With the Emperor and the other two leaving, everyone started to discuss amongst themselves. The discussion mainly came from the ministers from the Eighth Prince’s faction. They felt anxious, not knowing what the illness which suddenly struck the Eighth Prince was, why was it that serious? That sudden? No one was prepared at all!

  Someone started to guess: “Could it be that he was really subdued by the first daughter of the Right Prime Minister? I feel that what Princess Yu said was reasonable! The Emperor just suggested granting a marriage and His Highness the Eighth Prince suddenly fell sick. Even if it is a coincidence, it is too much of a coincidence.”


  “That makes sense, if that woman really clashes with her husband, then we definitely cannot let the Eighth Prince get close to her.”


  “But what if it was not a clash with her?”


  “There is no if! Our responsibility is to make sure that the Eighth Prince can safely inherit the throne, before that, we have to distance ourselves from everything which is unlucky. Regardless of whether the daughter of the Right Prime Minister clashes with her husband or not, we cannot allow her to have any interaction with the Eighth Prince!”


  This person’s words were acknowledged by the people in the Eighth Prince’s faction. When these people were talking, they even threw looks over to Feng Tianyu. Their gazes were venomous and even contained strong grudges.

  But Feng Tianyu was happy! She was so happy that she hated that she could not leave the palace immediately to light firecrackers. Clashing with her husband or what not, she did not care about it at all, if she really had such an ability, she could choose to commit herself to the cause for the sake of causing that Old Eighth to die, then her life would be worth it. With the Eighth Prince’s faction giving her this label, she did not have to worry about getting married off, she was only worried that since her father offended the Emperor today, she did not know what methods the Emperor would use to regain the loss of his face.

  Her worry was also the worry of the Ninth Prince’s faction. The Left Prime Minister Lu Song spoke to Feng Qing softly: “We are unable to read the Emperor now, the privilege to speak is also not at our side, Prime Minister Feng should exercise caution.”


  Feng Qing hmphed once and said: “Since when were we able to completely read the Emperor? Forget it, we will take it one step at a time, either way, This Minister has done things with a clear conscience, even if I die in this political conspiracy, I will have no regrets!”


  With the Right Prime Minister saying this much, many of them begin to feel emotional and sigh. This political conspiracy, who can last until the end? Everything, was a mystery.

  Feng Yuheng walked to the middle of the main hall and helped Xiangrong up. Xiangrong staggered a few times when standing up. Xuan Tianyi standing at the side wanted to support her but Xiangrong avoided him. She said: “Whether it is the Eighth Prince, or you, in my heart, neither of you are who I wish to marry . I thank you for protecting me, but if there is a next time, please do not use your own position to take this risk anymore. Perhaps with you using your position as a prince to obtain my freedom, I might marry you out of gratitude, but I have to tell you, that me will never be happy. You will no longer see my smile and you will never obtain my true heart.”


  Xuan Tianyi was stunned and the hand which wanted to support Xiangrong was still suspended in the air, yet he no longer had the courage to hold onto her. He suddenly felt a little tired, and suddenly did not understand what he had been doing during the past few years. A proper man like him learning embroidery and this prince who no one expected him to achieve anything just had to end up liking a daughter of a concubine. He thought that after making an effort and showing his sincerest feelings, she would become his woman, but he was wrong. Women were not their family’s accessories and were not sacrifices for the royalty. They had their own thoughts and their own ideals. When a woman hardened their heart to love who they wanted to love, all his effort would be wasted, he could not enter her heart at all. And if he could not obtain her heart, what was the point of having the person?

  “Forget it.” Xuan Tianyi sighed softly, telling Xiangrong: “Do what you want to do, and fight to get the person you love! The relationship between us, from now on, is severed.” After saying this, he left, his sleeves flapping as he moved.

  Watching that figure, Xiangrong’s nose ached a little, and a pain of being unable to cry was faintly hidden in her heart, she asked Feng Yuheng: “Second sister, was I being too cruel? He is actually very good, but the better he is, the more I cannot bear to have me, who doesn’t love him, stay at this side. Because to him, that is too unfair. He deserves having a truly good woman love him sincerely. My heart cannot split into two, so in these few days, I…… am sorry for him.”


  Feng Yuheng was helpless, though she pitied Xuan Tianyi, and had hopes for Xiangrong getting together with Xuan Tianyi, she had to admit that Xiangrong was correct in doing this. Women should not look for perfection because they feel aggrieved and marry whoever treats them well. It was fine if they had no one else in their hearts, but once their hearts already have someone else, it would harm the person who was good to them. Just like what Xiangrong said, it was too unfair to that person.

  She patted Xiangrong’s arm, reassuring her softly: “Don’t think too much about it, you were correct in doing this. Regardless of what you choose, Second sister will be on your side.” As she looked up, she happened to see Xuan Tianming and Xuan Tianhua walk over, thus she told Xiangrong: “His Highness the Seventh Prince is here.”


  Xiangrong raised her head and took one look at Xuan Tianhua, feeling a little reassured. When the Emperor granted the marriage, in the nick of time, Xuan Tianhua thought of the best idea to resolve her trouble and because so many ministers put pressure on the Emperor, she was able to avoid being harmed. She was deeply grateful to these people but was also a little disappointed. Though Xuan Tianyi rushed out immediately to kneel and ask for her marriage and gave her the position as the first wife of the Fourth Prince, this method was a little aggressive and incited antagonistic feelings in the Emperor. But Xiangrong thought, if the Seventh Prince also used this method to get her out of trouble, even if this did not succeed, even if she was still forced to marry the Eighth Prince in the end, she would feel happy, right?

  Unfortunately, Xuan Tianhua was not Xuan Tianyi. Though he was the younger brother, Xuan Tianhua was more grounded and was more thorough when thinking about matters. What he did had to succeed and no risk would be taken.

  Xiangrong’s emotions were complicated and even if Xuan Tianhua was already standing in front of her, she was still absorbed in her own thoughts.

  It was Xuan Tianming who spoke softly, asking Feng Yuheng: “Old Eighth’s illness……”


  “Venereal disease!” This was said in a low volume but was enough for the four of them to hear. Xiangrong was still in a daze, but she also jolted after hearing these words, looking at her Second sister in confusion. Then she heard Feng Yuheng say again: “Some days ago, didn’t they arrange a private mentor for Zirui? I tossed that girl onto Old Eighth’s bed, the two of them tangled until there was a venereal disease, the blame cannot be placed on me.”


  These words caused the few of them to show troubled smiles. Xuan Tianming raised his thumb and praised: “My wife is amazing!”


  But Xuan Tianhua said in exasperation: “Only you would be able to think of such a trick.”


  “What trick?” Feng Zirui’s small head squeezed in, asking in confusion.

  How could Feng Yuheng explain these things to a child, so she gathered her younger brother into her arms and only told him: “Evil people will get their retribution, the Eighth Prince is not a good person, and now, he got his retribution.”


  Feng Zirui nodded and said very seriously: “One day, retribution will descend upon the heads of everyone who goes against their conscience and does bad things, let’s watch, the Heavens would naturally deal with them!”


  This imperial banquet ended hurriedly, it was so sudden that everyone could not digest the situation, to the point that when the people were walking towards the palace gates, they were still discussing the many events which occurred during the imperial banquet.

  For the concubines and noble ladies, those who were close to Imperial Concubine Yuan Gui were already rushing towards Cun Shan Palace. Firstly, they were anxious to know what illness the Eighth Prince had, was this illness life threatening? Secondly, they were anxious to put up an act in front of the Emperor, at least it was considered showing goodwill to Imperial Concubine Gui, letting Imperial Concubine Gui know that they were still concerned about the Eighth Prince.

  And the Empress quietly led a small number of concubines and noble ladies back to the harem, acting as if all of this had nothing to do with them, like they had only come here to sit for a while and observe the festivities, that was all.

  Feng Zhaolian did not return to Jing Ci Palace, he chose to leave the palace with Feng Yuheng and the rest. Everything which occurred in Da Shun was not directly related to him, and he even told Xiangrong in a regretful tone: “Sigh, it was so close, if you were given by the Emperor to the Eighth Prince, our deity-like Seventh Prince would be mine?”


  Xiangrong was always at a loss of words when dealing with Feng Zhaolian, and with her mood being bad now, she just ignored him. Feng Zhaolian did not give up though, bugging Xiangrong with one random remark after another.

  The Sixth Prince Xuan Tianfeng was amongst the group of people who left the palace together with Xuan Tianming and was currently speaking with Xuan Tianming and Xuan Tianhua, his head slightly lowered. Feng Yuheng listened to the few of them talk, Xuan Tianfeng was saying: “The events today were too sudden, if it dragged out any longer, I’m afraid Father Emperor would set his eyes on the military tally in my hands.” As he spoke, he swept his gaze over the inside of the palace, then pointed to a troop of palace guards which had passed by many times: “Those are not troops from the palace, they are people from my Northwest army, I can recognise them.”


  Xuan Tianhua said in exasperation: “Sixth Brother quickly transferred those 30,000 soldiers to me, yet I was unable to protect them until the end. In the end, Old Eighth wanted them and I was unable to do anything about it. Sixth Brother, I am very sorry.”


  Xuan Tianfeng waved his hand in dismissal: “How can I blame you, Father Emperor becoming like this is something all of us did not expect, the only thing we can do is to quickly find the person doing the bad things in the shadows and have Father Emperor recover as soon as possible. If not, if Imperial Concubine Yuan Gui is with child and Old Eighth becomes an official crown prince, then Ninth Brother would be under too much pressure.” As he spoke, he looked towards Xuan Tianming and spoke while looking apologetic: “Ninth Brother, for that incident in my Imperial Concubine Mother’s palace courtyard, I was looking for a chance to apologise to you. Don’t worry, I have been monitoring and the same thing would definitely not happen again. It’s just that, you know her personality, she had been not right in the head since I was in my teens, I cannot manage her even if I wanted to. In addition, the palace is really too chaotic these days, my attention cannot be fully focused on her end, if there is something that is overlooked, I hope that Ninth Brother can pardon it.”


  He was naturally referring to Imperial Concubine LI conducting a funeral for the living in the palace to harm Xuan Tianming. With regards to this, Xuan Tianming did not think much of it, only telling Xuan Tianfeng: “I know that Imperial Concubine Li is only being controlled by her strange emotions, doing such a thing is only going through the actions, there are no actual effects. However, even though I can dismiss it, it does not mean other people will do so. With Father Emperor being like this, without hiding it from you, this condition actually has something to do with Gu techniques, if Imperial Concubine Li continues to crazily do these things secretly, she can easily be made use of. At that moment, when a dirty basin of water pours down, all of you would not be able to deny anything.”


  Xuan Tianfeng also understood this reasoning, nodding: “Don’t worry, I will definitely ask someone to keep a close eye on her, even if she needs to be tied up, I will definitely not allow her to recklessly do such things again.”


  Because the Imperial Banquet ended suddenly and the Emperor was anxious to chase everyone out of the place, the male and female guests were not separated. Everyone exited from Deyang Gate. When they were close to the palace gate, Feng Zhaolian came up to Xuan Tianhua’s side and said directly: “Since you already took Xiangrong in, then you might as well take me in as well. I will move to your palace and stay for a few days, isn’t that good?”


  Before Xuan Tianhua could reply, they heard a lady’s voice shout anxiously outside the palace gates: “My husband, you finally left the palace!”