Chapter 694
Imperial Daughter Ji An Wanting Money Is Fine, Most Frightening is When She Demands Life
The two close friends went back and forth and casually assigned the crime of “looking down on the imperial family” to the Mu family’s young miss. Xiang Rong listened from the side. Although she did not know if such a crime existed in Da Shun’s laws, she also understood that this was not something that could be easily washed away. The young miss of the Luo Province’s Mu family really was not smart. Whenever she went up against someone that plotted things, they would simply play some covert tricks. To go at someone so openly, she thought that even Feng Fen Dai’s abilities were better than Young Miss Mu’s.
Today, the people that entered the imperial palace through the De Yang Gate, aside from Da Shun’s officials and princes of the imperial family, other people would also need to line up to enter. As for the official princesses and secondary princesses of the princes that could also enter the imperial palace, they could also enter through De Yang Gate, as they would need to first visit the Emperor and pay respects. Most importantly, it was to bring the children for the Emperor to take a look.
Speaking of, there were currently only two princes that had families, the eldest prince Xuan Tian Qi and the second prince Xuan Tian Ling. The second prince’s little imperial grandson Xuan Fei Yu was already a grown child. He could run and jump around without anyone helping him, but the eldest prince’s children were too young. They still needed to be carried around and needed to be taken care of by wet nurses and female family members. For the sake of seeing the eldest prince’s two children, the Emperor specially allowed the two family members to enter through De Yang Gate.
News of what occurred over at the Rui Gate also very quickly reached this side. The officials that had entered through De Yang Gate walked down a path before entering the main hall. They immediately heard what had happened over there. Thus there were officials that immediately began to say with dissatisfaction: “Just how highly does the young miss of the first wife of Luo Province’s family view herself? To actually dare to hit the third young miss of the Feng family in front of the palace. She even insulted Imperial Daughter Ji An?”
The imperial guard that had come to report with the platter was not ambiguous in the slightest, as he very seriously recounted everything from the beginning, when young miss Mu had cut in line and pushed Xiang Rong. He then talked about how she had hit Xiang Rong and how vilely she had insulted Feng Yu Heng. He recounted it without missing a single word, and it left all of the officials feeling incredibly indignant.
Of course, these people that were indignant were mostly officials from the capital. There was also a minority that was comprised of officials with solid connections to the capital. As for the ones from out of the province, especially those from the southern border regions, they stood on the other side. While listening, they felt that it was an injustice, saying: “That Imperial Daughter Ji An is a little too arrogant. To actually mangle the hand of the Mu family’s young miss like this?”
“Isn’t that hand basically worthless now? I heard that the Mu family’s young miss still has not yet gotten engaged. With this, who will dare to marry her?”
“Hah! She was quite a beautiful girl, yet she was ruined like this.”
“It seems that the capital really does not tolerate us officials from out of the province! They even bully our family members. What sort of situation is this?”
With all of this chatter, it was natural that it would end up being heard by the officials from the capital. They did not go and fight back, but they just snorted coldly saying to themselves: “People from the outside really are slow. None of them know the heights of the world, yet their tongues move faster than a snake’s! That was while the princes are still talking with His Majesty inside the hall, but now that they have come out, this official wants to see just who still dares to speak like that.”
These words had a certain effect of keeping people in check. Perhaps the officials from out of the province might not understand too much about Feng Yu Heng. Perhaps they could bully an imperial daughter with a different surname, but Da Shun’s princes could not be offended, especially that ninth prince. If their discussion of Imperial Daughter Ji An was heard by him, would he not immediately tear out their bones?!
The people trembled and shut their mouths.
The imperial guard holding the platter snorted coldly internally then loudly asked the officials before him: “My lords, may I ask if any has seen if the prefect of Luo Province, Lord Mu has come in?”
Everyone shook their heads, with someone saying: “It seems like he has not yet come in. Before this official came into the palace, I saw that he had come quite late and was toward the back of the line. Thinking about it, he will not be able to come in for quite a while.”
“It’s like that! Then this subordinate will just wait here. When Lord Mu has come into the palace, I will be able to inquire about the matter of repaying the Imperial Daughter’s pearl. Oh right, Imperial Daughter also said that this pearl was sent by His Highness the Seventh Prince and asked for His Highness to make an estimate.”
When everyone heard this, they wiped away some sweat. His Highness the Seventh Prince and Imperial Daughter Ji An, was this not the collaboration that was best at scamming money in the capital. With this being said, was this pair about to cooperate again today?
There were many people inside the hall, and they were all squeezed together. It was a mass of bobbing heads. Nobody saw the prefect of Luo Province, Mu Jiang hiding inside the crowd with a cold sweat appearing on his forehead. He never thought that his unruly and willful daughter would cause this sort of trouble for him. Now that they had come knocking, he needed to find a place without people to calm down a bit. He needed to carefully think about how to handle this issue. It seemed that he would be squeezed out of today’s banquet, and there were no shortages of open and covert attacks. He needed to think of a way of getting help. At a time like this, he definitely must not fight alone.
While Mu Jiang was weaving through the crowd, Left Prime Minister Lu Song was standing with the prefect of Lan Zhou, Ji Ling Tian, on the other side of the hall. They looked to be joking cordially, but under the surface, they were quietly discussing the one that had forced both of them to eat huge losses, Imperial Daughter Ji An.
The matter of Lu Yao taking the initiative to bully Feng Xiang Rong was something that everyone in the capital knew about. On top of that, the happenings during the wedding were also spread, thus Ji Ling Tian had heard about it after just a few days. When the two were speaking at this time, he brought up the matter of being scammed out of 80 million taels of silver by Feng Yu Heng and Xuan Tian Ming. He then asked Lu Song: “Lord Prime Minister, say, is Imperial Daughter Ji An lacking in money? After that matter, I asked around. She has obtained quite a bit of money using this method from other places. On that day in the Yao manor, although it was His Highness the Seventh Prince that did it, your Lu family’s deeds ended up in her hands, right? Although they were given to the Yao family, they still passed through her hands.”
Lu Song also became angry upon hearing mention of this and could not help but snort coldly, saying: “If she really is lacking in money, that would be fine! If she was really only interested in money, that would also be fine! Matters that can be resolved with money are not really problems. The problem is that she definitely is not lacking in money! You don’t know what she’s missing at any given time. When she asks you for money, it’s a good thing. What’s most frightening is when she asks for your life!”
Ji Ling Tian wiped away some sweat. The afternoons in the mid-Autumn really were hot! “Is there nobody that can control her?”
“How can she be?” Lu Song asked him: “Just take the matter at Rui Gate today, can she be blamed? It was the Mu family’s daughter that brought this on herself. Not beating her to death is already quite good!”
Ji Ling Tian frowned, “What if there is something that the guard left out? We can’t just listen to one side of the story.”
“Left out? How could that be!” Lu Song sighed, “Although this old one has not interacted much with Imperial Daughter Ji An, after spending many years in the capital, I have heard quite a bit. That she does not forgive is true, but when every case is said and done, there is not a single case where she is the one that provoked the other. As a whole, that one is someone that will not cause trouble if not troubled. If you don’t treat her as an enemy and don’t go to provoke her, it is safe.”
Ji Ling Tian, however, felt unreconciled, “Is there no way to have her eat a loss just once? If things are settled like this, I really do feel unreconciled.”
Lu Song looked at him bitterly, “Even if you want her to eat a loss, you would need to find out one of her shortcomings, but where is she lacking?”
With these words, the conversation came to a standstill. For a while, the two looked at each other without speaking. At this time, Lu Song turned his head and saw General Ping Nan passing by without speaking to anyone. It seemed that he was wandering around idly, and at his side was the son of the first wife of the general’s manor, Ren Xi Tao. He quickly waved to Ji Ling Tian and went to chase after General Ping Nan.
Lu Song and General Ping Nan chatted together for a long time. During this time, he also interacted a great deal with Ren Xi Tao. Ren Xi Tao was still young and was just a few years older than his sister, Ren Xi Feng. This year, he was not yet 20, but he was already a deputy commander in the Southeast with 50 thousand soldiers. After General Ping Nan handed over control of the soldiers, he did not arrange for his son to remain in the South. Instead, he was moved to the East by a few provinces, settling in the Southeast. Although this opened up a spot in the South for someone else to use, it had succeeded in avoiding the problem of not handing over command of the soldiers.
This chat with Lu Song did not have any real content, but it was just to get a bit closer. He would occasionally pay a bit of attention to Ren Xi Tao and occasionally praise him. Only when General Ping Nan left with his son that he cast a gaze in the direction of the inner palace. In his heart, he was thinking that Ping’er ought to have entered the palace by now.
At this time, Lu Ping had indeed entered the palace. After such an incident had occurred outside of Rui Gate, the madams and young misses remained in excellent order. The registration for entering the palace was also done quickly. At present, the majority of the people had already gathered in the garden. They were scattered about and chatting with each other.
On her own, Lu Ping found a corner with fewer people to stand with her servant, Jian’er. The two had already come up with a plan. After entering the palace, they absolutely must not make their presence known. Keeping quiet would be best. As for precisely what sort of arrangements the Lu family had, she trusted there would be someone to provide her with an explanation.
Feng Yu Heng and Xuan Tian Ge brought Xiang Rong toward the Empress’ palace but did not enter the main hall. They just found a side hall and had the servants bring in some ice cubes to cover her face. The Mu family’s young miss had been very fierce with her slap, and half of Xiang Rong’s face had swollen up. It looked a bit like a steamed bun.
Feng Yu Heng helplessly said: “Back then, I had you train with me for a bit. How is it that it all went to waste when I wasn’t in the capital? Even if it’s not enough to fight, you should be a bit more alert and be able to dodge, right?”
Xiang Rong lowered her head in shame. She really had wasted it. Without a second sister to follow, how could she endure such bitter training.
Feng Yu Heng shook her head and said: “Lecturing you is also for your own good. To always be bullied by others like this, how can you survive in your husband’s family after you get married?!”
Xuan Tian Ge heard this and laughed, “How about you support Xiang Rong and find someone that won’t take concubines? Someone like my ninth brother?”
“I want to.” Feng Yu Heng glanced at Xiang Rong and saw that the girl’s face was bright red; however, she did not have the heart to continue. Just now, when she had brought up the fourth prince, she saw that Xiang Rong did not have much of a strong reaction. It seemed as though it was quite a natural matter, thus she came up with an idea.
Xiang Rong covered her face for a little under an hour, and the swelling finally eased up a bit. Although it could still be noticed, it was no longer as noticeable as before. The group left the Empress’ palace and went toward the garden. Because they were with Xuan Tian Ge, when they arrived at the scene of the banquet, everyone headed in their direction.
At this time, a girl suddenly let out a sneeze, “Achoo!”