Fan Xian strolled out of the study, breathing in the crisp, fresh air of the winter mountains, and stretched contentedly. Following the sounds of mahjong tiles, he easily found his wife and several other young ladies. Watching the emerald green tiles clatter under their fair, delicate hands, a thought stirred in Fan Xian's heart.

When he noticed his younger sister, bathed in the snowy light, earnestly reading a collection of poems from the previous dynasty sent by the Second Prince, another thought stirred within him.

Becoming too famous was indeed not a good thing. Pigs feared getting fat, and people feared the same. Fan Xian smiled wryly. After the night banquet, although the Crown Prince and the Second Prince showed no outward signs of interaction with him, Xin Shaoqing and Li Hongcheng, the son of Prince Jing, had visited the Fan residence frequently. Even after he had escaped to the Cang Mountains, he couldn't prevent them from sending New Year's gifts.

On New Year's Eve, this group of people on Cang Mountain returned to Kyoto for a short visit. Li Hongcheng, surprisingly, followed the scent and chased after them, stubbornly insisting on coming up to Cang Mountain. Fan Xian dared not agree, and in the end, he reluctantly brought the little Princess Roujia into the mountains.

Seeing him entering the room in a daze, the first to notice was Princess Roujia. The little girl said in a crisp voice, "Brother Xian, do you want to play cards?"

Hearing the words "Brother Xian," Fan Xian immediately thought of "Brother Bao," quickly waving his hand and smiling, "Your Highness, you play. I'll just wander around."

Hearing his deliberately distant tone, Princess Roujia pouted slightly, but refrained from expressing her displeasure, looking remarkably pitiful and endearing. Lin Wan'er, who was nearby, couldn't help but say, "Husband, why don't you play a few rounds?"

"No, thank you," Fan Xian waved his hand even more urgently, moving away from the mahjong table. Unexpectedly, his foot bumped into something soft and furry. He paused slightly, looked down, and saw a box. Inside the box was piled with dry grass and scraps of cloth, and on top of them were three plump kittens sleeping. The kittens squinted their eyes, wrinkling their black noses, looking extremely adorable.

Fan Xian exclaimed, "What's going on here?"

Lin Wan'er only then noticed the cats were placed at his feet. Afraid of startling the kittens, she quickly walked away from the table and picked up the box, naturally putting an end to the game. She replied with a smile, "Auntie Teng was afraid we'd get bored in the mountains, so she sent these three kittens today."

Fan Xian approached and noticed that the three kittens, one yellow, one black, and one white, looked very similar but had vastly different fur colors. He couldn't help but laugh, "You girls can't even take care of yourselves, let alone raise cats." He reached into the box and picked up the black one, holding it in his arms. It felt like a small ball of flesh against his chest, and he gently scratched the kitten's head. The kitten opened its eyes, glanced at him, and then fell back into a deep sleep, seemingly not resisting his presence.

"Have you named them?"

"No, we're just calling them Little Yellow, Little Black, and Little White for now."

"Hmm, Little White sounds nice."

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After dinner, Fan Xian sat in the main seat, with Fan Sizhe beside him. The two brothers listened to the report from the people who had come from the Fan residence in Kyoto. During the New Year season, the Fan family's estates in the outskirts of Kyoto, as well as the fiefdom in Danzhou and some scattered properties, had to report their accounts to the Kyoto residence. The Fan residence in Kyoto had always been managed by Madam Liu. Now that she had been officially recognized, she naturally did so with even more legitimacy. However, for some reason, after handling these matters this year, she had asked Mr. Cui from the residence to write a letter, selecting the most important items of income and expenditure to inform the eldest young master in Cangshan Villa.

Fan Xian could understand Madam Liu's intentions, so he didn't deliberately do anything. Instead, he listened very carefully to the report of the third steward, occasionally interjecting a few questions.

The third steward finished speaking honestly. Fan Xian closed his eyes and thought for a while, then opened them and asked Sizhe beside him, "Do you see any problems?"

Fan Sizhe rubbed the three moles on his left cheek and shook his head. "No problems, Brother. But these accounts have always been managed by Mother. Why are we two going through them this year?"

Fan Xian smiled slightly, knowing that this guy, who was originally a little tyrant, had a talent for certain things, but in other aspects, he seemed as blank as a piece of paper.

The third steward respectfully added, "The New Year's goods from various places should have arrived in Kyoto before the New Year, but this year there was heavy snow in the east and north, so they were delayed for a few days. In addition to the southern rice and fruits sent up the mountain last time, there were also various cured meats and wild game from the northern estate, as well as the flower tea bestowed by the old ancestor from Danzhou. The amounts are all written in the letter. Thinking that the eldest young master, young mistress, young lady, young master, and princess are all staying in the villa, the madam has prepared some more of each item, planning to send them to the mountain in three batches. It should be enough to last until mid-spring."

"We don't need that much. Just send some fresh things. Three batches are too many, once more will be enough," Fan Xian casually replied. "But remember to bring more of the flower tea that Madam sent from Danzhou." He often talked to Wan'er and Ruoruo about life in Danzhou, and he had mentioned the tea with its faint floral fragrance countless times.

The third steward smiled and replied, "The tea has already arrived today. The other two batches are mainly some food and small items, mainly prepared for the two young masters who plan to stay until the imperial examinations begin in the spring."

Fan Xian listened very clearly and secretly praised Madam Liu for being considerate and the steward for being efficient. He didn't say much, allowing him to be rewarded and rest.

With the spring imperial examinations approaching, Fan Xian, as a fifth-rank Fengzheng of the Imperial College, had to return to Kyoto to take office and couldn't stay on Cang Mountain forever. And after the civil service examinations in April, the agreement between the two countries needed a returning envoy immediately, and the secret prisoner exchange agreement had to be started immediately. It seemed that everything was piling up.

In fact, from Fan Xian's perspective, the prisoner exchange should have started last year. Not to mention the suffering that the captured Qing soldiers would endure in foreign lands, just the fact that Yan Bingyun, whom he had never met but secretly admired, was the head of the Qing secret agency in Northern Qi, and had been imprisoned in the enemy country for more than half a year, he must have been suffering greatly.

However, exchanges between the two countries were always extremely complicated, and after entering winter, the northern border became icy and difficult to travel, so the return of the envoy had to be delayed until late spring. But every time he thought of Yan Bingyun possibly suffering in a cold house, while Fan Xian was enjoying himself on Cang Mountain in winter, he couldn't help but feel a little less at ease.

He had long known that he was the main person in charge of this mission to Northern Qi, but he didn't resist the position. After all, if he could establish his own power in the Supervisory Council, it would always be beneficial for the future. Moreover, whether in Danzhou or in Kyoto, seventeen years of life had long made him feel from the bottom of his heart that he was truly a member of Qing Yu Nian.

Fan Xian was willing to do things for this country, rather than for this court.

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At night, Fan Xian finished his routine training and returned to the villa, feeling somewhat tired. He stuffed the night clothes, full of snow and water stains, into a prepared bag and threw it aside.

During training, he had lain alone in the snow, following those faint targets under the moonlight. His gaze had condensed into a straight line, staring at those black rocks that had emerged from the snow and remained motionless for thousands of years, or the snow rabbits running rapidly in changing lines. He felt very tired. Moreover, these days, after Wu Zhu had given him that what-parents-whatever thing, he had disappeared again. So during the training process, no one spoke, no one watched him. That feeling of loneliness and desolation seemed to return to his previous life.

The villa was quiet, with only a lamp lit in the master bedroom. Wan'er was waiting for him to return. Fan Xian smiled slightly, and walked towards it. During the day there was a lot of sun, so a pool of water was accumulated on the bluestone floor, reflecting light in the moonlight. He bypassed it and jumped over the railing. At this moment, a thought struck him, and he stopped in his tracks.

He was standing at the other end of the long corridor, at the door of his sister's room. Suddenly, his ears twitched, his brow furrowed, and a look of sternness gradually appeared in his eyes. He turned around and pressed his palm against the door, exerting a slight force. The tyrannical true qi immediately shattered the wooden bolt into two pieces, and he drifted to the bedside like the night wind.

The bedding on the bed was messy, but it was empty. Ruoruo was indeed gone.

Fan Xian calmly reached into the bedding and found that other than the area near the foot warmer, the other places were icy cold. It seemed that Ruoruo had been gone for a long time. His heart trembled slightly. Could it be the work of enemies he didn't know about? But he still forced himself to calm down and turned around. With a clang, he pulled out the slender black dagger with his left hand, preparing to search for people in the night.

"Brother!"

Outside the door, Fan Ruoruo held a lamp, looking at her brother standing with a knife on her bed in amazement. Fan Xian was stunned. Seeing that she was safe and sound, his whole body relaxed, and he couldn't help but close his eyes and take several deep breaths. After a moment, he asked with concern, "Where did you go? Are you alright?"

Ruoruo was wearing a silver mink coat, with only a single garment inside, looking pitifully cold. She looked at Fan Xian, seemingly not expecting this, and was inevitably stunned. After a long while, she forced a smile and said, "Brother, it's scary when you ask me with a knife."

Fan Xian shook his head with a wry smile, put the slender dagger back in his boot, walked forward, and grasped her slightly thin shoulders, "You're the scary one. I was walking outside and heard the inside was unusually quiet, and I couldn't even hear your breathing. It scared me to death."

Fan Ruoruo laughed, "Brother, really. You run around outside in the middle of the night, but you say I scared you."

"What exactly did you do?" Fan Xian continued to ask curiously. Ruoruo's face turned red, and she lowered her head in shame, "Some things, brother, don't ask so clearly."

Fan Xian paused for a moment and then understood, smiling wryly, "It's not like there's no toilet in the room. The night wind in the mountains is very cold, don't catch a cold."

"Got it." Fan Ruoruo smiled shyly and pushed him out the door, "Sister-in-law is still waiting for you."

……

……

Outside the door, Fan Xian gently rubbed his cold fingers. The temperature of his sister's bedding showed that she had been out for a while. It was definitely not just getting up in the middle of the night. She must have gotten up and gone somewhere after he left the villa.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but feel a great doubt in his heart, but he forcibly suppressed it and didn't ask or investigate further. Everyone in this world has their own little secrets, and we need to respect them - Fan Xian had taught his sister this way in his letters between Kyoto and Danzhou. As an elder brother, he needed to set an example even more.