No matter what, Noble Lady Yuan was unable to figure out how the Lu family managed to obtain help from Feng Yu Heng. At first, she thought that the Lu family’s flame had been put out, and she had heard about some ominous things. The Emperor was indifferent toward the Lu family. Although he was the left prime minister, Lu Song did not have many great achievements in court. In addition to this, it had not yet been a year since he was put in this position, thus his position and power in court were far from Feng Jin Yuan’s power, who had been in that position for many years. She had been wanting to give up on the Lu family as a chess piece; however, she never thought that this sort of strange thing would occur.
Noble Lady Yuan asked Yue Xiu: “The letter and painting that I had sent last time, did you send it as I had instructed?”
Yue Xiu heard this and was a bit anxious. She immediately kneeled on the ground: “Imperial Concubine! This servant does not dare deceive Imperial Concubine in the slightest. Everything was done as instructed, and the person that sent the letter is definitely someone that could be trusted. It was someone that His Highness the Eighth Prince had sent. There definitely would not be a mistake in this matter.”
Noble Lady Yuan reached out and helped her up, scolding: “Get up to speak. There are many people moving about here. Let’s walk and talk. Don’t keep calling me imperial concubine. I’m no longer an imperial concubine.”
Yue Xiu felt miserable and helplessly said: “Calling you imperial concubine over so many years, it has become a habit, yet I must suddenly change and call you noble lady. You’ve been in the palace for so many years. Hasn’t this made it all go to waste?”
Noble Lady Yuan coldly snorted, “It wasn’t a waste. I still have Mo’er. I can endure my current grief. As long as there comes a day when Mo’er ascends the throne, what can this be considered?”
Yue Xiu nodded, “That’s right. If master thinks that way, that’s great. As long as His Highness the Eighth Prince does not fall, we still have hope.”
The two spoke while returning to the tent; however, they could not think of anything related to the letter sent to the eighth prince. They could only forget about it for the time being.
Feng Yu Heng, however, did not return to her own tent. She walked halfway then made a turn, bringing her two servants to the Emperor’s tent. The two had just collaborated on a play at the hunting ground. Now that the curtain had fallen, she should make an appearance and begin planning once more.
Sure enough, when Feng Yu Heng arrived, the Emperor said to Zhang Yuan: “Look, We said that A-Heng would definitely come. And look, just as we were talking about her, she came.”
Zhang Yuan glared at him then said to Feng Yu Heng with a smile: “Imperial Daughter, you’ve finally come. His Majesty has been talking about you for quite some time.”
“A-Heng has been thinking of Father Emperor too. Here, I just went to fetch some good tea and hurried to deliver it to Father Emperor.” Feng Yu Heng smiled brightly and saluted the Emperor. After being given a seat, palace servants brought over some tea. Only then did Zhang Yuan dismiss everyone from the tent. She reached into her sleeve and pulled out a tin of Biluochun: “The tea that was sent to Father Emperor last time should be running out soon. A-Heng brought another tin. Father Emperor, please give it a try later on.”
Zhang Yuan went forward and received the tin. Looking at the strange characters on it, he muttered to himself: “The characters on this are different from the one sent into the palace last time. This servant knows a few of them. The three in the very middle are bi luo chun, right?” The three characters for Biluochun were the same in simplified as in traditional. Naturally, Zhang Yuan would recognize them. He and the Emperor had also gained some insight into reading from right to left horizontally from Feng Yu Heng. Reading it now was not too unfamiliar. But some of the characters had been simplified, thus he could not quite recognize them, but he could guess 70 to 80 percent. “It seems that Persian writing is not too different from our writing in Da Shun.” He muttered to himself. While saying this, he gave the tin to the Emperor to look at.
Feng Yu Heng quickly gave an explanation to Zhang Yuan and the Emperor: “This sort of writing is something that my master came up with. He had lived in Da Shun for many years and created an easier set of writing. It’s not real Persian writing. Real Persian is still quite different from our characters. Even when they speak, we cannot understand them.” While she spoke, she sighed to herself. Sure enough, one lie would need another lie to back it up. Back then, she had used a Persian master. Now, when she needed to handle that matter, it was more mental effort.
Speaking of, Da Shun also had tea, but the majority of it was stir-dry tea. This era did not have a grasp on more modern methods for producing tea. As for the tea that was produced, it needed to be boiled in water, and the tea that was boiled had a very strong taste. It was such that the original fragrance would be ruined, and the taste would be terrible after entering the mouth. The majority of it could not be endured.
Of course, this was for someone like Feng Yu Heng, who had grown accustomed to drinking good tea. As for the people of this era, the tea that the imperial family and aristocrats could drink were already of extremely high quality. They did not think that this was a type of torment. But ever since Feng Yu Heng could no longer endure the taste of Da Shun’s tea and began pulling out good tea from her space to feed the Emperor and those close to him, changing their palettes, the Emperor could no longer endure the stir-dry tea of the past.
“It’s different from the last time.” The Emperor looked it over while saying, “A-Heng, you really are loving! The tin of tea from last time only has a little bit left. Xiao Yuan said that there would be enough left for two more rounds and was unwilling to bring it out here. But that tea is really quite comforting. Is there no more left? Is this Biluochun good? Compared to the one from last time, what was it called… Longjing, right Longjing, which one is better?”
Feng Yu Heng smiled and told him: “Both of them are top-quality teas. The method of production is very different from Da Shun’s. Neither needs to be boiled. They just need to be steeped in some water that is not too hot. As for the texture and fragrance, Father Emperor had Longjing last time. Its fragrance is closer to something like an orchid. As for Biluochun, its fragrance is a bit closer to fruits. Of course, there is a type of Biluochun that is a bit closer to chestnut, but A-Heng does not have that type of tea. As for which one tastes better, that would depend on Father Emperor. Or if you like both, just alternating between the two is quite good.”
While she spoke, Zhang Yuan had already sent people to begin steeping it. The Emperor did not hold his laughter in the slightest. Laughing loudly, he began to praise Feng Yu Heng: “Old Ninth is always speaking about how he met you in the mountains. As We see it, he truly brought back a deity from the mountains! Ever since drinking the tea that you sent last time, We no longer touch even the best teas that the palace had to offer. Those truly cannot be drank.”
Feng Yu Heng nodded and said without hiding anything: “Indeed, those cannot be drank. Getting used to drinking master’s tea in the Northwest, I nearly threw up after drinking the boiled tea in the capital!”
The two spoke about the tea for a while, and the Emperor tasted the Biluochun that the palace servants had prepared. Sure enough, it was as Feng Yu Heng had said. The fragrance was different, but to say which was better between it and Longjing, he was rather hesitant to say. He just felt that both were good and could not be any better. Thus he agreed with Feng Yu Heng’s latter statement: “We feel that both are quite good and will alternate between the two.”
Feng Yu Heng knew that this would be the outcome, thus she smiled and said: “Then after we return, A-Heng will send some more Longjing into the palace for Father Emperor.” She raised her cup and took a small sip then put it down. She finally began speaking about the main topic for the day, “Father Emperor, in regards to His Highness the Eighth Prince marrying the Lu family’s young miss, has Father Emperor really thought it through?”
The Emperor ignored her and drank more of the tea. After that, he told Zhang Yuan to continue pouring more. Only then did he find some time to speak with Feng Yu Heng: “There isn’t much to think about. We have too many sons, and none of them are peaceful. Even their imperial concubine mothers aren’t quiet. Since this marriage was personally chosen by his mother, We will agree with it this once. There’s not much to it.”
Feng Yu Heng reminded him: “But Father Emperor clearly knows that the Lu family’s daughter was not the one chosen by Noble Lady Yuan. That’s just the result of His Highness the Ninth Prince perpetrating a scam. As for the one that Noble Lady Yuan really chose, it was the one from the Yao family’s other courtyard, Fu Ya.”
“Isn’t that even better?” The Emperor shrugged and said: “We trust that Ming’er has his reasons. He intercepted Noble Lady Yuan’s letter and painting along the way and immediately had someone change the name inside to the Lu family’s daughter. Why did he not change it to someone else? It just shows that Ming’er feels that changing it to the Lu family would be more interesting, and it would be an attack on them. That’s why We agreed to it.”
Feng Yu Heng had no choice but to sigh. Regardless of whether it was the imperial family or a normal commoner’s family, it was inevitable that there would be favoritism once there were many children. But as the Emperor, he was able to favor a child to such a degree. This was already something to marvel at. But she did not believe that there was anything wrong with the Emperor doing such a thing. After all, he came to understand the personalities of all the princes over the years. Even Old Sixth and Old Eighth, whom he very rarely saw, he was not without information about them. Speaking about Old Eighth, to be able to settle the chaos in the South, that showed that he had the ability, but he established a clique for his own self-interest. He then set up a court in the South. In addition to this, in the palace was Noble Lady Yuan. In the grand scheme of things, this person had not done enough for the country.
On the other hand, although Xuan Tian Ming was usually a willful person, he was never ambiguous about the country’s matters. He did not do it for himself, and he did not plot to gather power. This was without mentioning that he had her behind him. The Emperor was not a fool. Even if she did her best to cover things up, the Emperor had his own ways of choosing the Empress of the next generation. Feng Yu Heng trusted that the Emperor’s understanding of her might not be too great, but he also understood that Xuan Tian Ming had her at his side. That was why this emperor did not have any other thoughts about the throne of the country. At the same time, all of those sons that were coveting the throne, he needed to do all that he could to help Xuan Tian Ming settle the world.
“Father Emperor love for the country and its people, A-Heng admires it.” She sincerely said: “His Highness the Ninth Prince being able to have a father like you, and Da Shun being able to have a ruler like you is far better than having tens of millions of troops.”
“Hah!” The Emperor waved his hand, “Old Ninth being able to have a wife like you, that is truly better than having tens of millions of troops.” Sure enough, he knew that Feng Yu Heng would have more secrets. “It’s just that We met Old Ninth’s mother too late. If not for that, the first eight, We would not have taken. Having many wives is troublesome!”
From the side, Zhang Yuan heard this and could not help but sigh, “What a pity! The Imperial family needs at least three heirs. That is the rule of the forefathers.”
Inside the tent, the group was speaking, when some hasty footsteps could be heard from the outside. Very quickly, the curtain of the tent was lifted, and the person that had rushed inside was the eldest prince, Xuan Tian Qi.
The Emperor was stunned. The eldest prince had never been so undisciplined. Now that he had rushed inside, it would be best if nothing had happened!
Even Feng Yu Heng had stood up from her seat. They then saw the eldest prince kneel on the ground and urgently say: “Father Emperor, Fei Yu went into the forest to play and was injured by an animal. The animal that bit him was…”