One Plan at a Time

  Hearing Lu Ping bring up the topic of her face, Feng Yuheng simply followed the flow of the conversation and asked: “How did your face end up healing?”


  Lu Ping looked at her and continued to feel her own face. After a while, she said: “Originally, it had a gu inside of it, and nobody could treat it. As for while it healed, in truth, I am not certain. It seemed to have happened over the course of a single night. Before sleeping, the wound was still there. When I woke up, my face had returned to normal. I heard that when the person who raised the gu dies, the gu will pull out from my body. It sounds quite mystical, doesn’t it?”


  “It does.” Feng Yuheng nodded and had no choice but to admit it, “It is indeed too mystical. Do you know who it was that applied the gu? Was it the seventh princess of Gu Shu?” Thinking back to the banquet from that time, the only person from Gu Shu present in the capital was the seventh princess. It seemed as though she got along quite well with the Lu family.

  But Lu Ping said: “It should not be her. If the seventh princess of Gu Shu died, such big news would definitely have spread to Da Shun. When you went to fight in the south, did you hear about any funeral being conducted by the imperial family of Gu Shu?” She thought for a while then continued: “That seventh princess is a member of the imperial family. No matter how you look at it, she does not seem like the type of person who could raise a gu. If my guess is correct, she is the one who brought the gu; however, it was someone else who raised it for her. As a princess, and a princess of Gu Shu, having one or two subordinates who can use gu techniques is quite normal.”


  Feng Yuheng looked at her and suddenly asked: “Do you have a good understanding of gu?”


  Lu Ping was a smart person. Hearing Feng Yuheng ask like this, she immediately guessed her goal for today’s visit, “Does princess wish to gain an understanding of gu?” She spread her hands, “Unfortunately, I will be disappointing you. My understanding of gu only began when my face was wounded. I only know that most gu are bugs, and there are some that are snakes. If someone afflicted by gu wants to be cured, there are only two methods. One is to have the owner of the gu personally cure them. The second method is to have the person who raised the gu pass away. Like that, the gu will naturally be resolved. But there are exceptions. For example, lethal gu, which would be a type of gu that cannot be cured. No matter what, that one cannot be cured. There’s also one that will cause the one afflicted to pass away after the one who raised it died. This sort of gu mostly targets the vital organs, while I was lucky, and the bug only targeted my face.”


  Lu Ping revealed all of this information pertaining to gu in a single breath. She then very earnestly told Feng Yuheng: “Princess is my benefactor. As soon as I find out anything, it will definitely be reported. But when it comes to gu, it really is hard to learn more. When the Lu family learned that it was a gu in my face, they had come up with many ideas, and they had even gone to plead the seventh princess of Gu Shu. Unfortunately, things did not work out. Later on, the Lu family flipped on the eighth prince and completely cut ties with Gu Shu. Even if they wanted to inquire more about this, the Lu family would not be able to do anything. That’s why I only know this much about gu.”


  Feng Yuheng knew that everything that she had said was true. She had come to see Lu Ping without too much hope of gaining any information. To be able to hear this much was already pretty good. She nodded and said to Lu Ping: “Thank you.”


  Lu Ping quickly said: “I was unable to provide any help. There’s no need for princess to thank me.” But she was smart and did not ask why Feng Yuheng was inquiring about gu. She just said: “I really hope to be able to help princess a little. It’s just unfortunate that there is a limit to my abilities.”


  Feng Yuheng knew that her abilities were indeed limited, thus she did not continue to remain in the manor for much longer. As for inquiring so directly about gu, she was not afraid that Lu Ping would leak this information because she trusted that Lu Ping was a smart person and would not say it.

  When she left the manor, Lu Ping personally sent her off. The Lu family’s head madam, Ge shi, also accompanied them. Ge shi looked as though she really wanted to have Feng Yuheng stay a little longer, as she tried to give Lu Ping a look; however, Lu Ping acted as if she could not understand and sent Feng Yuheng off to her imperial carriage.

  It was only after Feng Yuheng’s imperial carriage left that Ge shi said with discontent: “We finally managed to get a noble guest to visit, so why don’t you try to keep them around for longer? It’s almost noon. If she could have been kept around until lunch, wouldn’t our relationship with the Yu Palace improve quite a bit!” After saying this, she took a couple steps back in disdain. Covering her mouth and nose, it was clear that she disliked the fragrance that Lu Ping was using.

  Lu Ping looked at Ge shi, and her gaze revealed her confusion. She said: “She is a princess and an imperial daughter. How can our family take care of her? Just lunch sounds easy, but does mother know what sort of rules there are for taking care of a princess’ lunch? Is there time to prepare it now?”


  These words left Ge shi completely speechless. That was right! Taking care of a princess as a guest could not be done casually unless their relationship was very good. But the Lu family and Feng Yuheng were clearly not that close. They could not even be considered as getting along. At best, they could be considered as having improved the relationship slightly from their original status as enemies. When she thought of the previous situation, she felt very awkward; however, she was unreconciled with being mocked by Lu Ping, thus she followed this up by saying: “At the very least, you should have gone out with her or gone to eat at a restaurant with her. I’ve heard that Princess Yu often goes out with her good friends to eat. Why don’t you try and get close to that circle? Ping’er, you’re no longer young. You should make some considerations for the family.”


  Lu Ping stood in place and frowned. The more she looked at Ge shi, the more disgusted she felt. Ever since she was young, from the first moment that she could remember, she knew that she had been born pretty, and she watched the Lu family treat all of its daughters as chess pieces in their plans. From Lu Yao to Lu Yan, each plan cost them a daughter. Even their only son was caught up. But even like this, the Lu family was still refusing to relent? She asked Ge shi: “Could it be that you’re only willing to let go once all of the Lu family’s children have been killed? Can you not just live properly and must insist on trying to strive for nobility and wealth? Father is already the left prime minister. What more does he want to be?”


  “What sort of thing are you saying?” Ge shi’s anger began to surge forth, and she wanted to give Lu Ping a stern lecture, but Lu Ping’s words had touched on a raw nerve. The Lu family had tried to make plans for their daughters, and this included her own daughter! Ge shi thought to herself, could it be that they had been mistaken from the beginning? If the Lu family did not try for such a thing, would her Yan’er not have died……

  Ge shi was a bit dazed, and Lu Ping had no desire to speak with her, turning around and leaving. Right before leaving, she spat out: “Even if I wanted to accompany Princess Yu for a meal, she would not want to. As the head mother, you need to cover your nose when getting even slightly close to me, much less Princess Yu!”


  Returning from the Lu manor, Xuan Tianming had also returned. She told him about the information that she had gained from Lu Ping regarding the gu, and after she finished speaking, the two simply sighed. The information from Lu Ping was not of too much value. In order to save the Emperor, in the end, they would need to rely on themselves.

  Feng Yuheng said to Xuan Tianming about her own plan: “I will go into the palace tonight. I will go on my own. The most important thing is to go into Imperial Concubine Li’s Zhang Ning Palace to investigate. Of course, Imperial Concubine Yuan Shu’s side also needs to be investigated. If there is enough time, I will go and check it out at the same time. These two are the most suspicious. Sooner or later, they will need to be investigated.”


  “I will go with you.” Xuan Tianming was uneasy with her entering on her own.

  Feng Yuheng, however, shook her head: “It’s fine. At worst, I will just hide in my space. There’s nobody who can find me. As for what you said yesterday about Father Emperor changing his personal eunuch, did you find out where Zhang Yuan is?”


  Xuan Tianming nodded, “There’s no need to find out. It’s been spread all over the palace. Zhang Yuan was framed by Imperial Concubine Yuan Shu, and the old man punished him with 30 strikes from a board. In two days, he will be brought to the department of guilty servants. I figure that little eunuch’s body won’t be able to endure this sort of thing. If you can find him while in the palace, give him a bit of medicine! In any case, don’t let him suffer.”


  “Father Emperor even hit Zhang Yuan?” She could hardly believe it. This entire time, Zhang Yuan got along so well with the Emperor that there were people who found it hard to believe that the two did not get along in that way. She never thought that there would come a day when the Emperor would actually be willing to punish Zhang Yuan, and it was actually for Imperial Concubine Yuan Shu. She could not help but feel a bit angry, saying: “Not only is Imperial Concubine Yuan Shu monopolizing the inner palace, but it seems that she has begun paving the way for her son’s future. Just watch, a large-scale problem will appear quite shortly. Almost all of the people whom Imperial Concubine Yuan Shu and the eighth prince think of as eyesores or dislike will be removed.”


  “That’s right.” Xuan Tianming said: “That’s why we need to move quickly and act before they do. If we can save one, we should save one. Also……” A look of worry appeared on his face, “Saving others is not the end goal. The end goal is to temporarily slow down the rate at which old eighth and Imperial Concubine Yuan Shu progress to prevent them from getting rid of everyone and moving on to dealing with the old man. After all, old eighth wants to claim the throne. With the old man still alive, that’s not possible.”


  The two realized this threat, and it was not just the two. Nearly everyone understood what the eighth prince’s next plan was. It could be said that the faction loyal to the Emperor and the ninth prince’s faction were fighting against time. They were desperately going back and forth with the eighth prince and doing everything possible to have this change come a little later. This would allow them to find some time to come up with a way to reverse the tides.

  Xuan Tianming said to Feng Yuheng: “We could not get your grandfather into the palace. The palace gave the order to restrict entrance. Aside from officials attending morning court, nobody else is allowed to enter the Imperial Palace on their own. This includes you.” He said: “Now, even if it’s you, I fear that you will no longer be able to enter the Imperial Palace openly.”


  “Has nobody voiced their objections?” She was puzzled, “What about Tiange? Can Tiange no longer enter the palace? Also Feiyu, he returned from Xiao Zhou a little earlier. Can he go in to see his grandfather?”


  Xuan Tianming shook his head, “No, it’s not that nobody voiced their objections. It’s just that it was pointless. This restriction was decided upon by the old man. On the surface, it looks to be unrelated to old eighth. The Emperor spoke up, and the officials below could not oppose him. Also, it’s just restricting people without any official duties from entering the palace. What could they possibly say to oppose it? As for Tiange and Feiyu, they cannot enter the palace. This is even more of a matter for the imperial family, and outsiders cannot say anything about it.”


  “If things continue like this, Father Emperor’s situation will truly be too dangerous.” Feng Yuheng was very worried, “Imperial Concubine Yuan Shu is monopolizing Father Emperor at all times. Even going in to check his pulse is difficult for me. If things truly don’t work out, I can only stay outside and listen for when they fall asleep.” She rolled her eyes at her own idea. Where was there any daughter-in-law that would sit around and listen to her father-in-law in the bedroom? “Forget it, forget it.” She waved her hand, “We’ll see after we go into the palace tonight. I just hope that something can be found out.”


  They were also out of ideas. Xuan Tianming also placed his hopes in Feng Yuheng’s covert movements. Regardless of whether it was Imperial Concubine Li or Imperial Concubine Yuan Shu, once the situation was found out, it would be better than not having a single clue.

  Finally, the night was dark and cloudy. A delicate and small figure in black clothes flickered in and out of view, heading in the direction of the Imperial Palace. However, on this night, nobody could have expected what Feng Yuheng would see in the palace……