zChapter 1007 - Gu (1/2)
Feng Yuheng did not know what sort of surprise Xuan Tianhua was speaking of, and neither would speak about it when asked. She was so frustrated that she began to throw a tantrum, which made the other two laugh.
However, while the atmosphere looked to be very relaxed while they were laughing, in their hearts, there was a feeling of indescribable pressure.
When she was finally unable to keep up the act, Feng Yuheng took the initiative to ask: “Will Father Emperor ask for the tiger tally you have?” She said to Xuan Tianming: “The 30 thousand troops that sixth brother lent to seventh brother have been taken back, and sixth brother was ordered to come back to the capital for the new year to hand over the tiger tally. With the 30 thousand troops as a precedent, I am worried about the tiger tally in your possession and your right to command troops. If it really is the case that Father Emperor has been controlled by a gu, these things will eventually be handed over to old eighth.”
Xuan Tianming shrugged, “In the end, the country belongs to the old man. He has the right to choose. When that time comes, the world is vast, and we can just leave.”
“But that is not what Father Emperor truly wants.” Feng Yuheng spoke with a bit of a depressed tone, “He’s just been controlled by someone else. Didn’t you also say it before? Although we don’t like this country, we won’t tolerate someone else throwing it into chaos. Moreover, he… is your father. We can’t just watch him go through this in his final years; otherwise, regardless of where we go, we will eventually regret it.” She grabbed Xuan Tianming’s hand and told him: “We need to do everything that we can to help Da Shun overcome this trial and help Father Emperor find himself again. Even if it really can’t be done, we would have at least done everything that we could.”
Xuan Tianming looked at her and reached out to pat her head. After patting her for a long time, he simply said: “My Heng Heng has grown up.”
She nodded, “That’s right! We’ve long past the age of being willful. People can’t continue to stay the same as they were at the beginning. Just like you, you no longer pull out your whip to whip people without any thought. I also can’t continue to deal with people in the same way as back in the Feng manor. I’ve grown up and need to use mature methods to take care of things and resolve the root of the problem, rather than just kill the problem with a swing of a club. It looks like it would be a more uncomfortable life than before, but this is the price of growing up. Moreover, Da Shun is a country, not a residence. One misstep would harm countless innocent people. I could have killed old eighth directly, but how would that be any different from what a bandit does?”
“Good.” Xuan Tianming said: “Do everything to turn the situation around. I will just protect you through this dangerous situation.” After saying this, he looked at Xuan Tianhua and smiled, “Seventh brother, look. Our little girl has quite the lofty ambition!”
The three ended up drinking six kettles of wine, and it was such that Xuan Tianhua even felt a little tipsy; however, he did not spend the night in the Yu Palace. After all, Imperial Concubine Yun was in the Chun Palace, and he would not feel at ease with leaving her alone.
The next day, Xuan Tianming went to attend morning court as usual. After Feng Yuheng got out of bed, Huang Quan happily ran in and told her: “Young miss, we’ve received word from the hidden guards in Xiao Zhou. Young master Zirui and the Yao family’s third madam are already on their way back. There will be roughly two days until they reach the capital.” When Zirui was brought up, Huang Quan became quite cheery, “Young master is currently at the age where his body is growing. It’s been half a year since we last saw him. He should have grown quite a bit.”
Feng Yuheng was also quite emotional. Just yesterday, Yao Xian had said that Zirui and Miao shi should also be back. Yao Xian had gone to Xiao Zhou’s Hundred Herb Hall. It was because he heard about the situation in the capital that he did not wait to return with Zirui. She had thought that it would be another three to five days before she could see Zirui. Who knew that they would actually return shortly after. It was just as Huang Quan had said. They had not seen Zirui for half a year. That little guy had definitely grown much taller.
Feng Yuheng had a smile on her face. This might have been the best news that she had heard in the past few days, but she was a bit worried, “The situation in the capital is complicated. I just hope that nothing will happen while Zirui is back.”
Wang Chuan and Huang Quan understood her feelings, and Wang Chuan said: “How about this servant goes in the direction of Xiao Zhou to meet up with them! This will also let me tell the Yao family’s third madam about the situation in the capital. It would be better to have some preparations than none at all.”
She nodded, “Alright, go ahead! I just want them to return safely. That’s more important than anything else.”
Wang Chuan went to pick up Zirui, and Huang Quan stayed at Feng Yuheng’s side. After eating breakfast, Feng Yuheng decided to visit the Lu family. She was very interested in yesterday’s discussion. If it really was related to a gu, she feared that things would not be so easy to handle. Techniques involving a gu were very secretive. It was something that she had never even seen through her two lives of experience. In her previous life, she had been part of the military, and she was mostly surrounded by the most-advanced and most-modern medicine. Even if her family had its foundation built on centuries of Chinese medicine, it was completely unrelated to the use of a gu.
She knew that her grandfather had tried to research gu and had gone to visit Miao territories. It was only after arriving in that place that found out that even with society entering the 21st century, there were still places that common Miao people could not enter. Even those of the local government could not get in. The government was unable to do anything about many of the Miao groups. The Miao were divided into two groups, unfamiliar Miao and familiar Miao. Familiar Miao were basically similar to Han people, and they were not much different with people from the outside world. But the unfamiliar Miao were different. They had their own beliefs, their own rules, and their own way of doing things. There were looked at sideways by many people. Unfamiliar Miao were considered people who were separated from the world. They were a group that had not accepted the modern world. Their thoughts were completely different from those of the outside world, and they continued to live inside their own little world.