The Real and Fake County Princesses
To the East of the capital, there was a fork in the road 20 li away. The two stopped their horses. Of the two, one was the general of the East, Bu Cong, and the other was a girl that looked exactly like Feng Yu Heng.
The girl pointed down the road leading East and said with a smile to Bu Cong: “General, if you continue down this road, you will reach your world. Go quickly, I will only escort you to this point.”
Bu Cong turned to look at her and asked: “What about you? The East is indeed my world, but it is also the Eastern part of Da Shun. If you continue even further down that direction, that would be where you are the lord.”
The girl giggled, “That land does not belong to me. It belongs to my father and my brothers. I am just abusing my power with their blessing, but who knows which brother of mine will replace my father? Who knows how many more years I will be able to abuse my power. Rather, it would be better to come out and see. Call out a few more friends and protect my lavish lifestyle. For example, General Bu, you and I are already friends, is that not correct?”
Bu Cong stared at her for a long time and became absent-minded for a moment; however, he recovered very quickly.
The girl raised her hand and stroked her own face, “It’s very similar, right? General Bu likes her.” The last sentence was a declaration.
Bu Cong did not refute it, only saying: “It is indeed similar; however, it lacks a bit of her charm.” But after saying this, he shook his head, “What charm or not, the current her is no longer the her from before.” Seeing the girl look at him in confusion, he could not help but wave his hand and fall silent.
The girl, however, asked: “You are so certain that the third prince and fourth prince will lose this battle? With you running away like this, if those two really do manage to take over the capital and the imperial palace, would you not have gone from being an official to a guilty official?”
Bu Cong sneered, “How could it be so simple. One of them had their brain whipped silly by county princess Ji An, and one of them has never had a fully developed brain since childhood. To try and take Da Shun from the ninth prince’s hands, they should just keep dreaming!”
“Then why did you want to help them?”
“That is my matter. There is no need for you to know.” Bu Cong’s eyes suddenly turned cold. When he looked again at the girl, his eyes carried a warning look. “I do not care what sort of fuss you decide to kick up in the capital, but it would be best if you chose the correct target to act against, otherwise…”
“General Bu’s meaning is if I target Feng Yu Heng, you will kill me, right?” The girl raised her voice and began laughing, “You truly know how to recognize grace and do not seek repayment. Forget it, go quickly. If you go any later, people will see through your plan. I will not be able to help you.” After she said this, she turned around and urged her horse down the path that they had just come.
Bu Cong stared at the departing figure for a long time and gripped the sword in his hand. He had multiple urges to go and kill the girl behind him, but he gave up his determination at the last second.
He had too many concerns. That girl’s safety would be taken care of by whoever had that role. It would not fall on him.
Putting on a bitter smile, he raised his horsewhip and rode straight East.
As for the girl that had already begun riding back toward the capital wiped her face, pulling off a thin mask from her face. The face that looked exactly that Feng Yu Heng was removed, and the face beneath was finally revealed. It was Yu Qian Yin.
A sneer appeared on her small face, and she turned to look at Bu Cong, who had already gone far away. Parting her lips slightly, she said: “He really is infatuated, but…” Yu Qian Yin turned her head, and her eyes became ice-cold, “Breaking my Zong Sui’s iron essence and canceling my engagement, Feng Yu Heng, this princess cannot coexist with you.” Once this fierce expression appeared, she no longer looked like a girl that was eleven or twelve years of age. She raised her horsewhip and spurred the horse forward, wrapping around toward the North of the capital.
At this time, Feng Yu Heng and Xuan Tian Hua had already met up with the hidden guards that had been sent toward them. The hidden guards protected them until they reached the capital; however, when they were about to reach the capital’s gates, they heard a voice call out from the grass near the road: “Seventh brother!”
Feng Yu Heng furrowed her brow. This voice was too familiar. Who knew, oh who knew that Yu Qian Yin would actually end up leaving the city on this night when the capital had fallen into disarray.
Everyone stopped their horses, and a hidden guard searched in the direction of the voice. Very quickly, he brought Yu Qian Yin over to them.
Xuan Tian Hua looked over without any expression and saw that Yu Qian Yin looked to be in a bad state. Her dress was covered in mud, and her face had also become covered in dirt, while her hair was a mess. At this time, seeing that Xuan Tian Hua was looking at her, she quickly rushed over to his horse and called out: “Seventh brother!” Her voice sounded distraught, and tears began to pour down her face.
Before Xuan Tian Hua could say anything, the horse that Yu Qian Yin stood before lost it. Raising its hooves, it took half a step back then tilted its body and pushed Yu Qian Yin to the side.
Yu Qian Yin lost her balance and fell to the ground, and she could not help but curse: “Damn horse, I risked my life to come out and search for your master, yet you treat me in this way!” She then said to Xuan Tian Hua: “Seventh brother, you absolutely must not return to the capital. The capital is a mess. I saw that a large number of people died. If it wasn’t for me crawling through a small hole, I fear that I would have been seen by someone on the street.”
Feng Yu Heng laughed, “If the capital is a mess, and you still came out, it would serve you right if you did die.”
Yu Qian Yin rolled her eyes at Feng Yu Heng and said with a grief-filled voice: “Didn’t I come out to look for seventh brother. He said that he went out to buy some food for me, but he ended up not coming back. I am not as calm as county princess Ji An. If something happened to seventh brother, I could not bear to continue living.”
“Shut your mouth!” Xuan Tian Hua could no longer bear to listen to this. Yu Qian Yin suddenly appearing here was indeed not unexpected, but it caused him to feel even more puzzled. This was the capital, not to mention whether or not there was a small hole in the city wall, but even if there was, with the chaos in the city, every part of the city would be under close surveillance. How could a person have crawled through one? He looked coldly at Yu Qian Yin and did not show any pity for her troubled state. He just coldly said: “We are returning to the city now. Just follow along!” After saying this, he gave a look to a hidden guard, and the hidden guard grabbed Yu Qian Yin and placed her on the back of his own horse. He treated her like a bag of goods and was neither gentle nor rough with Yu Qian Yin, causing her to grimace in pain.
She loudly shouted: “Seventh brother, I want to ride along with you!”
Xuan Tian Hua ignored her. Tugging at Feng Yu Heng’s reins, he charged forward first.
Feng Yu Heng followed behind him and glanced at Yu Qian Yin, saying with a smile: “Yu girl, the nice foods that you sent to this county princess have been saved for you! After you have returned to the capital, I will find a good time to send them over. Let’s have Yu girl have a taste of her own food.”
These words caused Yu Qian Yin to become confused. She understood what was meant by good food, but how long ago was that? Feng Yu Heng not dying from the poison was not unexpected. What was unexpected was that Feng Yu Heng had actually kept that food. This was something that she could not understand in the slightest.
The group returned to the capital while puzzled and making guesses. Along the way, they met up with the second group that had been sent for them. Bai Ze had personally led this group out and gave Feng Yu Heng a basic account of what had happened in the city. Hearing this, she quaked with a bit of fear.
She did not know that Xuan Tian Ming had done so much in the background. He had actually swapped out all of Xuan Tian Ye’s 20 thousand soldiers in secret. How difficult an undertaking was such a thing! But she was also a little happy about her own work with breaking Xuan Tian Ye’s bones. Smiling brightly, she asked Bai Ze: “When the third prince fell, did it look like a boneless fish?”
Bai Ze nodded, “He was even softer than a fish. He was like mud.”
Feng Yu Heng let out a loud laugh, “If that’s the case, then it’s good. This county princess did not waste my efforts.” After saying this, she turned around and looked at Yu Qian Yin, who had been placed on the back of a horse by a hidden guard. She raised her voice and said: “This angle is no good. You look old. As I see it, you are older than me by a bit. You should have become of age already, right?”
A fierce look appeared in Yu Qian Yin’s eyes, but she still said: “I don’t understand what county princess is saying.”
Feng Yu Heng waved her hand, “Whether or not you understand is not important. This county princess is just reminding you that no matter what you do, it would be best to take it easy. Don’t implicate yourself in anything. Yu Qian Yin, this county princess is not familiar with this name, nor have I ever heard it before. I fear that this is a name that would not appear anywhere in Da Shun, right? You are someone that belongs to an unregistered household, and nobody would know if you died.”
Yu Qian Yin stopped moving and turned away, wanting to ignore her; however, Xuan Tian Hua shrugged and smiled bitterly. He moved his horse closer to Feng Yu Heng and quietly said: “What are you scaring her for?”
Feng Yu Heng reached out and placed her hand on Xuan Tian Hua’s shoulder and loudly gossiped: “Some people need to be beaten from time to time, otherwise, they will forget who they truly are. Seventh brother, you have your ways of handling her, and I have my own methods. Of course…” She spoke to this point, as her expression sank, “She is also free to seek her own death.”
“Heng Heng.” Xuan Tian Hua did not really like seeing this girl’s fierce appearance and helplessly said: “I just don’t like it when you are like this. That’s why I have kept her at my side. Why are you bothering with this?”
Feng Yu Heng shook her head, “But you will end up harming yourself. Also, that girl does not seem to know how to give up.” Saying this, she raised her eyebrows at Xuan Tian Hua and quietly said: “Seventh brother, that girl is copying me in every way. In the beginning, I believed that it was to get close to you, but I felt that this was not the case.”
Xuan Tian Hua’s appearance was a little unnatural because Feng Yu heng’s words made it clear that she was copying her, thus he would pay attention to her and like her. It was possible that he would keep her at his side. He lowered his head and fell silent.
Feng Yu Heng’s face revealed a smile. The arm that had been wrapped around Xuan Tian Hua’s neck exerted some strength and pulled Xuan Tian Hua a little closer.
Xuan Tian Hua helplessly said: “How about you just sit on the back of my horse.”
She felt that this was a very good idea, thus she reached out and placed her hand in Xuan Tian Hua’s hand, and he put in some strength, pulling her over and allowing her to sit stably on the back of his horse.
“Speak.”
“Alright.” Feng Yu Heng raised her head and said to him: “Seventh brother’s intentions, A-Heng does not believe that Yu Qian Yin will know about them.” She spoke seriously. She had spilled all of the thoughts that Xuan Tian Hua hid at the bottom of his heart. He did not dare speak of them, and he even did not dare even acknowledge them.
He was startled for a moment and did not know how he should respond. Fortunately, Feng Yu Heng did not ask any further. In fact, she did not pause there for long, continuing: “That’s why there’s no reason for her to copy me to get close to you. That’s why the only reason for her to do this is… she wants to get close to Xuan Tian Ming. Is that right?”