It was a hot and humid Summer, and the entirety of Da Shun fell silent during this season. There was no conflict in the imperial court, no chaos among the people, no floods, and no war at the border. Everything seemed to have stopped. Everything seemed to be the final calm before a great disaster.
Lu Song was demoted to a sixth-rank official and lost his right to attend court. The Lu Family suddenly disappeared from the imperial court. This could be considered a major event in midsummer.
Pingnan General's Office formally asked the Lu Family to marry Lü Ping. This surprised Lu Song. He had intentionally spread rumors that Lü Ping had been defiled by Ren Xitao. He wanted to use this opportunity to make the Pingnan General's Office suffer a loss. At the same time, he wanted to dispel any thoughts of suppressing him. After all, if this matter were to spread, it would not be good for Ren Xitao's reputation.
However, Feng Yu Heng's body examination completely destroyed all hope for the Lu Family. Lü Ping was still a virgin. How could she be defiled?
However, Pingnan General's Office came to propose when the Lu Family had already fallen to the bottom. Lu Song felt that the situation had taken a turn for the better. He wanted to use this opportunity to curry favor with Pingnan General's Office and climb back to a high position in the future. However, General Pingnan personally told him, "You choose whether you want an official position or your life. You married your daughter to my Ren Family as a sixth-rank official. My Ren Family will not treat the child unfairly and will also leave some face for your family. However, if you insist on doing things your own way and refuse to repent, don't blame me for destroying your Lu Family! "
Lu Song completely believed that General Pingnan had the ability to destroy the Lu Family. Thus, he did not say anything and let the Ge Clan handle the matter. They silently exchanged the marriage invitations. Then, the Ren Family made the decision and set the wedding date for next spring.
It was finally autumn. When the first cold breeze of autumn blew into the capital, almost everyone let out a sigh of relief. The sultry summer made them feel suffocated. The premonition that a great disaster was about to erupt filled their hearts, and it only gradually faded away when autumn came.
People felt that they might be overthinking things. The current Mrs. Dashun was mediocre. There was the Sixth Prince as regent, and the Emperor Tianwu had made a decision on the matter of the Left Prime Minister. There was also the Ninth Prince and the Seventh Prince to complement each other, and the Eldest Prince to support Dashun in terms of wealth. What was there to be afraid of in such a Dashun?
Imperial Concubine Yuan Gui was skinned alive, the Eighth Prince was still rotting in the death cell, it was said that he had already rotted up to his knees, the bones at the base of his thigh could be seen, it was as horrifying as it could be. But people just couldn't die. They just had to suffer and pay the price for what they had done in the past.
No one felt that he was pitiful, and even felt that he deserved it. A portion of the former Eighth Prince's faction remained in the capital to hold office. Because there were too many people, and most of them were related to the imperial concubines and concubines in the imperial harem, it was impossible to capture all of them in one go. As the saying goes, capture the ringleader first to capture the bandits. With the Eighth Prince captured, there was no need to be afraid of those people stirring up trouble. Because the remaining princes did not have anything left for them to stir up trouble.
Under the instructions of Emperor Tianwu, he would arrange for the people from the former Eighth Prince's faction to visit the death cell every few days, letting them see the outcome of the Eighth Prince again and again. At the same time, they would think, if a prince made a mistake and ended up like this, if it was them, what kind of treatment would they receive?
Under the intense feeling and mental stimulation, those people did not dare to act rashly, and they quickly lost control of the court. The Sixth Prince had always ruled the country through literature. During his time as regent, he renovated the library and gathered a group of scholars to continue compiling books. He also reorganized all the schools and private schools in the capital and Shuntian Prefecture. Under Feng Yu Heng's suggestion, a large number of specialized academies like Hundred Herb Hall were opened. The focus was on developing specialized talents, and they were not just focused on the Four Books and Five Classics.
When autumn turned cold, Emperor Tianwu had the idea of going hunting. The group of princes and officials expressed their support in order to make the old emperor happy. Only Consort Yun, who lived in Chun Wang Fu, was not happy. She asked Xuan Tianhua: "How long will you be gone for? You can't delay us from going to Ji 'an Prefecture to deliver the betrothal gifts. We said that we would reach Ji 'an Prefecture before the Mid-Autumn Festival and meet An furen on the day of the Mid-Autumn Festival. We will return after the Mid-Autumn Festival. "
Xuan Tianhua smiled bitterly, "The imperial hunting will take at most three to five days, mother does not need to be anxious."
"How can I not be anxious?" Imperial Concubine Yun hated iron for not becoming steel and said: "You don't take care of your own matters. As your mother, I have taken care of them for you. You still have that calm expression. Just looking at it really makes people angry. Learn from your Ninth Brother. When he delivered the betrothal gifts to Heng Zheng, I did not need to worry at all. "
Xuan Tianhua was stunned. He suddenly thought, if he was the one delivering the betrothal gifts to Feng Yu Heng, would he not be as unconcerned as he was now?
He indeed did not care, or rather, he did not know how to care. He had never thought about these things before. He even felt that marrying and having children had nothing to do with him. Until Consort Yun forced him to this point, and the other party was Feng Xiangrong, he finally nodded. But nodding was just nodding, his heart did not throb like it should have.
After all was said and done, treating that girl well was one thing, making him truly moved was another.
Emperor Tianwu headed towards the imperial hunting grounds. The procession was vast and mighty. Other than the Sixth Prince who was regent, all the other princes and princesses accompanied him. The Empress also led the imperial concubines in the palace to accompany him. The court officials of standard fourth rank and above followed along. They were even allowed to bring along their family members.
In short, this was an encirclement hunt with the theme of "making the Emperor happy". Everyone's objective was to serve the old Emperor well. Hunting was secondary, singing, dancing and feasting were the most important things. Even Yao Xian brought along his three sons, three daughters-in-law and six grandsons from the Yao family. He even received special instructions from Feng Yu Heng to accompany the old Emperor to drink some wine when appropriate.
The hunting grounds were already prepared. When everyone arrived, the tents were already set up and the area was already divided. It was about the same as the previous winter hunt. The women's campsite was spread out from the centre according to their master's official position. The princes and princesses lived in other places. The imperial concubines also had their own designated areas and the areas were divided very clearly.
The people arrived in the evening. The imperial kitchen chefs in the palace came here a day in advance and were currently cooking. They ate wild game hunted from the mountains and drank the good wine brought out from the imperial palace.
Emperor Tianwu left the imperial palace and immediately felt refreshed. He pulled Yao Xian to drink bowl after bowl of wine. Yao Xian gave him sobering medicine in advance so that this old Emperor could last a little longer and not get drunk after drinking a few bowls.
After the incident with Imperial Concubine Yuan Gui, the imperial concubines were all trembling in fear. They were afraid that the Emperor or the Empress would hold a grudge against them for currying favour with Imperial Concubine Yuan Gui. So in this hunt, they were all rather well-behaved, all of them surrounding the Empress and saying some nice things with a smile on their faces. That grand occasion even gave the Empress the wrong impression, thinking that it was many years ago before Consort Yun entered the imperial palace. These people would wake up every day at dawn and dusk, chatting and laughing together.
However, it was still different. Everyone was old and there were no new people in the imperial palace for more than 20 years. Which of these imperial concubines that remained did not have wrinkles on their faces? No matter how well they took care of themselves, compared to those imperial concubines and the young misses of the various families, they were still much older.
The Empress thought, the only one who could compete with those young women was probably only Consort Yun, right? In her impression, that girl was very young and was especially resistant to aging. She had come out once when the Cold Moon Palace caught fire. That face did not change much from 20 years ago, making people envious.
The Empress was not someone who liked to stir up trouble. Since the imperial concubines were willing to maintain harmony on the surface, she was happy to act in harmony for Emperor Tianwu to see. No matter what, seeing his wives and concubines talking and laughing was better than seeing people quarreling.
There were no rules on the first night of the banquet, just freedom. People could gather with whoever they wanted, regardless of status. There were even sons of fourth-ranked officials who came to compete with the eldest imperial prince in drinking. Emperor Tianwu laughed when he saw this and said to Yao Xian: "See, this is how it should be!"
Feng Yu Heng also enjoyed this kind of atmosphere. She even took out a lot of red wine and soft drinks from her space in advance for the imperial chefs to share with everyone. The wine was snatched by the men, and the soft drinks were distributed to the madams and young misses. Not to mention the man's drunken madness, the madams and young ladies had never drunk carbonated drinks before, so they were all stunned for a moment. One after another, they talked about how delicious and magical this thing was. Some people even guessed where this thing came from. Did the imperial chefs make it themselves?
Xuan Tianming whispered to Feng Yu Heng: "It's a waste to let them drink such good things."
Feng Yu Heng laughed at him for being stingy: "It's not like you don't know. My space has the ability to automatically fill up. So what if I take it out? It can automatically fill up left and right. "
"I know." Xuan Tianming said again: "But I still feel like it's too good for those people. They don't even know who dug the well. They won't remember your good."
"It's best if people don't remember me." Feng Yu Heng said: "If something is not normal, then it is a demon! I don't want people to think of me as a demon. If all kinds of strange things were to come from me, sooner or later, I would be suspected. "
Xuan Tianming's heart skipped a beat. Looking at the bonfire in front of him, he suddenly asked her: "If there is a small place, much smaller than Dashun, but the people are kind, the court is stable, and the people are simple. No one will investigate whether you are a demon or not. Would you like such a place?"
Feng Yu Heng was puzzled: "No one will investigate whether I am a demon or not? Even if I take something in front of them, they won't have any abnormal reaction? "
Xuan Tianming told her: "They will, but they will take it for granted that you are a god. They have faith. They think that all good things, no matter how unusual, are given to them by the god of faith. They will gladly accept it. "
"Uh …" Feng Yu Heng scratched her head: "Will people with faith be very extreme? Are they willing to do something radical for the sake of the God they believe in? " After all, a certain faith group in the 21st century left a bad and deep impression on her.
Xuan Tianming shook his head and said: "No, their faith wants them to do good deeds all their lives. Everything is positive. Not only are people not extreme, but they are also very gentle and warm. "
Feng Yu Heng was moved by his words, "What kind of place is that? I like that kind of place. Can we go there? "
Xuan Tianming nodded, "Of course we can go, but not now. One day, I will take you to that place and live a small life, not a vast place like Dashun."
On the hunting ground, the young couple was talking about their future. But they didn't know that at this moment, two people were standing at the gate of the Deyang Gate of the Imperial Palace. They said to the Imperial Guard guarding the gate of the Imperial Palace: "Open the gate, I have something urgent to do. I have to go back from the hunting ground immediately!"
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