Rising Phoenix

"Master Wei can ask anything." Hua Qiong began, sitting next to Feng Zhiwei's bed and gently twiddling with her hair.

Feng Zhiwei eyed Hua Qiong's belly speculatively.

Hua Qiong's belly was not very large and she seemed somewhere between five to six months pregnant, but five to six months ago Yan Huaishi was in Dijing and has definitely not taken a trip to visit South Sea.

Hua Qiong looked down at her belly and smiled, replying: "You're correct, this child is not Huaishi's."

Feng Zhiwei coughed; even though she had guessed correctly, she was still astonished by the calm answer.

Hua Qiong immediately reached out to pat Feng Zhiwei's back, and by the time Feng Zhiwei knew to be startled, Hua Qiong had already pulled her hand away.

She gently caressed her belly, her smile faint and her eyes sad. "I am a country girl; my father used to be county magistrate, but he resigned and returned home. He started a traditional school beside Huai Shi's mother's nunnery, and my father and I pitied her because she was always bullied, so we helped her occasionally. That was how Huaishi and I met when we were children."

The story of the unwanted scion and the poor girl.

"But it wasn't a story of childhood romance," Hua Qiong continued. "Huaishi did not like me."

Feng Zhiwei almost spat her tea onto her blanket.

"Madam Chen is a typical wealthy lady, very grateful and appreciative but not a great admirer of backwards country girls. Because of that, Yan Huaishi had no thoughts other than gratitude, though we got along well and others thought of us as a couple."

Hua Qiong slowly ate the pomegranate, lightly continuing: "On my father's deathbed, he took my hand and warned me that the state of Qi was too powerful to ally, and that if I married Yan Huaishi I would suffer greatly. I listened and became the first female private school teacher and married a scholar who had failed the Imperial examination."

"The scholar had a weak body and fell sick soon after our marriage. I tended to him for over a year but he still passed, and I have been consigned to mourning widowhood."

"Then this child…"

"The scholar's." Hua Xiong concluded. "Posthumous child."

Feng Zhiwei let out a quiet breath. This woman had been so confident and brazen at the Ancestral Temple and no one would have guessed that Yan Changtian was not a Yan.

But if the child was not part of the family…

How remarkable. Carrying another family's child to demand entrance to South Sea's wealthiest family's Ancestral Temple, even claiming the birthright of the Main Branch's eldest grandson. With this false claim, she had saved two lives and shifted the future of the Yan Family and all of South Sea.

Feng Zhiwei had never admired a woman of her age before.

But there was still another question to ask.

"Yan Huaishi had not visited South Sea, and the Yan Family surely knew this. Why did they not question you?"

"They were unsettled by your siege and my brashness and forgot to match up the timing." Hua Qiong replied, "And when news came of the Imperial Envoy's intention to charge Yan Huaishi with leading the new Department of Maritime Affairs, I knew that the Yan Family would not let Yan Huaishi succeed and I began spreading rumors that Huaishi had snuck over to check on me."

"Why?"

"The child only began showing after its father's death." Hua Qiong quietly caressed her belly, her face filled with motherly pride. "No one knew the scholar had left me a child, and I knew that Yan Huaishi's identity was his largest vulnerability. The Yan Family had never threatened Yan Huaishi because they had never taken him seriously, but once he began to achieve merits, the Yan Family would eventually banish him. In a family that values their ancestry and descent, there is no better shield than the Eldest Grandson of the Main Branch!"

Feng Zhiwei examined Hua Qiong with more and more surprise.

This woman was more intelligent that she had presumed, her insight deep and wide and her talent outstanding. Based on such an early announcement she had laid the grounds for a deeply influential decision.

Her bright smile was only the face over a careful and brave heart.

"You…" Feng Zhiwei began after a lengthy pause. "You love him, don't you?"

Without a deeply cutting love, it was difficult to understand how she could go so far.

Hua Qiong's smile dimmed, but she soon recovered and easily replied: "Yes."

Her reply was brisk, but the meaning behind this simple word made Feng Zhiwei ponder.

She knew the man she loved did not feel the same way.

She knew her mother-in-law would not accept her.

She understood that people would only mock her and think of her as a gold digger.

But she did not care for her reputation and risked her own life, lying to thousands to save the man that she loved.

Feng Zhiwei finally understood her courage and commitment.

She had thought the matter was the fulfillment of childhood sweethearts, so marriage had been a presumptive certainty.

But the truth was that she had no way of knowing what Yan Huaishi would reply to her proposal, and if he refused, only ruthless reprisal awaited. To cause a disturbance before the Ancestral Temple could only be courting death.

"It is fortunate that this matter has resolved itself." Feng Zhiwei smiled in relief. "You will be the Yan Family's Madam and no one will dare look down on you."

"No."

Feng Zhiwei's lifted teacup slipped from her hand and almost fell to the ground, barely caught by Hua Qiong.

"Dear girl, can you stop shocking me?" Feng Zhiwei smiled, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

Hua Qiong set the tea cup down and grabbed Feng Zhiwei's hand. "Take me away!"

Feng Zhiwei stared dazedly into the girl's eyes and then stared down at her tightly clutched hand. If she were not certain that Hua Qiong loved another, she might have thought that she was turning into a second Shao Ning.

"Madam Yan…" Feng Zhiwei eyed her hands meaningfully, gesturing to Hua Qiong.

But Hua Qiong refused to let go, her bright eyes glimmering as she gazed at Feng Zhiwei.

"You know that I am…" Feng Zhiwei began, her voice confused and trailing. Her mask was incredibly well crafted and she was very confident in her impersonation of a man, so how had this girl realized?

"The way His Highness looks at you." Hua Qiong smiled, "I know that look, and I understand."

Feng Zhiwei fell silent. She had not thought that Ning Yi might give her away, and it was fortunate that sensitive, careful people like Hua Qiong were rare, and most of those people would not understand love the way Hua Qiong did.