Walking on the bluestone road of the palace, there was a round of moon in the sky, two people under the forest, Fan Xian's back was already all sweaty, in this summer night, he still felt a little cold, he spit out a breath of turbidity, Wu Zi was a little afraid, patted his chest, and complained to the begonias around him: "You guessed that the stone is me...... wrote, why don't you say a word to me, I was almost scared to death by your emperor before. ”

Haitang smiled and said, "Who told you to hide it from the world for so long." Then he rolled his eyes and said, "Why are you so afraid? If it is not the matter of your identity as the Duke of Cao, then what are you afraid of Your Majesty?"

Fan Xian didn't think about it, and said with a soft smile: "What do you say?"

The corners of Begonia's lips curled slightly, and she didn't say anything. Fan Xian turned his head to look at her, and saw that her long eyelashes were dyed with a layer of silver halo, which seemed to have a kind of charming beauty, and her eyes that were the most outstanding in her appearance looked particularly bright in the night - the silver sè moonlight did have a kind of magic, that kind of hazy dipping, which seemed to make any ordinary woman become a jīng spirit in the world.

Fan Xian didn't feel anything, just put his hand behind his back, slowly dragged his steps forward, and said, "You yīn me this time, I don't seek revenge, you should know what the reason is." ”

"You want me to do something for you. Haitang smiled: "Although I don't know what the matter is, I want to have something to do with the south, so I need the help of an outsider like me." ”

"Yes, you and I...... Actually, they are all hypocrites. The corners of Fan Xian's lips flashed with a strange smile that was a little self-deprecating, "So when we speak, it seems that we can be more direct, what I need you to do for me, maybe it will happen, maybe it won't happen, in short, when the time comes, I will send someone to inform you." ”

Haitang glanced at him, and suddenly said: "I heard that you love the illegitimate daughter of the prime minister very much, so even the eldest girl ring pointed out by the grandmother of Shanzhou has not been included in the house. ”

"I don't like it when you tempt me about my housework. Fan Xian turned around and said very seriously: "This topic ends here. ”

Haitang nodded with a smile and said: "Actually, I'm just curious, what kind of people are happy when they see women, and feel uncomfortable when they see men, thinking that unmarried women are pearls, thinking that married women are fish eyes, thinking that daughters' homes are made of water, men are made of mud, thinking that women are precious, and men are lowly ......"

After a long list of words ended, Haitang stared at Fan Xian's quiet eyes and said softly: "I'm curious, everyone in the world respects men, how can Fan Gongzi have these opinions." ”

Fan Xian smiled and did not answer.

Haitang suddenly bowed, and said: "Duoduo thanked Fan Gongzi for the women of the world for the boudoir and fought for the women. ”

Fan Xian was silent for a while, and suddenly said, "I am with the vast majority of people in this world...... It's different. ”

Out of the palace gate, Haitang was a little surprised to find that Master Taifu was still guarding outside the palace, and after Fan Xian saw the teacher of the emperor's majesty, his face was not unusual, and he thought that he had known it a long time ago.

Haitang saluted Taifu, then turned back to Fan Xian and said, "Later, I'll send off the adult." ”

Fan Xian understood the hidden meaning of her words, nodded, and got into Taifu's carriage.

Watching the three carriages in front and behind gradually disappear into the night of Shangjing, Begonia's bright eyes suddenly became confused, and she thought about the last words of the handsome young official of the Southern Dynasty, which was different? Fan Xian is naturally different in the eyes of people in this world, but he doesn't know where he thinks he is different.

―――――――――――――――――――――――― carriage stopped outside a quiet courtyard, the forbidden troops who were responsible for the security of the mission, only then did they know that Fan Xian, a great genius of Southern Qi, visited the Northern Qi for the last time, and it turned out to be to visit this everyone, thinking of the night banquet poems that were spread all over the world, everyone couldn't help but feel a little uneasy, and they didn't know what Fan Xian had in mind, but in this kind of scholarly courtyard, everyone naturally quieted down.

The tiger guards on the first carriage got out of the car, their eyes were fierce, and they guarded several key passes.

Fan Xian and the Northern Qi Dynasty Taifu walked down from the carriage hand in hand, although the attitude was not necessarily affectionate, but there seemed to be no hostility, everyone was a little at ease, but they saw that the Taifu who had always been upright and upright and Fan Xian whispered a few words, and the two pushed the door in.

Fan Xian waved his hand and motioned for the tiger guards not to follow.

When he arrived at a room in the courtyard, Taifu bowed deeply to the house, turned around and said calmly to Fan Xian: "Master Fan, the teacher has not been in good health recently, please don't talk for too long." ”

Fan Xian politely saluted the great scribe, tidied up his clothes, gently pushed open the wooden door, and at a glance, he could see an old man holding a small brush, scribbling something on the paper.

This old man is a master of scriptures in the world, and his students are all over the world, and the Taifu of Northern Qi and the scholar Shu of Southern Qi are all his proud disciples. Before Fan Xian showed his edge, no one could compare with him in terms of academics, even if Fan Xian shamelessly made Guo Jingming in the palace in order to win, no one would really think that in addition to the way of poetry, Fan Xian had reached the realm of the other party in other aspects.

Because this old man's surname is Zhuang, and his name is Mo Han.

There were no servants or scholars in the room, only the old man in his loose robe kept copying, occasionally frowning, staring at the paper and turning the pages of the book beside him, as if looking for some proof. Compared with the previous year when he was in Qingguo, Zhuang Mohan's jīng god seemed to be much worse, although the silver hair was still tightly tied, but the old age spots next to his cheeks became heavier, showing some kind of bad luck.

Fan Xian didn't want to disturb him, walked behind him lightly, set his eyes on the case, and found that what was on the bookcase was a half-idle poem from the Xiangbo Bookstore! And on the blank page of the poetry collection, I don't know how many annotations were written, could it be that this person in the world was actually writing annotations for the poetry collection he "memorized"?!

Zhuang Mohan's dry fingers pointed to the second half of the sentence in the poetry collection: "Once the sea was difficult to water, except for Wushan is not a cloud", kept pointing to the pages, his lips opened slightly, and said with some pain: "No, no, there is the beauty of empty words, this second half of the sentence does not make sense, it really does not make sense, you say, what does this mean?"

............ After a little silence, Fan Xian's soft voice sounded: "Wushan is a sacred mountain in the extreme south, cloudy and misty all year round, once it is the morning clouds, and the twilight is rainy, but whoever has watched this scene and this cloud, and then looks at any high sky and white fog in the world, they are too lazy to take the eyes, these two words are two sentences, pure love and loyalty." ”

"I see, that's ......" Zhuang Mohan smiled bitterly and pointed to a thick book in the corner of the large bookcase: "The old man can naturally guess this meaning, but he can't always find this classic, and he can't find this book of mountains and seas, and he hasn't found the cloudy Wushan, it turns out to be a sacred mountain in the extreme south, no wonder I don't know." ”

Fan Xian saw that he didn't suspect that he was making up something, and knew that this old man was really a very gentle and tolerant person, so he smiled slightly, stepped forward to polish the ink for him, and watched him copy his explanation in very fine small letters in the blank space of the page. Zhuang Mohan's regular script is also famous all over the world, and it is pure and not a second person, but Fan Xian looked a little embarrassed today, and the old man's hands trembled a little.

"King Chen used to feast peacefully, and he fought wine for ten thousand years...... What kind of allusion is this?" Zhuang Mohan didn't look at him and continued to ask.

Fan Xian was embarrassed for a while, and when he thought of a collection of poems, he specially deleted Li Bai's poem about entering the wine, why did the old comrades come to ask him again?

Zhuang Mohan sighed and said: "The old man has never forgotten since he was a child, and he has never forgotten his ears, so he can't help but be a little self-conscious, then you spit out poems like rivers and seas, which can't help but make the old man hurt himself a little......" The old man laughed at himself: "But it's also a loss of this ability, so I remembered so many poems you said, and then the collection of poems was published, and I found that there were many poems missing, and I don't know what you think as a child." ”

Hearing Zhuang Mohan call himself a child, Fan Xian couldn't help but feel a little strange in his heart, he coughed twice and explained: "King Chen is a prince surnamed Cao, and he used to hold a banquet in Pingxian in the past......

"The prince surnamed Cao?" Zhuang Mohan raised his head, with a hint of unconfidence in his cloudy eyes, "Can ...... For thousands of years, there has been no royal family surnamed Cao. ”

Fan Xian sighed in his heart and persuaded: "The old man doesn't have to bother anymore about the things that are nonsense in his later life. ”

"That's not good!" Zhuang Mohan was really stubborn in some aspects, flipped through all the poems he copied by hand, pointed to one of them and said: "Xiao Xie in the middle is clear again, who is this Xiao Xie?"

Fan Xian's face was blue and white for a while, and he responded after a while: "Xiao Xie is a down-and-out literati who writes scripts, although the text is vulgar and has not been handed down, but he is still somewhat famous in the market. ”

"That ......"

............ I don't know how long it took, when Fan Xian felt that he was already poor and bored, Zhuang Mohan finally sighed, rubbed the corners of his eyes, threw his pen into the inkstone, and said with a slight gloom: "The oil is exhausted, and the lamp is dry, it is not as good as the time to do scholarship back then." ”

After entering the house, the two of them did not say hello, and threw themselves into this somewhat ridiculous work, until this point. Fan Xian put down his rolled up sleeves, bowed very politely, and said, "I've seen everyone Zhuang, I don't know what advice the old gentleman has for calling the late students here." ”

The room was quiet, and after a long time, Zhuang Mohan suddenly trembled his old body and bowed deeply to Fan Xian very reluctantly.

Fan Xian was so shocked that he forgot to help him, what kind of identity is this old man? He is the master of the Northern Qi Emperor, how could he come to worship him.

Zhuang Mohan had already stood up, with a smile on his face exuding in the wrinkles: "Last year, Qingguo met, and now it has been a year, the old man has acted first in his life, and he framed Lord Fan in Qingguo last year, and he has been uneasy so far. ”

............ Fan Xian was silent, of course he knew that the reason why Zhuang Mohan would give up his face for decades at the invitation of the eldest princess and go all the way south to be a villain was all about Sean's release in the agreement, which was brotherly love - what he lacked the most at the moment.

"Sean is dead. Fan Xian looked at the old man in front of him, who suddenly looked much thinner in a year, his thin lips opened slightly, and he said these four words.

Zhuang Mohan glanced at him with a smile and didn't say anything.

Fan Xian also smiled, knowing that he was a little redundant, after all, the other party was a veteran figure who had been mixed up in this world for decades, and he didn't know how deep his foundation was in the Northern Qi country, how could he not know about this big thing.

"People always have to die. Zhuang Mohan seemed to be saying this to himself, and it seemed to be saying it to Fan Xian: "So live well, like my brother's way of living, it's really not interesting, he killed countless people, but in the end he ended up like this......"

Fan Xian disagreed with this statement a little, and said: "This world is originally a gold belt of murder and arson, building bridges and paving roads without corpses. ”

Zhuang Mohan shook his head: "Don't be this kind of person." ”

It's not that it can't, but it's very direct not to say two words, if any outsider stands in this room at this time, hears the conversation between Zhuang Mohan and Fan Xian, and sees their natural and unpretentious demeanor, it will be a little strange. The experience and life of these two people are too far apart, and the only time they meet is a yīn scheme, but they are such two people, but they can express their attitudes in the most direct words.

Perhaps, this is the so-called power of books.

"Why not?" Fan Xian felt a chill between his eyebrows.

"I'm confident. Zhuang Mohan suddenly laughed, but there was some deep sadness hidden in his smile, "I am confident that I am much happier than my brother." ”

Fan Xian stared at his eyes: "But you should know that if it weren't for Sean, maybe you would never have been able to get where you are now." ”

Zhuang Mohan stared at his eyes: "But you don't know enough, when death gradually comes, you will find out that any power and wealth are actually just passing glances." ”

Fan Xian replied calmly and persistently: "No, when death comes, you may regret this life, you have not experienced anything, you have not enjoyed anything...... It's just that you already have something in this life that ordinary people can never have, so when you get old, you will have some feelings. ”

Zhuang Mohan shook his head a little helplessly: "You are still young, you haven't smelled the deeper breath of death around you, how can you know what you will think when the time comes." ”

"I know. Fan Xian repeated somewhat mechanically: "Believe me, I know that feeling. ”

Zhuang Mohan seemed to be a little tired, and didn't want to continue the topic, so he said instead: "I didn't expect that the person who could write such a deviant text as Shiji would still be the turbidity of his own pen. ”

Fan Xian smiled bitterly: "I didn't expect that this kind of thing would fly faster than birds." ”

Zhuang Mohan suddenly revealed a trace of concern in his eyes, and said, "Master Fan, you have to be careful after you return to China, Shi Ji ...... There are a lot of taboos. ”

Fan Xian was silent, he also knew this, but when he was young, he was so frivolous that he couldn't bear to lose the opportunity to appear in this world, so he wrote it out casually, and now he is in the officialdom, so he naturally understands that if someone wants to find out the shadow shè sentence from it, it is too easy, and there is a coincidence in this matter that Fan Xian himself was shocked, so he can't help but be cautious, but it's a pity that the Emperor of Northern Qi is also a red fan, and this matter naturally can't be hidden.

But Zhuang Mohan is reasonable, he shouldn't care so much about himself, this is where Fan Xian has some doubts.

Zhuang Mohan seemed to guess what he was thinking, and said with a smile: "I invite Lord Fan to come today, in addition to the selfish matter of asking for sin to comfort myself, I also want to thank you." ”

"Thank you?" Fan Xian frowned, he didn't think that the other party knew that he had extended Sean's life by one day.

"Thank you for the people of the world. Zhuang Mohan looked at him with a smile: "When Lord Fan first entered the Supervision Yuan, he exposed the disadvantages of Qingguo chūn 闱, this matter affected the world, and His Majesty also moved the idea of rectifying the imperial examination. ”

Fan Xian curled the corners of his lips self-deprecatingly and smiled: "Exposing the cheats? It's all a matter of readers, do you need to thank you?"

Zhuang Mohan didn't smile, his cloudy eyes were a little blank, this time Sean returned to China, he didn't make any efforts, the most important thing is that he didn't want to let the entire court fall into turmoil because of this matter, but he knew that this world was not composed of all scholars, there were politicians, there were strategists, there were warriors, and their way of dealing with things sometimes seemed more direct and wild.

He glanced at Fan Xian, and was about to say something, but when he thought that those were the internal affairs of Northern Qi after all, there was no need to say anything to him.

............ After a long time, Fan Xian left the courtyard where Zhuang Mohan lived, and then in this life, he never came again.

――――――――――――――――――――― the heat is great, although in terms of months, the hottest rìzi of the year should have long passed, but the Northern Qi is located in the northeast of the mainland, and it is particularly hot and humid in autumn, and the drizzle that is common at the end of summer and the beginning of summer has long been gone, only the white sun above the head, frivolous and ruthless, forcing people to take off their clothes until they can no longer take them off.

Outside the south gate of Shangjingcheng, a bright yellow car disappeared into the city gate, and the gray and ancient city wall immediately re-became the most conspicuous existence in the eyes of everyone outside the city.

Fan Xian squinted his eyes and looked at that place, feeling very uneasy, that emperor His Majesty actually came to send the Qingguo delegation in person, this is a completely unruly thing, no matter how dissuaded the ministers of Northern Qi, they still did not stop it, so they had to come to a large number of high-ranking officials and ministers, and even the Taifu went out of the city to send each other, giving the Nanqing delegation enough face.

The previous emperor and Fan Xian held hands and chatted about common words, remembering things like the Stone Record, I don't know how many courtiers they attracted the attention of the courtiers - finally invited this somewhat eccentric emperor back, at this time outside the city were only the officials of the Northern Qi Dynasty and a guard of honor, Fan Xian glanced at it, saw Wei Hua, but did not see the Marquis of Changning, nor did he see Shen Chong.

He felt his back soaked, and he didn't know if he was frightened by the emperor or from the sun.

The auspicious time had not yet arrived, so the mission could not leave yet. He glanced at the most gorgeous carriage in front of the team, the eldest princess of Northern Qi was in the car at this time, she had just glanced at it from a distance, and she could vaguely see that it was a beautiful nobleman, but she didn't know how it was, but Fan Xian was not too worried about the way back to China, after experiencing the matter of Begonia, Fan Xian was a little more confident in his ability to get along with women.

A gust of wind swept by, which suddenly made Fan Xian feel relaxed, he pulled the extremely tight buttons of his clothes, thinking to himself that this ghost weather, there is still such a gentle little wind? Turning his head to look, sure enough, Wang Qinian was playing a fan flatteringly beside him, his face full of reluctance and sadness.

Fan Xian couldn't help but burst out laughing, and scolded with a smile: "It's just a year, what are you doing with a sad face? ”

When the mission left, Yan Bingyun naturally had to return to China, so that the secret spy network of the Qingguo Supervision Yuan in the territory of the Northern Qi State suddenly had no leading figures, so the internal plan of the Supervision Yuan was to let Wang Qinian stay in Shangjing as the resident of the Qingguo Honglu Temple in the Northern Qi Dynasty, temporarily take over the northern affairs, and wait for half a year later the court secretly sent officials to take over.

Fan Xian, as a priest, has a special status in the courtyard, and things like this don't need to go through the formalities of the yamen in Kyoto at all, so it was decided very simply, but Wang Qinian didn't expect that he would not go back with the mission, and he couldn't help but feel a little uneasy and disappointed, although he knew that this experience would be very beneficial to the promotion of the official voice after rì, but he was still a little uncomfortable.

"My lord, if I don't listen to you for a day, I will feel uncomfortable. Wang Qinian looked at Fan Xian reluctantly.

Fan Xian smiled and said, "Don't clash with the Northern Qi side, Mingzhe will protect yourself, and I will pick up the wind for you in Kyoto in a year." In fact, he is also used to having such a boastful cunning by his side, the key is that Wang Qinian is his only cronie in the courtyard, but unfortunately because he has to prepare to deal with the eldest princess's silver channel, he has to stay in Northern Qi.

............ While speaking, a horse suddenly drove out of the city gate, and the person on the horse was not an official, dressed like a housekeeper, and couldn't help but attract the attention of the officials, thinking about the early cloth, how could the Yamen of the Nine Cities of Beijing put a common man here?

Fan Xian's eyes were sharp, but he saw that the face of Master Taifu, who was standing at the head of the send-off procession, was gloomy, and his eyes showed sadness.

The horse rode directly in front of the team, and immediately the family rolled off the horse, whispered a few words into the Taifu's ear, handed the Taifu a cloth scroll, and then pointed to the city gate behind.

Taifu's body shook, he didn't know what he was stimulated, he looked at the carriage slowly coming at the city gate, shook his head sadly, and glanced back at Fan Xian, but there was some surprise in his eyes.

He took a deep breath, and then walked towards Fan Xian, Fan Xian didn't know what was going on, and hurriedly got off the horse to meet him with some trepidation, took the cloth scroll handed over by Master Taifu, opened it a little nervously, and saw that it was a collection of poems, and the slightly winding old handwriting on the page wrote a few words:

"Semi-idle Zhai Poetry Collection: Lao Zhuang Note"

Taifu glanced at Fan Xian, who was silent, with some mixed feelings, and said, "This is what Mr. handed over to the adult." Speaking of this, his tone couldn't help but carry a deep sadness and heaviness.

Mr. Zhuang...... went. ”