Lu Ping did not hold back, rejecting Lu Song and Ge Shi, the anger in her heart had already reached its peak when Lu Song husband and wife proposed to have her seduce the Sixth Prince, it was just that she did not know how to vent it.
A dull sound of thunder was suddenly heard in this afternoon which was entering summer, it did not rain and the air pressure was so low that people found it hard to breathe. Lu Ping stood up, pointing at Lu Song and Ge Shi, saying: “With both of you like this, Heaven will strike you with lightning one day. Think about those people who have died in the Lu family! Lu Yao as well as Lu Yan, even including Lu Cuo, if both of you were not reckless due to greed, how can they lose their life at such a young age? Don’t push the blame onto the children, with upright parents, children will be able to grow up well in a healthy environment, then they will not be led by both of you to lose their reason and be unable to differentiate between good and evil!”
She practically shouted these words, then turned around and ran. With rumbling thunder in the skies, she gritted her teeth and ran out of the manor gates, heading towards the streets.
Ge Shi became anxious and wanted to chase after all, but when she just stepped out of Flower Hall, a sharp bolt of lightning flashed over her head, then, a dull thunderous sound rumbled, just over her head. This caused her to think about what Lu Ping said ‘With both of you like this, Heaven will strike you with lightning one day!’ So Ge Shi retracted her foot, her body shivering, not daring to give chase.
Lu Song also became anxious with anger. Without caring what was placed on his work desk, he swept all of them on the floor, saying loudly: “Do not chase after her! Let me see what ability she has, and where she can run to! If she has the ability, then she can run away and not come back. If she comes back, even if I need to tie her up, I am going to send her to the Sixth Prince’s bed! That face of hers cannot go to waste! It cannot go to waste!”
Lu Song shouted angrily, close to going crazy. And at this moment, Lu Ping ran out into the streets despite the thunder. Not caring about the direction, she just ran like this, her maid who ran out with her also lost track of her. When she finally stopped, she was so tired that she felt like her lungs were going to explode. She did not have the ability to run another step and could only lean under a tree next to a street to rest.
This was the first time she “ran away from home”. Even though she knew that she could not run out of the capital, and had to return to that manor eventually, but Lu Ping, who had not gone out onto the streets for a long time felt that this experience was very rare. Being able to breathe in the air of the streets, it was a kind of luxury to her.
She raised her head and looked around her, not knowing where she had ran to. There were many shops, but because dull thunder was suddenly heard in the sky, everyone felt that it was going to rain soon, so there were very little people on the streets. The one or two people who were still there have also lowered their heads, hurrying home.
She saw that there was an embroidery shop not far ahead, and based on the people entering and leaving, it had some popularity. Therefore, she walked forward a few steps. Only then did she recognise that it was the one opened by Feng family’s Third Miss Feng Xiangrong. A lot of Madams and Young Misses came out from inside, and there was a female worker welcoming and seeing them off. They even gave everyone who did not have a horse carriage an umbrella lined with oil paper just in case they needed it.
At this moment, two Young Misses walked in her direction together with their maid. Lu Ping subconsciously hid behind the tree and lowered her head, not wanting to draw attention to herself, and at this time, she heard the two Young Misses heading towards her chatting to each other, one of them said: “Feng family’s Third Miss has such good fortune, Feng family had fallen this much, yet she isn’t affected at all, this business is growing better and better, not only is there a store in the capital, she even has one in Ji An Prefecture.”
“That’s right! I heard that her mother moved to Ji An Prefecture with her. After Feng Jinyuan died, that mother gained her freedom and is now a noble lady in Ji An Prefecture! But there is no point in being envious, she has such a good older sister after all? With Princess Yu’s protection, it will not be easy for her to live a hard life.”
“Both of them are younger sisters, but that Feng family’s Fourth Miss is very different, I heard that she does not interact with Princess Yu at all, and their relationship is bad.”
“So what? She has the Fifth Prince’s protection, so her days will not get that bad. But I still do envy the Third Miss, especially the fact that she can set up a home in Ji An Prefecture, it’s said that Ji An prefecture is a very special place, the rules there are completely different from other provinces in Da Shun, it is very fair and very free, it’s just like a new paradise, everyone yearns to go there.”
The two started talking about Ji An prefecture, Lu Ping could see the envy on their faces and when those two walked further away, she started to remember the information she heard about Ji An prefecture earlier, and started to yearn for it too. But what was the use of her yearning for it? As the daughter of the Lu family, would the Lu family allow her to live in another place? She did not have freedom in her life and running out like this was only getting fresh air, she still needed to return sooner or later. She could not escape from the palm of the Lu family, not in her life.
In the crystal side courtyard, Fendai hit Xiao Bao again. The child wailed but he did not run, still holding the corner of Fendai’s clothes tightly, staring straight at her. Fendai could not bear to give that one last slap, looking at that child and asking in confusion: “I’m hitting you like this, why aren’t you running? Why don’t you hide when you see me?” As she spoke, she rolled up that child’s sleeve, there was another bruise surfacing on his arm, it was due to her pinching him.
“You are my older sister.” Xiao Bao was not that fluent in speaking, and could only say simple words every time, but he could express the meaning clearly. He held on to the corner of Fendai’s clothes tightly, saying another sentence: “Don’t throw Xiao Bao away.”
Fendai’s tears welled up in an instant, and the prickling feeling in her nose could not be controlled anymore. She pulled that child into her arms, her tears pouring out, making Xiao Bao cry with her.
Dong Ying stood at the side, not stopping them, thinking that this would allow Feng Fendai to recover some of her conscience, build up a deep relationship with Fendai and avoid feeling unhappy because Xiao Bao’s resemblance to Feng Jinyuan increased as he grew up. Seeing this sister and brother hugging and crying, she was happy. She knew that the Fifth Prince felt that Feng Fendai’s conscience had not completely died out because Xiao Bao was still here. She did not know when this started, the relationship between Feng Fendai and the Fifth Prince had to be maintained by depending on this child?
Finally, the two grew tired from crying, Xiao Bao fell asleep, Dong Ying handed the child over to the servants to bring him back to his room, then she helped Feng Fendai wipe her tears, chatting as she wiped: “Young Miss has heard, right? Princess Wuyang is going to get married at the end of this month.”
Feng Fendai nodded, she had heard of it, she was even marrying the ruler of Gu Shu. Even though the place was a little far, it sounded rather good. “Da Shun has conquered a number of Gu Shu’s cities, there are people from the Yao family there, she will receive some care over there. With her temper……” She thought of Xuan Tiange who was frequently with Feng Yuheng and showed a troubled smile, “She will not lose out. Dong Ying, time passes really fast! Some time ago, we were all young girls! With a blink of an eye, each of them are getting married.”
Dong Ying said with a smile: “Young Miss, do not be anxious, wait until next year, then it will be your turn. Young Miss should think about your own matters, it’s about time to prepare your own bridal clothes.”
“Bridal clothes?” Thinking about it, oh, she was going to conduct the adult ceremony next year, how could she forget about this? When she was young, she had looked forward to her own marriage so much! To be able to leave that Feng manor, marry a good person, someone with authority and power, someone who could bear her ambitions, such that when she returned to the Feng manor again, she would receive envious and respectful gazes, someone who could make the people of Feng manor bow in front of her, singing her praises. But she did not have such thoughts now, even if she was going to become the first wife of a prince, she did not have any place to show off to, Feng family was no more, who would still pay attention to her? “The bridal clothes aren’t urgent.” She said, “Before marriage, just buy a set from a tailor’s ship, I don’t really care.”
She really did not care, it was as if everything had stopped being enjoyable, with the Emperor handing down his authority, with the Sixth Prince becoming regent, the ambition she had gradually quietened down. Even though she still felt frustrated, she knew that her ability was lacking. In addition, seeing the princes fighting for power, she finally realised that her own power was really too weak, the Eighth Prince needed help from his imperial concubine mother, and they had not succeeded even after giving that much help. What ability did she have to be better than that mother and son pair?
She had thought of everything too simply, the throne was higher than the sky, even if she stood on tip-toe or stepped on a chair, she would not reach it.
In the imperial palace, the recent few days were really quiet and peaceful. Everyone had gone to see the pathetic state of the Eight Prince and Liu Shi, but also knew the final fate of Liu Shi. Now they were honest, with each of them staying in their own courtyard, not even daring to show their heads outside.
Jing Ci Palace was also quiet for some time. Every day, other than chatting with the Emperor, the Empress would sit in her palace, waiting for Sun Qi to come. She was no longer afraid of the other party coming to look for her, she was actually looking forward for him to come quickly. She wanted to draw out that string, having been shackled for so many years, it was time for her to be frank.
But Sun Qi did not come again, everything was very peaceful, it was so peaceful that the Empress suddenly felt that she seemed to have been abandoned. She had a feeling that Duanmu Anguo’s side seemed to have found a better path. And the chess piece representing her, without being used, it had already become a useless piece.
She asked Fang Yi: “This One is already sitting on the Empress seat, what other chess piece do they have which can be better than This One?”
Fang Yi knew what her words meant and grew apprehensive as well, if the person Duanmu Anguo planted in the imperial palace was more powerful than the Empress, then what kind of person was it!
The two stared at each other, growing more and more apprehensive. The Empress thought of many possibilities, and even directed her thoughts towards Zhang Yuan, but still shook her head. “He will not send his sons out, the ones he sent out are all daughters. He has too many daughters, even if This One is one of them, This One does not know who else around me is This One’s blood related sister. Fang Yi, do you think that This One is too conspiratorial? Thinking like this, it feels that the imperial palace is too dangerous, even if the Eighth Prince and Liu Shi have been removed, there is danger everywhere.”
“Your Highness, do not overthink this.” Fang Yi advised: “Perhaps that side has made a mistake and is unable to care about our side for the moment. What will come will eventually come, we should just wait.”
“There is a need to overthink!” The Empress sighed deeply, “Fang Yi, do you know what This One is thinking? This One is thinking, if This One becomes an abandoned piece, that Duanmu Anguo must have obtained a more powerful piece. And in this imperial palace, a chess piece which is more advantageous than This One, guess, who is it?”
Fang Yi was stunned, more advantageous? Who else is there? Thinking about it more deeply, she could not help but exclaim with a “Kya”, saying immediately: “Your Highness is referring to……. Noble Lady Li? The Sixth Prince is regent now, Noble Lady Li is the Sixth Prince’s birth mother, if it’s her, then it’s really…….no, that’s wrong!” Fang Yi shook her head, “If it’s really Noble Lady Li, it will be impossible for His Majesty to not realise at all. During these years, we thought that we have hidden it very well, but we did not know that His Majesty already knew about it. If that Noble Lady Li really is one, the Sixth Prince will not be able to obtain the position of regent at all.”
“That’s right!” The Empress thought with emotion, nothing could be hidden from the Emperor, he looked muddle-headed, but inside his heart, he knew better than anyone.
Finally, the end of June arrived, heralding the wedding day of Princess Wuyang Xuan Tiange……