Heng Heng Becomes of Age
The two cities in the desert were occupied by the Southern Army, causing the cities’ defenses and management to improve by a large margin. Most importantly, Xuan Tian Ming was able to discover some people with talents, whom he promoted to fill the empty positions. The soldiers of the Southern Army had been put to use and no longer felt like useless people. They also no longer felt like worthless soldiers discarded by the ninth prince. They all worked very hard and had already forgotten that they had once followed the eighth prince for as long as they had.
It was just that easy to win over people’s hearts. A shock from his powerful martial arts combined with providing them with better treatment than they had received from their previous master. When it came to this, Xuan Tian Ming worked diligently and was not reserved.
As for Feng Yu Heng, she had returned to Lan Zhou to begin building a proper Hundred Herb Hall. Wang Lin had also sent a group of doctors and nurses. She kept the majority then sent a small portion over to Sha Ping City and Jue Ping City.
Lan Zhou’s Hundred Herb Hall was also built to the same scale as the one in the capital. At the same time, a wide range of medical services was provided. There were even different registration windows for commoners and soldiers. Injured soldiers from the frontline that came here for treatment would naturally have a special window to provide them with priority treatment. As for commoners, they would usually go by the commoner’s registration window. Everything was very orderly.
The citizens of Lan Zhou were very welcoming of this. In addition to this, once this Hundred Herb Hall opened, Feng Yu Heng placed her Chinese and Western medicines onto the shelves. Medicinal herbs were still sold, and the payment methods for the commoners remained the same as in the capital. At the same time, some herbal teas to ease the heat were also sold, and they were very warmly received by the madams and young misses of many families.
As for Feng Yu Heng herself, as long as she was in Lan Zhou, she would always head over when she had nothing else to do. Whenever there were doctors that were facing difficult illnesses, she would personally take over. In just a few days time, she had saved quite a few people that had been previously thought beyond salvation.
Because there had been Fu Ya’s fake Hundred Herb Hall before, the people had finally been able to experience an authentic Hundred Herb Hall’s magnificence. Comparing the two, the difference was too great. It was such that Feng Yu Heng’s image instantly improved in the eyes of the civilians, and some even said: “His Highness the ninth prince is a god of war, and Imperial Daughter Ji An is a Bodhisattva!”
Feng Yu Heng did not care about any Bodhisattva, but she opened a Hundred Herb Hall to install her own information network in this area and, more importantly, to capture the hearts of all. At present, they were being captured, and this allowed her to let out a bit of a sigh of relief. After all, the eighth prince had been stationed here for many years. If she could not provide any material benefits, capturing their hearts might truly be difficult! Even now, there would definitely still be some that stood on old eighth’s side, but they would be few and far between, thus she did not mind it too much.
It was just that Huang Quan and Wang Chuan were a bit unsteady the past few days. Although they had been at her side, they were consistently absent-minded. This day, when Huang Quan accidentally knocked over a box of medicine, Feng Yu Heng was finally unable to hold back and asked: “Why exactly are the two of you in such a trance?”
The two servants exchanged a glance and let out a sigh. Wang Chuan then said: “Young Miss, in another five days, it will be your birthday. This year, you will be turning 15, thus your birthday has a different meaning.”
Feng Yu Heng froze and calculated it. But of course, her birthday had arrived once more. The ancient people became of age at 15, and this birthday was indeed different from others. But no matter how different, this place was not the capital. It was the Southern border, and there was a battle. What sort of thing could she put on? Thus she waved her hand: “There’s no discussion about the difference. Make a bowl of noodles in the morning and poach an egg for me. We are outside, and everything should remain simple.”
“Hah!” Huang Quan stomped her foot, “Young Miss! What do you mean just boil a bowl of noodles and poach an egg! Have you forgotten that His Highness the ninth prince has always said that he will marry you on the day that you become of age? The day is about to arrive. Are you not worried? His Highness doesn’t mention it, but you don’t even go to ask about it? Regardless of the situation, there needs to be an explanation, right!”
The two servants had been with Feng Yu Heng for a long time and were no longer like when they had just entered the Feng manor, always thinking of themselves as people from the Yu Palace. Now, they thought of themselves as Feng Yu Heng’s servants. Regardless of the situation, they would always look at things from Feng Yu Heng’s perspective. Even when it came to this coming of age and marriage, they had some complaints.
Wang Chuan also continued in the same vein as Huang Quan: “We servants don’t know whether or not His Highness has spoken about it to Young Miss in private, but Young Miss has spent a few days here in Lan Zhou, yet His Highness has not come. Thinking about it, there hasn’t been much communication, right? This is a big thing. When we were in Ji An Prefecture, hadn’t the two madams from the Yao family had also said that Imperial Concubine Yun had personally provided a betrothal gift? Nobody spoke of delaying this matter, but the battle in the South had also been in front of us. Young Miss and His Highness are not in the capital, thus delaying it is definitely going to happen. But even if it is to be delayed, there should be an explanation.”
Feng Yu Heng felt a bit moved from hearing this. These two servants were speaking up for her? They were criticizing Xuan Tian Ming? A feeling of accomplishment welled up inside her. It seemed that having them accompany her for all of these years had not been for naught! People’s hearts really were made of flesh. Those two had finally recognized their master from the bottoms of their hearts.
She happily praised the two: “Don’t think so much about it. Xuan Tian Ming and I are not so easily pulled apart. The wedding is nothing more than a formality. Right now, Jue Ping City can’t be left alone. How could he have the idle time to come over here?! When the fighting in the South has been settled, the victorious army can return to court. At that time, is there any fear that he won’t provide me with a proper wedding?”
Hearing her say this, the two servants knew that advising her any further would be pointless, but they were still worried and said: “It would be best if Young Miss asked His Highness the ninth prince. Feigning ignorance is no good. This is a grand occasion.”
Feng Yu Heng also knew that this was a grand occasion, thus she did not say that she, as a girl, was embarrassed to ask about it. She just truly felt that the two had a tacit understanding of the matter. The current situation was the current situation, and it was there for all to see. There was no need to provide any special instructions for this matter; moreover, she earnestly felt that it was much too early for a girl to get married at the age of 15. Although she was already mature mentally, her body was not her original body, and it had not yet finished growing. Getting married this early and experiencing certain things would not be good. That was why she was fine with Xuan Tian Ming not mentioning the grand wedding.
There were still five days until she became of age. It was just a birthday. What was the point of celebrating a birthday for someone so young? Birthday, birthday, in truth, it was just a day of distress for the mother. Yao shi had just passed away. Even if she did not have many feelings left for her mother, she also felt that things should be kept a little more subdued. Just eating a bowl of noodles was fine. There was nothing to really celebrate.
Thus Feng Yu Heng continued to remain in Lan Zhou and patiently treat the citizens of Lan Zhou. Aside from those close to her, nobody knew that Imperial Daughter Ji An’s coming of age birthday was about to arrive.
Business at Hundred Herb Hall was very prosperous. Why else would they say that regardless of ancient eras or modern, the most profitable business would always be hospitals? No matter how poor the person, they may be willing to skimp on food or clothing, but they would definitely need to take medicine if they fell ill. For the sake of saving money, families might not eat well, but in truth, the money that was saved would all be spent on taking medicine. The body was like a bank account, and they only thought to make withdrawals without making any deposits. Sooner or later, it would come back to haunt them.
Of course, Feng Yu Heng understood this concept, thus she allowed Hundred Herb Hall’s medical practitioners to tell the relatives of the sick that money was not something that was saved up. It was something that was earned. You could wear shoddy clothes to save money, and this was fine; however, the body must not be forsaken for the sake of saving money. Otherwise, when illness came, it would be too late to regret it.
The logic was that; however, the people would not accept it so easily. Most people would acknowledge on the surface then turn around and continue doing it. In regards to this, there was nothing that Feng Yu Heng could do. She could only do her best and say what should be said and do what should be done. As for whether they listened or not, that was up to them.
The days passed slowly and peacefully for her. At her side, Wang Chuan, Huang Quan and Ban Zou were all especially dejected. They all felt extremely awkward for their master. Ban Zou even had an impulse to rush over to Jue Ping City to punish the ninth prince. Unfortunately, Xuan Tian Ming had already left too much of an impression on him. Even if he had that desire, he did not dare to do it. He could only twiddle his fingers and count the days while thinking to himself that his master really had a hard life.
Finally, Feng Yu Heng’s birthday arrived on the 17th of the fourth month.
That morning, Wang Chuan and Huang Quan got up early and very carefully made a bowl of noodle soup. Bringing it to Feng Yu Heng, they wanted to say a few complaints about their dissatisfaction, but today was Feng Yu Heng’s birthday. They felt that saying too much would cause their master to feel annoyed. Moreover, the night before, Wang Chuan had said to Huang Quan that their young miss was also feeling unhappy about it. It was just that there was nothing that she could do. Since Young Miss decided to endure, we should not add to it!
The two servants remained quiet, neither bringing up the matter of the wedding. They just took care of washing Feng Yu Heng before watching her eat the bowl of noodles. They then quietly took it away. The atmosphere was very strange.
Feng Yu Heng was helpless. She knew that the two servants were feeling unhappy. In all honesty, she also felt a bit uncomfortable. After all, it was the Yu Palace that had brought up the matter of getting married on the day of her coming of age. Regardless of the current situation, Xuan Tian Ming should have said something to her, right? She knew that getting married was not going to happen, but that person should have come over to say something. That could be considered giving an explanation. What was the situation now? Not a single word was said, and that person had not made an appearance for a few days. She held it in and did not contact him. That person was also quite able to hold it in, not coming to look for her. Just thinking about it made her angry.
After eating the noodles, Feng Yu Heng headed toward Hundred Herb Hall in a depressed state. Along the way, none of the three, master and servants, spoke. Their expressions were all ugly, but after they arrived at Hundred Herb Hall, her emotions were quickly adjusted. A pregnant woman with a difficult pregnancy had come to Hundred Herb Hall, and they were waiting for her to perform a C-section for her.
Of the doctors brought to Lan Zhou, there were no female doctors. If this was in the 21st century, there would be no difference between male and female doctors, but the ancient people had different views. They could not accept a male doctor helping a woman give birth. Only Feng Yu Heng could personally make an appearance.
She was not specialized in obstetrics, but a C-section was just a minor surgery for her. Within one hour, it had already been completed. Looking at the infant that had just been pulled out, Feng Yu Heng truly found it to be adorable. Although babies that had just been born were a little ugly, they were still pudgy and extremely cute.
She teased the child for a while before handing it to a nurse to be cleaned. She also personally handled sewing up the new mother. When everything had been concluded, they were pushed back to the room, and the surgery was considered successfully completed.
Feng Yu Heng went to wash her hands and change her clothes. She used the excuse that she was tired to get everyone out of the room, as she quickly entered her space to take a warm bath to get rid of the sweat on her body.
When she came out, she heard a noisy commotion coming from outside the room. Not long later, Huang Quan and Wang Chuan happily banged on the door, loudly shouting: “Young Miss! Young Miss, quickly come out! His Highness came! His Highness came!”