Feng Yuheng suddenly realized that the “master” these two people were talking about was very likely to be Zhang Yuan. Xuan Tianming had told her about how Imperial Concubine Yuan Shu had pushed the Emperor to have Zhang Yuan beaten and have him sent to the department of guilty servants. Thinking about it, it should not yet be time for him to be sent to the department of guilty servants. Hearing the conversation between those two, it seemed that Zhang Yuan’s injuries were a little worrisome.

  She glanced in the direction of Cun Shan Palace then suppressed the anger that still lingered in her heart from Zhang Ning Palace. Turning around, she headed toward the eunuch’s quarters near Zhao He Hall where Zhang Yuan was living.

  Forget it, either way, it was not possible for these days to be peaceful. She might as well come to investigate Cun Shan Palace the following night! If the injuries to Zhang Yuan really were that dire, since she had heard about it, she could not just ignore it. Moreover, Zhang Yuan had previously always been at the Emperor’s side. She also wanted to personally ask Zhang Yuan about the Emperor’s situation.

  There was a special place to the west of Zhao He Hall that was specifically provided for the eunuchs who served Zhao He Hall. Previously, Zhang Yuan would always live in the largest room of that residence, and all of the furnishings were gifts granted by the Emperor. Although it was just a eunuch’s room, it was rather magnificent. While it did not have everything that Zhao He Hall had, it was roughly half as luxurious. But when Feng Yuheng arrived, she found that this room was empty. She searched the entire room and could not find any trace of Zhang Yuan.

  Her thoughts raced, as she recalled that Xuan Tianming had said that Emperor had changed his personal eunuch and that Zhang Yuan had been punished. Thinking about it, this room must have changed owners, right?

  Thus she hastily left the room and searched the yard. In the end, she targeted the firewood storage shed.

  The door to the shed was slightly closed. When she drew closer, she heard a quiet sound. It was a pained and very weak sound. She could tell that it was Zhang Yuan. At the same time, before she entered, she was able to ascertain that there was nobody else inside aside from Zhang Yuan. It was only after determining this that she pushed the door and entered, closing the door behind her.

  At this moment, Zhang Yuan was laying on a pile of firewood. His hair was a mess, and he looked to be in a horrible condition. When Feng Yuheng entered the shed, she did not make any movements to hide. The person laying down heard some movement and thought that the two disciples had returned from going to look for an imperial physician, thus he weakly asked: “How was it? Was anyone willing to come and take a look at my injuries?” After asking this, he waited for a long time but never received a response. He then sighed to himself and said: “I already said it. It definitely won’t happen. The situation now is not like it was in the past. Given the situation in the palace, if the imperial physicians are smart at all, they will not go against His Majesty’s wishes. Moreover, there’s also Imperial Concubine Yuan Shu and the eighth prince keeping an eye on things. Who would dare to come and treat my injuries? You two can go back. There’s no need to worry about me. If you’re seen by someone coming to see me, I fear that you’ll also be beaten. Go, go, just act as if you don’t have me as your master. Don’t get implicated.” He said all of this in one go and ended up a little tired. He just lay on the pile of firewood and breathed heavily.

  Feng Yuheng helplessly shook her head and took a few steps forward. Sitting at his side, she said: “While you’re able to be considerate of others, who knows how the palace will handle it if you die from the pain.”


  Zhang Yuan subconsciously replied: “I’ll just be wrapped up in a carpet then thrown into a mass grave. What more can someone without a foundation hope for? If this had happened before, His Majesty would definitely provide me with a casket made from good materials then find a scenic place to have me buried.” While saying this, he sniffled and seemed to be crying, “But now, things are different. His Majesty no longer wants me.” After saying this, he buried his head into a pile of firewood and began to cry. He cried for quite a while before coming to a sudden realization. Suddenly raising his head, he aggravated his injuries, and the pain nearly caused him to faint. But he still struggled to turn his head to look at the person who had spoken to him. Just looking nearly caused him to cry out in shock.

  Feng Yuheng helplessly said: “If you wake everyone up, I won’t be able to treat your injuries.” While saying this, she reached out to remove Zhang Yuan’s pants. Zhang Yuan was frightened and desperately tried to get away. Unfortunately, the injuries on his body hurt too much, and he could not get far. These movements caused the wounds to begin to bleed. “If you continue moving, I will leave.” Feng Yuheng scared him, “You don’t want to die in such an unjust way, right? Could it be that you feel that His Majesty’s condition is reasonable? Do you not want to help His Majesty get over this trial?”


  Upon hearing the Emperor mentioned, the eunuch became spirited and quickly said: “I do, I do. This servant just wants to help His Majesty, but how can this servant help?” Zhang Yuan began to softly cry once more; however, he no longer refused to let Feng Yuheng examine his injuries.

  Feng Yuheng succeeded in removing Zhang Yuan’s pants. Although there had been no intention of claiming his life with the 30 strikes, the problem lay with a lack of proper recovery. Not only had he been chased out of his original room, but he had also been thrown into this storage shed. The cold of the storage shed was already quite bad, so how could it possibly be good for the healing of the injuries?

  “Bite down on this.” She pulled out some cloth from her space, “It will definitely hurt, but you can’t make a sound. Do you understand? At this time, security is very tight all around. If you make too much sound, it will make it easy to find us.”


  Zhang Yuan nodded and obediently placed the cloth into his mouth. Immediately following this, Feng Yuheng began pulling things out of her space, from disinfecting medical alcohol to anesthetics to anti-inflammatory medicine, everything was quickly brought out to treat Zhang Yuan’s injuries.

  Aside from the initial disinfecting that hurt a little, Feng Yuheng directly sprayed some of the anesthetic onto the wound. Very quickly, the pain dissipated. She removed the cloth from his mouth then began to work. While taking care of the injury, she asked Zhang Yuan: “When you were still taking care of Father Emperor, did you notice anything off? Or did he do anything unexpected? Think carefully. There’s no rush to answer. You must think it through carefully.”


  Feng Yuheng’s question made Zhang Yuan think very carefully, and this was not the first time that he thought about it. But as he thought about it, he could not think of anything. The only thing that he could think of was: “His Majesty’s head is always hurting. It hurt once in Winter Moon Palace. After that, when this servant mentioned Winter Moon Palace, His Majesty felt his head hurt for a while, and it seemed like he was quite dazed. This servant will say something quite antagonistic to His Majesty, but that condition was as if he was possessed or something. Whether it was Winter Moon Palace or Her Highness Imperial Concubine Yun, it seemed as though it was a string that was attached to His Majesty’s nerves. They cannot be mentioned. If they are mentioned, there will immediately be a reaction. But this sort of reaction will instantly disappear when Imperial Concubine Yuan Shu is brought up…… As an analogy, if the headache is an illness, Imperial Concubine Yuan Shu is the medicine for that illness. As long as she comes, His Majesty will immediately get better.”


  Zhang Yuan’s words caused Feng Yuheng to remember the condition that Imperial Concubine Yun had mentioned that day. She felt even more confident in her grandfather’s analysis. The Emperor being like this made it clear that he had been the victim of gu techniques. There was someone using gu techniques to control him!

  “I understand.” She said to Zhang Yuan, “I have taken care of your injuries. Right now, the effect of the anesthetic has not worn off, and you won’t feel any pain. After another two hours, the effect of the anesthetic will wear off, and you should feel a bit of pain, but it will not be as bad as before.” While saying this, she handed a small box of medicine to Zhang Yuan, “Take this. The large white pills will reduce any fever. If there are any signs of a fever after the anesthetic wears off, take two of the white pills. The red one is an anti-inflammatory medicine. Regardless of whether or not you have a fever, take two pills in 12 hours. This is to prevent the wound from getting infected. Also, the smaller white pill is to ease the pain. If the pain is truly unbearable, just take one. Don’t take too many. Do you understand?” After saying this, she handed him a box of ointment, “This is a medicine to be applied to the outside of the wound. If you can’t reach it yourself, you need to find someone reliable to help you. Right, the two eunuchs who went to help your request an imperial physician were taken away by the imperial guards. I don’t know if they’ll be able to come back. Right now, even I am unable to save people in the palace. You guys should do what you can to protect yourselves. Regardless of what is said, protecting yourself is most important. Going to the department of guilty servants is fine. Just endure it a little. His Highness the ninth prince and I will think of a way to save Father Emperor from the outside. We will also frequently come into the palace. Be vigilant. The next time I come into the palace, I will come and see you.”


  After she said this, she did not stay any longer. She advised Zhang Yuan to put away the medicine before leaving in the darkness of the night.

  Zhang Yuan lay in place on his own, watching Feng Yuheng’s parting figure. He could not help but tear up. In truth, he was not afraid of dying in the slightest, nor was he afraid of a bit of pain and suffering, but when he thought about how he would unable to serve the Emperor, he felt extremely uncomfortable. He entered the palace at the age of four. After entering the palace, he had always taken care of the Emperor with his master. At that time, he was still young and would always make mistakes. The Emperor would always yell at him, but the Emperor never ordered for him to be beaten. There were times when his master gave him some beatings, and the Emperor would secretly give him some candy behind his master’s back. Later on, when his master grew old, and His Highness the ninth prince went out to live in his own residence, his master went to take care of the ninth prince. He was only one left at the Emperor’s side.

  It could be said that the little eunuch and the Emperor had depended on each other for survival over these years. He had watched the Emperor go from his prime to his waning years. He had watched the Emperor spend his days thinking about Imperial Concubine Yun. He had even messed around with him, and there were even times when the two would get into an argument. It had been a long time, and there was no sense of superiority or inferiority nor feeling of master and servant between the two. In front of the Emperor, there was nothing that he did not dare say. If the old emperor became angry, he would get kicked, but the kick was never violent. It was always just playing around. Over the years, he always ate the best out of all of the palace servants, and the things that he had were the best. Whenever the Emperor had something nice, he would always get a share. He would be treated as if he was the Emperor’s own son.

  When Zhang Yuan thought of this, he felt extremely miserable. He was holding in some feelings. If there came a day when he found out who had harmed the Emperor, he would definitely fight with that person to the death. Even if he died, he would have to remove a layer of skin from that person. A perfectly fine emperor was harmed and turned into this. He truly felt extremely miserable. Fortunately, there were still Prince Yu and Princess Yu. At present, all of his hopes were placed on Prince Yu’s side.

  He placed the medicine into his sleeve then put his pants back on, his heart feeling quite warm. Princess Yu really was a bodhisattva. His Highness the ninth prince really was too fortunate!

  When Feng Yuheng returned to the Yu Palace, the sun was already coming up. Xuan Tianming had not slept for the entire night and remained in the study, waiting for her. Seeing her return, he quickly went over and worriedly asked: “What took so long? It was an entire night! Did you find anything out?”


  Feng Yuheng rushed over to the desk and downed the cup of tea that Xuan Tianming had been drinking. Only then did she recount everything that had happened, including the matters of the sixth prince, Xuan Tianfeng, returning and of the funeral that Imperial Concubine Li was conducting. She also included the matter of treating Zhang Yuan’s injuries and what Zhang Yuan had said about the Emperor’s head hurting when Winter Moon Palace was brought up.

  When she finished speaking, Xuan Tianming did not mention anything else and simply said: “This is not too good. Sixth brother coming back at a time like this, I fear that there will be some danger……”