zChapter 1024 - I, Feng Yuheng, Will Personally Deliver Your Retribution! (1/2)

In truth, none of the members of the imperial harem were ugly. After all, these were all people who had been selected to enter the palace. Their looks were all very good. But this sort of beauty was dependent on who was being compared. Compared to Feng Zhaolian’s face, the difference was far too great. Describing it as being the difference between heaven and earth really was not enough. Feng Zhaolian could scarcely be blamed for saying such a mean thing. These three could not even muster a single word of argument.

The Empress coldly looked at the group then glanced into the water. It was only after seeing the eunuch appear at the side of the pond with Zirui in tow that she felt a little more at ease. She then looked down at Concubine Mei and coldly asked: “Who was it that gave you the right play tricks on a guest invited into the Imperial Palace by His Majesty? Did you know that this child is Princess Yu’s younger brother? That’s a relative of the imperial family. Where exactly did you find the courage?”

Concubine Xiang and Noble Lady Liu did not dare make a sound, but Concubine Mei was a little bolder, saying: “It was the Feng family’s young master who willingly went in to look for it. It was not this concubine’s group who vilely tricked him. I hope that Your Highness will investigate this clearly.”

“It’s clearly…” Yue Rong only said half of her sentence then looked at Concubine Mei. She suddenly remembered what had just been said to her by Her Highness Imperial Concubine De before coming over. Right now, the Imperial Palace was under the eighth prince’s control, and the inner palace was under Imperial Concubine Yuan Shu’s control. She had to remember to try and avoid them. If she could not avoid them, she should try to stay in their good graces. She must not oppose them. That would cause harm to the Feng family’s young master. Yue Rong thought of this and suddenly changed her tune. Lowering her voice, she said to the Empress: “It was young master Feng who was kind, taking the initiative to go and help Noble Lady Qi look for the hairpin. Who knows if he found it or not.”

The Empress looked at Yue Rong but did not find this unexpected. She no longer continued to speak with Concubine Mei’s group and walked over to Zirui, who had been brought out of the water. At the same time, she ordered her servants: “Call an imperial physician to Jing Ci Palace and call a sedan over. Send the Feng family’s young master to Jing Ci Palace.” After saying this, she leaned over and pulled a hairpin out of Feng Zirui’s hand. Looking at it for a while, she said: “It does look quite good, and this One will be keeping it. If there’s nothing else, you can go back. It’s a cold day, and there’s not much to see in the garden.”

After saying this, she turned around and left. Feng Zhaolian immediately stepped forward and picked up Zirui. Increasing his pace, he followed the Empress out to quickly meet up with the sedan that had come.

As for Concubine Mei’s group was left in a daze, loudly shouted: “Noble Lady Qi is still in the pond!”

However, nobody would pay any attention to them. It seemed as though there was never an appearance from Noble Lady Qi. The Empress’ group very quickly left the garden, getting further and further away. Their group was left to stare at the surface of the pond, and they saw that no more air was coming from Noble Lady Qi.

Concubine Xiang shuddered and hesitantly said: “There’s definitely no saving her, right?”

“What else?” Concubine Mei asked: “Do you feel that any of us can go down and save her?” After saying this, she asked the palace maids at her side, “Do any of you know how to swim?”

The palace maids shook their heads, “This servant does not know.”

“Then that’s how it is.” Concubine Mei said: “There’s no need to fear. It’s just a person who died. It’s quite a normal thing. The inner palace had been calm for over 20 years. It’s about time someone died. Moreover, she was kicked into the water by someone from the Empress’ side. There’s no need for us to worry about anything else. We just need to tell Her Highness Imperial Concubine Shu about what happened today. There’s no need for us to worry about nobody standing up for Noble Lady Qi. Let’s go!”

In just a few words, there was nobody left to worry about the person who had fallen into the water. Only Noble Lady Qi’s palace maid was left behind to kneel by the pond while sobbing.

In the imperial physician’s side, it was Sun Qi who took on this job. Bringing his assistant, Xu Mao, they headed to examine Zirui. These people were the ones sent into the palace by Feng Yuheng, but they were very different. One had given Feng Yuheng a fright with Concubine Liu’s matter, and the other was Wang Lin’s cousin who remained on Feng Yuheng’s side. Of course, Feng Yuheng never told anyone else about these things. To the Empress, these were just two normal imperial physicians.

Though Feng Zirui had spent a long time in the pond, there was nothing majorly wrong. Warming him up and giving him some ginger soup, his condition had already begun to improve. Sun Qi wrote a few prescriptions for Zirui to help warm him up before leaving with Xu Mao. Immediately before leaving Jing Ci Palace, however, he turned around and glanced at the Empress. This glance happened to meet with the Empress’ eyes, and this caused the Empress’ heart to drop. She wanted to call for him to stop to ask for clarification, but Sun Qi had already left the inner hall with Xu Mao. At this time, it just so happened that Feng Zhaolian said to her: “What is it? Have the imperial physicians in the palace all sided with Imperial Concubine Yuan Shu?”

The Empress was flustered for a moment but felt that she had been overly sensitive. Feng Zhaolian was right. Sun Qi was definitely one of Imperial Concubine Yuan Shu’s people. Coming to Jing Ci Palace was just putting on a demonstration for Imperial Concubine Yuan Shu, thus there was that look of warning. It was unrelated to anything else.

This was merely an act of self-comfort, but aside from this, what else could she do? Turning around, she immediately saw Feng Zirui begin to wake up. Shaking her head, she said: “If this had happened in the past, what sort of person in the palace would dare to bully the younger brother of Imperial Daughter Ji An? Even His Majesty would need to treat you as well as Feiyu. Unfortunately, things have changed. Not to mention you, but even this One no longer has the influence of an empress.” As she said this, she reached out to feel the child’s wet hair then continued: “Your elder sister is definitely thinking of something outside of the palace. Just endure it a little longer. This One refuses to believe that Imperial Concubine Yuan Shu really can continue being so arrogant.”

Feng Zhaolian sat to the side and said with a bit of disdain: “In the end, you’re the empress. Didn’t the Emperor not say anything about giving your position to Imperial Concubine Yuan Shu? Then you should continue to have the appearance of an empress! Shouldn’t you do something about Imperial Concubine Yuan Shu’s personality? This is something that ought to be handled by the person responsible for managing the inner palace, right?”