As dusk fell, all the shops on Duhufu Street were closed. Only the two lanterns in front of the Duhufu gate were still emitting a fist-sized light in the night.
A guard in plain clothes came into the mansion with a letter, saying that he had something to give to Xing Yao, Feng Shuo's constant attendant.
He was of low status and had no right to meet Feng Shuo directly.
The servant in the mansion said that he came at the wrong time. "Guard Xing went with the prince to kill the Turkic army that attacked Dingjia Village a few days ago. I'm afraid he won't be back until tomorrow morning."
The guard did not dare to leave. He was ordered to secretly monitor the cook named Jiang. His intuition told him that the letter in his hand, which was to be sent to the capital, was extremely important. He was afraid of delaying the intelligence, so he stood in the corridor and waited.
A group of people walked slowly towards the other end of the corridor. The woman in the lead was wearing a lilac-colored vine-patterned bodice, a goose-yellow skirt, and a jade bracelet of the finest aqua color. She looked quite proud, and it was obvious that she had a high status in the mansion. The maids behind her were holding gold and jade bowls and plates. Some of the food on the plates was only touched once, while others were not touched at all.
When the servant saw the girl, he called her warmly, "Aunt Fangqing."
The woman was beautiful, no more than twenty years old. Since she called her "Aunt", it was obvious that she was from the palace. The guards lowered their heads quickly, not daring to look at her.
Fang Qing was the senior maidservant serving the Grand Empress Dowager. Apart from the masters, only Nanny Song and the old housekeeper were superior to her in the mansion.
When she saw the guard dressed like this, she asked, "Why is there a foreign man in the mansion?"
The servant said hurriedly, "This is for the prince. He said there is an important letter that needs to be handed over to Guard Xing in person."
Fang Qing immediately scolded: "It's against the rules! The Grand Empress Dowager lives here, how can we have a man from outside stay overnight!"
As soon as she mentioned the title of Grand Concubine Dowager, the servants and guards were frightened. The guard hurriedly said, "Aunt, calm down. I will go to the gate of the mansion and wait for the prince."
The autumn air is getting thicker day by day, and the cold wind is biting at night. If you wait in the corridor inside the mansion, you can avoid the wind, but if you wait outside the mansion, you will be blown by the cold wind all the time.
When Fang Qing heard that this was a letter that would be handed over to Feng Shuo by Xing Yao, something flashed across her eyes and she said to the guard, "Give me the letter and I will pass it to Guard Xing for you."
The guard was a little hesitant. Since he worked under Feng Shuo, he naturally knew whether important things could pass through the hands of others.
Seeing that he remained silent, Fang Qing frowned and shouted, "Are you still worried that I will break my promise?"
After all, she was from the palace. Once she showed such momentum, the guards could not resist her and quickly handed the letter over: "Thank you, aunt."
Fang Qing took the letter and left arrogantly with a few maids. The servant was afraid of getting into any more trouble, so he left quickly.
After walking away, Fang Qing took a quick look at the letter in her hand and could barely recognize from the huge word in small calligraphy that it was sent to the capital. She didn't care where the letter came from or what it involved, but was secretly happy that she had another reason to get close to Feng Shuo.
A cold wind blew, causing the lanterns in the corridor to sway, and the shadows of people swayed with them.
Fang Qing glanced at the dark night and said, "It's already this hour, I wonder if the prince has finished his dinner yet..."
The maid behind her knew what she was thinking, so she said, "The prince has gone to wipe out the Turkic army, and I'm afraid he won't have time to use it. Sister Fangqing, you spent so much time preparing lunch at noon, why do you say that Nanny Song asked the kitchen to prepare it for the prince?"
Fang Qing glared at the maid in feigned anger and said, "It's all for the good of the prince. What's the difference between saying that I made it and saying that Nanny Song asked the kitchen to make it?"
The maid joked, "Of course there is a difference. For so many years, the prince has had no one who knows the temperature. Now that you, Sister Fangqing, are here, there is someone who knows the temperature, right?"
Fang Qing was so happy about these words that she reprimanded him, "Who gave you the guts to make up stories about the master? I just hope that the queen can get better soon, and not have another incident like this afternoon, when the prince came to pay his respects and the queen almost broke her forehead with a teacup..."
If it weren't for this reason, the prince would never have left the house without even having a meal.
It was a cold and dewy night. Fang Qing did not go back to her room to rest. Instead, she went to the kitchen to make soup, while asking the maid to keep an eye on the movement at the door.
When Feng Shuo returned home, it was already past midnight.
Fang Qing received a letter from the maid. When she heard that Feng Shuo was in the study, she quickly put the letter in her pocket and brought the cooked soup over.
But he was stopped by the guards at the door of the study. "The study is a restricted area, no trespassing!"
The guards following Feng Shuo were no better than the servants in the mansion. They all had a cold look on their faces and didn't even give her, a big shot in front of the Grand Empress Dowager, any face.
Fang Qing looked a little embarrassed: "I came here to bring midnight snack to the prince."
The guard refused coldly: "Your Highness never eats after the evening hour."
This bowl of soup was cooked in vain. Fang Qing was embarrassed and unwilling to accept it. She wanted to say that she had a letter to present to Feng Shuo, but she was afraid that the guard would ask her to hand the letter to him directly. After thinking it over, she said, "I have something to report to the prince in person about the Grand Concubine."
The guard then went in to pass the message and came out after a while, letting Fang Qing in.
Fang Qing was overjoyed and hurried into the house carrying the soup bowl.
There were five candles lit on the tall candlesticks, illuminating the area in front of the desk.
The man inside was frowning as he wrote something under the candlelight. There were still traces of dried blood on his armor. His whole body was filled with the arrogance and hostility of someone who had just experienced a fierce battle. It was hard to look at him directly.
There was a piece of broken ice and snow in those cold phoenix eyes, and a drop of blood splashed under the corner of his eye looked like a small cinnabar teardrop, making his whole face look charming.
Fang Qing heard the sound of her own heartbeat quickening. She stared at Feng Shuo infatuatedly and forgot what to say for a moment.
Feng Shuo hadn't heard Fang Qing speak for a long time. He raised his eyebrows impatiently. When he saw her expression, his aura turned cold. "How is mother?"
Fang Qing was startled back to her senses by the frightening voice, and she stuttered as to what dishes the Grand Concubine Dowager had prepared tonight.
Seeing Feng Shuo's gloomy face, Fang Qing knew that if she asked to see him under the guise of the Grand Concubine, she would probably make him furious. She quickly put the soup bowl on the low table beside her and took out the letter from her bosom: "Someone came into the mansion at night and asked me to give this letter to the prince."
Feng Shuo stopped writing, his icy gaze swept towards Fang Qing, the corners of his delicate lips curled up in a sarcastic arc, and he snorted softly.
He didn't say anything, but Fang Qing felt that her legs were shaking so much that she could hardly stand, and she felt cold from head to toe.
Xing Yao frowned and looked at Fang Qing. He knew that she had violated the master's taboo. First, she entered the study room under the pretext of being the Grand Concubine Dowager, and now she took the letter sent by the informant by some unknown method. If she had not been the head maid of the Grand Concubine Dowager, the master would have ordered her to be dragged out and beaten to death.
Feng Shuo said coldly: "If my people don't even know who to give things to, then there is no need for them to live."
Fang Qing's face turned pale with panic; she had not expected things to be so serious.
When she was in the palace, as the Grand Concubine's maid, she was naturally the one who handled all the secret letters. She thought she would be treated the same way by Feng Shuo's side, but now she found out how wrong she was.
Fang Qing knelt down with her knees weak, begging with trembling lips: "Your Majesty, I swear that I have never read this letter. This letter has been like this since it was handed to me. I... I couldn't bear to see the person who came to deliver the letter waiting in the middle of the night, so I decided to help him present it to you, Your Majesty. Please forgive me this time for the many years I have served the Grand Concubine..."
Feng Shuo's eyes turned colder when he heard her say this, and a sneer formed on his lips: "If it weren't for your mother, do you think you would still be kneeling here and talking?"
Upon hearing this, all the blood drained from Fang Qing's face, and even though she was kneeling, her whole body was shaking like a sieve.
Feng Shuo asked her coldly, "How did this letter come into your hands?"
Fang Qing then confessed the truth in a trembling voice.
Feng Shuo's eyes were colder, and his face was full of sneer: "After leaving the palace, you don't even know how to be an obedient dog? You even stretch your hand to me, who gave you the courage?"
Fang Qing regretted her decision and kowtowed like crazy: "Your Majesty! I know I was wrong! I was just worried that Your Majesty didn't have dinner, so I wanted to send you a bowl of soup..."
Feng Shuo's eyes were filled with coldness and disgust: "Next time you use my mother as an excuse, you won't have to keep your tongue any longer."
"Drag him away and he will be caned thirty times."
The guard at the study door immediately came in and took someone away. Xing Yao stepped forward and took the letter from Fang Qing's hand.
Being in Feng Shuo's position, he receives countless secret letters every day. If the matter is serious, there will be a secret mark on the secret letter.
Xing Yao saw that there was no secret seal on the letter and thought it was just an ordinary letter. It would not be too late to reply in three or five days.
He placed the letter in the corner of the desk, and sorted out the pile of unsorted letters on the desk according to whether they had secret seals or not.
The pile without the secret seal was placed on Jiang Yanyi's letter. These could be replied to later. The urgent secret letters with the secret seal were placed in another pile. Those had to be replied to within two days.
When the old housekeeper Fuxi made tea and brought it to Feng Shuo, he saw Fang Qing being gagged and beaten with a stick in the yard.
He shook his head secretly. Fang Qing's thoughts could not be hidden from his eyes. But he saw that she was doing her duty and never overstepped her boundaries, so he did not punish her. Who would have thought that she would do such a stupid thing today
He went into the study and refilled Feng Shuo's tea, then advised: "Your Majesty, the mansion must have a mistress to be decent. You are twenty-two now."
He was originally a eunuch in the palace, and his voice was higher and thinner than that of ordinary people.
Women in the Daxuan Dynasty usually got engaged before they reached the age of 15, and men also got engaged before they reached the age of 20, unless there was a family mourning period, then the engagement would be delayed for a few years. It was rare for a prince like Feng Shuo to not even have a maid to warm his bed at his age.
In the early years, when the young emperor had not yet ascended the throne, many court officials criticized him for this. Some even went so far as to spread rumors directly, saying that Feng Shuo had a feminine appearance and might be having a homosexual relationship.
There were many powerful men in the capital who liked to have sex with boys, but they also had beautiful wives and maids. Feng Shuo was single from beginning to end, so the rumors became more and more outrageous, saying that he was no different from those young prostitutes in the Nanfeng Pavilion, and even made up stories about his romantic affairs with his powerful generals, which were very detailed.
The reason why the rumor finally stopped and no one in the capital dared to spread it anymore was that Feng Shuo used extremely violent means to cut off the tongues of those who fabricated the rumor and sent them to Nanfeng Pavilion for a romantic encounter.
Whatever rumors those people spread about him, he would verify them.
Several court officials who spread rumors and caused trouble died directly in Nanfeng Pavilion. For a time, the whole court was shocked, but no one dared to say anything.
The old emperor was bedridden and could no longer be restrained. If it weren't for the last chain tied around his neck by the Grand Empress Dowager, the new emperor would probably not have been able to sit on the throne.
It was also because he had acted too cruelly and violently during those years, and because the new emperor was about to ascend the throne, the powerful and influential people in the capital did not dare to promise their daughters to him.
—She was afraid that her daughter would suffer at his hands, and she was even more afraid that her family would become the target of suppression after the new emperor ascended the throne.
After Fu Xi finished speaking, he didn't hear Feng Shuo's response, so he couldn't help but sigh: "If you don't like the candidate for the principal wife, you can just pick a concubine first."
Feng Shuo, who was originally reviewing official documents at his desk, stopped writing when he heard this, his eyebrows and eyes were all frosty: "There will only be one principal wife in the Liaonan Palace."
Fu Xi watched Feng Shuo grow up, and he knew very well how the late emperor treated them and his mother. Feng Shuo's current temperament was largely due to the late emperor and the Grand Empress Dowager.
When Feng Shuo was just born, the late emperor felt that he had let the late queen down and planned to strangle him to death.
The Grand Empress Dowager knew that the late emperor was looking for the shadow of the late queen in her. If she died, there would be no one in the world who looked so similar to the late queen. The Grand Empress Dowager threatened to die, so that the late emperor could spare Feng Shuo's life.
Fu Xi sincerely hopes that Feng Shuo and the Grand Empress Dowager can move on from their past. This mother and son have already suffered enough in their lives.
Thinking of the past, his eyes could not help but turn red: "Although the Grand Empress Dowager did not recognize you later, whenever she saw a child of three or five years old, she would be stunned for a long time and ask people around her where her Yannu was..."
Yannu was Feng Shuo's childhood nickname.
When Feng Shuo heard this, the indifference on his face finally showed a crack, and he raised his hands to cover his eyes.
Fu Xi said in a trembling voice: "This old servant thinks that if you have a child, the Grand Empress Dowager may feel better after seeing the child."
Feng Shuo asked him, "If I just take a concubine just to have a child, how will I cope with the future when the princess marries me?"
"If you don't care, you can send the concubine away after the child is born. When the princess marries you, you can give the child to her to raise."
Feng Shuo looked at Fu Xi coldly: "Do you think their situation is any different from that of my mother?"
Fuxi was speechless.
It is already four o'clock in the morning, and it is time to go to the Xizhou camp.
Feng Shuo didn't say anything else to Fu Xi. He went back to his room, changed into clean clothes, and was about to go out.
He used to go to the military camp to eat, so the cooks in the mansion were naturally happy not to have to get up early to prepare meals. Now, although there is a Grand Empress Dowager, she has not gotten up at this time, so the kitchen is still empty.
He was originally planning to go towards the gate, but when he passed the west wing, he saw the high wall and suddenly changed direction and walked towards that direction.
Behind the wall was the yard rented by Jiang Yanyi.
He didn't know why he came here.
But after standing against the wall with arms folded for a while, my restless mood inexplicably calmed down.
Memories of my childhood in the palace came to mind.
Everyone in the palace said that his mother was favored, but he knew that his mother was always covered with scars, and that for countless days and nights, his mother had hugged him and cried.
She said: "Yannu, grow up quickly, and when you grow up, take mother out of this cage."
She also said: "Yannu, you must only be good to one girl in the future, don't let her down."
Feng Shuo stopped reminiscing and looked up at the sky which was still in twilight. He didn't like to think about these things.
His mother's tearful eyes and her figure kneeling at the feet of the late emperor begging for mercy were his lifelong nightmares.
With a "click", something fell at my feet.
Feng Shuo lowered his eyes and saw a ripe pomegranate that had fallen.
There is a pomegranate tree planted next to the high wall. It is quite old. Perhaps the previous owner of the house was childless, so he planted the tree in the hope of having a child. Now the tree is taller than the wall, and it casts a thick shade like a canopy to the other side of the wall.
It is the season when pomegranates ripen, and the tree is full of ripe fruits.
Feng Shuo stared at it for a while, then lightly jumped over the wall and just picked a pomegranate, but accidentally knocked one off. The pomegranate fell into Jiang Yanyi's yard with a "pop".
He was slightly startled.
Do you want to go down and pick it up
The author has something to say: I am not writing this for the sake of misunderstanding or for the sake of melodrama. I have an outline (speaking weakly)
The male protagonist delayed reading the letter in order to set up a foreshadowing for saving the female protagonist's uncle later in the story.
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