Gu

  Feng Yuheng did not know what sort of surprise Xuan Tianhua was speaking of, and neither would speak about it when asked. She was so frustrated that she began to throw a tantrum, which made the other two laugh.

  However, while the atmosphere looked to be very relaxed while they were laughing, in their hearts, there was a feeling of indescribable pressure.

  When she was finally unable to keep up the act, Feng Yuheng took the initiative to ask: “Will Father Emperor ask for the tiger tally you have?” She said to Xuan Tianming: “The 30 thousand troops that sixth brother lent to seventh brother have been taken back, and sixth brother was ordered to come back to the capital for the new year to hand over the tiger tally. With the 30 thousand troops as a precedent, I am worried about the tiger tally in your possession and your right to command troops. If it really is the case that Father Emperor has been controlled by a gu, these things will eventually be handed over to old eighth.”


  Xuan Tianming shrugged, “In the end, the country belongs to the old man. He has the right to choose. When that time comes, the world is vast, and we can just leave.”


  “But that is not what Father Emperor truly wants.” Feng Yuheng spoke with a bit of a depressed tone, “He’s just been controlled by someone else. Didn’t you also say it before? Although we don’t like this country, we won’t tolerate someone else throwing it into chaos. Moreover, he…… is your father. We can’t just watch him go through this in his final years; otherwise, regardless of where we go, we will eventually regret it.” She grabbed Xuan Tianming’s hand and told him: “We need to do everything that we can to help Da Shun overcome this trial and help Father Emperor find himself again. Even if it really can’t be done, we would have at least done everything that we could.”


  Xuan Tianming looked at her and reached out to pat her head. After patting her for a long time, he simply said: “My Heng Heng has grown up.”


  She nodded, “That’s right! We’ve long past the age of being willful. People can’t continue to stay the same as they were at the beginning. Just like you, you no longer pull out your whip to whip people without any thought. I also can’t continue to deal with people in the same way as back in the Feng manor. I’ve grown up and need to use mature methods to take care of things and resolve the root of the problem, rather than just kill the problem with a swing of a club. It looks like it would be a more uncomfortable life than before, but this is the price of growing up. Moreover, Da Shun is a country, not a residence. One misstep would harm countless innocent people. I could have killed old eighth directly, but how would that be any different from what a bandit does?”


  “Good.” Xuan Tianming said: “Do everything to turn the situation around. I will just protect you through this dangerous situation.” After saying this, he looked at Xuan Tianhua and smiled, “Seventh brother, look. Our little girl has quite the lofty ambition!”


  The three ended up drinking six kettles of wine, and it was such that Xuan Tianhua even felt a little tipsy; however, he did not spend the night in the Yu Palace. After all, Imperial Concubine Yun was in the Chun Palace, and he would not feel at ease with leaving her alone.

  The next day, Xuan Tianming went to attend morning court as usual. After Feng Yuheng got out of bed, Huang Quan happily ran in and told her: “Young miss, we’ve received word from the hidden guards in Xiao Zhou. Young master Zirui and the Yao family’s third madam are already on their way back. There will be roughly two days until they reach the capital.” When Zirui was brought up, Huang Quan became quite cheery, “Young master is currently at the age where his body is growing. It’s been half a year since we last saw him. He should have grown quite a bit.”


  Feng Yuheng was also quite emotional. Just yesterday, Yao Xian had said that Zirui and Miao shi should also be back. Yao Xian had gone to Xiao Zhou’s Hundred Herb Hall. It was because he heard about the situation in the capital that he did not wait to return with Zirui. She had thought that it would be another three to five days before she could see Zirui. Who knew that they would actually return shortly after. It was just as Huang Quan had said. They had not seen Zirui for half a year. That little guy had definitely grown much taller.

  Feng Yuheng had a smile on her face. This might have been the best news that she had heard in the past few days, but she was a bit worried, “The situation in the capital is complicated. I just hope that nothing will happen while Zirui is back.”


  Wang Chuan and Huang Quan understood her feelings, and Wang Chuan said: “How about this servant goes in the direction of Xiao Zhou to meet up with them! This will also let me tell the Yao family’s third madam about the situation in the capital. It would be better to have some preparations than none at all.”


  She nodded, “Alright, go ahead! I just want them to return safely. That’s more important than anything else.”


  Wang Chuan went to pick up Zirui, and Huang Quan stayed at Feng Yuheng’s side. After eating breakfast, Feng Yuheng decided to visit the Lu family. She was very interested in yesterday’s discussion. If it really was related to a gu, she feared that things would not be so easy to handle. Techniques involving a gu were very secretive. It was something that she had never even seen through her two lives of experience. In her previous life, she had been part of the military, and she was mostly surrounded by the most-advanced and most-modern medicine. Even if her family had its foundation built on centuries of Chinese medicine, it was completely unrelated to the use of a gu.

  She knew that her grandfather had tried to research gu and had gone to visit Miao territories. It was only after arriving in that place that found out that even with society entering the 21st century, there were still places that common Miao people could not enter. Even those of the local government could not get in. The government was unable to do anything about many of the Miao groups. The Miao were divided into two groups, unfamiliar Miao and familiar Miao. Familiar Miao were basically similar to Han people, and they were not much different with people from the outside world. But the unfamiliar Miao were different. They had their own beliefs, their own rules, and their own way of doing things. There were looked at sideways by many people. Unfamiliar Miao were considered people who were separated from the world. They were a group that had not accepted the modern world. Their thoughts were completely different from those of the outside world, and they continued to live inside their own little world.

  Of course, the so-called unfamiliar Miao and familiar Miao were just names that had been decided upon by people from the outside world. In truth, to the Miao people, they did not know what unfamiliar Miao and familiar Miao were. What they did know was that there was a group of Miao people that knew how to raise gu. The Miao people who knew how to raise them lived deep in the mountains. Even though they were also called Miao people, they were different. They called them: Gu Miao.

  Gu Miao were people that nobody dared to offend. When Yao Xian had gone to visit Miao territory, he had been very thorough in his preparations and researched many bits of data. In the end, he returned empty-handed.

  But after returning, Yao Xian gained his own understanding of the gu. In his eyes, the gu was related to bacteria. Gu could be seen as bacteria that were raised and bred. For example, if someone’s belly was filed with gu, when the poison activated, many bugs would quickly fill that person’s belly. This was one effect of the bacteria.

  But this was just one hypothesis. After many experiments, he finally announced that they were failures. They had no way of making or raising a gu. When it came to something like gu, they remained unfamiliar and secretive.

  Now that techniques using gu appeared in Da Shun, and they had been used on the Emperor, how could she not be worried? Everyone said that people afflicted by gu and wanted to be cured needed to find the one who planted the gu to cure it. But where would they go to find this person? Would they be in the Imperial Palace?

  At present, the only thing that they could think of that was related to the gu was Lu Ping. She recalled that Lu Ping’s face had been bitten by the water bug. Lu ping had personally told her that it was a type of gu. It originated in the South. Even if she was exceptionally skilled in medicine, she could not heal the scar. Feng Yuheng thought that she might be able to get some clues about the gu from Lu Ping.

  She was going to the left prime minister’s manor, and it would not be very proper to go empty-handed, thus she bought a number of things along the way. Lu Song had gone to court and had not yet returned. The madam, Ge shi, saw that Feng Yuheng had personally come to visit and was quite surprised. After saluting, she asked: “Did princess have some matters to attend to with the Lu manor?” She then became a bit worried, “It shouldn’t be that my husband has done something to offend His Highness the ninth prince and princess, right?”


  Feng Yuheng felt that this family was a little too anxious. Even if Lu Song had done something to offend her, it would not be to the point that she would personally visit? Could it be that she wanted to come and fight? She smiled and consoled Ge shi: “Madam is overthinking it. My visit today is unrelated to Prime Minister Lu. I came to see young miss Lu Ping.”


  Ge shi was stunned and could not think of why Feng Yuheng would suddenly come to visit Lu Ping. Had their relationship reached such a level? But such a thing could not be asked. First, girls needed to get out a little. As the head wife, there was no reason for her to stop her, especially someone of Feng Yuheng’s status. Second, the Lu family was all too eager to have Lu Ping get along with Feng Yuheng. Where was there any reason to stop her. Thus Ge shi cheerfully led Feng Yuheng toward Lu Ping’s courtyard. Along the way, she was very welcoming, even inviting Feng Yuheng to eat at the Lu manor. After being refused by Feng Yuheng, she did not feel awkward, as a joyous smile continued to hang on her face. She escorted her all the way to the entrance of Lu Ping’s courtyard before saluting and leaving.

  When Feng Yuheng entered the courtyard, the servants in the courtyard recognized her and very nervously led her into Lu Ping’s room. They then explained the reason for the pungent smell inside the room: “Princess, please do not blame her. There’s nothing that eldest young miss can do.”


  Feng Yuheng waved her hand and gestured that it was fine. It was only after Lu Ping chased all of the servants out that she said: “I really do admire you. You’re so thorough with the act even inside your own room. Your illness has clearly already been treated. Why bother with using this sort of fragrance? Are you not afraid of knocking yourself out.”


  Lu Ping could be considered familiar with her and did not act too distantly when speaking with her. She invited Feng Yuheng to sit then explained: “What can I do. The servants in the room look to be with me, but aside from my personal maidservant, Jian’er, the others listen to my father and the head wife. Once I drop the act, information of this will quickly reach their ears. A daughter that looks like me but does not have an illness, do you feel that the Lu family will let me go?” While saying this, she shook her head and poured Feng Yuheng some tea, “It was just brewed and is still hot. It’s not some great tea, but princess can hold onto it to keep your hands warm.” After saying this, she sat on a chair across from Feng Yuheng and sighed: “Even like this, my father is unwilling to let me go. He is insistent on getting connected to General Ping Nan’s manor. Thinking about it, princess must have heard about this, right?”


  Feng Yuheng had indeed heard about it. She even knew that Ren Xifeng had, for the sake of having her brother give up on this idea, led that person all the way to Ji An Prefecture. It was all for the sake of not giving the Lu family a chance of making it happen. In Ren Xifeng’s words, she still remembered what Lu Yao had done to Yao Shu, and she was afraid that the Lu family would do it again, as Lu Ping would steal away her brother’s soul.

  But it was not good to say such a thing in front of Lu Ping. She could only nod her head vaguely, saying: “It will depend on fate.”


  Of course, Lu Ping could tell what she meant by this and did not avoid it, directly saying: “I don’t know what sort of person the Ren family’s eldest son is like, but he does not look like a bad person. But I definitely will not be manipulated by the Lu family, regardless of who it is and how good they are.” As she said this, she reached up to feel her own face, saying to herself: “It really is a pity. How is it that this face was fixed? If it continued to have that scar combined with my illness, even if the Lu family wanted to make something out of me, it would be impossible. It really is a pity.”