekeeper said respectfully again: "New Year's goods from all over the place should have entered Beijing years ago, but this year the east and north are snowy, so it has been delayed for a while. Except for the southern rice, melons and fruits that were sent up the mountain last time, the various items from Zhuangzi in the north were a few days ago. The dried meat, wild goods, and scented tea from the ancestors of Danzhou are all written in the letter. Thinking of the young master, the young mistress, the young lady, the young master, and the princess are all staying in Bieye, So Madam has prepared some more, and is going to send them to the mountains in three batches, which should be enough for the middle of spring.”
"You don't need so much, just pick some fresh things and send them over. Three dials are too many, one more time is enough." Fan Xian replied casually: "It's just the scented tea sent by grandma from Danzhou, remember to get more "He often talked about life in Danzhou to Wan'er Ruoruo, including the tea with a faint floral fragrance, and he talked about it countless times.
The third housekeeper replied with a smile: "The tea has arrived today. The last two batches are mainly for food and small items, mainly for the two young masters who plan to stay until the opening of Chunwei."
Fan Xian could hear it very clearly, secretly praised Liu's decency, the housekeeper was neat, and didn't talk too much, and asked him to go down to receive the reward and rest.
Spring is approaching, Fan Xian, as the fifth rank of Taixue Fengzheng, always has to return to Beijing to take up his post, it is impossible to stay on Cangshan all the time. After the imperial examination ended in April, the agreement between the two countries needed to be reversed, and the private prisoner exchange agreement had to be started immediately, and everything seemed to be piled up.
In fact, from Fan Xian's heart, the matter of exchanging prisoners should have started last year, not to mention what kind of punishment those captured soldiers of the Qing Dynasty would suffer in a foreign country, but only mentioning the one who had never met but made him secretly admire Young master Yan Bingyunyan, as the leader of Qing State's secret agents stationed in Northern Qi, was imprisoned in the enemy's country for more than half a year, and he didn't know how much he would suffer.
It's just that the communication between the two countries is always extremely cumbersome, and after winter, the northern border is freezing and difficult to travel, so the matter of sending back envoys has to be delayed until the end of spring. But every time he thinks that Yan Bingyun may suffer in a bitter cold house, and Fan Xian enjoys the blessings in Cangshan in winter, it will inevitably make him less happy.
He had known for a long time that he was the leading role of this mission to Northern Qi, but he was not opposed to this mission. After all, if he could establish his own strength in the Overwatch Council, it would always be beneficial for the future. And no matter whether he was in Danzhou or in the capital, his seventeen years of career had already convinced him from the bottom of his heart that he was truly a member of the Qing Kingdom.
Fan Xian was willing to do something for this country, not for this court.
※※※
At night, Fan Xian finished his routine training and returned to the villa a little tired. Put the night clothes full of snow and sewage into the prepared bag and throw it aside.
During the training, he was lying alone in the snow, chasing the targets under the faint moonlight. His eyes were condensed into a straight line, staring at the black rocks that drilled out of the snow for thousands of years, or the rapid Snow Rabbit, who was changing lanes and running, felt very tired. And these days, Wu Zhu disappeared again after giving him what his parents gave him. So during the training process, no one talks, no one looks at you, that kind of lonely feeling, as if you have returned to your previous life.
The villa was quiet, except for a lamp in the master bedroom. That was Wan'er waiting for him to come back. Fan Xian smiled slightly, and walked over there. During the day, the sun came out, so a puddle of water had accumulated on the bluestone, which was shining brightly under the moonlight. He went around and jumped over the corridor, but at this moment his heart moved and he stopped his steps.
He was standing at the other end of the corridor, at the door of his sister's room. Suddenly, the tips of his ears twitched, his brows frowned, and his eyes gradually became stern. He turned around and pressed his palm against the door. The air suddenly shattered the wooden latch into two pieces, and his person floated to the bedside like the night wind.
The bedding on the bed was messy, but there was no one there, and Ruo Ruo really disappeared.
Fan Xian calmly stretched his hand into the quilt, and found that except for the foot warmer, the rest of the place was icy cold. It seemed that Ruoruo had been away for a long time. His heart trembled slightly, could it be the hands and feet of an enemy he didn't know about? But he still forcibly turned around calmly, and with a bang, he pulled out the slender black dagger with his left hand, ready to hunt for people at night.
"elder brother!"
Outside the door, Fan Ruoruo held up a lamp and looked at his brother standing on the bed with a knife in surprise. Fan Xian was startled. Seeing that she was safe and sound, he couldn't help but relax his whole body. He couldn't help closing his eyes and breathing heavily. After a while, he asked with concern, "Where have you been? Are you okay?"
Ruoruo was wearing a silver woolen jacket with a single shirt underneath, looking pitiful. She looked at Fan Xian, as if she hadn't thought of it, and she couldn't help being a little stunned. After a long while, she forced a smile and said, "Brother, it's scary to ask me with a knife."
Fan Xian smiled wryly and shook his head, put the slender dagger back into his boots, walked forward, and held her slightly thin shoulders: "You are the one who is scary. When you walk outside, you can hear the strange silence inside, even the sound of your breathing. None, it scared me to death."
Fan Ruoruo smiled and said, "Brother, it's true, you ran outside in the middle of the night, but you said I scared you."
"What did you do?" Fan Xian still asked curiously.
Fan Ruoruo blushed, and lowered her head in embarrassment: "There are some things, brother, don't ask so clearly."
Fan Xian came to his senses after being startled, and said with a wry smile: "It's not that there is no toilet in the room, the night wind in this mountain is very cold, don't freeze."
"Got it." Fan Ruoruo smiled shyly and pushed him out the door, "Sister-in-law is still waiting for you."
…
…
Outside the door, Fan Xian gently pinched his cold fingers. The temperature of his sister's bedding indicated that she had been out for a while, and she definitely didn't wake up at night. It should be that she got up and went somewhere after she left the villa.
Thinking of this, he couldn't help but have great doubts in his heart, but he forcibly suppressed it and stopped asking questions. In this world, everyone has their own little secrets, and we need to respect them—that's how Fan Xian educated his younger sister in the communication in Danzhou, Kyoto. As an older brother, he needs to set an example.