The Feng Family’s Celebration
Feng Yu Heng fell into a deep sleep while looking forward to the great play that would be put on. When she woke up, it was already noon of the following day. Xuan Tian Ming had already returned from court, and the maidservant had already brought food into the bedchamber.
She rubbed her sleepy eyes and was still unable to recover from the handsome face that suddenly came close. Reaching out her hand to pinch it then pressing the purple lotus, she drowsily said: “You really know how to grow a birthmark. Not only is the shape beautiful, but the color is also good. Its position is also so perfect. Really… I want to pluck it off of you!”
As she spoke, she made a decision and had already taken action.
Xuan Tian Ming was suddenly scratched by her and let out a shout while leaping back from the bed. He then hastily reached out and angrily stopped the person on the bed: “You really do want to push me down the road of having a ruined face!”
Feng Yu Heng finally woke up after being shaken like this. Rubbing her eyes, she let out a long sigh, “Fortunately, you ran quickly. Otherwise, without that purple lotus, there really would be nothing on your face to look at.”
Xuan Tian Ming was dejected. After all was said and done, this damn girl still only looked at his face.
Forget it, forget it, if she wanted to look at his face, she could. Looking at his face meant that she was looking at him. Thinking about it like this, it was not bad.
He comforted himself on one side and put his mask back on. He then helped Feng Yu Heng up to get cleaned up so that she could eat. After eating, he urged her to quickly change into a joyous pink dress. Only then did he bring her out of the palace.
Feng Yu Heng was puzzled, “What exactly are we going to do? Are we participating in a wedding?”
Xuan Tian Ming shook his hand. Only after the two got into the imperial carriage did he say: “We are participating in a celebratory banquet.”
“Whose wedding banquet?” She was puzzled, “Whose celebratory banquet is able to make you, the ninth prince, attend personally? And to even bring along your wife?” Who exactly had the stature to bring both of them out at the same time?
Xuan Tian Ming smiled but did not answer this question. Until the carriage stopped once more and a maidservant lifted the curtain, when she saw that they were in front of the Feng manor, her eyes finally lit up, “The good play that you were talking about last night was this?”
Today, the new Feng manor was very lively. There were many people that had come over with joyous expressions. On one side, they were congratulating Feng Jin Yuan, and on the other, people were registering the gifts that they had brought.
Feng Yu Heng looked at these people and found that they were a little familiar. After looking a little more closely, she found that they were the officials that interacted with Feng Jin Yuan the most when he was still the prime minister. Every since Feng Jin Yuan had been demoted, these people had not appeared in the Feng family for a long time. Who knew that these people would take the initiative to come and visit. The person that they were congratulating was nothing more than a person without rank or title that fed horses at the stable.
She tilted her head and asked Xuan Tian Ming: “They were all invited by you, right?”
Just as she said this, she looked over and a servant announced: “Prime minister lord Fung has arrived!”
Feng Yu Heng facepalmed, “Even uncle Fung has come. Xuan Tian Ming, what exactly are you planning? With so many people coming, does the Feng family have the money to receive all of them? They don’t even have the money for tea, right?”
Huang Quan rested the curtain of the carriage on the jade frame then looked back and said to her: “What does tea matter, they also need to handle the food! With so many people coming, the Feng family must conduct a banquet.”
Xuan Tian Ming nodded and said: “That’s right, this prince has told them that a son was just born into the Feng family. Even if you do not give Feng Jin Yuan face, you need to give face to this imperial daughter Ji An and this prince. Everyone should go and flatter them, and you cannot go empty-handed. A gift must be prepared. With the gifts being brought, how can the Feng family not even provide a meal?”
Feng Yu Heng sat in the imperial carriage with one leg crossed over the other. After hearing this, she seemed to have understood. It seemed that these people had come to give face to the two?
Xuan Tian Ming nodded.
She blinked and suddenly recalled a matter, anxiously asking: “I fear that this banquet will not be very good. There will most likely be fighting over food. You set up a trap for Feng Jin Yuan, right?”
Before Xuan Tian Ming could reply, an imperial carriage pulled up in front of the Feng manor’s entrance. Although imperial carriages were different from normal carriages, the newly arrived one was much worse than the one Xuan Tian Ming had. Not only was it much smaller, but the material used in its construction also could not even be compared. It was not shabby, but it was a bit conservative. Looking at it… Feng Yu Heng thought about it, this was the difference between America and North Korea!
A person came out of the small imperial carriage. It was the fifth prince, Xuan Tian Yan. When he got out of his carriage, he did not get a chance to chat with Feng Jin Yuan before rushing over to Xuan Tian Ming.
Feng Yu Heng saw this his expression was not too good and could not help but prod the person at her side with her elbow, “Hey! He’s come to pick a fight with us, right?”
Xuan Tian Ming laughed, “Where would he find the ability.”
While they spoke, Xuan Tian Yan had already arrived at the carriage. The slight anger in his face turned to a bitter smile when he faced Xuan Tian Ming. The fifth prince spread his hands and somewhat helplessly said: “Ninth brother, what are you doing now?”
Very clearly, the fifth prince was confused by Xuan Tian Ming’s actions.
But Xuan Tian Ming did not feel that he was in the wrong. Hearing him ask, he naturally replied: “Of course, it is for the sake of pleasing the future lord father-in-law! Yours is easy to take care of, just give her some jewelry and clothes, and she will be pleased. As for mine, she has already been conferred the title of imperial daughter, and she has been conferred land, but she is still not satiated. Thus I thought that I should just work from the father-in-law’s side. By coaxing him, perhaps my wife will treat me better on a daily basis.”
These words were spoken without any change in expression or change in breathing pattern. This nearly caused the fifth prince to die of anger, but what could be done even if he was angry? Although he called this person ninth brother, he would turn around and not recognize him as his fifth brother. And he wanted to coax the father-in-law? Buzz of! If he did not cause trouble for the Feng family, Feng Jin Yuan would need to thank Buddha for his blessings.
Xuan Tian Yan helplessly sighed and did not say anything else. Turning around, he walked toward the entrance of the manor. After seeing Feng Jin Yuan, the two chatted slightly, and it seemed that Feng Jin Yuan was going to personally lead Xuan Tian Yan into the manor; however, he was refused by the latter. Xuan Tian Yan just pointed toward them, and Feng Jin Yuan turned his gaze over.
The fifth prince entered the manor on his own, and Xuan Tian Ming brought his wife out of the imperial carriage. Feng Jin Yuan wanted to go over and salute; however, he could not get past the officials that had gathered around.
With the prime minister included, all of the lower officials kneeled upon seeing Xuan Tian Ming, repeatedly saying: “Congratulations, congratulations!”
Xuan Tian Ming shrugged and smiled, loudly saying: “Today is a celebration for the Feng family. There is no need for you to come and greet this prince. Quickly, quickly go and congratulate lo… sir Feng!”
The words sir Feng sounded quite sarcastic to Feng Jin Yuan, but following this, everyone stood up and once again cupped their hands toward him. Not only did they congratulate him, but even smiles also appeared on their faces. In fact, some people even called him a comrade once more.
Feng Jin Yuan’s vain heart began to work once more. It was as though he had regained that feeling of being the prime minister once more. In fact, it was even better than before. He focused entirely on returning their greetings. While enjoying this glory, he began to think, why exactly were Xuan Tian Ming and Feng Yu Heng putting on this show?
Very quickly, another imperial carriage slowly arrived. This time, it was the seventh prince, Xuan Tian Hua, that came out. Immediately following Xuan Tian Hua was imperial daughter Wu Yang, Xuan Tian Ge’s imperial carriage. After that came General Ping Nan’s manor, one after another, everyone that ought to come did come. Even the Bai family’s carriage arrived with Bai Fu Rong. Not even attending court would be so lively.
Feng Jin Yuan kneeled to welcome them. Before he could get up, he heard a string of firecrackers go off, and the smoke from the firecrackers drifted over; however, this caused Feng Jin Yuan to smell a trace of a conspiracy.
Feng Yu Heng also nodded and chatted with the guests that came. Xuan Tian Ge held onto her arm and stuck to her side, saying with a smile: “A-Heng, the Feng family gave birth to a son. What are you doing with putting on such a grand show?”
Feng Yu Heng smiled wryly and quietly said to her: “In truth, I don’t know what it’s for either. It’s all your ninth brother’s idea. He said that there is a good play, so let’s just wait and see!” While saying this, she nodded toward Xuan Tian Hua. Xuan Tian Hua faintly smiled but did not say anything. He just went and entered the manor with Xuan Tian Ming.
Feng Yu Heng went with Xuan Tian Ge and her friends into the manor. Upon entering, she saw Xiang Rong come over with a puzzled expression. It seemed that she wanted to ask about it. Feng Yu Heng felt her head swell a little because this celebratory banquet was conducted using her and Xuan Tian Ming’s name; however, she did not know what sort of plan Xuan Tian Ming had for this play.
Throughout this entire afternoon, the Feng family used the gifts that they had just received to invite a large number of chefs. Apparently, they had invited all the entire kitchen of a restaurant. By evening, they finally managed to produce feasts for ten tables.
Feng Yu Heng watched the guests be seated and began to look at the guests that had come. She suddenly recalled that she had said that she wanted for everyone to know about Feng Jin Yuan wearing the green hat. Thinking about it, everyone was already present. If something happened, everyone would truly know about it, right?
Just as she thought about this, Xuan Tian Ge suddenly said: “Sir Feng, we all came to celebrate the birth of a son into the Feng family. Although the child is still young, it should be fine for the wet nurse to bring the child out, right?”
Once she brought this up, everyone followed up, clamoring to see the child.
Xuan Tian Ming curled his lips into a smile and looked at Feng Yu Heng. She knew that this was something that he had arranged for, but just letting these people see this child might not be enough!
She wondered to herself, the nice play that Xuan Tian Ming was talking about was definitely not limited to just this. What else was there?
At this time, Bai Fu Rong tugged at her sleeve and quietly said: “A-Heng, why does your fourth sister have that sort of expression?”
Feng Yu Heng followed Bai Fu Rong’s finger and looked. Sure enough, she saw Fen Dai with an anxious expression on her face accompanied with a trace of horror. She kept providing her servant with some sort of instruction. After the servant received her instructions, she trotted in the direction of the fifth prince. After whispering into his ear, Xuan Tian Yan stood up and began walking over to her side. The two got together and exchanged a few words before Xuan Tian Yan shook his head, seemingly in an attempt to persuade her.
Bai Fu Rong grabbed her friends and spoke as though she was watching a drama: “Take a guess, what did the Feng family’s fourth young miss say to the fifth prince?”
Fung Tian Yu snorted coldly and said with a look of disdain: “She’d best not do something like dancing in snow again.”
Ren Xi Feng laughed at her: “It’s the beginning of Autumn. Where would she find any snow!”
Xuan Tian Ge, however, laughed and lamented: “Fifth brother does indeed have that imperial concubine in his heart, but this fourth young miss Feng also has good means, being able to force fifth brother to do this much. I heard that fifth brother provided quite a bit of money for this banquet. Otherwise, based on what the Feng family received, how could there be enough.”
Just as they were speaking about the festivities, Xiang Rong quickly walked back. She then leaned over and whispered something into Feng Yu Heng’s ear. Immediately following this, they heard Feng Yu Heng go “pft” and begin to laugh. She said: “It seems that when Xuan Tian Ming says to watch a good play, there really is a good play!”