Chapter 183: Chapter 182: The Traitorous Concubine and the Worthy Empress 17
Feng Chengxi was not the most unfortunate.
The most unfortunate thing was, a few days after he was carried back to the Hostage Mansion, the Imperial Physicians from inside the palace were summoned to examine him. Several Imperial Physicians had looked over him and all shook their heads, saying there was nothing they could do.
Feng Chengxi went mad.
He smashed everything in the room that could be smashed and sent a message to the palace, demanding to see Prince Jin.
Prince Jin did not meet with Feng Chengxi but instead sent a Palace Attendant to inquire.
Feng Chengxi asked Prince Jin to capture and severely punish the perpetrator who had beaten him.
After all, Feng Chengxi was the Crown Prince of Lu Country, Prince Jin had to give him face.
Prince Jin ordered a thorough search throughout the city for the culprit, but after more than ten days, no one was found.
At this time, Feng Chengxi understood that this was a premeditated act, someone had intentionally wanted to harm him.
Not only could Feng Chengxi not bear it, Mr. Xie was close to collapsing.
After all, Feng Chengxi was born to Queen Xie and if he were to become the king of Lu Country in the future, the Xie Family would surely bask in glory.
But now Feng Chengxi was ruined, and the Xie Family’s decades of schemes had been in vain.
Mr. Xie fell ill and couldn’t get out of bed, and both Mr. Xie and Madam Xie were busy entertaining the nobles of Yang City while caring for Mr. Xie, truly in a state of chaos.
Because of this, they didn’t have time to take care of Feng Chengxi and only visited him a few times before stopping their visits to the Hostage Mansion.
Feng Chengxi grew furious once again.
He believed that the Xie Family was discarding him, trying to draw a clear line between them.
After this turmoil, it took Feng Chengxi more than a month before he was able to walk on the ground again.
But feeling he had lost face, he always hid in the Hostage Mansion, not daring to go out.
Some time later, Feng Chengxi finally gathered his spirits to request an audience with Prince Jin and Anning.
This time, Prince Jin readily agreed to see him.
Feng Chengxi entered the palace and was led straight to Qingzheng Hall.
As he entered, he saw Prince Jin laughing and joking, with Anning leaning against him, her smile blooming beautifully, seemingly in a good mood.
Seeing Anning laughing, Feng Chengxi felt especially agitated inside.
After what had happened to him, turning into a crippled person, he became especially sensitive; whenever someone smiled at him, he suspected they were mocking him.
Especially Anning, a girl who had once adored him.
If Anning had looked sad, perhaps Feng Chengxi would have felt a bit better.
But Anning didn’t care about him at all, just chatting and laughing with Prince Jin, as if he didn’t even exist, which Feng Chengxi could hardly endure.
He quickly stepped forward and offered his greetings to Prince Jin, who waved his hand: "No need for such formalities, take a seat."
Feng Chengxi bowed and retreated a few steps before sitting down.
Anning still wore a smile: "Cousin, have you been well lately? Some time ago, there was talk of summoning you to the palace for a chat, but Your Majesty said you were ill, so the invitation was withheld. Now that I see your complexion, you should be recovered, right?"
Feng Chengxi’s anger was blazing inside.
He felt that Anning’s words were mocking him, stabbing knives into his heart.
"I have recovered."
Feng Chengxi suppressed his rage, not daring to lose his temper in front of Prince Jin.
"That’s good to hear. Cousin, you should take more care of your health in the future, after all, the climate and soil of Jin Country are different from Lu Country, and it is easy to fall ill if not careful."
Anning earnestly advised a few words, seemingly truly concerned for Feng Chengxi’s well-being.
This made Feng Chengxi even more despondent: "Yes, I will keep that in mind."
Anning then smiled at Prince Jin: "Your Majesty, didn’t you say that cousin has no close attendants in the Hostage Mansion and wanted to send him a few maids?"
Prince Jin patted Anning’s hand: "Lucky that you reminded me, otherwise I would have completely forgotten."
He called out loudly: "Someone, bring in the maids that the Noble Consort has selected for Prince Feng."
Soon, a Palace Attendant led in several maids into Qingzheng Hall.
At this point, Feng Chengxi was so angry his face was red with rage.
He clenched his fists tightly, his teeth grinding with a creaking sound, barely able to control the urge to lunge forward and take a few bites out of Anning and Prince Jin.
He did not believe that Anning and Prince Jin were uninformed about his ordeal.
Knowing full well that he was disabled, yet they deliberately arranged for a few maids for him, wasn’t this a mockery?
Anning acted as if she hadn’t noticed Feng Chengxi’s state of anger at all.
She beamed with a radiant smile, "Your Majesty has chosen several maids who are very capable of serving people, including those who understand medical skills. With them taking care of my cousin, I believe he won’t fall ill again, and thus I can rest assured."
By the time those maids stepped forward, Feng Chengxi took one look, and just from that glance, his eyes rolled back, and he fainted.
It turned out that among those maids was that girl.
Now, Feng Chengxi was entirely certain about what had happened before.
The reason he was abolished was all due to the schemes concocted by Prince Jin and Anning.
He couldn’t handle this blow, and also harbored some fear towards that girl, so he fainted out of combined fury and panic.
"What happened to my cousin?"
Anning looked innocently at Prince Jin, "We kindly sent him maids, why would he faint?"
Prince Jin smiled with a meaningful expression, "Perhaps he’s too overjoyed, after all, these maids are all rare beauties."
"Perhaps so."
Anning nodded, showing understanding, "It seems my cousin will lead a very good life from now on."
A very good life, indeed.
Though those maids appeared frail, each one of them was actually selected by Prince Jin from the Hidden Guards, all skilled in martial arts, and included those proficient in medicine, those adept in poison techniques, and those expert in secret weapons.
Such formidable arsenals had been brought into the Hostage Mansion, one could imagine what Feng Chengxi’s future days would be like.
Now that Feng Chengxi could no longer stir any waves, Anning started to seriously focus on the matters of the court.
In reality, Prince Jin was an especially intelligent man and adept at dealing with state affairs.
However, he was somewhat capricious, and apparently indifferent towards many matters. Plus, he was a bit lazy, allowing courtiers to handle many affairs without much intervention on his part.
Given Prince Jin’s temperament, Anning certainly wouldn’t force him to change his ways.
But it was not acceptable for Prince Jin to disregard state affairs altogether.
Within Xie Anning’s wishes, she hoped Prince Jin would become better, that Jin Country would continue to grow stronger, and that the hope to unify the land in the future lay with Prince Jin.
If Prince Jin lacked that ambition, Anning would have to provide assistance.
At this time, grains from various countries had been continuously arriving, and Jin Country had experienced two rainfalls, greatly alleviating the drought situation and securing a livelihood for the people.
Thus, Anning proposed to Prince Jin the construction of reservoirs and also had someone draw up a territorial map of Jin Country. After thorough inquiries with experts in hydrology and then dragging Prince Jin on a supposed tour around Jin Country, which was in reality an on-site inspection,
Anning traveled throughout the entire Jin Country, perfecting the map and, in addition, drawing a water conservancy map of Jin Country.
On the map, she indicated where deep wells could be dug, where irrigation channels needed to be constructed, and so on.
Besides this, Anning also taught the people of Jin Country some advanced agricultural techniques.
By the time she and Prince Jin returned to Yang City, Spring Festival was about to arrive.
After this ordeal, Anning’s reputation among the people of Jin Country was exceptionally good. The citizens were grateful to her and began to spread her virtuous name.
And ministers of Jin Country, such as Grandmaster Geng and Prime Minister Liu, realized that Anning was not a spy sent by Lu Country; instead, she was wholly dedicated to Jin Country.
One could realize that which country would send a honey trap willing to be like Anning—who not only understood hydrology but also agriculture, could improve farming tools, and even teach women in the countryside how to spin and weave. Every single one of these actions was beneficial for the strengthening of Jin Country; what kind of spy would be so foolish, not to disrupt the court but rather wish for the enemy state to grow stronger?
Grandmaster Geng and Prime Minister Liu altered their views of Anning and began to turn a blind eye to her meddling in court affairs.
Meanwhile, the members of the Xie Family were entirely focused on Lu Country.
Seeing Anning working tirelessly for the sake of Jin Country truly infuriated them.
Mr. Xie would curse Anning at home every day, calling her a traitorous concubine who caused the downfall of Feng Chengxi, and now she was even helping Jin to oppress Lu Country. He regretted not strangling her to death at her birth.
Because of Anning, Mr. Xie also treated Madam Xie very poorly.
Madam Xie did not dare to bear resentment against Mr. Xie and instead vented all her hatred onto Anning.
She believed it was all due to Anning’s disobedience that her situation became increasingly worsened.
During one visit to the palace, Madam Xie complained to Anning, blaming her for her awkward status in the Xie Family.
At the moment, Anning laughed and said, "I was thinking since father and the others have been here in Yang City for some time and the family is settled, I wanted to ask His Majesty to appoint an official position for my father and brother. But now it seems unnecessary, as father and brother are wholeheartedly pining for Lu Country, and they probably wouldn’t want to be officials of Jin Country."
With this remark, Madam Xie was infuriated to the point of half-death.
She wanted to scold Anning, yet she didn’t dare to, and could only leave the palace with suppressed rage.
When Mr. Xie learned that his daily tirades resulted in his descendants having no official positions, he became so angry that he fell seriously ill.
Feng Chengxi’s days were also particularly miserable.
Those maids that Prince Jin had sent to him were no easy company.
They ridiculed him every day, beat him viciously, and left him bruised at the slightest dissatisfaction.
What infuriated him most terribly was that several maids had conspired with the guards sent to the Hostage Mansion by Prince Jin. These couples would engage in nauseatingly sweet behavior every day, driving Feng Chengxi—a man with mental instability—into fits of rage every time.