Giving You an Illness
If she had not come up with a better idea, Feng Yuheng really would have wanted to beat this girl to death immediately, or she could be thrown into a gaggle of men to be dealt with. Don’t you like climbing into beds, then go ahead and do it to your heart’s content.
But in the end, she did not do this because she had come up with an even better idea.
Curling up the corners of her lips, she left the woman inside her space and quickly left the Imperial Palace, heading straight in the direction of the Sheng Palace.
Inside the Sheng Palace, the eighth prince, Xuan Tianmo, had already gone to sleep. At this moment, he was sleeping the heaviest. But for people who were trained in martial arts, his vigilance never dropped. Even when he was asleep, he was still far more alert than normal people when they were awake.
But this sort of thing was completely useless against Feng Yuheng. Even if the entirety of the Sheng Palace was more secure than a metal cage, it was completely pointless. Entering and exiting the Imperial Palace or the Sheng Palace was the same to her as moving through her own kitchen. In her eyes, those hidden guards were nothing. If she had the desire, she could have exterminated all of them.
But she was not without her own plans. At the very least, when she used her space to land in Xuan Tianmo’s room, she carefully prepared her tools. For example, she held an anesthetic needle in one hand and judged the distance needed to appear next to the bed. She also needed to pay attention to the sounds to ensure that Xuan Tianmo was asleep and that there was nobody else in the room.
When she had finished her preparations, she finally dared to come out. In the first moment that she came out, she stabbed the anesthetic needle into Xuan Tianmo. It was such that Xuan Tianmo passed out before even opening his eyes.
Feng Yuheng sneered and stood at the side of the bed while also carrying the girl that had climbed into Zirui’s bed. Without delay, she removed both people’s clothes. When she had finished stripping both completely, she placed a pill into Xuan Tianmo’s mouth then forcefully tapped it to shatter that pill to apply the drug.
As for the girl, she was not spared either. Pulling out a needle that she had prepared in the past, she stabbed it into the girl without any hesitation.
It was a needle filled with a venereal disease. At present, Feng Yuheng was currently feeling some regret. Why had she not kept any needles filled with HIV stored? Otherwise, she would definitely have stabbed the eighth prince with it a few times. She would have him experience the suffering of an incurable disease.
The reason that she had not stabbed that needle directly into Xuan Tianmo was that she had given Xuan Tianmo an aphrodisiac. Ensuring that Xuan Tianmo would be next to this girl when waking up, she would have him get the illness from the girl. Like this, all of the girls being trained as private mentors by the palace would be implicated. They wanted to harm her younger brother, so she had to get rid of the opposition. She could not let that group of people harm others.
After handling things, she looked in satisfaction at the two people “who were together” on the bed. If it was not for this era truly not being suited for the appearance of photos, she really wanted to take a picture of this scene then spread it around later on. She would have this eighth prince’s reputation take a proper hit. But after thinking a bit, the eighth prince would get sick from this, thus she was satisfied with her actions. Although it was not an untreatable illness, that sort of illness was one that needed to be treated. It was quite a shameful thing; moreover, he was a dignified prince.
After finally taking care of what needed to be done, Feng Yuheng casually returned to the Yu Palace. As always, Xuan Tianming was waiting for her. She recounted the happenings of the night, and Xuan Tianming expressed his joy. He also felt a little bit concerned about Zirui’s situation. He discussed with Feng Yuheng: “It can’t always be just you going into the palace. I’ll go tomorrow!” But thinking a bit more, given the current situation in the palace, it would be difficult for him to get in without making use of Feng Yuheng’s space, thus he felt a little bit troubled for a moment.
Feng Yuheng slightly shook his hand and said: “It’s fine. Me going in alone is a little bit better. Imperial Concubine Yuan Shu’s palace has not yet been searched, and I am feeling worried. I will go and take a look tomorrow night. Husband, what I’m doing is merely a supplemental thing. What you and seventh brother are doing is the most important part. Don’t worry and leave going into the palace to me. As for the other things that are outside of arrangements, I am unable to provide much help.”
He dotingly caressed her hair. The consecutive days of being under threat had affected the quality of life of the couple. Feng Yuheng spent her nights going into the palace, and he spent his days busy with work. He was also planning to make a visit to the military camp outside of the capital. If things continued like this, this girl would not be dissatisfied with him, right?
Feng Yuheng seemed to be able to understand what he was thinking, and she could not help but turn red in the face, glaring at him and saying: “What sort of time is it, yet you’re still thinking about that? We got married during a difficult time. If I wanted to complain, I would have done it a long time ago. Who would be like you, thinking about that sort of thing all day long.”
“Since when have I!” Xuan Tianming felt wronged. When had he ever thought about that all day long. Was this not just an emotional moment! The couple ended up debating this topic until the sun came up and Xuan Tianming needed to leave for court. Only then did he begin to feel regret. If they had the time to argue over this sort of thing, why not just go to battle! Was he an idiot?
Feng Yuheng did not consider whether or not he was an idiot. She had been out for the entire night, and her husband had just left. Without saying another word, she dove into bed and went to catch up on sleep. Wang Chuan and Huang Quan were both accustomed to Feng Yuheng catching up on sleep during the day after working through the night. Neither went to disturb her. Even the servants cleaning up the yard outside were much quieter. It was all for the sake of letting Feng Yuheng sleep well.
Calculating it, the new year would arrive in just a few days. Even if the atmosphere in the Imperial Palace drained away any festive feeling, this was the first new year’s celebration since Feng Yuheng and Xuan Tianming’s marriage. Lady Zhou felt that the two could not be allowed to suffer any grievances, thus she made arrangements ahead of time.
Qing Yu worked together with Lady Zhou, as the two handled the work that needed to be done in the Yu Palace and the imperial daughter’s manor. Not only were new clothes made for the servants, but even the Yao manor and Wenxuan manor’s supplies were purchased. Of the two, Lady Zhou felt that the Yao manor was Feng Yuheng’s extended family, thus she made a decision and ordered a set of head ornaments for the madams of the family. All of them were made of gold and inlaid with jade. The designs were ordered by Qing Yu from the jewelry shop. They were beautiful, neither looking old-fashioned nor plain.
As for the Yu Palace, Qing Yu felt that the servants of the Yu Palace should be provided with some better rewards in Feng Yuheng’s name. This additional reward could not come from the Yu Palace’s treasury; it would need to come from the imperial daughter’s manor. The imperial daughter’s manor had always kept its own treasury, and a large portion of Feng Yuheng’s personal wealth came from over there. Moreover, the imperial daughter’s manor had always been quite wealthy, and there was more gold and silver in the underground vault than could be counted. She went over herself and chose quite a few nice things, planning to get a headcount in the Yu Palace. Aside from rewarding them with money, each person was guaranteed to receive something as a gift for the new year. As for Lady Zhou and Eunuch Zhang, they were treated even more specially, as they were given lots of things.
Qing Yu told Feng Yuheng about her plan and the list of gifts when the latter woke up, and Feng Yuheng could not help but sigh: “It’s almost the new year, huh?” Recently, she had always been thinking about the situation in the palace, and she had completely forgotten about the new year. Even with Zirui returning to the capital, she did not feel even the slightest bit of a festive atmosphere. “This year’s new year’s celebration might not be so joyous.” While she said this, she returned the list of gifts to Qing Yu, “Just do as you’ve arranged. I have always been most at ease with you handling things.”
Qing Yu did not give over control and just nodded, saying: “Aside from just the capital, there are the Hundred Herb Halls all over, as well as Ji An Prefecture. There are also our shops in the south. The southern shops have Wang Lin, and there’s no need to worry. In Ji An Prefecture, this servant personally made the decision to send a letter to the third young miss half a month earlier, telling her and concubine mother An to help take care of these things over there. Although we have not yet received a reply, thinking about it, it should not be a problem.”
When Qing Yu brought up Xiangrong, Feng Yuheng sighed once more, saying: “I was originally thinking of having Xiangrong return to the capital for the new year, but then so many things have happened, and I no longer want to call her back. Having her in Ji An Prefecture is more reassuring. If she came back, who knows just what might happen.” After saying this, she suddenly remembered something, as she quickly said to Wang Chuan: “There is something that I forgot about. I promised Bai Ze to give him a vacation for the new year to let him go to Ji An Prefecture to see Furong. Help me with this. When His Highness returns tonight, bring this up and let Bai Ze set out tomorrow. If he doesn’t leave soon, it will be too late.”
Wang Chuan nodded and did not say anything; however, Huang Quan said: “As this servant sees it, Bai Ze will be unable to leave. Given the current situation and based on his personality, no matter how much he is thinking about the Bai family’s young miss, he can’t possibly leave His Highness on his own and head to Ji An Prefecture. As someone who is a personal guard, he has been with His Highness since childhood.”
Wang Chuan also felt this way, telling Feng Yuheng: “We were taught from a young age to always put our masters first. All personal feelings must be placed further down in priority. Of course, strictly speaking, we can’t have feelings. All of our feelings must be focused on our master, and our master’s life is our own life. If there is danger to our master, we definitely cannot leave them to handle personal affairs. These are the rules.”
Feng Yuheng naturally knew about these rules, but she still felt that things should be a little more humane. People could not be raised to be like machines. They should have their own feelings and thoughts. Each person was an independent person and should not live for the existence of a so-called master.
But she could not be bothered with saying such things. After all, she had already expressed her thoughts to Wang Chuan and the others. Even if she said it, they could not possibly do things as she said. It would be better to just follow the customs of the era.
Thus she waved her hand, “Then we’ll deal with it later! Either way, just bring it up tonight. Whether or not he goes, it will be his own decision.”
That afternoon, Feng Yuheng finally began to manage some of the Yu Palace’s affairs in her role as the female master, but most of it was just looking over what the servants had written down in reports for her. This included the clothes that had been prepared. She felt very satisfied.
Of course, Lady Zhou also prepared some new clothes made for her and Xuan Tianming, but their clothes were more of a surprise and had not yet been completed. They would only be completed in a few days’ time.
With many tasks at hand, time passed quickly. In what felt like a blink of an eye, the sky had become dark. Huang Quan knew that she would be going into the palace at night, thus she advised her to take a nap after eating dinner. Either way, Xuan Tianming had gone to visit the military camp and would not be returning for the night.
Feng Yuheng, however, was unable to fall asleep. She could not stop wondering what sort of condition old eighth would be in after waking up?