Once the eight escort soldiers entered the area of Qi Feng Mountain, one of them immediately put his hand in his mouth and made a loud and clear whistling noise.
Following this, the escorts and teh carriage stopped in place. Not long after, a dark shadow flashed across and stopped before the carriage. It kneeled and heavily said: “This servant Ban Zou greets his Highness.”
The curtain of the carriage was opened, revealing two people sitting inside. One wore purple clothes and the other blue-green clothes. One wore a golden mask and had a devilish appearance, and the other had a clean and deity-like appearance.
Amazingly, it was the ninth prince Xuan Tian Ming and the seventh prince Xuan Tian Hua.
The person kneeling before the carriage was Ban Zou. Both his knees were on the ground, as he had an appearance of having done something wrong and was being handled in a military fashion.
Xuan Tian Ming looked at Ban Zou, a look of a death appearing in his cold eyes.
“Your carrier pigeon was caught twice by Feng Jin Yuan.” He finally spoke but directly began speaking of Ban Zou’s failures.
Ban Zou knelt on the ground, not daring to speak.
Xuan Tian Ming then asked: “The third time, it reached this prince, but this prince was already a mere 20 li away from Feng Tong county.”
Sweat appeared on Ban Zou’s brow.
“This prince asks you, where is your master?”
In the late Autumn day, a drop of sweat fell from Ban Zou’s brow to the ground of the mountain.
“This servant is incompetent.” He had truly done his best. He had searched for many days; however, there was not the slightest sign of Feng Yu Heng.”
“What level of crime should it be?”
“Death.”
Xuan Tian Ming did not speak any further. Ban Zou waited a while before despair began appearing on his face.
“This servant bids farewell to your Highness.” He kowtowed deeply. When he rose, he flattened his and and slapped towards his forehead.
His palm broke through the skin and went straight for his brain.
But at the very last second before the palm could land, his wrist suddenly became numb. He could no longer exert and strength. Given the inertia, he fell backwards.
Ban Zou was startled then happy. He quickly re-positioned himself, kneeling properly once more, and said while gasping: “This servant thanks your Highness for the grace of being spared.”
Xuan Tian Ming did not want to pay him any heed. To the side, Xuan Tian Hua spoke up and asked Ban Zou: “Where have you searched?”
Ban Zou replied: “Everywhere within 50 li has been searched.”
Xuan Tian Hua stood up and walked before the carriage. Looking around at the surroundings, he then said: “This Qi Feng Mountain is a strategic location that is easy to defend. For someone who was looking to hide, it is not an impossibility.”
Ban Zou helplessly said: “Huang Quan and Wang Chuan also had to take care of madam Yao. Only this servant was searching. There were some places… that could not be searched.”
Snap!
Xuan Tian Ming thrashed his whip once more, “Yet you still dare say you searched it all?”
“This servant should die!”
Nobody saw it, but the face under the golden mask became more and more savage. He originally believed that even if Feng Yu Heng were kidnapped, with Ban Zou present, there would at least be some clues after two days. Now, however, it seemed that this matter was odd!
Xuan Tian Ming very quickly calmed down and ordered in a low voice, “You will remain with this prince and continue searching Qi Feng Mountain.” He then looked to Xuan Tian Hua, “Seventh brother, tonight, go to the Feng clan’s residence. Carefully search the burned room. Since I am in a wheelchair, it is not convenient.”
Xuan Tian Hua nodded, “Don’t worry. Once night arrives, I will go over and take a look.”
This entire day, Xuan Tian Ming’s group of people searched the entirety of Qi Feng mountain. Wang Chuan and Huang Quan were also notified to come over. Upon seeing Xuan Tian Ming, they only heard a single thing: “If she can not be found, you lot will be thrown atop Mount Tian Tai to feed the vultures.”1
At this moment, Feng Yu Heng, who was fainted in the pharmacy finally began to wake up. As her vision slowly recovered, her memory also followed.
She stood up with some support. Her body swayed, as she nearly fell.
Feng Yu Heng was not like Chen Yu, where Feng Zi Hao immediately showed up after she was poisoned to provide sexual relief. She had relied on her own will to get through it. Even though she had woken up, her body was still very weak.
Her steps were shaky, as she walked over to the stairs. Feng Yu Heng struggled and climbed up the stairs. By the end, she was tired and her head covered in sweat.
She could not worry about anything else, as she rushed straight for the operating room. She searched around in a drawer and pulled out a needle and did her best to calm herself down. Steadily, she gave herself an intravenous injection. She then went to the pharmacy’s counter and pulled out two pills for sobering up and swallowed them. Only then did she sit back down on the ground and begin gasping.
Too dangerous, even when she thought of it now, she was filled with fear.
If she had breathed in any more of that pure and potent drug, perhaps she would have fallen asleep and never awoken again. Or perhaps she simply did not sleep, instead her blood vessels might have burst, causing her death.
Being able to give her such a vile medicine, just how hated was she?
Feng Yu Heng did not know how long had passed outside, but given how fierce the drug was, it should have been at least two or three days. She could not help but begin to worry. If Ban Zou and them could not find her, how worried would they be? Would Yao shi be on the verge of break down from worrying? How would the Feng family deal with her? Treat her as lost? Or dead?
Just as she was thinking, she heard a sound come from the outside. She listened carefully and seemed to heard someone’s footsteps and the sound of searching.
Feng Yu Heng did not know that the outside had already been completely burned; however, she did know that she was currently in the pharmacy’s second floor. If she exited the space as she was now, she feared that she would not be able to handle the fall to the ground.
Thus, she gritted her teeth and returned to the first floor. She prepared to take the size of the room into consideration and also thought about if there was any place for her to appear. But at this time, the searching sounds and footsteps stopped not too far from her current location. Then, she heard a clear voice whisper: “Feng Yu Heng, where exactly are you?”
Her heart was moved and immediately recognized that voice.
It was the seventh prince, Xuan Tian Hua, the person who had saved her once before. It was the person she called seventh brother!
Why had he come?
Feng Yu Heng began pondering and immediately realized that something very serious must have happened outside. Otherwise, even if Xuan Tian Ming and Xuan Tian Hua chased over to Feng Tong county, Xuan Tian Hua would not have entered her room like this, nor said something like this.
While she was in a daze, the person outside seemed to have moved. His footsteps instead moved further and further away until she almost could not hear them any more.
Feng Yu Heng became anxious and did not worry about anything else. Moving her consciousness, she left her space.
Following this, the thick smell of smoke filled the air. What she saw was not the room assigned to her by the clan, instead it was a charred area.
She was still laying on the ground. Raising her head, she just happened to see the shape of a person walking forward. Feng Yu Heng weakly shouted: “Seventh brother!”
That person immediately heard her, and when he turned around, it was still the deity-like calm person. His face was filled with surprise.
“Seventh brother!” She called out once more, her voice was completely hoarse.
Xuan Tian Hua quickly walked over to her, arriving in a few steps. He then bent down and picked up off the ground.
Feng Yu Heng’s body was not steady, as she could not stand at all. She weakly stayed in Xuan Tian Hua’s lap with a bit of a feeling similar to that of a survivor of a disaster.
“A-Heng thought that she would never see you again.” After she finished saying this, she felt another surge of dizziness reach her head. Closing her eyes, she fainted once more.
Xuan Tian Hua looked at the girl in his arms and felt waves of distress surge forth. He could not help but push her messy bangs on her forehead, which caused a tear to appear at the corner of her eye.
This caused his to be startled. In his mind, this girl had always been intelligent and cunning. Even if she were faced with an incredibly large problem, he had never seen her cry. Why would she actually let out some tears today?
In reality, Xuan Tian Hua really wanted to know where Feng Yu Heng was hiding. Why was it that he had just searched the entire room, he had even searched the other rooms of the Feng clan residence but not found a single person’s shadow? Yet, just as he had turned to leave, this girl called out seventh brother. Just this one time, she called out this moniker that he had never allowed anyone else to call.
“Don’t be scared.” He clearly spoke and picked up the girl in his arms, “Seventh brother will send you home.”
Even Feng Yu Heng did not know how long she slep for. Either way, when she woke up, it was in a very comfortable embrace. It was warm and there was a large hand gently patting her on the back. The comfort made her not want to open her eyes.
“If you continue sleeping, you’ll starve yourself to death.” A voice came from above her head. It was a joking voice that even let out a bit of a laugh.
Feng Yu Heng angrily raised a hand, wanting to hit him; however, her wrist was grabbed, “You’re murdering your husband!”
She raised her head dejectedly and directly faced the deep eyes under the golden mask. The corner of his lips curled up in an arc like when they first met. It just happened to fit perfectly with his aesthetics, especially the purple lotus flower between his brows. This burrowed even deeper in her heart, becoming even harder to remove.
“Xuan Tian Ming.” She spoke, her voice still a little hoarse; however, it was very pleasant to listen to, “Xuan Tian Ming, how come you only just came?” Feeling a wave of sadness, like a good-for-nothing, she let out a couple streams of tears.
Xuan Tian Ming was stunned. He had never seen Feng Yu Heng cry before. This girl, no matter what situation, had remained strong. He had previously thought that there was nothing in this world that would scare this girl. In addition to this, with her strong abilities, good medical knowledge and him supporting her from behind, who could bully her?”
But this time, Feng Yu Heng cried.
He caressed her small face in distress and did his best to wipe away her tears. It was as though he was looking at a true treasure, his gaze was gentle and careful.
Who knew that after the treasure was held and watched for a while, he began to feel curious. Why did this girl stop crying after just a short while. Why did she not complain to him. Just as he was about to ask her what grievance she had suffered, he heard Feng Yu Heng stare daggers at him while saying: “If you continue not to give me something to eat, I will starve to death.”
Xuan Tian Ming was speechless.
She actually cried out of hunger?
Did this damn girl show any signs of growing up?
Helplessly pulling her up, only then did Feng Yu Heng realize that she was in a carriage. This carriage was extremely large. It was roughly the same size as a ten square meter room. There were two rhythms of the carriage driver’s whip. There should be two people driving the carriage and four horses pulling it.
Turning her head to take a look, she saw that there was a person sitting next to Xuan Tian Ming. It was the one who had brought her back from the burned room, Xuan Tian Hua.
Feng Yu Heng put on a smiling face for Xuan Tian Hua that truly gave her the appearance of a twelve year old child. She then said: “Thank you seventh brother. You’ve saved A-Heng once again.”
Xuan Tian Hua smiled. That smile was a pleasant Spring wind. It filled the carriage with a warmth despite it being between Autumn and Winter.
“After continuing for another hour, we will be able to return to town. Ban Zou has already gone to buy food and will be able to bring it back in a while.” Xuan Tian Hua said this while bringing up a plate of cake to Feng Yu Heng: “Eat a bit first to put something in your stomach!”
Xuan Tian Ming pulled the plate over and smiled bitterly, saying, “Starting from the day you went missing, this is already the fifth day. No wonder you are so hungry.”
“It’s been that long?” Feng Yu Heng was stunned, “Then what about my mother?”
“Don’t worry.” He patted her head then picked up a dessert and stuck it inher mouth, “With Wang Chuan and Huang Quan taking care of her, your father will not be able to cause any trouble.”
“But, it would be best if you said a few words to help spare the two girls and Ban Zou.” Xuan Tian Hua said with a smile: “Ming’er wants to cut off an arm from each of them.”
Feng Yu Heng dropped her face into her hand, “This sort of violence is not good.”
“They did not do a good job protecting you.”
“It was me who hid myself. They naturally would not be able to find me.”
This was the thing that Xuan Tian Hua was most interested in and could not help but ask: “Where exactly did you hide?”
1: Mount Tian Tai is the home of the “Lotus School” of Buddhism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiantai