Hua’er and Heng Heng Are a Good Match
Feng Yu Heng muttered to the palace maid for a bit until the palace maid quietly left the moon-viewing hall.
Imperial concubine Yun looked toward her for a bit then raised her hand and interrupted Jian Zheng. She then said with some dissatisfaction: “The biggest taboo when listening to a story is not paying attention. A-Heng, what was being talked about earlier?”
Feng Yu Heng quickly sat up a little straighter and said seriously: “Daughter-in-law was paying attention properly. Just now, lord Jian Zheng was talking about lesser imperial concubine Lan having private communications with a guard in the palace. The two were preparing to escape from the palace. After reaching a small hole in the wall to the North, the guard crawled out first then went to help lesser imperial concubine Lan out. Who knew that lesser imperial concubine Lan had gotten fatter from eating a great deal each day in the palace. Upon getting halfway through the hole, she got stuck, which allowed for the imperial guards to catch up from behind.”
Imperial concubine Yun nodded, “Un, you really did understand.”
Enduring the snickering from Xuan Tian Ming and Xuan Tian Hua, Feng Yu Heng did her best to express her enjoyment of the story, asking in a very gossipy tone: “Then what happened after that?”
Jian Zheng said: “Executed.”
Feng Yu Heng nodded, “Good!” She then began to express her feelings: “That’s why I say that men should not have too many women. Since you don’t have enough time and can’t control them, in the end, the one to suffer will be yourself.”
Imperial concubine Yun agreed with this statement. Xuan Tian Ming and Xuan Tina Hua were also convinced of this point. This group showed a great deal of unity in regards to this topic.
Feng Yu Heng glanced at imperial concubine Yun and saw that the desire for gossip still lingered in her eyes. She could not help but sigh to herself while keeping a warm look on her face. She then took the initiative to say to Jian Zheng: “Since lesser imperial concubine Lan’s story is complete, tell us about something else!”
Jian Zheng glanced at Feng Yu Heng, and his heart began to tremble once more. Ever since he had seen her for the first time, he would have this sort of feeling. Even to this day, although he was already accustomed to seeing her, the trembling of his heart had never lessened.
Jian Zheng had learned astrology from a young age. His feeling had never erred before, and the first time that he saw her, he was able to see Feng Yu Heng’s star; however, it was only later on that he found out that she was the ninth prince’s future wife. That person was also known as imperial daughter Ji An.
He had an understanding in his mind. This girl was the star of the phoenix that had not been seen for over 500 years; however, it was odd. Normally, this sort of star appeared when the girl was born. Why would the star of the phoenix only begin to light up after many years? Things really were quite puzzling.
Of course, what puzzled him even more was… the star of the phoenix! That was the star of the phoenix! His master had said that a girl with the star of the phoenix would have a unique character while also being distinguished, graceful and tolerant. But this one… why did she love to gossip so much?
He helplessly shook his head. Thinking about it, he was the dignified Jian Zheng from the Board of Astronomy. Even the Emperor had to give him a bit of face; however, he would always end up being caught off-guard and brought to gossip with imperial concubine Yun. This was truly… a great shame! This family just happened to love gossip. Not only did the mother like it, even the ninth prince that everyone called the king of hell liked it. Even the one that everyone called a deity liked it! He had really had enough.
After complaining internally for a bit, he spoke up and continued to speak in an elegant manner: “Just now, we spoke about gossip surrounding lesser imperial concubine Lan. Then this lowly official will tell you about some gossip concerning a prince!”
Feng Yu Heng wiped away a non-existent cold sweat from her brow, as she thought to herself that this Jian Zheng was truly a character! To speak nothing of him gossiping about an imperial concubine, he was now about to gossip about a prince. If he was allowed to continue for a little while longer, wouldn’t he end up talking about the Emperor?
But imperial concubine Yun felt that this was very enjoyable and quickly nodded, saying: “Good, just tell us about this prince. This One likes hearing about it.”
Jian Zheng shifted slightly then continued: “Our Da Shun has a total of nine princes. We won’t talk about the others. Today, we shall talk about the confined fourth prince.”
Feng Yu Heng’s eyes lit up, old fourth?
The story began in earnest: “It is said that this fourth prince was imprisoned because he had collaborated with the third prince in an attempt to usurp the throne. But there is an interesting judgment to accompany this heavy punishment. Does everyone remember what it was?”
Imperial concubine Yun knew that Xuan Tian Yi had been locked up; however, she expressed that she did not know about anything else by shaking her head.
How could Xuan Tian Ming take an interest in remembering such things, as he also shook his head and remained silent.
Although Feng Yu Heng recalled a point, she did not know if it was the point that Jian Zheng was going to make.
Instead, it was Xuan Tian Hua that slowly spoke up, saying: “He was also sentenced to embroider something for the Feng family’s third young miss, Feng Xiang Rong.”
“Your Highness the seventh prince is correct!” Jian Zheng nodded, “It is indeed this interesting judgment that has provided us with this story. Apparently, that fourth prince was sentenced to provide an embroidery for the third young miss Feng. At the start, he was very against it. Oh, of course, up until this point, he is still unwilling to do it. It’s just that he no longer has the ability to object. I heard that the first thing that the third young miss had him embroider was a mandarin duck. No matter how unwilling the fourth prince was, there was, unfortunately, an imperial decree in place. He would only pick up a needle and go through the motions. Before the outline was even completed, he threw it to a servant and had it sent to third young miss Feng.”
Imperial concubine Yun heard up to this point and began to have a bit of an impression, interjecting: “I heard that the Feng family’s third girl is quite weak-willed. Has she been bullied to no end by Feng Jin Yuan?”
Xuan Tian Hua nodded, “Imperial concubine mother is indeed correct.”
“Hah!” Imperial concubine Yun felt a bit of pity, “That old fourth really found someone that he could mess with. For the most part, he will just embroider something carelessly. This story is boring.”
Feng Yu Heng heard this and shook her head, expressing her own thoughts: “That does not seem to be the case. Daughter-in-law’s third sister is indeed a bit weak-willed and is rather cowardly, but she is rather obstinate. She is extremely stubborn and will go to great lengths to split hairs.”
These words were met with Jian Zheng’s approval: “It really is princess that understands her own younger sister best!” He then continued: “After the fourth prince’s shoddy mandarin duck suddenly arrived in the Feng family, the third young miss only took a glance at it before frowning and throwing it back. She just said that it was no good and to bring it back to redo the embroidery.”
Xuan Tian Ming was stunned then said: “That third girl in your family had that much courage?”
Feng Yu Heng shrugged: “Do you still remember the day that old third and old fourth caused a stir? Didn’t Xiang Rong force old fourth to spend an entire night doing embroidery, even tying him to the chair.”
Xuan Tian Ming nodded, saying to himself that a woman’s potential was truly boundless!
A faint smile also appeared on Xuan Tian Hua’s face, as he urged Jian Zheng: “Continue.”
Thus, Jian Zheng continued: “It’s rumored that third young miss Feng said that the matter of embroidery was arranged by his Majesty. If the things produced by the fourth prince were of this quality, if they were ever spread in the future, people would say that the master did not teach him properly. Upon hearing these words, the fourth prince coughed up a small mouthful of blood. He then endured the internal injuries and picked up a needle once more. With this situation going back and forth, he produced roughly 70 failures before the fourth prince finally managed to embroider half of a mandarin duck; however, third young miss Feng said that there was no such thing as an embroidery of half of a mandarin duck. If he was going to embroider, he would need to embroider a pair accompanied by red flowers to create a beautiful scene. This was still not enough, as she had someone bring a message, telling the fourth prince to learn how to embroider a mandarin duck as quickly as possible. She had already chosen some more things to embroider in the future. Once this message made it to the fourth prince, he nearly went insane. Apparently, he has been pointing in the direction of the Feng family home while loudly shouting curses at third young miss Feng. After third young miss Feng heard about this, she had someone copy The Classic of Virtue and sent it to the fourth prince to have him embroider a copy of the scripture. The fourth prince was so angry that he tore the scripture to shreds. He roared for third young miss Feng to wait, as there would come a day when he would take care of her!”
Imperial concubine Yun straightened out her body and simply snatched all of the grapes that the servants had been peeling for her. She then brought the plate over and ate while saying: “This story that you told is truly to my tastes. Otherwise, how could I say that a man should not have too many women. With many women, there would be many children. Not only would there be battles of life and death between the women, but the children would also all treat each other as enemies. How could familial relations even be brought up.”
These words left Xuan Tian Ming and Xuan Tian Hua feeling helpless. Xuan Tian Ming was the first to say: “Don’t seventh brother and I get along quite well?”
Xuan Tian Hua also said: “What imperial concubine mother said is not entirely correct.”
Imperial concubine Yun, however, waved her hand and said with great disdain: “That is because one of you was born from this One, and the other was raised by this One. There is not much difference between you two and actual full siblings.” SHe pointed at Xuan Tian Hua, “Just try and change the scene that you dislike of this One raising you until you grew up! “She then turned to point at Xuan Tian Ming, “This One guarantees that this child would have strangled you to death.”
Feng Yu Heng was extremely speechless, as she thought about all of the princes that had been born. What would happen if all of them had been strangled to death?
Imperial concubine Yun looked as though she did not understand, thus she explained: “That is because Ming’er committed a minor crime. When he was born, there were quite a few annoyances.”
She thought about it and figured that it was more or less it, thus she did not continue to ask.
Xuan Tian Hua had an emotional expression: “Son is thankful to imperial concubine mother for taking me in and protecting my life.”
Imperial concubine Yun giggled a few times then looked at Xuan Tian Hua with a relieved expression, “You truly did not waste the effort that this One expended in raising you. Look at how well this one grew up, tsk tsk, he’s like a deity.”
Xuan Tian Hua smiled bitterly, “Imperial concubine mother.”
“Don’t speak.”
Seeing imperial concubine Yun stare at Xuan Tian Hua with a smitten expression, Xuan Tian Ming felt a little on the verge of collapse. With a cold face, he shouted: “Hey! Hey!”
There was no reaction.
“Hey!”
There was still no reaction.
He became angry, “Yun Pian Pian!” Do you still have any self-control as a mother?
Imperial concubine Yun was finally able to recover after being shouted at, and she could not help but snort coldly and roll her eyes, as she said with a face full of anger: “What’s wrong with looking for a while? I really did waste my time raising you.” After saying this, she felt that it was boring, and she felt that her son did not give her any face earlier, thus her desire to get revenge welled up. After thinking for a long time, she managed to say: “I always feel that such a girl as good as A-Heng going with you is a waste. As this One sees it, if she stands with Hua’er, that would truly be a good pairing!”