Besides lying down, I also know a little about power struggles

Chapter 23 Soaked
In the prince's mansion, Fang Tong lay on a small table by the window, listening to the wind and rain outside in a daze.

It was already dark, and Feng Twelve and the others had not returned yet. There were suddenly fewer people in the mansion, making it seem deserted and cold.

With such heavy rain, the emperor's carriage would definitely not continue in the rain after arriving in the suburbs of Beijing. He would either find a place to stay or avoid it and enter Beijing only when the rain subsided.

In Fang Tong's opinion, for the emperor's safety, his troops would definitely not travel in the dark and would stay in the suburbs of Beijing.

This is hard for the officials waiting outside the city. They made a wasted trip today and will have to go again next time.

Fang Tong glanced at the water clock in the corner of the room. It was already past the hour of You. If the emperor wanted to change his schedule, the person sent to notify him should have arrived long ago.

She stretched out her claws and pushed the window open a tiny crack. With a "whoosh" sound, a strong wind blew the rain in, splashing all over her head and face.

She jumped to the ground and shook her fur.

The owner of the room was not in and no one had lit the lamp. There was a book on the table, which was a geography book that she had not finished reading today.

These days, Feng Twelve has placed more books on his desk than usual, including military books, geography books and historical books.

Fang Tong always flipped through the books secretly when he was not around, and gradually formed a complete impression of the Jokhang Dynasty.

Da Zhao had a vast territory, strong national power, and its people had both the openness of the Tang Dynasty and the elegance of the Song Dynasty. The current emperor has been in office for more than 30 years, and has worked hard to govern the country, with fruitful results.

Fang Tong was extremely thankful that the dynasty she traveled to was peaceful enough. If she had encountered a chaotic world full of war, she would not have had a good life even if she turned into a cat.

In troubled times, many people exchanged their own children for food, and even a cat could be eaten alive.

It is better to be a dog in peacetime than a man in chaos. There is some truth in this saying.

Fang Tong's mood has changed a lot since she cried so hard that day. She no longer thinks about the past and only focuses on the present.

She came to the door, facing the overwhelming wind and rain, with a feeling of great pride in her heart.

The mountains and rivers are broken and the catkins are blown by the wind, my life is ups and downs like duckweed in the rain...Pah, it should be: No matter how many times I am beaten, I will still be strong, no matter which direction the wind blows.

She repeated the poems she had learned before in her mind, and secretly swore that one day, she would travel around this world as a human being and would not make her trip in vain.

Her eyes were determined, she raised her right paw and swung it fiercely in the air, and was moved beyond words by herself.

At this moment, her stomach growled and she felt hungry.

Fang Tong silently retracted her front paws and immediately threw aside any lofty ambitions. The most important thing in the world is eating. She jumped out of the door and ran towards the big kitchen in the front yard with ease.

Her appetite has been increasing recently, but Aunt Zhang in the small kitchen is always worried that she will be too full, so she limits the amount of goat milk she eats at each meal.

Feng Twelve did not share food with her at every meal. Only the cooks in the big kitchen would feed her every time they saw her, wishing they could feed her until she had a thick waist and fat arms like them.

Fang Tong came to the big kitchen, only to see steam rising inside. Two large pots were placed on the stove, and the whole room was filled with the smell of ginger.

"Add more ginger slices and green onions," Xiaonian said to the cook as he stood at the kitchen door, "and some brown sugar."

"Guard Nian, don't worry." The cook pulled over a low stool and said, "You are almost soaked. Come and warm yourself by the fire."

"No need," Xiaonian said, "I'll go back to my room and change. You guys hurry up and make the ginger soup and send it to the guard room. We've all been caught in the rain and soaked in water, so we need to warm up."

He turned and walked away, almost stepping on the kitten's tail.

"Hey, little fairy," Xiaonian stepped aside, "Did you step on it?"

He bent down, resting his hands on his knees, and said with a smile, "Go back to your room quickly, His Highness has brought you something good." Fang Tong was puzzled to see that he was soaked. No matter how heavy the rain was, they all brought rain gear, so they shouldn't be soaked like this.

She returned to the backyard and saw a candle light in the window, thinking that Feng Twelve had returned home.

She plunged into the small study.

The person in the room was walking towards the inner room. When he heard the noise, he turned around and looked.

The man and the cat looked at each other and stopped at the same time.

Fang Tong blinked and looked at the man with half-removed clothes, and didn't think there was anything wrong.

He did not take off all his clothes, but just took off his outer robe, and wore his inner clothes on the upper body, and still wore long pants and boots on the lower body, which was much more tightly covered than modern people.

However, Feng Twelve was sitting in a carriage, so how could he be like Xiaonian, with not a single dry spot on his body? Even his inner clothes were soaked and stuck tightly to his body, revealing obvious muscle lines.

Feng Twelve looked at each other with a flickering gaze, and then he strode into the inner room.

He had just come out of the river, his whole body was wet, and his unhealed wounds were itchy. After entering the house, he saw that the kitten was not there, so he took off his clothes as he walked. Unexpectedly, within just a few steps, the kitten rushed in from outside.

If there was just a cat in front of him, he wouldn't have to worry about it, but this cat could transform into a human, and a grown-up girl at that, so his disheveled clothes would inevitably scare the other party.

Feng Twelve went into the bathroom at the back of the inner room and took off his wet clothes and boots.

A servant brought hot water outside. After a simple bath, he changed into clean clothes and returned to his bedroom.

Wei Baichuan brought the doctor over and said, "Your Highness, you have been soaking in the river for more than half an hour. Let the doctor take a look at you."

Feng Twelve sat on the edge of the bed, undressed, and asked the doctor to check his wound and apply new medicine.

Wei Baichuan stood aside and muttered: "Don't do this again next time. The ditch is so deep, you just jump when you say so. There are so many of us, who can't be ordered around?"

"I'm close." Feng Twelve replied simply.

"There's no need for you to go down there in person," Wei Baichuan curled his lips, "What if you get washed away by the flood? The crown prince has just been injured, if anything happens to you, wouldn't Prince Ping and the others applaud?"

Fang Tong squatted by the door, listening to Wei Baichuan's chatter, and finally figured out what had happened today.

As she expected, the emperor stopped his carriage thirty miles away from the capital and would not return to the capital until the weather improved.

The reason why he stopped his journey was not only because of the heavy rain, but also because a landslide on the mountain road scared the horses pulling the carriage. The emperor was safe and sound thanks to the prince's protection.

Crown Prince Feng Yunxi injured his arm. The emperor felt sorry for his son and ordered his men to find a safe place and set up camp there.

The imperial guards rushed outside the city to convey the emperor's order, ordering the welcoming officials to disperse.

Feng Twelve and his party returned to the city and passed by the charity hall, where they happened to meet the prefect Wang Pu and his men evacuating the people.

The river water near the charity hall rose sharply and several children were accidentally washed away by the flood. Feng Twelve took the lead and jumped into the ditch, and rescued the people together with several guards.

The doctor cleaned his wound carefully and warned him, "Although your wounds have healed, there are still a few spots that have not healed. Don't drink water for the next few days and eat light food."

Feng Twelve nodded, and then he saw the kitten squatting in front of the door, staring at him without blinking, and he didn't know when the kitten came.

He moved his fingers slightly and covered his collar.

(End of this chapter)