Chapter 158: Chapter 160 Father, You Want to Send Flowers to the Queen Mother
Upon entering the palace, Nalan Yan’er went to pay her respects to Emperor Yongye, where the Empress and a crowd of concubines, including Noble Princess Consort Xiao, were all present.
Emperor Yongye, forcefully mustering his spirits, asked about the wellbeing of the two Imperial Grandsons, then inquired about the Old Grand Preceptor’s condition.
“Thank you, Father Emperor, for your concern. Grandfather’s health remains as it always has been.”
Nalan Yan’er’s heart sank as she thought of the thod proposed by Hua Wushang.
Just then, the Third Prince Dongfang Qi arrived in the palace for an audience. He had always been one to speak his mind, and after paying his respects, he looked up at Emperor Yongye.
“Father Emperor, what’s going on with your hair?”
Once Dongfang Cheng ntioned this, everyone bravely turned their attention to Emperor Yongye’s head.
Emperor Yongye had been of ill health recently, looking haggard and with more white hair visible amongst his strands. He had just heard Li Qing ntion a hair cream that could darken hair. Fortuitously, Nalan Yan’er had brought so to the palace for him and the Empress. After using it, his gray hair had disappeared.
But to their surprise, in just a few days, the previously hidden white hair had reappeared, and it even seed more abundant than before.
Emperor Yongye commanded soone to bring a mirror, and upon seeing his reflection, he almost shattered the glass.
Quick-witted as Nalan Yan’er was, she found herself speechless this ti.
“Father Emperor, is the hair cream you used this one?”
Dongfang Qi pulled out a jar of hair cream with the na Xinglin Spring attached to it.
“It’s not this one.”
The Empress ca forward for a look, shook her head, and presented the bottle brought by Nalan Yan’er.
“This is not it – this is not the hair cream crafted by Princess Feng. This is a counterfeit. Whoever dares to deceive Father Emperor and Mother Empress with a counterfeit commits the cri of deceiving the sovereign.”
Dongfang Qi exclaid loudly.
The faces of the Empress and the other concubines turned sour; the Crown Princess Consort had been unkind, providing them with fakes.
“I wouldn’t dare.”
In a panic, Nalan Yan’er knelt down quickly.
“Why it’s you, Crown Princess Consort; I thought you were quite astute usually, why have you been so careless this ti? Purchasing hair cream, one must recognize the Xinglin Spring by Princess Feng.”
Dongfang Qi heaped extravagant praise on Feng Bailing.
The other concubines hurriedly took note of the Xinglin Spring brand na.
Nalan Yan’er was furious inside but dare not utter a word. How could it be that, despite being the sa herbal dicine, the hair cream concocted by Feng Bailing was so unique?
In the afternoon, at Xinglin Spring, Su Wang, with the new prices set, felt a bit uneasy.
It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Feng Bailing, but after doubling the price, not a single person ca to buy the hair cream that afternoon.
However, at the other end of the street, the clientele of Huichun Hall was endless.
“Su Wang, no need to fret, we’ll have custors soon.”
Feng Bailing entered, bringing the first batch of dicinal herbs harvested from the East Garden.
Ten ginseng roots, several dozen Polygonum multiflorum and Lingzhi mushrooms – although they were genetically modified garden ginseng, Feng Bailing examined them and found that, after being watered with Spiritual Spring Water, they not only matured faster but the quality was comparable to wild ones.
“Princess, you’ve brought dicine again. You could’ve called over or asked Feng Wan to deliver it; there was no need to co yourself.”
Su Wang took the dicinal herbs and agreed on their superior quality compared to last ti.
As the evening approached, Dugu Wu had just returned to Prince Shun’s Mansion when he was greeted by a beaming Dugu Xiaojin.
“Father, Xiao Li has invited us to the Princess’ Mansion to see her pigs.”
The joyous voice of the child brought Dugu Wu back to his senses.
Ever since that ti at Qi Village, Xiaojin had seed much more cheerful and had beco more talkative.
Dugu Wu glanced at Dugu Xiaojin and noticed he was holding flowers.
“The books say, flowers are gifted to fair ladies, and swords to valiant n. When visiting the Princess’ Mansion, we must take gifts; we cannot go empty-handed.”
Xiaojin cast a reproachful look as he stuffed several orchids into his father’s hands.
“Where did the flowers co from?”
Dugu Wu found the flowers sowhat familiar, very much like the prized magnolia awarded to Sacrificial Officer Guo by Emperor Yongye.
“Harvested from Sacrificial Officer Guo’s desk.”
With a face full of joy, Dugu Xiaojin seed completely unaware that his father’s expression had darkened.
If tomorrow his son was expelled from the Imperial Academy, Dugu Wu wouldn’t be at all surprised.
The Dugu Xiaojin of the past would never do such a thing, Dugu Wu pondered. This behavior was very much like “Feng Xiaoli”; suddenly, he felt a headache coming on.
With a snap, a fine jade porcelain teacup shattered into pieces, and tea leaves splattered everywhere.
A cold, clear edge surfaced on Nalan Yan’er’s face, her eyes filled with venomous hatred.
“What a Xinglin Spring, what a Feng Bailing.”
Her chest heaved with fierce emotion, humiliated and unable to show her face after today’s events in the palace.
“Steward, have you found the person I asked for?”
Nalan Yan’er cald her rage, knowing this was not the ti to erupt in anger.
Be it Feng Bailing or Xinglin Spring, they were both pressing and had stolen her man, as well as her business.
She could not sit idly by and let Feng Bailing continue to grow stronger; she needed to nip Xinglin Spring in the bud before they could expand.
A portly man walked in. Upon seeing Nalan Yan’er, often whispered about as the Crown Princess Consort, he felt dazzled and averted his eyes, bowing his head.
“Are you Feng Mansion’s Feng Zhan Tian? Feng Bailing’s second uncle?”
Nalan Yan’er’s beautiful eyes lifted slightly, an ambiguous and captivating charm hanging in her apricot-colored gaze.
“It is indeed this humble one.”
Feng Zhan Tian hurriedly nodded.
“I hear you have sothing on Xinglin Spring?”
Nalan Yan’er took a new teacup from a servant and toyed with it.
“I heard from an old colleague of Xinglin Spring that recently they were short on several valuable dicines, and the city’s dicine shops had agreed to cut off supplies to Xinglin Spring. Without the dications, Xinglin Spring wouldn’t operate, but within those few days, Xinglin Spring suddenly acquired a batch of precious dicinal herbs. The source of these herbs is unclear, and I also heard that a strange woman bought a batch of inferior dicines from several dicine shops – if taken incorrectly, they could be lethal.”
Feng Zhan Tian stole a glance and saw a look of ecstatic joy in the eyes of the woman seated across.
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