The mistakes made by the traitor, yet it is the victims who have to deal with the consequences.
Feng Tingliu did not shirk his responsibility as the city lord. He discussed solutions with Xie Zicun in the study.
"All the weapons of the Huashan Sect should be remade and given priority in manufacturing. For the other orders, I will discuss with you and rearrange them later."
Xie Zicun had originally worried that Feng Tingliu would not take the Huashan Sect seriously. Hearing this, he finally felt relieved.
The two then began to study the future arrangements. They spent the entire day on it, missing the lunch time and showing signs of delaying dinner as well.
Yu Chifeng quietly left the study and discussed with Bai Zhong.
After a quarter of an hour, he carried two bowls of Yangchun noodles and walked steadily into the study, placing the bowls in front of the two men.
Feng Tingliu glanced at them, then put down the pen and paper in his hand, picked up the chopsticks, and slowly put the thin noodles into his mouth.
Xie Zicun said a few more words, but he couldn't resist the hunger in his stomach and the delicious aroma of the noodles. He picked up the bowl and hurriedly slurped a few mouthfuls of noodles, swallowing a bowl in just a dozen seconds. Then he lowered his head and busily wrote and drew on the paper.
Even Yu Chifeng felt a bit pity for Xie Zicun when he saw him like this.
"Also, Panfeng Villa has been urging for a month, saying that the items must be delivered by the middle of next month. " Xie Zicun casually grabbed a piece of paper and scribbled the words "Panfeng Villa" on it. "It's a birthday gift for the sixth villa master's daughter."
"Well, it was clearly agreed with them to be the end of next month. Why has it been advanced to the middle of the month?"
"They said someone did a divination. The end of next month is a great day for the young daughter to get married, so they want to celebrate her birthday earlier and hold a marriage recruitment at the same time..."
"Why, is she in a hurry to get married or in a hurry to die?" Feng Tingliu pushed the empty bowl to Yu Chifeng and sneered. "It's just a congratulatory gift. Just complete it according to the agreed date. Delay it."
"But the sixth villa master's wife is not easy to deal with. To put it bluntly, she's a shrew... She sent a letter a few days ago, and the tone was extremely bad..."
"Did you reply?"
"Of course not. I'm not stupid."
"If there's a next time, reply and say: If youUrge again, this congratulatory gift can be turned into funeral items!"
Xie Zicun was stunned. He felt that this way of handling things was very unreasonable, but because it was Feng Tingliu, it seemed very reasonable. So he lowered his head and obediently wrote down this sentence, considering it as one matter settled.
He pulled out another blank piece of paper and wrote the three words "Tongbei Village" on it, saying, "The order of Tongbei Village may be delayed. Their base is far away, so it may be delayed..."
"It doesn't matter. They have recruited a hundred new disciples, all ordinary people. They established this force to suppress the local bandits. They lack weapons but are not picky. Send the sufficient quantity of iron swords in the warehouse. The quality of those iron swords is enough to deal with the bandits."
"But weren't those iron swords supposed to be for the people in the city?"
"The matter of Tongbei Village is more important. Just send them."
Yu Chifeng listened beside them and actually felt a strange sense of disconnection. Just now, Feng Tingliu said he would hold a funeral for the little daughter of Panfeng Villa, but now he is putting a lot of effort into suppressing the bandits. For a moment, he didn't know whether to describe Feng Tingliu as "good" or "evil".
But Yu Chifeng did not dwell on this. In his eyes, whether Feng Tingliu is "good" or "evil" is not important. He knows that everything in the world has two sides and cannot be simply defined.
Moreover, Feng Tingliu's style of being neither completely good nor completely evil is one of his charms.
Yu Chifeng walked out of the study with the two empty bowls and brought in new hot water to make tea for the two.
When the two finished sorting out all the matters, the night had quietly fallen.
When Xie Zicun left Feng Mansion, Bai Zhong happened to come in with some tea and snacks.
Bai Zhong invited him to stay for dinner, but Xie Zicun politely refused, saying that he had to go back and organize the thick stack of work in his hand clearly.
Not long after Xie Zicun left, a servant came and said that someone reported in the afternoon that the traitor's body had been buried properly and the square in front of the city gate had also been cleaned up.
Feng Tingliu frowned and said he knew, then asked the servant to leave.
At this time, Feng Tingliu looked extremely tired.
Usually, he would assign the work to Xia Yi and Xie Zicun. For those things that require showing up in public, the energetic Xia Yi can handle them properly. And for those things that require careful calculation and itinerary arrangement, Xie Zicun is the most proficient.
But once something major like today happens, it is Feng Tingliu who comes forward to take responsibility and put in a lot of effort.
That night, Feng Tingliu went to bed extremely late, and Yu Chifeng also stayed with him in the room until midnight before preparing to go to bed. Before going to bed, Feng Tingliu covered his lips and yawned, telling Yu Chifeng that he didn't need to get up early tomorrow and that he would also wake up later.
Yu Chifeng waited for him to go to bed before returning to his own small room. After simply washing away his fatigue, he also went to bed.
-
Late at night, the moon was bright and the stars were sparse. However, the originally quiet Feng Mansion was broken by a shrill sound of ceramic breaking.
Yu Chifeng was extremely alert and turned over to get up, grabbing the sword placed beside the bed, and pushed the door open. At the same time, he heard a crashing sound coming from Feng Tingliu's room, as if something had fallen to the ground and smashed into pieces.
Yu Chifeng was shocked. Could it be that Feng Tingliu was in danger in the room!
He rushed forward and was about to push the door open when he remembered what Bai Zhong had said to him on the day he first arrived in Liudu City:
If you hear any noise in the young master's room late at night, don't rush in.
His movement hesitated, but he still anxiously knocked on the door.
"Young Master! What happened!"
There was no answer from inside the room. Instead, another dull sound came out, as if something had been thrown to the ground.
Yu Chifeng was even more nervous, afraid that something had happened to the person inside, and quickly knocked on the door a few more times: "Young Master! Young Master!"
Just when Yu Chifeng was hesitating whether to break the door and enter, a sound came from Bai Zhong's room. Yu Chifeng turned his head and saw Bai Zhong walking out with a coat on, seemingly woken up by the noise.
"Uncle Zhong! The young master..."
"Mr. Yu, don't panic." Although Bai Zhong had just woken up, his face still maintained his usual elegance. He quickly walked to the door, knocked three times gently, and asked, "Young Master, are you okay?"
There was still no response from inside the room, and this time, not even the sound of things being thrown was heard anymore.
Yu Chifeng was anxious to open the door, but Bai Zhong reached out to stop him, telling him to wait a moment. Bai Zhong frowned tightly, but still remained calm, seemingly very accustomed to this sudden situation.
Seeing that the sky was already showing a faint white, Yu Chifeng was extremely anxious. Just when he was thinking that no matter how Bai Zhong stopped him, he would break in to find out what was going on, the door suddenly opened from the inside.
Feng Tingliu appeared in front of the two, with his long hair disheveled and his clothes wide open, as if he had been tossing and turning.
The most obvious was his sickly complexion. His already fair skin showed a sickly pallor, and his forehead was covered with cold sweat. There were dark circles under his eyes, and his brows were tightly furrowed, clearly indicating that he had not rested all night.
"Young Master!" Yu Chifeng quickly stepped forward and was about to ask what happened to Feng Tingliu, but he saw that the room was in a complete mess.
Cups, vases, and ornaments were all scattered on the floor. The more fragile items had already become fragments, and the tables and chairs had also been moved. The most tragic was a small bamboo cabinet by the bed, which had been overturned, and the porcelain vases on it were smashed all over the floor.
If there were no other people in the room, Yu Chifeng would almost think that there had been a fight in the room. He stood there stunned, not knowing what had happened.
"Young Master, what exactly happened..."
"Go to Baiyaofang on East Street to find Yu Ji." Feng Tingliu frowned even deeper, supporting his forehead with one hand, closing his eyes and whispering in a hoarse voice. He sounded extremely exhausted.
Yu Chifeng was extremely worried and couldn't bear to leave immediately.
He wanted to step forward and support Feng Tingliu's shaky body, but the person avoided him backward.
"Go quickly." Feng Tingliu's voice was low, with a hint of anger.
Yu Chifeng had doubts in his heart, but he didn't dare to delay. He looked back repeatedly as he rushed out of the door.
After Yu Chifeng left the courtyard, Feng Tingliu suddenly staggered, leaning against the doorframe, and bowed his head in pain, breathing heavily. Cold sweat flowed down his cheeks and dropped to the ground.
Bai Zhong on the side quickly stepped forward and helped him into the room.
"Young Master, let's lie down first."
Feng Tingliu closed his eyes tightly, his brows furrowed due to the pain in his head. He allowed Bai Zhong to lead him to the bed and lean against the headboard, breathing heavily. He covered his forehead with one hand, slowly tightening his grip and pulling his hair forcefully.
It felt as if ten thousand long needles were piercing through his head, causing an extremely painful sting. Even his breathing was accompanied by a bone-piercing pain, making his vision go black and almost making him want to vomit.
"Young Master, do you want some smoke?" Bai Zhong looked at him worriedly, but there was nothing he could do.
The tobacco leaves that Feng Tingliu often smokes are mixed with medicinal herbs prepared by Yu Ji, which can suppress the pain he usually feels. But if he suddenly has an attack like this, the pain that the medicinal herbs can relieve is really insignificant.
"No need..." Feng Tingliu's voice was extremely faint, as if even breathing was a difficult task.
"Young Master..."
"It's okay. Let me catch my breath..."
Since Feng Tingliu said so, Bai Zhong couldn't say anything more and just stepped aside and waited, hoping that Yu Chifeng would bring Yu Ji back quickly.
-
Yu Chifeng moved extremely fast. He ran on the street and almost collided with several vendors who were setting up their stalls.
Only then did he realize that the sky had already brightened. He didn't know if Feng Tingliu had been suffering from the illness like this throughout the night.
He ran for a long time on East Street and finally saw the plaque of Baiyaofang. He then stepped forward and forcefully knocked on the door. At first, no one answered. He knocked three more times forcefully, which woke up the neighbors who all stuck their heads out to see.
Yu Chifeng rarely showed up in public, so not many people knew him. But the news spread quickly among the neighbors. They all knew that there was such a person by Feng Tingliu's side. Now they also knew that something had happened to Feng Tingliu that made him so anxious.
The people who were woken up suddenly had no complaints and all looked at him with concern.
After a while, the door was finally opened. Yu Ji appeared in a sleeping robe, sleepy and grumbling. When he saw Yu Chifeng, who was sweating profusely, he immediately woke up.
"What happened?"
"Something happened to the young master. Come with me quickly!"
"Wait!"
Yu Ji hurriedly ran into the room, grabbed a wooden medicine box, and without caring that his sleeping robe was too unseemly and his hair was still messy, he followed Yu Chifeng and ran towards Feng Mansion.