RMACAUH Chapter 39
by VolareChapter 39 Chapter 39 Take the Zhou family as a warning, hoping that the Chen family will not follow in their footsteps…
At this time, the effect of the Mafeisan had completely dissipated, and Feng Yue could only grit his teeth and endure it.
Wei Xiaofeng kept urging the coachman to hurry. After arriving at the Prince’s Mansion, he summoned Chu Lingqiao as soon as possible.
Chu Lingqiao dismissed all irrelevant people in the room, leaving only two maids.
It wasn’t until dawn that Chu Lingqiao finished suturing the wound, exhausted. It had been a long time since she had spent so much energy treating a patient.
Feng Yue lost too much blood and fell into a coma. He would need at least a year and a half of recuperation to recover.
Chu Lingqiao called people into the room, prescribed a blood-tonifying prescription, and an ointment for treating external injuries, instructed some precautions, and then asked Butler Zhao to quietly send them away from the backyard of the Prince’s Mansion.
Wei Xiaofeng watched the maids deal with the remaining blood and bloody clothes in the room, his heart aching like a knife.
Looking at the person in the tent, he was fine when he went out four days ago, but now he has become so haggard.
This also made him deeply realize that what he saw was only the superficial calm, but in fact, undercurrents had long been surging in the dark. Every action of Feng Yue might cost him his life.
The beautiful life and tranquility he wanted were just his beautiful illusions. Feng Yue wanted to be the knife-wielding person, not because he wanted to kill, but because he wanted to protect himself.
One prospers, all prosper; one suffers, all suffer. Only then did he understand the true meaning of what his maternal grandfather said.
The Duke of Zhen’s team had safely passed Shanhaiguan, and a main road led directly to the capital.
Chen Suian poured a cup of tea for his grandfather, and seeing his worried expression, couldn’t help asking, “Grandfather is worried about Feng Yue? I think he has already arrived in the capital and will be fine.”
Chen Taipeng sighed softly: “After this battle, the emperor will inevitably be more wary of him. His deep involvement with the Chen family means that the father-son relationship between him and the emperor is separated by an unbridgeable gap.”
Chen Suian was indignant: “This is not something Feng Yue can choose. No matter what, Feng Yue is his biological son. Does he really want to kill his own biological son?”
“The royal family only has interests, where is there any real family affection?” Chen Taipeng frowned. Just like the emperor marrying his Chen family’s daughter, it was only for the sake of interests.
Chen Suian suddenly thought of something and said, “It was really unexpected that the First Prince would lend a helping hand this time.”
“Back then, the Zhou family fell, and two thousand elite troops evaporated overnight, their whereabouts unknown, becoming a heart disease of the emperor.”
“How can two thousand soldiers just evaporate like that?”
“Perhaps they are hiding in the city in another identity, waiting for the military order to be issued, then they can summon heroes. The Zhou family had long thought that there would be such a day. This is the last guarantee left for future generations.” Chen Taipeng’s eyes darkened. “Back then, the emperor was not the crown prince most favored by the late emperor, but after the Zhou family fell and he married the eldest daughter of the Zhou family, he ascended to the throne as he wished.”
“Are you saying… the Zhou family’s defeat was a certificate of allegiance to ascend the throne?”
Chen Taipeng didn’t say much, only said: “Take the Zhou family as a warning, hoping that the Chen family will not follow in their footsteps.”
Chen Suian couldn’t believe his ears when he heard this. A person could go to this extent for power and status, being so cold-blooded and ruthless.
“Fortunately, Feng Yue didn’t grow up in the capital with the emperor. If he were raised by these people, who knows what he would become!”
“Over the years, the First Prince has been living outside the palace. He only recently returned to the palace with the Empress Dowager. He seems to be indifferent to the world, but in fact, he is hiding his ambitions. He is not simple! This First Prince, Feng Chao, must be Feng Yue’s biggest enemy.”
“What about Feng Xiao?”
“A prince who seems to have the least presence, without the support of civil and military officials, and without the support of his mother’s family, but do you know that the person standing behind him is the emperor?”
Chen Suian took a deep breath, staring with disbelief: “Why?!”
Chen Taipeng closed his eyes for a nap, “Or perhaps, that is the emperor’s only true affection! He is, after all, a human being, and a human being has emotions and desires. No matter how ruthless he is, there will be people he cares about deep down.”
Around noon, as they were about to enter the city, a large carriage came from the left, heading straight for them.
The two teams refused to give way to each other, both wanting to pass first.
After a stalemate for a while, Chen Taipeng asked Chen Suian to go down and see who dared to confront their Chen family.
Chen Suian angrily got out of the carriage. At the same time, a young man of similar age jumped down from the other carriage. He was dressed in fancy clothes and didn’t look like an ordinary person.
Chen Suian sized him up carelessly, crossed his arms, raised his chin, and asked, “Who are you? We are the Chen family army and are about to enter the city to meet the emperor. We can’t be delayed.”
“Haha, what a coincidence, we are also rushing to the palace to meet the emperor.”
Chen Suian’s heart skipped a beat, “You are… the confidants of the King of Southern Zhao?”
The young man jumped off the carriage: “That’s right, my surname is Si, and my given name is Mo. The person in the carriage is the Heir Apparent of Southern Zhao, Si Ming.”
Chen Suian made a bow to him: “Grandson of the Duke of Zhen, Chen Suian.”
At this time, a low voice came from inside the carriage. Although it was slow, the pronunciation was very stable: “Since he is a meritorious general, we should give way to him. A’Mo, let our carriage and guards retreat, and let the Duke of Zhen’s carriage enter the city first.”
Si Mo laughed heartily, “Then let’s listen to brother’s words, General Chen, please go ahead!”
A’Suian bowed again towards the carriage, then turned and got into the carriage, and the Chen family army entered the city first.
Si Mo sat in the carriage, and asked Si Ming displeasedly: “Why let them enter the city first?”
“This is not Southern Zhao, this is under the Son of Heaven. The Chen family’s power is at its peak. They have repeatedly made great achievements and recovered the four provinces of the Northwest. If we have a conflict with them here, it will be detrimental to us if it spreads out. Now the power of the vassal kings has been weakened again and again. Don’t let people catch a pretext to impeach us.”
Back then, Si’s ancestors made great contributions in conquering this land, so they were named the King of Southern Zhao, but it has only been a few decades. Now, the power of the vassal kings has been weakened by more than half.
Feng Yue, with serious injuries, came to welcome the Chen family army. Hundreds of guards came, attracting many people to watch.
Until the carriage entered the city, everyone saluted and worshiped. The Chen family was the hero of Da Yuan, and was respected and loved by the people.
“Welcome the Duke of Zhen back to Beijing!”
“Welcome the Duke of Zhen back to Beijing!!”
First, the guards shouted in unison, followed by the people shouting in unison. Suddenly, the welcome was deafening and earth-shattering.
Hiding in the teahouse, the First Prince Feng Chao, wearing a veiled hat and drinking tea, couldn’t help showing a bit of sorrow in his eyes when he saw this formation.
The Zhou family was once as glorious as this, but under the scouring of the tides, it disappeared without a trace. Now, it has been only fifteen years, and no one remembers it anymore.
The Heir Apparent of Southern Zhao, following behind, seemed a little lonely. Si Mo crossed his long legs and sighed, “The Chen family is really impressive!”
Si Ming glanced at him: “You have no manners.”
“Oh.” Si Mo put down his legs and sat upright: “How about this?”
Si Ming sighed helplessly and stopped looking at him.
At this time, the officials welcoming the Heir Apparent of Southern Zhao led people towards their carriage, and ordered: “Your Highness and the Prince, please follow the officials into the palace to meet the Holy One first, and then rest in the Royal Villa. Tonight is the royal palace banquet, please be sure to attend.”
Si Ming lifted the car curtain and responded: “Thank you for your trouble.”
Si Mo followed his line of sight and saw a bright figure riding a horse, passing their carriage, and chasing after the carriage in front.
That was a ge’er, wearing a festive red dress, which set off his skin like spring snow, and his heroic appearance was different from the delicate ge’er in his memory, gorgeous like a dazzling sun that people couldn’t look directly at.
Feeling his gaze, the ge’er turned his head, his eyes met Si Mo’s. Not only did he not restrain himself, but he also winked at him.
Feng Xilan glared at him fiercely and chased after Feng Yue in front of him. His charming appearance fell into Si Mo’s eyes, causing his heart to skip a beat.
Feng Yue rode his horse on the side of the carriage, his face still not looking very good.
Chen Suian lifted the curtain and looked at Feng Yue on the side, and asked him in a low voice, “Did the emperor ask you to welcome us, or did you want to come yourself?”
If he wanted to come himself, he would inevitably be scolded. If the emperor asked him to come, then there was no way.
Feng Yue said helplessly: “It’s not that I wanted to come myself.”
He was swaying on horseback now, his whole body in a daze, just wanting to lie down and sleep.
Duke Chen felt sorry for him but couldn’t do anything about it, so he could only sigh secretly, “Let the carriage go to the palace faster.”
The group entered the palace mightily, and Feng Yue exchanged glances with the Heir Apparent of Southern Zhao at the palace gate, exchanging a few brief pleasantries.
Feng Xilan followed closely behind Feng Yue, “Yue-ge, they are all gone. I see that your face is not right. Are you not rested well? Do you want to go home and rest?”
“Um…”
“The one in the carriage wearing a blue robe, is he the second son of the King of Southern Zhao?”
“His name is Si Mo.” Feng Yue looked at his expression, but saw that he was full of indignation.
“He kept staring at me before, that look was really scary!”
“Is that so?” Feng Yue was surprised, “Maybe you are good-looking, so he stared at you.”
“But isn’t that very rude? Is that how they in Southern Zhao look at ge’ers and jiejies? Like they want to eat people!”
“Then, what do you think of Si Ming?”
“I didn’t pay attention, but I feel that he is much calmer than his younger brother.”
Feng Yue smiled, “In a few days, when I have rested well, I will take you to run horses in the suburbs.”
“So you haven’t forgotten!”
“How could I forget what I promised you? I’m going back to the Prince’s Mansion first, let’s meet at the palace banquet tonight.”
“Okay, Yue-ge, take care.” Feng Xilan waved to him happily, and then went home.
*
Meeting the Holy One was just a process. The emperor wanted to commend the meritorious officials in front of the civil and military officials and condole the Heir Apparent of the vassal kings, to show the emperor’s grace.
This process was not lengthy. After giving seats and exchanging a few pleasantries, they were allowed to go down to rest because of the long journey and great hardship.
Duke Chen requested to see the Empress.
Usually at this time, the Empress would be accompanied by flowers and plants in the back garden, but in these days of ice and snow, the flowers were moved into the house, all withered and yellow, and there was nothing to take care of.
She was sitting at her desk copying Buddhist scriptures when she heard the mama in the palace report that Duke Zheng had come to see her.
Empress Chen’s expression froze for a while, and a drop of ink smudged on the paper, and the scriptures that had been copied halfway had to be discarded.
“Please let Duke Chen come in.”
After a while, Duke Chen stepped into the hall and saluted Empress Chen: “This old minister greets Your Majesty the Empress.”
Empress Chen put down the brush to wash it, and stood up to greet him, “Father, you don’t need to be so polite, please take a seat.”
After they were seated, Empress Chen asked the people in the hall to guard outside.
The father and daughter drank tea in silence, appearing very estranged.
“A’Sui also returned to Beijing together, do you want to see him?”
The last time she saw him was when he was a six-year-old child. He had not returned to Beijing for more than ten years since then, so naturally she had never seen him again.
“We will see each other at the evening banquet.”
Duke Chen sighed secretly, looking at her cold and unapproachable appearance, he could no longer find any shadow of his daughter Bai Zhen back then.
“Bai Zhen…”
“Duke, you have overstepped your bounds. Now I am the Empress, it is really inappropriate to call out this kind of boudoir nickname again.”
Duke Chen was helpless: “If you hate us, it is understandable, but Feng Yue… This old minister cannot understand.”
Empress Chen sneered: “How could Father not understand? You understand, but you are just unwilling to think deeply.”
“One prospers, all prospers; one suffers, all suffer. How could Your Majesty the Empress not know this truth?!”
“I don’t even care about death, how can I care about these external things? Father, you underestimate me.”
“Feng Yue is always your child!”
“He was not born of my will. To you, I am just a tool for the exchange and balance of power. Before entering the palace, I said that I would not let you have your way. Did you think I was just saying angry words?”
“Good, good, good…” Duke Chen was in great pain, “If you treat your children like this, one day you will regret it!”
“Regret is extremely cheap in the first place. People who like to regret will regret whatever choice they make in the end, leaving a pile of regrets until death.” Empress Chen leisurely took a sip of tea, “I am different, I never do things that I regret. If I do it, I do it, if I make a mistake, I make a mistake. Regret is the most useless.”
After listening to this, Duke Chen stopped persuading her, “Since this is the case, then this old minister has nothing to say to Your Majesty the Empress, this old minister will take his leave.”
“Send off Duke Chen!”
“No need.”
Duke Chen angrily flung his sleeves and left, walking very fast, disappearing into Fengxia Palace.
The old mama who served her closely stepped forward and saluted: “Your Majesty, Duke Chen is gone.”
“Um.”
“He finally came here, didn’t Your Majesty want to see him too?”
“What if I saw him? Since I am no longer me, he is no longer him, everything has changed. Did the Guangling Prince come into the palace today?”
Hearing her ask about the Guangling Prince, the old mama quickly said: “He took orders early in the morning and left the palace in a hurry. I heard that he was seriously ill a few days ago, and his face was not very good.”
Empress Chen was silent for a long time before saying: “You send someone to send some good Qi-tonifying and blood-nourishing medicine over there, and don’t say much. He will accept it if he accepts it, and it’s fine if he doesn’t.”
“Okay! This old servant will go and do it.”
Seeing the old mama leave happily, Empress Chen got up and walked into the small study, picked up a dried hibiscus flower on the table, and tears flickered in her eyes, “If there is a next life, don’t be my child again.”
Feng Yue returned to the mansion, asked the doctor to change the medicine, and fell asleep for an afternoon.
The decocted medicine cooled and heated again, and heated and cooled again.
This was the fourth time.
Wei Xiaofeng had no choice but to enter the room and call him, “Your Highness, Your Highness, wake up!”
“Um?”
“It’s time to take the medicine.”
Feng Yue took a breath, turned around and continued to pretend to sleep.
“Why are you sleeping again?”
“The doctor told me to rest more.”
“You don’t want to take medicine, do you?”
“Nothing like that!”
“You must be afraid of taking medicine. The dignified Guangling Prince, who can go to the court and go to the battlefield, how can you be afraid of a dose of medicine? If you say it, people will laugh to death.”
“Really not,” Feng Yue sat up to prove that he was not afraid of taking medicine, with a fearless expression: “Go get the medicine, and this Prince will take it.”
“Okay!” Wei Xiaofeng happily went to get the medicine.
Feng Yue looked at him scooping up a spoonful of dark medicine juice, his face full of resistance. He pushed back, directly took the medicine bowl, and swallowed the medicine in the bowl in one breath.
Not long after eating, with a ‘yue’ sound, he vomited it out bitterly.
“It’s too bitter! Ah!”
Wei Xiaofeng stuffed a large piece of sweet pomelo into his mouth. It was the first time he saw him in so much pain taking medicine. He wanted to laugh and felt sad.
“So you are really afraid of taking medicine.”
“The taste of this medicine is too strong, I can’t smell this smell, it’s so bitter that I want to vomit.”
“Then there are so many doses left, and it will take a long time to eat, what should I do?”
“Ask them to make pills!” He estimated that he would not be able to hold on for more than three doses, “Is there any more pomelo?”
Wei Xiaofeng quickly ran to the front hall and brought all the remaining pomelos, “I will peel the pomelo pulp for you.”
Feng Yue looked at his well-behaved appearance, feeling sweet in his heart, and smiled, “My little fu lang is really virtuous!”