The Rise of Phoenixes

Chapter 283: Chapter 283

On the last episode of Rising Phoenix:

Kereyid lied to Medora. The medicine he gave her included aphrodisiac. It is not yet clear the medicine actually causes bruises.

Kereyid knows about a secret relationship between Medora’s husband-to-be and the Grain Official of Yu Zhou City, the man principally in charge of the military grain shipments to the steppes. Kereyid rapes Medora so that her future husband will be unhappy with Helian Zheng and FZW for disrespecting him. Kereyid is gleeful at the chaos that will follow.

Back home in the Steppes, HLZ and FZW have easily put down Gadd’s Rebellion now that the King has obviously not been murdered by the Queen. The ambitious relatives of HLZ are wrangled, and Patriach Kereyid is deposed in absentia. Fire Fox suffers land confiscation, with the precious Dark-Gold Mine seized by HLZ.

Zong Chen improves the lives of the steppe people through his medicinal knowledge. FZW and HLZ become widely respected.

Feng Zhiwei has Zong Chen and Gu Nanyi train the Irgi men in Central Plain’s martial arts. 3000 of the best are chosen for a new “Shunyi Steel Battalion,” which Feng Zhiwei ends up leading under a male alias Wei 魏.

Dramatic intro-music...

On a day of no particular note, the widely admired and respected Hero Gu brought a young, blue-robed Han man to watch the Steel Battalion train.

The Irgi warriors all felt as if they had improved to an incredible extent and they wanted to show off a little, performing for this slender and short man, hoping for astonishment and praise.

But the young man watched unperturbed, and only had three comments.

“Stupid moves! Weak! Poor reaction time!”

None of the three thousand warriors were spared.

The young, blue-robed man quickly gestured for the eight leaders of the Steel Battalion to come forth for duels — the Eight Valiants, bodyguards to the King.

The Steel Battalion could only watch in silent disbelief as their formidable leaders were slapped around and destroyed.

The Eight Valiants lay prone, groaning and moaning and silently applauding themselves for their great acting. When the King and Queen said fall here, they fell; and if they were needed to play dead, then dead they played; if they were needed to roll more than two times but less then four, by all the heavens they would...

And so this Wei youth easily won over the respect and admiration of the steppe men, and in the following days he would frequently show his face on the training grounds, eating and sleeping together with the rest of the warriors. He was soon known to be both kind and incredibly talented, and was very quickly familiar with everyone.

As time went on, his pitiable story slowly spread. He had lost his memories in an attack and had wandered until he found the steppes. He knew not where he came from or where he ought to go, only barely remembering that his last name was Wei.

The mighty steppes welcomed this lost wanderer, and the Queen even organized a feast to entertain this Wei youth with proud and generous steppe hospitality.

And so the months passed and it became August. Early spring had come to the steppe grasslands, and an Imperial Envoy had arrived for the Living Buddha’s enthronement.

The Hu Ying Temple had prepared a great celebration for their new Living Buddha, but there was one sticking point. Gu Zhixiao had rarely been forced to leave her doting father and so was unruly and unwilling to cooperate. Feng Zhiwei was forced to threaten and bribe the little infant, warning the young baby that if she refused to listen, she would have to sleep alone in the future, and only by obeying would she be able to sleep with her daddy. Such was the story of the Eighteenth Living Buddha.

It also happened to pass that the Imperial Envoy was a very familiar face — Xin Ziyan.

Thus it was amidst the incense smoke of the sacred Enthronement Ceremony within Hu Yin Temple that Imperial Envoy Xin Ziyan and Shunyi Queen Feng Zhiwei met once more on this fateful Autumn of the thirteenth year of Chang Xi, their first meeting since the tragic seven days in Dijing.

They smiled politely and bowed with courtesy and delight.

“I pray the Queen is well?” Xin Ziyan offered as he bowed deeply.

Feng Zhiwei looked down at his temple, spotting a creeping whiteness over his hair that he had not had half a year ago, and she could not help but remember his moon-white butt as he clung to the tree beside Lan Xiang Brothel.

She had saved him from his shrewish wife, and he had repaid her by taking the life of her brother and the joy of her family.

Enemy.

But she had always known how to smile for her enemies.

“Many thanks for Master Xin’s regard.” She replied elegantly. “All is well. And you, Master Xin? Life in Dijing is not easy, but by your honor’s radiant looks, it seems like things have been going your way.”

Xin Ziyan straightened and examined the formidable woman before him, his eyes gleaming. He was not privy to the knowledge that Feng Zhiwei was in fact Wei Zhi, so all he knew was what she had shown at Noble Imperial Consort Chang’s birthday feast, and the indifferent and calm bearing she had shown when accepting the title of Sheng Ying Princess before leaving with Helian Zheng.

Now, after half a year, the woman still seemed as calm and at home, but that sharpness she had displayed at the feast seemed sheathed and in its place was a gentle warmth like a mild, slow breeze. Yet for all that warmth, Xi Ziyan felt cold, as if he was before a phoenix perched high on the tip of a snowy mountain, a small creature pinned by gleaming eyes.

How calm and imperturbable those eyes, and how great the destruction that would follow their fury.

“I cannot claim such grace.” Xin Ziyan dipped his head and retreated a step. “All I have is by His Majesty’s grace and His Majesty’s kindness. Ziyan has been honored by the attention of his masters, and my only distinction has been my attention to details big and small, while my masters focus on larger matters.”

Was he suggesting that the Da Cheng Royal Orphan case was his, not Ning Yi’s?

Feng Zhiwei quirked her lips in a calm half-smile.

If Ning Yi had wanted to protect her, he would never have trusted Xin Ziyan with the Golden Feather Guard.

If Ning Yi had never planned to move against her, the Golden Feather Guard would have never continued their investigation of the Feng Family.

If Ning Yi had not given his silent consent, how could things have unraveled so quickly?

His was the invisible hand over everything, and whether he had stabbed or had loosened his grip to drop the knife, the end was the same.

“Yes, all fortune comes from a master’s grace.” Feng Zhiwei replied, her smile growing more and more gentle. “It seems that His Highness Prince Chu is now deeply trusted by HIs Majesty, and surely the Crown Princedom will be his. When your honor returns to Dijing, please pass on my congratulations.”

Xin Ziyan looked up, hesitating a moment before replying: “I will not be returning immediately to Dijing, so perhaps my Queen should convey such congratulations in person.”

Feng Zhiwei paused in sudden thought — was Xin Ziyan being dispatched to the northern battlefields? Was Ning Yi sending his most trusted subordinate to take total control over the Tian Sheng Military? But Xin Ziyan was just a scholar, what could he do? Play the role of military inspector?

“Your honor jests. Thousands of li stretch between Dijing and the steppes. There are no relatives for Zhiwei to visit, and it is hard to say whether I will ever return in this lifetime. I do not believe I will have the privilege of greeting His Highness, how tragic.”

She lamented her loss without emotion, finally smiling and turning away in dismissal.

Though she had not expected Xin Ziyan’s arrival, she could work with it.

As she stepped away, Xin Ziyan felt a sudden need to speak, but as the Queen determinedly left, he could only close his mouth.

It was fine... she would find out eventually.

An so the Enthronement Ceremony came to a successful close, and before they knew it Gu Zhixiao was two years old.

Only Feng Zhiwei knew Gu Zhixiao’s birthday, having spotted the delicately hidden characters on her locket on day.

Fine holes had been drilled throughout the locket to show the calligraphy only when light shone through and projected the details on a wall; such intricate design was obviously out of reach of even conventionally wealthy families.

The wealthiest and most noble families of the Central Plains kept the exact details of the Birthdate a secret so that ill-wishing individuals could not attack their children. [1]As soon as Feng Zhiwei discovered this secret, she changed Gu Zhixiao’s public birthday to further hide the matter.

As they celebrated Gu Zhixiao’s maturation into the night, the family and friends gathered in the King’s Court garden and sat around bonfires and slow-roasted whole lambs dripping with fragrant oil. Gu Zhixiao smiled up at her dad so sweetly that her eyes seemed to blossom like little flowers.

[1] What has been sometimes translated broadly as Birthdate is in fact a more complicated Eight Character Bazi (八字) or Four Pillars of Destiny. Such a Birthdate references the: birth year, month, day, and hour. It is widely accepted that this knowledge can be used to calculate fortune, and as a focus for curses or witchcraft. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Pillars_of_Destiny