Along the stream bank at the edge of the training ground, elm and willow trees grew together. Several fine horses were tethered there.
Han Qian walked straight toward those horses.
Perhaps because this was the first time in these past days they had seen their young master Han Qian holding a bow and walking to the training ground, those family guards and guards’ sons who were exercising on the field all stopped and looked with surprise toward Fan Xicheng, who was sitting on a bench at the edge of the field sunning himself.
Fan Xicheng didn’t know what the young master Han Qian wanted to do. He craned his neck to look toward the East Courtyard, seemingly wanting to call over the ugly maid Qing Yun to ask her whether the young master had taken the wrong medicine today.
Han Qian didn’t know which of these family guards had secretly colluded with Yao Xishui. At the moment, he could only secretly remind himself to stay calm. Without showing any emotion, he walked toward a horse with purple mane that looked quite spirited, inserted the Black Cloud Bow into the bow case, untied the reins, and prepared to mount.
Han Qian could draw a two-stone strength bow at age twelve. After six years of neglect, he didn’t think that even with this sudden awakening now, he still had a chance to become an invincible warrior general of this era. But when dramatic changes occurred in the Han family in the future, he couldn’t count on the family guards to loyally protect him. At this time, he had to practice riding and archery hard so he could escape on his own in the future.
“The young master has just recovered from a chill and is still weak. If you fall off the horse somewhere, this old servant cannot bear that responsibility. Moreover, the Master wants the young master to patiently stay in the residence and study. This is not the time to sightsee and enjoy leisure.”
Fan Xicheng followed over and extended his sinewy, vein-bulging wrist to grasp the reins, his sharp gaze fixed on Han Qian, indicating he should dismount.
Fan Xicheng had originally been a soldier in the Chuzhou army. His wife and daughter were separated in warfare, after which he followed at Han Daoxun’s side. At this time, under Han Daoxun’s orders, he remained at the manor to supervise Han Qian’s studying of books. It could be said he was currently the first person in charge of Autumn Lake Manor.
Fan Xicheng was previously “Old Dog Fan” and a “thorn” in Han Qian’s eyes. They had already had many unpleasant conflicts.
Han Qian thought about how he would be betrayed by these family guards in the future, and anger rose in his heart. Subconsciously, he picked up the riding whip, about to lash it toward Fan Xicheng’s face, but a thought flashed through his mind—would this really solve the problem? If the dream figure Zhai Xinping were in this situation, what would he do?
Han Qian forcefully suppressed the anger in his heart, staring at Fan Xicheng. He thought to himself that regardless of whether Fan Xicheng would be reliable in the future, at this moment when he was making things difficult, he was still executing his father Han Daoxun’s “orders.” And two nights ago, it was also Fan Xicheng who had brought people over and startled Yao Xishui away. The possibility of Fan Xicheng being an inside collaborator was not great.
If he truly lost his temper as in the past, making a huge fuss and commotion, Fan Xicheng would only treat him like a dead dog, directly drag him off the horse, throw him into the East Courtyard and confine him there. This wouldn’t solve the problem he currently faced.
Thinking this way, Han Qian tried to slow his tone as much as possible. Staring into Fan Xicheng’s eyes, he asked:
“I’ve just recovered from a chill and my body is weak. I want to ride this horse and walk around the manor to recover some strength. Is this not acceptable?”
The young master Han Qian’s words left Fan Xicheng slightly stunned. He was supposed to keep the young master Han Qian under control and not let him have opportunities to act recklessly, but Han Qian’s current reasoning also made it impossible for him to directly pull Han Qian off the horse and lock him back in the East Courtyard.
Fan Xicheng stood dazed for a moment, then shouted toward two young family guards on the field: “Wucheng, Dahei, you two come over and carefully attend to the young master. Don’t let anything go wrong!”
After Fan Xicheng was separated from his wife and daughter, he didn’t remarry but adopted two orphans to raise at his side. At this time, they were also family guards beside Han Daoxun, living at the manor.
Fan Wucheng was tall and handsome with an upright bearing. Even at the manor, he wore leather armor with a long blade at his waist, appearing even more heroic and vigorous. Walking up to Han Qian, his brows revealed a certain arrogance. He didn’t even look Han Qian in the eye properly, or rather, deliberately avoided eye contact with Han Qian.
Han Qian was tall enough, but after years of neglect, his body hollowed out by wine and women, despite being six feet tall, he weighed only a hundred and ten pounds—skin and bones, as thin as a bamboo pole, looking like he would topple over if the wind blew.
Even though Han Qian was now mounted on horseback, in front of the heroic-looking Fan Wucheng, he inevitably felt somewhat ashamed of his inferior appearance.
Seeing Fan Wucheng’s expression, Han Qian was also clear in his heart that if not for his father Han Daoxun and Fan Xicheng, this person probably would absolutely not be willing to lead his horse and hold his reins.
If changes occurred in the future, when it came to who would betray him, the first person Han Qian thought of was Fan Wucheng.
Thinking this way, Han Qian felt even more disgusted with Fan Wucheng, wishing he could use the riding whip to lash him right now. But then he thought again—after his father brought him to Jinling City, he had frequently squandered money at the Evening Red Pavilion, and many times Fan Wucheng had accompanied him. Speaking of which family guard might have problems, Fan Wucheng was undoubtedly the one who had the most opportunity to be bought off by Yao Xishui or other people from the Evening Red Pavilion!
Han Qian’s eyes fixed on Fan Wucheng, but thinking that if the dream figure Zhai Xinping were in this situation, he would absolutely not be so impetuous and irritable, he forcibly moved his gaze away from Fan Wucheng’s face. He secretly felt that if Fan Wucheng really was an inside collaborator, saying anything to test him would only provoke Fan Wucheng into desperate action like a cornered dog, wouldn’t it?
He had to stay calm!
He absolutely had to stay calm!
Han Qian warned himself over and over in his heart. If this dog servant Fan Wucheng really had problems, sooner or later he would reveal his true colors.
Fan Dahei had dark black skin and an even more robust build. Muscles bulged beneath his coarse cloth clothing, containing astonishing explosive power. Although Fan Dahei was also quite dissatisfied with this young master, his eyes showed no attempt to conceal it, but between his brows there wasn’t that overly obvious arrogance and contempt like Fan Wucheng had. Walking over to take the reins, he said in a deep voice:
“Young Master, don’t look at A’Zi being a bit thin, but she has a very wild temperament. She bites other horses at the drop of a hat, and she’s also very strong. You can’t just carelessly whip her when riding. If the Young Master gets thrown off the horse’s back and falls or gets hurt, we cannot bear that responsibility… How about this, Young Master, you switch to a different horse—that horse Naiyu has a very gentle temperament.”
Han Qian saw that Fan Dahei wanted him to ride the chestnut-colored horse beside them that looked more docile. Impatiently, he said to him:
“You just hold the horse steady for me. I’ll ride A’Zi and trot around the manor for two laps. It won’t be a problem.”
Fan Dahei didn’t feel that leading the horse for young master Han Qian was shameful at all. He even wanted to watch the young master Han Qian fall off the horse’s back for entertainment. Holding the horse, he began trotting along the edge of the field.
Fan Wucheng followed behind in sullen silence.
During these six years in Xuanzhou, he was usually transported by horse carriage. Han Qian couldn’t even remember how many times he had ridden a horse, much less practiced archery.
At this moment, when Han Qian mounted the horse and trotted several laps around the manor of twenty or thirty mu in size, he was already panting heavily. The inside of his thighs also hurt from chafing. In his heart, he complained bitterly, but then he thought—if he found even trotting this short distance on horseback this difficult, when changes occurred in the future and he couldn’t count on those heartless and ungrateful family guards, how would he escape?
Han Qian gritted his teeth and persevered. Gradually, he no longer felt it was that difficult.
Fan Wucheng left midway under some pretext. Fan Dahei, however, patiently held the horse steady, guarding against the hot-tempered purple-maned horse suddenly bolting and throwing the young master Han Qian to the ground.
Having just entered autumn, by noon the mountains were still somewhat hot. The clothes on Han Qian’s body had been soaked through several times.
The maid Qing Yun ran over. Seeing Han Qian still sitting straight-backed on the horse, she was quite surprised:
“In the past, whenever the Young Master rode a horse for a while, he would cry out that his bones and frame were being jolted apart. Why is he in such good spirits today?”
Qing Yun was originally an orphan girl Han Daoxun had taken in during wartime. Only fourteen or fifteen years old, she was small and thin. Her features were quite delicate upon close inspection, but a dark red birthmark half the size of a palm covered her nose bridge and most of her left cheek, making it look like half of a fierce ghost face mask covering her face, particularly jarring to the eye.
After Han Qian came to Jinling, he didn’t even have a pretty bed-warming maid at his side. He was even more disgusted with the ugly-looking maid Qing Yun. Usually, at the slightest displeasure, he would catch her and scold her.
However, Qing Yun’s nature was innocent and carefree. Even after being scolded, she would forget about it after half a day.
Qing Yun walked over and took the reins from Fan Dahei’s hands, not letting the purple-maned horse move about. She extended her arm to help Han Qian dismount.
Han Qian didn’t like Qing Yun and found her meddlesome. He was about to use the riding whip to knock away Qing Yun’s extended hand, but the instant he raised the whip, he forcibly pulled it back and accepted Qing Yun’s help, jumping down from the horse.
Seeing Fan Dahei stretching lazily, as if relieved of a burden and waiting to lead the horse back to the North Courtyard for a meal, Han Qian said to him: “Have Fan Wucheng lead this purple-maned horse back and feed her well. At noon, don’t give her too much food. I’ll still need her this afternoon. At night, you can add a few more pounds of bean feed. From now on, you’ll take your meals with me in the East Courtyard…”
Fan Dahei was slightly stunned, somewhat at a loss.
“Qing Yun, go find Fan Wucheng to come to the East Courtyard and lead the purple-maned horse away.” Han Qian didn’t think much about it. Subconsciously not wanting to give Fan Dahei a chance to seek Fan Xicheng’s instructions, he directly had Fan Dahei lead the purple-maned horse and follow him back to the East Courtyard first, while having Qing Yun find Fan Wucheng to come to the East Courtyard to lead the horse away.
Fan Dahei didn’t have that much quick wit. He could only steel himself and follow Han Qian to the East Courtyard first, tethering the purple-maned horse under a peach tree in the west side courtyard.