Rising Phoenix

As she stepped over the threshold, Feng Hao yelled commandingly, “Bring some delicious food back!”

Feng Zhiwei paused at the threshold before continuing forward without looking back. She could vaguely hear her mother holding Feng Hao and calming him in a quiet voice.

Feng Zhiwei’s face was expressionless—as an adopted daughter, she shouldn’t complain about her mother spoiling her son.

Even though only she knew that Feng Hao was also adopted, but he was a male. He was the seed who could pass on the Feng Family name.

To be honest, she was very grateful to Madam Feng for keeping her around as a burden even in this most difficult of times, never speaking a word about her heritage, and allowing her to survive in this snobbish Qiu Family.

As for family affection and warmth… forget it. Even her own life wasn’t in her control, what else could she expect?

The kitchen was busy and chaotic; everyone was preparing the most delicate and interesting dessert for the picky princess. Princess Shao Ning was the beloved daughter of His Majesty. Before the dynasty was founded, the princess still in swaddling clothes was lost in the war. After much effort, they finally recovered her, and when they did, the sky showed auspicious signs. Soon after that, they conquered the capital and founded Tiang Sheng Dynasty. His Majesty considered this daughter his lucky star and loved her the most.

Feng Zhiwei sneaked in through the kitchen side door. Her face was still that unfortunate yellow, and she had drawn on her eyebrows to mess them up. With these changes, her whole appearance and temperament had transformed, and no one spared her a second look.

There were many steaming pots of all sizes, and the steam blurred the air. Wonderful sweetness floated, hiding delicate mysteries. Feng Zhiwei didn’t want to disturb anyone so she quietly went up to an empty stove and poured in some water, preparing to steam the bun.

There was some delicious food on the table, but Feng Zhiwei didn’t even look at them—Feng Hao had asked her to bring back food because he was still too immature. With their awkward position in the Qiu Family, all they could hope for was that no one would come to find trouble with them. They couldn’t afford to stir up any trouble.

But that delicious smell was a real torture… Feng Zhiwei touched her belly and felt even hungrier.

While she was focusing on the boiling water, she didn’t notice that someone else had sneaked into the kitchen, and several of the female cooks were glancing over in Feng Zhiwei’s direction.

When the water boiled and steam came out, Feng Zhiwei took off the lid and reached for the bun, not daring to stay any longer. In her mind, the half-heated bun was already good enough. Just as she touched the steamed bun skin, she heard a crisp sound.

“Cha!”

All at once, as if all of them had been waiting just for that moment, the female cooks started yelling.

“Thief! The imperial household’s food has been stolen!”

Feng Zhiwei trembled and pulled her hand back. She grabbed the piping hot bun and stuffed it into her clothes before twisting around and darting over to the back window a couple steps away. The window was low and opened out onto a garden. If she could make it through the window, she would be able to escape; as it was, she wanted to be anywhere else.

But she was too slow.

It was not that her reaction had been slow, but that as soon as she had moved forward, another figure had dashed forward as well. They had jumped through the window and fallen, and Zhiwei could hear a faint “ouch!”

A familiar sound.

Feng Zhiwei stopped.

She stood before the window, eyes down, and on her face flashed a myriad range of expressions—anger, speechlessness, worry, and hate.

She breathed in deeply and turned around, moving quickly but steadily and returning the steamed bun to the pot.

The window was impossible now, and that pained breathing hiding below the window sill wasn’t moving. Feng Zhiwei was sure that the thief couldn’t move, and if she jumped out, they would be captured together. Once that happened, they really wouldn’t be able to explain themselves.

The kitchen was in an uproar and the stewards and cooks in the conjoining rooms rushed over.

“You!” An elderly woman gasped in anger when she saw Feng Zhiwei by the window, but even in her anger, a brief flash of complacent satisfaction passed through her eyes.

Feng Zhiwei groaned inside. This Old Lady An was in charge of the kitchen and had been widowed for many years. She wanted to get in bed with Manager Liu because of his influence in the front yard, but Manager Liu couldn’t stand her old sallow face. In fact, what Manager Liu wanted all along was to sleep with the young and beautiful Feng Zhiwei, and so the old crone had hated her all this time.

Old Lady An glanced over the wooden counter and her face paled. She rushed forward.

“You actually destroyed the Golden Silk Fruit offered to the princess!?”

The window had been thrown open, and the steam in the room had thinned. A trimmed silver cover had been placed gently over a delicate jade cup, but now the cover was knocked over to the side, and the cup had tipped over, with a half liquid yolk dew pooling on the table. Distinct black finger marks marred the jade, completing the dirty and unfortunate scene.

The sweetness was thick in the air, and Feng Zhiwei’s heart grew heavy. She did not know what this thing was, but it was obviously precious.

“What am I going to do? What do I do!” Old Lady An cried out. She had just been trying to embarrass Feng Zhiwei and had no idea that she would actually dare to touch the Princess Shao Ning’s Food. It was almost meal time, and now she would be in big trouble. Old Lady An glared at Zhiwei, and if she had just been trying to humiliate her before, now she hated her to the core.

A strange sound passed from behind the window as if something had rubbed against the wall, but the sound was covered by Old Lady An’s heavy breathing. Feng Zhiwei’s expression was serious as she squeezed the tips of her fingers.

“Young Lady Feng…” A middle-aged woman to the side of Old Lady An spoke, dragging out her words coldly. With a ghastly pale face, she continued, “Second Young Master used much effort and spent a lot of money to buy this Golden Silk Fruit from Da Yue. Just fifty grams of this is already thousands of gold. It is steamed and dried under the sun with a secret recipe nine times, and uses Zi Sun and twenty other precious ingredients, not to mention it has to be cooked with Black Stone Wood. Without even counting the labor needed, all the ingredients are precious and rare. When the princess asks for it, what will you serve?”

All the ingredients were worth their weights multiple times over in gold and silver. Feng Zhiwei hid her worries and only spoke after taking a deep breath, “I only came here to steam my steamed bun. I didn’t touch that.”