Chapter Thirty: The Tranquil King Speaks

  Fan Xian looked around and found no one nearby, so he simply sat down on a rock, took the water bottle handed over by the old flower farmer, and drank a few mouthfuls. He chatted casually with him about planting flowers and grasses. Fan Xian was basically ignorant of this aspect, so listening to the flower farmer's enthusiastic explanation was refreshing at first, but after hearing more, he became somewhat bored. He thought of leaving, but thinking of that even more boring poetry gathering, he gave up and sighed.

  Hearing this young master sigh, the flower farmer curiously asked: "Why is the young master unhappy?"

  "The Wangfu poetry gathering is quite dull." Fan Xian winked at him, thinking that as a servant, he wouldn't be interested in the poetry gathering.

  As expected, the flower farmer nodded solemnly: "Reciting poems and composing couplets are things that only idle people do, and they can't even exchange them for a bowl of rice to eat, what a bunch of foolish pigs."

  Fan Xian was taken aback, thinking to himself that he had also been insulted. Suddenly, his heart skipped a beat and he burst out laughing: "Indeed, I am a stupid pig!" He finally understood some things and dropped the matter of reciting poetry.

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  After the poetry party was over, everyone went home or absconded, and it wasn't until the next day that what happened later spread throughout Kyoto.

  That night, the Jing Wang Fu had a family dinner as usual. The Crown Prince was originally going to get drunk at the Drunken Immortal Pavilion, but was called back by the old steward and sat uncomfortably at the dinner table with his sister, waiting for their father's lecture.

  The King of Jing sat at the head of the table, surprisingly turning out to be the old flower farmer who had chatted with Fan Xian in the nursery for half a day that afternoon. He looked at his son, who was always self-proclaimed as "wind and flow", and scolded: "You stupid pig! You only know how to go to those places every day!"

  The Crown Prince Li Hongcheng knew that the two words "foolish pig" were his father's verbal tic, and he didn't get angry about it either. He smiled wryly and replied, "Father, what made you angry today?"

  The King of Tranquility grunted and stopped his outburst, asking: "Did you hold that poetry meeting again today?"

  Li Hongcheng was taken aback, and with a bitter smile, he replied, "Yes." He knew his father didn't like these literary gatherings, but for the sake of winning over the scholars in the capital for the Second Prince, such things had to be done. Contrary to his expectations, King Jing didn't get angry, instead showing interest and asking, "There was a young man at today's poetry gathering wearing a light brown single-layer garment, whose son is he?"

  Li Hongcheng thought to himself, "Today's crowd is so mixed up, how can I possibly remember all of them?"

  King Jing furrowed his brow, seemingly thinking of that person's characteristics. After being silent for half a day, he said: "That little brat is very good-looking, like a girl."

  Li Hongcheng chuckled and quickly replied: "The one you're referring to must be the one from the Fan Mansion."

  King Jing's eyebrows rose, and he suddenly revealed a few strands of sinister energy. He roared: "What? You say he is the son of Fan Jian in Danzhou? I'll be damned, even if Fan Jian was that kind of person, how dare he have such a handsome son!"

  Rou Jia County Master listened to her father's rough language on the side, her face was so ashamed that it turned red, but she was also very interested. She wondered what kind of person that man was, who had always been respected by Ruo sister as a teacher. Li Hongcheng looked at his father with some annoyance, thinking fortunately there were no servants around, but then thought that the servants should have long been used to King Jing's mouth, and quickly asked: "Father, what did you ask that young man to do?"

  "What's that?" Jing Wang hummed twice, he had met Fan Xian in the afternoon and felt that the other party looked familiar, but couldn't remember who it was. Also because Fan Xian disliked poetry gatherings, yet could listen to him talk for half a day about his proud horticultural skills, so he somewhat liked that little kid. But he didn't expect that the pretty boy would be Fan Jian's son, and with a burst of anger in his heart, continued to scold: "You should learn from that... what was his name?"

  "Fan Xian."

  "Learn from Fan Xian, he may have an illegitimate birth, but his vision is still good." King Jing sighed and looked at his son, instructing him: "Fan Xian can talk to a flower farmer for half a day, but you are too proud of your identity. You should know that being arrogant is not suitable for the things you are doing now."

  The Crown Prince Li Hongcheng knew that he couldn't hide the fact that he was close to the Second Prince from his father, who appeared to be honest and rough on the surface but was actually extremely astute. He hastily acknowledged it. After finishing dinner, the Crown Prince was about to return to the study to read books in order to make the Emperor happy, but unexpectedly, King Jing hesitated for a moment before saying: "You weren't planning to go to Zui Xian Ju earlier?"

  Zui Xian Ju is not a wine house, but a Qing Lou, with only one word difference, yet it's a world of difference. The young master's heart tightened and he quickly said "I don't dare". King Jing glared at his eyes and scolded: "A real man should be brave, if you want to go then go, don't be so irresponsible." After saying this, he ordered someone to kick him out.

  Li Hongcheng sat in the luxurious seat of Zui Xian Ju, holding Yuan Meng, Kyoto's most popular courtesan, and still felt a chill thinking about why his father had suddenly changed his temper today.

  In the quiet King's mansion at midnight, King Jing cursed while drinking: "Damn bastard, he used to love visiting the brothel, and actually had such a beautiful child, I'll let my son go too, and maybe he'll have a beautiful grandson in the future."

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  Let's put aside the family affairs of Jing Wang forcing his son to visit prostitutes for now. After the poetry gathering dispersed, Fan Xian quickly got into the sedan chair and met up with Tong Zi Jing and several guards. After the poetry gathering, everyone was discussing and debating about the poem by the young master of the Fan family. When they saw the Fan family's sedan chair, some scholars came over to bid farewell to him. Fan Xian hastily came down, smiled and sent them off one by one, and also instructed the several guards to send Ruo Ruo back to the manor.

  Fan Ruoruo nodded at him before getting into the sedan chair. Fan Xian knew that matter had been taken care of, and with a boost in spirit, he began to arrange for the evening's events.

  "Guo Baokun definitely lived in the Shangshu Fu, and every three days or so he would enter the palace for what was called 'compilation', but actually it was just reading with the Crown Prince."

  Fan Xian furrowed his brow and said: "The Crown Prince is already so old this year, does he still need a reading companion?"

  "The crown prince is the empress's own son, ranking third among the princes, and he is already eighteen years old this year."

  Fan Xian smiled and said: "An eighteen-year-old adult still needs a companion reader?"

  Feng Zi Jing smiled wryly and said: "It's just for fun, so I found some people to accompany me in the name of playing."

  "Doesn't even the emperor care?"

  "This... I'm not quite sure about."

  After what happened at the wine house a few days ago, Fan Xian was worried that Guo Baokun would not swallow his anger and would resort to some underhanded tactics. So he ordered Tongzi Jing to investigate and also figured out the places Guo Baokun often went to and his route home.

  Today at the poetry gathering, that little rascal surnamed Guo spoke with a sharp tongue. Even if Fan Xian had a good temper, he could only maintain a superficial smile on his face, but deep down inside, he was still extremely annoyed. It wasn't until now that he realized that when he let Tong Zi Jing go investigate those matters, it was actually because in his subconscious mind, he had already made preparations to bully Guo Xiao Wu, rather than being worried about being bullied by him.

  Regarding the poem in the previous chapter, it's actually either Fan Xian or I who was anxious, so I casually threw out a familiar one. If you want to say that throwing poems is like hitting people, then this one hits hard, and the entire Qing country has nothing to say about it. After careful consideration, this poem, known as the best seven-character regulated verse in history, is the most difficult to find fault with and the easiest to make a name for oneself. As for not matching Fan Xian's experiences, the previous chapter actually hinted at it through the Crown Prince's words, and later on, this poem will cause some more trouble, hoping it can be resolved naturally. I think the plot development of this book is still quite fast, but I don't know what everyone thinks. Today there are only two chapters because tomorrow it will go live, but I don't have any stored drafts, so I'm relying on rushing to get on the new vote rankings, which gives me a headache. Please forgive me and show some understanding.