Author: 哔哔 (Bi Bi) / Jin Gang Quan

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

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Chapter 48

Qingqing had finished boiling the water in the courtyard, but she didn’t dare go into the room. Anxious, she paced back and forth around the yard a few times. Then she suddenly saw Feng Tianzong come out of Huo Fenghua’s room with a rather dark expression.

She bowed to Feng Tianzong. Only after he left the small courtyard did she hurry to the door, raise her hand and knock, and ask, “Young Master, may I come in?”

Huo Fenghua’s voice came from inside. “Come in.”

Qingqing quickly pushed the door open. She saw Huo Fenghua standing by the bed getting dressed. She went over and helped him put on his outer robe, asking, “Why was the General angry?”

Huo Fenghua glanced back at her. “I don’t know either. We were talking just fine, and then all of a sudden he got unhappy. I don’t even know how I offended him.”

Qingqing complained, “The General finally came over for once. How did you manage to make him leave angry?”

Huo Fenghua froze for a moment. “The way you say that makes it sounds like I’m fighting for favor in this General’s Manor.”

Qingqing said, “You’re the General’s concubine, after all. Fighting for favor is only natural.”

Huo Fenghua couldn’t help laughing. “You stay in this little courtyard all day and night. What nonsense are you thinking about?”

Qingqing lowered her voice. “I’m doing it for your own good. While the General is still in the residence, you should get closer to him these days. Maybe in the future he’ll treat you a little better.”

“All right, I got it, Sister Qingqing,” Huo Fenghua said.

After breakfast, Huo Fenghua had nothing to do in the small courtyard, so he wandered toward the central compound, thinking it’d be nice to find either Su Zeyang or Feng Tianzong and talk to someone.

But Su Zeyang wasn’t in his room either. On the way, Huo Fenghua ran into Su Zeyang’s maid, Zhu’er, who told him that Young Master Su and the General were discussing matters in the General’s study.

So Huo Fenghua headed for Feng Tianzong’s study. There was no one guarding outside, but the instant he stepped into the courtyard, he felt someone watching him from the shadows. He figured Feng Tianzong must have hidden guards lying in wait all around.

He walked to the window and secretly peeked inside. Not only were Feng Tianzong and Su Zeyang there, Steward Lu was in there too. And in the corner of the study, a man dressed in black was kneeling.

Lu Xi was facing the window and spotted Huo Fenghua at a glance, interrupting Feng Tianzong mid-sentence. “General, please wait a moment.”

Since he’d already been seen, Huo Fenghua didn’t bother hiding. He simply pushed open the door and went in.

Feng Tianzong was seated behind a wide rosewood desk. Su Zeyang and Lu Xi sat on chairs against the wall, one on each side.

Lu Xi asked, “Young Master Huo, what is it?”

Huo Fenghua said, “I was bored and just taking a walk. Don’t mind me.”

Feng Tianzong said to the kneeling man in black, “Continue. What’s the situation at the Wang’s Manor now?”

“General,” Lu Xi stood and clasped his hands to Feng Tianzong. “Do we need to ask Young Master Huo to leave?”

Feng Tianzong glanced at Huo Fenghua. “No need. Ignore him. We’ll continue.”

Huo Fenghua chuckled, walked over to the chair beside Su Zeyang, and sat down. Unhurried, he straightened his sleeves and listened to the man in black report.

Lu Xi frowned slightly, looking at Huo Fenghua.

The man in black said, “This subordinate has already stationed people outside the Wang’s Manor day and night to watch everyone entering and leaving. But so far there’s been nothing unusual, and there’s been no news that Wang Anzhi is unconscious.”

On Feng Tianzong’s desk was a paperweight: a vivid tiger carved from clear white jade. It had a fierce head with its tail lifted high. Feng Tianzong lightly stroked it with his fingers and said quietly, “Looks like the Wang family doesn’t want the news to get out.”

Huo Fenghua couldn’t help but speak up. “What if Wang Anzhi wasn’t poisoned at all?”

“Impossible,” Su Zeyang replied without hesitation, tone calm. “I fed the poison to him with my own hands. They won’t be able to cure it, and they won’t be able to identify the cause. They can summon as many physicians as they like, it won’t help.”

“Have you seen the Wang family invite doctors into the residence?” Feng Tianzong asked the man in black.

“Not yet,” the man replied.

Su Zeyang rested one hand on the armrest. His fingers were pale and long, nails smooth and rounded. He tapped the armrest lightly. “The Wang’s Manor has its own physician. They’ll try that first. If it can’t be treated, they’ll invite famous doctors from the capital. If that still fails, they’ll have no choice but to seek out priests and exorcists.”

The man in black asked, “Should this subordinate send someone into the Wang’s Manor to investigate Wang Anzhi’s condition?”

“Not now,” Feng Tianzong and Su Zeyang said in unison. As the words fell, the two of them exchanged a glance.

Huo Fenghua watched silently, thinking, You two really are in sync like husband and wife.

Feng Tianzong said, “Zeyang snuck into the Wang’s Manor to set the formation. They’ll definitely be on high alert now. If we barge in rashly and get caught, things will be hard to handle.”

Lu Xi asked in a low voice, “Wang Anzhi has been cursed. If Wang Chu connects it to the curse formation at the Feng family site, the first ones he’ll suspect will be our Feng family.”

Feng Tianzong’s brows were tightly knit. “They don’t have evidence, and neither do we. It’s mutual restraint. As long as Wang Anzhi doesn’t wake up, he has to weigh Wang Anzhi’s life. He won’t act rashly.”

Listening to them, Huo Fenghua crossed his left leg over his right knee and couldn’t help saying, “We do have evidence. That wooden box.”

All of them looked at him at once. Seeing everyone’s gaze drop to his leg, he quietly put it down.

Feng Tianzong shook his head. “Even if the emperor knows it’s real, he’ll never turn on the Wang family for the sake of the Feng family. Right now, in Donglin, the Wang and Feng families check each other. He’s wary of both sides, and he won’t move against either. In the end, he’ll just smooth it over or maybe give them a token punishment and then some sweet consolation.”

Huo Fenghua’s head started to ache from hearing all this. “So no matter what the Wang family does, the emperor won’t touch them?”

Feng Tianzong looked at Huo Fenghua, the corner of his mouth lifting slightly. “Not exactly. There’s one thing neither the Wang family nor the Feng family can afford to touch.”

Huo Fenghua asked, “What is it?”

Su Zeyang suddenly said, “Come here. I’ll tell you.”

Huo Fenghua glanced at him and leaned closer, but Su Zeyang didn’t move, and there was a tea table between them. Since Su Zeyang stayed put, Huo Fenghua had to stand, walk over, bend down, and bring his ear close.

Su Zeyang breathed into his ear, right at the hollow. “Treason.”

Before Su Zeyang spoke, Huo Fenghua had already figured it out. Now he straightened up, and his mind jumped to Kangxi and Wei Xiaobao killing Ao Bai*, then to “Empresses in the Palace”, and all the palace dramas he’d watched. As for the power struggles and coups he’d supposedly studied in history books, he couldn’t recall a single one. For the first time, he felt that being uneducated really was a disadvantage.

*From The Deer and the Cauldron.

Feng Tianzong said to the man in black, “You may go. Keep a tight watch on the Wang’s Manor. Report at once if anything happens.”

“Yes!” the man answered, rising and leaving the study.

Not long after he left, Liu Yong hurried to the study door and knocked, saying something had come up in the residence and calling Lu Xi out. In an instant, only Feng Tianzong, Su Zeyang, and Huo Fenghua remained.

Before, it hadn’t felt like much. But once it was just the three of them, Huo Fenghua immediately felt an indescribable awkwardness.

Su Zeyang and Feng Tianzong were both silent. Huo Fenghua couldn’t hold his tongue and insisted on breaking the silence. Pointing at the paperweight on Feng Tianzong’s desk, he said, “General, the tiger on your desk is really nice.”

Feng Tianzong picked up the paperweight. “You like it?”

Huo Fenghua held out his hand. “Let me play with it.”

So Feng Tianzong casually tossed it. The transparent white-jade tiger flew toward Huo Fenghua, making his heart lurch. He hurried to catch it.

But halfway there, Su Zeyang reached out and caught it instead, holding it in his hand. Unhurried, he said, “Do you two have nothing you want to say to me?”

Su Zeyang wasn’t a fool. Before, Feng Tianzong had been able to tell at a glance that Su Zeyang’s attitude toward Huo Fenghua wasn’t ordinary. Now that Feng Tianzong was back, the relationship between Feng Tianzong and Huo Fenghua had clearly eased. Su Zeyang saw it even more plainly.

Feng Tianzong didn’t want to hide it from Su Zeyang. He said, “Before, I went with him to look for your master and ask about your whereabouts. At that time, we slept together.”

Huo Fenghua suddenly felt uneasy. He looked at Su Zeyang, not even sure anymore who had betrayed whom with whom.

Su Zeyang’s expression was blank for a moment. After a beat, he tilted his head slightly and said, “He’s your concubine. That’s only right.”

Feng Tianzong continued, “I saw the brand on his waist that you left.”

Su Zeyang nodded. “Mm. I like him.”

Neither Huo Fenghua nor Feng Tianzong seemed to expect him to be so blunt. But then Su Zeyang added, “I like him, and it doesn’t affect what I feel for you. Nothing between us has changed.”

Feng Tianzong stared at the desk, his expression complicated. After a long while, he let out a heavy sigh. “I understand. He’s someone people can’t help liking. And I don’t want anything between us to change either.”

Huo Fenghua couldn’t listen anymore. “Wait. Did either of you ask whether I like you two?”

Su Zeyang looked puzzled. “You said you like me. You’ve said it many times.”

Huo Fenghua was at a loss for words. He had said it plenty of times, and he’d always said it easily. He raised a hand and scratched his face, then suddenly slapped the tea table beside him and stood up. Facing Su Zeyang, he demanded, “Then do you still mean it, what you said about letting me do it?”

Su Zeyang lifted his eyes to him and said softly, “I mean it.”

Huo Fenghua immediately turned to Feng Tianzong. “See? He agreed. You agreed too. Nobody’s allowed to go back on it!”

Hearing that, Su Zeyang looked at Feng Tianzong, sounding incredulous. “You agreed?”

Feng Tianzong looked at Huo Fenghua and darkened his face. “I agreed?”

Huo Fenghua made a small, strangled sound, and cold sweat pricked at his forehead.

Feng Tianzong said in a low voice, “Come here.”

Huo Fenghua said, “What for?”

Feng Tianzong’s voice turned even colder, his expression severe. “Come here.”

Even though Huo Fenghua had just gained a whole body of inner energy, he was still afraid of him, especially when Feng Tianzong got serious. So, unwillingly, he walked over and asked softly, “General? What is it?”

Feng Tianzong patted the wide desk in front of him. “Lie on it.”

Huo Fenghua’s heart sank. He thought Feng Tianzong was about to do something right here. “That’s not a good idea, General.”

Feng Tianzong didn’t speak, only stared at him with a set face.

Huo Fenghua pressed his lips together and lay down on the desk.

Feng Tianzong lifted his hem and brought a palm down on his ass.

Huo Fenghua snapped, “What gives you the right to hit me?”

Feng Tianzong didn’t answer. He slapped him again, landing on his full ass through his trousers, a dull smack.

Huo Fenghua was both embarrassed and furious. Face flushed, he twisted his head to look at Su Zeyang and said bitterly, “You only dare hit me. You never dare bully Senior Brother!”

Su Zeyang toyed with the white-jade tiger. His translucent fingers and the jade tiger almost seemed to merge together. He said, “How do you know he’s never hit me?”

Huo Fenghua froze. “He has?” He didn’t even finish the word before Feng Tianzong’s palm came down again. The end of his voice lifted involuntarily, almost like a moan.

Right then, someone pushed open the study door and hurried in. “Tianzong, you’re back?”

Huo Fenghua hurriedly turned his head, only to discover the newcomer was Feng Tianzong’s elder brother, Feng Tiansheng.

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