I m the Farmgirl You Can t Mess With - Chapter 1408: Side Story: Fan Zijin (24)
Chapter 1408: Side Story: Fan Zijin (24)
Editor: Atlas Studios
After Qi Xiuyuan had the ability to do so, he arranged for people to be stationed in the capital. His original intention was to protect his silly brother, but because his brother was too skilled in martial arts and Zijin was smart, those people did not come in handy. Instead, they became intelligence agents to collect information.
Because their two little masters were always making them worry, they only realized that something was amiss two days after Qi Haoran and Fan Zijin left the capital.
After finding out that Qi Haoran and Fan Zijin had run away from home, they sent people north to report and search along the way.
However, they had limited manpower, so they couldn’t be as fast as Fan Siwen and Xia Tong.
However, the messenger arrived at Xingzhou Prefecture very quickly.
Half a month ago, Qi Xiuyuan received news that his brother had run away from home. He immediately sent his capable subordinate, Jiang Ze, to bring people south to search for him, but there had been no news at all in the past half a month.
Meanwhile, the people sent by Xia Tong and Fan Siwen had already arrived at Xingzhou Prefecture. They didn’t manage to find Young Master Haoran nor Young Master Zijin. Vaguely knowing that they had missed them, they could only rush back to look for them.
As Qi Xiuyuan looked at the two of them who were in a sorry state, he asked, “What were you guys doing? It’s only a 20-day journey from the capital to Xingzhou Prefecture, but you actually took more than a month!”
Qi Haoran and Fan Zijin looked at each other. Neither of them dared to say that they had stolen more than 50,000 taels of silver from the Qi Residence. They only said that they had been deceived and hunted down. “After they took away the money on us, we were penniless. Originally, we planned to hire a carriage using money exchanged with a jade pendant, but who knew that those bandits would actually chase us relentlessly? When we almost reached Xingzhou Prefecture, there was still a group of martial artists chasing after us. If not for Haoran’s excellent martial arts skills and him bringing me into the forest, we might not live to see Eldest Cousin again.”
Fan Zijin was afraid of being beaten up, so he tried to make them sound as pitiful as possible. As he looked at Eldest Cousin with tears in his eyes, he said, “We couldn’t catch wild animals in the mountains at all. When we saw wild fruits, we didn’t dare to pick them and eat them. Constantly hungry and thirsty, we thought we would starve to death in the mountains.”
Qi Haoran nodded as he stuffed a drumstick into his mouth. His mouth was filled with oil as he said, “Thankfully, later on, we met a young lady who gave us pancakes and a pheasant and rabbit. Otherwise, we would definitely starve to death.”
Even if they didn’t starve to death, they wouldn’t be able to walk out of the forest in a short period of time. They might even walk deeper and deeper, and perhaps die without knowing why.
Qi Xiuyuan looked at his brother, who was wolfing down the food, and then at Fan Zijin, who was so skinny that his clothes were hanging on him. Heart filled with anger and pain, he ultimately said with a straight face, “You two have to be grateful to her. The next time you meet her, give her the money for the prey. As the saying goes, ’a drop of water should be repaid with a spring’.”
Then, he said, “As for the bandits, Big Brother will handle it. You don’t have to worry about that.”
“What about the people who were chasing us…”
A cold glint flashed across Qi Xiuyuan’s eyes. With a dark expression, he said, “Since they’re from the martial arts world, it should be treated as a matter of the martial arts world. Although the Zhu family has retired from the martial arts world and joined the army, they still have some status in the martial arts world. I’ll deal with this matter after discussing it with my uncles. You guys just have to stay here. I’ll write a letter to Aunt and ask her to pick you guys up.”
Stunned, Fan Zijin’s eyes immediately turned red. He lowered his head in discomfort and said, “Eldest Cousin, we don’t want to go back.”
Qi Haoran nodded repeatedly.
“Nonsense.” Qi Xiuyuan said with a frown, “The north is not like the capital. This place lacks everything and is at the border. Also, it’s very dangerous. It’s fine if you want to join the army in the future, but you’re planning to become an official through the Imperial Examination. What future can you have if you stay here?”
“I won’t have a future even if I return to the capital.” Fan Zijin said with a cold expression, “I’ll only be bullied there. How can I still be in the mood to study for the Imperial Examination? If you can’t tolerate my presence, I’ll go look for Uncle Zhu and the rest.”
Stunned, Qi Xiuyuan asked, “Who dares to bully you?”
In his opinion, his younger brother should be the one being bullied, right?
He didn’t have a mother and his father didn’t care about him. Placed in the care of the Fan Residence, it would be strange if he wasn’t bullied considering his stubborn personality.
However, Fan Zijin was different. Other than being the eldest son of the first wife, his parents were around and Aunt doted on him. He was also smart. Since he was young, he was the only one who bullied others. Very few people could scheme against him. Who dared to bully him?
Qi Xiuyuan looked at him suspiciously.
Fan Zijin was so aggrieved that tears streamed down his face. Qi Haoran stopped chewing on the drumstick and wiped his mouth as he complained, “Big Brother, it was Uncle and Fan Zixiao who joined forces to bully Zijin. Don’t you know Uncle? He doesn’t differentiate between the legitimate and the concubine’s children. He is super biased. It was fine in the past, but it has become worse over the years. You just left not long ago. Uncle faces Zijin with a scowl every few days because of his studies, even when he’s clearly very good at studying.”
Seeing his friend cry, Qi Haoran became even angrier. His face turned red as he said, “It was originally a good thing that Zijin passed the xiucai examination this time. Unexpectedly, before we could celebrate, Uncle said that he wanted to give the spot for hereditary privilege to Fan Zixiao. He even submitted a memorial before we left the capital!”
Qi Xiuyuan’s expression darkened.
Qi Haoran continued to rant. “Which family doesn’t give the spot for hereditary privilege to the legitimate son? Even if they don’t give it to the legitimate son, they will leave it for the legitimate eldest grandson. There’s a hurdle for a xiucai to become a juren. Countless people in this world had their hair turn white trying to cross this hurdle. Zijin is smart, but as long as he doesn’t pass the juren examination, Uncle shouldn’t have given the hereditary privilege spot away. Even if he dotes on Fan Zixiao and wants to give him the spot, he has to wait until after Zijin passes the juren examination. Zijin is only 12 years old now while Fan Zixiao is only 15 years old. Is he afraid that we don’t know that he’s wary of Zijin?”
Fan Zijin’s face turned even paler, and Qi Xiuyuan’s expression turned even uglier.
At the end of the day, Fan Siwen and Fan Zixiao were too blatant about this. If he had waited for Zijin to grow older and become a top scholar or a successful juren before deciding on the hereditary privilege spot, even if he still wanted to give the spot to Fan Zixiao at that time, Zijin would not have such a huge reaction even if he was angry.
However, Zijin was only 12 years old now, and Fan Zixiao was only 15 years old. Everyone knew that he was guarding against Fan Zijin by choosing the hereditary privilege candidate so eagerly.
And Fan Zijin was his legitimate son, his only legitimate son!
Who knew how the people in the capital would think of Zijin after learning about this?
Anyone would be sad if put in Zijin’s shoes.
Qi Xiuyuan looked at his aggrieved cousin, who had lowered his head, and then at his furious younger brother. Thinking of the assassins who had been sent after them, his eyes could not help but darken. “In that case, both of you can stay. I’ll think of a way to hire a teacher to teach you. Even if you’re at the border, you can’t fall behind in your studies, especially Zijin. Don’t let your father and half-brother look down on you.”
Fan Zijin nodded solemnly and promised, “Don’t worry, Eldest Cousin. I’ll definitely study hard.”
As long as he didn’t have to go back and see those people who made his heart ache.
The two little friends looked at each other and could not help but feel excited.
This was the first time the two of them came to the border. The people here were valiant, completely different from the gentle and cultured Jiangnan.
Seeing that the two of them were in high spirits, Qi Xiuyuan assigned his manservant, Fei Bai, to let them order around. He said, “I’ll keep Shi Jian by my side, and I’ll assign Fei Bai to the two of you. He’s familiar with the borders, so he can bring you wherever you want to go.”
Other than Fei Bai, there were naturally many other guards and servants.
Seeing that their previous escape had not traumatized them, Qi Xiuyuan immediately felt relieved and began to deal with the things they had encountered along the way.
First, he wanted to exterminate the bandits!
