Chapter 150 Is it more convenient to give medicine or to force a breakup? ...

Chapter 150

The candlelight flickered in the west wing of the Vice Minister's residence. Behind the screen, Xiao Changgeng's clothes were soaked with blood. He lay on a rosewood couch, his flushed face from drinking wine fading, turning as pale as cold jade. His thin lips were tightly pressed together, and only his long eyebrows were slightly furrowed from the intense pain of pulling out the arrow.

Menghenabuer placed the blue-green porcelain bottle containing wound medicine beside the bed, took out a thick spoonful and applied it to the wound, then tightly wrapped Xiao Changgeng's chest with a white cloth that had been boiled in boiling water. After the treatment was completed, he looked at Xiao Changgeng, who was still holding Feng Tan's wrist, frowned, and said, "I will go and brew the medicine."

Feng Tan nodded and tried again to free her wrist from his grasp, but she still couldn't overcome the force he had before he fainted.

Arslan scoffed inwardly. Before pulling out the arrow, Meng Henabul tried to forcefully pull Xiao Changgeng's fingers away, but the man seemed to be under a spell, his finger bones fixed on Feng Tan's wrist and refusing to let go.

After more than an hour of travel, Feng Tan looked at Arslan with a hint of apology and said gently, "Arslan, you must be tired from your journey. Go and rest for a while."

Arslan was not about to leave. He sat back down in his sandalwood chair with an air of nonchalance, laughed heartily, revealing his white teeth, and said, "This 'brother' was injured while saving you. He is still in critical condition, so how could I leave?"

As soon as Arslan finished speaking, Xiao Changgeng's long eyelashes fluttered slightly, and he slowly opened his eyes. His voice was weak and powerless, but his gaze met Feng Tan's with seriousness and determination. "Lord Feng, you act according to circumstances. Now is the best time to make your move."

The candlelight flickered, and a few strands of Xiao Changgeng's dark hair, which had clung to his cheeks from the cold sweat of pain, swayed down. As he spoke, a layer of tears welled up in his dark eyes. Feng Tan's heart stirred, and she pulled her wrist away from his grasp, saying in a clear voice, "What makes you say that?"

Xiao Changgeng looked at Arslan, hesitating to speak.

The unspoken meaning was clear: with Arslan present, he couldn't speak. Feng Tan understood this as well. Arslan was the man she loved, but he was also the third prince of Sotaha. The more he knew, the more dangerous it would be for him. Feng Tan needed to avoid risks and couldn't let him be put in danger unnecessarily.

Arslan Jun's smile was almost impossible to maintain. He said with a forced smile, "The bodies of the assassins outside the wall haven't been cleared yet. I'll go take a look and, while I'm at it, set up defenses for the Vice Minister's residence to prevent some petty scoundrels from taking advantage of the situation!"

Arslan wisely left on his own, cursing inwardly: "That hypocrite who dares to trespass into my home! I'll definitely tear off his mask in front of Feng Tan in the next few days!"

Before stepping out the door, he leaned back and looked into the house, saying loudly, "Ah Tan, Sotaha now has a wintering ground and is free from strife! I have agreed with my father that I will hand over the affairs of state to my two elder brothers, and I will come to the Celestial Empire to marry into their family. He has already agreed!"

Arslan spoke with remarkable grace, his eyes gleaming as he looked at Feng Tan, as if a thousand stars had fallen into them.

Feng Tan admired his carefree and open-mindedness, and a smile appeared in her eyes.

Xiao Changgeng lowered his long eyelashes, concealing the murderous desire that welled up within his dark eyes.

A gentleman should help others achieve their goals, but unfortunately, he is not a gentleman.

It's still more convenient to break up a couple.

Feng Tan withdrew from his personal feelings and turned his attention back to the court, asking Xiao Changgeng, "What did you mean by what you just said?"

Xiao Changgeng said, "Since Lord Feng returned to the capital, he has been assassinated fourteen times in three years. Each time was extremely dangerous. Fortunately, he was protected by the Imperial Guards sent by Emperor Chongming. The reason you were injured when I saw you at Yongle Temple last time was because you were about to be injured."

Feng Tan suffered a deep, bone-revealing knife wound at Yongle Temple in exchange for Consort Su's imprisonment. She didn't lose anything in this deal.

"Having been assassinated multiple times, given your vengeful nature, you should have retaliated by killing Prince Jing and the Imperial Concubine long ago, but you didn't," Xiao Changgeng continued.

Feng Tan asked, "Then why didn't I retaliate?"

Xiao Changgeng smiled slightly and said, "Because if we had fought back then, we wouldn't have been able to uproot this big tree."

He hit the nail on the head.

The roots of the Jing King extend directly into the entire court, with the side roots forming a dense spiderweb, like writhing dragons, intertwining and weaving together to form a huge and resilient network, protecting the unshakable foundation.

The Chu king's rebellion was easy to punish, but King Jing's power was deeply entrenched. In three years, she couldn't even find a few of his court officials, let alone bring him down.

Feng Tan's eyes hardened as she asked, "In this situation, you think you can uproot him completely?"

Xiao Changgeng raised his wrist to retrieve the arrow he had just pulled from his shoulder, but the movement aggravated his wound, causing him to fall sideways into Feng Tan's arms as he tried to get up again. He was pulled again, causing him to groan in pain.

Feng Tan pressed down on his shoulder, which was squirming in her arms, and said in a low voice, "Just tell me what you want to do. You don't have to do it yourself."

Having achieved his goal, Xiao Changgeng nestled in the warm, soft embrace of Feng Tan. He inhaled the long-lost scent emanating from her, grasped the blood-stained arrow, and said, "Emperor Chongming knew of every assassination attempt you suffered over the past three years. Because you were not substantially harmed, and your struggle against Prince Jing helped consolidate his imperial power, he did not punish Prince Jing. Power is important to Emperor Chongming, and you are equally important to him. If you had suffered a fatal injury this time, Prince Jing would not have fared well."

Feng Tan frowned and said, "The Embroidered Uniform Guards were also present during the battle just now."

The Embroidered Uniform Guards were the emperor's henchmen, and they had informed Emperor Chongming of everything, big and small, long ago.

Xiao Changgeng held the blood-stained arrow and gently pressed it against Feng Tan's chest, causing the soft fabric to sink in slightly. "Princess Yongle took care of her all night to repay the kindness of the top scholar who risked his life to save her. Unexpectedly, the arrow was poisoned, and the princess was unfortunately infected, her life hanging by a thread."

Thus, the chessboard came to life. Even if Emperor Chongming desired a balanced situation where the two sides checked and balanced each other, he would still take his anger out on Prince Jing because his daughter had almost lost her life.

Feng Tan said, "But even if the emperor is ruthless, the Jing King's faction cannot be harmed at its core."

"This is just the beginning," Xiao Changgeng said, enjoying the feeling of lying back in Feng Tan's arms, a metallic clang emanating from his throat. "The operating model of factional struggles in the imperial court throughout history is largely the same: a combination of propaganda warfare and judicial manipulation. In the end, it often ends with a scapegoat rather than a thorough purge of the root cause. The cases of the demonic books and witchcraft in the previous dynasty were like this. But, my lord, why should we always put ourselves on the chessboard of the player? The player will not die, but the chess piece will be crushed into dust."

Feng Tan fell into thought. She had long understood the principle of being the one making the moves, but she hadn't considered first transcending her current position and placing herself in a higher position—the position of the supreme ruler. "If Consort Su were to confess to all the officials under Prince Jing's name, Prince Jing's faction would inevitably face political purges. However, his protégés are scattered throughout the court and the countryside. If we want to completely bring him down, we can extract some ideas from the two cases you just mentioned. The witchcraft saga is an intractable disaster; no matter which side one is on, death is inevitable. The case of the demonic book is a political case used to attack political enemies. Therefore, we can use the incident of Consort Su mistakenly taking the imperial seal as a pretext for treason, fabricate some evidence of corruption, and..."

Before she could finish speaking, a cool hand landed on Feng Tan's lips. The fingertips were cool to the touch, but the warmth spread with each breath, enveloping her unfinished words in the palm of the hand.

Xiao Changgeng's loose sleeves slipped down, revealing a section of pale skin. "My lord is incredibly intelligent and quick to understand, but walls have ears, my Lord Feng."

Feng Tan looked down at him, her eyes flashing with a sharp light. Xiao Changgeng promptly moved his hand away from Feng Tan's lips. "People in the world emphasize distinguishing truth from falsehood, but they don't realize that only when truth and falsehood coexist can the chessboard become lively and the outcome determined."

Therefore, framing, setting traps, assassination... all sorts of methods can be used to deal with political enemies. Feng Tan is ruthless, but not nearly as ruthless as Xiao Yinshi. His methods are far more thunderous and powerful.

It was precisely because Feng Tan wasn't ruthless enough that her righteous spirit was etched into her very being. One could also say that it was this righteous spirit that made her less vicious than Xiao Yinshi.

Feng Tan looked down at Xiao Changgeng, her gaze tinged with a hint of aggression in the dim light. "A man from beyond the secular world, full of scheming and ruthless, knows everything about the affairs of the court. This is not something a down-on-his-luck scholar could do."

Xiao Changgeng knew that Feng Tan would suspect him, so he calmly got up from Feng Tan's arms, a faint smile appearing on his handsome face, making it hard to tell what it meant. It seemed like surrender, gaining trust, or a long-planned seduction. "My background has already been investigated by you, sir. Use me well, and I will be the sharpest knife in your hands."

Feng Tan asked, "Even swords have sheaths. What position do you want to hold in the court?"

Xiao Changgeng smiled and asked in return, "Your Excellency has already reached a conclusion, hasn't he?"

Feng Tan replied, "I am a Principal Officer in the Ministry of Justice of the Capital Prefecture, a sixth-rank official."

The Ministry of Justice's chief clerks handle case files and death penalty review documents, while some clerks take turns overseeing prison affairs in the prison administration. Currently, the trial of Consort Su and future legal amendments both require the assistance of people within the Ministry of Justice. Zhen Yongming's official rank is too high, making many things difficult to handle. Xiao Changgeng, on the other hand, just achieved first place in the imperial examinations; such a powerful sixth-rank official position would take at least a decade to attain, but he now has powerful backers.

As expected by Xiao Changgeng, he replied, “Of course, you need not worry about Consort Su’s trial, sir. I will handle it.”

It was indeed a useful knife; once drawn, it could kill a vital organ. Although Feng Tan was in a superior position, when she spoke to Xiao Changgeng, who was in a subordinate position, there was always a sense of confrontation and evenly matched strength.

Feng Tan judged that, given time, he would become a remarkable person.

Just as the two finished their discussion, Menghenabul came in with the prepared medicine and said, "Drink it while it's hot, it will help you heal faster. There's another bowl, I'll continue to brew it."

Xiao Changgeng thanked him and accepted the medicine. He had a shoulder injury, which made him slow and weak. His shoulder trembled when he drank the medicine. He finally managed to put the spoon to his lips with great difficulty, and his fingers holding the spoon handle trembled again because of the movement of the muscles in his wound.

The man couldn't hold the soup bowl steady, and the dark brown medicine spilled out, landing on his snow-white clothes. His long, thick eyelashes cast a fragile shadow on his pale cheeks, giving him a somewhat pitiful appearance.

Feng Tan silently took the medicine bowl, gently swirled the spoon in the bowl, and after it cooled down a bit, scooped out a spoonful and handed it to Xiao Changgeng's lips.

Xiao Changgeng opened his lips and swallowed, the medicine entering his stomach as his Adam's apple bobbed.

Menghe Nabul used top-quality medicine, which was also extremely bitter. Beneath Xiao Changgeng's feigned gentle exterior, his deep-seated sinful and evil nature was awakened by Feng Tan's act of feeding him the medicine.

“Xiao Changgeng…” Feng Tan tapped the rim of the porcelain bowl with a spoon, making a crisp sound. “What are you daydreaming about? Open your mouth.”

Xiao Changgeng said, "I think that Lord Feng's life is probably destined to belong to the imperial court. You were born into this world for equality, but if you were to be reborn, have you ever thought about how you would live?"

His question was indeed unusual, and the way he asked it was also strange. Feng Tan thought for a moment and then answered seriously, "I hope that in my next life, I will have no responsibilities, be born into a wealthy and noble family, and live a life of success, carefree and happy."

The reform goals have not yet been achieved. Feng Tan has not dared to slack off for a moment in the past three years, working diligently day and night. She is only twenty-three years old now. After the departure of so many relatives, she thinks of them and dreams of them whenever she has free time.

Only then did I understand why the ancients said that longing can cause illness. She rarely had any happy moments anymore, and her heart withered like rotten wood, yet she also burst forth with her own vitality in matters of state.

Xiao Changgeng repeated, "A life of carefree joy..."

Coincidentally, he also wants to be happy. If she falls for him, it will be a win-win situation. If not, then he will be the only one who is happy.

If you indulge her in this life, you will never be able to indulge her in the next.

Xiao Changgeng withdrew his dangerous gaze, took a strand of Feng Tan's white hair in his hand, twirled it around his fingertip, and pulled it off with a little force. He said gently, "Worrying takes a toll on your energy, and so does missing someone. Your hair has turned white, my lord."

Feng Tan didn't care much and picked up the spoon again to urge him to drink the medicine quickly.

The bedroom curtain was suddenly flung open, and a blast of crisp air, carrying the scent of grass and sand, instantly overwhelmed the medicinal fragrance that filled the room. Arslan looked down at Xiao Changgeng and said, "You're so frail. Feng Tan, go and rest. I'll feed you."

After saying that, Arslan took the medicine bowl from Feng Tan's hands, his hand holding the spoon as steady as a rock, and handed it to Xiao Changgeng's lips, "Come on, handsome young man, open your mouth."

Xiao Changgeng's face remained calm and still, but Arslan could accurately sense the sudden drop in temperature in his eyes, as cold as ice.

The medicine spoon was placed half an inch in front of Xiao Changgeng's lips, forcing him to open his lips and swallow the medicine that Arslan fed him.

Arslan smiled broadly, and in the tone of someone chasing and killing a wolf king on the grasslands, pinching the scruff of its neck between his fingers, he said, "Good boy."