However, before the beauty arrived in his embrace, the beauty brushed past his arm and rushed behind him. As she brushed past his arm, she forcefully pressed against the wound that she had just opened. It hurt, but it also pulled his mind back to the present.
Bu Cong reluctantly turned around and saw Feng Yu Heng’s rapid footsteps suddenly stop in front of someone. That person wore a set of white robes and had inky black hair that resembled a waterfall. With a white-jade hair clip, he appeared refined and elegant like a deity.
Feng Yu Heng shouted out in a sorrowful tone: “Seventh brother!” She then hugged his arm and turned to point at him: “Seventh brother, for some reason, General Bu is blocking A-Heng’s path to the carriages. He is trying to kill A-Heng!”
This was said in a very loud voice, as nearly everyone in the immediate surroundings could hear her. Bu Cong’s face turned white with anger. He wanted to kill her? Without mentioning that it was just a simple competition at first, even by the end, he did not hurt her in the slightest. Instead, he was the one that had been injured and left with a bloody wound. He had never been injured on the battlefield, but who knew that he would be injured by a little girl. The more Bu Cong thought about it, the more unreconciled he felt.
This unreconciled feeling appeared very clearly on this face. Seeing the change in mood on his face, Feng Yu Heng hid behind that person and said: “Seventh brother, look at him. I fear that he wants to kill me.”
The person that had come was the seventh prince, Xuan Tian Hua. He had already seen Bu Cong fighting with Feng Yu Heng from quite far away, but he did not increase his pace. Instead, he continued to walk slowly because he knew that Feng Yu Heng would not lose. Now that Bu Cong still had a vicious expression before him, Xuan Tian Hua became quite unhappy “General Bu, could it be that you are waiting for this prince to salute you first?”
The seventh prince very rarely spoke this way. He usually treated people very kindly. Even if someone did not salute him, he would not say anything. In fact, he very referred to himself as this prince. He would usually always say I. But for some reason, after meeting Feng Yu Heng, whenever something happened to this girl, his kind demeanor would immediately disappear. In fact, he would end up acting extremely unreasonable and unrelenting like Prince Yu.
Bu Cong was not stupid. He had been around for many years, so how could he not know of Xuan Tian Hua’s personality. Seeing that he had a cold expression, he immediately understood that the seventh prince was angry. The seventh prince very rarely got angry, in fact, he never got angry; however, everyone knew that not getting angry did not mean that he did not have a temper. It was just that he could not be bothered to argue over many things. Once he truly did get angry, he would be no less of a pain to deal with than the ninth prince!
A cold sweat appeared on his brow, as he quickly stepped forward and dropped to one knee and bowed: “This humble subordinate greets your Highness Prince Chun! Long live your Highness!”
Xuan Tian Hua looked at him and could not help but shake his head, “General Bu’s wishes of a long life, this prince does not dare accept. Who knows if you will immediately curse this prince to die tomorrow once this prince turns around.”
Even more sweat appeared on Bu Cong’s brow. The seventh prince was going to speak like this? How could this be the seventh prince? This was clearly that ninth demon.
He frankly dropped to both knees and lowered his head. He did not dare act out in the slightest, saying: “This humble subordinate does not dare!”
“You do not dare?” Xuan Tian Hua looked at him then laughed coldly, “Is there anything that General Bu does not dare do? You have martial abilities and are proficient in military strategy. Father Emperor gave you the role of helping the general in the South. After returning to the capital, you were specially permitted to enter the imperial palace with a weapon. As for you? You use your martial abilities and the power that you wield to try and kill my younger sister, on a path to the carriages no less. In front of so many witnesses, you dare to be so arrogant. Who are you hoping will see this? What do you take my imperial family for?”
Bu Cong was extremely shocked: “Your Highness, it’s not like that! This humble subordinate was just trying to learn from exchanging blows with county princess Ji An and did not try to kill her!”
The grief on Feng Yu Heng’s face became even more profound: “Nonsense! So many pairs of eyes saw you, yet you still have the face to spout such lies? I was happily walking with my servant, and you suddenly rushed forward from some unknown place. I wanted to leave a few times, but you blocked my path, and you even said that you would definitely spill my blood here! Seventh brother, A-Heng is scared to death!”
Xuan Tian Hua quickly patted the girl’s shoulder with a tender expression and said: “Don’t fear. With seventh brother here, nobody can hurt you.”
At this time, Bu Cong was dazed. When had he ever said that he would spill her blood here? How could this girl tell such a lie with a straight face? But… he had indeed suddenly rushed over to her, and he had indeed blocked Feng Yu Heng’s path. When it came to this matter, he had indeed been unreasonable.
At this time, Xuan Tian Hua called the imperial guards that had been standing guard on the path. There were two groups for a total of 18 people. He then loudly asked: “Come and tell me. When General Bu met county princess Ji An, what exactly happened?”
Immediately, someone went forward and replied: “Replying to your Highness, these humble servants all saw it. At that time, county princess Ji An was chatting with her servant while walking towards the imperial palace’s gate. General Bu had just entered the palace and was on the other end of the path at first and had not even gotten off his horse. Upon seeing county princess, General Bu suddenly used his qinggong and soared, rushing directly in the direction of county princess. Us humble servants were all extremely shocked and wanted to rush to protect county princess. Fortunately, county princess noticed in time and managed to avoid disaster. After that, the two talked for a while, but us humble servants could not hear what was said; however, we could see that General Bu was always being very fierce. He even shouted that he wanted to compete with county princess. County princess did not want to and moved to leave with her servant; however, General Bu went to block her path. It looked like, like…”
“What did it look like?” Xuan Tian Hua frowned, “If you have something to say, say it directly. This prince will support you.”
That person immediately replied, saying: “It looked like General Bu really wanted to attack county princess. When the two fought, General Bu fought very viciously. If it was not for county princess being very skilled, perhaps she would have already been killed!”
“Nonsense!” Bu Cong shouted loudly. Subconsciously standing up, he pulled out the sword at his hip and swung at the imperial guard.
“Ah!” The military officer shouted but could not dodge.
Just as Bu Cong’s sword was about to strike that person, something white suddenly flashed past their eyes. There was a slight sway before his wrist began to feel numb. No longer able to maintain a grip of his sword, it fell to the ground.
Bu Cong looked at that white flash in horror, as it passed by in front of him the looped back to Xuan Tian Hua. It was actually a white jade thumb ring that Xuan Tian Hua wore on his left hand.
“Your Highness!” Bu Cong was unreconciled and said: “This servant is spouting nonsense! Look, right now, this humble subordinate has been wounded, yet there is not a single wound on county princess Ji An’s body!”
Xuan Tian Hua did not speak, but that military officer became furious: “General Bu! Although you are of high standing and have power, you cannot spout nonsense with a straight face! You being injured is because your martial abilities are inferior to county princess Ji An; however, it does not take away from the fact that you tried to kill a young girl! We all saw it personally! Comrades, what do you say?”
Under his leadership, the imperial guards all said in unison: “General Bu trying to kill county princess Ji An is something that we all saw!”
Bu Cong’s face turned blue with anger. He himself was a soldier, and he was even the leader, but why did he feel like he was on the verge of becoming a scholar at this moment? He had his reasons, but he could not speak. He suffered grief, but he had no place to complain. All of the blame was put on him. Who should he complain to about being framed?
When he looked at Feng Yu Heng, he saw that there was not a trace of misery on her face. She looked at him with her chin jutted forward and a mocking smile. Bu Cong felt that this girl was putting on a monkey show, and he was the monkey.
He admitted defeat.
With a thunk, Bu Cong kneeled on the ground and said to Xuan Tian Hua: “All of the blame lies with this humble subordinate. Would your Highness please hand down punishment.”
Xuan Tian Hua ignored him but asked Feng Yu Heng: “Were you hurt?”
Feng Yu Heng shook her head, “I was not injured, but I was frightened by General Bu.”
Xuan Tian Hua faintly smiled, “It’s very fortunate that you were not hurt. As for suppressing your shock, this prince was thinking, General Bu should know how to suppress county princess’ shock, right?”
Bu Cong immediately remembered what he had heard. On the day of Prime minister Feng Jin Yuan’s wedding, Feng Yu Heng whipped the princess of Qian Zhou. After that matter, she had been angered. The ninth prince personally visited and asked for five million taels of gold as reparations. Now that the seventh prince was asking this, could it be that he wanted money?
He blankly raised his head, “This humble subordinate… does not have that much gold.” He indeed did not. How could the Bu family compare to a foreign country? Not to mention gold, they could not even bring out five million taels of silver.
Xuan Tian Hua pondered a little: “Then use something else. I heard that the Bu family has a few residences in the suburbs of the capital. At a later time, this prince will have someone go to get an evaluation. Just prepare the deeds. You are an official of Da Shun, so this prince will not trouble you. More or less will be fine. There is no need to get the full five million taels of gold.”
Bu Cong’s heart tightened. That residence did belong to the Bu family, but it did not belong to him alone. But what if it was not given?
Just as this thought entered his mind, Xuan Tian Hua seemed to have understood him, as he said: “If you do not give them up, this prince does not mind bringing up the crime of attempting to murder county princess Ji An to father Emperor. As for that Eastern Army, this prince does not mind personally handling that matter. Bu Cong, this prince just does not want to lead soldiers. It does not mean that this prince cannot lead them. There are some things that this prince does not want to do; however, that does not mean that this prince cannot do them. Just kneel here today and think it over. Do not get up before the sun has set.” Saying this, he said to the leader of the imperial guards: “Take away General Bu’s weapon. From this day forward, he is no longer permitted to carry a weapon when entering the palace. If his Majesty asks, just say that it was this prince’s desire.”
“Yes!” The military officer picked up General Bu’s sword without another word then direct people to retake their positions.
Xuan Tian Hua no longer looked at Bu Cong. He only turned around and said to Feng Yu heng: “In the future, you must be more careful. There is danger all around. Even if it is the palace, there is no guarantee that it is safe. Understand?”
Feng Yu Heng nodded, “I understand. Thank you, seventh brother.”
Xuan Tian Hua immediately recovered his kind smile. Reaching out, he helped her brush away some scattered hair then said: “Ming’er went to the military camp to prepare for the matter of producing steel. I figure you will be going over after not too long. Either way, you must be careful. Regardless of where you are, you cannot take the situation lightly.”
“Okay.” She pondered a little then took a step forward. Lowering her voice, she said: “I just came from Qing An Palace. Concubine An raised a type of bird that can throw things from a high altitude. The matter of the military camp being poisoned last time cannot be unrelated to her. As for the person behind the scenes, it should be the third prince.”
Xuan Tian Hua nodded, “I understand. In the next few days, find a chance to visit the military camp and discuss it with Ming’er. Quickly go home.”
Feng Yu Heng smiled and bid him farewell. Together with Huang Quan, she quickly left the palace.
Seeing the small figure gradually walk away, Bu Cong, who was still kneeling, suddenly said: “Your Highness, do you not feel that the Feng family’s second young miss is a little odd?”