Left Eye Twitches for Fortune, Right Eye Twitches for Disaster
On the first day of the new year, Lu Yan coughed up a large mouthful of blood. This left everyone in the Lu manor in a panic. It just so happened that the four doctors that had been invited into the manor by Ge shi were all standing in Lu Song’s study. Holding the box of bird nests that had not yet been finished, one of them said to him: “Lord Prime Minister, we lowly ones have already taken a look at these bird nests, and we determined that there is no problem. They are all high-quality supplements.”
Ge shi and Lu Song exchanged a glance, and the two could see the surprise in each other’s eyes. Something being wrong with the bird nests was the thought that had filled their minds. Now that they heard them say that there was nothing wrong with the bird nests themselves, they did not know what they should say.
It was Lu Song that was the first to mentally recover and asked the four doctors: “Are you sure? Bird nest is not a common thing. Perhaps you did not look it over carefully enough.”
One of the doctors quickly replied: “Replying to Lord Prime Minister, for fear of not being able to tell accurately, we all checked on our own first. We then wrote down our thoughts on a piece of paper before gathering together to compare notes. We all reached the same conclusion. Only then did we come and report to Lord Prime Minister and Madam.”
Ge shi also helplessly said: “Indeed, that is the case. I personally saw it.” While speaking, she looked at the box of bird nests. All kinds of thoughts were going through her mind. If the problem did not lie with the bird nests, where would it have come from? It was impossible for Lu Yan to have fallen ill like this for no reason. She was neither feverish nor had a cold. Even the doctor from Hundred Herb Hall that had come yesterday had said that it was a poison. As for detoxifying the poison, forcefully doing it was possible, but it would cause the young miss to suffer, and immediate results were an impossibility. They could only come up with one idea, which was to find the specific medicine to deal with the poison. Only by knowing where the poison was, finding out who did the poisoning, then obtaining the medicine from them could they quickly deal with the poison.
Even the doctor from Hundred Herb Hall had said that it was poison, thus it was definitely a poison, but the problem was: where exactly had that poison come from?
Lu Song felt unreconciled and questioned the four doctors for a little while longer. Seeing that no other information could be obtained from them, he finally waved his hand and allowed them to leave. Ge shi personally sent the four doctors to the entrance and gave them some shattered silver. It was very shabby, but because they had just gone to find a poison and had not gone for an examination, the group did not say much.
After Ge shi returned inside the manor and closed the gates, the four moved quite a distance before stopping. They all raised their hands and wiped the sweat from their brows. The sweat was all a cold sweat.
“Comrades, you should understand what was going on, right!” The oldest one was the first to speak, lowering his voice: “We are all medical practitioners. Whether or not there was anything wrong with the bird nests, we should all be very clear.”
With him taking the lead, the other three had to pour out what was on their minds, with one immediately saying: “Indeed, having worked in medicine for many years, if even this bit could not be seen through, we would not be worthy of becoming doctors.”
“That’s right!” Another person said: “Those bird nests were poisoned, and it was very clear that they had been. It made it clear that they did not fear being found out. Being so brazen in their work combined with the truly high-quality bird nest, even if we could see through that sort of poison, we don’t dare say anything!”
“Who would dare to make a sound? Do we no longer want our lives? That sort of thing only exists in the palace. If someone in the palace wants to harm the Lu family’s young miss, even if the Lu family is the left prime minister’s manor, what of it? Each and every person in the palace is a master or an imperial concubine. Do we think we’ve lived too long and want to meet with such an end?”
The old man that opened his mouth first spoke up at this time: “Since we all understand this reasoning, let’s leave things like this here. At this time, only the four of us know. If the Lu family invites other doctors, we won’t care. But not a single word can be leaked from our mouths, alright?”
The other three nodded and said: “Alright, we’ll do it like this!” The four agreed on the matter before cupping their hands and returning to their own homes.
Back inside the Lu manor, news of Lu Yan coughing up blood very quickly reached Lu Song and Ge shi’s ears. The two quickly ran over to Lu Yan’s room and saw that Lu Yan’s situation was worse than it had been at dawn. Her complexion was no longer just pale, as it had begun to turn a little blue. The mouthful of blood that had been coughed up was not fresh blood. Instead, it was a bit black.
Ru Yi stood next to the bed and cried. Ge shi felt irritated and loudly said: “Young Miss has not died yet, so what are you crying for?” After saying this, she quickly moved next to Lu Yan’s bed and held Lu Yan’s hand. She too could not hold back her tears.
Lu Song was thinking a bit more realistically than the others, calculating: “With Yan’er like this, she definitely will not be able to attend the palace banquet. The palace banquet today is taking place during the evening. As I see it, it would be better to head over to the Sheng Palace to greet His Highness the eighth prince. He entered the capital last night, and he should be in his palace right now.”
Hearing Lu Song mention the eighth prince, Lu Yan, who was laying in bed, became spirited and quickly said: “Right, His Highness the eighth prince, I want to see His Highness the eighth prince. Father, mother, can you invite His Highness to the manor? He only just gave daughter so many things. He must be very serious about daughter. Now that daughter has fallen ill and wants to see him, he will definitely agree.
Ge shi also felt that Lu Yan’s idea was very good, thus she quickly said to Lu Song: “The Sheng Palace does indeed need to be visited, but the most important matter is to invite His Highness the eighth prince to the manor. In any case, have him meet with Yan’er. Although Yan’er does not look very good right now, but who has not fallen ill before. Or perhaps His Highness will be able to deal with this poison. Regardless of the situation, we need to have him know that someone wants to harm Yan’er, and we need to have him support Yan’er.”
Lu Song nodded and agreed, personally going to the Sheng Palace.
With him going, it did not take long before he returned. Hearing that the master of the manor had returned, Ge shi even said to Lu Yan: “His Highness the eighth prince must have heard that you fell ill and immediately rushed over. How else could they be so fast.”
Lu Yan heard this and felt happy. Although her body still felt uncomfortable, her face turned slightly red. Unfortunately, this joy did not last for long. Very quickly, Lu Song entered the room, but he entered it alone.
Ge shi was startled and asked: “Where’s His Highness the eighth prince?”
Lu Song stomped his foot: “Hah!” He then swept his robe and sat down on a chair, helplessly saying: “His Highness the eighth prince didn’t come. Or it could be said that he was unwilling to come.”
“Unwilling to come?” Ge shi and Lu Yan spoke up at the same time: “Why?”
Lu Song spoke with an angry expression: “His Highness also does not know why. Hearing that Yan’er fell ill, he actually said that this engagement can be forgotten about. He also said that this was the heaven’s intention. This should have been the day that the marriage was sanctioned, yet this sort of situation occurred. This was heaven’s intent, and the heavens must not be ignored. Unless Lu Yan is able to enter the palace, this marriage will no longer count.”
“What?” Lu Yan was completely unwilling to believe her own ears. Struggling, she tried to get up; however, when she propped herself up, another mouthful of blood was coughed up, and she immediately fell back down and lost consciousness…
The palace banquet on the first day of the new year was in the evening. Those entering the palace began to line up outside the palace’s gates, as the male and female guests were separated once more. The male guests entered through the front to greet the Emperor, while the female guests went to the inner palace to greet the Empress. Of course, on this sort of day, there would be no shortage of gifts. Every person that entered the palace would prepare gifts for the imperial family. There were even some that did not pay too much attention to money and bought valuable treasure for the sake of making the imperial family smile.
Feng Yu Heng did not worry about finding a gift. She also did not want to give those sorts of tasteless gifts like pearls and jade. Either way, her space had all kinds of nice things. Just any odd item that she brought out would be something that the people of this era had not seen before. As for the gift that Zi Rui would present to the Emperor, she had spent quite a bit of time thinking about it.
At first, she wanted to give some unsurprising things. After all, he was a young child, and he was not going to ask for a title, nor was he trying to obtain the Emperor’s favor for the family. Anything that he sent would just be for the sake of making the Emperor happy. But on the day that Zi Rui entered the palace, the Emperor brought up the paper, pencils, erasers and other such things that Zi Rui would bring along each time he went to Xiao Zhou. It was said that Ye Rong held those in high esteem and had bragged about it a few times. This angered the Emperor into having Zi Rui also get some for him.
Feng Yu Heng thought long and hard. If she gave him a pencil, that was something that Ye Rong obtained first and the Emperor received second. The old emperor would still not have face in that situation. Thus she fetched a fountain pen from her space. It was completely new, and it had not yet been taken out of its packaging. That was something that had been distributed during an award ceremony in the military. It was a high-quality fountain pen, and even she had not used it before. After all, the people of the modern era had become accustomed to using ballpoint pens and felt-tip pens. Who would go through the effort of using a fountain pen. It just so happened that this could be brought as a gift for the Emperor by Zi Rui. She also provided a bottle of fountain pen ink and a few piles of paper. She taught Zi Rui how to use it in order for Zi Rui to be able to respond when the Emperor asked.
Late in the afternoon, Feng Yu Heng’s imperial carriage had already reached De Yang Gate. This was where government officials would enter the palace. A long line had already been formed. Bai Ze had been waiting there for a long time. Seeing that Feng Yu Heng had come, he quickly stepped forward and helped Zi Rui out of the carriage. At the same time, Feng Yu Heng told him: “Come to my manor tomorrow. Fu Rong has already recovered, but she did just recover from a major illness, so she cannot enter the imperial palace. You can just go to my place to see her.”
Bai Ze was very grateful and gave his thanks. Only then did he lead Zi Rui to find Xuan Tian Ming and enter the palace together. Seeing them walk off, Feng Yu Heng’s imperial carriage turned around and headed toward the De Rui Gate, where the female guests would enter.
In just the time that she spent sending Zi Rui, Feng Yu Heng was able to notice the difference in the atmosphere. The eighth prince had returned to the capital, and it seemed as though the atmosphere in the capital had instantly returned to how it was when the third prince was still alive. Although the officials from outside the province did not enter the capital, and there were not as many people as there were during the Mid-Autumn Festival, it could be clearly noted that the people were separated by their party lines. A portion of the officials that had been quiet were now beginning to publicize that the eighth prince had turned to the capital. It was very clear which team they had chosen. It was Old Eighth that had established a court in the South. As for those that supported Xuan Tian Ming, they continued to remain quiet and calm, not wanting to stand out. They just watched the situation change from the side, while their patience was not at all affected.
Feng Yu Heng raised her hand and massaged her eyes. The peony-colored sleeves swayed before her eyes, and the bright colors were something that even she felt a little unaccustomed to.
Huang Quan, however, felt that these clothes were extremely beautiful and praised her for quite some time; however, Wang Chuan was able to see the problem and asked; “Young Miss keeps massaging her eyes. What’s wrong?”
Feng Yu Heng said: “For some reason, my right eyelid keeps twitching. Everyone says that when the left eye twitches, there is good fortune. When the right eye twitches, there will be a disaster. My right eye keeps twitching endlessly. I fear that there will be a disaster!”