Feng Zuwen needed to reassess who in the residence could truly be counted as his own people. His long-time attendant Yu Changfang had followed him since the age of seven, had even gone through life-and-death situations with him—he was the most trustworthy of all.
"Okay," Feng Yuanhao agreed without asking why.
Feng Zuwen carried Feng Tianxing and hid behind the bed, concealed by the curtain.
"Someone come," Feng Yuanhao called out.
Wang Jiang, the servant boy who had just stepped away to wash up, heard the call and immediately hurried in.
"My lord, what is it?" Wang Jiang asked anxiously.
He had served Feng Yuanhao for a long time—nine years now, having followed him since he was ten. Though master and servant, they were close in age, only two years apart, and had a deep bond. They had even practiced martial arts together.
"I just remembered something. I need to ask Uncle Yu about it. Go and bring him here for me."
"Yes, my lord." Thoughtfully, Wang Jiang lit the lamp before leaving.
The moment Yu Changfang heard that the young lord was looking for him, he came at once.
The Marquis had been injured yesterday, and he felt deeply guilty. He had been there at the time, but his martial skills were inferior to the Marquis's—he had been knocked off the roof by the bandit a step earlier, leaving the Marquis to fight the bandit alone.
As a result, the Marquis had been gravely injured, while he had suffered only superficial wounds.
Today he had come to the main courtyard several times, wanting to go in and check on the Marquis, but the Madam had turned him away every time.
Now that the young lord had summoned him, this was the perfect chance to ask about the Marquis's condition.
"My lord." Yu Changfang cupped his hands in salute the moment he saw Feng Yuanhao.
"Wang Jiang, go stand guard outside the door. Let no one come near. Uncle Yu and I have important matters to discuss." Feng Yuanhao sent Wang Jiang away to keep watch.
Obediently, Wang Jiang closed the door, kept his distance, and stood guard outside the courtyard gate.
"Uncle Yu, please help me up and sit me in the wheelchair."
Yu Changfang stepped forward and lifted the frail Feng Yuanhao, gently setting him in the wheelchair beside the bed. When he looked up, he was startled.
"Marquis?"
Wasn't the Marquis gravely injured and unconscious?
He rubbed his eyes and looked carefully.
It really was the Marquis—and he was even holding a little girl in his arms.
"Yes. Changfang, it was I who asked for you."
"Marquis, you're all right? Thank goodness! I was so worried about you that I could barely eat a bite today." Yu Changfang's eyes reddened as he spoke, overcome with emotion.
His master of many years, who had been near death just yesterday, was now standing perfectly fine before him. The shock was too great.
【This Uncle Yu is a loyal one. In a former life, when Daddy died, he took a blade for him and died before Daddy did. But now that I'm here, no one will die. Just watch me defy fate and change destiny.】Feng Tianxing thought to herself as she watched Yu Changfang, who was on the verge of tears.
Feng Zuwen's arms tightened, holding Feng Tianxing more securely, which made her look up at him once before he relaxed.
Hearing this revelation, Feng Zuwen's throat tightened so much he nearly couldn't make a sound. After a long moment, he reached out a hand and patted Yu Changfang's shoulder.
"Changfang, I'm fine. The Madam obtained a spiritual medicine comparable to a Celestial Pill for me, and after taking it, I'm nearly recovered. But it isn't yet time for this to be known, so for now I'll continue 'recovering from my injuries.'" Feng Zuwen gave a brief explanation, half true and half false.
"That's good, that's good." The anxiety he'd been carrying finally eased.
"I called you here because I need you to carry out a task."
"Please give your orders, Marquis."
"In the Old Madam's courtyard, there used to be a maid called Lǜchá. You've seen her, right? Go find out who she married. Tomorrow, Nanny Zhao will sell off her family. Find a way to buy them and hide them away. When I need them in the future, bring them to me."
"Yes." Although Yu Changfang didn't understand the purpose of the Marquis's actions, he only needed to follow orders.
"Changfang, this child will be the eldest daughter of our Marquis's household from now on. There are some things I won't hide from you—she is my biological daughter. Yuanji belongs to the Second Branch. Back then, they schemed to swap the babies, causing my own daughter to be cast out for three years. It was that Lǜchá who took her out of the city and abandoned her." As he said this, grief welled up in Feng Zuwen. He hated himself for not staying home to watch over his wife's labor, which gave the Second Branch their opportunity.
"What?" Yu Changfang exclaimed in shock. He looked carefully at Feng Tianxing in Feng Zuwen's arms and indeed saw traces of both the Madam and the Marquis—she resembled the Madam even more.
Feng Zuwen nodded again, reaffirming it.
Yu Changfang looked up and let out a long sigh. He was no fool—he understood the whole story at once.
The Third Young Master was three years old; the heir had broken his leg two and a half years ago; and the Second Young Master had been frail and sickly ever since the Third Young Master's birth.
His gaze shifted to the heir in the wheelchair, filled with pity.
This was a child he had watched grow up!
Who knew if he would ever be able to stand again.
"Now that you know the Second Branch's ambitions, pick ten of the people I had you train in secret and place them in the various courtyards of the First Branch, just in case."
Feng Zuwen actually had other men at his disposal, but those were left to him by his late father, who had also had feelings for the second brother. It wouldn't be appropriate to send them on this task.
"Yes. Isn't ten too few?" Yu Changfang had trained thirty men.
"Ten is enough." Feng Zuwen feared that too many people would be discovered by the Second Branch. Even hidden guards needed to eat, drink, and relieve themselves.
As a Marquis's household, how could it be without the means to protect itself?
The men left behind by the Old Marquis were all aging now, so training a younger generation was only natural.
Feng Zuwu knew nothing of this, but when the Old Marquis passed away, he had also left a few men for him as guards.
After all, the Wu'an Marquis's household had risen to prominence through military service.
Back then, Feng Zuwen's grandfather had guarded the southern border of the Kingdom of Shuilong.
When the Kingdom of Bingxue invaded the Kingdom of Chiyan from the north and nearly reached the capital, it was Feng Zuwen's grandfather who made the decisive call, dispatching a hundred thousand soldiers to rush back day and night to the rescue. He drove the Bingxue invaders back to their homeland and resolved this crisis that had nearly destroyed the nation.
For this, he was granted the title of Wu'an Marquis, heritable for six generations.
Feng Zuwen was the third-generation Wu'an Marquis.
"There is one more matter. In case things come to light later and the Second Branch wants Yuanji back, we must take precautions in advance." Feng Zuwen was thinking far ahead.
"How should this be arranged?" Yu Changfang asked. This wouldn't be easy—the Second Branch knew the truth all too well.
"Do you remember the maid who climbed into my bed five years ago?" Feng Zuwen asked enigmatically.
"I think she was called Zijuan. Later, the Madam transferred her to the guest courtyard to do sweeping." Yu Changfang recalled the incident.
"Tomorrow, have the steward find an excuse to sell her far away. From then on, we'll claim she harbored a grudge, that she was the one who stole and abandoned the child. The Madam gave birth to twins." Thinking of what the Second Branch had done, how could there ever be brotherly harmony again?
【Wow, Daddy is so clever. Raise that brat to be useless. Or just send him out of the residence on some pretext, so the Second Branch never sees him again.】Feng Tianxing heard Feng Zuwen's idea and praised it enthusiastically.
People in the Mortal Realm really had better minds. Everyone in the Cultivation World knew was cultivation, fighting and killing, seizing resources, and increasing their strength—might makes right. No matter how clever you were, it was useless; if you couldn't win a fight, you'd die all the same.
Yu Changfang accepted the order and left.
Feng Yuanhao had simply been listening quietly from the side, not saying a single word.
Feng Tianxing climbed down from Feng Zuwen's arms and walked over to Feng Yuanhao, only a little taller than his legs.
She reached out and patted his leg.
【Big brother, I'll treat your leg tonight.】Feng Tianxing pointed at the bed, then pushed at Feng Yuanhao. The meaning was obvious—she wanted him to lie down on the bed.