This Imperial Daughter Will Make a Deal with You
At this moment, Feng Yu Heng and Ban Zou were lying on a wall across from the palace. Because she was holding a tranquilizer gun, causing the hidden guards to mysteriously fall to their deaths or to severe injury, and because of the fire that burned down more and more of the palace, Duan Mu An Guo had no choice but to give up on the chase. As for the people in the area, there were those that ran and those that hid, and there were even some bolder people that came to watch the excitement. With the burning palace catching everyone’s attention, nobody noticed that the two that had run off far away had stealthily returned.
Feng Yu Heng propped her chin on her hands and looked down. While watching, she asked Ban Zou: “Say, my grand gift shouldn’t cause Xuan Tian Ming to lose face, right?”
Ban Zou curled his lips up into a sly smile and replied: “It’s not just that he didn’t lose face. He gained too much face.”
Feng Yu Heng said very seriously: “Then that’s good.” After saying this, she continued to watch the burning palace.
Inside the palace, all of the servants had already evacuated. There was nothing that they could do to put out this fire. Fortunately, their masters had already run away. There were not many servants that had gotten injured, but there were quite a few guards that had died. At this time, the corpses burned in this fire, causing a unique smell to waft out.
Because the palace was highest existence in Song Zhou, there were no homes surrounding it. This was the only residence on this entire street. That was why this fire only consumed the palace. In addition to the snow falling from the sky, the fire burned brightly in one place; however, it did not spread outside.
Feng Yu Heng was very satisfied with her arson technique.
The two watched the excitement for a little longer before Ban Zou advised her: “Let’s go. We need to think of a way to get out of the city. Let’s meet up with Qian Li’s army before we figure out our next steps.”
“Why leave the city?” Feng Yu Heng was unhappy, “I finally managed to get in, and I haven’t finished my business. Why must I leave now?”
“The palace has already been burned. What else do you want to do?” Ban Zou tried desperately to advise her: “Master, revered ancestor, let’s go, alright? Do you know how dangerous Song Zhou city will become after this? Do you know just how crazy Duan Mu An Guo will be to try and capture you? Just setting a fire is enough. You did not eat a loss, and he had to pay up. Is this still not enough? What exactly are you wanting to do?”
Feng Yu Heng shook her head. Taking a deep breath, she told Ban Zou: “The reason that I came to the North was not to set fire to their leader’s palace. In truth, before you appeared, I never thought of doing this. Starting this fire was nothing more than an impulse. It’s considered me extending a greeting to that old criminal, Duan Mu An Guo. The reason that I came to the North is to find out if the three provinces and Qian Zhou are truly connected and to what degree they are connected. Also, what exactly was Duan Mu An Guo’s goal by rebelling against Da Shun and defecting to Qian Zhou?”
With her saying this, Ban Zou also calmed down and thought carefully. He no longer continued to urge her, only saying: “I am your hidden guard. Either way, wherever you go, I will follow.”
Feng Yu Heng put aside her seriousness and patted Ban Zou’s shoulder with a smile: “Although I said that you are indeed truly a nuisance, as a whole, you are the best hidden guard. This older sister figures it would be best to forgive you.”
The corners of Ban Zou’s lips twitched, and he did not say anything else. In his mind, however, he was thinking about where would be best to go if they did not leave the city. The inns were definitely no good, but they could not stay on the streets, right?
Just as Ban Zou was wondering about what they should do next, Feng Yu Heng squinted her eyes and stared a person that was standing in front of the palace. They appeared unwilling to leave, or perhaps it could be said that this person did not know where to go.
She prodded Ban Zou with her arm a couple times then pointed at the person below and said: “Do you see him. That’s the one, don’t let him run away.”
Ban Zou looked over and expressed that he did not recognize this person. Feng Yu Heng told him: “A magistrate in He Tian Prefecture. His family name is Lu. I entered the North by pretending to be their maidservant.”
Ban Zou immediately understood, “It was him that sent you into the palace?”
Feng Yu Heng nodded, “Right, in order to teach them a lesson, I stripped his wife and threw her into Duan Mu An Guo’s bed. Duan Mu An Guo’s expression at that time, oh my!” Just thinking about it made her laugh, “Ban Zou, you didn’t see it, but that scene was quite brilliant.”
Ban Zou gnashed his teeth, snorting coldly, “I saw it. Ever since you went toward the temple, I saw you!” Feng Yu Heng trembled and heard Ban Zou continue: “If you weren’t my master, I definitely would have viewed you as a monster and thrown you into a river to feed the fishes.”
Feng Yu Heng trembled once more. Reaching out with both hands, she grabbed Ban Zou’s arm and discussed with him: “Great hero, this little girl wants to be your master forever. This little girl just begs great hero to be merciful and spare this girl her life!”
Ban Zou felt that there would eventually come a day when he would be driven insane by Feng Yu Heng. He really did not know how his Highness the ninth prince endured her insanity. He decided that before he went insane, he would take care of the important matters, thus he said: “I was just worrying about not having a place to stay. It would be better to follow the one with the family name Lu and make use of his place to rest. When the sky becomes dark, Duan Mu An Guo would be completely unable to expect that we would hide in this magistrate’s place.” He sniffled and added: “There’s just a fear that he will not stay in the North and will run away.”
Feng Yu Heng shook her head, “That’s impossible. I can guarantee that he won’t run.”
“Oh?” Ban Zou asked her, “Why are you so certain?”
She analyzed: “If he wanted to run, he would have run away during the earlier chaos. The reason that he is still here is that he has nowhere to go. If he goes back to Da Shun, he is an official that has supported Duan Mu An Guo, and he is married to a member of the Duan Mu family’s branch family. Da Shun would never forgive him. But if he stays, after what had happened today, perhaps Duan Mu An Guo would be unwilling to pardon him. Ban Zou, take a guess. What do you think he’s thinking right now?”
Ban Zou shook his head, “How could I know.”
Feng Yu Heng smiled and took the initiative to relieve his doubts: “If I am not mistaken, he should be thinking about some way to remedy the situation. He wants to see if there is any way for him to be forgiven by Duan Mu An Guo while also being able to remain in the North with an official position and becoming a Duan Mu An Guo’s right-hand man. And the one thing that he can rely on is that gift that he was intending to give Duan Mu An Guo.”
Ban Zou did not understand, “Was that gift very unique?”
Feng Yu Heng nodded, “It was very unique. It was so unique that I did not even see it during the entire trip here.” Seeing that Ban Zou was puzzled, she continued to say: “The meaning is that along the way, the Lu family couple did not bring anything that could constitute a gift. Aside from clothes, their carriage was empty.”
Ban Zou was shocked, and he turned his gaze on magistrate Lu. At the same time, he said: “Master means to say that the gift that they had prepared was something that could be changed at any time?”
“Un.” Feng Yu Heng nodded and pointed at him, “He’s leaving. Let’s follow behind him.”
The two followed magistrate Lu until they arrived at the inn where Feng Yu Heng had stayed before. Magistrate Lu was still staying in the same room as before. After this big fire, half of the guests from the inn had disappeared. The two walked along the roof and clearly took in every bit of detail of the shop. In fact, they were even able to hear what the shopkeeper was saying: “Just a bit of a situation occurred, yet they all ran away. They even said that they are great officials of Da Shun, yet they are all so cowardly. In the end, so what if they ran away? Can they escape from Song Zhou City? I will tell you guys that I have run this inn in Song Zhou for 20 years, but I have never seen a single person escape from great leader Duan Mu.”
As the shopkeeper spoke with emotion, he arranged for the clerk to prepare some more tea to be sent to each of the rooms.
When magistrate Lu went up the stairs, he also heard what the shopkeeper had said. He stopped in the middle of the staircase for a while and came up with an idea. He was in agreement with what the shopkeeper had said because his wife was a member of the Duan Mu family’s branch family. He had naturally heard a bit more about the occurrences of the North. He knew that Duan Mu An Guo was cruel and ruthless and was willing to disown his own family for the sake of his goals. Not to mention a relative, even if it was his own daughter, he was willing to sell her out. Those officials that were trying to escape the North would all be caught within half a day, or they would just be killed.
His heart trembled, and he increased his pace, climbing the stairs. Who knew that when he pushed open the door open, before he could even take a breath, he was suddenly pulled forward by his collar. Following this, the sound of the door closing could be heard. When he finally regained his balance, he saw the girl that should have been sent into the leader’s palace, Qian Xi, looking at him with a smile from the heated brick bed. This feeling caused him to feel flustered. It was as though everything earlier had not happened, and his wife would be sleeping in the inner room.
But he knew that everything did indeed happen. His wife had become a soul that had died wrongly under Duan Mu An Guo’s blade, and the one that had set all of this in motion was the girl before him.
Magistrate Lu’s mind went hot, and a fierce anger burned in his eyes. Ban Zou, who was holding him by his collar, saw this and wanted to laugh. He frankly let go of him. He wanted to see what this official could do when facing his troublesome master.
Magistrate Lu did not even think after obtaining his freedom and rushed straight at Feng Yu Heng. His hands became like claws, and it looked as though he was going for Feng Yu Heng’s neck. As a result, not only did he not grab a hold of her, the situation had somehow become reversed. It ended with Feng Yu Heng grabbing his neck.
This hold was not a normal hold. Magistrate Lu was unable to breathe and nearly fainted. He suddenly found that his feet had left the ground at some unknown point, and the little girl that was choking him was standing on the bed because of her small size. She was holding him up with just a single hand.
After realizing this point, magistrate Lu could no longer worry about the matter of not being able to breathe. A cold sweat appeared on his brow. He knew that now was not the time for him to try and choke the other. Instead, it was her that could kill him with just a flick of her fingers. Also, in the face of this power, escaping was impossible.
Upon thinking of this, his mind sobered up. The opposition had gone and come back to look for him. It definitely would not be for a reason as simple as killing him. If they had any other plan, perhaps he could still preserve his life.
Watching his mind race through his eyes, Feng Yu Heng did not need to guess to know what he was thinking. Magistrate Lu was just a cowardly little master and did not have many opinions. Everything relied on madam Lu. Now that madam Lu was no longer around, this man had lost his pillar of support, which made him extremely easy to control.
She sneered and curled her lips up, saying: “Lord Lu, this imperial daughter will make a deal with you. How about it?”