Chapter 954

Huo Shengnan said: "Isn't that too far? Can his body withstand it?"

Hu Xiaotian said: "The situation forces us to make this trip; Dakang is suffering a famine, and Da Yong is pressuring the surrounding states not to trade grain with Dakang. If this continues, even without moving a single soldier, Dakang will collapse from within."

Huo Shengnan said: "The Emperor has always wanted to send troops south to unify the Central Plains; it seems his opportunity has finally come." The Emperor she referred to is naturally the Da Yong ruler Xue Shengkang.

Hu Xiaotian said: "Isn't it a bit regrettable? If not for the incident, perhaps you would be the one leading the army south to conquer."

Huo Shengnan shook her head and said: "We officials are merely tools to satisfy the ambitions of those in power. After this turmoil, I have let go of everything..." She bit her cherry lip, suddenly appearing a bit bashful, and said: "From now on I will stand by your side, only by your side."

Hu Xiaotian felt his heart warm, wishing he could now embrace Huo Shengnan and cherish her; as they say, that thing is the passageway to a woman's heart, and indeed it seems so. Since having a night's affinity with General Huo, there has been no barrier between them, and Huo Shengnan has placed her whole heart upon him.

Hu Xiaotian said: "Actually I just want to live well; before I thought it was easy, but now it seems living is not that simple either—there's always someone trying to control your fate."

Huo Shengnan, prompted by Hu Xiaotian's words, couldn't help but think of herself. She had only thought of being loyal to Da Yong, resisting the northern black Hu, so the people would avoid Hu harassment, but she never expected that her wholehearted loyalty would still inevitably become a sacrifice of court politics; even her adoptive father Weichi Chong, who had rendered great service to Da Yong, ended up being neglected by the Emperor. Wanting to control one's own fate—saying it is easy, doing it is as hard as climbing to heaven. Huo Shengnan said: "How do you prepare to do it?"

"I have a bit of an idea, but it's not mature yet." Hu Xiaotian was about to tell his idea to Huo Shengnan when he heard Hu Fo outside report with great surprise: "Young master, the mistress has returned! The mistress has returned!"

Hu Xiaotian, hearing this, was also overjoyed; he didn't expect Qiqi to have released his mother so quickly, seeing that his going to find her still had some effect. Hu Xiaotian and Huo Shengnan went out together to greet, but they saw Xu Fengyi already entering the second gate accompanied by several maids and old women. Hu Xiaotian hurried forward: "Mother! You've returned, unfilial son has caused you to suffer." He bent his knees to kowtow, but Xu Fengyi grabbed him and laughed: "Enough, enough; mother knows you're filial, no need for this great ceremony."

Huo Shengnan stood beside Hu Xiaotian, about to go over to pay respects. Xu Fengyi, however, smiled at her and said: "Feihong is also here."

"Auntie, I pay my respects." Huo Shengnan always felt that Xu Fengyi's smile was full of deep meaning, giving her the illusion that her identity had been seen through, and she felt a bit shy inside.

Xu Fengyi said: "Alright. All exempted; let's go inside and talk."

Huo Shengnan said: "I still have other things to do; I won't disturb your mother‑daughter talk."

Xu Fengyi smiled and nodded.

Hu Xiaotian accompanied his mother back to the place where she used to live; since Hu Xiaotian reclaimed the Minister's residence, he has cleaned this place thoroughly, and everything has been rearranged according to its former layout. Only his father has always refused to come back, insisting on living in the Water Well Alley; his mother, after returning from Jinling, is still coming here to the Minister's residence for the first time.

Xu Fengyi saw that everything before her eyes was almost exactly the same as before the house was raided; her heart surged with mixed feelings, and her eye sockets reddened involuntarily. She murmured: "Xiaotian, you actually managed to find all our family's belongings." She walked up to the landscape painting hanging on the wall, took a look, and only then realized that although the painting was almost identical, careful examination still revealed it to be a counterfeit—not just this painting, but many of the furnishings in the room are merely similar in shape, not the original items. Xu Fengyi sighed: "What's lost is already lost; it can never be retrieved."

Hu Xiaotian said: "Mother, rest assured; I will retrieve everything that was confiscated from our home, item for item. As long as I find out who embezzled our family's property, I will make them repay double."

Xu Fengyi smiled lightly: "Why be so extreme? After all, nothing precious was lost; if we can't find it, we can't find it—there's no need to expend such effort and cost to get to the bottom of it." She walked to the table, sat down, pointed to the stool beside her, and said: "You sit down too."

Hu Xiaotian sat beside his mother and whispered: "How is Father?"

Xu Fengyi said: "He's fine. Although the Yongyang Princess had people seize us, she didn't mistreat us; this time she released me early also to put your mind at ease—I think she treats you fairly well."

Hu Xiaotian said: "That little miss hardly has any friends to begin with; if she even offends me, does she intend to become a lonely ruler of the Yongyang Princedom?"

Xu Fengyi whispered: "I don't think the Yongyang Princess sees you merely as an ordinary friend; could it be that she has taken a liking to my son?"

Hu Xiaotian couldn't help but laugh upon hearing that.

Seeing him laugh, Xu Fengyi spat: "What are you laughing at? Did I say something wrong?"

Hu Xiaotian said: "Mom, this is just something we say between us mother and son; if it got out, it would surely be laughed at. The Yongyang Princess is only how old this year? She's still an underage girl—don't imagine her so complicated, lest people say I'm being sentimental and that you're trying to climb onto the imperial family's high branch."

Xu Fengyi said: "Now it's not our Hu family trying to climb onto the imperial family's high branch; it's the imperial family that wants to get close to our Hu family, wanting our Hu family to loyally serve them."

Hu Xiaotian laughed: "Mother, don't overthink it; they are the sovereign and we are the subjects—our loyal service to the imperial family is our duty; they don't need to cozy up to us."

Xu Fengyi said: "You're just like your father, hiding everything from me, thinking I'm just a clueless woman. Mother may lack experience, but after so many years married to your father, I can still sense some of what he's thinking. You're my son; I raised you from childhood, and whatever plans you have in your heart cannot escape my eyes."

Hu Xiaotian said: "Mother, I dare not keep anything from you, and Father wouldn't either."

Xu Fengyi said: "This time I returned from Jinling; what exactly does that letter I brought say?"

Hu Xiaotian laughed: "I don't know either; you should ask Father about the letter's content."

Xu Fengyi said: "Even if you don't tell me, I can guess: your grandmother must have outwardly refused the court's request to borrow grain, while secretly pointing them the way; that's why the Yongyang Princess put on a show of seizing me and your father from home. Although you two say nothing, some things eventually can't be hidden. The Yongyang Princess has already told me she wants your father to lead a fleet to Rosong to seek grain sources for Dakang; if I'm not mistaken, this trade route is what your grandmother indicated in the letter."

Hu Xiaotian hadn't expected Qiqi to have told his mother all this, but thinking about it, his father's sea voyage would eventually be known to his mother; he sighed: "Mother, I'm not lying to you either; at first I didn't tell you the truth because I didn't want you to worry, and Father had the same consideration. Grandmother indeed left a sea map in the letter."

Xu Fengyi sighed bitterly: "I knew it; she shouldn't have ignored our Hu family, and her apparent coldness must stem from some unspeakable hardship."

Hu Xiaotian nodded: "She also has to consider the interests of the entire Xu family; Xu family's business spreads across the world, and if she openly aided the court, within days the Xu family's enterprises throughout the Central Plains would suffer a fatal blow."

Xu Fengyi said: "So she came up with this method to ease relations with the court?"

Hu Xiaotian said: "Even if the Xu family is the richest under heaven, at bottom it's merely a merchant; facing many powers, only caution and prudence can preserve its interests. Your mother being able to do this is already no small feat; consider that she isn't your only daughter—she cannot, for our sake, push the Xu family's other children into the abyss."

Xu Fengyi knew her son's words were all reasonable, yet thinking of her husband's imminent journey to Rosong to seek grain sources still left her feeling somewhat gloomy; she whispered: "She could have used other methods; there's no need to insist that Father travel thousands of miles to Rosong."

Hu Xiaotian said: "Mother, actually I originally wanted to make this trip myself, but the court is wary of me, wary of our Hu family, and will certainly not let me leave easily." Actually Hu Xiaotian understands that the real reason he's not allowed to go is still Qiqi; Qiqi wants to keep him in Kangdu to work for her. Actually whether Hu Xiaotian goes or not is unimportant to the court; the emperor cares only about the result, and wouldn't care whether it's him or his father who undertakes this hardship.

Xu Fengyi nodded.

Hu Xiaotian added: "I discussed it with Father; I originally wanted to take this opportunity to have Father and Mother go overseas together. If this trip succeeds in smoothly finding grain sources, Father will have rendered a great service, and the court will naturally not make things difficult for us. If the trip to Rosong is not smooth, you can avoid disaster by going overseas, and once I get the news I will also have the ability to escape Dakang. But the court should have seen through my intention, so they disagree with Mother accompanying Father, wanting to keep you in Kangdu as a hostage."

Xu Fengyi said: "Actually, even if they agreed to let me go, I wouldn't go; leaving you alone here, how could Mother be at ease?"

Hu Xiaotian laughed: "Mother, do you still see me as a child? I'm already an adult."

Xu Fengyi said: "Even when you are seventy or eighty, in Mother's eyes you will still be just a child; moreover, you haven't yet started a family or established a career. There is something you need to honestly tell me: Is that Huang Feihong a girl?" (To be continued~^~)