.

It was nearly an hour before Da Fan left the room. It took a good while for the feeling to return to her legs and some other minutes for the trembling to stop.

Da Fan saw Feng Huang; he had changed, and his hair was left loose to hang limply at his shoulders.

"Husband?" Da Fan called for his attention.

Feng Huang saw Da Fan and groaned. Was this woman trying to break his self control?

"Da Fan?" he called sweetly in return and smiled at her. He could see the twinkle in her eyes and knew that she knew the effect she had on him.

"Are you finished? Lets eat." Feng Huang held out a hand to her and helped Da Fan into her seat. Dishes of roast duck, century soup, vegetables and rice lined the table.

The two flirted back and forth much to the embarrassment of the servants in the room who were blushing. Who said Master Feng didn't favour the Second Madame? They were amazed at the depth of feeling between the Master and Madame.

After dinner, Feng Huang sent away the servants and sat together with Da Fan, having tea.

"How was the party at Marquis Mo's?"

Da Fan wondered when Feng Huang was going to ask that question. "It went well other than Cong Wei Yang shaming herself. Marquis Mo and his wife seem to have dropped into a pot of gold."

"Hmm, what do you mean?"

"Just that the two had adorned themselves with plenty of jewellery. I wonder where they got the money to afford that much gold."

Da Fan looked over her tea cup to see Feng Huang deep in thought. To give him a final push, she asked, "Does the Marquis or his wife have any territory near the Eastern border?"

A light bulb seemed to go off inside Feng Huang's head. He stood in a flurry, and pressed a kiss to Da Fan's forehead.

"I must be off, darling. Thank you."

When Feng Huang left, Da Fan sighed and called, "Meirin?"

The maid seemingly appeared out of thin air. "Mistress?" She bowed then looked at Da Fan.

"Did you find out who are Marquis Mo's allies?"

Meirin nodded her head and gave Da Fan a scroll. "Marquis Mo is said to be a neutral party within the court; however, recently, it was discovered that he has begun to interact with the Second Prince. News is that he is trying to tie his house to the Second Prince."

Who is he marrying? His eldest daughter?" Da Fan asked, and her mind flashed back to the beautiful girl that she had seen perform.

"No, his youngest, Mo Qing. Her mother was once a concubine but was promoted to third wife."

Da Fan nodded her head. "He probably promoted the mother to give the daughter a legitimate status. There is no way he would give his eldest and most prized daughter to the Second Prince. You can't put all your eggs in one basket."

Meirin knew her Mistress was smart. "That's true. He's trying to tie his eldest to the Third Prince, Jing Heng."

"The general?"

"Yes, Mistress."

Da Fan nodded, and threw the scroll into the fireplace, watching it burn.

"Have Ling or Ji continue to investigate. Meanwhile, I want you to continue watching Cong Wei Yang. I feel that she will make a move soon."

_________________________________

Feng Huang sat in the carriage; he was on his way from the palace. He had just reported to the Emperor and the court of his findings on the Chawanian border breach. He'd half expected the old foggies of the court to give him a hard time with the lack of expected results from the findings.

Feng Huang had followed Da Fan's advice and had Marquis Mo investigated. Other than the unexpected drop in a pot of gold, Marquis Mo was as clean as a baby's bottom. Either that or the people involved had mouths that were sealed tighter than a consort's corset.

Feng Huang got lost in his thoughts, trying to piece together the unusualness of the border breach case when the carriage suddenly jerk violently, throwing its occupants to the floor.

Steward Xin who was driving the carriage shouted at the perpetrator. "What do you think you're doing? Do you have holes for eyes? What if something happened to my Master?"

Feng Huang just happened to pick himself off the carriage floor when he heard Steward Xin's sharp voice outside.

"Do you want to be beaten to death?"

"Hold on!" Feng Huang opened the carriage door and stepped outside. By this point, a small crowd had gathered around the collided carriages.

"Steward Xin, what happened?"

Steward Xin looked at his Master. When did he get off the carriage?

"Master, this driver suddenly rushed onto the official road and hit the carriage."

Feng Huang looked from Steward Xin to the other carriage driver. The carriage looked like an ordinary carriage but it was the driver who caught his attention.