Accident at the Mine
In truth, Xiang Rong was able to understand Feng Yu Heng’s state of mind very well. As children of the Feng family, which one of them did not hope to have a more proper family? It was not just the two of them. Fen Dai was also the same. Since childhood, they had not experienced even a shred of family warmth. They had even been plotted against by their own father time after time. She especially wanted to be free of the chains of being the Feng family’s daughter, and she no longer wanted to be bound by the character Feng.
The embroideries that Feng Yu Heng spoke of were actually images that Feng Yu Heng had recalled being in her computer. They had all been downloaded from the internet. There were some of scenery, some of animals, and some 2-d images. Those images were especially beautiful. To the ancient people, it would be even fresher. Among those images, there were quite a few images that had European styles. She had said that they were foreign designs, and it was something that could be handwaved away. It was embroidery, and it was nothing more than just a fresh and beautiful image. If these modern sights could be turned into embroideries, it should be able to open up a new market.
At night, she chose a few images and had them printed out, but she felt that taking them out like this for the people to use like this was truly too inconvenient. Thinking a bit, she went ahead and copied it herself. Unfortunately, though she was an expert in war and was not weak in martial arts, she was truly not proficient when it came to drawing things.
In regards to the strange image that she had drawn, Feng Yu Heng ended up giving up. She simply picked up the images and went to find Xuan Tian Feng, pleading the scholarly prince to help draw them. Xuan Tian Feng looked at these strange things for a long time before finally sighing: “I had heard long ago that younger sister had a large number of strange things. A single glance is worth a hundred questions. Sure enough, it is unique!” It was nothing more than an emotional sigh. For someone as smart as him, he did not ask anything further. For Feng Yu Heng to be able to bring these things to him for help meant that she trusted him. If he asked too much, it would cause her to feel annoyed. Thus he picked up his brush and began to draw. After two days, he finally managed to finish copying the images that Feng Yu Heng had brought over.
Feng Yu Heng was very satisfied with Xuan Tian Feng’s paintings. Not only had the beauty of the images been completely captured, but they had been adjusted such that they could be used in embroidery. It made it easier for the women working in embroidery to understand. During the time that he was working on these paintings, Feng Yu Heng had told him a bit about the images, and Xuan Tian Feng tidied them up, writing at the bottom in an empty space while telling her: “In the future, when it is hung up to be sold, at the very least, the people that are looking will understand what exactly is being embroidered.”
When Feng Yu Heng handed these things to Xiang Rong, Xiang Rong was completely stunned. She had never seen this sort of image. After seeing the explanations at the bottom, she became full of yearning for the “foreign land” that Feng Yu Heng had spoken of.
Just like this, Xiang Rong began preparations for her new embroidery shop with Feng Yu Heng’s assistance. It was just that she would always think of the fourth prince in the capital while working on preparing the shop. When she had left, she had not said anything to him. That person must be going crazy, right? When she thought of the fourth prince throwing a tantrum, she felt that it was funny, and she unconsciously let out a laugh.
The maidservant Shan Cha, who was busily helping with the new shop could see that there was a change in her young miss’ mood and asked: “What is Young Miss laughing about? Is it something good?”
Xiang Rong shook her head. Because the new shop had brought in quite a few workers, it was inconvenient to speak so directly and only said: “I thought of my disciple in the capital.”
Shan Cha was her personal servant and naturally understood who the disciple was referring to, and she could not help but also begin laughing. While laughing, she said: “I fear that they will be getting mad at Young Miss! But he can’t leave the palace. Even if he gets angry, he can only stay inside and feel angry. I wonder how many tables and chairs inside the palace will have been ruined. The servants will really be troubled.”
“Apparently, he was not that explosive in the past.” Xiang Rong said: “It seems that it was from being locked up inside for too long. With me no longer in the capital, aside from those servants, there won’t be anyone to chat with him, right?” For some reason, when Xuan Tian Yi was brought up, she felt a bit sentimental, and she could remember when she had first begun teaching him embroidery. That person had an extremely unhappy expression, and he would occasionally throw a childish tantrum. But for some reason, though she was usually very soft and timid, she was never timid when faced with that person. Whenever Xuan Tian Yi got angry, she would also get angry, and she would even get angrier than him. As this continued, for some reason, Xuan Tian Yi stopped getting angry in front of her and began learning embroidery in earnest. He was like a very obedient student. “Have the image that second sister wanted us to embroider sent back to the capital for him to embroider. Just treat it as testing whether or not he has improved in the past little while!”
Xiang Rong had just casually said this then did not continue to speak on the matter. Shan Cha, however, felt that her young miss was truly a little indirect in certain aspects. The fourth prince had very clearly taken an interest in this small master. Unfortunately, the small master was completely oblivious. She even left for the distant Ji An Prefecture without saying a single word. The fourth prince might not just be angry. He might have gone crazy from the anger!
Shan Cha’s thoughts were correct. Xuan Tian Yi had indeed gone crazy from anger. Ever since he found out that Xiang Rong had left the capital with Feng Yu Heng, the servants in the palace had had to endure his torment. He had even left the people with an important question: How to write a moving report to the Emperor to have him let out of the palace.
Originally, he had already gotten accustomed to the life of being under house arrest. He even felt that his time spent embroidering with Feng Xiang Rong was quite good. He did not need to worry about anything, and there was nothing troubling. There were no worries about food or drink in the palace, and there was a master that would often visit for fun. If he knew ahead of time that this sort of life would be so good, he definitely would not have gone to meddle with Xuan Tian Ye.
Unfortunately, the good times did not last, and his master was actually led away by someone! Heavens, Xuan Tian Yi felt as though his world was crumbling. He just could not understand it. In any case, they got to know each other, and he treated her quite well. He thought at first that even if the two did not have that sort of relationship, there would still be some feelings of master and disciple, right? What about now? His master had run away and did not say a single thing to the disciple. During those days, he was still waiting for his master to visit to teach him embroidery. Was this not just a massive joke?
The Ping Palace sent report after report into the imperial palace, and every report had the same request: He wanted to go to Ji An Prefecture to find his master.
Xuan Tian Yi had even written in the report to tell the Emperor: Back then, it was Father Emperor that found this master for son. Son has studied earnestly, but master has run away. Son has not finished learning. Under this sort of situation, son should take the initiative to look for master, right? Also, in such a distant place, that master is only 13 years of age. What if something was to happen?
In short, he wrote with emotion and feeling to try and convince the Emperor to allow him out of the Ping Palace. Unfortunately, the Emperor had never paid much attention to him. All of the reports that he sent disappeared like a stone dropped in the ocean. The anger made Xuan Tian Yi’s teeth itch.
While Xuan Tian Yi messed around in the capital, Ji An Prefecture gradually began to calm down after a period of liveliness. The people had once again entered Da Shun’s census and begun living their normal lives. As for Feng Yu Heng, she had already begun planning which province it would be best to buy military supplies from. Like that, the prices would be driven up. It would be best if they bought as they went along until they reached the South. They could bring along quite a bit.
It was currently Spring, and the food was all left over from the previous year, but there was nothing that could be done. Who chose to start the battle at this time?
While she was busy with making preparations for the military supplies, before noon, a servant quickly came to report some bad news after she had finished breakfast. “Imperial Daughter, something happened over at the mine!”
Feng Yu Heng’s heart immediately became tense. Something happening at the mine was a huge matter. Either there had been a landslide or the mine had collapsed. Both of which would claim lives. She urgently asked: “What happened? How many people have been injured or died?”
The face of the servant that came to report turned pale, and their hand trembled. Hearing Feng Yu Heng ask, they quickly replied: “It was a landslide, and all of the buildings that were built at the base of the mountain have been crushed below. Not a single one that went to work early in the morning returned alive!” While he spoke, he wiped away some tears, “Imperial Daughter, this lowly one’s elder brother was working over there. Would Imperial Daughter please allow this lowly one to put aside the manor’s matters and go over to take a look?”
Feng Yu Heng suddenly stood up, “Let’s go together!” She then ordered Wang Chuan and Huang Quan: “Bring along my medicine kit. Have the carriage prepared and notify Wang Lin. Bring all of the doctors along and hurry to the mine!”
With something happening at the mine, the first thing that she thought of was nothing other than saving lives. As for the matter of responsibility for the accident, that could be considered after the fact. At present, the most important thing was to race against time. Each person saved would be one saved. The jade mine belonged to her, and it was close to Ji An Prefecture. Nearly half of the citizens that lived nearby relied on it to make a living. Some of the poorer families would move directly to the foot of the mountain. The men went to work in digging up jade, while the women did the laundry and cooked. The salaries that Feng Yu Heng paid were very high, and they treated this as a place to start their families; however, who knew that such a thing would happen.
Losing a bit of money was fine. Human life was most important. She had just arrived in Ji An Prefecture. If this situation was not handled properly, the image that had just been created would immediately collapse. To her, this would be extremely bad.
Along the way, Feng Yu Heng’s brow was tightly furrowed. Halfway, Wang Lin also swapped to her carriage and urgently spoke of the arrangements on his side: “What we brought the most of was medicine to stop bleeding. There’s also some anesthetic. We also brought two tents and are preparing to set them up at the site of the accident. We will be prepared to perform surgeries for the heavily injured at any time. Thinking about it, with something happening at a mine, the majority of surgeries will be reconnecting bones. All of the doctors that know how to reconnect bones have been brought along. Also, for fear of there being too many injured, all of the doctors that could be called in the prefecture have been called. People were also called from Yu Zhou. In regards to those that are lightly injured, normal doctors should be able to manage them.” While he spoke, he wiped away some sweat. Although it was still just the start of Spring in the Southwest, it was already starting to get hot, “Boss should prepare yourself. There are a lot of people at the jade mine. I fear that this accident will have an extremely large number of injured or deceased.”
Feng Yu Heng nodded: “Regardless of how it is, we need to do all that we can to save as many as possible. The cost does not matter. Remember that no matter how expensive the medicine, it is not as important as a person’s life. In the face of a great disaster, everything must give way for life!”
She began to delegate work for the rescuers. At the same time, she began to think to herself about how they should carry out the rescue; however, it was at this time that Huang Quan said: “How could there suddenly be a landslide? I went a few days ago and did not see any signs. Could it be that there was someone that had bad intentions?”