Chapter Thirty-Four: Lawsuit Looms Ahead

  The young woman thought she had a beautiful dream, in which she met her soulmate under the wedding candles and did that shameful thing after several rounds of cloud and rain. Only when she slowly woke up did she see an unfamiliar yet pretty face before her eyes.

  She only then thought of last night's events, hugging her own son was that handsome Mr. Fan, but in her heart she felt a little strange, wasn't it because she had drunk too much wine, how could she not even remember those details? Thinking of this, a hint of resentment arose in her mind, knowing that she had finally taken the path she had always resisted, but thinking of the lingering memories in her mind, she couldn't help but clench her legs together, her whole body feeling weak and sore.

  He found the man beside him moving, so Fan Xian hurriedly pretended to sleep. After waking up and seeing this girl's sleeping face as beautiful as a flower, he couldn't help but hold her in his arms and cherish her for a while before leaving the boat with satisfaction and the lingering fragrance on his hands.

  After a while, Sari finally opened her eyes and began to gather the battlefield from last night. She didn't know what she had discovered, but she let out a surprised cry that was both shy and suspicious.

  ……

  ……

  When leaving the flower boat, the sky was not completely bright, and the young master was still sleeping with Yuan Meng in the house, so Fan Xian did not say goodbye. The reason he left in a hurry was that he had just arrived in Kyoto and it was inconvenient to stay outside, let alone that the Guo family would probably make trouble soon, so he planned to return to the Fan Mansion to watch the play.

  The reason why Fan Xian didn't really do anything with that rational girl last night wasn't because he was a certain kind of moralistic scholar, but purely due to a spiritual and physiological cleanliness phobia. He found it hard to accept women who had been touched by other men, and from his past life, having seen many STD prevention posters on the streets, he had a deep-seated fear of venereal diseases. In this world without condoms, visiting brothels was harmless, but actually doing something would be somewhat risky.

  There was only an aftereffect, Fan Xian looked at the unseemly bulge in his clothes and let out a sad sigh, regretting not developing something with SiSi during their time in Danzhou. The sedan arrived at the corner gate of the Fan residence, where one master and three servants quietly opened the door and slipped inside, instructing the guard to keep quiet, but the guard just glanced at Tong Da and the young master from Danzhou and didn't dare make a fuss, then went back to sleep.

  Fan Xian returned to his room and took a nap, when he woke up, the sky was already bright. He walked to the front yard with his wooden sandals, only to hear a commotion there. In his heart, he guessed what had happened, but on his face, he pretended to be confused.

  It so happened that on this particular morning, Kyoto Governor Mei Zhili was dozing off in his study when he suddenly heard a series of urgent drumbeats. He couldn't help but feel annoyed, thinking to himself: "Which audacious commoner is disturbing my peace?" However, as the imperial court's rules dictated, he didn't dare to be slow and immediately went up to the public hall. After a loud shout, the teacher handed him the petition.

  As soon as Mei Zhi saw the paper, his heart skipped a beat. The plaintiff and the defendant were not ordinary people. The plaintiff was Guo Baokun, the only son of Guo Youzhi, the Minister of Rites, who is now a compiler in the palace and has some reputation for his talent. The defendant was Fan Xian, the son of Fan Jian, the Vice Minister of Revenue. The accusation was that Fan Xian had ambushed and assaulted an official on the street last night, seeking to provoke trouble.

  Seeing the two surnames on the memorial, Mei Zhili had a mind to retreat. Now the court is divided into two factions, one faction supports the crown prince, and another faction is not visible but secretly takes the second imperial son as its leader. This Minister of Rites, Guo Yuanshu, was once the teacher of the crown prince, naturally belonging to the crown prince's faction, while the Vice Minister of Revenue, Fan Jian, although seemingly neutral on the surface, has always been on good terms with the Qingwang Fu, and the son of the Qingwang is also known to everyone as a member of the second imperial son's faction.

  This case looks simple, but if things go wrong, it may provoke the Crown Prince and the Second Prince to attack each other. Thinking of this, Mei Zhi Li secretly scolded that reckless Fan Xian. Fan Xian's reputation is gradually emerging in Kyoto, and all officials know he is the illegitimate son of General South. Mei Zhi Li thought, you've been staying in the border area of Tan Prefecture, how could you know the danger in Kyoto? You even dared to commit murder on the street, I don't know how to clean up this mess.

  But the words on the indictment were clear, and the evidence was all there, so Mei couldn't delay any further. He frowned as he looked at the indictment, then issued a warrant to arrest someone from the residence of Si Nanbo, while secretly sending someone to hurry to the Ministry of Revenue to inform Fan Shilang.

  What Fan Xian saw was the scene of Kyoto Prefecture's bailiffs coming to take people away. To know that the Fan family had a close relationship with the royal family, in these years, only they took people away, how could they be taken away themselves? So a dozen wooden sticks were raised early, and the house guards took on the posture of loyalty and protection, staring fiercely at those few poor bailiffs.

  At the main gate of Fan's mansion, the servants were also completely helpless and could only speak kindly, thinking to themselves that this was the master's intention. No matter how angry Master Fan might be, he would have to let that person go to the government office for a trip.

  Fan Xian smiled and was about to step forward, but unexpectedly heard a young man's loud shout: "Where did this dog leg come from? Get him out of here!" The one who dared to speak loudly and beat the official was naturally not someone else, but our own hot-tempered Young Master Fan Siyan.

  The housekeeper heard the young master's words, let out a loud shout, and bravely charged forward with his stick, but thinking that the other party was an official, he didn't really hit him, just slammed it to the ground, scaring them away. The officials were really angry this time, originally knowing that the other party was not easy to mess with, so they didn't bring any of those eye-catching iron chains, and unexpectedly still ended up in a miserable situation.

  "What's the commotion." At this time, Liu finally walked out of the room with a gentle and elegant demeanor, looked at the several bailiffs with a frown, instructed someone to invite them in for tea, and then glanced at Fan Xian again without being easily noticed.

  Fan Xian innocently shrugged his shoulders.

  In the flower hall, several attendants looked at this lady with some unease, knowing that according to their status, they would not normally receive such treatment. They also understood why the prestigious Fan family was being so polite, but precisely because of this, the tea tasted somewhat unpalatable. If the other party got angry, how could these small fries survive in the capital?

  After inquiring about the ins and outs of the matter, Liu furrowed her brow and said: "This doesn't sound quite right. Our young master returned from the poetry gathering at Jing Wang Fu yesterday and has been reading books at home ever since. Niulang Street is far from our Fan Manor, how could it be that our young master went to beat up the son of the Guo family?"

  The official hesitated and said: "This is personally identified by Master Guo, besides...". He expressed some disbelief and said: "Master Fan really stayed in the mansion all day yesterday?"

  Liu's gentle eyes suddenly turned into two small knives, staring fiercely at the bailiff: "Can't our Fan family tell a lie?"

  The bailiff was startled, and quickly shut his mouth without speaking, but he wouldn't retreat just yet, after all, the plaintiff was still waiting in court. Fan Xian sat quietly to the side, but his heart was filled with surprise, not knowing why Madame Liu would speak up for him. In reality, he didn't understand this era's great families, no matter how intense their internal struggles were, once an external enemy appeared, these clans would temporarily put aside all internal conflicts and unite against outsiders.

  Liu took a sip of tea, knowing that these yamen runners were also helpless and couldn't be blamed. He smiled slightly and said: "Did the Guo family say we hit them? Things in life are just about reason and human feelings. Can't they just submit a petition and our family has to obey? Although our Fan Mansion is not some big shot, but in this capital city, we also have to save face. I'm just curious, who submitted the petition at the prefecture today?"

  "He is the steward of the Guo Mansion." The bailiff thought to himself, "The Fan family is still not wealthy and noble, it's hard to find a few rich and noble families in the capital," and quickly replied.

  It's better not to mention it, but just listening to the steward delivering a statement paper, Madame Liu's eyebrows were upside down, and she slapped the table and scolded: "Calling a steward to deliver a statement, do we have to respond to our family members? What kind of reason is this? Didn't they say that young master Guo was beaten? What did he become after being beaten? If you want to file a complaint, go there in person. Otherwise, I'll let my family's steward go to your yamen every day to file a complaint against Guo Baokun for bullying and occupying our daughter. You have to let Guo Baokun wait at your yamen, regardless of whether my complaint is reasonable or not!"

  Before he had finished speaking, Liu ordered loudly: "Xu, the house steward."

  Xu Guan's family knew the situation and stood out, responding with a "yes".

  Liu's cold voice said: "Tell Mr. Zheng to quickly write a dozen or so complaints, from tomorrow on, our family will run to the Kyoto Prefecture every day, even if we don't scare the Guo family to death, we'll exhaust them to death." This wasn't enough, she smiled slightly and explained to the bailiff: "Mr. Zheng is a respected guest of the prefecture, but I've heard that in previous years he also served as your master's judicial advisor, so writing complaints should be no problem for him."

  The official thought to himself, "This is not a way to scare the Guo family to death, but rather to scare the Kyoto government to death." He had no choice but to plead for mercy: "Madam, please spare my life. This matter... really has nothing to do with me either."

  After Liu's lengthy speech, he felt his mouth a bit dry and reached out to grab the tea cup, only to find that Fan Xian had already smiled and handed it over, their eyes meeting briefly before quickly looking away.

  The official spread out his hands and said: "Then what can we do?"

  Liu hesitated for a moment, knowing that this matter had to come to an end. Staying here like this wasn't going to work out either. He said, "As for the matter of hitting someone, it's absolutely not possible."

  Fan Xian added: "Absolutely not."

  Liu said: "I also don't quite understand why the Guo family is framing someone from our Fan family."

  Fan Xian pretended to be deep in thought: "The other day, there was a conflict at the wine tower, and that young master Guo suffered some losses. To say it, this matter is my fault."

  Liu was surprised: "Is this really the case? Then it's your fault, however... Could it be that Guo Gongzi harbors resentment in his heart and therefore comes to falsely accuse you?"

  Fan Xian furrowed his brow and replied: "It's probably like that."