Rising Phoenix

She quietly circulated her Qi. Even though the Reviving Sprint Fruit had disturbed her Qi, Ning Yi's dense, powerful True Qi had smoothed away all the bad effects, allowing the beneficial side of the fruit to calm her burning meridian illness.

She knew that Ning Yi had given his all in this situation, and not only was it an unusual situation to begin with, her involvement was her own choice.

Indecision in times of action only begets chaos, and even paired with enough sympathy and pity to fill the whole world, lack of action will never change the big picture.

Ning Yi believed this, and so did she.

"You're protecting!" Helian Zheng cried out in dissatisfaction, standing up and cursing: "Adulterous!"

Feng Zhiwei did not know whether to laugh or cry, so she could only change the subject: "My dress is stained again, what should I do?"

"You should go back to the Princess' Residence." Helian Zheng replied. "Wet Nurse Chen has already cleaned the stain from your dress and dried it by the stove. You can change back into that dress, and we can go to the evening feast together."

His eyes brightened with happiness as he suddenly declared: "A beautiful couple!"

Feng Zhiwei stumbled as she walked away.

By the time Feng Zhiwei was finished changing, the feast was about to begin. The celebration had originally been planned inside the Lang Ya Palace, but the skies had opened up after the rain. The square outside the Lang Ya Palace was a wide and open affair, stone-slabs open on all sides. In the pleasant draft of the clear after-storm wind, the lively square was much more pleasant than a boring palace room, so the Tian Sheng Emperor declared that the birthday feast would be held outside. The main table was set up in the beautiful Zhi Shuang Pavilion by the Wan Cui Pond. Melon shaped lanterns were hung high above all over the square, and bright candle light threw everything into a red, rosy shade.

The main dining table felt like a boat looking out on the gentle blue waves of the pond, the white stone ground beneath them reflecting the gentle light of the heavens. The wonderful breeze and the tasteful expanse stretching out around them only added more delight to their liquor, and Feng Zhiwei was filled with contentment as she sat by Helian Zheng.

Of course, if she were not being observed on all sides by curious eyes, she would be even more content.

The Young Madam of the Feng Family has a mental illness! She acted up when Prince Hu Zhuo had gone to seek a marriage alliance, and it had acted up just now with Prince Chu. Although the matter had happened only a brief moment ago, the news had grown a pair of wings and flew into everyone's ears.

All the nobility and titled women examined Feng Zhiwei curiously before turning confused, pitying looks to Prince Hu Zhuo.

No one understood how he had fallen in love with a crazy, ugly woman, and were filled with pity at the stupidity and tastelessness of the steppe barbarian.

The unmarried young ladies were not so gentle and tolerant — their eyes were like knives soaked in ice. Helian Zheng was very handsome and fit very well into a young girl's imagination of a hero, and even though none of them actually wanted to move to the steppes and become a face in a harem, they were still unhappy when this eligible bachelor was taken away by another, especially when this handsome steppe grass was planted on Feng Zhiwei's pile of cow shit. This was truly the greatest insult to Dijing's beautiful noble ladies! How could such shame be tolerated?

The young ladies were sad and hurt, many of them frowning to themselves, surreptitiously bringing out little mirrors beneath their tables and examining themselves — such beautiful, blooming faces and imperial eyebrows losing to that yellow faced droopy browed woman?

Feng Zhiwei admired all the different expressions shot at her, calmly drinking her liquor and wondering at the great ability and speed of this rumor. If this kind of thing could be used to fight wars or maneuverer in politics, how wonderful that would be.

The stars of the party had not arrived yet and the head seats were still empty. Below the empty chairs were the Second Prince and his wife, then the Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Tenth Prince. Only Ning Yi and the young Tenth Prince were unmarried. In the years before his power, Ning Yi had claimed that his physical condition was not great and that he could not bear wasting a good young lady's time. It was also well known that he enjoyed brothels, so the parents of the prospective ladies were afraid that his body was not too healthy in that aspect either.

Time passed, and with the Crown Prince's death and Ning Yi's growth in power, the topic of marriage alliances was brought up more and more frequently. The current most eligible pairings were with Vice Minister Hu Shengshan's granddaughter, Nobel Imperial Consort Chang's niece — a Marquis' daughter, or the daughter of the Minister of Personnel, Hua Gongmei.

The unmarried daughters of the high officials were all seated on the west side of the square, each of them surrounded by symbolic, low hanging gauze screens; but quite peculiarly, there were no screens hiding them from the princes, which meant that if Ning Yi was interested, he could easily see any of the young ladies. This was not in line with the rites, and the meaning behind this arrangement was amusing to contemplate.

Feng Zhiwei eyed the useless gauze screens and smiled faintly, wondering which one was Young Lady Hu and which one was Young Lady Chang. Ning Yi felt Feng Zhiwei's gaze and looked up to meet her eyes, his gaze glittering like flowing water, and all the young ladies thought he was looking at them, puffing up their breasts.

Brother Ning, your eyes are really the-rivers-that-run-into-the-sea-sweeping-anything-and-everything-so-seductive-and-beautiful-and-coquettish… Feng Zhiwei smiled quietly to herself, turning away and pouring more liquor.

Mmm, no wonder the Ancient Mellow Moon was an Imperial only liquor, gentle and clear with a sweet aftertaste.

Helian Zheng saw that Feng Zhiwei enjoyed the drink and actually drank so naturally and unrestrained and he liked her even more, hurriedly pouring more liquor for her as he eagerly served her: "Have some more, have some more, this liquor is rare even in the Imperial Palace."

The liquor brought out for the Imperial Feast was fixed at a bottle per table in case some of the guests lost control of themselves and drank too much. Helian Zheng poured one cup after another for Feng Zhiwei, his own cup always empty as he served the young lady. As he poured, he swallowed to himself and ground his teeth.

Over half the bottle was gone as Helian Zheng poured another cup, Feng Zhiwei's eyes just as sober as when she drank her first cup. The prince could only look down helplessly at the empty cup, his face tragic.

Why was she not drunk? How was she not drunk? He had sacrificed this beautiful, delicious liquor to make her drunk, but why was she not drunk!!!!

"Prince." Feng Zhiwei said as she threw back another cup, smiling quietly. "I forgot to tell you a secret."

"Ah?" Helian Zheng replied, leaning over.

"This kind of liquor." Feng Zhiwei announced warmly, pointing to the bottle, "I can normally drink two bottles."

Helian Zheng, "…"

Ning Yi's eyes swept over the pair again — the young couple sat together, laughing with heads together, so intimate… All the noble young ladies immediately shrank back at his cold, dark glare.

These noble young ladies were all hurt by Ning Yi's gaze, and when they looked over at Feng Zhiwei so happily enjoying the Hu Zhuo Prince's liquor it was like oil had been poured on a burning fire — this ugly woman! This pile of cow shit forcefully occupying the fragrant grass, even daring to enjoy herself rather than feeling shame! And she even luxuriated in the Hu Zhuo Prince's service, not at all nervous at receiving such favor from a prince!