Just as these words were spoken, she was forcefully picked up from her pillow by that person. Someone wrapped grabbed her neck and very impolitely asked her: “Did you make a mistake and want to use me like a maidservant?”
She was given a start and woke up, but the words that she said caused the person to become even angrier: “I can still tell the difference between men and women. I thought that you were a eunuch.”
A certain person became speechless. The hand wrapped around her neck pulled back a bit. He had to tidy up this girl a bit.
Feng Yu Heng was in a troubled situation from being strangled and struggled to break free. Frowning, she looked at him: “Aren’t I just using you once. You want to strangle me to death or something? Can I not be thirsty?”
“It serves you right that you’re thirsty.” Although he said this, Xuan Tian Ming still got up and very helplessly poured a cup of tea for her, “It was prepared earlier this morning for you. It’s tea to sober you up. Drink up!” Seeing her receive the cup and down it before coughing a bit, he could not help but scold: “Serves you right!”
Feng Yu Heng could not be bothered to argue with him and handed the cup back over. She then lay back down in bed while cradling her head and whining: “My head hurts, and I’m dizzy. Xuan Tian Ming, I definitely have not sobered up yet. Let me sleep for a little longer!”
Xuan Tian Ming glared at her: “If you aren’t embarrassed to, go ahead. Either way, I’ll tell you that this is the Chun Palace. It’s currently noon, and the servants outside are laughing at you.”
She was given a start, but she did not focus on the point about her lazing about in bed. Instead, it was: “The servants of the Chun Palace dare to laugh at me? Does seventh brother not concern himself with these matters? Why would a master be laughed at by servants for sleeping? Tell me which ones are laughing at me. I’ll have seventh brother chase them out of the palace later! They really are annoying.”
Xuan Tian Ming smiled bitterly. This wife really was very stubborn!
The little girl held her head and began to argue, “I was quite good at drinking before! Why did I get so drunk last night?”
“Because the wine you were drinking was different!” He helplessly explained, “The wine from last night was not any normal wine. It’s been aging for over 100 years. It’s quite pure. It’d be weird if you didn’t get drunk. Even we didn’t dare drink too much. Only you downed it as if it was water. We couldn’t even stop you.”
Only then did Feng Yu Heng remember the situation from the previous night and muttered to herself: “If I knew sooner, I would have eaten a pill to reduce the effects of the alcohol.” She then slowly climbed out of bed and put on her shoes. She was still feeling a bit weak. “Where’s seventh brother? Did you two get up late?”
Xuan Tian Ming shook his head, “We aren’t like you. Seventh brother went to court.”
“Oh, then what about you? Do you not need to go to court?”
“I already came back from court.”
Very well! A certain person admitted defeat. It turned out that in the time she had been sleeping, they were able to do so many things. “I’m going into my space to get washed up. I won’t trouble the servants of the Chun Palace.” She said to Xuan Tian Ming, “I’ll also take a pill to sober up. Keep watch outside for me.” After saying this, she disappeared in the blink of an eye.
Xuan Tian Ming, however, recalled the conversation between him and Xuan Tian Hua from the previous night. Feng Yu Heng had always mentioned her Persian masters, and he had believed since long ago that it was completely fabricated, but if there really came a day when someone really used this to cause trouble, he would need to think of something to combat this.
Not long later, a sober young beauty suddenly appeared. She was no longer as dazed and weak as earlier. After washing up and getting prepared, she looked like a proper human. His mood improved greatly, as he grabbed her while saying: “Let’s go and wander the streets. Didn’t you always complain about this prince not spending money when strolling through the streets. There happens to be nothing happening today. Let’s just go and take a stroll.”
In truth, Feng Yu Heng was not too interested in strolling around, nor did she particularly like shopping, but she was quite excited to buy things with Xuan Tian Ming. She asked him: “Did you bring money?”
He shook his head, “I did not, but you can take some from seventh brother’s place. I’ll just return it later.”
Thus the two happily left the palace to go shopping.
Since it was noon, they first needed to take care of lunch. They did not eat in the Chun Palace and could only eat outside. Xuan Tian Ming was someone that used his stature a bit more. He brought up going to Refined Deity Building, but Feng Yu Heng refused. They randomly chose a street stall and resolved their hunger there.
That afternoon, the two were like lovers strolling around half of the capital. They also bought quite a bit of stuff, most of which was food. As Feng Yu Heng put it: “The best accessories come from craftsman Bai. The best gold and jade items come from the imperial palace. If I want them, I’d naturally go and ask for them. What good stuff can be bought out here. Moreover, I have my own accessories shop. Could it be that I need to go there and buy stuff from my own shop?”
Xuan Tian Ming did not have any objections to this. It was as Feng Yu Heng had said. The best things in the world were in the imperial palace or his own palace. As long as she wanted something, what could she not get? This girl was no longer the Feng family’s second young miss from back then. With great accomplishments, if she wanted something from the palace, there was no need for him to speak up for her. She could ask for it on her own. The old man almost treated her better than he treated him.
But there was a matter that he thought of, and he quickly grabbed a hold of her hand: “When you get back to the manor, I will send someone to take your measurements. It will be the mid-Autumn Festival in a few days time. There will be a banquet in the palace.”
Feng Yu Heng had not participated in a banquet in the palace for a long time. Ever since they set out for Qian Zhou, the palace did not hold many banquets. Unexpectedly hearing about a banquet was a bit fresh, and she could not help but think of the mid-Autumn Festival from that year. Feng Chen Yu was still alive, and she had won the phoenix hairpin from Bu Ni Shang. In just a few years, the people of that time were no longer around.
“When they were around, there was a struggle for power, and I felt annoyed. With them gone and thinking about it, I feel that they all had their individual lives.” She could not stop herself from sighing emotionally, “If the Feng family did not have Chen shi, Feng Chen Yu did not cause trouble, and Feng Zi Hao did not act stupid, perhaps the Feng manor would still be the Feng manor. Feng Jin Yuan also would not have fallen to his current state.”
Xuan Tian Ming, however, shrugged and smiled, reminding her: “You’ve forgotten that everything was caused by Feng Jin Yuan? Whether it’s Chen shi or Feng Chen Yu, those were just small trifles between women in the manor. If it was exposed, it would be mostly harmless. In the end, it was Feng Jin Yuan himself that could not control his own biases. This also caused him to go down the wrong path. This cannot be blamed on anyone else.”
“That’s right!” Feng Yu Heng nodded and recalled the matter with Prince Lian. She could not help but snort coldly, “Even at this point, he isn’t obedient. Guess what he did? These days, he actually became interested in Feng Zhao Lian. He doesn’t even differentiate between men and women. He isn’t ashamed to cling to him.”
Her words managed to cause Xuan Tian Ming to laugh, “When it comes to differentiating between men and women, it really was inherited! Back when you didn’t know who he was, you completely thought that he was a beautiful woman.”
Feng Yu Heng facepalmed, “Wasn’t that a failure in technique for me. But Feng Zhao Lian too, he could have lived anywhere, but he insisted on living next to the Feng residence. He really isn’t afraid of stirring the pot for entertainment.”
The two talked while walking. Looking up, they had already reached the entrance to the accessory shop in the middle of the capital. Feng Yu Heng looked up and saw that words “Phoenix Pavilion” on the sign had already been changed to the current “Nirvana Pavilion”. She was a little dissatisfied, “Isn’t this still a phoenix? Qing Yu really is worry-free, casually changing it like that.”
Xuan Tian Ming, however, observed something different from her. He was looking at the guests: “It seems that the mid-Autumn Festival’s banquet has brought quite a bit of business to your shop. As I see it, the madams and young misses coming and going from your shop are mostly people from families with the right to attend the palace’s banquet. Thinking about it, the revenue from this month should be quite high.”
Feng Yu Heng smiled like a criminal and said to him: “I’ll tell you that I don’t even see the income from the shops. Aside from the money being paid to the workers, everything else is sent to Hundred Herb Hall’s side to be used.”
Xuan Tian Ming was puzzled, “Hundred Herb Hall is losing in money? So much so that it needs money from the other shops to supplement it?”
She shook her head, “It’s not losing money, but I gave the order to open some more clinics, not just in the capital. It needs to be in the other provinces too. Like this, the initial costs will not be low. Just relying on this shop’s income is not enough. I need to add more on my own. That’s why relying on these proper businesses is slow.”
He could hear something of a clue: “What is it, you want to do some things that aren’t as proper?”
A certain person smiled like a criminal, “For example, scamming those shameless foreign countries. Millions of taels of gold can be scammed each time!”
He was speechless. This damn girl had become addicted to scamming people.
At this time, they saw two young misses accompany each other out. One of them tightly covered their mouth and nose, saying very unhappily: “I paid close attention. It was the young miss wearing red clothes. Who knows what makeup she’s wearing, but it’s truly too strong.”
The friend to her side also said: “It’s not just too strong. I could faintly smell something smelly coming from her. It really was disgusting.”
The two walked away while talking. Following this, another group of guests quickly came out. Even more people were angrily saying: “If you’re lacking in money, obediently stay at home. When you come out, there’s nobody happy to see you. Either way, you’re covering your face. Why put on so much makeup? Using lower-quality makeup, you’re going to leave us with headaches and watery eyes.”
Following these insults, even more people agreed. They were all pointing to a young miss in Nirvana Pavilion that had used lower-quality makeup. The disgusting smell drifted all the way up to the third floor. People truly could not go inside.
Finally, more and more people came out. In the end, a girl wearing a long red dress came outside with her head down. Her face was covered by a veil. The view was not clear, and she had a maidservant at her side, quickly pulling her away.
It was as everyone had said. There was indeed a very thick smell coming from that girl’s body. It was neither fragrant nor disgusting, but it was very unpleasant. But Feng Yu Heng could not compare to the others. Once this smell entered her nose, she realized something. Watching the girl anxiously depart, she said to Xuan Tian Ming: “That’s quite a pitiful person.”
Xuan Tian Ming was puzzled, “How is she pitiful? No money to buy good makeup?” He looked up at Nirvana Pavilion then said: “People without money would come here to buy accessories? The things you have here are not cheap. The first floor is alright, but the higher the floor, the more expensive the items. I saw that girl just come down the stairs. It’s clear that she went upstairs.”
Feng Yu Heng shook her head, “I’m not talking about this. It’s the smell that’s coming from her body. It’s not that she used lower-quality makeup. On the contrary, she’s using high-quality stuff that’s very famous. I’m saying that she’s pitiful because she has a hidden illness and is using large amounts of famous makeup to cover it up. She has no way of covering up the smell from her body. On the contrary, she’s making things worse by covering it up.”
As she spoke, she began to think of something. Only when Xuan Tian Ming tugged on her sleeve did she say: “That girl had her face covered with a veil, but why did the maidservant at her side look a bit familiar?”