zChapter 1008 - One Plan at a Time (1/2)
Hearing Lu Ping bring up the topic of her face, Feng Yuheng simply followed the flow of the conversation and asked: “How did your face end up healing?”
Lu Ping looked at her and continued to feel her own face. After a while, she said: “Originally, it had a gu inside of it, and nobody could treat it. As for while it healed, in truth, I am not certain. It seemed to have happened over the course of a single night. Before sleeping, the wound was still there. When I woke up, my face had returned to normal. I heard that when the person who raised the gu dies, the gu will pull out from my body. It sounds quite mystical, doesn’t it?”
“It does.” Feng Yuheng nodded and had no choice but to admit it, “It is indeed too mystical. Do you know who it was that applied the gu? Was it the seventh princess of Gu Shu?” Thinking back to the banquet from that time, the only person from Gu Shu present in the capital was the seventh princess. It seemed as though she got along quite well with the Lu family.
But Lu Ping said: “It should not be her. If the seventh princess of Gu Shu died, such big news would definitely have spread to Da Shun. When you went to fight in the south, did you hear about any funeral being conducted by the imperial family of Gu Shu?” She thought for a while then continued: “That seventh princess is a member of the imperial family. No matter how you look at it, she does not seem like the type of person who could raise a gu. If my guess is correct, she is the one who brought the gu; however, it was someone else who raised it for her. As a princess, and a princess of Gu Shu, having one or two subordinates who can use gu techniques is quite normal.”
Feng Yuheng looked at her and suddenly asked: “Do you have a good understanding of gu?”
Lu Ping was a smart person. Hearing Feng Yuheng ask like this, she immediately guessed her goal for today’s visit, “Does princess wish to gain an understanding of gu?” She spread her hands, “Unfortunately, I will be disappointing you. My understanding of gu only began when my face was wounded. I only know that most gu are bugs, and there are some that are snakes. If someone afflicted by gu wants to be cured, there are only two methods. One is to have the owner of the gu personally cure them. The second method is to have the person who raised the gu pass away. Like that, the gu will naturally be resolved. But there are exceptions. For example, lethal gu, which would be a type of gu that cannot be cured. No matter what, that one cannot be cured. There’s also one that will cause the one afflicted to pass away after the one who raised it died. This sort of gu mostly targets the vital organs, while I was lucky, and the bug only targeted my face.”
Lu Ping revealed all of this information pertaining to gu in a single breath. She then very earnestly told Feng Yuheng: “Princess is my benefactor. As soon as I find out anything, it will definitely be reported. But when it comes to gu, it really is hard to learn more. When the Lu family learned that it was a gu in my face, they had come up with many ideas, and they had even gone to plead the seventh princess of Gu Shu. Unfortunately, things did not work out. Later on, the Lu family flipped on the eighth prince and completely cut ties with Gu Shu. Even if they wanted to inquire more about this, the Lu family would not be able to do anything. That’s why I only know this much about gu.”
Feng Yuheng knew that everything that she had said was true. She had come to see Lu Ping without too much hope of gaining any information. To be able to hear this much was already pretty good. She nodded and said to Lu Ping: “Thank you.”
Lu Ping quickly said: “I was unable to provide any help. There’s no need for princess to thank me.” But she was smart and did not ask why Feng Yuheng was inquiring about gu. She just said: “I really hope to be able to help princess a little. It’s just unfortunate that there is a limit to my abilities.”
Feng Yuheng knew that her abilities were indeed limited, thus she did not continue to remain in the manor for much longer. As for inquiring so directly about gu, she was not afraid that Lu Ping would leak this information because she trusted that Lu Ping was a smart person and would not say it.
When she left the manor, Lu Ping personally sent her off. The Lu family’s head madam, Ge shi, also accompanied them. Ge shi looked as though she really wanted to have Feng Yuheng stay a little longer, as she tried to give Lu Ping a look; however, Lu Ping acted as if she could not understand and sent Feng Yuheng off to her imperial carriage.
It was only after Feng Yuheng’s imperial carriage left that Ge shi said with discontent: “We finally managed to get a noble guest to visit, so why don’t you try to keep them around for longer? It’s almost noon. If she could have been kept around until lunch, wouldn’t our relationship with the Yu Palace improve quite a bit!” After saying this, she took a couple steps back in disdain. Covering her mouth and nose, it was clear that she disliked the fragrance that Lu Ping was using.
Lu Ping looked at Ge shi, and her gaze revealed her confusion. She said: “She is a princess and an imperial daughter. How can our family take care of her? Just lunch sounds easy, but does mother know what sort of rules there are for taking care of a princess’ lunch? Is there time to prepare it now?”
These words left Ge shi completely speechless. That was right! Taking care of a princess as a guest could not be done casually unless their relationship was very good. But the Lu family and Feng Yuheng were clearly not that close. They could not even be considered as getting along. At best, they could be considered as having improved the relationship slightly from their original status as enemies. When she thought of the previous situation, she felt very awkward; however, she was unreconciled with being mocked by Lu Ping, thus she followed this up by saying: “At the very least, you should have gone out with her or gone to eat at a restaurant with her. I’ve heard that Princess Yu often goes out with her good friends to eat. Why don’t you try and get close to that circle? Ping’er, you’re no longer young. You should make some considerations for the family.”
Lu Ping stood in place and frowned. The more she looked at Ge shi, the more disgusted she felt. Ever since she was young, from the first moment that she could remember, she knew that she had been born pretty, and she watched the Lu family treat all of its daughters as chess pieces in their plans. From Lu Yao to Lu Yan, each plan cost them a daughter. Even their only son was caught up. But even like this, the Lu family was still refusing to relent? She asked Ge shi: “Could it be that you’re only willing to let go once all of the Lu family’s children have been killed? Can you not just live properly and must insist on trying to strive for nobility and wealth? Father is already the left prime minister. What more does he want to be?”
“What sort of thing are you saying?” Ge shi’s anger began to surge forth, and she wanted to give Lu Ping a stern lecture, but Lu Ping’s words had touched on a raw nerve. The Lu family had tried to make plans for their daughters, and this included her own daughter! Ge shi thought to herself, could it be that they had been mistaken from the beginning? If the Lu family did not try for such a thing, would her Yan’er not have died…