The Chain Must Not Fall Off in a Critical Moment
Feng Yu Heng’s left eye had been twitching since early on in the day. Originally, she did not believe in such superstitions, but there were times when she would think a bit more about them, especially during busy times like these. It was likely that her woman’s intuition would be accurate. It was just that she could never figure out the reason. Now that she saw the eighth prince and heard what he had said, Feng Yu Heng suddenly thought that the feeling that something would happen was most likely happening here.
But she had already spoken. In regards to her medical ability, archery and strange items, she had said that they had all come from her Persian master. In the capital, practically nobody was unaware of this. Even the people from outside the province had heard about it. And now, the eighth prince actually asked about it. Even if she knew that it was likely that there was a wicked trick waiting, she had no choice but to nod and admit it: “Naturally, it’s the truth.”
But for the eighth prince, this was not the end, as he became enthusiastic in his questioning. Seeing that she had admitted to the origin of this pen, he then followed up: “This prince does not frequently come back to the capital, but I did see imperial daughter a few times in the early days. During my time away, this prince heard that Imperial Daughter Ji An has great abilities and brought out all kinds of interesting things and, more importantly, brought Da Shun the ability to produce steel. This prince also heard that all of this came from a Persian masters. This prince really is surprised.” As he spoke, he raised his cup and gestured to Feng Yu Heng once more but did not insist that she also drink. He just took a sip on his own. When he put the jade cup down, there was a strange smile on his face.
Feng Yu Heng took these words in. Although she felt that this person speaking in a deliberately ambiguous manner had something planned in secret; however, she could not figure out what it might be. She could only calmly say: “Your Highness the eighth prince is giving too much praise. It’s said that seeing is better than a hundred rumors. Your Highness is often away, and the majority of the things that you’ve heard have been exaggerated. It’s better to frequently return to the capital and use your own eyes to verify things.” After speaking, she sat down and slightly furrowed her brow to begin thinking.
This was just a small incident and the Emperor did not think anything of it. After this, there were some lower-ranked officials that came forward to present their gifts; however, it was no longer as restrained as earlier. The people down below could begin chatting amongst themselves, and there were people that got up to move around.
At Feng Yu Heng’s table, aside from her and Xuan Tian Ge, there were the official princesses of the princes. There were not many people, and at this time, they had headed over to where the imperial concubines were located. After all, with the princes’ birth mothers present, they would need to go over and spend some time with them as daughters-in-law. In a short period of time, the table emptied, and a young miss walked over. First, she saluted Feng Yu Heng then sat at Feng Yu Heng’s side without any unfamiliarity and said in a quiet voice: “Is it just a pen used for writing? Everyone says that Imperial Daughter Ji An gets money from all over, so why be so stingy in only giving His Majesty a pen? Even our family gave a set of glazed items!” After she finished speaking, she lifted her handkerchief and gently covered her mouth, giggling a couple times and acting to “cause trouble” without any attempt to hide it.
Feng Yu Heng looked at her curiously with a strange look: “Young miss, does your head hurt?”
“Hm?” The girl was stunned and lowered her handkerchief, “What does Imperial Daughter mean? My head does not hurt.”
“With so much water in your head, it actually doesn’t hurt. Young Miss really is a wonder!” Feng Yu Heng put on a look of admiration, “How about opening it up to take a look. It wouldn’t be good if there was some water pooling there and it wasn’t discovered. It would be extremely troublesome.”
The young miss did not manage to react, only asking: “What do you mean by open it up?”
Feng Yu Heng raised her hand and gestured on her head, “It’s just like this. Using a knife, your head gets cut open to see if there is anything extra or missing inside. Or if there is something wrong with the thing inside. Tsk tsk, I don’t know which family’s young miss this is. With a head like this, they actually dare to let you into the palace. Are you really not afraid that your family’s head won’t lose his position because of this?”
The young miss was given a scare by Feng Yu Heng’s words, and she subconsciously raised her hand to swipe at Feng Yu Heng. With this swipe, Feng Yu Heng brushed her hand away, and this just happened to shatter the jade cup in front of that girl. The cup shattered upon hitting the ground. Combined with Feng Yu Heng’s shriek, all of the gazes in Fei Cui Hall focused in this direction, including the Emperor’s.
Feng Yu Heng held her hand and put on a hurt expression while looking at the young miss, saying in a sad tone: “Which family’s young miss are you? Why are you hitting people? Even if you don’t like me, why did you break second sister-in-law’s cup? The cup is priceless. How can your family possibly pay for it?”
With her making this exclamation, a group of people stood up from the prince’s table, including the eldest prince, Xuan Tian Qi, the second prince, Xuan Tian Ling, the fourth prince, Xuan Tian Yi, the sixth prince, Xuan Tian Feng, the seventh prince, Xuan Tian Hua, and the ninth prince, Xuan Tian Ming. Without exception, these princes were closer with Feng Yu Heng. There was naturally no need to mention the eldest prince, as Feng Yu Heng was a great benefactor for him. Even if the second prince did not interact much with Feng Yu Heng, did Feng Yu Heng not just mention her second sister-in-law? That was his wife. It was natural that he would need to take a look. The fourth prince was thinking of Xiang Rong and knew that the two sisters did not truly have a falling out, thus he also joined in on the fun. The sixth prince recently developed a feeling toward Feng Yu Heng that could not be clearly described. Of course, he would not be missing out. There was naturally no need to talk about the seventh and ninth prince, as they were family. Now, the only one sitting among the princes was the eighth prince, as he truly did not want to participate, only wanting to watch this entertaining situation unfold.
Hearing that Feng Yu Heng had been hit, Xuan Tian Ming was the first to lose it, “Who was it that dared to be so arrogant during this banquet? Not only did you break Princess Yuan’s cup, but you also hit Imperial Daughter Ji An?”
The word “hit” firmly placed responsibility for this on that young miss’ head. Who knew where the young miss found the courage or attitude, as she immediately rebuked: “It was her that said that my head was full of water first!”
Everyone laughed. The imperial daughter said something, and you went to hit her. If your head wasn’t full of water, what else could it be?
Yet Feng Yu Heng began to sob: “That’s because Father Emperor clearly liked the pen that my younger brother Zi Rui gave him, but you said that it was just a writing utensil, and you were very disdainful. You also said that your family even prepared a set of glazed utensils. Father Emperor clearly praised the pen greatly and ordered me to spread its use throughout Da Shun. In just the blink of an eye, it became like this. Could it be that in your eyes, my Father Emperor only desires wealth while ignoring the convenience of the scholars?”
Once these words came out of her mouth, the people were able to understand. It turned out that this young miss was not just stupid, but she was also rash!
At this time, Princess Yuan, who had been seated with the imperial concubines, stood up and forcefully asked: “Which family’s young miss are you?”
That young miss never thought that things would actually develop in this way. Not to mention the ground being covered in jade that had already scared her witless, but now that so many princes had stood up and glared at her, even Princess Yuan was questioning her. She… What exactly had she done? How could it have become like this?
For a while, the girl stood frozen in place, even forgetting to kneel. She just continued to sit there.
With her not moving, there was someone in the crowd of officials that could no longer sit still. Practically tripping over himself, he arrived in the middle of the hall and kneeled: “Your Majesty, it was this old official’s daughter that was acting improperly. Would Your Majesty pardon her crime!”
Everyone looked over, very well, it was one of the Grand Scholars, Li Zhong He.
In an instant, everyone’s views had been shattered, as someone could not stop themselves from asking: “Grand Scholar! You are a scholar. How could your daughter believe that a pen is worse than a set of glazed items?”
“That’s right! Even if daughters don’t study, the atmosphere in your manor is like this?”
All sorts of comments that were roughly similar popped up. Without any need for the princes to speak up, all of the officials that were not aligned with the eighth prince stood up and began pointing and commenting. In the end, even the Emperor was very puzzled and asked: “Grand Scholar Li, this is how you teach your daughter?” After speaking, he looked toward Feng Yu Heng and said something very biased: “This is the first time that We’ve seen it. The daughter of an official’s family dares to hit Our daughter-in-law. Precisely what sort of world is this?” The Emperor continued to lament, “It’s all Our fault. It was Us that did a poor job of governing that troubled the citizens of Da Shun and troubled the common people of the world! Today, the daughter of an official hit Our daughter-in-law. Tomorrow, will you officials begin joining up to rebel and hit Us?”
The more he said, the more heartbreaking it became. Feng Yu Heng thought that this old emperor was really getting better over the years with some subtle influence from her! In addition to the unruliness that had always been with the Emperor, even once he became the emperor, he was one that one that enjoyed watching commotions without fear of things getting out of hand. There were times when Feng Yu Heng even felt that working with the Emperor to scam people was even smoother than working with Xuan Tian Ming!
Once these words came out from the Emperor, nobody in the hall could sit still. Regardless of who it was or if something had actually happened, they all dropped to their knees, exclaiming: “This official does not dare! This official does not dare!”
When the imperial ruler got angry, it was not just the officials that kneeled. The Empress led the imperial concubines in also kneeling. The princes, palace princess and imperial daughter all kneeled; however, only the young miss from that official’s family was scared witless and continued to remain sitting. This made her stick out like a sore thumb.
Feng Yu Heng gently sighed and faintly said: “Today is the new year. If the family of the grand scholar really does have the intention to do what Father Emperor said, then Father Emperor…” She raised her head and suddenly shouted: “Protect Father Emperor!”
This shout caused the Emperor to tremble in fear and think to himself that this girl really performed thoroughly! Countless hidden guards then appeared from who knew where and blocked the path.
The grand scholar had already collapsed in fear, but without any need for the Emperor to speak, imperial guards had already entered the hall. Without saying a word, they grabbed the Li family’s young miss and took her away. The grand scholar was no better off, as he gloomily followed them out. During the celebration of the new year, the imperial seal was put away, and imperial decrees could not be made, but the outcome was already clear. Losing his position was guaranteed. A grand scholar was nothing more than a standard fourth rank official. He never believed that a lowly official would be looked upon fondly by the Emperor; however, he never thought that his daughter would actually cause such a huge uproar.
Seeing that the person had already been taken out, the hidden guards returned to the shadows to continue their guard. The Emperor then raised his hand and allowed “everyone to rise.” He then exchanged a glance with Feng Yu Heng, and the two nodded to each other, expressing that their cooperation was pleasant.
Very quickly, servants came out to clean up the shattered jade cup, and Xuan Tian Ge quietly asked Feng Yu Heng: “What are you getting so mad for?”
Feng Yu Heng shrugged, “Who knows what sort of big thing will happen today. I figured that it’s been a while since I tidied someone up, and I was feeling a bit rusty and needed to find someone to clean off that rust. That way, the chain won’t fall off in a critical moment. If anyone dares to come and cause trouble at this time, Tian Ge, do you think that they would just be too idle?”
Whether or not they were idle, Xuan Tian Ge did not know. She just curiously asked: “What is a chain?”