Misfortunes Never Come Singly
In regards to this imperial palace, Feng Yu Heng really liked it. The Emperor was good and imperial concubine Yun was good. Every time that she saw them, her heart would fill with joy. The two most important people in the imperial palace were already managing their own lives in this manner, and they were enjoying it quite a bit.
When they left Winter Moon Palace, it was already later in the day. Feng Yu Heng proposed walking a bit, thus the three simply continued on foot.
For a long time, nobody said a word until Feng Yu Heng’s imperial daughter’s manor was already before them. Only then did she manage to squeeze out: “Seventh brother is not suited to fighting in battle.”
This was not the first time that these words were said. The two at her side could only smile bitterly. When they brought her to the entrance, they stopped, and Xuan Tian Ming said: “Seventh brother, the East has always been important. You know that if anything was to happen to you, Heng Heng and I would rush over to save you even if it meant abandoning the North.”
The happiness became even more apparent on Xuan Tian Hua’s face; however, he still faintly said: “It’s fine.” He then looked at Feng Yu Heng and paused for a bit. In the end, he still reached out and patted her head, saying: “Take care of yourselves.” He then turned around and left.
Feng Yu Heng choked up, especially when she saw Xuan Tian Hua’s bleak and lonely figure. An unbearable feeling of sadness washed over her.
Suddenly, her vision went dark, as a palm tightly covered her eyes, completely blocking her line of sight. Xuan Tian Ming’s voice, filled with sorrow, rose once more: “This is the fate of the imperial family. Nobody is able to escape it.”
She grabbed the hand before her but did not move. She just held it tightly for a moment then calmed herself down. Turning around, she said with a faint smile: “Let’s go in.”
After this trip, the two realized the importance of “Bring more when heading out.” Feng Yu Heng decided to have the chef work overnight to prepare some more food for her to place inside her space. She also placed more bowls and chopsticks inside her space. There were also some newly arrived fruits that could also be placed inside.
She entered her space with her consciousness, finding that Yao Xian had found a way to treat Ban Zou’s poison and was in the process of treating him. She looked around and decided to clean out a counter on the second floor, placing its contents into another drawer. The recently-cleaned counter was now a place to put things that had been brought into the room after the fact.
After the orders were sent to the kitchen, the two quickly returned to Feng Yu Heng’s courtyard then entered the medicine storage room. Upon entering the room, Feng Yu Heng brought Xuan Tian Ming into her space. At this time, Yao Xian had already injected Ban Zou with an anti-toxin. Although Ban Zou had not yet woken up, his complexion had improved greatly.
Yao Xian told her: “He can be brought out. He can wake up at any moment.”
Feng Yu Heng nodded and brought the group out of the space. Ban Zou was settled into the medicine storage room with Yao Xian left to take care of him. Feng Yu Heng told Yao Xian: “We will be leaving for the military camp tomorrow morning. Zi Rui will be coming with us… Right, where is Zi Rui? Did he come back?”
The three exchanged glances, and a question was written very clearly on Xuan Tian Ming’s face: Who are you asking?
Feng Yu Heng facepalmed. She had forgotten that Zi Rui had gone to the Feng manor. Opening the door, she asked the servants: “Did the young master comeback?” After asking, she began to wonder, that child wouldn’t return to the Yu Palace, right?
As a result, a maidservant told her: “Young master returned long ago and is resting in his own courtyard.”
Only then did she let out a sigh of relief, leaving Yao Xian to keep an eye on Ban Zou. She and Xuan Tian Ming then went toward Zi Rui’s side.
She was feeling uneasy, telling Xuan Tian Ming: “I keep feeling that Zi Rui’s trip to the Feng manor this time was not a pleasant experience. Un… The unpleasant experience that I am speaking of is not Feng Jin Yuan. Rather it is…”
“I understand.” Xuan Tian Ming took the initiative to interject then express his own opinions, “In this world, all relationships require effort from both sides to maintain. This includes familial ties. What of blood relations? Those brothers of mine still tried to kill father Emperor in order to ascend the throne. That’s why there is no need for you to feel such a great burden. If you can be together as mother and daughter, do it. If not, then forget about it.”
Feng Yu Heng naturally understood this reasoning, but sometimes, things just worked out like this. By remaining aloof of a matter, anyone was capable of remaining at peace. When one was at the center of things, who would be able to remain calm?
When she saw Zi Rui, the child was currently sitting on his bed with his legs curled up and arms wrapped around his knees, as his body quivered. Feng Yu Heng was extremely scared, quickly running over. It seemed as though the child had been given a shock then saw that it was his elder sister. The grief that he had felt welled up. His small mouth flattened, and tears began to stream down.
Xuan Tian Ming went to the side and watched the brother and sister. He also felt helpless. It really was too much to have ended up with this sort of a mother.
Zi Rui told his elder sister about the grief that he had suffered while at the Feng family home. After he finished his story, he said with concern: “Sis, just mother alone not acknowledging you is nothing to fear. I am worried that when our uncles return, what should we do if they also do not acknowledge you?”
Before Feng Yu Heng could respond to this question, a “bang” sound came as the door was pushed open. Turning around to look, Yao Xian fiercely walked in. While walking, he said: “Don’t acknowledge? If they don’t acknowledge her, I will break all of their legs!”
With this interruption, Zi Rui’s grief was reduced by a great deal. The group no longer needed to mention Yao shi. Either way, Yao Xian was in the capital. No matter what happened, Yao shi would not be in any danger, she would not be able to do anything too improper. Feng Yu Heng just secretly said to Yao Xian: “No matter what, I hope that she can live happily.”
The next day, Feng Yu Heng, Xuan Tian Ming and Feng Zi Rui climbed into the imperial carriage and set out in the direction of the military camp. Huang Quan had returned overnight and went with Wang Chuan to accompany Feng Yu Heng.
Before the imperial carriage left the capital, they happened to meet up with Xuan Tian Hua. Xuan Tian Hua was going straight toward the East and did not bring his imperial carriage. He was only sitting in a simple carriage. Wang Chuan lifted the curtain, and Feng Yu Heng happened to see Xuan Tian Hua looking over. Their eyes met, and a simple message was seen in his eyes: Take care of yourself.
She nodded and watched the carriage pass by. Xuan Tian Ming quietly whispered into her ear: “The East has remained peaceful, but once it becomes chaotic, it will be comparable to the lowly Qian Zhou.”
The imperial carriage left the capital and raced along the official road. Because Xuan Tian Hua left everyone feeling a little down, thus they did not speak much. Huang Quan felt that the atmosphere was truly very awkward, thus she took the initiative to speak up: “When we were on the boat, we bought a servant, right? This servant has already given her the order last night, and she was sent to the residence in the suburbs today. She will be learning about medicine with Tian Dong.”
Feng Yu Heng nodded and did not have any objections to Huang Quan’s arrangements. It was Zi Rui that asked: “What servant did you buy on the boat?”
Huang Quan smiled and chatted with him: “Young master is resourceful. Didn’t you give a red string at a girl at the dock?”
Zi Rui’s eyes lit up, as he immediately remembered. He quickly said: “Right, right, right, there was something like that. Hah, you don’t know, but the situation at that time was very urgent. Fortunately, I was able to act resourcefully. Seeing that the girl seemed quite clever, I tossed the string out.”
Feng Yu Heng saw that he was about to begin boasting, she quickly grabbed some seeds and prepared to listen.
Who knew that at this time, just as the seeds were held in her hand, it seemed that the wooden board under her butt had moved. They then heard a crisp child’s voice loudly shout: “Little elder brother! Sure enough, you have not forgotten about me!”
She threw away her seeds in surprise and asked Xuan Tian Ming in surprise: “What is this?”
Xuan Tian Ming expressed that he did not know; however, Huang Quan’s face turned white. She said with some uncertainty: “Why does it sound like that servant’s voice?”
At this time, the voice spoke up once more: “Little elder brother! Quickly, quickly help pull me out. Hah, here! Look down!”
Everyone looked down and saw a thin, white arm reach out from behind the seat. With the five fingers splayed, they were reaching for Feng Zi Rui.
The corners of Feng Zi Rui’s lips twitched, as he stepped back, asking with a trembling voice: “You… what sort of monster are you?”
Feng Yu Heng nodded, “Right, what sort of thing is this?”
The little girl called out once more: “Little elder brother! Little elder brother!”
Feng Yu Heng wiped the sweat off her forehead. Why did this sound as though it was chased after a soul? However, it did indeed sound like the servant that she had bought, but she did not understand: “Huang Quan, didn’t you say that you handed her off to a servant to send her off to the residence in the suburbs?”
Huang Quan bent over to pull the person out from under the seat. While pulling, she replied: “Young miss, believe this servant. It really was arranged that way.” While speaking, the person was dragged out. Once the girl popped out, she did not say anything and rushed toward Feng Zi Rui.
Feng Yu heng trembled, and Zi Rui was knocked over.
“Little elder brother, are you alright? I really missed you!” The little girl servant that had been purchased on the boat suddenly appeared inside Xuan Tian Ming’s imperial carriage. She even managed to prevail by overwhelming Zi Rui.
Feng Yu Heng facepalmed, “People are capable of hiding in our carriage now? Xuan Tian Ming, do you want to ask who it was that was in charge of inspecting this imperial carriage this morning? Was it that Bai Ze guy?”
A certain person that was driving the carriage had sharp ears and immediately shouted: “Princess, this matter was not this subordinate’s fault. That girl said that she was with Huang Quan and would be going to the military camp.”
Huang Quan also became frantic, “You believed everything that she says?”
The person outside was rather indifferent, “Isn’t it just a girl. Bringing an extra person will help relieve the young master of his boredom.”
Upon hearing this, the girl immediately nodded, “Right, right, right, I can be little elder brother’s partner. Little elder brother, you also think so, right!”
What could Zi Rui say? This girl was currently on his body. Looking at her, she looked extremely thin, but why did she feel so heavy?
“That uh… get up to speak.” Zi Rui helplessly spoke up. Seeing the girl finally get up, only then did he quickly sit up straight and begin to reason with her: “Back then, you did indeed save me and helped me a great deal. You can ask for anything for this grace, but we are going to a military camp this time. That is not a place that young children can go. Just listen, in a little while, I will have someone send you back.”
The girl did not understand: “Aren’t you also a young child?”
“How… How can I be the same as you? I am a male!”
“Then aren’t they all female?” The girl reached out and pointed in the direction of Feng Yu Heng, “Young miss is a girl. Elder sister Huang Quan is a girl. Elder sister Wang Chuan is a girl. What exactly is the difference?”
These words rendered everyone speechless. That’s right, what was the difference?
Xuan Tian Ming, however, was quite entertained, waving his hand, “Forget it, it’s just one girl. Just let her be a close friend to Zi Rui. That way, Zi Rui will have a companion.”
The girl smiled brightly upon hearing this. Shouting loudly, she moved to dive toward Zi Rui once more.
Feng Yu Heng was speechless. Why was it that she had not seen through this child’s personality back then? She looked sideways at Huang Quan, and Huang Quan told her with a bitter look: “After she became familiar, she became like this.”
As the saying goes, misfortunes do not come singly, thus messes would not come alone. On this side, someone had hidden under a seat in the imperial carriage. On the other side, a movement also came from under Xuan Tian Hua’s seat.
He had been sitting well, but he suddenly felt as though there was something bumping against the seat. Following this, he heard an extremely irritated voice say: “This One was stifled to death.”