Who Is Tricking Whom Has Yet to Be Determined
Liu Huai’s madam had always been someone with a short temper. Not only did she have a short temper, but many of her opinions were different from Liu Huai’s. For example, she currently cursed: “Liu Huai! Don’t think that I don’t know why they sent those things to the manor? Isn’t it just because you offended the ninth prince and Imperial Daughter Ji An? What exactly is growing in your head? Everyone in the world knows that the ninth prince must not be offended. Why is it that you alone are stepping forward? Are you the only one with ability? Now, things are good. They’ve sent joss paper to our home, and you ordered the servants to burn it to make food. Even if you’ve had enough of living, this old woman still wants to live for a few more years!”
Li shi was like a shrew once she began cursing, but the things that she said were very reasonable. Indeed, the entire world knew that the ninth prince of hell must not be offended, yet Liu Huai had tried to go and cause trouble for his wife the previous day. Liu Huai understood the reasoning behind what Li shi had said, but it did not mean that he could tolerate being cursed at like this. Faced with the bold Li shi, Liu Huai raised his hand and slapped her across the face. This strike nearly knocked her over, and he loudly said: “Woman, what do you know?”
“You hit me?” Li shi glared at him, “I didn’t do anything! Didn’t you just want to help the eighth prince? I’m telling you that that person doesn’t have any hope! It would be best if you gave up on that and peacefully lived your life. Also, that younger sister of yours in the palace has not made a single contribution to this family in over 20 years. Now that she’s about to die, she wants to cause harm to the Liu family once more?”
Liu Huai was completely furious. Pointing at Li shi, he said while trembling: “Scram! Get out!”
That night, the Liu family had become a complete mess. Apparently, the two were still fighting in the middle of the night! But in the Yu Palace, it was very joyous and peaceful. For once, the big, bad wolf did not want to eat meat, and the two just went to sleep. It was very warm and sweet, and he did not even want to get up when it was time to go to court.
But court still needed to be attended, and this included Feng Yu Heng. After waking up, she prepared to head into the palace. Ban Zou relayed word of the funny scenes that had played out in the Liu manor the previous night. She laughed quite happily upon hearing about it, and she did not forget to tell Wang Chuan: “For Lady Zhou to take the initiative to go with you was for the sake of providing you with some support. You need to remember to thank her.”
Wang Chuan nodded, “Young Miss, don’t worry. This servant understands.” As she spoke, Huang Quan had brought in breakfast. Wang Chuan helped fill a bowl with some congee then continued: “It’s already past Mid-Autumn, but the palace did not arrange a banquet, which has made things far more tranquil. It’s just a pity that the young misses that had hoped to attract some attention would lose an opportunity.”
Huang Quan snorted coldly and said: “As I see it, not having a banquet is best. Which palace banquet has been without incident? There are always people going in and trying to cause trouble. There hasn’t been a single peaceful outing. Especially that time on the first day of the new year. His Majesty is most likely still annoyed with that incident, thus he did not make arrangements for a Mid-Autumn Festival.”
Feng Yu Heng did not participate in the conversation between the two servants about the banquets. They had returned to the capital at the beginning of the eighth month, and it was now about to be the ninth month. The days were getting colder, while only the sun’s rays during the middle of the day were still hot. She had heard Xuan Tian Ming talk about the reason that the Emperor had not made arrangements for a banquet. Everyone had all kinds of speculation, but the truth was actually very simple. It was all because Imperial Concubine Yun had permitted him to visit Winter Moon Palace three times a day. That was why he had thought of spending the Mid-Autumn Festival with Imperial Concubine Yun. If a banquet was to be held, Imperial Concubine Yun definitely would not leave Winter Moon Palace. He had not celebrated the Mid-Autumn Festival with Imperial Concubine Yun for many years. This year, he had finally managed to get a chance. How could he possibly miss out on it? This was not all. Not only did he not arrange for a Mid-Autumn Festival, but he also did not even allow the children to enter the palace.
Feng Yu Heng had entered the palace on this day to officially begin treating Concubine Liu’s illness. Entering through the Rui Gate, she heard some of the passing imperial physicians quietly conversing. Knowing that she had already accepted the case of Concubine Liu’s illness, they let out a sigh of relief. Whether Concubine Liu lived or died would no longer be their responsibility. Everything would be taken care of by Princess Yu!
Huang Quan and Wang Chuan accompanied her into the palace today. Hearing these words, Huang Quan unhappily said: “What do they mean everything will be taken care of by our young miss? Those imperial physicians did not manage to do anything. Seeing that person is about to die, they push them off to our young miss. Could it be that they really think our young miss is a deity? That she can treat any sort of illness?”
Wang Chuan, however, thought even more deeply on the matter, slowly saying: “If it can’t be treated, the crime of causing the death of a member of the imperial harem will be placed on Young Miss. The Yao family had fallen for the third prince’s trap like this.”
Huang Quan was not a fool, and she was able to understand the basics. Hearing Wang Chuan say this, she could not help but snort coldly once more: “Dream on! In any case, that one was a head imperial concubine. Concubine Liu is just a lowly concubine, and her family only has a third rank assistant minister. They want to copy that same situation as back then with this? They really have some wild delusions.”
Feng Yu Heng also understood this reasoning, thus she had never been worried. Even if Xuan Tian Ming had brought up this matter, she had only felt a bit emotional about the Yao family’s situation from that time. To speak of worry, she was not worried in the slightest. Not only could Concubine Liu not compare in terms of rank, but even the current Feng Yu Heng could not compare to the original Yao Xian. They wanted to harm her? The Liu family needed to train some more. But there was something that she did think of, thus she said to Wang Chuan: “Has any information come from the two that we sent into the imperial physician’s group?”
For the sake of preventing anything from happening in the palace, she had sent two people from Hundred Herb Hall into the imperial physician’s group. One was Song Kang’s disciple, Sun Qi, and the other was Wang Lin’s relative, Xu Mao. Wang Chuan heard her ask this and shook her head: “There hasn’t been any information coming back. In the past, they would communicate with Wang Lin’s side, and we have been away from the capital for too long. We really haven’t been able to keep up with those two.”
“Find a chance to meet up with them.” Feng Yu Heng pondered for a bit then turned to Huang Quan: “Head over to the imperial physician’s group. Just say that I need an assistant for treating Concubine Liu. Just… just call Xu Mao over!”
Huang Quan complied and turned around to head toward the imperial physician’s quarters. Wang Chuan thought for a bit then asked: “Xu Mao has been Sun Qi’s assistant this entire time. If we’re talking about medical ability, Sun Qi should be better; yet young miss insisted on choosing Xu Mao. Is there some doubt about Sun Qi?”
Feng Yu Heng nodded: “Sun Qi’s origins are not clear. The reason that Xu Mao was added in was for the sake of staying at Sun Qi’s side to keep an eye on him just in case. We can’t do anything about how outsiders might try and cause harm, but we can still do something about the people in our control.”
The two did not say anything else, as they continued in the direction of An Ju Palace. When they arrived, Huang Quan had also quickly come over from the imperial physician’s quarters. She had been walking in a bit of a rush and was panting slightly when she stopped. When Feng Yu Heng looked behind her, she found that the person that had come with her was not Xu Mao. It was some imperial physician that she did not recognize.
Huang Quan winked a few times toward Feng Yu Heng before saying: “This servant’s timing was not good. The imperial physicians had dispersed to the various palaces to check on the health of various imperial concubines. The only ones remaining there were a supervising imperial physician and two others distributing medicine. The supervising imperial physician could not leave, thus this young lord was sent.”
The young imperial physician quickly stepped forward and saluted to Feng Yu Heng, introducing himself as having the surname Feng.* He had just entered the imperial physician’s group not too long ago, and he did not have any official business. He was just someone that assisted the imperial physicians.
Feng Yu Heng saw that he was a bit apprehensive, thus she spoke up to console him: “Imperial Physician Feng, there’s no need to be so apprehensive. I only need an assistant. You just need to come with me.”
The young imperial physician wiped away some sweat and respectfully followed behind Feng Yu Heng, remaining a proper five steps away and adhering to the rules very properly.
Huang Quan leaned close to Feng Yu Heng’s side and quietly said: “Sun Qi went to visit the members of the imperial harem to check on their health, and he brought Xu Mao with him. When this servant went, that was the situation in the imperial physician’s college. It would not be good to leave when hearing that Xu Mao was not there. To prevent suspicion, I randomly just brought someone back. Young Miss can just find an excuse later to send him away.”
Feng Yu Heng nodded and quickly headed toward An Ju Palace.
Today, Concubine Liu was awake. Although her consciousness was not clear, and she appeared very old, in any case, she could endure a bit. In the past, she had participated in the palace banquets, thus she naturally knew who Feng Yu Heng was. In addition to this, the servants had spoken of how Princess Yu had accepted her case. When she saw Feng Yu Heng arrive, Concubine Liu was very happy. She arranged for tea to be brought out for Feng Yu Heng. Seeing Feng Yu Heng sit down and the servants bring out the tea, she weakly said: “I’ve troubled you. The imperial physicians have said that this One will not survive for much longer. Fortunately, His Majesty still looked on the feelings from a long time ago and invited Imperial Daughter to come and treat this One’s illness. This One heard that Imperial Daughter also came yesterday and said that this One’s illness can be treated?”
She repeatedly called herself this One and had brought up the Emperor’s past affection. In that instant, Feng Yu Heng saw a look of feeling unreconciled flash through her eyes. Her mind went to work, as she said: “Originally, A-Heng did not know that Your Highness was sick. It was Assistant Minister Liu that had begged His Majesty. Only then was A-Heng brought in to examine Your Highness.’ As she spoke, she put on a bitter smile: “Normally speaking, A-Heng should not have any right to enter the palace, as I had been censured by the officials during the new year, as they begged Father Emperor to give the order to no longer allow me into the palace. It was because of this that I could not even continue to stay in the capital. Even after returning to the capital from the South, I only returned to the palace once to offer tea to Father Emperor and Her Highness the Empress. Thinking about it, Assistant Minister Liu really put in quite a bit of effort for Your Highness’ illness. The profound sibling relationship between Your Highness and Assistant Minister Liu really is one worth envying.”
Hearing that her elder brother had begged the Emperor, which was what allowed Feng Yu Heng to enter the palace to treat her, Concubine Liu could not help but feel a bit emotional, “That’s right! Elder brother has treated me extremely well since childhood. Unfortunately, during the decades since I entered the palace, I very rarely got to see my family, and I could not provide much assistance to them. Thinking about it, I really feel quite sorry.”
“Your Highness, you must not speak like this. You’re still young, and you still have a long time left to live. Father Emperor knows that you are severely ill, and he has been coming to An Ju Palace to visit you. Unfortunately, you have been asleep this entire time.” She stood up and sat at Concubine Liu’s side. Reaching out, she grabbed Concubine Liu’s hand and said: “Don’t worry. A-Heng can treat your illness.”
“Really?” Concubine Liu’s eyes, which had been lightless for a long time, suddenly revealed a flash of hope. She grabbed hold of Feng Yu Heng’s hand and put in a bit of strength, as her body trembled uncontrollably. She did not mind, as her mind was filled with thoughts of the words that had just been said: “It can be treated.” She anxiously asked: “Can it really be treated?”
Feng Yu Heng nodded, “If I said that it couldn’t would it not have wasted Father Emperor and Lord Assistant Minister Liu’s hopes? It’s just that Your Highness’ illness requires assistance from the Liu family to succeed.”
“Don’t worry!” Concubine Liu made a guarantee, “As long as you can treat this One, the Liu family will definitely do everything that it can to help! Especially my elder brother, he earnestly cares for this One!”
Feng Yu Heng smiled, “Then that’s good.”
Want to harm me? Who is tricking whom has yet to be determined!
*TN: This is the fourth different Feng to appear in this story.