Bab 50: Rising (VIII)
Mt. Yun
The small entourage was making its way up the mountain and as they were midway of the Mt. Yun, then came to a halt.
The people inside the carriage were no one else but Feng Furen and Hui Lan.
The journey had taken in total 1 hour to arrive just midway. For the entire time in the carriage, Hui Lan and Feng Furen both spent their time speaking and getting to know about each other.
Without realizing, both seemed to have gotten along with each other better than they would have thought or feared.
Hui Lan had just finished her story about who she was and where she had come from when the entourage had stopped at the middle of the mountain.
Seeing that the carriage had stopped, Feng Furen then spoke up, "From here onwards, we cannot take the carriage and must walk up the mountain."
Hui Lan did not complain and simply nodded.
Hui Lan's calm reaction did not take Feng Furen by surprise. This young lady was already in her late 20s and was already a professor from where she had come from. She had some base in martial arts before coming into this world.
...However, here, the young lady is now in her daughter's weak body. She would have to start from the very beginning. From a master to being a beginner again, it must be hard for one to accept, but this lady did not seem to complain and accepted the reality rather well. Here was one strong person.
It was not that her daughter was born with a weak body, but ever since coming to the Royal family and away from her, it must have been the reason why her daughter's health had deteriorated this much.
Feng Furen went out first before supporting Hui Lan down the carriage, "Careful."
Hui Lan looked at Feng Furen's hand quietly, before accepting the elder's hand gratefully.
With Feng Furen's hand, Hui Lan came down carefully. Once coming down off the carriage, the carriage then headed back down the mountain right away.
"What about…?" Hui Lan turned around as she saw the carriage leaving without waiting for them.
"We'll be staying here for a week. Since you are Heaven's candidate, I would like to teach you something and there is also someone I would like to introduce you to, don't worry, I've got our people covered for you at the palace."
Hearing Feng Furen doing all of this for her, Hui Lan could not help but appreciate the other person's effort for her.
Just then, one of the guards came up to Feng Furen and bowed before her.
"Hm? What is it?" Feng Furen asked without thinking much.
"Furen, the General has been called into Ping An Palace."
Feng Furen's attention was now fully on the guard's information, "Senior sister?" Slowly, Feng Furen crossed her arms in front of her, "Trying to probe for my actions...tut tut, she hasn't changed a bit ah." Feng Furen shook her head slightly before giving her orders, "Keep an eye on the Ke group for now and I'll deal with it with my husband. For now, don't let anyone know that Hui Lan is not in the palace. Ask Su Rong to help cover up for us."
"Yes, Furen." the guard bowed before sending an eagle up into the sky with Feng FUren's exact words.
As Hui Lan was beside, she listened to their conversation closely.
...Ping An Palace? Senior sister? However, that was the Empress Dowager's residence. Did it mean that...Empress Dowager was Feng Furen's senior sister?
...Ke group? That sounded like her father's group from where she had come from? However, was it even the same Ke group?
"What are you waiting for? Let's go. This mountain is full of wild animals and no one would dare to enter, so stick tightly." Feng Furen who did not see Hui Lan follow behind her quickly urged Hui Lan to follow.
"Oh? Yes."
With Feng Furen and Hui Lan in the middle and sturdy looking men on the side, the entourage then began walking up into the mountains. The more they walked up the mountain, the denser the trees became, hardly any sunlight was seeping through the trees.
It was then that Feng Furen raised her hand for the entire group to stop before speaking, "Lit up the fire with the mist powder."
Immediately, all the men brought out a wooden handle and lit it on fire. Once their torches were lit up, all sprinkled a small bottle in their hands and threw it onto the torches.
Soon after, a spring of smoke began to pour out bit by bit from the torches. As more came out, the unscented smoke began covering around them.
Thereafter when the smoke began covering the ground and the surrounding forest, suddenly, a few eyes appeared around the entire forest.
Eyes that were never before.
Feng Furen smiled, "Wolves." She turned to Hui Lan who was staring into one of the eyes in the corner, "Don't be looking at them too much. Since you can't talk to them yet, either way, they wouldn't let you into their pack that easily. This mist is to keep wild animals away; created by my master himself. Just stick tight. I only hope that his stubborn head would make him come out from his cave." Feng Furen glanced at the trees around her before continuing walking.
...Feng Furen's master?
Hui Lan looked around one more time before following.
...Wolves? They reminded her of someone dear to her at home...uncle Xiao Bai was a wolf too right? Or was he just a special dog?
...There was something still stuck in her brain that seemed to be at the back of her head, but she just could not find what it was...
.
.
.
Ping An Palace
The Empress Dowager had sent her people to request for the Emperor and General Feng.
Both the General and the Emperor had arrived at the same time for they had just finished the morning Royal meeting and Empress Dowager's Xin came right after.
The Emperor arrived first along with his personal servants and right behind the Emperor was a big figure of General Feng in his official clothes. The two built's were not that different from each other. Even when the General was in his late forties, he had still kept his figure and was not looking like those ministers that were plump from plundering the citizens' money.
Even as just as the Emperor's policies were, the citizens still suffered from the cunning hands of those officials.
Both walked together quietly even though in their titles, one was the son-in-law and the other was the father-in-law. However, none seemed to show any close relationship or even put on a harmonious pretence for others to see.
They simply walked indifferently towards the same destination.
As the two were inside Ping An Palace, the Empress Dowager's personal court lady watched as both came closer. Seeing them put such airs on each other, the elder court only sigh in her heart.
It seemed her master would have to work harder for the country to be quiet again.
Meanwhile, the court lady greeted them politely before leading outside to the Empress Dowager.
"Muhou, you have asked for me?" The Emperor was the first to speak before making his way to sit down beside his mother.
On the other hand, the Empress Dowager replied shortly, "Hm, greetings Emperor. Welcome General Feng."
After the Emperor had sat down, General Feng walked in with his head bowed.
"This humble servant greets the Empress Dowager." General Feng spoke without even looking up to the royals in front of him.
...Unlike other times where they would see the General hot tempered, this time, he was rather calm.
"Hm, please sit." Although the Empress Dowager felt discontented in her heart, she did not reveal it on her face or her tone when she told General Feng to sit down.
Not long after the General sat down, the Empress Dowager did not wait and began, "How has Feng Furen been doing these days? Is she adapting well to the capital?"
The General replied without any hesitation, "Replying to the Empress Dowager, my wife is doing fine. Since we are only here for a week, she has hoped to be able to visit the people we know in the capital. Just this morning, she went to visit our master in Mt. Yun and pay her respect."
As the Emperor was listening beside his mother, his brows could not help but flinch. Mt. Yun?
"Master has closed his doors many years ago, why is she still going up there? The Empress is still sick, why is she not beside her daughter at a time like this!?" Empress Dowager Xin's tone grew demanding.
Nevertheless, General Feng merely replied calmly, "Even though master has locked himself up, he still knows, it is not that he is blind or has no ears. My wife has gone there briefly and should be coming down the mountain by now. Nevertheless, as for our daughter, we were told to let her rest for now. However, we were also planning to meet her tomorrow. Chen did not know that our plans would not make the Empress Dowager displeased." General Feng replied lengthily, but he did not forget to put the Empress Dowager on the spot as well.
...He still had his temper. An outsider was blaming his wife for not taking care of their sick daughter when all she had been doing was staying beside Hui Lan even until now. And weren't these two people in front of him that had hurted his daughter?
...It was about time for Hui Lan to grow stronger and he was not going to let anyone stop that.
The Empress Dowager's eyes grew slightly sad for a brief moment before disappearing quickly.
...In her senior brother's eyes, you still always had Feng Nuo…
"Sigh, Aijia, is just worried for the Empress. I asked for both of you here to ask for some cooperation. Since the year end celebration will be coming soon I hope that we can keep our capital strong and united together."
Once the Empress Dowager's words were spoken out.
The room seemed to have dropped into a serious atmosphere among the three significant figures.
The Emperor revealed a small smile on his lips.
Meanwhile, the General stared onto the floor intensely.
Seeing such reactions from the two people, the Empress Dowager closed her eyes tiredly. So it was beyond returning to good terms with these two huh?
...She began to wonder if she had chosen the Empress correctly.
Just as everyone was all quiet.
Captain Wei Lin of the Royal Guards hurriedly came inside with Eunuch Wu announcing his request to meet the Emperor.
"Bixie!" Captain Wei Lin cupped his hand to ask to speak.
Seeing the tension in Captain Wei Lin's expression, it seemed something must have happened.
Empress Dowager glanced at General Feng quickly before looking back to the Leader of the Royal Guards. She hoped that it had nothing to do with her junior sister.
"Speak." Emperor Yang Long did not wait any longer.
"Bixie, in the capital city, there has been a report of the minister of Justice' murder. The Furen of the minister of Justice had woken up with bloodstains all over her, but what was more mysterious was that the minister of Justice' body had disappeared. The dead body is not in the room but only a pile of dust. Words are now spreading around about the mysterious killing."
Emperor Yang Long's brows became creased before speaking again, "Alright, send the left prime minister to look after this. I'll be on my way to the investigating Bureau, bring the evidence there."
Receiving his order, captain Wei Lin bowed in respect, "Yes, Bixie."
Before leaving the Emperor turned to his mother and spoke, "Muhou, I will take my leave first."
The Empress Dowager did not keep her son with her any longer and nodded silently.
As the Emperor got up to leave, General Feng too got up and spoke, "This servant will also take my leave too."
"Hm."
Emperor Yang Long turned to look at his father-in-law quietly before thinking of something...
"General Feng, would you like to walk Zhen to the investigation Bureau?"
General Feng finally looked up with his justice eyes looking fearlessly at his son-in-law, "It is my service Bixie."
"Hm."
With that, both the Emperor and General took their leave and headed straight to investigate the case.
...
Meanwhile, in the other part of the capital city, someone felt as if being tortured.
Hui Lan could not help but bit her lips tightly.
...It hurts!
Hadiah
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