Digging a Pearl Out of Flesh
If Feng Yu Heng had said “fetch” it, perhaps it would not have too profound of an effect, but the word that she had chosen was “dig.” The word “dig” was too frightening. Everyone shuddered and guessed at what the word “dig” would mean.
To the imperial guards at the entrance, Feng Yu Heng’s words were not necessarily like an imperial daughter, but they could not be ignored either. These madams and young misses from out of the province might not know what Imperial Daughter Ji An meant to Da Shun, but to the guards that served the imperial palace, they could not be any clearer. Moreover, aside from Imperial Daughter Ji An, there was Palace Princess Wu Yang at her side. As the only palace princess of Da Shun’s imperial family, even an idiot knew just how important she was.
With Feng Yu Heng giving the order, the imperial guards did not hold back in the slightest. They went over, with three rushing forward. Two of them held young miss Mu down, while the other pulled out the sword at his waist. Picking up young miss Mu’s bloody hand, the tip of the sword was pointed at the bloody hole and moved to dig.
The people watching on shrieked in fear, and everyone turned away; however, they heard Feng Yu Heng say: “When you’re digging it out, be careful not to ruin the pearl.”
The guard nodded and looked again at the hand. Without any concern for young miss Mu’s struggles or cries, he said: “To not damage the pearl is easy. Just dig up more of the flesh.” With the words spoken, the sword moved without any hesitation. The sword stabbed straight at the palm of young miss Mu’s hand. It was then wiggled left and right, and he did not care how much blood came out while caring even less about how much flesh was carved out. When a chunk of flesh the size of a thumb’s nail was carved out, a platter was immediately brought up from the side. It was the one that had been placed at the entrance to hold identification plates. The piece of flesh was placed on it then brought over to Feng Yu Heng.
The guard reported to her: “Reporting to Imperial Daughter, the pearl is intact and undamaged, aside from being covered in a bit of flesh and blood.”
The people looked over at young miss Mu. At this moment, she was collapsed on the ground and had fainted from the pain. Her maidservant was repeatedly trying to wake her, and when she finally woke up, she saw her mangled hand. A burning fire welled up inside her, and she fainted once more.
Feng Yu Heng, however, did not pay any attention to her, only telling the guard: “Take this into the palace. Find the prefect of Luo Province and just say that his daughter’s blood and flesh ruined this imperial daughter’s thousand-year pearl from the Eastern Sea. Ask to see what sort of price should be paid to repay this. If he is unable to figure out an accurate price for this, just bring it to see His Highness the Seventh Prince. Have His Highness make an estimate. There must be an outcome.”
The guard complied and carried the platter forward without saying another word.
Xiang Rong facepalmed and thought to herself that her second sister was going to work together with His Highness the Seventh Prince to scam someone or something? I heard last time that you scammed the Lu family out of a large sum! She went to Feng Yu Heng’s side and said remorsefully: “Second sister, I’m sorry. Xiang Rong caused trouble for you.”
Feng Yu Heng shook her head, “I am angry, but I am not angry over you causing trouble. Instead, it’s why do these things keep happening to you! Of course, there’s nothing much you can do about running into someone like the young miss of the first wife of Luo Province, who rushes to curse and hit people. We can’t be like that sort of person. Even if we are to hit people, we cannot do it ourselves. It’s beneath our dignity.” After she finished speaking, she turned and said to Huang Quan: “Pick two servants that know martial arts and send them to the third young miss’ side later on.”
Xiang Rong quickly waved her hand: “No need, no need. Second sister, I really don’t need them. In the future, I will come to these sorts of outings as infrequently as possible.”
“What are you being afraid of them for?!” Xuan Tian Ge could not bear to continue listening, “Xiang Rong, are you competing in who is missing things? Or are you competing in who is best? The Feng family is a failure, but don’t you still have us?!”
With her saying this, Xiang Rong felt even more embarrassed. Second sister was still her elder sister, but Palace Princess Wu Yang’s favor was a bit excessive. Xiang Rong quickly bent her knees and saluted, “Many thanks Palace Princess for your concern.”
Xuan Tian Ge waved her hand, “There’s no need for such formalities between us.”
At this time, Feng Yu Heng recalled another matter and quickly called over a guard: “You also go over to the front of the palace. Go and find His Highness the Fourth Prince and tell him that third young miss Feng was hit by the young miss of the first wife of Luo Province’s prefect. At present, half of her face is swollen. Palace Princess Wu Yang and I will be bringing the third young miss to the Empress’ side first to treat her face and to help her calm down a little. I heard that His Highness the Fourth Prince prepared an embroidery for Father Emperor today. When that time comes, Father Emperor will definitely ask about third young miss as a master. I ask His Highness the Fourth Prince to please consider how he should talk about it.”
The guard loudly complied then quickly entered the palace.
Just after Feng Yu Heng finished speaking, young miss Mu woke up once more. She had woken up from the pain. She whimpered and whined and heard Feng Yu Heng talk about how the Emperor would ask about third young miss Feng and how she was the fourth prince’s master. In this instant, she was a bit surprised. The pain in her hand was covered by the shock. She asked her servant in a fluster: “Whwhat are they talking about?”
The servant knew a bit more than she did and quietly repeated what had just been said. Looking over again toward Feng Yu Heng’s side, she was still speaking with Xiang Rong and was not even paying attention to the person that had just had flesh carved from their hand. It was as though young miss Mu was nothing but air. Feng Yu Heng was only responsible for tidying up the situation. As for what followed, she did not want to be bothered with it.
“Come, follow second sister into the palace," Feng Yu Heng held Xiang Rong’s hand and turned around. She then said to the palace servants at the entrance: “Is there any need to register this imperial daughter’s younger sister in the records?”
The palace servant quickly stood up and replied: “No need, no need, please enter the palace.”
Feng Yu Heng nodded but did not immediately enter the palace. Instead, she turned around and said to the people at the palace’s entrance: “Today is the Mid-Autumn Festival. It’s a day of celebration. Regardless of whether it’s His Majesty or Her Highness the Empress, nobody wishes to see anyone wantonly causing a stir. What was this called again?” She turned to look at Xuan Tian Ge.
Xuan Tian Ge pondered a bit then assigned a crime: “Looking down on the imperial family’s might.”
Once these words were spoken, the Mu family’s young miss trembled. The pain surged forth once more, and she simply continued to play dead. She truly did not think that her scolding Feng Xiang Rong without holding back would actually draw out the Feng Yu Heng who had already gone into the palace? Not only had she come out, but she had also brought out a palace princess! What should she do?
The Mu family’s servant supported her young miss while looking up at Feng Yu Heng. She saw the group was about to enter the palace. In this exchange, aside from carving some flesh, they did not pay much attention to them. She could not help but shout: “Imperial Daughter Ji An! You recklessly harmed the family of an official. Is there no crime there? Is there still any justice in this world?”
Once these words came out, the people around could not help but sigh that the Mu family’s maidservant was one that brought about calamity! To actually dare to talk about justice with Feng Yu Heng?
Sure enough, Feng Yu Heng turned back with great surprise. Frowning, she muttered: “Justice?” She then turned to Xuan Tian Ge: “What’s that?”
Xuan Tian Ge shrugged, “I’ve never heard of it!” After saying this, she pulled along the person at her side and walked into the palace.
The words that the two threw out at the end caused the Mu family’s maidservant to completely give up. She had also been completely afraid! Had she eaten some sort of bravery pill? She actually dared to question an imperial daughter and a palace princess? Who knew if those two would keep a grudge or not!
“Next in line, next in line!” While the servant was thinking wildly, the palace servants had begun taking care of allowing people into the palace once more. The people squeezed forward, pushing the servant and the Mu family’s young miss into the crowd. People would stumble and step on them. The servant desperately tried her best to protect her master and nearly ended up being trampled to death.
As for whether or not Feng Yu Heng keep a grudge, was there any need to say? If she said that she did not keep a grudge, then nobody in the world kept a grudge. Although the damn girl always advertised that she would get revenge on the spot, she never rushed. There were also times when she would want to continue meddling even after getting revenge. Thus she asked Xuan Tian Ge: “How is the foundation of the Luo Province?”
Xuan Tian Ge snorted coldly, “Quite plentiful! Heng, I’ll tell you that the officials on the border are all wealthier than the ones in the capital. Don’t look at how all of the officials in the capital are like dogs, in truth, the truly wealthy ones are outside the capital! Luo Province is right next to Lan Zhou, and it enjoys a great deal of business from the little desert country. It is exceedingly wealthy.”
“Hah!” Feng Yu Heng had a look of annoyance, “If I knew that was the case, I would have been better to just scam them out of more and have the prefect of Luo Province think about it for himself.”
“What are you worried about!” Xuan Tian Ge looked down on her, “You don’t know these things, but could seventh brother not know about it?” After the previous situation in the Yao manor, she finally knew that the deity-like seventh brother was not at all clumsy when it came to scamming people! “Although the pearl was small, Heng, do you think that the prefect of Luo Province won’t understand something like a pearl taken from a thousand-year clam in the Eastern Sea? Seventh brother will naturally help you get a good amount. Just wait to receive the money!”
“Un.” Feng Yu Heng nodded, “Alright! It’s another bit of profit.”
The two continued to go back and forth, leaving Xiang Rong to sweat. She really wanted to ask, second sister, are you lacking in money? But in the end, she could not bring herself to ask because after thinking about young miss Mu, Xiang Rong felt that she should be scammed out of a bit of money. That should keep her from acting too arrogant.
Xuan Tian Ge then asked Xiang Rong: “Right, why did she hit you just now?”
Xiang Rong sighed: “At first, everyone was in the line. When it came to be my turn, the Mu family’s young miss suddenly rushed forward, saying that she had to stand in front of me. She even pushed me. I just said something like why are you like this, and she slapped me.” The little girl became dejected while saying this, “Is this because I’m too obedient or is it because the young misses from the border regions are too fierce and tough? Where do people hit people without saying a single word?”
“Hmph!” Xuan Tian Ge coldly snorted and said: “Fierce and tough? She does not fit the description. She’s just a damn woman that shouts abuse in the streets. When it comes to real ability, she does not have any. Xiang Rong, don’t worry. This palace princess will keep this debt in mind. That Mu family’s young miss, if she just goes back home today, that will be all, but if she still dares to come into the palace banquet, sister Tian Ge will properly take care of her and have her know what it means to look down on the imperial family!”
“That’s right!” Feng Yu Heng agreed, saying: “Hasn’t the crime already been handed down at Rui Gate! Looking down on the imperial family, I really want to see how the Mu family plans on covering for this crime!”