Chapter 21: Birds of a Feather Flock Together
The house Gao Yunqu had prepared for Fang Jian was not very far, just three streets away. This area was close to the Imperial City and the various government offices. Even a small house here was exorbitantly priced, a place Fang Jian could not afford in half a lifetime. Gao Yuan personally brought Xiuzhu to help her tidy up the house. On the day she moved in, Fang Jian stood at the entrance, staring for a long time at the two characters "Fang Residence" on the plaque. It was Gao Yunqu's calligraphy. Gao Yunqu did not come to see her off, and had even been avoiding her for several days, but her affection and high regard could be seen everywhere.
Before taking up her post, Fang Jian had a one-month leave to visit her family. Hezhou was not too far. She bid farewell to Gao Yunqu and, without any attendants, set off for home with just her horse.
Fang Jian had grown up in Xilin and should have been incredibly familiar with this small county town, but upon returning this time, she found it somewhat strange. Were the wide avenues in her memory truly this narrow? A road she thought would take a long time to walk turned out to be just a few steps away.
Her home was completely transformed. Her parents had a new house and wore brocade robes. Although they seemed a bit timid and unaccustomed to it, the smiles on their faces were genuine. As soon as the clan received the news, they arranged to build a memorial archway for her "Triple First" achievement, waiting only for her return to unveil it. The Xilin County Magistrate personally came to her door to invite her to a banquet. The county yamen, which she once could not enter, now opened its gates to welcome her. From the moment she returned home, she was immersed in the praise and flattery of others. She emulated Gao Yunqu's demeanor, maintaining a gentle smile, neither cold nor overly familiar, making it impossible for others to discern her feelings. This, in turn, made everyone hold her in even higher esteem. But Fang Jian herself felt as if her soul had left her body. Like an outsider, she watched it all, dispassionately observing her own physical form smiling and befriending the local gentry, watching those once-lofty prominent families vie to curry favor with her. She looked at her palm and slowly clenched her fist, as if she had grasped something tangible.
Is this... power?
Returning home at night, she removed her gentle mask and felt a hint of exhaustion. Her parents were somewhat anxious about their sudden wealth and status. She returned the courtesy to the wealthy merchants and prominent families who had gifted them the residence and valuables, then broke everything down and explained to her parents in painstaking detail what to do from now on. Her parents, terrified of bringing disaster upon her, were very uneasy. With her return, they finally had a pillar of support. She consulted her parents' wishes, bought them farmland, repaired their old house, and arranged for them to move back to the countryside to live with their clansmen. She also had a long, earnest talk with the clan leader, asking him to look after her parents and keep the clansmen in line.
By the time all this was done, not much of her leave remained. On the day of her return journey, Fang Jian rose very early. After bidding her parents farewell, she did not leave in a hurry. Instead, she led her horse on a walk through the town, from her parents' former small shop to the county yamen where her pleas went unheard, then past the doors she had knocked on one by one, and finally to the bluestone road in front of the Gao residence where she had knelt in the spring rain. The Gao family's old residence here was maintained only by cleaning servants. The main gates were shut tight and the area in front was desolate, but the tall gatehouse still stood imposing. The fluttering Palace Graduate banner proclaimed the household's extraordinary status. Fang Jian stood by the street, gazing at the old Gao residence for a long time, until the sky brightened and the old town began to awaken. She mounted her horse, spurred it onward out of the town, and did not look back.
Back in the Capital City, with some of her leave still remaining, Fang Jian invited Cui Miao for drinks. After the Metropolitan Examination, they had both been busy with their own affairs and hadn't seen each other for some time. As it happened, Cui Miao had not yet visited Fang Jian's new residence, so they arranged to meet there.
"Well now, Linshen, why didn't you tell me sooner you'd moved? If I had known, I would have found a proper gift to add to the happy occasion." Cui Miao said as she walked in. "Your news was so sudden, I could only find an elegant ornament from home. I hope you don't mind."
"This is wonderful. Xinmeng, you shouldn't have gone to the expense," Fang Jian said with a smile, leading her inside.
"This little courtyard of yours is really nice, and in a great location. It's not large, but it has everything one needs. Tell me honestly, how much silver did it cost you?" Cui Miao said, admiringly surveying her new home.
"What silver do I have to buy a place like this? It was a congratulatory gift from Lord Gao, who felt I had shown some promise," Fang Jian replied with a wry smile.
"Lord Gao is truly good to you. But you earned it yourself. The youngest Triple First—any family would be proud of that."
The banquet was set up in the courtyard. The two exchanged pleasantries as they took their seats, and Cui Miao also spoke of what she had been up to recently.
"My father, whom I usually never even see a shadow of, heard I passed in the second rank and was he ever smug. He opened the ancestral hall to announce it to our ancestors and turned the whole family upside down. He really wished the entire world knew." Cui Miao poured Fang Jian a cup of wine and continued, "You'd think my success today was all his doing, but he never cared for me for a single day. What right does he have?"
"He is your father, after all. In the end, he is still happy for you."
"He's just happy for the glory it brings him." Cui Miao waved her hand dismissively. After finishing her own story, she looked at Fang Jian and only then noticed she had already poured and drunk quite a bit on her own. "Linshen, you don't seem very happy?"
"I'm not." Fang Jian clutched her cup and drank another.
"Come on, tell your big sister about it." Cui Miao moved closer with her wine cup and put an arm around her shoulder. Fang Jian didn't answer and turned away.
"Let me guess… You've just entered officialdom with a bright future, so it's not about your career. You just returned from seeing your parents and spoke of it cheerfully, so it doesn't seem to be a family matter. Then… could it be that you're troubled by love?"
Cui Miao was only teasing, but she didn't expect to see Fang Jian's face fall. She was stunned for a moment. "Ah, are you really?"
Seeing Fang Jian remain silent, she continued on her own, "Come to think of it, you asked about this once before, but I didn't pay much mind… Has it been for the same person all these years? Is it one of our classmates? No, no, besides the few of us, you hardly interact with them… A young master you met at some banquet? That's not right either, you're usually with me… Hmm… You don't have a crush on me, do you?"
Fang Jian, who had just taken a sip of wine, nearly choked. She picked up a piece of fruit and tossed it at Cui Miao, who caught it with a laugh and ate it.
"Haha, just kidding. It couldn't possibly be Lord Gao, could it…" Cui Miao had gone through all the possibilities and couldn't find a suitable candidate. She had said it casually, but then she suddenly saw Fang Jian's expression change. "No way… You…"
Fang Jian looked at her with feigned indifference and sighed, "Cui Xinmeng, oh, Cui Xinmeng, why didn't the Ministry of Personnel Appointments Bureau assign you to the Court of Judicial Review?"
"Fang Linshen, you're really something else." Cui Miao looked at her with admiration. She had thought her own pining for the Eldest Princess was already a wild fantasy, but she never imagined there was someone even more audacious right beside her. "I am truly humbled."
"Sigh… You also think it's impossible, don't you…"
Before Fang Jian could even finish her sigh, Cui Miao slapped her on the shoulder. "What's impossible about it? You're not married, and Lord Gao isn't married, so why is it impossible… Wait, you're outside the five degrees of mourning, right?"
"We are." Not just outside the five degrees; they had no blood relation even if you went back eighteen generations.
"Well, there you have it."
"You… you don't think I'm indulging in wild fantasies?" Fang Jian looked at her strangely.
Cui Miao said without hesitation, "That's Lord Gao we're talking about! Do you have any idea how many young men and women in this Capital City would love to have a spring breeze encounter with Lord Gao? Wild fantasies? What you have is the advantage of proximity!"
"This… I had no idea…" Fang Jian was at a loss for words and a little embarrassed. She and Gao Yunqu had had more than just a "spring breeze encounter."
"Everyone thinks of you as a junior relative of Lord Gao's household. Who would be foolish enough to talk to you about this?" Cui Miao poured herself a cup of wine, wet her throat, and then continued to ask, "Have you told Lord Gao your feelings? Were you rejected?"
"I haven't. In her eyes, I'm still a child. It's just my own unrequited suffering."
Cui Miao moved over and patted her shoulder. "That's alright. Once you enter officialdom and become her colleague, you can naturally let her see you for who you are."
"Sigh…" Fang Jian clinked her wine cup against hers and looked at her. "Xinmeng, I've told you my secret. Aren't you going to trade one with me?"
Cui Miao stiffened at her words. For the past few years, her relationship with Wei Zhi had been kept secret from everyone. Fang Jian knew she had someone in her heart, but never knew who it was.
She thought for a moment, then gritted her teeth and said, staking it all, "It's the Eldest Princess, Wei Zhi."
"…You too… are no less ambitious…" Fang Jian had never expected such an answer. She thought about it, mulled it over, and suddenly understood the meaning of "birds of a feather flock together." Her gaze, as she met Cui Miao's, was filled with the sentiment of one who sees their own kind in another's plight.
Author's Notes
This is a HE, it's a HE
If this were a BE, I would have written about Little Fang drifting further and further away, parting ways with Lord Gao, and ultimately causing Lord Gao's death because of her own convictions. She would live her whole life in regret. Although she would eventually reach the first rank and become a powerful chancellor, she would grow old alone, and in her twilight years, she would sit in the spring sunlight, reminiscing about the days she spent learning by Gao Yunqu's side.
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