Fan Zhuo's health had always been frail and Fan Jin as the "adopted" son had nevertheless always still been treated no different by Fan Qi, just like he did, with his "biological" son.
If things had continued on as per status quo, Fan Zhuo's ill health would most probably not allow his body to take much more of the toil and expire, which made everyone expect the esteemed position of Headmaster to irrefutably fall right into Fan Jin's lap next.
But an unexpected problem came into the picture with Fan Zhuo's health.
Under Jun Wu Xie's treatment, Fan Zhuo's health gradually began to improve. Fan Zhuo, who had not even been fit enough to step out of the academy had in the recent period, gone out of the Zephyr Academy two times. Judging from Fan Zhuo's actions, the people in the Zephyr Academy could clearly see that the youth who had been frail and sickly since young, was slowing recovering from his ailments.
With the "biological son" Fan Zhuo's recovery, it would suddenly make the "adopted son" Fan Jin's position suddenly precarious and awkward.
Hence, everyone was quick to surmise that Fan Jin had been quarrelling with Fan Qi over the succession issue when things had gotten out of hand and he had killed Fan Qi!
With that conjecture, and having the guards finding Fan Jin with the blood smeared sword in his hands within the sealed office, everything seemed crystal clear.
The crime of murdering Fan Qi had been heaped upon Fan Jin's head and while he should have been dealt with immediately, an honourary dean had unexpectedly suddenly returned. Honourary deans in big name academies were not uncommon and those positions were usually held by highly skilled and exceptionally powerful exponents. They were not required to do anything and were not even expected to show up at the academy. They were only needed to extend their assistance when things at the academy get difficult and the honourary deans would get to enjoy tempting special privileges and benefits from the respective academies.
The Zephyr Academy had three honourary deans and although they held the title of dean, the authority they commanded was still below that of a Headmaster. But within the walls of the academy, their words would however not be easily disregarded!
That honourary dean was an old friend of Fan Qi and he had known the Fan brothers when they were very young kids. After he got wind of news that Fan Jin had murdered Fan Qi, he had immediately come in to resist against all those who wished to harm or take Fan Jin's life.
But the matter was linked to the murder of the Headmaster and to everyone in the Zephyr Academy, the incident was extremely severe. Even with an honourary dean resisting the prosecution, that would only be able to delay the inevitable. If no evidence could be produced to overturn the charges leveled at Fan Jin, he could be put to death at any time.
At that moment, Fan Jin was a prisoner in his own room and there were guards outside it at all times of the day.
When the Headmaster died, according to tradition, all the responsibilities and affairs of the Zephyr Academy should have been immediately handed over to his two sons. But as Fan Jin was the main suspect accused of murdering Fan Qi, he had been quickly imprisoned, and on the other hand, Fan Zhuo was coincidentally not in the academy, hence the control of the entire academy had fallen into the hands of the next highest authority, who was the Vice Headmaster, Ning Rui!
"So….. would you want to go stay in the dormitories first?" The youth repeated himself once more as he looked at Jun Xie's now icy expression, unable to find any topic to continue with the conversation. Everyone knew that Jun Xie had Fan Jin shared a rather strong relationship and when Jun Xie had initially been wrongly accused by the the masses, only Fan Jin had stood by Jun Xie and got her back, choosing to believe in Jun Xie.
And it was also Fan Jin who had introduced Jun Xie to Fan Zhuo. Now that Fan Jin was in trouble, the youth wondered what kind of thoughts Jun Wu Xie had about it.
"There is no need." Jun Wu Xie replied tonelessly and turned on her heel to walk towards the dwelling within the little bamboo grove.
After having gotten rid of Fan Qi, Jun Wu Xie knew that Ning Rui would not let Fan Jin off. But she had not guessed that Ning Rui's mind was capable of such a meticulous plot to have used Fan Qi's death to drag Fan Jin together into the muck!
Killing two birds with one stone, an admirable plot indeed!