At this moment, Feng Fen Dai realized that the reason her second sister had begun smiling to brightly was not her. In this world, of the people who could cause her second sister to smile so brightly, there was perhaps only one, and that one was the person she agonized over the most, Xuan Tian Ming.
Feng Fen Dai quivered as she turned around. Sure enough, she saw a large carriage with its curtain lifted and a person sitting inside. That person wore a set of dark purple Winter robes, had a golden mask on his face and a purple lotus flower on his forehead. If this was not Xuan Tian Ming, who else could it be!
She wanted to kneel and greet him, but she was unwilling to pull her eyes away. Just like that, she stared at the person inside the carriage, while her heart felt as though it was going through a turbulent sea. For a long time, she could not regain her calm.
Feng Yu Heng saw Xuan Tian Ming reach for his whip out of irritation. Only then did she helplessly shake her head and remind: “Fourth sister, if you don’t want your face to be whipped, it would be best to look away.”
Fen Dai was startled and immediately realized that she had lost control of herself, but she did not know where she found the self-confidence to believe that Xuan Tian Ming clearly liked her. She was certain that Xuan Tian Ming would not whip her face, thus she continued to stare at the face covered by the golden mask while ignoring the raised whip in Xuan Tian Ming’s hand.
The officials and the third prince, Xuan Tian Ye, who had come to send off Feng Jin Yuan had left a long time ago. Now, it was only the people of the Feng family who were knelt on the ground. The citizens who were walking past did not understand what was happening, but they knew that the person in the carriage had to be a person with a high ranking. Thus, there were also people who knelt down. There were also people that were more frightened, who turned back and ran away.
Feng Yu Heng frowned and looked at the scene in the street. She quickly walked towards Xuan Tian Ming’s carriage and gave an order to Wang Chuan: “Tell concubine mother An to bring every back to the manor first. I have some things to discuss with his Highness.” After saying this, she got in the carriage.
Feng Fen Dai was not willing to accept this. She was especially not reconciled when she watched the curtain close. The carriage then turned around and departed. She stomped her foot, as a great hatred surged forth.
Han shi quickly went forward to offer her advice: “You are taking too much risk. What if you roused the anger of the ninth prince, who knows what trouble would have been caused.”
Feng Fen Dai did not say anything. Instead, a thought surged to the top of her mind. If Feng Yu Heng died, became crippled or lost her purity, she would no longer have the right to marry Xuan Tian Ming. They were both daughters of the Feng family, so perhaps she would have the opportunity to marry him in her place.
Han shi saw Fen Dai’s eyes spinning and knew that she definitely came up with some sort of idea. She could not help but remind her: “You must remember the lesson you learned from last time. You absolutely can not act rashly.”
Fen Dai flicked her sleeve, “I know, you’re so annoying.”
At this time, Feng Yu Heng was with Xuan Tian Ming in the carriage. She held his whip in one hand and the armrest of his wheelchair in the other. She was earnestly advising him, saying: “Whatever the case may be, a man hitting a woman is not a good thing.”
Xuan Tian Ming looked at her with an interesting look, “I have hit plenty in the past.”
She recalled the time he had hit Chen shi and helplessly said: “At any rate, that happened in the manor. Was this not the middle of the street.”
“Heng Heng, when have you started to be reasonable?”
Feng Yu Heng was stunned then immediately became angry: “Are you saying I was not reasonable in the past? Xuan Tian Ming, when have I ever been unreasonable?”
“You’re pretty unreasonable right now.” He broke down the situation for her: “Look, I was originally coming to rescue you, but you ended up scolding me for a while. Is this something a reasonable person can do?”
She rolled her eyes, “I am developing your gentlemanly demeanor.” After saying this, she saw a blank look on his face, thus she shook her head: “Even if I said it, you would not understand. Oh right, were you not at the military camp? How come you’ve returned so suddenly? I was just about to go visit you at the military camp after sending off Feng Jin Yuan.”
Xuan Tian Ming smiled, “It seems I really should not have come back. I should have waited at the military camp for our Heng Heng to come visit.”
Feng Yu Heng raised her hand and poked the hole in the mask at the forehead, “In your dreams.” After smiling, she became serious, “It snowed so heavily a few days ago, nothing happened on your end, right?”
“Nothing happened.” Xuan Tian Ming shook his head, “The city where the military camp is located is sturdy. It is not as desolate as you think.”
Feng Yu Heng let out a sigh of relief, “That’s good. That day, seventh brother went out of the city to make offerings to his mother and was caught up in an avalanche. I worried that something would have happened on your end. But Ban Zou and them said that it had snowed too heavily, so there was absolutely no way of going.” Her expression dropped. No matter how strong a person was, there would always be some things that would be out of reach.
Xuan Tian Ming could see that she had become dejected. He could not help but raise his hand and pat her hair, “I am a man. It should not be that everything I do will cause you to worry. Instead, it was me that was stuck in the military camp after the heavy snowfall, worrying about you. I have wanted to return to the capital quickly to see you, but I could not simply leave behind all of the officers. Afterwards, I heard about all the things you did in the capital, and they were even done in the name of the Yu Palace. Truly…” He thought about how he should phrase it, “Un, a girl must be married off when she becomes of age!”
Xuan Tian Ming, you unreasonable man!
She wanted to lose her mind, but was grabbed by the person before her, “Enough messing around. Let’s speak about important matters. My legs… is there any saving them?”
Feng Yu Heng gradually calmed down and turned her attention towards his legs; however, she did not speak for a long time.
Xuan Tian Ming saw that she was a little troubled and could not help but say: “It’s fine. Either way, I have become accustomed to sitting in a wheelchair.”
“That’s not it.” She shook her head, “I’m not saying that it can not be treated. I am only saying that I can not declare to what degree it can be treated. A doctor can not get a good idea of how badly damaged the bone is just by feeling it. I will need to examine it carefully.”
“Ok.” With just an ok, he did not ask how she would examine it. Instead, he only said: “Then I will leave it to you to arrange it as soon as possible.”
Feng Yu Heng had some doubts, “Has something happened?”
He did not hide it from her and said: “Third brother’s actions lately have been a little hard to control. Originally, we found that he had raised an army of 30 thousand. Today, however, it has repeatedly been expanded. We can not say precisely how many there are, but they are heading North. Although they were careful and are traveling separately, some clues were still discovered by seventh brother’s hidden guard.”
“North?” Feng Yu Heng’s heart twitched. Feng Jin Yuan just departed for the North. Now she heard that Xuan Tian Ye’s army was also heading North. Could it be that this was a coincidence? She took a deep breath and adjusted her mindset. Everything was still just a guess and nothing was certain. The most important matter at hand was treating Xuan Tian Ming’s legs. “Come to Tong Sheng pavilion tomorrow.” She told Xuan Tian Ming, “Come in through the main entrance. You will not be able to leave for seven days, so let the palace know ahead of time.”
“Alright.” He nodded. He could see that there was still something on Feng Yu Heng’s mind, but he did not say anything nor did he ask. If this girl had an idea she should talk about, she would definitely talk about it. Asking about the things she could not talk about would only trouble her. “I will come over first thing tomorrow morning.”
After he finished speaking, the carriage stopped. The imperial guard conducting the carriage said: “Your Highness, we have arrived at county princess’ manor.”
He acknowledged it and held Feng Yu Heng’s had, “Rest well tonight. Regardless of whether or not my legs can be treated, I will need to bring you to the military camp before the new year. Your archery is mystical and will truly be a great help to me.”
She was a little pleased: “Really?” In her past life, she had trained in archery with her instructor. At the beginning it was just a hobby, but she never would have thought that a day would come where her archery skill would surpass her instructor’s. But, she was still just a medical doctor, so she would not get much chance to make use of her martial skills. Now that she heard Xuan Tian Ming say that she would not only visit the military camp but would also be helpful, she truly felt moved.
Xuan Tian Ming saw her eyes light up and could not help but laugh, “The other girls your age from other families are learning embroidery and doing their eyebrows, or they are learning one of the four arts. You, on the other hand, spend your days messing around with medicine or martial arts.” He said this while rubbing the calluses on her five fingers, “It is admirable for a girl to become like you.”
“I will remember to make a purse for you at a later date.” Feng Yu Heng giggled and looked at him, her eyes containing a very familiar slyness: “I have never sewn with cloth before, but I have sewn with human flesh. Do not worry, my needlework will definitely be more careful than those wealthy young misses.”
Xuan Tian Ming helplessly laughed, “I truly have found an oddity of a wife.”
She acted a little coy, “I still have not gotten married.”
“You’ll be married sooner or later.” He smiled even more and continued: “I will not hide it from you. The battle in the Northwest, our group suffered a loss at the hands of an archery team. After that day in the mountains, Bai Ze and I were surrounded by a group of great archers. We only managed to escape by the skin of our teeth. We did some investigating after that but only found that it was an archery group borrowed from the country to the North, Qian Zhou. Because their numbers were not many, they were able to enter Da Shun and mingle in with the Northwest. Therefore, Heng Heng, help me train a group of great archers. There will come a day when I will personally bring your group of archers over to Qian Zhou to compete with them and see who has more better skills.”
“Good.” Feng Yu Heng sincerely nodded, “I promise you.”
When Xuan Tian Ming left, he felt this girl’s mind was uneasy. The gloominess on her face was very apparent, but she was reluctant to speak of it with him.
But he did not know that the moment Feng Yu Heng heard the reason Xuan Tian Ming and Bai Ze had failed to escape the mountains of the Northwest was related with an archery group from Qian Zhou, she felt a great deal of skepticism. Her unease and anger reached a new level.
When she got out of the carriage, Huang Quan had already returned. She was waiting with Wang Chuan at the entrance.
Seeing Feng Yu Heng returned, Huang Quan immediately went forward and told her: “That person recognized fourth young miss’ voice. The girl who had found him at the time and was wearing the bamboo hat had a very similar voice to the fourth young miss. Because it was a matter of life and death, he remembered it very clearly.”
Feng Yu Heng nodded. She listened while walking towards the manor, “At that time, Feng Fen Dai had been sent to the suburbs of the capital, and there was nobody watching over her. If I did not take action at that time, that would have been a life. Who knew that a ten year old girl would actually have such thoughts and boldness.”
“This servant arranged for that person to stay at Hundred Herb Hall. This servant originally wanted to send him back to his own home, but upon thinking more, the fourth young miss will definitely send to keep an eye on him. We can not stick around him all day and keep guard, so we arranged to keep him at Hundred Herb Hall. Wang Lin just happened to say that they were lacking a person to help with carrying around medical herbs, so he will do that as well.”
“That’s fine.” Feng Yu Heng was very satisfied with this arrangement.
Wang Chuan, however, faintly sighed: “Who knew that the Feng manor was so ruthless that everyone from old to young was this way.”
Feng Yu Heng shrugged, “If the Feng manor weren’t ruthless, I would not have been sent to the mountains in the Northwest. I would not have been attacked by the carriage driver on the way back to the capital. With a family like that, how can they be considered relatives?”
The two saw that Feng Yu Heng’s expression was not bad. They knew that she must have been filled with anger over the Feng family’s treatment of her over the years. What they did not know, however, was that Feng Yu Heng was irritated how Xuan Tian Ming had become injured once more after she had treated his legs.
Feng Jin Yuan was going North to relieve the people affected by the disaster. Xuan Tian Ye’s army was also secretly heading North. If the North did not have supplies, why would they bother?
Feng Yu Heng gnashed her teeth fiercely. She thought to herself, if things really progressed as she thought they would, she would definitely tear Feng Jin Yuan to bits and destroy this Feng manor!