A Special Gift
The words “Second young miss won’t come” managed to cause everyone in the room to be dazed.
The matriarch even thought that there was a problem with her hearing, as she immediately asked: “What did you say?”
The servant repeated herself: “Second young miss said that she will not come.”
“Why?” This was Han shi who asked. She originally held full belief that so long as Feng Yu Heng came, Fen Dai’s facial injury would be easy to treat. She did not worry too much because of this. But now that Feng Yu Heng said that she would not come, what would happen to Fen Dai?
The servant glanced at Han shi then said with a cold expression: “Second young miss said that when she just returned to the manor, she went to examine concubine mother Han out of goodwill, but concubine mother said that she was not a doctor, so there was no need to examine her; therefore, second young miss will not come. But she was still worried about fourth young miss’ injury, so she specially called for a doctor from Hundred Herb Hall. This is him.” Saying this, she brought the person behind her forward.
Seeing the group of neither haughty nor humble nobles, he bowed deeply to the matriarch and said: “This old one is one of Hundred Herb Hall’s doctors, and I have come especially on boss’ orders to treat fourth young miss’ injury.”
The matriarch silently snorted. Feng Yu Heng not giving them any face caused her to be very angry. She really wanted to send another person to bring Feng Yu Heng over no matter what, but after thinking about it, she decided against it. Instead, she just waved her hand and said: “Take a look at her. For a young girl, it would be best that there is no scar left.” When it came to fighting with Feng Yu Heng, she had not been successful even once. She did not want to instigate that anger.
She was able to swallow this anger, but Fen Dai was unable to. Before the doctor could even reach her, she loudly shouted: “Stop where you are! You aren’t allowed over her! Is this young miss’ face something that anyone can touch?”
The old man was helpless, “This old one is a doctor.”
“Even a doctor is no good!” Fen Dai was on the verge of mental collapse, “You are all bullying me. I will go tell his Highness the fifth prince!” After saying this, she turned to run outside.
All of the servants rushed to stop her, but they heard the matriarch say: “No need to stop her. If she wants to reveal this ugly face to his Highness the fifth prince, then just let her go!”
The matriarch’s words stopped Fen Dai in her tracks, but it was unable to stop her from crying.
When she began crying, Han shi also began crying, the two crying in harmony. The matriarch had a major headache, but she could only advise Han shi: “Stop crying. You must not cry while you are pregnant!”
Han shi sobbed and said: “But this matter cannot be considered resolved like this.”
There was nothing granny Zhao could do. Seeing that the matriarch did not want to speak, she could only speak on her master’s behalf: “Regardless of whether it is resolved or not, we still must allow the doctor to see to fourth young miss’ wound.”
The doctor once again took a few steps towards Fen Dai and said: “This old one will ask young miss once more, will this wound be examined or not? If not, then this old one will be returning.”
“Examine it, examine it!” Fen Dai angrily shouted, “Quickly come and treat it.”
Seeing that the doctor had already begun examining the wound, the matriarch finally let out a sigh of relief. Speaking truthfully, she truly feared that Fen Dai would meet with an unfortunate accident. If his Highness the fifth prince came to investigate, it would be very troublesome for the Feng manor.
“Chen Yu.” She gloomily said: “Regardless of what happened, it still happened in your room.”
Chen Yu knelt and said in a low voice: “Chen Yu understands. Would grandmother please hand down a punishment.”
“Un.” The matriarch pondered a little, “Then you will be punished with copying sutras 100 times as punishment for today’s oversight.”
“Chen Yu accepts the punishment.”
“Hmph!” Han shi snorted fiercely to show her discontent.
Unfortunately, nobody wanted to acknowledge her.
Not long later, Fen Dai’s examination was nearly complete. The doctor wrote up a prescription and brought out a small ointment box, advising Fen Dai to apply it every day to the wound. He then packed up his medicine case, bowed to the matriarch then left with a servant.
Who knew that the servant would run back in after a few moments. With a sickly look, she said to the matriarch: “The doctor wants ten taels for the treatment.”
Pft!
Xiang Rong spat out a laugh.
As she was saying, how could her second sister be so kind as to invite one of Hundred Herb Hall’s doctors to come and perform the treatment.
“Ten taels?” Han shi once again began blustering loudly, “Is he robbing us?”
The matriarch slapped the bed and angrily said: “Pay it! Pay however much he wants! Our Feng manor cannot lose face over this. But you must remember. No matter who falls ill, none are allowed to look for Feng… none are allowed to go to Hundred Herb Hall.”
Shu Ya courtyard was rowdy for the entire day. Han shi and Fen Dai simply chose to stay and refuse to leave. Both crying and screaming, they caused the matriarch to be truly unable to rest peacefully. Before four hours had elapsed, her headache began acting up once more.
Meanwhile, in Tong Sheng pavilion, Feng Yu Heng was standing at the counter in her space.
She had been pondering the problem of a gift for Xuan Tian Ge and co. Huang Quan was right. Either give them something they wanted or something they lacked.
But they were all young misses from large families. What thing could they not have that they wanted? How could they be lacking anything.
That they did not lack anything did not mean that everything they had was the best. Especially for girls, skin maintenance was most important. In this age, there were no skin care products. They even used Chinese honeylocust as soap when washing their faces. If things continued like this, the outermost layer of skin would be completely worn through. With skin directly being exposed to the sun and elements, their faces would deteriorate long before they died of old age.
From her counter, she pulled out four facial cleansers, four facial masks, four bottles of sun cream. She also took out some things like toothpaste and scented soaps. After tidying them up into a large box, she exited her space.
She called Huang Quan into the medicine storage room. Pointing to the large box of things, she said: “Quickly go find some smaller boxes, so we can divide these gifts up. These will be the return gifts.”
After experiencing the detoxification at the military camp, Huang Quan was no longer surprised by the odd things that Feng Yu Heng “magically” brought out. Seeing the various bottles and jars, she did not ask about them. Turning around, she left to go find some boxes.
When she returned, Feng Yu Heng had already separated the items into a few groups. Each young miss would be given one of each thing. Toothpaste and scented soaps had also been prepared for the families of the young misses. Although these things did not seem like much to her, they were all things that could not be found in Da Shun. Feng Yu Heng was very satisfied with the return gifts that she had prepared.
But Huang Quan still reminded her: “Young miss, aside from these return gifts, you must also prepare some better things.”
She was startled, “Even better? For whom?”
“My dear young miss!” Huang Quan did not know if she should cry or laugh, “It will be the new year, so you obviously need to send gifts to the palace! The Emperor, the Empress and imperial concubine Yun, of course, you must send gifts to all of them. Also” She pointed at the boxes that were already wrapped up and said: “You have already prepared the return gifts, but there are some families that you need to take the initiative to send gifts to!”
This time, Feng Yu Heng fully understood, “You are indeed correct. The Yu Palace, the Chun Palace and the Yuan Palace are all palaces I need to send gifts to. It’s fine. I will just prepare a few more similar to this for them. As for the gifts being sent into the imperial palace… I will need to think carefully about them.”
She had to carefully think about it. The matter of sending gifts into the imperial palace was something that everyone thought long and hard about. Naturally, she could not be too careless.
That night, Feng Chen Yu sat in a temple copying sutras. The matriarch had said for her to copy sutras 100 times. Although it was simple, even if she spent every day and every night copying, it would still take her many months to complete.
“Feng Fen Dai, you deserve to die!” She hated Fen Dai and gritted her teeth in anger. With this anger, her brush strokes became heavier. A dot of ink appeared on the half-filled page of sutras.
“Young miss, please calm down.” Yi Lin quickly moved her hand away from the paper, “It’s not like you don’t know fourth young miss’ personality. Why bother arguing with her. This servant will say something very disrespectful. Her personality will lead to a loss sooner or later. There is no need for young miss to take action. She herself can cause her own downfall.”
Chen Yu glanced at Yi Lin, “Has that bag been taken care of?”
Yi Lin nodded, “Young miss, do not worry. It has already been burned.”
“It’s good that it’s been burned.” Chen Yu was a little helpless, “I originally wanted to keep it in the event that I could make use of it. Now, with Feng Fen Dai in the manor, it seems that even my own room is not secure.”
“It’s fine if that sort of thing is not kept.” Yi Lin continued to console her this way, “This servant does not know what use that sort of thing could have in the future, but keeping something like that will not allow for us to sleep easily. How dangerous was it today! If that fell into the fourth young miss’ hands, it would all be over.”
“I know.” Chen Yu was a little irritated, “If it’s burned, then it’s burned. What happened to Pei’er? Wasn’t she chasing you?”
Upon mentioning Pei’er, Yi Lin’s face turned a little pale. Taking a deep breath, she gritted her teeth and whispered into Chen Yu’s ear.
Chen Yu frowned at first, but she then curled her lips into a smile, saying: “You’ve done well.”
Yi Lin saw that she was not punished and finally calmed down. Letting out a sigh of relief, she continued: “In truth, there is no need for young miss to be too angry. As this servant sees it, it would be better to just let everyone see you get bullied by fourth young miss. Either way, master will be returning shortly. Seeing you like this, he will definitely feel very distressed.”
“What is the point of feeling distressed?” Chen Yu slapped her hand on the table, “Han shi’s belly has a child. If father only dotes on me, what is the point?” The more she said, the more sly her gaze became, “Han shi’s child absolutely must not be allowed to be born!”
Yi Lin knew that Chen Yu would turn her attention to the child in Han shi’s belly sooner or later. In no rush to advise her, she only asked: “Does eldest young miss really feel that concubine mother Han will be able to become the head wife?”
“Hm?” Chen Yu glanced sideways at her, “What do you mean by this?”
Yi Lin said: “No matter what is said, the Feng family is still a famous family. If a concubine that has her roots in a brothel were promoted to the position of head wife, wouldn’t it become the joke of the entire country? Would master be willing to cast aside his nobility?”
Chen Yu nodded, “You are correct. But even if she is not the head wife, with a son at her side, it would still be an eyesore.”
Yi Lin smiled and said: “Whether or not it is a son is still uncertain. Even if it is, it would only be the son of a concubine. But if eldest young miss finds him to be an eyesore, we can think of a way to make it impossible for that child to be born.”
“No rush.” Chen Yu casually said: “Her belly still does not appear to be pregnant. We still have plenty of time to think things over. As for Chen Qing, who has been living in the manor, it has been a long time since we last saw him.”
“Young master is devoting himself fully to his studies. He locks himself in his room all day to study. Not to mention young miss, even the servants in his courtyard rarely see him.”
“Hmph, what a bookworm.” Chen Yu coldly snorted, “But father holds him in high esteem. Tell me, will Chen Qing truly be able to rank at the top of the exam?”
Yi Lin pondered for a while then said: “Regardless of the result, we still need to make some preparations in the event that he does. I heard that young master is truly a good student, otherwise master would not have thought so highly of him. Thinking about it, the chance he does rank first is quite high. Young miss, think about it. If young master really can be ranked first in the exam, his status will not be the same. Although it can not be compared to that of a prince, it will be something most officials cannot compare to.”
“You’re right.” Chen Yu suddenly recalled something: “Do you remember the pillow third uncle previously sent to mother? He said that there were all kinds of dry medicinal herbs inside that could revitalize the body and mind.”
Yi Lin nodded, “Yes, but that pillow smelled like medicine, so madam did not like it. It has always been left in the warehouse. Young miss’ meaning is…”
“Take it out and send it to Chen Qing. Something that revitalizes the body and mind is useful. Just say that he should continue to study diligently. I will pray for his success every day so that he can be ranked first on the imperial exam.”
Just as she said this, a shrill scream suddenly came from outside.