Anti-Eighth Coalition
Huang Quan’s words left Wang Chuan confused: “What invitation did Palace Princess Wu Yang send?”
“It’s inviting the madams and young misses of each manor to the Wen Xuan Palace on the 10th, which would be tomorrow night, to participate in a banquet. Not only did she invite the manor’s head madams and young misses of the first wife, but she also invited the young misses of concubines.”
Wang Chuan raised an eyebrow: “But our manor didn’t receive an invitation?”
“That’s what I’m talking about.” Huang Quan stomped her foot and said: “What sort of situation is this? Normally speaking, how could a banquet that is being held by Palace Princess Wu Yang not invite our young miss? Young Miss did you and Palace Princess Wu Yang have some sort of falling out?”
Feng Yu Heng rolled her eyes, “She just stole food and drink away from here just yesterday. Did you see any falling out?”
The corners of Wang Chuan’s lips twitched. What was being called stole food and drink? Aside from the Bai family’s young miss, could the 100 thousand taels that the others gave be considered as payment for the food? She suddenly recalled a matter, “Could it be that the secret plan that Palace Princess Wu Yang was talking about was this?”
Feng Yu Heng did not know. She asked Huang Quan: “Do you know what the theme of the banquet is?”
Huang Quan nodded, “It was said that it was to pray for good fortune for Da Shun, for the Emperor and for the Empress.”
“This would be it.” Feng Yu Heng laughed. She was a little able to understand what those girls were up to. With such a grand premise, who would dare to not participate in it? If it was spread that some madam or some young miss did not go, would that not be the same as not giving face to Da Shun and not caring about the safety of the Emperor and the Empress? Who could possibly shoulder that sort of burden? The method of praying for good fortune was money! When going to a temple to pray for good fortune, one needed to pay money. Xuan Tian Ge would not do any business that would lose her money.
She curled the corners of her lips up into a smile. Wang Chuan was also able to understand a bit of the situation; however, Huang Quan was still clueless. But she could see that her young miss and Palace Princess Wu Yang did not have a falling out, thus she did not continue to worry about it.
Feng Yu Heng ate a simple meal of plain congee and pickled vegetables for breakfast. This new year had gone by without any celebratory atmosphere, but the benefits that the servants of the manor had earned were still provided. Of course, this was not something that she needed to worry about. Everything was taken care of by the head housekeeper, Qing Yu. She also gave Qing Yu a great deal of power. For example, there was no need to report expenditures of under 1000 taels. She just needed to keep track of the accounts. Whenever it reached the new year or the Mid-Autumn Festival, the bonuses were taken care of by Qing Yu. This included the families of the servants. As long as they were in the capital or the outskirts, they could not be neglected.
As for Qing Yu, she was indeed a good choice for housekeeper. Not only did she think about those family members, but she would also provide bonuses based on the needs of each family. For those with children, some more candies would be provided. For those with elderly people, some supplements would be provided. The male servants that had wives, it would be easier if they worked together, but if they did not, they would be given the same gifts as the maidservants. There was no shortage of cloth and accessories. Aside from the salary and extra earnings, the servants would also be given some necessities such as food. It was very intimate.
Feng Yu Heng believed that she could not solely rely on money to obtain people’s hearts. There were times when doing some small intimate things would be best to make those servants want to follow her. After all, her imperial daughter’s manor could not risk having any spies. Even if they were not spies, discontent servants would also cause ripples in the pond. Small graces and favors would obtain the support of her servants, and she would definitely not be miserly with that bit of money. Aside from this, the servants of the manor could seek medical treatment from Hundred Herb Hall for free if they fell ill. The servants themselves did not need to pay a single cent. It was all paid for by the manor.
Now that Hundred Herb Hall was closed, and she was going to the fief, she could not possibly bring all of the servants from the manor. For the sake of keeping some people in the manor, she specifically had Wang Lin continue to pay a slightly older doctor, whose family could not move from the capital, and leave them in charge of the imperial daughter’s manor, the Yao manor and the families of those that worked in her manor. When the servants heard this, they were all very moved, and they all expressed that they would take good care of the imperial daughter’s manor and wait for imperial daughter’s return.
As for those servants that were chosen to follow Feng Yu Heng to the fief, they spent these days packing up their things. All of them were filled with hope for the future.
Right now, news of Feng Yu Heng leaving the capital for her fief was not much of a secret. She did not intend to hide it, and she even had Wang Lin and Qing Yu spread this information. She also made sure to insinuate that she was being chased out of the capital by those old officials. As for who those officials were, the commoners naturally knew clearly. Was it not just the same ones that had forced Imperial Daughter Ji An to close Hundred Herb Hall? The people also would not forget that those people supported the eighth prince!
Over the years, Feng Yu Heng had never given up on her business reputation, and she had done quite a bit of benevolent deeds. There were quite a few people in the capital that had received her grace. Her medical abilities had also helped treat a number of officials’ family members. Those people had originally been part of the neutral faction, but it was because of Feng Yu Heng’s miraculous abilities that their hearts gradually began to shift in the ninth prince’s direction.
The commoners spontaneously created an “anti-eighth coalition” that numbered in the thousands and dispersed. They went and blocked the gates of the officials that opposed Imperial Daughter Ji An. They were also smart. They did not rush inside. They knew that breaking into the manors of officials would result in them being executed. They just sat in front of their manors. Someone brought a small stool, and there were even some that brought waterskins full of water. When they became thirsty, they would just have a drink.
With this happening, there were 100-200 people blocking the entrance to every manor. The people were not just sitting there idly. From time to time, they would organize a chant and loudly shout toward the manor: “Give Imperial Daughter Ji An justice! Give us back Hundred Herb Hall! Why have you chased Imperial Daughter Ji An from the capital? The ones that should really scram are you!” The shouts rose one after another, and it was very lively.
When they were not shouting, the people would occasionally gather into groups and chat. As a result of the environment, the topic of their chatter was all related to Feng Yu Heng. The people still remembered the contributions that Feng Yu Heng had once made to the capital. Someone brought up the Winter disaster from two years previous, “That year, my mother was so cold that her body had become rigid. Fortunately, someone said that Imperial Daughter was handing out hot tea at Hundred Herb Hall’s entrance. I carried my old mother to get tea. Imperial Daughter saw that my old mother had fallen ill and brought her inside to personally take care of her. She forcefully dragged my old mother back from the gates of the underworld. Even now, my old mother talks about Imperial Daughter Ji An being her benefactor. She always tells me that I must kowtow when I see imperial daughter.”
After he finished speaking, someone else immediately said: “But of course! If it wasn’t for Imperial Daughter Ji An thinking about us commoners in the North of the city, sending us food and helping find people to repair our houses, who would care if we lived or died? We would have all died in the snow.”
Another person brought up the matter of the flood and what happened after, “During that year’s flood, if it wasn’t for Imperial Daughter and His Highness the ninth prince making a prompt decision to block all of the refugees outside, I fear that everyone in the capital would have gotten infected. That was an epidemic! Who could have survived after getting infected? It was Imperial Daughter and His Highness the ninth prince that saved the entire population of the capital.”
“That’s right! Imperial Daughter and His Highness the ninth prince are both good people. For the sake of not sending everyone outside to their deaths, they personally went to build tents for the refugees outside, even with their noble statuses. Is there a better prince and imperial daughter in this world?”
“That’s right! Imperial Daughter also provided steel for our Da Shun. I heard that our steel weapons broke Zong Sui’s iron essence weapons. It won us quite some prestige!”
“Imperial Daughter also conquered Qian Zhou!”
The commoners went back and forth, talking about all of the contributions that Feng Yu Heng had made over the years. This sort of discussion did not just occur in front of one manor. Instead, similar stories were told in front of all of the manors. The more people spoke, the more emotional they became, and the more they felt that Da Shun would only have hope with this sort of imperial daughter around. Only by having the ninth prince and Imperial Daughter Ji An work together to take care of the world, could they feel any hope for the future.
“But such a good imperial daughter is being chased out by this group of bastards!” Someone shouted emotionally. Standing up, they pointed at the manor before them and loudly cursed: “Are you really an official of Da Shun? Are you really a citizen of Da Shun? Are you a spy sent by some other country? Why are you chasing away someone that has treated Da Shun’s citizens so well? Why are you unable to tolerate Da Shun improving with each passing day?”
With someone taking the lead, the others also began to stand up to curse. They even cried while cursing. In the end, it led to everyone facing in the direction of the imperial palace and pleading through tears: “Your Majesty! Look at these officials that don’t care about the safety of Da Shun and the lives of the commoners! This sort of official must not exist in the courts! With them around, Da Shun will never prosper! Your Majesty! People’s minds are unfathomable, and the eighth prince does not have a good heart! Would Your Majesty please investigate clearly! Your Majesty is a righteous ruler!”
Their repeated shouts shook the air, and everyone on the streets could hear it. With this sort of atmosphere, more and more people exited their homes to join the “anti-eighth coalition.” The scene even caused the guards dispatched by the governor to feel goosebumps. There were even some that also went with the flow and kneeled.
When the governor saw this sort of scene, as the parental official of the capital, he should have immediately sent people to suppress it when the incident began, but as a member of Feng Yu Heng’s faction, he knew that he should immediately go and report this matter. He should tell the Emperor about the situation outside. Regardless of whether or not it had any effect, the court had to know about this situation.
As for those officials that had been blocked inside, as well as their family members, their hearts were trembling. They all trembled with fear, and they were all gathered in one room. They began to speculate what sort of outcome would result from this in the end.
The officials that were more cowardly had already begun thinking about what they should do once they had been charged. Would they go to the eighth prince for help, or escape? The ones that were a bit bolder sent their servants out of a side door to have them sneak over to the city gates to report the commotion to the city guards and to have them send out troops to suppress the disturbance.
However, who knew that the one in command of the city guard was someone called Wang Zhuo. He was a lower fourth ranked general that had been personally helped by Feng Yu Heng. He had heard about the situation inside the capital, and he had also been present on the night of the banquet; however, he was unable to provide any assistance. He was a general, and his speaking ability could not compare to those government officials. He could only worry without being able to say a single word. However, he never thought that there would be people so shameless as to run over to ask for troops to suppress the commoners. Wang Zhuo angrily picked up the servant that had come to report and gave him a beating then tossed him in prison for the crime of destroying the city’s defenses.
That person was quite unlucky, destroying the city’s defenses? He had indeed destroyed something. Because he had fallen while running over, the guards had been bored and had stacked up a pile of bricks for fun. It just so happened that the five bricks were knocked over.
With such a huge commotion occurring in the capital, it was natural that it would reach Feng Yu Heng’s ears, and the person that told her was the seventh prince, Xuan Tian Hua, who had just arrived one hour earlier.