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Just after Feng Jin Yuan returned to the manor from court, he was brought to Shu Ya courtyard by granny Zhao. Along the way, she listened to granny Zhao explain the situation. After hearing this, his forehead became soaked in a cold sweat.

Someone tried to harm Yao shi. Was this not just adding oil to the fire! What sort of personality did Feng Yu Heng have? Ru Jia insulted the ninth prince and was nearly whipped to death. That was a princess, yet she did not even care about it. Now that someone dared to take action against her birth mother, once this person was uncovered, would they not be skinned alive?

He quickly entered the matriarch’s bedroom and saw the matriarch sitting on a soft chair in the inner room. Her eyebrows were furrowed tightly together, as a gloominess covered her face.

He quickly went forward to pay his respects, but the matriarch said: “Enough, what is the point of paying respects right now. Are a few words enough to calm me down?”

Feng Jin Yuan sat down at her side and anxiously asked: “I heard granny Zhao tell me along the way. Is this matter the truth?”

The matriarch nodded, “I personally saw it. Of course, it’s true. Jin Yuan, I have something I must ask you, and you absolutely must tell me the truth.”

Feng Jin Yuan did not wait for her to ask and took the initiative to say: “I did not do it.”

The matriarch was startled, “It wasn’t?”

He nodded, “It wasn’t. Although I did hate Yao shi after the matter of the divorce, in fact, I did want to have her die, as only with her dying could my humiliation be eliminated. But son is not someone that is unable to think things through clearly. Just Yao shi alone is not someone worthy of being feared, but that girl A-Heng is truly not an easy-going girl. Moreover, she even has the ninth prince’s support.”

The matriarch let out a sigh of relief, “It’s good that you can understand this reasoning. I really feared that you were muddled and decided to act against Yao shi. You don’t know this, but when something happened to Yao shi today, A-Heng’s eyes were extremely scary. Just a single glance caused me to become soaked in sweat. If Yao shi becoming addicted to spirit-altering drug was really something that you did, I fear that girl would massacre our entire Feng manor!”

Feng Jin Yuan saw that the matriarch was truly afraid and quickly comforted her, saying: “Mother is overthinking it. No matter how bold she is, she could not massacre the entire family. Son is a government official, and even when the Emperor hands out awards or punishment, it’s impossible that he would take son’s life. Although Feng Yu Heng calls his Majesty father Emperor, that does not mean that she can do anything that she wants. If something happens to the prime minister, the court would become a mess. This is a crime that she cannot bear the burden of.”

The matriarch calmed down upon hearing him say this, but she still asked: “Since it was not you, who could it be? Jin Yuan, could it be Chen Yu?”

In truth, Feng Jin Yuan suspected that it was Chen Yu, but after a great deal of thought, he felt that it was not too likely, “Chen Yu is still locked up in the temple. Not to mention her coming out, even if she could come out, her only pillar of support was the Chen family. The Chen family has already fallen, so how could she still have the ability to do this sort of thing.”

The matriarch reminded him: “Yao shi was targetted with spirit-altering drug. I heard that An shi has sent her pastries for many months. That was naturally well before the Chen family’s collapse.”

Feng Jin Yuan shook his head once more, “The Chen family has fallen for so long. Normally, it should have stopped a long time ago, and it would not have waited until today to take effect.”

The matriarch was rendered speechless. With a bitter expression, she said: “It’s not this and it’s not that. Who exactly did it? Right,” She remembered something, “Last time Han shi was targetted, an earring was found in the kitchen. Everyone recognized it as belonging to Jin Zhen, but Chen Yu has clearly used jelly ear powder. What do you think of that situation? Say, could the person that tried to poison Han shi be the same as the one that poisoned Yao shi?”

Feng Jin Yuan shook his head, “No. Jelly ear powder and spirit-altering drug are much too different. Also, how could Tong Sheng pavilion be as easy to infiltrate as Yu Lan courtyard? As for who exactly did what, mother, the most pressing matter at the moment is Yao shi’s side. Let’s just leave Han shi’s matter for now. Chen Yu will be kept in the temple to allow her to calm down. Presently, it would not be too good for her to come out.”

The matriarch sighed once more and no longer spoke.

An shi and Xiang Rong provided clues and told Feng Yu heng that Mei Xiang had family in the northern suburbs of the capital. Tong Sheng pavilion sent out a group of people and finally, after two days, like a stray cur, Mei Xiang was brought to kneel before Feng Yu Heng.

At this time, Feng Yu Heng had just finished performing acupuncture on Yao shi. Yao shi was awake, but her situation was not very good, as she was on the verge of collapse. Feng Yu Heng only dared to allow her to remain awake for a few hours each day. She had to remain unconscious for the remainder of the day. Even if that was the case, she still had servants cover up any hard corners in the room with a soft cloth. Anything that could shatter was taken away. It was all in order to prevent Yao shi from potentially hurting herself.

Mei Xiang’s arrival caused her to smell something foul. She turned her head and saw that the girl’s hair was scattered and face darkened, and dirty water dripped from her body.

She quickly waved her hand, “Quickly, carry her out to the yard.”

Some servants immediately came forward and dragged her to the yard then threw her onto the ground. The pain from the fall caused Mei Xiang to cry out a few times, but it did not receive any sympathy.

Everyone in Tong Sheng pavilion hated her because Yao shi usually treated people very well. She would never treat them as servants. Whenever there were any delicious foods, she would always have the kitchen prepare more for the servants of the courtyard. Such a nice madam was harmed by someone. They really hated that they could not tear off Mei Xiang’s skin.

But everyone knew that Mei Xiang was just a servant. She was nothing more than a knife. What was important was to find out who was the person behind her. That was who truly deserved to die.

Not long later, Feng Yu Heng finished taking care of Yao shi and came out. Ban Zou was saying to her: “She was pulled out a sewage ditch. At that time, she was running toward the North. Along the way, some people tried to kill her, but we managed to save her and bring her back.”

“Someone trying to kill her is not strange.” Feng Yu Heng walked over to Mei Xiang and glanced at her, coldly snorting, “There are many people that wish to kill you. Your master will definitely try to kill you to seal your lips. The Feng family has sent people to kill you in case you were working for the Feng family. That’s why, Mei Xiang, you are completely unable to run away.”

A servant brought out a chair, and she sat down facing Mei Xiang. She remained five paces away, but she could still smell the foul stench.

Mei Xiang had suffered some injuries. Although they were not severe, she was covered in blood. It looked a little bit scary. At this point, she had already run out of patience, and she had given up on running away because she knew that Feng Yu Heng was right. There were too many people that wanted to kill her. As long as she left Tong Sheng pavilion, she could only die. But by staying here… could she live?

She raised her head and looked at Feng Yu Heng. In her eyes, there was only death, and she could not even see a glimmer of hope.

At this time, another hidden guard appeared in front of Feng Yu Heng and whispered something into her ear. Feng Yu Heng nodded in satisfaction, as the hidden guard vanished.

Only then did she speak and ask Mei Xiang: “Speak, who told you to do it?”

Mei Xiang shook her head and said in a hoarse voice: “Nobody told me to do it. I did it on my own.” Her entire body was wet, and it was still very cold outside. While speaking, she could not help but shiver.

Feng Yu Heng blinked and said to a servant: “Mei Xiang is cold. Quickly go fetch a brazier.”

Immediately, a servant brought a brazier and placed it at Mei Xiang’s side. Huang Quan walked over and pulled out the hottest piece of charcoal. Leaning close to Mei Xiang, she said: “There’s no need to worry about a cold body. What is worrying is a cold heart. It would be best if you just ate this piece of charcoal to warm up your heart. Or perhaps you could remember how well our young miss treated you.”

Mei Xiang trembled with fear and wanted to dodge back. Unfortunately, there were even more people blocking her.

Huang Quan angrily stuck the piece of charcoal onto her chest, and the sound of flesh and skin burning filled the air along with Mei Xiang’s chilling screams.

But this girl was also quite good at enduring. The charcoal had cooked her flesh, but she still did not faint.

Huang Quan scolded her: “At the time you were being beaten by that woman in Yu Lan courtyard, if our second young miss did not arrive in time, you would have been beaten to death. But why do you not reciprocate? Not only do you not give thanks, you use that sort of thing on our madam. Mei Xiang, oh Mei Xiang, even if this girl were to skin you alive today, it would be something that you deserve.”

Mei Xiang looked at Feng Yu Heng with a miserable expression. She felt that her gaze was extremely frightening. Previously, she felt that the person that wanted her to do this had the scariest eyes in the world, but she finally understood that compared to the second young miss, that person was still a little lacking.

“You won’t speak. Are you having difficulties?” Feng Yu Heng looked at her without any expression. The ferocity in her eyes was still present, and her tone was so cold that it seemed to have come from the underworld.

But Mei Xiang spoke, bitterly begging: “Second young miss, everything was done by Mei Xiang. If you want to kill me, just kill me. Either way, Mei Xiang will not be able to survive. Everyone wants me to die, so I am completely unable to get away.”

Feng Yu Heng asked her: “Since they want you to die, why do you still protect their secret? If you speak, perhaps I can allow you to live.”

Mei Xiang smiled bitterly, “What is the point of me continuing to live? They have my mother, my dad and my two younger brothers. If I say anything, they will all die.”

“If you don’t talk will they be able to live?” Feng Yu Heng almost laughed, “To speak of morals with such a person? Have you not thought about it? With you dead, why would they keep your family around? Could it be that they will allow your younger brothers to grow up and learn martial arts then get revenge for you? I will tell you, that is impossible. As long as you die, your family will immediately be following you. In fact, they may very well already be dead.”

Mei Xiang was stunned and suddenly shouted: “Impossible! Absolutely impossible! They promised me. As long as I completed this task, he would marry me. Even if the plot fell through, as long as I kept my mouth shut, he would give my family a plentiful life. He promised me. He promised me!”

Huang Quan raised her hand and slapped her twice, “Are you insane? You believed these words? Since ancient times, every person that has used emotions to control someone used these words. In fact, they did not even change the words. If he really wanted to marry you, would he bother controlling your family?”

Wang Chuan was also extremely angry, loudly saying: “Mei Xiang, you were at the Feng family’s third young miss’ side. You should have had quite a good life. Based on the third young miss’ personality, no matter what, they would not have mistreated their servants. How did they end up with such a thankless wretch?”

Huang Quan stood close to her. In the instant that Mei Xiang moved, she immediately found that she wore something on her neck. It was round and red. It appeared to be in the shape of a flower.

Her hands were fast and immediately removed the necklace. Mei Xiang shrieked and rushed to snatch it back, but how could she manage to dive onto someone like Huang Quan. She failed to catch even a corner of Huang Quan’s clothes, as she returned to Feng Yu Heng’s side.

She handed the red necklace to Feng Yu Heng: “Young miss, look.”

Feng Yu Heng received it and took a look, “Chicken-blood jade?” Mei Xiang was nothing more than a maidservant. It was impossible for her to have the money to buy something like this. Spinning the necklace in her hand, she suddenly squinted her eyes, as she subconsciously said: “It’s him…”


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