Su Rong’s move to the Princess Residence stirred up a lot of buzz in the capital. Many people were eagerly waiting to see the excitement between the Duke Residence and the Princess Residence, but to their surprise, both residences maintained their tranquility.
The Noble Consort was quite keen for the Duke Residence and the Princess Residence to clash, but unexpectedly, the night remained utterly peaceful.
The Noble Consort looked displeased and asked her wet nurse, "There was no fight?"
The wet nurse shook her head, "The Duchess went to the Princess Residence and didn’t stay for long before returning. It’s said that when she entered the Princess Residence, she was welcomed with smiles by Princess Qingping and was also sent off with smiles."
Perplexed, the Noble Consort queried, "What exactly happened? Was the woman who was taken to stay at the Princess Residence by Duanhua really the unprivileged girl from the Su Family?"
"Supposedly so."
"I do not want to hear supposedly, investigate for me." The Noble Consort became furious.
"Yes!"
Along with the Noble Consort, the Empress Dowager, the mother of the Second Prince, and the numerous grand residences keeping a close eye on Duke Residence’s movements, also dispatched people to investigate. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖
During a brief moment of rest from reading his memorials, the Emperor was informed about the matter by Li Quan, the eunuch in charge of his daily affairs.
The Emperor made an "Oh?" sound, "Such a thing happened?"
Li Quan nodded, "I have had it investigated. The person escorted back to the Princess Residence by the Princess is indeed Su Rong, Su Xu’s daughter."
"How interesting," the Emperor remarked, sounding quite surprised, "What did Qingping say?"
"Princess Qingping didn’t cause trouble for the young lady and allowed the Princess to settle her in her own courtyard." Li Quan also sighed, "This Lady Su Qi seems to be quite exceptional."
"Hmm, I shall meet her someday." Normally, the Emperor wouldn’t take an official’s illegitimate daughter seriously, but not only is Su Rong engaged to Zhou Gu, she also seemed to have become fast friends with Duanhua upon her arrival in the capital. Moreover, given Qingping’s notoriously difficult temper, the fact that she did not give Su Rong a hard time is worth pondering.
Li Quan nodded, making a note of this matter.
After taking a walk with Fen Ling, Su Rong returned to her room to wash and sleep.
She was rather unperturbed, sleeping comfortably and soundly, entirely unaware that many people in the capital were investigating why she had moved into the Princess Residence, not to mention even the Emperor was alerted, causing many people unable to retire to bed early.
Su Rong had a pleasant, dreamless sleep and woke up bright and early the next morning. Seeing that it was still dark outside, she decided to practice martial arts in her room.
As for Fen Ling, he also had a good sleep and woke up early. In a very professional manner, he left the courtyard to gather the guards at the Princess Residence with the excuse of teaching lessons and sparred with them.
Being a highly-skilled martial artist, none of the guards at the Princess Residence could match him, and in no time, he knocked them all down one by one.
Speechless, Fen Ling questioned the caliber of the Princess Residence’s guards. How had Princess Qingping and Duanhua managed to survive under such pretentious guards?
He waved his hand, "All of you, come at me together."
The guards swarmed him.
This time it took Fen Ling a bit longer, but in the end, all of them were down again.
He sighed, "You guys are just not good enough."
The guards were in despair, feeling the pain all over their bodies, they feared they would be expelled from the Princess Residence if seen by the Princess and the Prince Consort.
The Prince Consort had to attend the court meeting. Usually, when Princess Qingping was not arguing with him, she would escort him to the residence gate. After having expressed their affection the previous night and having a wonderful time together, the Prince Consort originally didn’t want the Princess to send him off today. But the Princess insisted, so they left the room together.
Hearing the sound of swords clashing from the open area at the back of the residence, they asked the servants. The servant hurried to check and came back to inform them that it was Fen Ling, Su Qi’s brother, sparring with the guards. Upon hearing this, they exchanged a glance and went to the backyard together.
Upon arrival, they found that all the guards were knocked down by Fen Ling. A group of guards couldn’t beat a single person.
Princess Qingping’s mood instantly turned sour and she muttered, "A bunch of useless people."
The Prince Consort saw the whole situation clearly, "Our Princess Residence guards are ordinary. Master Feng seems to have been practicing martial arts from a young age, practicing what seems to be the techniques of the martial arts families of Jianghu. It is normal for our Princess Residence guards to be no match for him."
Seeing such a pitiful sight, Princess Qingping stated unhappily, "Even so, I have never seen such a group of wimps before. Drive all of them out!"
The Prince Consort gently patted her hand, "Didn’t you say yesterday that Hua mentioned that Master Feng would act as a trainer for the guards during his stay at the Princess Residence? Let’s see how he trains them!"
Princess Qingping still found it hard to tolerate the useless guards, "What if we spend silver to hire those martial arts families from Jianghu that you mentioned, to guard the Princess Residence? That way, we won’t have to waste effort on training them."
The Prince Consort sighed, "Many of the martial arts families in Jianghu are full of pride, they won’t submit to nobility and serve as guards for them. Even with countless gold, you can’t hire a single person. The exceptional ones won’t come, and the ones who do come are merely drawn in by money. Even so, they’ll demand to be irserved like lords and, at most, become instructors in the residence."
Princess Qingping halted her thoughts immediately, "Never mind, then!"
She needed her silver to buy clothing and jewelry, she was reluctant to spend it to host some overbearing guest at her residence.
Fen Ling walked over and paid respects to both the Princess and the Prince Consort, "Princess, Prince Consort!"
Princess Qingping was really fond of Fen Ling now, the young man was not only handsome, but also skilled and ingratiating, with his polite manners. She smiled and nodded, "You’ve worked hard to train them so early in the morning. Did you sleep well last night? Are you comfortable with the food and accommodations?"
The Prince Consort was sure that this was the most genial inquiry Princess Qingping had ever made to a younger generation.
Fen Ling answered with a grin, "Thank you, Princess, everything is good. The food is good, the sleep is good, staying at the Princess Residence is really comfortable."
Princess Qingping liked hearing these words, "In that case, feel free to stay as long as you like."
Fen Ling nodded repeatedly, this was exactly what he liked to hear.
The Prince Consort said with a gentle smile, "If there’s anything you need, just tell the housekeeper, who will prepare everything for you."
Fen Ling nodded vigorously, "Thanks, Prince Consort, my sister and I will not hesitate to ask."
They had already brazenly taken up residence, naturally they wouldn’t be shy about anything else.
The Prince Consort needed to attend court, and after leaving a few instructions, he left the backyard. Princess Qingping gave the guards a stern look, ordering them to learn martial arts diligently under Master Feng, and followed the Prince Consort out.
Seeing that the Princess didn’t drive them out, all the guards let out a sigh of relief and began to respectfully ask Fen Ling for instruction.
Fen Ling, benefiting from their generosity, felt a sense of conscience and taught a simple sword array to the guards of Princess Residence.
In a short amount of time, it is difficult for each person to improve their martial arts quickly, but if they can learn a sword array on top of their foundational skills and work together in a fight, they won’t breach easily.
Hence, when Su Rong finished practising martial arts for an hour in her room, took a bath and changed clothes, she bumped into Duanhua who had just woken up. They followed the noise to the backyard together, where they saw Fen Ling teaching the guard of the Princess Residence the sword array.
After standing and watching for a while, Duanhua asked curiously, "What is he teaching?"
"A sword array."
"What is a sword array?"
"It’s a formation that combines sword techniques and array methods." Su Rong explained to her, "Simply put, each person occupies a position, they surround the enemy, uniting as one. The strength that one person cannot exert alone can be unlocked by many people working together. Just like a single chopstick is easy to break, but dozens of chopsticks bundled together can’t be easily broken."
Duanhua understood, her eyes lighting up, "So, if they learn well, I can use them to trap Zhou Gu in the future, right?"
Su Rong was taken aback, "Why do you want to trap Zhou Gu?"
"Revenge!"
Su Rong, "..."
She tried to make her less dangerous, "That’s... not necessary, right?"
"Why is it not necessary? He keeps bullying me, I’ll definitely make him taste my strength." Duanhua glared at her, "What? You can’t bear it? Aren’t you going to break off your engagement with him?"
Su Rong blinked innocently, "Even if I break off the engagement, it doesn’t hinder my desire not to harm him."
Duanhua looked at her, "How can you think like this? Isn’t breaking off the engagement the greatest harm?"
Su Rong was lost for words and after a while managed to say, "You’re right."
She hoped Zhou Gu would have the ability to defend himself. The sword array taught by Fen Ling should not bother him, he should look out for himself. After all, she can’t offend her patrons and benefactors now.
Seeing that Su Rong had nothing to say, Duanhua was in high spirits, "You all study well. Once you’ve learned well, each of you will get an increase of two taels of silver in monthly allowance."
The guards were overjoyed and responded in unison, "Rest assured, Princess, we will definitely study hard."
Their enthusiasm immediately surged, surely wealth can move people’s hearts.
Su Rong thought to herself, if they went to war, letting Duanhua give a rallying speech would probably yield twice the result with half the effort, it just may cost a little more silver.
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