Identity Under Suspicion
A cold snort came from the air. The gale became weaker but did not stop, as a person arrived in front of the two.
Feng Yu Heng looked at that person and said: “In truth, if it was a battle of qinggong, you cannot beat my servant. If it was just a fight relying on brute strength, you are a little stronger. Your attacks are also a little more direct and brutal. I fear that my Huang Quan will suffer a loss.” While saying this, she patted Huang Quan, “It’s fine. General Bu just came to talk with this county princess about the past. Don’t be so nervous.” She then raised her head to look at Bu Cong then smiled and said: “You also should not be so nervous. Relax a little. This county princess doesn’t eat people.”
The person that had come was Bu Cong. He had returned to the capital during the new year celebration to report on his mission. Now that the first month had passed, it was time for him to prepare to return to the Eastern military camp. He came to the palace to receive one last briefing from the Emperor before leaving; however, he did not think that he would end up running into Feng Yu Heng.
On the day that he returned to the capital, the two met on the streets. He only felt that the girl in front of him was completely different from the girl that he had met three years prior. The Feng Yu Heng that he knew before only had a faint temper, but she did not have this ferocity. The meeting that day made him feel as though he was looking at a stranger.
Having spent the new year in the capital, he had asked around; however, the more he heard, the more surprised he became. Feng Yu Heng being famed for her medical ability was expected, after all, her maternal grandfather Yao Xian. But when had Feng Yu Heng learned to use a bow and arrow? When had she learned martial arts? When had she developed such a deep relationship with the usually terrifying Prince Yu?
In this world, aside from the seventh prince, there was basically nobody that could get close to the ninth prince, Xuan Tian Ming. In the capital, there were plenty of girls that admired him, including imperial daughter Qing Le. Liking him in secret was fine. If one expressed their feelings, as Qing Le had, then their manors would be set on fire, acting as a very frank refusal.
When he was young, he had his father request a marriage with the Feng manor. At that time, Feng Yu Heng was already engaged to the ninth prince. The Bu family gritted its teeth and brought up a marriage, fearing that it would be retaliated against by the ninth prince. But the ninth prince did not react to it in the slightest. In fact, it was the opposite. If the Feng family dared to enforce the marriage, he would set fire to the Feng family.
Everyone felt that this was a joke of an engagement; however, who knew that those two would truly end up together.
He previously believed that it was Xuan Tian Ming putting on an act. After investigating a few times, he finally found out that Feng Yu Heng treated Xuan Tian Ming even more seriously than her own life.
No matter what, Bu Cong was unable to understand. What exactly happened to actually cause the two people that previously had no interaction to suddenly become so intimate, leaving… him with absolutely no chance.
“A-Heng.” Bu Cong looked at the girl in front of him. She had graceful eyebrows, profound eyes, light-pink skin that poked out from under her clothes and a pair of thin lips. Everyone said that people with such thin lips were, for the most part, emotionless; however, he felt that they had simply misplaced their affection. For example, between this girl and Xuan Tian Ming, there was quite a bit of affection.
“General Bu.” Feng Yu Heng replied and looked around before her gaze landed on the sword at his hip, “To be able to bring a sword into the palace, it seems that General Bu is quite useful to father Emperor.” She deliberately emphasized the two words father emperor. At the same time, she noticed a slight contraction of Bu Cong’s pupils.
“Because his Majesty treats you well, isn’t county princess also able to freely enter and exit the palace. In fact, I heard that you don’t even need any identification.”
“Un.” She nodded, “Just recognizing me is enough. General Bu was quite fierce when arriving earlier. That gave this county princess quite a scare. Hehe, fortunately, I am fine. Otherwise, if I was truly given a fright then perhaps the Bu family would need to pay.”
Bu Cong was startled and did not understand what she meant by pay. Huang Quan spoke up on Feng Yu Heng’s behalf: “His Highness the ninth prince has always favored our young miss. If he found out that General Bu caused young miss to suffer a shock, he would definitely have something to say to the Bu family. That’s why, general, it is best to be careful when walking in the restricted area of the imperial palace.”
“Hmph!” Bu Cong snorted. Angered, he glared at Huang Quan.
How could Huang Quan be afraid of this, as she replied with her own glare. This contest between the two caused Feng Yu Heng to begin giggling, as they heard her say: “General Bu really is broad-minded, getting angry at a servant and not worrying about losing status.”
Bu Cong also felt a little flustered from hearing her say this. He could not help but look at Feng Yu Heng; however, he immediately recovered his wits. A ferocity suddenly appeared in his eyes, as he suddenly said: “County princess Ji An, how about a competition with this general?”
“Weapons cannot be used in the imperial palace.’ Feng Yu Heng reminded him, “General should use his abilities on the battlefield and not to cause a young girl trouble.”
Saying this, she began walking forward. Given how short she was, she barely reached up to his elbow, but Bu Cong still moved to block Feng Yu Heng’s path.
Huang Quan wanted to say, just how shameless can you be, but before she could say anything, Feng Yu Heng suddenly brought her right hand up and formed a claw. She then went striaght for Bu Cong’s throat.
Bu Cong moved extremely quickly and retreated many steps. At the same time, he raised his hands to protect himself from Feng Yu Heng; however, he saw the girl in front of him quickly pull her hand back. Leaning forward, with a quick turn, she quickly arrived behind him.
He pulled his body in and shifted his head to dodge. Reaching back with a hand, he wanted to catch Feng Yu Heng. Unfortunately, he came up empty. Feng Yu Heng still did not know the qinggong of the ancient era, but she had a small body that was very agile. When Bu Cong reached out to catch her, she had already given up on attacking. Changing to defense, her waist curved like a bow, as she barely managed to avoid a sweeping attack.
Bu Cong did not think that Feng Yu Heng’s movements would be so fast. Gritting his teeth, he activated his qi and began to soar; however, he did not think that in the instant that he kicked off the ground, he felt something cold on his ankle. In his surprise, he looked down and found a long and thin cloth wrapped around his calf. The other end of the cloth was in Feng Yu Heng’s hands. Pulling forcefully, she pulled the airborne Bu Cong back. She then exerted some more strength and threw him out, causing him to look like an arrow that had been loosed.
But Bu Cong was a general that had experienced battles, after all, and his martial abilities were quite good. In a situation where he did not know the details, he had fallen for Feng Yu Heng’s trick; however, in the process of being thrown, he had managed to regain his strength.
The people that were proficient in fighting always became more and more excited the longer a fight went. This fight with Feng Yu Heng caused him to feel extremely entertained. After landing, he did not spend an instant to rest before charging once more.
At first, Huang Quan wanted to go and fight for Feng Yu Heng; however, she heard Feng Yu Heng say: “Just stand to the side. I really must see, with a grown man trying to kill a young girl on the path to the carriages in the imperial palace, will anyone come to do anything about this shameless person!”
These words caused Bu Cong to feel a little embarrassed. His original intention was to learn from exchanging blows. He just wanted to test the foundation of Feng Yu Heng’s martial arts. He wanted to see if she only had flashy skills that were not practical or if she truly knew martial arts. This was not even remotely close to trying to kill her.
But he immediately realized that he had been too harsh. From his words to his actions to now flying forward, he had always been on the attack. What he felt was one thing. What someone else saw was another. A-Heng had misunderstood him.
Upon thinking of this, Bu Cong slowed his charge forward. Looking at Feng Yu Heng, he wanted to say that it was not the case. But before he could say anything, Feng Yu Heng arrived in front of him. He had slowed down, but she did not, as he saw Feng Yu Heng had, at some unknown point in time, twisted the cloth into something resembling a whip. Without saying anything, she began to whip him.
Smack!
It struck directly on his upper left arm.
He shifted his body to try and dodge, smack! Another strike hit his upper right arm, leaving a bloody mark.
Bu Cong saw that she was serious and quickly retreated in fear. He seemed to be in a difficult situation, as he escaped nearly ten steps. When he raised his head once more, he saw the girl glare straight at him with fierce eyes. The cloth had already been unwound, as she shook it out then threw it to Huang Quan: “After leaving the palace, find a place to throw it away. Something that has become stained with blood is disgusting.”
Bu Cong’s face turned red with anger. Looking more carefully at that cloth, it appeared to be something that girls wore around their necks. The palace did not allow for weapons to be brought in. As a general, he had received special permission from the Emperor to wear a sword, but he had forgotten that Feng Yu Heng had begun practising with a whip. He did not think that this girl would already be so proficient with a whip to actually be able to use it on the spot.
He blankly looked at Feng Yu Heng, as the feeling of “That is definitely not Feng Yu Heng” filled his mind once more.
Once this thought appeared, he was unable to stop himself from immediately asking “Who exactly are you?”
Feng Yu Heng did not think that this question was odd. After all, when they had met on the street, Bu Cong had also asked this sort of question. But she did feel a little irritated and a little alarmed.
Coming to Da Shun, this was the first time that someone truly questioned her identity. Bu Cong did not believe that she was Feng Yu Heng. Just a bit of doubt was enough to cause her to hate it.
Feng Yu Heng furrowed her brow in irritation and loudly said: “You couldn’t beat me, so you begin to talk about useless things? Who am I? The entire capital knows who I am. General Bu, what exactly are you trying to say?”
Bu Cong stared at her for a long time before shaking his head, “That’s not right. Although the A-Heng I know does not like dealing with people, in fact, she does not like dealing with me, but she does not know martial arts, and she definitely is not as sharp with her words. I did not interact with A-Heng much, but I, Bu Cong, have always kept her in mind. I know better than anyone what A-Heng was like. You cannot fool me.”
His words were so resolute that they caused Feng Yu Heng to feel shocked. The body’s original owner did not have many memories of this General Bu. What she knew of Bu Cong came from what other people said. She never knew how profound the feelings of the body’s original owner were. Now that she heard him say this, she felt a little guilty. If this person really began to cause trouble, that would become troublesome.
Whether she was real or fake, she was indeed Feng Yu Heng, but she was just using Feng Yu Heng’s body. If nobody pointed it out, everything would have been fine. Once someone pointed something out, even if there was no way of proving it, the matter would cause people to begin to think.
Just like the rumor of Feng Chen Yu having the aspect of the phoenix. Some people would sneer at it, but they would still remember it at the most vital moments. What if everyone under the heavens heard about it? The result would be, regardless of who Feng Chen Yu married, that person had the ability to become the Emperor, and the citizens would assume that it was fated to happen.
She was in a momentary daze, and it was this daze that caused Bu Cong’s heart to fill with even more doubt. It was as though he had grasped a clue regarding Feng Yu Heng, as he reached out and pointed at her nose, loudly saying: “Speak! Who exactly are you?”
Once this was said, he saw a layer of mist appear in Feng Yu Heng’s eyes. The small and fierce face had suddenly become filled with sorrow. She pouted her small lips and trembled a few times. The tears in her eyes seemed to be on the verge of spilling out.
Bu Cong was a little regretful. He should not have treated this girl in this way. This was clearly A-Heng. Who else could it be?
Just as he was thinking of saying a few comforting words, he saw Feng Yu Heng suddenly begin to run towards him. So sorrowful, so sad and so afraid, it was as though she was about to seek comfort from his embrace.
The tender feelings in his heart finally began to stir, as he subconsciously opened his arms and prepared to welcome the girl into his embrace.