One With a Clear Conscience Does Not Fear Ghosts
Seeing He Zhong enter in a frenzy, the matriarch had a bad feeling. Who knew what she was thinking, as she subconsciously looked at Feng Yu Heng. However, she saw her leaning back with a cup of tea in her hand. A smile was on her face, and she was completely immersed in the celebratory atmosphere, thus she felt that she had over-thought things. Thus she said: “Housekeeper He, the manor has received honored guests today. What are you in such a panic for!”
He Zhong quickly saluted then anxiously said: “Elder madam, please forgive my mistakes. Master, please forgive my mistakes. This matter is truly very urgent. His Highness Prince Li has entered the manor!”
“What?”
“Prince Li came?”
The matriarch, Feng Jin Yuan and Feng Fen Dai all spoke at practically the same time. Fen Dai was moved and immediately stood up, moving to run outside; however, she heard Feng Jin Yuan slam the table and loudly shout: “Stop where you are!”
“Father!” Fen Dai was anxious and felt wronged, “His Highness the fifth prince came. Daughter must go to receive him!”
The matriarch became furious: “There are elders at home. Even if we were to receive him, it would not fall on you!” She then looked at Feng Jin Yuan and said: “Go take a look. No matter what is said, he is still a prince. We must give him a sufficient amount of face.” Although the Emperor never liked Xuan Tian Yan, especially after the most recent event, which most likely caused him to remember the previous event, this was still his son. He never removed him from the position of prince or anything else. The matriarch knew that a government official could not avoid a prince.
What was there that Feng Jin Yuan could say. He could only apologize to Kang Yi: “Jin Yuan does not know why his Highness the fifth prince came so suddenly. I hope eldest princess will pardon me.”
“It can’t be helped.” Kang Yi took the lead and stood up, “This one also met his Highness the fifth prince yesterday. I can also be considered familiar, so I will go out with Lord Feng to take a look.”
“Fine.” Feng Jin Yuan only said fine, but before they could begin walking out, they heard a hurried set of footsteps rushing towards the hall.
Feng Chen Yu said in a strange voice: “Heavens! Why has his Highness the fifth prince barged in like this?”
Fen Dai angrily glared at her sideways: “He is a prince. What sort of place can he not go?”
Feng Yu Heng interjected: “I have never heard of a prince casually entering the home of a government official. Moreover, father Emperor is extremely against the princes getting too close to the government officials.”
Feng Jin Yuan also heard this and he could not help but feel his head begin to ache.
Kang Yi said: “Since it is for your daughter, it can’t be helped.”
While they spoke, Xuan Tian Yan rushed in. Behind him were two of his attendants, and behind them were all of the Feng family’s servants.
Feng Jin Yuan waved to the servants, letting them retreat. He then took a few steps forward with everyone in the Feng manor to salute and pay respects.
Kang Yi and Ru Jia did not need to salute, so the two just stood in place and looked at Xuan Tian Yan. They saw that after he entered the hall, his gaze locked onto Feng Fen Dai. After that, his eyes never strayed again. Even when speaking with Feng Jin Yuan, he looked at Fen Dai “Lord Feng, this prince has already dispersed all of the women in my palace aside from my official princess. Not even a single secondary princess remains. I beg Lord Feng to take this proposal letter back.”
He said this while handing over the proposal letter. After returning from the palace banquet, Feng Jin Yuan had dispatched someone to return it.
Seeing that the proposal letter had been sent back at some unknown time, she immediately began crying. This caused Xuan Tian Yan to truly feel distressed.
“Father.” Fen Dai looked at Feng Jin Yuan with a face filled with grief, “Can you not cancel my engagement to his Highness the fifth prince? Fen Dai is begging you.” Saying this, she looked towards Kang Yi, hoping that Kang Yi would help her plead her case. She could see that her own father was rather respectful of this eldest princess.
But this time, Kang Yi shook her head, telling her: “The marriage of a daughter has always been managed by the father. If your father does not agree, there is no possibility of this marriage happening.”
“Then what can I do?” Fen Dai was out of ideas, and she was completely in a panic.
Feng Yu Heng, however, suddenly said: “It’s not like there is nothing you can do.” She looked at Fen Dai then smiled and said: “If the Emperor can sanction a marriage for fourth sister, then even if father does not agree, you will have to get married into the Li Palace.”
Fen Dai was stunned. A marriage sanctioned by the Emperor? That’s right! She could still look for the Emperor to sanction the marriage, but who would go speak…
Thinking of this, she turned her attention to Kang Yi once more.
Ru Jia was able to see through her thoughts and was completely dissatisfied: “What are you always looking at my mother for? If it weren’t for my mother yesterday, you would have already lost your life, yet you’re still hoping that the Emperor will sanction your marriage. I think that you should think carefully. Why did the Emperor become so mad when he saw that dance.”
This was what Fen Dai did not understand, but there was nobody to give her an explanation, so she blankly stared at Xuan Tian Yan. Her eyes were red, and tears fell down her face. She appeared truly pitiful.
There was nothing Xuan Tian Yan could do against Feng Jin Yuan, who had resolutely refuted him. Holding the proposal letter in his hand, nobody went to receive it for a long time. In his anger, he simply went up and slammed the letter down on the table. This slam was forceful and caused the plates on the table to bounce, as he angrily said: “Prime minister Feng, if you agree, then you agree. If you don’t agree, you still must agree. This prince only wants your fourth daughter to be my Li Palace’s secondary princess. If you continue to insist on denying it, in the worst case, this matter will reach father Emperor. Either way, father Emperor did not do much for this prince. This prince wants to see. Is the prime minister more important, or is his son more important!”
Feng Jin Yuan’s nose nearly became crooked from the anger, as he thought to himself, this fifth prince was acting shamelessly? He could handle reasoning with him; however, when faced with acting shameless, there was nothing he could do.
For a while, the hall was in a deadlock, and the silence carried on for a while.
When someone finally spoke up once more, the one who spoke was Feng Yu Heng. They heard her say: “Yesterday when eldest princess Kang Yi begged for fourth sister’s forgiveness, she mentioned that practically all the dancers in Qian Zhou know how to perform this sort of dance. A-Heng will give fifth brother an idea. If you really like this type of dance, how about taking a trip up to Qian Zhou. Or, perhaps eldest princess can arrange for some dancers perform for you. What does fifth brother think?”
When Feng Yu Heng spoke, for some reason, the fifth prince felt a little guilty, and he did not dare meet her eyes. He only vaguely said: “This prince only wants fourth young miss Feng.”
Fen Dai became annoyed by her statement and pointed at Feng Yu Heng, loudly shouting: “Feng Yu Heng, you have a vile heart!”
Slap!
Feng Jin Yuan threw a vicious slap, dropping Fen Dai to the ground. Even some blood trickled out from the corner of her mouth. But he still felt that it was not enough. He raised his hand and was about to hit her again. Xuan Tian Yan was distressed and rushed forward to stand in front of Fen Dai to protect her. Even faster than him was Princess Kang Yi. She had practically squatted down at the same that Fen Dai had fallen.
Thus, Feng Jin Yuan’s slap did not stray and landed on Kang Yi’s shoulder. This slap was extremely forceful.
“Ah!” Kang Yi let out a coquettish scream. Gritting her teeth, it was clear that the hit had hurt.
Feng Jin Yuan was embarrassed. Letting out a surprised shout, he rushed forward. Reaching out, he held Kang Yi’s shoulder and used an extremely concerned and warm voice to ask her: “I didn’t do it on purpose. Are you hurt?” The feelings he had for Kang Yi were immediately made clear. The two looked at each other for a long time.
The matriarch felt more and more than something was off. She could not help but softly clear her throat. Only then did the two turn around, with Kang Yi quickly saying: “I’m fine. Prime minister Feng, do not get angry. Fourth sister miss is still just a young child. There are some things that she just does not understand.”
What did an eleven-year-old child know about love, this was something that Feng Jin Yuan naturally understood. He definitely did not believe that Fen Dai truly loved the fifth prince, but could he tell Kang Yi that Fen Dai was vain and was entirely devoted to making friends in higher social circles? Could he tell Kang Yi that this girl originally wanted the ninth prince, but the ninth prince did not care for her. When she finally managed to have the fifth prince take the initiative to come forward, that was when she refused to let go?
Of course, he could not. That was why he could only helplessly say: “I have allowed eldest princess to see something unseemly.” He then personally helped her up, but the hand that was on her arm was a little reluctant to let go.
The interaction between the two was seen by An shi, Han shi and Jin Zhen. Who was incapable of understanding what was happening! An shi did not think much of it, only shaking her head helplessly, as she only viewed as entertainment. But Han shi and Jin Zhen became infuriated. One angrily trembled while hugging Fen Dai, and the other lowered her head and wiped away tears.
Feng Yu Heng, however, had wandered over to the matriarch’s side at some point, quietly saying: “If the eldest princess enters the manor, perhaps the most important person will become her, right?”
The matriarch froze then coldly said: “The Feng family definitely will not bring in a foreign princess.”
Feng Yu Heng nodded, “That’s right. The previous madam, Chen shi, only passed away half a year ago. Normally, no matter who father chooses, he will need to wait one year.”
“Correct.” The matriarch’s faith was even more firm. Although the feelings between Feng Jin Yuan and Kang Yi were very clear, this one was not a daughter-in-law that she could control, thus she would not want her.
The fifth prince, Xuan Tian Yan did not notice these things. He was still focused entirely on Fen Dai. Now that he saw Fen Dai get hit, his heart began to ache, as she sat on the ground and wailed loudly.
“Fifth brother.” But at some unknown time, Feng Yu Heng had actually arrived at Xuan Tian Yan’s side. Being called fifth brother, Xuan Tian Yan completely froze.
“Yo-younger sister.” He spoke up and called her; however, he did not dare look at Feng Yu Heng at all.
Feng Yu Heng asked him in confusion: “A-Heng has not offended fifth brother before, right?”
“Hm?” Xuan Tian Yan became even more afraid. He had always known that his ninth bro’s wife was not someone to offend lightly. Especially after breaking iron essence and promising to provide the method for producing steel at the banquet, the Emperor now had to give all that he had to protect people, but he… “Yo-younger sister, what are you saying? This… fifth brother does not understand.”
“Hehe.” She suddenly laughed, “My meaning is, why does fifth brother look away whenever you look at A-Heng? Is it A-Heng that is too ugly? Ugly to the point that fifth brother is afraid just from seeing me!” The last phrase came with a sudden change in tone, as it was said with a frigid tone.
Xuan Tian Yan subconsciously retreated a few steps. When he was finally willing to look at Feng Yu Heng, he stared straight at her, trying to find an answer from her gaze.
Unfortunately, Feng Yu Heng’s eyes did not express her true feelings. The earlier frigid tone was only used for an instant. In the blink of an eye, she returned to her normal state.
“Fifth brother, don’t worry about it too much. A-Heng does not have any other meaning. You came today for Fen Dai, so we will talk about Fen Dai. As for other things, we can slowly sort them out later.” She glared over, her sharp gaze appearing like a scorpion, which caused Xuan Tian Yan’s heart to freeze. But in a quick turn, Feng Yu Heng’s poisonous gaze had already been replaced with a concerned expression. He heard her say: “Doesn’t fifth brother feel that this matter is a little doubtful? Fourth sister is nothing more than the daughter of a concubine from a government official’s family, and she has not entered the palace many times. How could she manage to have the palace’s eunuchs and palace maids put in so much work for her dance? It must be known that just transporting all of that heavy snow is quite a great deal of work.”
Xuan Tian Yan was stunned, rushing to ask “Your meaning is?”