Old Xuan! Old Yao!
Two suspicious people had come to the entrance of the Yao manor, and Yao Shu’s shout had stopped everyone in the Yao family that had not yet returned to their own courtyards. The people turned back and saw that the two were still using sleeves to cover part of their faces, only leaving the eyes exposed. Hearing Yao Shu’s question, one of them said: “Keep quiet, keep quiet, we came to look for Yao Xian. Yao Shu, quickly shut your mouth! Where’s is there any place for you to speak?” While that person spoke, they stomped their feet and looked very angry.
Yao Shu also became angry, “I say, who are you? It’s fine if you directly speak my name, but you actually dare to directly use my grandfather’s name! Looking at the two of you, you don’t look like good people. If you don’t leave, don’t blame me for calling someone to report this matter!”
“You-” The person’s eyes bulged with anger and looked toward the entrance of the manor. He very quickly found Yao Xian and immediately said in a loud voice: “Yao Xian, quickly get your unlucky grandson away! Then bring this great one inside!”
“Shut your mouth!” Yao Shu also became angry and wanted to say a bit more, but he was stopped by Yao Xian, who whispered a few words into his ears. After this, Yao Shu’s face immediately turned pale. Looking at the two people outside, he immediately understood the situation and froze in place. When he recovered, he wanted to kneel and kowtow, but Yao Jing Jun, who had reacted a step before him, went forward and stopped him then said to Yao Xian: “Father, receive them for a while. I will bring them back to their courtyard.” After saying this, he brought everyone in the Yao family back to the inner courtyards. From far away, the Yao family’s sixth son, Yao Xin, could still be heard muttering: “Who exactly were they? So secretive.”
Only after everyone entered the inner courtyards did Yao Xian helplessly waved to the two people outside: “Come in.” After the two entered the manor, the gatekeeper immediately closed the gates, and Yao Xian rolled his eyes at the two, asking: “Instead of staying in a perfectly good imperial palace, what have you come here for?”
The two were none other than the Emperor and Zhang Yuan, who were extremely idle. Xuan Tian Ming’s army had left on its expedition. When the Emperor received this news, he felt that he had become isolated in this large capital. Aside from the eunuch Zhang Yuan, he did not have anyone to talk to. Of course, the person that he hoped to be with the most was Yun Pian Pian; however, that was the least likely to occur. She was living and playing freely with a tiger in her Winter Moon Palace. How could she possibly care if the old man was living happily or not?
There was nothing that the Emperor could do. Because of Feng Yu Heng’s matter, Yao Xian no longer entered the palace, and he was extremely bored, thus he simply brought his eunuch and left the palace, sneaking around to the Yao manor for the sake of drinking a bit with Yao Xian. Of course, to say that the two had snuck out of the palace, there were still countless hidden guards following in the shadows to protect them. Their safety could be ensured.
Yao Xian was too familiar with the Emperor. How could he possibly need the Emperor to speak the reason on his own? He could understand most of the Emperor’s thoughts even if he used his toes to think. He just could not understand: “Everyone says that the Emperor has an endless list of things to do each day and is busy to the point of dizziness. How is it that you’re living like a child? Leaving the palace as you please and going to drink as you please?”
The Emperor and Zhang Yuan finally lowered their sleeves from their faces after entering the yard then let out sighs of relief. The Emperor did not hold back and took the initiative to tug Yao Xian’s arm, pulling him further inside. “How could there be that much work to attend to. We are already at this age and should have my own matters. Don’t be like those old fogeys in the courts, bringing up court matters upon seeing me. We feel annoyed just hearing about it. We came to you today for the sake of drinking and playing chess. Don’t mention anything else.”
There was nothing that Yao Xian could do. Bringing him in the direction of his own courtyard, he spoke as he walked: “The wine I have here is not as good as the wine that A-Heng drinks. It also cannot compare to the wine of the imperial palace. Don’t ask for too much.”
“It’s fine, it’s fine. As long as it’s wine, it’s fine.” The Emperor was not very picky about this. There were times when drinking was just for the sake of getting drunk. It was unrelated to the quality of the wine. “In this world, there’s nobody aside from you that can be my drinking buddy. We truly just want to drink a bit and chat. I’m not picky about whether the wine is good or not.”
Alright then! With him saying this, Yao Xian felt a bit emotional. Finding someone to drink and chat with, how common a thing was this. But to the ruler of a country, it was a luxury. It even required him to secretly sneak out like a criminal to come knocking at his manor’s gates. It sounded pitiful just thinking about it. Forget it, he would bring out the bottles of good wine that A-Heng had left behind!
Yao Xian had begun feeling compassionate, and the Emperor found good wine. The chef in the Yao manor prepared a table of foods to go with the wine, and the two chatted happily while drinking wine. For some reason, Zhang Yuan had begun taking the Emperor more seriously when it came to drinking. Now, whenever the Emperor wanted to do something, he would accompany him because Xuan Tian Ming had told him before leaving that there was no need to be so restrictive of the Emperor. If he wanted to do something or eat something, just go along with it. As long as it would not cause too much damage to the body, it was fine. After all, at this age, restricting everything could cause problems.
Fortunately, the Emperor only came to find Yao Xian. The Yao family was determined to be a family that could be trusted without any reservations by Xuan Tian Ming, thus he was a bit less worried. Either way, there were still hidden guards following along. In the worst-case scenario, if he got drunk, he could just be carried back. It was better than watching the old emperor spend each day in Zhao He Hall sighing in the direction of Winter Moon Palace. There were times when he felt that the Emperor would lose years on his life from yearning for Imperial Concubine Yun, but how could a eunuch like him understand the feelings between men and women. As a servant, he needed to accompany his master. Doing a good job of following his master was his job.
While the eunuch was thinking, the Emperor and Yao Xian had already become drunk. Fortunately, it was not serious, and they could still speak. Yao Xian was in the middle of lecturing the Emperor: “How fierce! Chasing my granddaughter out of the capital. Your eighth son really has bright prospects.”
The Emperor waved his hand: “Going out for some exercise is good. The fief is freer than the capital. Building that side up will be good for her. After all, it is her own territory. Old Yao, I’ll tell you-” He had drank too much and could no longer keep up with the royal We, as he directly used “I” to tell Yao Xian: “In the entirety of Da Shun, the first fief to be handed out is Ji An Prefecture. Do you know what that fief means? It means that place is an independent territory and does not need to pay taxes to Da Shun and does not need to present tributes. It can also raise a personal army. As long as she desires it, nobody could do anything even if she built up a small court there. With A-Heng going there, she will be the local despot. In Ji An Prefecture, she is the most powerful. Nobody can do anything about her. In the past, Da Shun has never given out a single fief. Not even lords with different surnames were given fiefs. The fear was that once it developed and had its own army, it would become a threat to Da Shun.”
Of course, Yao Xian understood this logic. Ever since he had found out that Feng Yu Heng had a fief, he had researched a number of things relating to this topic. He also knew just how great of a reward a fief was. He asked the Emperor: “Since it’s so important, why did you give it to A-Heng?”
“Because this great one felt that she was worth it!” The Emperor beat his chest, “How great is that child, A-Heng! In terms of studies, she was able to defeat the left prime minister Feng Jin Yuan, and her martial abilities allowed her to defeat Qian Zhou. Her medical abilities are famous, and she produced steel for Da Shun. It’s not possible for there to be a second one like this child. How could I not dote on her a bit?”
“Tsk!” Yao Xian rolled his eyes, “Don’t speak as if you’re so grand. How could I not know about this? The reason that you were willing to give up that fief, was it not a result of her being engaged to your most-beloved ninth son?! No matter how many nice things you give her, won’t it all end up belonging to your Xuan family? Otherwise, would you be willing? Would you be so bold as to take the risk of giving up that fief?”
The Emperor let out a laugh upon hearing this. His antics had been seen through by Yao Xian, and he did not hide it, openly admitting it. But he was still very approving of Feng Yu Heng’s contributions.
Yao Xian let out a sigh then took another sip of wine and asked a question that he had been contemplating for some time: “Old Xuan! Say, with you sending everyone away, are you not worried that trouble might arise in the capital? Although I do not attend court, I can hear about the happenings in court. The current situation does not seem very stable, and that eighth son controls the imperial guards. You need to be more vigilant. If trouble arises in the palace, even if your ninth son has a few hundred thousand troops, he would not make it back in time.”
The Emperor waved his hand and said without a care: “If trouble arises, just let it rise. Who told me to have so many sons. There’s always one that wants to cause harm to Us. If it isn’t old eighth, it will be someone else. This is something that the ruler of every generation must worry about. I do not have any hopes of being able to avoid it. On the contrary, I want to see just how venomous old eighth really can be. Old Yao! The weight of this country is very great. I don’t want Ming’er to carry the burden of being seen as having taken the throne as a result of his imperial concubine mother’s favor. I am doing my best to allow him to earn this spot openly. Right, there’s something that you still haven’t heard about, right?” The Emperor looked at Yao Xian secretively, “Your granddaughter, A-Heng, was determined to be the star of the phoenix by the Board of Astronomy. From the mountains in the Northwest to the capital, although there were difficulties along the way, the star of the phoenix did not change. This also brought a pleasant surprise for Da Shun. With the appearance of the star of the phoenix, the throne will definitely belong to Ming’er!”
The Emperor was very confident about this matter; however, Yao Xian did not express too much shock. He did not know anything about the star of the phoenix, but he knew that he and his granddaughter transmigrating to this world would definitely make them different from the rest. Of course, it was a pleasant surprise. With so many modern techniques to develop Da Shun and provide for the citizens, if Da Shun had this sort of mother of the country, it would be considered a heavenly arrangement.
Xuan Tian Ming led his soldiers toward the South, and Feng Yu Heng also entered Yu Zhou on the sixth day of the second month. Because they had been delayed in Shu Zhou for a few days, and because they had been delayed for two days by the bandits, she was already quite late to arrive in Yu Zhou. They traveled overnight for a couple days, and the people were very tired. Inside the carriage, Xiang Rong leaned against Shan Cha and slept lightly. Even Huang Quan and Wang Chuan were recovering; however, she could not fall asleep. In her hand was a book that she was reading with relish.
The book was the one that the sixth prince, Xuan Tian Feng, had given her right before she had left the capital. It had been written by Xuan Tian Feng himself, and it could be considered travel notes. It was just that everything noted in the book was related to the Yun Province. It had very thorough information about Yu Zhou and Ji An Prefecture. The ink was very new, and it looked as though it had been written not too long ago. Feng Yu Heng figured that this had been written during the first month. Thinking about it, it was written after the sixth prince found out she would be going to her fief.
The words were like the person. Upon seeing the characters, Feng Yu Heng could immediately think of that studious and scholarly-looking prince. Everyone said that a dragon has nine children, and they are all unique. In the past, Feng Yu Heng’s understanding of this was still just a concept, but when she came to this world and saw the Emperor’s nine sons, she finally understood the true meaning of this saying.
Indeed, they were all different. The book that she flipped through stopped on the 13th page. A story written by Xuan Tian Feng about Ji An Prefecture also began here…