Bu Ni Shang was scared speechless. Blood continued to flow from her finger. The more it bled, the paler she became.
Feng Yu Heng glanced at her then reminded a servant at her side: “Quickly bring young miss Bu to rest. Remember to call an imperial doctor. If she loses too much blood, she will faint.
Bu Ni Shang cursed everyone in Feng Yu Heng’s family back 18 generations. On the surface, however, she did not dare let it show. Holding her wrist, she followed the eunuch and left.
Today, she was the only one to come from the Bu family. Lord Bu had died, head imperial concubine Bu was crippled, and Bu Cong never returned to the capital after going out to look for Feng Yu Heng. His father, Bu Bai Qi, feared that something had happened and asked for a leave early in the morning to look for his son. Bu Ni Shang had her finger bitten off but pitifully sat alone without a single person to console her. Even the fourth prince, Xuan Tian Yi, stayed away from her, fearing that he would irritate the Emperor.
“Once the banquet comes around, the Bu family gets bloodied. It really is annoying.” Someone shouted this in irritation. The banquet was already quite quiet, but the scene felt even more panicked because of these words.
It was unknown who had the courage to say such a thing. Everyone looked around and saw that the person who had spoken up was walking towards Feng Yu Heng, saying: “Girl, go accompany your aunt Lan. She really misses you and your mother.” It was Lord Wen Xuan, Xuan Mou. “Your mother usually does not go out much. I really do not know what your father is thinking. Could it be that he has locked up the gate and locked her inside?”
Lord Wen Xuan was the current Emperor’s only full brother. The words he said carried a weight that nobody dared ignore. Even if it was the current court’s prime minister Feng Jin Yuan, he could only helplessly say “My lord is exaggerating.” He then quickly said to Feng Yu Heng: “Quickly go chat for a while with the princess!”
Feng Yu Heng bowed with a smile towards Lord Wen Xuan before turning and walking in the direction of Princess Wen Xuan.
She then heard someone say from within the crowd: “This general’s leg was healed last time thanks to A-Heng’s medicine. It truly has gotten better. Feng Jin Yuan, this is how you treat the benefactor of this general?”
Feng Yu Heng did not stop walking, as the corners of her lips curled up. She could tell that the person speaking was General Ping Nan, who was also the father of Ren Xi Feng.
Previously, she had given him some medical plasters for leg injuries. It seemed that it had quite a good effect.
Not waiting for Feng Jin Yuan to reply, Prime minister Fung Ping also spoke: “Previously, I only knew that prime minister Feng was steely faced and stoic in court. I never knew that he would treat his family members in such a way.”
The moment Fung Ping spoke, Feng Jin Yuan immediately lost his cool. Turning around to face him, he retorted: “Could it be that Lord Fung pampers his family’s younger generation?”
Fung Ping laughed, “It’s not to the degree of pampering, but at the very least, if my daughter went missing during a house fire, even if I had to give everything I have to bring her back, I would. I would not just make a show of it for a day or two then just announce my daughter as being dead.”
“How do you know I did not put forth the effort to search?” Feng Jin Yuan was curious. How was it that it seemed as though everyone knew about what happened at Feng Tong county. He had clearly given a gag order to the people of the Feng family. Where exactly had this news been leaked from?
“How many days you searched for, you should be clear about. Prime minister Feng, this old man will advise you to not make any more excuses on this matter. Otherwise, this old man will need to invite his Majesty to make a judgement.”
These words had hit Feng Jin Yuan’s weak spot. Not only did he fear the Emperor, he feared that this entire matter would be known by too many people. For better or worse, he was the prime minister. If people used this matter to poke at his back, it would truly be too difficult to explain. Moreover, the Emperor had always been biased towards Feng Yu Heng. If nobody brought it up, it would be best. If someone really helped to investigate this matter, it would be odd for anything good to happen to him.
Understanding this logic, Feng Jin Yuan obediently shut his mouth. Turning around, he did not pay any further attention to Fung Ping.
Unfortunately, him initiating the retreat did not mean nobody would go looking to cause him trouble. Suddenly, he felt a pain in his calf and his legs turn soft, nearly causing him to kneel on the ground. Fortunately, there were people at his side who helped stop him from falling. Only thanks to this did he not lose too much face.
Feng Jin Yuan’s face turned white once more. This pain was the result of a kick, as he could clearly tell that the pain had come from a foot. Though the kick was not very strong, he nearly fell because he was caught off-guard. But for there to be someone who dared to kick the prime minister of the country to plainly caused him to feel dread.
He stabilized himself and said a word of thanks to the person who had caught him. Only then did he turn his head around to look for the culprit; however, he did not see anyone. While he was surprised, he heard a child-like yet incredibly angry voice come from below his line of sight “Only because I trusted you did I leave my wife in your Feng family for the time being; however, you don’t even know to even a little care! You treat my wife like this?”
The entire scene fell silent.
Feng Yu Heng was seated next to Princess Wen Xuan and had just placed an apple in her mouth. Before she could even chew once, she heard this scream. The chunk of apple slipped into her throat and nearly choked her to death.
Xuan Fei Yu, oh lord, what sort of nonsense was this child spouting?
Feng Jin Yuan also saw Xuan Fei Yu, and his mind collapsed. The people of the imperial family were already very hard to deal with. Even just dealing with Lord Wen Xuan was enough to cause him to down a bottle. Was this little Emperor’s grandson someone that he could afford to offend? Apparently, this little kid even dared to face off against Xuan Tian Ming. He was also the only one the Emperor would not scold. Who could control him?
Feng Jin Yuan bitterly asked the child: “Your young Highness, what did you just say?” If he did not hear incorrectly, this child had said something about his wife. For such a young child, where would a wife come from? What did it have to do with his Feng family?
Hearing his question, Xuan Fei Yu expressed his dissatisfaction and rolled his eyes, saying: “My wife is the deity big sister. The deity big sister that you bullied!” He spoke while looking around. Finally, he discovered Feng Yu Heng and loudly called: “Deity big sister, you came back! Fei Yu really missed you!” After he finished shouting, he rushed over, directly diving into Feng Yu Heng’s lap.
Feng Yu Heng had just spit out the piece of apple and was about to drink some water to suppress feeling. Having been tackled by Xuan Fei Yu, the water in her hand spilled, and she nearly fell over backwards out of the chair.
She speechlessly said: “Where did all your strength come from?”
“Maybe when my leg was healing, it went over the top.” The chubby little child’s response was very natural, as his two little arms firmly wrapped around Feng Yu Heng’s neck, unwilling to let go. Feng Yu Heng tried to tug him down a few times but was unsuccessful. She could only let him do as he pleased. “Big sister, they all said you died, but Fei Yu did not believe it. You are a deity, so how could you die? It’s fine if your father does not like you. Marry into my family, and my prince father and princess consort mother will treat you well.”
“Cough cough!” Someone coughed twice, “Smelly brat, you want to steal my wife?” Xuan Tian Ming gently tapped his golden mask with a finger, causing everyone nearby to panic.
But Xuan Fei Yu apparently did not fear him. Instead, he raised his small chin and loudly said: “We can compete fairly!”
With these words, everyone present broke into laughter.
A child’s words carried no harm. Even if he said outrageous things, it displayed a bit of innocence. It was much better than the adults who schemed and plotted against one another by who knows how many times.
The poor atmosphere of the banquet caused by the matters with the Feng family was improved greatly. The second prince smiled wryly and said to Xuan Tian Ming: “You’re getting mad over a little child’s words. Last time, younger sister treated his leg. After he got home, every day, he would call deity big sister, deity big sister. This time, we heard that something happened to younger sister at the clan residence, and he cried at home for a long time.”
Xuan Tian Ming shrugged and smiled, “Second brother, there is no need to take it to heart. Tian Yu is someone I have watched grow up. I don’t even have time to dote on him, so how could I blame him.”
The second prince let out a sigh, “That is good. That’s good. This child will definitely need to be taken care of more by his princess consort mother when he goes home; otherwise, who knows what sorts of problems he will cause me.”
Because of Xuan Fei Yu’s appearance, a little bit of warm feeling finally filled the banquet. The people who had been nervous also relaxed. The song and dance had begun, and the cold of Winter dissipated slightly.
Feng Yu Heng held Xuan Fei Yu and played with him. Every now and then she would pull out a piece of chocolate or some snacks, causing Xuan Fei Yu to smile the entire time. Xiang Rong also came over. She also felt that Xuan Fei Yu was truly very cute and summoned some courage to play with him a bit. Xuan Fei Yu felt that Xiang Rong was very easy to get along with. He extended an arm and hugged her. In the end, Xiang Rong laughed so much that she nearly teared up.
When this scene entered the eyes of Chen Yu and Fen Dai, an intense jealousy burned within. Especially Chen Yu, who, without her position as daughter to the first wife, was now ignored by the madams and young misses who had greeted her with a smile. They even treated Fen Dai better than her. This situation was impossible for her to accept.
She could not help but turn her gaze towards the third prince, Xuan Tian Ye, but before she could get him to meet her gaze, her vision suddenly blurred. A wealthy lady wearing a floral dress stood before her.
Fen Dai was the first to react and quickly stood up, greeting that person: “Fen Dai greets Princess Xiang.”
Chen Yu also recognized her, but her brows furrowed, as a hostile look escaped her eyes.
Princess Xiang ignored Fen Dai, as she glanced at Chen Yu with eyes filled with contempt. She then raised her hand and said to Fen Dai: “Rise! You are both daughters of concubines, but you seem to know courtesy and are much better than this person.”
Fen Dai happily stood up, but Chen Yu had become angry. She subconsciously wanted to retort, but she had her mouth covered up by Yi Lin’s arm. While helping her stand up, she said: “Princess, please do not blame her. My family’s young miss fell into the water while coming to the island in the middle of the lake. Only because of this shock did she not react in time to greet princess.”
Chen Yu gnashed her teeth. Listening to Yi Lin, these words were clearly giving her a way out. She knew this, but she was still angry and could only suppress it. Thus, she adjusted her mindset for a while then took the initiative to bow and say: “Chen Yu greets Princess Xiang.”
But she did not think that she would hear Princess Xiang coldly say, “Whether or not fish sink, I do not care; however, you must be careful that you do not sink yourself.”1
Chen Yu felt a chill and stood up on her own. When she raised her head to look towards Princess Xiang, she found that the other side had already left and was heading towards where the group of princes sat.
The third prince, Xuan Tian Ye, naturally noticed what had happened but could not hear what they had said. At this time, he saw Princess Xiang walking towards himself, so he took the initiative and took a few steps forward to welcome her.
After all, the Emperor had personally decreed for her to be treated. He definitely could not show himself to be too cold and distant. Feng Jin Yuan was simply a lesson to be learned from.
Princess Xiang smiled calmly and stood next to Xuan Tian Ye. When she turned her head to look at Feng Chen Yu, she just happened to see the pair of eyes filled with fury.
Xuan Tian Ye, however, did not look over towards Feng Chen Yu, as he no longer had the reason of bringing in a new official princess. With Chen Yu having already been demoted from daughter of the first wife to daughter of a concubine, this point alone caused him retreat.
So what if she had the aspect of the phoenix? Was the mother of all under heaven someone born of a concubine? Not having this type of official wife was fine!
1: Play on Chen Yu’s name, which can be read as sinking fish.