Zi Rui’s Revenge
Zi Rui was practically roaring at this point. In his nearly eight years of life, this was his first time shouting at his mother like this. In an instant, he felt that the one that had changed was not his sister. Rather, it was this mother.
Once this thought surfaced, he immediately asked: “Who exactly are you?”
Yao shi was stunned and subconsciously asked: “What are you saying?”
Zi Rui pointed at her, a fierce look appearing in his eyes: “Who exactly are you? You are not our mother. Our mother has always been gentle with her words, and she always treated sister and me with concern and love. When we were in the Northwest, the village chief had given her a bowl of noodle soup, but she was reluctant to have any for herself. Instead, she split it evenly between sister and me. That is my mother. As for you, what sort of weird monster are you?”
Yao shi was scared by him and was not able to speak for a long time. She trembled endlessly in bed, but Zi Rui still did not feel any distress.
Wang Chuan went forward and stopped the child, gently patting his shoulder and saying: “Don’t worry, don’t worry.”
Zi Rui raised his hand and wiped away the tears on his face. His gaze remained sharp, as he coldly said to Yao shi: “I don’t care what you have become, but since you have chosen to live as our mother, you should do your best to play the part. I am not your only child. There is also my elder sister. I will not allow anyone to harm my sister. No matter if it is with words or actions, even if it is you, it will not be allowed. There is a truth that I must tell you, in my heart, my elder sister is more important than you.”
Yao shi’s face was an extremely pale white. She was puzzled and asked: “That person, what exactly did she say to you to make you trust her so much? Zi Rui, I am your mother, but she, she really is not your elder sister!”
Wang Chuan desperately held back Zi Rui, who had lost all control. She loudly shouted at Yao shi: “Do you still not understand? No matter who it is, whether she is your daughter or not, we all acknowledge her! As for you, we don’t care if you acknowledge her or not. It’s better if you don’t! In the future, whether you live or die, young miss will not care for you!”
The three people in the room created a large disturbance, and He Zhong ran in from the outside. Standing in front of Feng Zi Rui, he respectfully said: “Young master, master has woken up, but he is injured. He said that if you have a matter and wish to see him, go and see him in his room.”
Feng Zi Rui violently turned around and viciously glared at He Zhong. The imposing manner that he had caused He Zhong to retreat a couple steps in fear. He then heard Feng Zi Rui say: “Have him come here to see me! Now! At once! Immediately!”
He Zhong was extremely troubled. The young master’s personality had changed very drastically, leaving him not dare to refute him, but the master had never allowed for the servants to question him! He hesitated in place, not knowing what he should do.
Feng Zi Rui, however, lost his patience and screamed: “Hidden guard!”
In the blink of an eye, two figures in black clothes appeared from an unknown location. The two cupped their hands and greeted Feng Zi Rui: “Would young master please provide an order.”
Feng Zi Rui lowered his voice and said: “You two go with housekeeper He and bring Feng Jin Yuan over to this room. Just say that this young master is waiting for him here and have called him over. If he uses his illness as an excuse not to come, just carry him over. Wasn’t it said that Feng Jin Yuan has hidden guards from Qian Zhou at his side. If they don’t act, it’s fine. Once they do take action, cut off their fingers and bring them to me.”
The two hidden guards immediately nodded, “This subordinate will obey.” One of them then said to He Zhong: “Let’s go!”
He Zhong’s scalp began to feel numb, but with these two people at his side, he had no say in whether or not he went. He was simply seized on both sides by the two and brought over to Feng Jin Yuan’s side.
Sure enough, sending hidden guards would be effective. This time, Feng Zi Rui did not need to wait for long. Very quickly, the person that he wanted to see was carried into the room.
That’s right, carried, and he was carried over using his bedsheets. Feng Jin Yuan was feeling annoyed while being carried over to this side.
The hidden guards were not too gentle nor too harsh. Upon entering the room, they threw him to the ground and stopped worrying about it. One of them had blood on his hands and walked over to Zi Rui then held his hand out. Five fingers were held in his hand, as he said to Zi Rui: “Only one person appeared. After five fingers were cut off, he ran away.”
Zi Rui nodded and picked up the fingers before throwing them at Feng Jin Yuan’s face.
The smell of blood filled the air, and Feng Jin Yuan was not particularly afraid, but he just looked at Zi Rui in disbelief as though he was looking at a stranger.
The child suddenly laughed and asked Feng Jin Yuan: “Father, do you feel that it is difficult to accept that I am different from before, or do you feel that me returning alive is the reality that’s hard to accept? You worked so hard to send someone to send a report and scheme with the people of Qian Zhou to have me caught. They would then use this to threaten my elder sister into handing over the method for producing steel. Unfortunately, it ended up failing. Aside from me losing a pinky finger, the people of Qian Zhou did not manage to take anything else.” He took a couple steps forward toward Feng Jin Yuan, “Oh right, I forgot to tell you. Those people from Qian Zhou are all dead. The only one that is still alive was sent to the government office and is waiting to be executed. Do you want to know how those people died? I will tell you that some were killed by his Highness the ninth prince, some were killed by elder sister, and some were killed by me! Right, I can kill people. Not only do I know how to kill people, I even cut off some of their fingers. Remember, Qian Zhou’s people cut off my finger today, and I will cut off all of the fingers from every criminal from Qian Zhou. I, Feng Zi Rui, will make sure to cut all of them without missing a single one!”
The eery chill finally pierced Feng Jin Yuan’s heart, and it caused sweat to appear all over his body. It was not that Feng Zi Rui had avoided being killed by the people of Qian Zhou, it was that this child had finally become exactly like his elder sister because of his pushes. He thought once more that if there came a day when Feng Zi Rui grew up and became a man that could stand at his sister’s side on the battlefield, when that time came, would he still have any chance of beating the siblings?
Perhaps it was because his internal feelings became too clearly written on his face, but Wang Chuan suddenly laughed. The sound of this laugh was quite fluttery, as she asked him: “Feng Jin Yuan, what exactly are you thinking? Could it be that you feel that you have always had the upper hand in your struggles with the second young miss?” These words were filled with scorn.
But it was fine. He still had room to manoeuver!
Feng Jin Yuan’s mood soared once more. He no longer had Feng Chen Yu, but he still had Feng Fen Dai. Based on the love that the fifth prince had for Fen Dai, Fen Dai would definitely be able to steadily assume the position of official princess Li. He had already done his best to persuade Qian Zhou to provide the fifth prince with some covert support. As long as there came a day when the fifth prince ascended the throne, the position of prime minister would belong to him once more. Also, he would no longer just be the prime minister. His status would also include: Relative of the imperial family.
The more Feng Jin Yuan thought about it, the happier he became. His hopes were written on his face, causing Feng Zi Rui to feel that he was an idiot.
At this time, Yao shi was also able to see most of the puzzle. Although Feng Jin Yuan did not say much, the drastic change in his countenance revealed all. But Yao shi’s mind continued to be different from a normal person. With things reaching the current situation, although she hated Feng Jin Yuan enough and hoped that he would die immediately, she did not place all of the blame on Feng Jin Yuan’s shoulders. Instead, it was: “So it was her ability to produce steel! It was her! Look, after all is said and done, if she did not exist, how could Zi Rui have suffered such a disaster?”
Recently, Feng Zi Rui was extremely dissatisfied with the things that Yao shi said. If it was not for him reminding himself that she was his mother, he would definitely have found a rag and stuffed it into that woman’s mouth.
But in the end, Yao shi was his birth mother. Even if he hated her, he could not do that sort of thing; however, this hatred needed to be vented. At this time, Wang Chuan pulled out a dagger from who knew where and held it in front of Zi Rui. She then pointed at Feng Jin Yuan and said: “Young master must get revenge for the missing finger. With the culprit caught, how can you let him go?”
Zi Rui’s eyes lit up, as light began to shine from his eyes when he looked at Feng Jin Yuan. Others might not think much of this, but it caused Feng Jin Yuan to feel absolutely terrified. He did his best to endure the pain in his body while retreating. He finally said: “What are you doing? I am your father!”
“My ass!” Zi Rui forcefully spat at him and angrily said: “It also suits you!” He then walked forward and squatted in front of Feng Jin Yuan.
The two hidden guards feared that Feng Jin Yuan would hurt Zi Rui and immediately went forward to hold him still from behind.
Zi Rui waved his hand and said: “Bring his arm forward. Un, the left side.” He extended the dagger forward, “I will not kill you, but it’s definitely not because you are my father. Between the two of us, there is only enmity. There are no relations, much less familial relations. I already swore on that boat that sooner or later, I myself will kill you for me, for my sister and for everyone in the Feng family that you killed. I will get revenge. Today, I only want one of your fingers.” While saying this, he raised his left hand, “Just like how I am right now. Only like this will we look like father and son. What do you say, am I right?”
“No, you can’t.” A cold sweat appeared on Feng Jin Yuan’s brow, as he subconsciously wanted to shout for his hidden guard, but he immediately recalled the deep hatred that Zi Rui had for the people of Qian Zhou, thus he closed the mouth that he had opened.
At this time, he felt a great pain suddenly come from his left hand. Looking down, he found that the hidden guard had forcefully dragged his arm over. Feng Jin Yuan even began to wonder if his wrist had been broken during all of this; however, the pain in that area was immediately replaced by a pain in another. Following this, blood began to pour from the pinky area of his left hand. He personally saw his own pinky finger get cut off by Feng Zi Rui. The child then viciously stomped on it.
This cruel and bloody scene was seen by Feng Fen Dai, who had just reached the entrance of the room. She shrieked as though she had seen a ghost before fainting.
At the same time, Xuan Tian Ming, Feng Yu Heng and Xuan Tian Hua were chatting idly with imperial concubine Yun in Winter Moon Palace. The one speaking the most was none other than Jian Zheng from the Board of Astronomy. He held a star chart in his left hand and a yin and yang astronomy chart in his right. What he spoke of was not about the stars. Rather, it was about which courtyard’s imperial concubine could no longer handle the loneliness and eloped with a guard.
Feng Yu Heng laughed while quietly saying to a palace maid: “Go and find Zhang Yuan. Just tell him that this imperial daughter wants to borrow a eunuch. Have the eunuch go to the Feng family home and teach Feng Jin Yuan how to take care of himself after losing a chunk of flesh.”