Вдовствующая императрица Сяосюань

Глава 48

Ru Feng galloped away on horseback, managing to halve the time it took to return to Yuezhou City. She entered the city just before the gates were closing, wearing a bamboo hat that covered most of her face, and a broken, sheathed sword hanging at her waist.

After entering the city, she didn't return to the general's mansion, but instead found an inconspicuous little inn to stay in. Because her appearance and attire resembled that of a江湖人 (jianghu person, someone who travels the martial arts world), no one noticed anything amiss.

After resting for a while, Ru Feng covered himself with a black veil and, under the cover of night, quietly went to Feixian Pavilion. In the backyard, he caught a pimp, covered his mouth with a cloth, and whispered, "Don't panic. Tell me, did Bai Shaojun come here tonight? I'll let you go now. If you dare to scream, I'll stab you to death!" He then gave a vicious threat.

The pimp trembled all over and nodded hurriedly. Only then did Ru Feng release him. The pimp whispered, "He didn't come last night, and I haven't seen him at all tonight. I don't know if he's coming or not."

As Feng saw that she had gotten what she wanted, she let him go. Then she used the same method to question the other people and finally learned that Bai Shaojun had just arrived that night and was currently in the room having fun.

Ru Feng had no choice but to wait patiently outside the Flying Immortal Pavilion.

Sitting alone on the rooftop, the night air was crisp and cold. Looking at the pitch-black sky, Ru Feng touched his thin clothes. It was only about eight o'clock at night, still early. He figured Bai Shaojun wouldn't come out so soon, so he decided to go back to the General's Mansion to check.

Once he had identified the direction, Rufeng used his lightness skill to run swiftly along the road and quickly returned to the General's Mansion.

Ru Feng didn't plan to go in. After wandering around the entrance for a while, she made up her mind to avoid the guards patrolling the mansion at night and go up to her grandfather's roof to take a look. She carefully lifted a tile, squinted her eyes and looked inside. She saw Yu Chi Huaiyang, whom she hadn't seen for ten months, writing something at his desk. He was wearing a thick cotton coat and coughed from time to time.

Looking at her grandfather's gray hair, Ru Feng felt a pang of sadness. After thinking for a moment, she carefully put the tile back in its place and then went to see her parents.

In the candlelight, Lin Yilan was embroidering something, while Yuchi Song was reading a book.

After a while, just as Ru Feng was about to leave, Lin Yilan suddenly spoke up: "Ru Feng should be back tomorrow, right?"

Yu Chisong responded, "Yes, she should arrive by the morning of the day after tomorrow at the latest. Sigh, other people only need five days to come back, but she's been seven days and still hasn't arrived. Isn't that young master Bai from the governor's mansion in the same academy as Ru Feng? He returned the day before yesterday. I don't know what she's dawdling about on the way."

Lin Yilan used a needle to brush a strand of hair from her left temple and said, "Didn't they say her junior brothers and sisters would also be coming back? With so many people, they'll probably be delayed on the way." Yu Chisong nodded, "Yes, that's probably it. Ru Feng—" He sighed, "If only she were really our son, so outstanding! But she is—sigh."

Lin Yilan nodded repeatedly: "It's a pity I was born the wrong gender."

The two of them sighed together.

Ru Feng pouted and, in a fit of anger, simply stopped watching. Honestly, what's wrong with being a woman? Is it worth making you all sigh and groan like that?

Ru Feng was still angry, but she didn't forget to go to her sister Ru Xue's room. The light was still on inside. Ru Feng carefully looked down and found that there was only Ru Xue in the room. She was painting, and there were no maids or servants around.

Ru Feng stared intently, but because it was a bit far away, she couldn't quite make out what she was painting. It was already finished, and Ru Xue was standing in front of the table admiring it. Ru Feng quickly ran to the other side, which was right above the painting, so it was easier to see, but the distance wasn't close either. She could only make out that it was the shape of a man.

"Could it be that she's painting me?" Ru Feng thought to herself with a touch of smug satisfaction, but she quickly dismissed the thought. She was just her younger brother; how could she stay up all night to paint her own brother? Using conventional reasoning, she must be painting her beloved.

Thinking of this, Ru Feng's eyes lit up, and she looked even more intently, but she could only vaguely see a young man with a golden crown on his head, standing tall, waving a folding fan. His features were not very clear, but he had a lot of charm. Ru Feng felt that he looked familiar. At this moment, she really wished she could crawl into this little hole to see him clearly.

Just as Ru Feng was concentrating, a muffled female voice suddenly came, "Miss, it's late, you should go to sleep."

Ru Fengjian Ru Xue hurriedly responded, and after a while she put the scroll away. Then she pulled out a box under the bed, put the scroll down, and slowly took off her clothes to go to sleep.

Seeing this, Ru Feng put the tile back in its original place, glanced at the shady spot on the tree behind him, and then carefully avoided the guards in the mansion, going directly to Feixian Pavilion to wait.

Not long after Ru Feng left, a dark figure slipped into Yu Chi Huaiyang's study and said in a deep voice, "Master, just now a masked man was scouting on the roof. He looked into your room, the young master's room, and the young lady's room. He seemed to be very familiar with the layout of our mansion and his martial arts skills were extremely high. I guess he has already discovered me, but he didn't make a sound. I didn't think he had any ill intentions, so I didn't fight him."

Yu Chi Huaiyang pondered for a moment: "We often have people coming here. Are they the same people?"

“Reporting to you, sir, it doesn’t seem to be one of those people. Judging from his build, he’s a young man, and his figure does resemble the young master somewhat. But the young master hasn’t returned yet, has he? And when I tried to chase after him, he shook me off,” the shadowy figure continued.

"Forget it, you can go out now. What's meant to happen can't be avoided." Yu Chi Huaiyang sighed.

Upon hearing this, the shadowy figure vanished swiftly, as if it had never existed.

Ru Feng had just returned home and waited a while longer when she saw Bai Shaojun emerge drunk, surrounded by a group of people.

Ru Feng curled his lip. This guy, he said he liked Wu Yan so much, but he still comes here to have fun. He's really unreliable!

Following them all the way, when they reached a secluded spot, Ru Feng knocked down the guards, then put a cloth bag over Bai Shaojun's head, and began punching and kicking him like a punching bag, beating him mercilessly. Bai Shaojun tried to struggle, but could only groan a few times; he was no match for Ru Feng at all.

Ru Feng felt he had hit him enough, so he opened the cloth bag, revealing Bai Shaojun's pig-like face. Ru Feng checked it and found he was still breathing. Sighing, he touched Bai Shaojun's red and green face and shook his head: "It seems you didn't control your strength well when you hit him for the first time."

Then she took out a small bottle from her bosom, held it under Bai Shaojun's nose, shook it, and then let everyone else smell it in turn. After that, she dragged them all out of the alley and stuck a piece of white paper that she had written on beforehand onto the wall.

Ru Feng moved swiftly and had a clear objective. After completing all this, he quickly drove away.

Back at the inn, Ru Feng had a good night's sleep. At dawn, she ate breakfast in the lobby while listening to gossip, feeling exceptionally happy.

"Have you heard? The governor's son, Bai Shaojun, ran into his enemies last night on his way back from a brothel. He got a brutal beating. Oh my, his face was so badly bruised, I bet even his own father wouldn't recognize him!" A middle-aged man said at a table not far from Rufeng.

"Who is this enemy? How dare they be so bold?" someone asked.

The middle-aged man said smugly, "Just ask me and you'll know. I got up early this morning and happened to pass by that alley. I read all the words on that piece of paper. It turns out that Bai Shaojun was always causing trouble at Fengxian Academy. Once, he even harassed a pretty girl on the street. But the girl had powerful backers, so he threatened to take revenge. I never thought that retribution would come! Now, I hear that the governor is furious, but he can't do anything about it and can't even catch him."

"Tch, how many times has Bai Shaojun harassed girls? All the pretty girls in Yuezhou City would avoid him. Sigh, our governor of Yuezhou City isn't a bad person, so how come he had such a good-for-nothing son?"

"He's spoiled rotten. He's their only son, how could they not cherish him? Even getting into Fengxian Academy was only possible because of his father's connections," someone who seemed to know quite a bit about the situation chimed in.

Immediately, the people in the hall started talking all at once, recounting all the things Bai Shaojun had done. Ru Feng shook his head, touching the bamboo hat he was wearing. It seemed that Bai Shaojun really hadn't changed his lecherous ways and liked to flirt with girls.

Just as Ru Feng was about to check out and leave, he heard someone say, "Do you know Yu Chi Ru Feng?"

Ru Feng paused as he was about to stand up, then sat back down and listened intently.

“How could I not know? Isn’t Yuchi Rufeng the grandson of General Yuchi? Speaking of which, his grandfather was of the same rank as the governor. They were all high-ranking officials, but Young Master Yuchi is different. He has been famous for his talent since childhood. Now that he’s at Fengxian Academy, he has brought honor to the people of Yuezhou City and earned the title of ‘the foremost of the Four Great Talents.’ Can you believe how different people are?” A loud voice said in a clear voice.

"Exactly! And Young Master Yuchi is so handsome, he's like a god. When he smiles at people, oh my, all the girls in the city are swooning..."

"Exactly, and they're also very helpful..."

…………

Ru Feng couldn't stand it anymore. Even if she liked the praise, it didn't have to be so exaggerated, did it? Was she really the perfect person being described as if she were only found in heaven? But she was quite pleased with herself nonetheless.

So she originally planned to go out of town to wait, but now she has decided to go further away from here.