Chapter 68 (1/2)
Feng Yu Heng vigilantly looked all around. The night was silent, as all sides remained silent.
She was still a little worried and quietly said: “Ban Zou, cover the retreat.”
“This servant understands.” The voice came from an unknown location followed by complete silence. Helping support Wang Chuan, she finally calmed down.
When Wang Chuan heard Feng Yu Heng utter Ban Zou, she was shocked. She had obviously not thought that Ban Zou would actually end up at Feng Yu Heng’s side. Only after hearing his voice did she understand how highly the Feng family’s second young miss held this much weight with the ninth prince.
Since Ban Zou was present, Wang Chuan finally relaxed her constantly wound up heart. Not waiting for Feng Yu Heng to ask, she took the initiative to say: “All of the girls have been safely transferred. There were a total of twelve, and they are currently residing in a residence. This servant was attacked and chased while returning to the capital. They chased all the way to the capital, and it seems… they have entered the Feng manor.”
Feng Yu Heng’s heart sank slightly. She did not know how good Wang Chuan’s martial arts were; however, even if they weren’t as good as Ban Zou’s, the difference would not be too great. Otherwise, Xuan Tian Ming would not have assigned them to her side. Someone with such proficiency in martial arts was chased all the way back to the manor. She worried that the enemy would not be easy to deal with.
“I understand.” She nodded, “Let’s not talk about that for now. Let me see your injuries.”
Feng Yu Heng lit a candle and inspected Wang Chuan’s wounds.
Her left shoulder had been hit by an arrow, but there was thankfully no poison. On her right upper arm, there was a deep cut. The skin and flesh had been split open and appeared like a blooming flower. The most serious injury was on her back, where she had been struck by a palm. She worried that the enemy had disturbed her internal energy and caused Wang Chuan’s heart to shake.
“Come.” She helped Wang Chuan over to her soft bed, “Sit down first. I will go fetch some medicine from the medicine room. You left for Xiao Zhou at basically the same time as the men sent by my father. The ones that pursued you are eighty percent likely to be his hidden guards. If the enemy decides to scope us out, leaving these wounds on your body will be inconvenient.”
Wang Chuan felt a surge of guilt: “This servant has brought trouble to young miss.”
“What are you saying.” She chastised Wang Chuan, “Since you and Huang Quan are following me, I will treat the two of you as sisters. If you stubbornly remain distant, only a master-servant relationship will remain.”
Wang Chuan felt grateful and did not continue saying such things.
Feng Yu Heng turned around and headed to the medicine room. After she entered, she directly went into the pharmacy in her space.
Wang Chuan’s external injuries were easy to treat; however, the palm strike would take a long time to recover. She found some red salvia root pills and brought them along. She also found some Western medicine that healed the five internal organs, an anesthetic shot, medical-use alcohol and a needle with string for stitches. Only after collecting these things did she leave the space.
There was still a few bottles of the spray that she had given to Xuan Tian Ming, but she could not bear to use it. She had wanted to keep them for when she ran in to an emergency outside. Right now, she was at home. Using an anesthetic needle would have the same result.
After returning to her room, she personally poured some water and fed the medicine to Wang Chuan. She then explained how much of each medicine should be taken each day to Huang Quan, telling her to remember to take her medicine on time every day. 1
Wang Chuan looked at the odd medical pills in the small porcelain bottle. Countless questions filled her mind, yet she suppressed them and did not ask.
When Feng Yu Heng brought out the needles filled with anesthetic, Wang Chuan could no longer hold back and asked: “You-young miss, what are the things that you are holding? As for the things I just ate, were they medicine? Why was it not bitter?”
People that had become accustomed to drinking Chinese medical soups naturally would not taste the bitterness of Western medical pills. Moreover, two of the medicines were sugar-coated.
Feng Yu Heng had long prepared an explanation for her odd things: “That year when I was still in the mountains to the Northwest, I had once met a Persian eccentric. He lived in seclusion away from society in the mountains. Every time I went to collect medicinal herbs and mushrooms, I would see him. That Persian was also a doctor. The medicines and tools that he used were very eccentric, but they were also effective. I learned from him for three years until he left Da Shun. These were all gifted to me.”
Wang Chuan did not doubt her, sighing repeatedly over Feng Yu Heng’s truly good fortune.
“I can only help heal your internal injuries slowly with medicine. Improvement will be a little slower. Your external injuries must be properly taken care of tonight. Tomorrow, you must accompany me in offering incense. Leaving you alone here would cause me much worry.”
Wang Chuan was still unaware that the Feng family planned to make a group outing. While Feng Yu Heng cleaned her wounds with alcohol, she also filled her in on the happenings of the past few days.
Xiao Zhou was not far from the capital. With a fast horse and riding at speed, it would take at most the better half of a day to arrive. Wang Chuan did not think that so many things would happen in the few days she was away, especially Feng Yu Heng entering the palace and meeting imperial concubine Yun. She could not help but sigh again and again: “If imperial concubine Yun is willing to speak for young miss, then young miss will be able to live worry-free from now on.”
Feng Yu Heng did not understand: “Is imperial concubine Yun hard to meet?” Although they had met once in the palace, and imperial concubine Yun had spoken on her behalf multiple times, Feng Yu Heng did not feel she was someone that was easy to get along with. That beautiful face always seemed to be hiding many secrets, placing everyone else a million miles away.
“Not just hard to meet.” Wang Chuan slightly shook her head, “She is someone that outsiders absolutely can not meet. Even the current Emperor, I worry that it may have been many years since he last saw imperial concubine Yun.”
“Hm?” This was truly outside of Feng Yu Heng’s expectations. “Even the Emperor can’t meet her?” Then what sort of imperial concubine was that?
“It is said that after imperial concubine Yun gave birth to the ninth prince, she began to live more and more in seclusion. Everyone says that Winter Moon Palace becomes colder with each passing day. Even if the Emperor went, he could not warm up that palace.”
“But I saw imperial concubine Yun doing well with the two princes.” She did not appear to be a lonely sufferer.
Wang Chuan smiled bitterly. “There only remain the two Highnesses who can meet her at will. Although there is the Empress, it seems that imperial concubine Yun’s temperament of standing by her word remains after all these years. If she says someone is not good, then even if they galloped on to the battlefield and killed the enemies of the state, they would never see a smile from the Emperor. If she says someone is not bad, then even if they led a rebellion, the Emperor would not utter a word of reprimand.”