Chapter 988
Have You Come to Cry at the Funeral?
PSA: Contents at the end may be disgusting for some and is largely inconsequential. Read the translator note at the very bottom to get an idea of what it will be about.
A total of 20 carriages carried 21 masters, with Feng Yuheng hitching a ride. This represented 21 households. When this sort of procession arrived in front of the Sheng Palace and expressed a desire to see the eighth prince, the Sheng Palace’s people initially wanted to refuse.
But when they saw Xuan Tiange, they felt that refusing was pointless. When had this unruly palace princess ever accepted a refusal? As long as she stood there, was there any point in refusing?
Thus the servants helplessly let the people in. Xuan Tiange dragged Feng Yuheng along and very intimately rushed inside. While rushing forward, she said: “Everyone, keep up! It’s likely that you won’t be very familiar with the palaces in the capital, but I am! I’ve come over to play in all of these places when I was younger! Come, come, I will bring you to the eighth prince’s courtyard. Remember, no matter how badly his face is scratched, you must not laugh! Although being scratched by a woman is a very unsightly thing, we came to show our concern and to check up on him. We must not stray from our original intent.”
The young misses behind her nodded, expressing that they understood what she was saying. They then followed Xuan Tiange and arrived at Xuan Tianmo’s courtyard after just a short while.
“Eighth brother! I came with Heng Heng to see you! Are you happy? Are you moved?” Immediately after stepping through the door, Xuan Tiange began to scram. Feng Yuheng heard this and wanted to laugh, happy? Moved? It was likely that the eighth prince wanted to cough up blood, right?
Reality probed that Feng Yuheng’s understanding of the eighth prince was very good. At this moment, Xuan Tianmo felt a bit like he wanted to vomit blood. He was still laying in bed, as there was not a single part of his body that did not hurt. He did not even want to move, yet he heard Xuan Tiange’s irritating voice at a time like this. She even said that she had brought Feng Yuheng? No matter how he listened to this, it did not sound like she had come to visit him. Did they come to smash things?
With the support of the servants, he was able to sit up in bed. Before he could even tidy up his clothes, the door was pushed open without any reservation. Following this came a shout, as his cousin, the one viewed as a treasure by the Emperor, burst into the room.
“Oh, my dear eighth brother!” This was after Xuan Tiange’s opening. The cause of this was that she had seen the half of Xuan Tianmo’s face that had been scratched by Zhu Kongshan. “Eighth brother, how did you end up like this? Hasn’t your face been ruined? I thought that it was a light wound, but now, it looks quite serious. To be injured like this, I fear that it won’t be able to recover any more, right?” While saying this, she asked Feng Yuheng: “A-Heng, is there any treatment for this?” While saying this, she reached out to feel Xuan Tianmo’s face.
Of course, Xuan Tianmo would not allow her to feel it, quickly dodging away. He even very angrily said: “How old are you now? Why are you still so quick to touch things?”
“No matter how old, I am still your cousin! I am worried about the condition of your injury and was not at all embarrassed. You’re a grown man. What are you acting shy for?”
Shy? Xuan Tianmo nearly choked upon hearing these words. He was a grown man. How could he even remotely be described as shy?
Before he could speak up, he heard Feng Yuheng slowly say: “It would be very difficult for it to recover. Even if the flesh grew back, it will definitely leave a scar.”
This was said in quite a loud voice, and it was enough for the young misses who came in after them to hear. Ren Xifeng and Fung Tianyu exchanged a glance and suddenly said: “Huh? It can’t get better? Then it’s too pitiful for His Highness the eighth prince!”
“That’s right, that’s right! In the future, he will become an extremely ugly man. Even if he has his position as a prince supporting him, it would be very difficult for him to have a beautiful girl want to marry into the Sheng Palace, right?”
“That’s right! After all, this face is too frightening. If I woke up at night and saw it, I might pass out in fear. Nobody would be so careless with their lives for the sake of the status of the Sheng Palace! Hah, His Highness the eighth prince really is pitiful.”
With these two leading the charge, it was as though the young misses who had come with them had received orders, immediately knowing what sort of things to say. Thus everyone went along with what Ren Xifeng and Fung Tianyu had said, saying a myriad of things. In just a short span of time, Xuan Tianmo had been described as only being able to get an ugly shrew, and they would spend the rest of their life in grief. There was even one who said: “It’s a pity that I even liked His Highness the eighth prince, but now, with him like this, the last bit of love in my heart has been scared away.”
Xuan Tianmo’s head ached from listening to this. He just could not understand it. He was a man, not a woman. What was it? Was a wound on his face the same as having his life ruined? Who set this sort of rule? What sort of man did not have some scratches or bumps? Why was it like he was being described as no longer being able to live?
He really wanted to argue for a bit, but he was a grown man. Facing over 20 girls, the feeling was as if he had fallen into a sparrow’s nest. There was this incessant chirping near his ears, and he opened his mouth to interject a few times but was unable to cut in. He nearly felt completely stifled.
Led by Xuan Tiange, these young misses expressed their “earnest” concern for the eighth prince. There were even some who put on appearances and wiped away some tears, and one even said: “If eighth prince does not dislike the idea, my servant is quite understanding. I’ll just let her suffer a bit and have her enter the Sheng Palace as the official princess!”
Before the eighth prince could speak, Xuan Tiange immediately waved her hand and chimed in: “No good, no good, our Heng Heng already said that everyone is equal. We can’t just throw out a maidservant because she’s a servant; moreover, she would be marrying an ugly monster with a ruined face… Hah, eighth brother, it’s not that I want to poke at your sore spot. I just misspoke. But while the words were crude, the logic was not. You know that I have never had a filter when speaking. Uncle Emperor was even powerless to do anything about it. Don’t get mad at me. In short, my meaning is that we can’t let someone just ruin a servant’s life because your face is ruined. That would be unfair to the servant.” After saying this, she turned to ask Feng Yuheng: “A-Heng, what I said was correct, right!”
Feng Yuheng was about to suffer from internal injuries from laughing. How was this visiting a sick person. This was clearly just a platoon to make someone unhappy. The eighth prince’s face was about to turn black with anger.
But she was very happy with seeing this outcoming. She was also very cooperative by picking up on what Xuan Tiange said: “That’s right! Everyone is equal. Regardless of whether they’re princes or maidservants, if they are unwilling, forcing a marriage would be the same as rape.”
Xuan Tianmo nearly collapsed, rape? He, a dignified prince, could get any sort of girl. Was there any need to rape a servant?
However, he was destined to be unable to get a word in today. There were truly too many women in the room! They spoke one after another, and he, a grown man, was stuck in this crowd of sparrows. It was a very incongruous scene. Although he was quite frustrated with his face being scratched, he did not think that it was a particularly big deal, yet all of these people looked at him with extremely sympathetic gazes. The feeling was as if he would be unable to live on without his face. Fung Tianyu even specifically went forward to say: “Your Highness the eighth prince, we can all understand your feelings. After all, being scratched by your cousin, with whom you have a set relationship, it’s something that easy to say but does not sound good. Just like a couple living their life, the women in other families are all utterly obedient to their husbands, always adhering to what their husbands say, but your woman shattered this law and turned it around. At home, she has become the lord at home. Say, just how shameful is that for you! That’s not all. Not only does she not listen to you, but she also hits you! Your Highness the eighth prince, don’t worry. We definitely will not spread this. Heaven and earth know it. We also know it, and we will at most say a few words when we get home. We will not spread it to everyone in Da Shun.”
Xuan Tianmo wanted to ask her. With things having already spread as it has, who still did not know about it? What was it, was the capital alone not enough? Did you want to spread it to the other provinces too?
Immediately following this, Ren Xifeng also spoke up: “Let’s not make this sound too serious. Men, right! Who doesn’t have some injuries on their bodies? My father has so many injuries on his body that I can’t even keep count.” Just as Xuan Tianmo felt that this was a bit more reasonable, Ren Xifeng immediately added: “But my father’s injuries all came from the battlefield when he was younger. That’s a man’s career! But His Highness the eighth prince’s injuries were the result of his woman scratching me. What sort of thing is this?”
Feng Yuheng thought for a bit then said: “It should be considered a disgrace.”
“Hah!” Xuan Tiange stomped her foot, “But of course! This is called a disgrace! But eighth brother must not be too rash and get angry. We are not laughing at you. We are sympathetic. After all, you were hurt! To speak of an injury to the face, it’s not completely untreatable. I recall that the members of the imperial harem have something that they use to maintain their youthful looks? Apparently, that is something that can recover one’s looks. What was it called again…”
**”Dried placenta.”* Feng Yuheng reminded her, “It’s the placenta that comes out of the mother’s body after the child is born. It has a very strong medical effect. Eighth brother might not understand the process of gathering dried placenta, right? Then I will explain it to you simply. In order to add dried placenta to medicine, fresh placenta needs to be collected from a healthy mother after childbirth. Rinse it in water then remove the connective tissue and burst blood vessels near the umbilical cord. Squeeze out the blood and rinse it a few more times. Continue washing until it is spotless. Then use a thin metal wire to stretch it out from the inside and use some string to sew it shut. Place it in a pot of boiling water and retrieve it when the placenta has floated up. Cut off the amnion and dry it above a smokeless brazier until it bubbles and is porous.”
She patiently spoke, but this made Xuan Tianmo begin to heave. He wanted to tell Feng Yuheng to stop talking a few times, but how could he stop her. Xuan Tiange even insisted on chiming in: “Apparently, when that thing has just been retrieved from a woman’s body, it’s very bloody. It also has a fishy smell. It’s extremely disgusting! But eighth brother, for the sake of your face, I, your cousin, want to find one for you. How about this, for the sake of ensuring the freshness of the placenta, I will simply find a pregnant woman and send her to the Sheng Palace. Provide her with food and drink to ensure that the pregnancy is healthy. When she gives birth to her child, take the placenta. Only like that can it be fresh and warm. Eighth brother, what do you think?”
Xuan Tianmo could no longer endure, as he leaned over the side of the bed and began to vomit. This shocked the young misses into backing up. At the same time, they covered their mouths and noses with looks of disdain on their faces.
Feng Yuheng furrowed her brow and worriedly said: “Eighth brother, could it be that you suffered internal injuries from being beaten by young miss Zhu? Otherwise, how could you throw up? Eighth brother truly is too pitiful! You’re still so young. How could the Zhu family’s young miss do such a thing!”
With her saying this, Xuan Tiange immediately turned around to waved her hand to the people who had come. It was as though those young misses had been through training, as they all covered their faces at the same time and began to cry.
20 young misses had begun to cry at the same time. The shy ones sobbed, while the bold ones loudly wailed. The Sheng Palace’s servants looked at this scene and suddenly felt as though they were conducting a funeral…