Rain kept falling. The few umbrellas among the pedestrians in the alley opened like pathetic flowers.

Fan Xian smiled and glanced at the impetuous young man, noticing that a large part of his body was already wet. So he said nothing. If the other person were truly a villain, Fan Xian would have had at least five ways to immediately incapacitate him just now.

Clearly, this was just a poor scholar buying roasted chicken for a feast. So Fan Xian didn't stop, raised his umbrella, and continued walking forward. He walked with ease, and the young man who squeezed under the umbrella was just as carefree. Without another word, he stood to Fan Xian's right, using his cloth umbrella to shield himself from the sky above, and followed along with a natural air.

Walking side-by-side under the same umbrella for dozens of steps, Fan Xian increasingly found the young man's temperament rather endearing. An ordinary scholar would never have rashly squeezed under someone else's umbrella like this, and yet he walked in silence for dozens of steps without showing the slightest discomfort. So he tilted his head slightly and scrutinized him, discovering that the young man had ordinary features, except for his eyebrows, which were extremely thick, as if someone had applied a thick stroke with a brush.

Teng Zijing followed two steps behind.

The two under the umbrella continued their silent progress, seemingly competing in patience or something. Eventually, Fan Xian smiled and asked, "You said it was inappropriate earlier, I wonder in what way."

Seeing the owner of the umbrella speak, the young scholar smiled politely and said, "If an official is corrupt, he naturally won't focus on political affairs. So wanting a corrupt official to be competent is probably a laughable matter in itself."

Fan Xian smiled, noticing that the umbrella couldn't quite accommodate both of them. The right shoulder of the young scholar beside him was already soaked, so he subtly shifted the umbrella towards that side and replied, "Even if a corrupt official neglects political affairs, it's still better than having someone who knows nothing become an official and mess things up."

The young scholar raised an eyebrow, seemingly puzzled. "As long as someone is willing to work, it's better than neglecting political affairs."

Fan Xian tightened his grip on the umbrella handle and shook his head. "If a river embankment isn't repaired, it will probably breach every few years. If an incorruptible official who knows nothing about river works repairs the embankment haphazardly, it might breach several times every year. Tell me, do the people living along the river prefer a county official who is an incompetent but diligent incorruptible official, or an incompetent and lazy corrupt official?"

The young scholar was momentarily speechless. After a while, he chuckled and said, "That's probably a special case. There are always some things a local official must do, such as measuring fields and distributing grain, providing disaster relief, and adjudicating lawsuits. If he's a lazy official, his jurisdiction will probably be a mess."

Fan Xian smiled and said, "So the key lies in ability, not in being incorruptible or corrupt."

In fact, his view wasn't necessarily correct. It was influenced by the office novels of his previous life. But this kind of argument was quite novel among the people of Qing Yu Nian. The young scholar sharing his umbrella couldn't help but become interested and asked, "If an official is capable but extremely corrupt, will the court just let him be?"

For some reason, when Fan Xian heard him say this, he thought of his father-in-law, the famous treacherous Prime Minister Lin Ruofu of Qing Yu Nian. Everyone knew he was corrupt, but His Majesty knew he was capable, so he had been employing him until now. Considering the young scholar's question, he had to shake his head and say, "Governance is inherently difficult and complex. There's no simple and effective method. But if we only seek the court's supervision and self-cultivation, and expect the officialdom to be completely upright, it's a bit of wishful thinking."

"If the court strengthens its supervision, can't it prevent corruption?" The young scholar frowned, his thick eyebrows furrowing together. "Just take today's Minister of Rites, Guo Youzhi, who has already been imprisoned. If the Supervisory Council had been like this in the past few years, the atmosphere of the imperial examination would never have deteriorated to this state."

Fan Xian didn't actually have any insightful views on politics, but deep down, he had a muddle-headed streak of not being afraid of misleading the country with empty talk. When his interest was piqued, he picked up the conversation. "If Director Chen of the Supervisory Council bribed Guo Youzhi to have his nephews and nieces admitted into the first rank, then who would supervise this matter?"

The young scholar disagreed and said, "Naturally, His Majesty's divine eyes are like lightning."

Fan Xian was even more unconvinced and replied, "Governing the world with one person, how could it be so easy?" In fact, he knew that the Emperor must have other hidden means to check the Supervisory Council's power. These means might even include the power that his father had never revealed. But some naive political ideas from his previous life made Fan Xian somewhat disdainful of the Emperor's job. He never believed that an emperor who regarded the world as a bowl of fat meat would have the energy or the leisure to care about all the injustices in the officialdom.

Talking casually, the two under the umbrella arrived outside an inn. The young scholar smiled gently and said, "Thank you, sir, for sharing your umbrella. I've arrived."

Fan Xian tilted the umbrella to the side and glanced at the inn's name. He realized it was also the place he was looking for, so he smiled and said, "Let's go in together. I'm going to the inn to find someone."

The inn's name was very common, very auspicious, and very popular - Tongfu Inn.

Entering the inn with the young scholar, he learned that the other person was called Shi Chanli, also a candidate entering the capital for the examination. But Fan Xian wasn't convenient to reveal his name at this time, so he only told the other person that his surname was Fan.

"Who is Master Fan looking for?" Shi Chanli now noticed from the young master's attire that the other person must be a member of the powerful elite, so his words weren't as unrestrained as they were under the umbrella, and he was more reserved. "I'm visiting a friend. I can't talk much. If fate allows, we'll meet again in the future."

After saying these words, he bowed to Fan Xian and walked towards the corner of the inn's lobby. There was a wine table there, and two student-like people were drinking heavily beside the table. Next to them was someone who was so drunk that he didn't know anything and was sleeping face down on the table. Seeing that there were no dishes on the table, they seemed to be waiting for Shi Chanli's roasted chicken.

Fan Xian narrowed his eyes and saw clearly that the person drunk on the table was Yang Wanli, whom he had come to find. With a slight smile, he actually followed Shi Chanli to the wine table.

Shi Chanli didn't know that he was still behind him. He put the roasted chicken wrapped in oiled paper on the table and smiled and scolded the two who had stopped drinking, "You, Hou Jichang, you asked me to bring food, but you didn't leave me any wine."

Hou Jichang smiled and said, "This wine was just bought from the alley entrance. Although the taste isn't good, the quantity is sufficient. Let me introduce you. This is the talented Cheng Jialin from Shandong Road." He had just stretched his hand towards Cheng Jialin's direction when he was stunned to find a smiling, extremely handsome young master standing behind Shi Chanli. But this young master looked somewhat familiar.

"Brother Shi, who is this?" Hou Jichang asked in confusion.

Shi Chanli was stunned. He turned around and discovered that Fan Xian had actually followed him to this wine table. He said with a wry smile, "Young Master Fan, I only shared half an umbrella. You wouldn't be charging a rain-dodging fee, would you?"

Fan Xian could see that the other person seemed to be somewhat apprehensive towards him, probably guessing that he was from a wealthy family and not daring to be too close. So he smiled and said, "I wouldn't dare charge a fee. It's just that I'm a little greedy for the roasted chicken that Young Master Shi brought."

Shi Chanli said helplessly, "Isn't Young Master Fan looking for someone?"

"Trampling iron shoes in search of nowhere, it comes without any effort." Fan Xian smiled slightly. He had said these two sentences when he first met the Holy Countenance by the Liujing River, but there was no reaction at all. But today, using it on these scholars, sure enough, Hou Jichang and the others immediately understood what he meant and found it very interesting, asking, "Is Young Master Fan actually looking for us?"

Fan Xian pointed to the drunk Yang Wanli and said, "I have a connection with Young Master Yang, so I've come to visit him today."

Hou Jichang smiled and said, "I've never heard that Wanli has such wealthy friends in the capital. Come, come, Young Master Fan, please sit down. It's just weak wine and roasted chicken. I hope you don't mind." Shi Chanli originally liked Fan Xian's conversation, and now that he saw that he was a friend of his friends, he didn't put on airs anymore and smiled, offering him a seat.

Cheng Jialin, on the other hand, had been pushing Yang Wanli for a long time without waking him up, so he couldn't help but smile awkwardly at Fan Xian. Fan Xian was curious about something else. He cupped his hands towards Hou Jichang and said, "I wonder what this brother's name is?"

"Hou Jichang."

"Why is Master Hou so sure that I'm a wealthy young master?" Fan Xian couldn't help but want to laugh when he heard the name Jichang. He asked, "I don't think I look fat and overfed, someone who does nothing all day."

Hou Jichang smiled and apologized, saying, "The clothes you're wearing are worth a lot of silver, not something that ordinary scholars can afford. As for the word 'wealthy,' we're just used to joking around. Please don't mind, sir." He kept feeling that this young master looked familiar, but his eyes were a little blurry after drinking, so he couldn't remember.

"Not at all." Fan Xian smiled gently and sat down comfortably at the table. Scholars have a free-spiritedness. They weren't too concerned about the arrival of an uninvited guest. Anyway, Yang Wanli wouldn't wake up for a while. So, apart from Cheng Jialin, who offered Fan Xian a few cups, Hou Jichang and Shi Chanli were oblivious to everything else and started drinking heavily. When they were satisfied with their wine, they started sitting and discussing Dao.

This Dao wasn't the mysterious and abstruse Dao, but rather the Dao of national economy and people's livelihood. Fan Xian took a chicken leg from the side and gnawed it slowly, while listening attentively to the two people's debate. He found that Hou Jichang's ideas were somewhat inclined towards Legalism, emphasizing law, while Shi Chanli was a sentimental person, emphasizing moral education.

However, as they talked, the Legalist didn't seek harshness, and the advocate of moral education didn't simply persuade. They were truly two scholars who saw things clearly. Occasionally, when they talked about the political affairs of various prefectures, they also analyzed them carefully, not engaging in vague generalities, and not like ordinary scholars who always focused on the two words "the world," not knowing that those two words were much wider than most people's vision.

The more Fan Xian listened, the more pleased he was. Hou Jichang's name was one of the ones he had blurred out on the list. It seemed that his vision was indeed good. But this Shi Chanli had a gentle and unrestrained temperament. Why didn't he have any impression of him in the examination hall?

Just as he was feeling pleased, he suddenly heard the gentle-tempered Shi Chanli slap the wine table and scold angrily, "In the end, it's all the fault of that little Lord Fan!"

Fan Xian was inexplicably startled.