Xiang Rong had been hit. When Feng Yu heng heard this news, she could not help but feel irritated. The banquet had not yet begun in earnest, yet the madams and young misses outside were already unable to hold back? The people that could come and participate in the banquet today were all people with influence. Even someone like Fu Ya, who had gone through special channels to obtain an invitation had Yao shi at her back. Even like this, people dared to hit others outside of Rui Gate…
“What was is the identity of the person that hit her?” She asked Fang Yi, “Do you know why she was hit?”
Fang Yi quietly said: “The person that reported said that the person that hit her was the daughter of the first wife of the Luo Province’s prefect. If this old servant is not mistaken, their surname is Mu.”
“Luo Province?” Feng Yu Heng frowned. In her memory, the Luo Province was to the South, near Lan Zhou. “It seems that there are quite a few people from the South that came this time.”
Fang Yi continued: “As for the reason, that person did not speak clearly, and this old servant was in a rush to come out and find imperial daughter, thus the situation is unclear.”
Feng Yu Heng nodded, “I’ve troubled aunty. I will head over to Rui Gate immediately to take a look.” After saying this, she said to Xuan Tian Ge: “You bring Feng… Miss Lian over to the imperial garden first. I’ll head over in a bit.”
Xuan Tian Ge pushed Feng Zhao Lian over to her own maidservant’s side, “Have the servant bring her over. Either way, there’s nothing going on. I’ll go over with you. I really want to see just how arrogant the daughter of the first wife of the Luo Province is. She actually dares to bully our Xiang Rong.”
Feng Yu Heng saw that Xuan Tian Ge’s fighting spirit had already been aroused, thus she knew that she could not stop her even if she wanted to. She could only do as she said, handing Feng Zhao Lian over to a servant. The two then brought Huang Quan and quickly headed toward Rui Gate.
Feng Zhao Lian did not mind. He and Xiang Rong did not have that good of a relationship, and he really wanted to take a look at the imperial garden of Da Shun’s imperial palace. Moreover, by remaining in the imperial palace, what if there was a chance he bumped into the seventh prince?
That was the plan that he had in mind. On the other side, Feng Yu Heng and Xuan Tian Ge moved quickly. While walking, Xuan Tian Ge recalled something: “I came into the palace early today and saw your Feng residence’s two madams in the Empress’ palace. Hah, speaking of, they used the excuse of taking care of the Empress to come back to the palace. Now that her Highness is healthy and is able to even participate in the banquet, shouldn’t they be going back?” The more she said, the more Xuan Tian Ge felt that something was off, “In the past, I felt that those two were quite good. At least, they helped you quite a bit in the Feng family. But now, they’ve come back to the palace. What sort of situation is this?”
Feng Yu Heng did not have any special thoughts about this. She just told Xuan Tian Ge: “You don’t need to worry about this matter. The Cheng shi sisters have their own methods. There is a reason for them to be remaining in the palace. Since they still have not told me about it, that means that they cannot talk about it. Or perhaps there isn’t much to say, simply feeling that the Feng residence was a shoddy place that they did not wish to return to. This is also a reason. Either way, her Highness the Empress will give the Feng family an explanation eventually. I’ll just wait for it.”
Xuan Tian Ge heard her say this and did not continue to linger on the topic. The topic then changed to the seventh princess of Gu Shu: “That princess from the South came to Da Shun for the Mid-Autumn Festival, and she came in so covertly. To say that she does not have any intentions, I would not believe it at all.” She moved closer to Feng Yu Heng and quietly said: “I heard that Gu Shu intends to get closer to my Da Shun through marriage in order to dispel the disturbance caused by their prince requesting a marriage with Qian Zhou’s eldest princess. It’s just unknown who the princess of Gu Shu has taken an interest in.”
Feng Yu Heng did not feel like a political marriage was unexpected, but the princess of Gu Shu marrying into Da Shun would mean that she would either be marrying into the imperial family or someone from the same clan. Precisely whom she had set her eyes on was something that really was worth speculating.
While they were speculating, the two reached the Rui Gate. When the palace servants saw the two arrive, they moved to quickly salute but were stopped by Feng Yu Heng, who quietly said: “It’s fine, don’t make it public. Palace Princess and I came to just take a look.”
The palace servant understood and retreated, quietly directing the guards to return to their position, such that it seemed as though nobody noticed the arrival of the two. This allowed the two to peacefully wander out.
At present, Rui Gate’s entrance was a bit chaotic. Xiang Rong covered her face while standing in front of the entrance. At her side was a taller girl that looked to be around 15 or 16 years of age. With a single hand resting on her hip, she was high-spirited and smug while looking at Xiang Rong. The people in the line squeezed forward to watch the commotion. Madams and young misses gathered around one area, and nobody noticed whether Feng Yu Heng and Xuan Tian Ge had just come out of the palace or had come from the back of the line.
Feng Yu Heng saw Xiang Rong covering half of her face, which was a bit swollen, but the child refused to let any tears fall. She just glared back at the taller girl and said in a cold tone: “This place is the palace entrance. To this young miss, please be considerate of your family. Without discerning right from wrong, you hit me. If word of this spread into the palace, what good would come of it for you?”
Xuan Tian Ge said to Feng Yu Heng: “That’s her, the one surnamed Mu. Look at the identification plate hanging from her waist.”
Only then did Feng Yu Heng notice that the girl had an identification plate at her waist with her family name written on it. Only then did she remember that everyone attending the banquet would need to wear this sort of identification plate to reveal their identity. As for her and Xuan Tian Ge, they were naturally exceptions.
While she was thinking, that young miss Mu’s voice came over. It was shrill and ear-piercing: “Spread into the palace? Tsk! Even if it does spread into the palace, do you think that someone will speak up for you? Although my Luo Province is not on the southern border, it is the last province in the South. Go and ask around about the importance of the Luo Province to Da Shun. Also, ask around about how much his Majesty values my father. Who do you think you are? If this was the past, a young miss from the left prime minister’s manor, although born from a concubine, I would give you a bit of face. But now, your failure of a father is nothing. He does not have a single title or rank. You still want to use your former status to fight with me?”
Xiang Rong frowned: “I have never offended you. It was you that struck at me.”
“I hit you? Me hitting you is letting you off easy! This is indeed in front of the palace’s entrance. It’s a good day and it’s not suitable for seeing ominous things, thus I will definitely have someone beat you to death right here. I’ll see if you dare speak defiantly to me!”
At this time, someone reminded young miss Mu: “Although the Feng family has fallen, there is still imperial daughter Ji An!”
That young miss Mu’s expression changed; however, she quickly sneered, “Imperial Daughter Ji An? What sort of thing is an imperial daughter? It’s a position that was obtained by relying on a man is all. Do you really think of her as being powerful? She was just lucky when she was young. Being engaged to the ninth prince is also considered unlucky for His Highness. For him to end up with this sort of a wife from a fallen family, but it’s fine to me. Men will eventually take in a few more concubines, and that is exceedingly normal. I want to see just how long imperial daughter Ji An can remain arrogant for.” After she finished speaking, she glared at Xiang Rong, “You rely on your elder sister a great deal, right? What a pity, why did she not come out to save you today? Why did she not come and bail you out? I heard that imperial daughter Ji An knows how to use a whip. I really want to experience it!”
Once young miss Mu’s words came out, the people watching on no longer spoke up. Although they had privately discussed Feng Yu Heng, they were just the words that girls with envious hearts would say, and they did not matter much. But young miss Mu spoke too terribly. Who would dare to agree with such a statement? Luo Province really was too far from the capital. News really traveled too slow. It was such that the daughter of the first wife of Luo Province actually had so little knowledge of Imperial Daughter Ji An. At this moment, there were people that had already begun walking back to their spots in the line. They did not want to continue watching. They could already foresee that word of this would reach Feng Yu Heng’s ears. After that, that imperial daughter would definitely strike at the Mu family’s young miss with a whip until her mother and father could no longer recognize her.
There were many people with these sorts of thoughts. The Mu family’s young miss felt that there were fewer people around, and the people that had supported her in laughing at the Feng family’s girl had shut their mouths. They were staying quite far from her. She just could not understand, “She’s just an imperial daughter with a different surname. Is that enough to scare you like that?” Seeing that nobody replied, she felt that she had lost face, thus she vented this anger on Xiang Rong, as she stepped forward and raised her hand. Without holding back in the slightest, she slapped toward Xiang Rong’s other cheek.
Perhaps the Mu family’s young miss knew a bit of martial arts. Her movements were large and powerful. When Xiang Rong managed to react, the hand had already reached her face. There was no chance for her to dodge. She subconsciously closed her eyes and waited for the slap to land.
But before she felt any pain come from her cheeks, she suddenly heard her attacker let out a loud yelp. The palm had stopped. When she opened her eyes, it was the Mu family’s young miss that had been knocked sideways and fell to the ground. Fortunately, there was someone to the side to support her, which allowed her to not fall to the ground.
But that young miss Mu’s cry continued to echo. Aside from this, Xiang Rong clearly saw that, for some reason, blood was flowing from the hand that had just been raised. The sight was extremely shocking.
At this time, a girl’s voice came from Rui Gate. It sighed first then said: “A great pearl from the Eastern Sea that was just brought back by seventh brother from the East was wasted like this.”
Everyone looked over in shock. Xiang Rong happily looked over. The person that had spoken was none other than her second sister, Feng Yu Heng. At Feng Yu Heng’s side was none other than Palace Princess Wu Yang.
Her heart was immediately put at ease. With these two present, the matter today would be considered concluded. But after thinking about young miss Mu’s earlier insults about Feng Yu Heng, she did not know how much Feng Yu Heng had heard. If she heard all of it, would this young miss Mu not be beaten to death by her second sister?
The little girl began to worry. If someone lost their life in front of the palace’s entrance during the Mid-Autumn Festival, that would be inauspicious.
But it was very clear that Feng Yu Heng was thinking about something completely different. It was impossible for it to be on that point. Her priority was to not cause too much of a disturbance, but Feng Yu Heng continued to fiddle with the hairpin in her hand and continued to say pitifully: “Tian Ge, look, such a good pearl hairpin was wasted like this. What a pity.”
Xuan Tian Ge nodded, “That’s right. Apparently, although the pearls are small, there is only one. It was one pulled out of a thousand-year king clam. Seventh brother was not even willing to give it to me and gave it to you. You’re quite something. You actually pulled out the pearl and used it as a rock to hit people. Tsk tsk, truly such a waste.”
Feng Yu Heng helplessly said: “I was planning to throw the entire hairpin, but this thing is sharp. What if it accidentally ended up in young miss Mu’s eyes or ended up taking her life. This is a holiday, how bad would that be.”
“But the pearl was lodged in her wrist by you. It’s too disgusting. Even if it’s dug out, it can’t be used anymore.” Xuan Tian Ge continued to act along. The two acted as if in a comedic dialogue, going back and forth.
Feng Yu Heng then pondered for a bit then said: “Even if it’s disgusting, I still need to dig it up. After digging it up, I have another use for it! Guards, get the pearl out of young miss Mu’s hand for this imperial daughter!”