Providing You With Ten Bundles of Joss Paper
The Emperor’s mind was very capable and immediately understood what Feng Yu Heng’s words meant. He looked at Concubine Liu, who was laying in bed, then thought about the Liu family before nodding: “Then let’s just do it like that! Whether it’s for Concubine Liu or the Liu family, We feel that everything should be done. Now, it will just depend on whether the Liu family will accept it.” After saying this, he stood up and did not take another look at Concubine Liu. He just had a tired expression, as he grabbed Zhang Yuan’s supporting hand, saying: “Let’s go back! A-Heng, you can also go back! Come with Us. The matter of the treatment will officially begin tomorrow.”
Feng Yu Heng complied and followed the Emperor out; however, she did not even leave a single bit of medicine for the sick Concubine Liu.
The Emperor was returning to Zhao He Hall, and Feng Yu Heng accompanied him the entire way. Feng Yu Heng and Zhang Yuan supported him from both sides, and she spoke a bit more about Concubine Liu’s medical condition; however, there were slight differences from earlier. She said: “Father Emperor, Her Highness Concubine Liu’s illness is considered a chronic illness. Based on daughter-in-law’s judgment, it has persisted for at least five or six years. The recent developments have happened a bit too quickly and cannot be considered normal.”
She had spoken rather tactfully, but the words “cannot be considered normal” allowed the Emperor to immediately understand the underlying matter. He snorted, as his body slightly trembled. In the end, however, he did not speak and only let out a long sigh. He then said: “It has been like this since the olden times. For the sake of fighting for power, people were capable of doing all manners of things. And it was not enough that one person was doing these things, they would form factions to have even more people participate. When the Liu family had taken the initiative to request that you come into the palace to take a look at Concubine Liu’s illness, We felt that something was a little off, but seeing Concubine Liu that sick, We became hotheaded and agreed. A-Heng, be careful. You must not fall for their tricks. We are old, yet I happened to have so many sons. How great would it have been to have had some daughters. This palace would also not be so quiet.”
Any time that the Emperor brought up this topic, he would feel extremely emotional. Even the two supporting him from the side could clearly feel an aura of sorrow surround him. In truth, the Emperor was only in his early 60s. In the modern world, he was not considered very old, but in this era, he was truly very old. In addition to this, he had participated in many battles when he was younger and ended up with a number of illnesses. After being a ruler for a few decades, he would have an endless number of things to worry about. His vitality had been hollowed out long ago. With each year that he continued to survive, his age would become even more apparent. There was nothing that could be done about it.
Feng Yu Heng wanted to properly help recover the Emperor’s health, but this aging emperor was rather obstinate. He was unwilling to take the medicine that had been given to him to supplement his health on time. There were times when he was stubborn and thought of himself as a young man and would train a bit in the palace. It was such that his health could not recover properly, thus she gave up on that idea and simply allowed things to progress naturally.
She personally sent the Emperor back to Zhao He Hall then personally prepared some tea to help calm him down. Zhang Yuan gave it to the Emperor and watched him fall asleep. Only then did he escort Feng Yu Heng out of the palace. When they left the grand hall, he finally asked something that had been on his mind the entire time: “Will Princess not take a look at the prescribed medicine that Concubine Liu has been taking this entire time? Just now, you said that there might be some problem with the progression of the illness. Could the problem have something to do with the medicine?”
Feng Yu Heng shrugged and faintly smiled, “It’s very likely that it’s to do with the prescription, but there’s no point in checking it. Only an idiot would meddle with something so openly. If there really was a problem, it would be better to investigate the medicine that Concubine Liu took every day, as well as the people at her side.” After saying this, she waved her hand to herself: “But there’s not much point in doing that. What the Liu family wants is to have me officially take on treating Concubine Liu’s illness. Now that I have already taken it on, I trust that the opposition will begin its next round of movements after a few more days. It would be better for us to quietly watch for any changes.”
While they spoke, they found themselves on a path toward Winter Moon Palace. Xuan Tian Ming was also coming over. She chatted a bit more with Zhang Yuan before having him quickly return to take care of the Emperor. She then went to meet up with her husband, and the two left the palace together and returned home. When they spoke about the matter in An Ju Palace, Xuan Tian Ming only told her: “Seventh brother and I secretly investigated all of the people in old eighth’s faction, and we have made a bit of progress. We began applying pressure today in court, but this did not include the Liu family. The Liu family remained very well hidden over the years, or it could be said that they have not participated in anything over the years. They have been relatively obedient and quite average because they could not be connected. But this does not mean that the Liu family does not have wicked intentions. Just based on them taking the initiative to request you to treat Concubine Liu, and with Concubine Liu’s illness being as strange as you have described, it means that the Liu family is definitely planning to do something with this. You need to be extra careful. Treat the illness if it can be treated. If it can’t, just wash your hands of it and ignore it. Either way, the imperial physicians have no way of treating it, and you aren’t some living deity. How can it be determined that you alone were responsible for the death of someone that all of the imperial physicians had determined would be passing away? Think a bit more about the situation with the Yao family from that time. At this sort of time, you must not allow that sort of thing to repeat itself.”
Feng Yu Heng frowned while listening to this. Indeed, the Yao family at that time had been caught by the third prince, who refused to let go, because of an imperial concubine that had died during treatment. In the end, if it was not for the Emperor sending the Yao family to Huang Zhou, who knows just how poorly things would have gone for the Yao family.
But aside from her grandfather, who else knew that the Emperor had actually used this sort of method to bless them; however, the real Yao Xian still passed away. But things were different now. Now, she was not the real Feng Yu Heng. Would she fall for this sort of thing? Thus she smiled and curled the corners of her lips into an expression that was very similar to the one that Xuan Tian Ming usually had. Even Xuan Tian Ming had to exclaim: “Dear wife, you’re really becoming more and more harmonized with husband.”
She had no desire to see about any harmony because Wang Chuan reminded her: “Princess, should we still send joss paper to the Liu family?”
Feng Yu Heng smacked her forehead and remembered, thus she quickly said: “We need to send it! That Liu Huai has so many things that he wants to complain to Feng Jin Yuan about. If we don’t give him joss paper, how should he go and communicate? Quickly go and send them some more. If there isn’t enough, he won’t be able to write it all down.”
Wang Chuan covered her mouth and smiled, turning around and leaving the room. Only then did Xuan Tian Ming raise an eyebrow and look at her in confusion. Feng Yu Heng did not want to talk about how Liu Huai had become unhappy while arguing with her. This would prevent this person from charging over to eradicate them. She just said: “Liu Huai engaged me in a battle of wits in An Ju Palace. You know how it is. I don’t have a good attitude when dealing with people I look down on. I mocked him a bit, and he said that I was not taught properly by my family. I figured that the problem of being educated by my family should not be brought up with me! That needs to be brought up with my father, thus I thought of having Wang Chuan send some joss paper to the Liu manor. This would allow Liu Huai to write down everything that he wants to say to Feng Jin Yuan then burn it. Only like this can he communicate with the Feng family.”
Xuan Tian Ming nodded repeatedly upon hearing this and repeatedly praised his wife for this idea being very good. There were times when this young girl’s mind was more lithe than his! To be able to even come up with this sort of idea, thinking about it, when the joss paper arrived at the Liu manor, the people in the manor will end up feeling extremely nauseous, right?
Xuan Tian Ming’s guess was correct. Liu Huai had indeed nearly coughed up blood at the sight of the ten stacks of joss paper, but he did not dare say anything because Lady Zhou of the Yu Palace had come with Wang Chuan to send this joss paper. This elderly lady was a first rank noble lady. When she was young, she had saved the ninth prince’s life, and she had personally raised the ninth prince. That moment of impulsiveness in the afternoon brought about by Xuan Tian Ming’s words had ended up offending Feng Yu Heng. This resulted in being latched onto tightly. The Emperor nearly had his head chopped off. Now, the Yu Palace’s people had come. Where could he even get half a word in? Even if he was unhappy, he needed to obediently accept the ten bundles of joss paper. He even respectfully said to Lady Zhou: “I’ve troubled Lady Zhou with making the trip. Please come into the manor and have a cup of tea!”
However, Lady Zhou shook her head and said: “Many thanks for Assistant Minister Liu’s kind intentions. I won’t be having any tea to make sure that Assistant Minister Liu won’t be disturbed when communicating with the departed master of the Feng family.” When she said this, her head was slightly raised, and she was not even looking directly at the partially bowed Liu Huai. Thinking back to when she had delivered the betrothal gifts to the left prime minister’s manor, she did not even care about a standard first rank official! A lowly third rank assistant minister, how could that possibly make Lady Zhou take note.
It was only after they left that Liu Huai returned back inside. He then ordered his servants to close the manor’s gates before kicking over the stack of joss paper. He had originally wanted to vent his emotions, but this kick had been a bit too forceful, and the papers had not been tied together very well. As a result, with this kick, the papers scattered. With the Autumn winds blowing, the entirety of the Liu manor’s front yard was filled with paper flying all over. It looked exactly the same as if the manor was performing a funeral.
Liu Huai nearly vomited blood from this and quickly ordered the servants to pick up all of the joss paper. But how would it be taken care of after it had been collected? They could neither throw it out nor keep it. He could not really use these pieces of paper to write a letter to Feng Jin Yuan and go burn them later at night, right? Would that not be insane! Liu Huai thought long and hard and finally came up with an idea. He ordered the servants: “Send them all to the kitchen and stick them under the stove. Burn them to ash, burn them all to ash!”
The servants placed the ten bundles of joss paper into the stove area. At this time, the kitchen was preparing dinner. When the woman responsible for the fire saw such large stacks of paper, she simply stopped using the firewood and directly made use of these pieces of paper. This would be a bit faster than using firewood.
When Liu Huai ate dinner, his madam was accompanying him. Watching the servants bring out the dishes, Liu Huai took a few bites then frowned. He then put the bowl and chopsticks back down.
His madam, Li shi, was puzzled: “Husband, is there something wrong? Is there something not to your liking with the food?”
Liu Huai shook his head and pulled over one of the servants, asking: “How was this food made?”
The servant was puzzled: “It was made by the chef?”
“What was used for the fire? I am asking about what was used to cook the food. Was it firewood?”
The servant froze then shook their head: “Today, they did not use firewood. Didn’t master order them to burn the joss paper? The kitchen staff used that paper to cook the food. The fire burned quite brightly!”
Once these words came out, Liu Huai suddenly stood up, directly charging out of the room and vomiting. It was only after he vomited everything in his stomach that he accepted some water from the servants to rinse his mouth and wash his face. When he raised his head, his face had a bitter expression. He felt as though he was on the verge of a mental collapse. He was eating! This food had been made by burning joss paper! Who could possibly eat this sort of food? How could this be considered food for the living?
It was not just Liu Huai that was on the verge of a mental collapse, as his madam, Li shi, had it even worse. She simply flipped the table of food and rushed to the door. Pointing at Liu Huai, she cursed: “What sort of sin did you commit in court?”