“I won’t go!”
Fan Qi, whose head was wrapped in a bandage, broke free from Shi Fang and squatted in a corner in frustration.
Auntie Fan waved her broom and pulled it over, cursing, “You still have to go even if you don’t want to go. If you don’t go, don’t get into this house today, and don’t recognize me as your mother!”
Fan Qi jumped up and wrongfully covered his buttocks, accusing, “Mother, you don’t even know how despicable that little vixen is. It’s better to just kill me than to have me beg him!”
“What little vixen! You’re the one with the stinky mouth! I see that everyone in that mansion respects that Young Master very much, serving him like a master. Only you are being disrespectful. You can’t even see the living Buddha before you. You deserved to be beaten and bullied. How could I give birth to such an incompetent fool like you?”
Auntie Fan burst into tears.
Fan Qi is afraid of his mother crying the most. Their family is from a poor family background, they rely solely on his mother’s hard work when she was young to raise him and his two younger sisters. Because she worked under the lamp for a long time, she even burned her eyes. He followed His Highness, earned some military achievements, bought a house, and then their family’s life became better. His two little sisters are still young now, and this family was supported by this big brother.
Fan Qi said in a muffled voice, “Alright, Mother, stop crying. I’ll just go.”
“Seriously?”
“Seriously.”
Fan Qi’s answer sound good, but he thought to himself, It would be strange if he’s being serious. He will hide in the military camp when he leaves later.
Auntie Fan believed it and happily prepared a large basket of eggs for Fan Qi to carry to the private courtyard immediately. Although Auntie Fan cannot see, judging from Jiang Yun’s speech and behavior, she firmly believes that he is a young master with a beautiful heart and a fairy-like demeanor.
She’s not well educated, but she’s a woman with guts and courage. Although she knows that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince threw her son in that kind of place that eats people without spitting out bones to train him, but her son is too stupid. Without guidance from experts, sooner or later he will be tormented to death by those noble children. His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has countless soldiers, but she only has this one son, she cannot afford to gamble.
Auntie Fan firmly believed in the so-called “Nobleman’s Tale.” She inquired about Jiang Yun’s age from Shi Fang and felt that the godlike young gentleman was her son’s nobleman in terms of zodiac!
Fan Qi carried the eggs and walked out the door with Shi Fang.
The Fan family’s house was bought with Sui Heng’s help and is located in the east of the city. However, Mei Yuan is not far from the palace city. It was in the most central and bustling area. It takes seven or eight turns and many roads to walk from the Fan family to Mei Yuan.
When Fan Qi reached a fork in the road, he said to Shi Fang, “You leave ba.”
Shi Fang glanced at the egg in his hand. “Brother Fan won’t go to the private courtyard?”
“I won’t go!”
Fan Qi placed the basket on the ground and snorted, “Laozi has already suffered enough sinister, and now Laozi still has to suffer from that little vixen’s sinister, Laozi is suffocating to death.”
Shi Fang shook his head helplessly “Brother Fan, you’ve really lived up to the saying; there’s a way to heaven, but you won’t go, there’s no door to hell, and you want to go.”
Fan Qi didn’t understand.
“What favor did that little vixen give you that you speak for him like this?”
Shi Fang shrugged. “It’s not that I’m talking for the young gentleman, but you, Brother Fan… you’re just too lacking in terms of conscience.”
Shi Fang couldn’t help but speak out the word that had been suppressed in his heart for a long time.
In return, Fan Qi exploded.
“Who are you calling lack of consciousness?!”
“It’s you, Big Brother.” said Shi Fang, “Do you really think that His Highness cherishes Young Master Chu so much only because of his beauty?”
Fan Qi: “Otherwise?”
“Then Big Brother was really wrong.”
“Is there a shortage of beauties in this Sui capital city? Before His Highness’s southern expedition, many high-ranking officials and nobles were so eager to send their own noble sons and daughters to the palace. Even the Empress and Empress Dowager tried their best to select various stunning beauties, trying to impress His Highness. However, His Highness didn’t even glance at them.”
Fan Qi said, “That’s because none of them have little vixen—hump, foxy-looking.”
Although not convinced, Fan Qi had to admit that the little vixen had some beauty. When standing with Young Master Yan Qi, he can be compared to Young Master Yan Qi and also to that laborious Wei Yun.
Shi Fang: “If it was just about beauty, those beauties before, even if they weren’t at the peak of beauty, His Highness wouldn’t not even give them a glance. His Highness likes Young Master Chu not only because he is beautiful and elegant but also because he has a good personality, a good temper, and talent. He never takes being favored for grant and able to understand His Highness.”
“I was not sure before, but I am confident that after the Spring Banquet, His Highness will never have room for another person in his heart.”
On that day, Shi Fang stood outside the private room, and after listening to the conversation between Jiang Yun and Yan Qi, his heart was filled with surprise. It’s no less than his Highness’s. He understood the shock and emotion in his Highness’s heart, as he did not expect that someone who had only been with his Highness for less than a month could so cleverly penetrate his Highness’s heart.
Even a young master of a noble family like Young Master Yan Qi was unable to see the essence of the matter due to various reasons, but that young gentleman was able to see through it from just a single word.
This is a great wisdom that ordinary people cannot reach.
Moreover, Shi Fang has witnessed firsthand how Jiang Yun quietly swept the entire venue with various talents and clever strategies at the Spring Banquet. In terms of articles and music, the young gentleman’s talent is naturally impeccable. In terms of chess, not only does the young gentleman has talent, but he also has strategy. If it weren’t for him initially deceiving Xiao Yaozi and enticing him to underestimate the enemy, the young gentleman might not have defeated that stinky Daoist, fiercely extinguished the opponent’s power, and won that game so quickly.
Shi Fang has only seen this kind of personality in one person, and that is the lord he served, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.
Although the two of them are quiet and calm, but they had a completely different personalities. It’s even at the opposite end of the spectrum, but Shi Fang has strangely discovered some astonishing commonalities between them.
Although his Highness’s newly recruited Military Advisor Chen was also very impressive, but compared to the deep and sophisticated Military Advisor Chen, Shi Fang prefers the gentle and jade-like young gentleman.
Even the young gentleman has scheming, but that is also lovely and has a pleasing quality.
“Of course, this is not the most important thing.”
Shi Fang looked at Fan Qi. “Brother Fan needs a noble person to help you get out of trouble right now. Perhaps Military Advisor Chen can also help you, but Military Advisor Chen is afraid of His Highness’s authority and may not dare to help you. The young gentleman is different. Even if His Highness finds out about this matter, he will not blame the young gentleman.”
Fan Qi looked at Shi Fang as if he were seeing a ghost, he suspected that Shi Fang had been intoxicated by the little vixen already.
“If Brother Fan thinks that His Highness can be easily mesmerized, then let’s assume that this is the case. But I advise Brother Fan, even if you didn’t think about yourself, you should still think about Auntie Fan.”
**
Jiang Yun is reading in the pavilion.
Ji An led the palace attendants to prune the flowers and trees. As the spring approached, the plum blossoms in the private courtyards bloomed, and there were many flower branches that needed pruning.
Under the bright light of spring, the young master is wearing a green robe, and his face is like jade… Although he is only focused on reading, he still looks elegant and beautiful, like a picture.
Shi Fang walked in with Fan Qi.
Fan Qi looked shy and wanted to escape at any moment, but he thought of his mother, who was still crying at home. In the end, he gritted his teeth and strode into the pavilion. With a loud bang, he placed a basket of eggs heavily on the stone table.
All the tea cups on the table shook along.
Jiang Yun lifted his eyes and glanced at him.
Fan Qi’s body was tense, and he didn’t look at Jiang Yun. He looked elsewhere and said, “This is what my mother asked me to give you. Say, What’s your idea?”
Jiang Yun lowered his head again.
He said: “I don’t understand what Deputy General Fan means.”
“You’re still playing dumb!”
Fan Qi felt his face burning. “No, didn’t you tell my mother that you have a way to help me get out of trouble?!”
Jiang Yun glanced at Shi Fang.
Shi Fang lowered his head in guilt.
Jiang Yun temporarily closed his book and smiled gently, saying, “Deputy General Fan has misunderstood. I didn’t say I wanted to help you.”
Fan Qi: !!
Fan Qi stared in disbelief, then went to stare at Shi Fang.
Jiang Yun stood up and said, “First of all, I have no obligation to help you. Secondly, Deputy General Fan’s attitude is not one of seeking help.”
Jiang Yun glanced at the basket of eggs and said, “Since it’s a gift from Auntie Fan, I would like to ask Deputy General Fan to take it back and tell her that I appreciate the gesture. It’s just that for ordinary farmers, they may have to save over ten and a half days for this basket of eggs. The poorer ones may take even longer, it’s not easy to get them. I can’t accept them.”
Fan Qi didn’t expect that not only was Jiang Yun ungrateful, but he also humiliated him in person as well. He was so angry that he gritted his teeth and picked up the egg before leaving.
Halfway through, he took a deep breath and abruptly stopped.
His mother was still crying at home.
He had already come and lost his face. He was a bit unwilling to leave just like this.
Fan Qi suddenly turned around and looked at Jiang Yun. His fists clenched tightly, and he asked in a rough voice. “Say, what does Laozi have to do before you’ll help Laozi?”
Jiang Yun clasped his arms and surveyed him with good humor.
After a while, he said, “First of all, I suggest that Deputy General Fan try to remove the word ‘Laozi’ when speaking in the future. Furthermore, even if you remove it, I am still not willing to help.”
“If you’re willing to kowtow three times and call me ‘Master,’ maybe I can consider it, however…”
He looked at Fan Qi slowly. “I’m not interested in taking on a disciple as limber and stupid as you.”
Fan Qi: !!
Fan Qi’s face and ears were red, and his lungs were about to explode with anger. He gave a hard kick to a stone at his feet and turned his head away.
Shi Fang whispered, “Young Master knows that Brother Fan has such a temper, why do you provoke him like that?”
“Did I provoke him?”
Jiang Yun raised his eyes, his voice still very gentle: “I’m just saying what we all already know. I am not related to him, so why must I help him? If your Deputy General Fan does not change his arrogant temper, even if he was not bullied by those noble children, in the future, I’m afraid that your Highness will chop him off one day. But having a good mother is his luck.”
Shi Fang: “……”
The young gentleman has such a good temper, but sometimes what he says is truly heartless and straightforward.
His Highness is extremely strict, and that’s exactly what Shi Fang was worried about. He cannot bear to watch Fan Qi go astray step by step and touch His Highness’s scales. That’s why he thinks of letting him come and beg Jiang Yun for some guidance.
Who would have thought that that Big Brother Fan of his doesn’t even know how to say a good word?
Mount Li is a distance away from the capital city, and Sui Heng did not return that night.
But Sui Heng specially sent his soldier to send Jiang Yun a “love letter” filled with flirty words, along with a basket of Mount Li specialty plums. There is also a note attached to the plum: Gu knows you can’t sleep alone, you must be thinking of Gu.
Sui Heng not only had the leisure to write love letters himself but also shamelessly demanded that Jiang Yun also write a reply letter to him. He must write a letter with a lot of words, it can’t be few; otherwise, he will come back to settle the accounts.
Jiang Yun could only let his personal soldier wait outside and write to him with hot ears.
After finishing dinner, Jiang Yun had nothing to do and went for a walk by himself in the courtyard. However, when he reached the corner of the corridor, a dark shadow suddenly appeared below.
The private courtyard is heavily guarded, there can’t be assassins.
Jiang Yun was puzzled. The other party had already rushed towards him, as if enduring great shame. He said weakly, “I… I can kowtow to you and call you master. You… help me, alright?”
Jiang Yun: “……”
Fan Qi’s body was covered in grass leaves, his head was still wrapped in bandages, and his clothes were the same as those in the daytime. He was sneaky and had been hiding here for an unknown amount of time.
Jiang Yun didn’t know how this rough guy suddenly changed his mind. He looked at him for a moment and said, “I reluctantly accepted Deputy General Fan’s gift, but the two words ‘Master,’ I dare not take it.”
