Chen Yu Becomes of Marriageable Age
Feng Yu Heng’s actions gave the three a fright, especially Yu Qian Yin, who had been speaking about the crispy fried pigeon. She completely did not understand how she had managed to anger this county princess Ji An, so she looked at Xuan Tian Hua in confusion.
Xuan Tian Hua slightly raised his head and called out: “Younger sister.”
Feng Yu Heng immediately managed to recover then felt a bit embarrassed.
What was she doing?
Xuan Tian Ming quickly pulled her back and leaned her against him before saying: “Be good. If there is anything, we will talk about it later.”
This meal was no longer peaceful, and it was even a little depressing. After that, Yu Qian Yin was unable to continue eating. Putting down her chopsticks, she obediently sat in her chair.
Xuan Tian Ming stood up first and pulled Feng Yu Heng over, saying to Xuan Tian Hua: “Seventh brother, I will be sending Heng Heng back.”
Xuan Tian Hua also stood up, saying: “Let’s go together.”
Like this, the four people split got into two imperial carriages then headed toward the county princess’ manor.
Feng Yu Heng held on tightly to Xuan Tian Ming’s arm and said: “Don’t you feel like there is something strange about this?”
Xuan Tian Ming naturally understood what she meant by this, but in the end, this was old seventh’s matter. If he did not want to speak about it, what could be accomplished by him worrying about it? Thus he patted the back of Feng Yu Heng’s hand and comforted her: “Seventh brother is not someone with simple thoughts. Just trust him.”
What else could she say? If they talked too much about this sort of thing, it would not be beneficial to any of the three. There were some things that they had a tacit understanding of without needing for it to be placed out in the open.
Not long later, they arrived at the county princess’ manor. When she got out of the carriage, she saw a girl standing at the entrance of the manor. The imperial guard keeping watch said to the girl: “Third young miss, either go in and wait or go back to the Feng manor first! We don’t know when county princess will be back. If you were to get burnt on this hot day, it would not be good.”
The person was Xiang Rong, and she shook her head, saying: “I will wait here. Second sister should be back soon.”
Just as she said this, the imperial guard looked over and happened to see the imperial carriage return, thus he quickly said: “Oh! She’s back.”
Xiang Rong happily turned around and saw Feng Yu Heng get out of the carriage. But when she saw Xuan Tian Ming following behind her, she became a little nervous.
She wanted to kneel to salute, but she was stopped by Feng Yu heng: “Don’t, there is no need for such rules between us sisters.”
Xuan Tian Ming gave quite a bit of face to the people that Feng Yu Heng liked and immediately nodded to Xiang Rong; however, this caused Xiang Rong to become a little bit panicked.
At this time, the people in the carriage in the back also got out. Xiang Rong subconsciously went to take a look and immediately saw the deity-like Xuan Tian Hua get out of the carriage. He even gave her a gentle smile.
She was caught off guard and never thought that she would suddenly see Xuan Tian Hua. For a while, she did not know what she should do.
But the smile that Xuan Tian Hua gave her did not last for long. Xiang Rong blankly watched him turn around and reach out, helping a young girl out of the carriage.
Her heart suddenly felt a tug and began to hurt. She did not want to see this scene, but she could not avert her eyes.
The girl looked very lively, and she was practically hugging Xuan Tian Hua’s neck when she jumped out. She even used Xuan Tian Hua’s sleeve to wipe away the sweat on her forehead.
Xiang Rong slightly furrowed her brow and found it a little hard to endure, but she found that Xuan Tian Hua did not appear to reject this. In fact, he even rolled up his sleeve and helped wipe the girl another two times. Everything happened so naturally, and it had a similar feeling to her second sister and the ninth prince. She had once seen her second sister use the ninth prince’s sleeve to wipe her face, and she had once seen the ninth prince reveal a doting gaze.
Xiang Rong’s heart began to race wildly, as she stood in place. No matter what, she was unable to avert her eyes until Yu Qian Yin also looked over. Only then did she realize that her mind had gone blank and turned her head away.
What could Feng Yu Heng say? She was already in a slightly poor mood, thus she pulled Xiang Rong into the county princess’ manor and simply said to Xuan Tian Ming: “I will be going back first.” She then waved to the back in a sort of farewell to Xuan Tian Hua.
Xiang Rong was unwilling to give up and looked back, happening to see Yu Qian Yin tug at Xuan Tian Hua’s sleeve, saying: “Seventh brother, let’s go horseback riding tomorrow, is that alright?” Her heart tugged once more, and the pain was unbearable.
Feng Yu heng pulled her into her own room then asked her: “Were you looking for me for some reason?”
Xiang Rong subconsciously nodded then immediately shook her head, muttering: “There’s not much. It’s just… just…”
“You just missed me.” She deliberately helped relax the atmosphere then patted the back of Xiang Rong’s hand, saying to her: “His Highness the ninth prince sent a chef from Refined Deity Building to the manor today. Just stay and eat dinner here today. In a while, I will have someone go call concubine mother An over as well.”
Only then did Xiang Rong manage to recover. Seeing Feng Yu Heng still treat her intimately, she choked up, and the sorrow that she felt appeared in the form of tears.
Feng Yu Heng helplessly hugged the child and gently patted her back. She understood that after she left, An shi’s pastries had indirectly harmed Yao shi, and the mother and daughter were both quite unhappy. The Feng family then acted even more harshly, sending this girl to the temple. In addition to today’s Xuan Tian Hua… forget it. She was responsible for this matter from the beginning. If she had not arranged for Xuan Tian Hua and Xiang Rong to spend time together many times, this girl would not have become too involved, and she would not have had as much hope filling her heart. To put it bluntly, it was her fault.
“Xiang Rong, don’t worry. Elder sister will give you an explanation.” These words were to comfort Xiang Rong, but she did not know how she would explain it.
That night, An shi and Xiang Rong remained in Tong Sheng pavilion to eat dinner. Yao shi, naturally, also joined in. During the meal, An shi told Feng Yu Heng a piece of news: “For the grand celebration of her coming of age and her wedding, husband invited a facial embroiderer for eldest young miss. When this concubine came out, they had already arrived at the manor to take care of eldest young miss’ face.”
Xiang Rong picked up on this, saying: “It should be to fix up the missing flesh on her forehead that was bitten by a goshawk.”
Feng Yu Heng was not too familiar with the ancient terms being used here. Facial embroidering, she figured, should be something similar to modern tattooing, right?
However, she did not think that Yao shi would say: “A facial embroiderer invited by the Feng family definitely will not be simple. Eldest young miss Feng is a national beauty. This time… perhaps they invited a bead embroiderer?”
Feng Yu Heng was nearly completely confused, “What is a bead embroiderer?”
Yao shi explained to her: “Facial embroidering comes in a few types. The most normal is color embroidering. This uses a special needle that injects a colored dye to create a beautiful picture. The middle tier is silk embroidering. This is the embroidering of silk or even brocade directly to the body. It is very beautiful. The highest tier is bead embroidering. This is the direct embroidering of expensive gems and pearls onto the body. It is both expensive and noble.”
Feng Yu Heng grimaced upon hearing this. Beautiful? To embroider silk and beads onto the body directly, would it really not cause any harm?
Of course, she understood that there were always more amazing people. The craftsmanship of the ancient era had techniques that were lost to the modern era. When it came to medical knowledge and equipment, the modern era naturally had the edge, but when it came to craftsman’s abilities, the modern machines could not compare to the handcrafted items of the past.
She would not express her feelings on anything that she had not personally seen. She just faintly smiled and began to feel even more expectant of that grand wedding.
Two days later, Feng Chen Yu reached a full 15 years of age and became of marriageable age.
In regards to the girls of the ancient era, becoming of marriageable age meant that this girl would be bidding farewell to their girlhood. They could do up their hair and become someone’s wife. Normally speaking, the girl from a large family would have their marriage set before they became of age. After the ceremony for coming of age, the two families would begin discussing the wedding. Within a year at most, she would get married.
Chen Yu’s marriage was also planned to be like this. Feng Jin Yuan and Duan Mu Qing had already discussed it. Five days after Feng Chen Yu became of age, she would be welcomed into the Xiang Palace.
Due to the tension, the Feng family took care of this intimately. What should have been a lively coming of age ceremony was held in a very low-key manner. The Feng family did not invite a single outsider, with the matriarch taking out a hairclip that she had worn when younger and personally took care of tying up her hair.
In the instant that her hair was tied up, a girl like Chen Yu was unable to stop herself from tearing up.
She felt wronged and was unreconciled. She knew from a young age that she had the most beautiful face in the capital. Her mother had told her that this face was enough to allow her to have anything that she wanted. In the beginning, she did not believe her. Afterward, her father had told her that she was raised along the same standard as the Empress. There would be a day when she would be entering the palace, and she would ascend the position of mother of all under heaven. When that time came, the entire Feng family and the entire world would look at her with respect. She would be the one to support the Feng family, and she would be the Feng family’s only support.
She had always believed that she could smoothly get married to a prince that could ascend the throne. She had always believed that her becoming of age would be a glory for the entire capital, and she always believed that it would be very lively. All of the wealthy and noble madams and young misses in the capital would come to congratulate her and give her gifts. Because the Feng family was proud of her, all of her sisters would be standing around her with jealousy and envy in their eyes.
But this had all fallen through. Feng Yu Heng had returned to the manor, and everything changed. Even her coming of age ceremony was so shabby. The matriarch spoke auspicious words, but no matter how she looked at it, she was just going through the motions. That worthless hairclip was not even worth anything, yet she still had the audacity to place it on her head.
Feng Chen Yu had always believed that this was all caused by Feng Yu Heng. She had to wait until she married into the Xiang Palace. She would definitely do a good job of helping her husband manage matters. In the future, she would successfully ascend the position of empress. When that time came, she would definitely have everyone in this manor kneel at her feet!
When the hair was finally tied up, the matriarch coiled a perfectly nice coil around it. At this time, the forehead adorned with beautiful gems was revealed. It was in the shape of a phoenix, causing everyone that saw it to feel a strong sense of suppression.
Fen Dai was a little jealous. In the past, she believed that Chen Yu’s face had been ruined; however, who knew that her father would actually be willing to spend this amount of money, embroidering this phoenix on her forehead. Not only did this not ruin her face, it added to its beauty. How could she possibly be reconciled.
Feng Yu Heng also sat to the side of the ceremony. When the colorful phoenix had been revealed, she nearly let out an audible laugh.
The phoenix had always been reborn from fire, and their entire body would exude a gold color. But right now, what exactly was going on? Was this a multi-colored chicken?
She bitterly smiled while shaking her head. Feng family, oh Feng family, you put this ambition so clearly out in the open.
After the long hair was tied up, the coming of age ceremony was considered completed. Feng Chen Yu stood up and kowtowed to the matriarch, Feng Jin Yuan and the Cheng shi sisters. They then heard her say: “Grandmother, father, mother, would you please be at ease. Chen Yu will definitely live up to your expectations. There will be a day when I will become the Feng family’s support.”
The matriarch nodded, a trace of expectation appearing in her heart.
At this time, a person loudly announced from the entrance: “The Xiang Palace has brought the betrothal gifts for the eldest young miss.”