A Red Plum Climbs a Wall
The reason for Feng Yu Heng’s visit today was to examine the pregnancies of the three women. Seeing them arrive, she did not delay and began the examination.
After a few disturbances in the capital, everyone knew that county princess Ji An was a divine doctor, and she had already become more famous than her maternal grandfather, Yao Xian. When these three secondary princesses became pregnant with Prince Jing’s children, they were even more cautious. Just for the sake of checking to see if they were pregnant, five or six imperial physicians were called, but they were still unable to feel at ease. Only after they heard that county princess Ji An would be coming did they finally feel a bit at ease.
Feng Yu Heng examined all three, and everyone in the hall turned their expectant gazes on her. The people in the room let out a sigh only after she pulled her hand back and nodded, saying: “The three are indeed expecting.”
Xuan Tian Qi laughed and quickly asked about what things he should pay attention to. Feng Yu Heng reluctantly told him a bunch of things, and the servants carefully noted them down. Only then were the three secondary princesses sent back.
Feng Yu Heng told Xuan Tian Qi: “Recently, the Feng manor has been very busy, and imperial concubine Yun has caught a bit of a cold. Eldest brother, I fear that I will not be able to visit often, but that is fine. The Jing Palace is not far from my county princess’ manor. If eldest brother has any questions, just come and call me.”
Xuan Tian Qi once again gave countless thanks for the grace then arranged to find something nice for her, but he was stopped with great difficulty by Feng Yu Heng. He felt helpless and could only sit back down. Rubbing his hands, he said: “I just don’t know how I should thank you. If it was not for you, I fear that this prince would never have been able to experience the feeling of having an heir. Originally, imperial concubine mother and I had already given up. We had called countless famed doctors and seen countless failures; however, who knew that younger sister’s miraculous hands would actually cure me.”
Feng Yu Heng smiled and said: “I am someone who will never exaggerate. If it’s treatable, I can treat it. If it is not treatable, I can’t treat it. If I decide to treat it, that means it is treatable. That is my principle.”
“Un.” Xuan Tian Qi nodded, “I know.” He then frowned and pondered for a while. When he spoke up again, he had changed the topic: “Younger sister, you know that this prince has focused on business for half of my life. The best places for business take place near the border. When it comes to trade between two countries, whether the border is open or closed, it is profitable. I am also not a normal businessman. I am also the prince of a country. I have left quite a few spies out in the places that I have done business. A few days ago, when you were still taking care of the disaster outside the city, one of my spies braved the rain to deliver a letter. The letter said that one of Zong Sui’s princesses left the family and seemed to have escaped toward Da Shun. The imperial family of Zong Sui has secretly sent out a group of people to search for her but could not find her.”
“Zong Sui?” A message suddenly flashed through Feng Yu Heng’s mind. That message had come on a rainy night many days ago. It had happened not too long after she had left the city. That night, Xuan Tian Hua had gone to the medical clinic to visit her, and he had brought Yu Qian Yin with him. At that time, she had felt that Yu Qian Yin’s departing figure seemed a bit familiar, but she was unable to figure out where she had seen it before. Thinking about it now, she seemed to have found the source of that familiar feeling. That source was Xuan Tian Ge. When Yu Qian Yin left, she naturally exuded that sort of proud arrogance and fearlessness that was completely similar to the aura exuded by Da Shun’s imperial daughter. That pride and aura of nobility was not something that could be faked nor taught. Could it be… that it was her?
“Thank you, eldest brother.” Feng Yu Heng sincerely said. She did not mention a reason; however, Xuan Tian Qi acted as though he understood completely. He just smiled gently.
Leaving the Jing Palace, Feng Yu Heng’s imperial carriage went straight toward the imperial palace. After entering the palace, she first went to pay a courtesy visit to imperial concubine Gu Xian. Imperial concubine Gu Xian no longer minded Feng Yu Heng as she did before. Instead, she was only thankful for her.
When she finally went toward Winter Moon Palace, it was already almost noon. Huang Quan held her belly and continued to complain about feeling hungry. Feng Yu Heng also felt quite hungry, thus she increased her pace and enticed Huang Quan: “There will be food to eat once we reach Winter Moon Palace.”
However, reality would prove to be unpredictable. She did not think, she really never thought that before they could reach Winter Moon Palace, she would hear an extremely loud singing voice, “You are on that side of the mountain! I am on this side of the mountain! You are on that side of the wide river! I am on this side of the wide river! Girl, dear girl, why do you not look more at me!”
This song full of mysticism caused Huang Quan to become dazed, “Who is this? Who is so arrogant? Although Da Shun’s customs are to be open-minded, it should not be open-minded to this degree, right? Also, this is the imperial palace. Who has the courage to run inside the imperial palace to sing love songs?”
Feng Yu Heng facepalmed: “Inside the imperial palace, especially in front of Winter Moon Palace’s entrance, who else aside from that Emperor of ours would sing love songs?” Most importantly, if you want to sing, just sing, but wasn’t this too painful to listen to? What exactly was going on?
Just as she was thinking, a voice that was almost as shrill as a woman’s voice rose, and it also sang: “My love, oh my love, if you leap over the mountain, you will be able to see me. If you can cross the river, you can marry me. My love, oh my love, why do you not quickly come to my side!”
Feng Yu Heng covered her ears and turned around, wanting to leave. Who knew that Huang Quan’s desire to gossip would rise. Grabbing hold of her, she begged: “Young miss, let’s go over and take a look! Seeing the Emperor sing is something that occurs less than once every thousand years. Also, could it be that young miss is not curious as to who is singing the female’s part?”
Feng Yu Heng rolled her eyes repeatedly, “Can you not tell who is singing the female part? Aside from his partner in… wait, aside from eunuch Zhang Yuan, who has remained on his side in battle, who else could it be?”
“Oh! Eunuch Zhang is singing much better than the Emperor. Young miss, let’s go and take a look!”
Feng Yu Heng could not get away from Huang Quan, and her own curiosity had been piqued. Thus the two tiptoed and crept over while leaning forward. They even made sure to reduce the sound of their breathing. Sneakily, they crept forward, but before they could get close, they were blocked by two imperial guards. One of them lowered their voices like a criminal and asked: “Who is it?”
Feng Yu Heng waved to them: “It-it’s me, county princess Ji An.”
Practically everyone in the palace recognized her. Upon seeing that it was Feng Yu Heng that had come, the imperial guard quickly put away his spear, and the one that had just spoken said: “County princess, you’ve come? His Majesty ordered that nobody is permitted to interrupt the song that he is singing for imperial concubine Yun. Just earlier, her Highness the Empress had also come and was turned away.”
Feng Yu Heng nodded and replied in a criminal tone: “I will not interrupt. I just want to watch the show.”
The soldier said: “Good! County princess, be careful. You absolutely must not be discovered.”
Just like this, broke through this line of defense and brought Huang Quan a few steps forward. Upon exiting the small path, she saw the Emperor standing at the entrance. He was singing while craning his neck. Zhang Yuan stood not too far from him and was also singing at the top of his lungs. He would even remind the Emperor from time to time: “That bit earlier was off-tune.”
This time, the Emperor did not argue with Zhang Yuan. If it was said that he was off-tune, he would go back and sing it again. It was clear that he was doing his best to sing the song well; however, put bluntly, this song was quite weird. It was very hard to get a grasp of, and it was a bit like a folk song. Compared to the folk songs that Feng Yu Heng had heard in her previous life, this was many times weirder.
Feng Yu Heng quietly asked Huang Quan: “What song is this?”
Huang Quan shook her head: “I’ve never heard it before. It’s most likely something that his Majesty came up with.”
Feng Yu Heng did not believe it, “How could he have time to think of such things. Perhaps… it was something that Zhang Yuan came up with.”
One of the imperial guards behind them heard this and leaned over to resolve their doubts: “Back when his Majesty first met imperial concubine Yun outside, this was something that her maternal tribe sang quite frequently.”
So that was the situation.
The Emperor continued to sing for a little while longer before feeling that his throat was feeling hoarse, thus he waved to the eunuch taking care of him: “Need water!”
The eunuch quickly brought the tray of tea over.
The Emperor could not wait for the servant to take care of him, as he picked up the pot of tea on his own and poured himself some water. He only recovered after drinking three cups in a row. He then poured a cup for Zhang Yuan, “Quickly quench your thirst. That time just now, you were not able to hit that high note.”
Zhang Yuan received the cup and downed it. While pouring himself a second cup, he said: “Your Majesty, if you really feel distressed for this servant, let’s stop singing. Say, you’ve sung for almost an hour, yet there has not been any movement inside. Let’s come back at a different time!”
“What’s the point of coming back at a different time? There’s no movement now, but if we come back at a different time, there will be? Either way, We trust that she can definitely hear it. Whether or not she comes out is up to her. Whether or not we sing is up to Us. We have decided that we will remain here. A person’s heart is made of flesh. Sooner or later, she will be moved.”
With him saying this much, what else could Zhang Yuan say. He quickly downed two more cups then returned to his original spot and began another round of singing.
Feng Yu Heng was truly unable to continue watching, but the Emperor was blocking the entrance. She could not get in; however, she could not delay imperial concubine Yun’s treatment. What should she do?
She considered the Winter Moon Palace before her and took a look at the palace’s walls. She then pulled Huang Quan and quietly said: “Retreat!”
The two carefully walked around Winter Moon Palace. Under the watchful eyes of the imperial guards, they finally made it around Winter Moon Palace, arriving in a place that was relatively quiet.
Although it was said to be quiet, it was just a place where there were fewer people. They could still hear the Emperor singing, but the volume was much lower. Huang Quan did not understand why they had come to this side. Feng Yu Heng pointed at the high palace walls and asked her: “Can you leap up there?”
Huang Quan was puzzled: “I can, but why do we need to leap over the wall?”
Feng Yu Heng just rolled her eyes at her: “Imperial concubine mother’s illness must be treated, but the Emperor is blocking the entrance. Even if it’s the backdoor, side door or supply door, he will still have confidants watching over them! If we want to enter, there is only one path. Leaping over the wall.”
Huang Quan felt that she was correct, but she said a little helplessly: “This servant’s qinggong is a little worse when compared to Wang Chuan. With such a high wall, if Wang Chuan was here, she could bring young miss up with her, but this servant is incapable. But this servant can go up on my own and throw a rope down for young miss.”
“Good.” Feng Yu Heng nodded and reached into her sleeve to pull out a rope. Huang Quan had already become accustomed to her ability to bring out anything that she needed. She did not even ask. Receiving it, she leaped into the air and used a couple footholds along the way before arriving at the top of the palace’s wall.
The rope was thrown down. Although Feng Yu Heng did not have the amazing qinggong ability of the ancient people, she was not too much worse than Huang Quan. The rope was just there to provide her with some help. She grasped it and smoothly climbed up.
When the two were finally seated at the top of the wall, Feng Yu Heng felt confused: “Doesn’t Winter Moon Palace have a large number of female hidden guards? Why is there no reaction when people have leaped over the wall?”
Just after she said this, she suddenly heard the Emperor sing from the entrance in a loud voice: “There was seen a red plum tree sitting atop the wall.”
Feng Yu Heng trembled with fear. Losing her balance, she dove off of the wall.
TN: The red plum tree sitting atop the wall is an idiom meaning a wife is having an illicit affair. I’m not entirely certain if this is the case, since the words used were slightly different.