Whip her face to match the injury on mine?
The moment Xie Yuantang said this, everyone was stunned, their eyes subconsciously gathering on her face.
“I don’t want to!”
Xie Yumo immediately covered her face in terror. “The same as you? Wouldn’t I be disfigured then!”
She refused to become an ugly monster!
Xie Zhaoqing’s expression darkened as well. Xie Yumo was his most doted-on daughter; how could he possibly watch her be bullied?
“Xie Yuantang, what arrogant nonsense are you spouting!”
Xie Zhaoqing slammed the table and snorted coldly, the appearance of a loving father completely gone. “Yumo is your younger sister. How improper is it to raise a hand against her in front of everyone? Stop this nonsense!”
On the day of her homecoming visit, right in front of him, and with the Fifth Prince and Qu Gonggong present, wasn’t Xie Yuantang just grinding his face into the dirt!
Xie Yuantang raised an eyebrow, her young, tender face showing no hint of her emotions. Beside her, however, Si Tu Yan frowned in anger.
“You’re the one with the foul mouth! You’re the one spouting nonsense! You’re not allowed to be fierce to my wife!”
Xie Zhaoqing was instantly choked up.
He glanced at Qu Pei out of the corner of his eye and forcibly swallowed his words.
He could yell at Xie Yuantang, but he didn’t dare be disrespectful to Si Tu Yan, even if he was just a fool.
“Wife, don’t be afraid. I won’t let him bully you!”
Si Tu Yan grabbed Xie Yuantang’s small hand, his Peach Blossom Eyes filled with anxiety.
A warmth spread through Xie Yuantang’s heart. She smiled and nodded. “Mm, I’m not afraid. Husband, you don’t need to be afraid either.”
After speaking, she lifted her head to look at Qu Pei. The tassels on her head swayed with the movement, looking incredibly soft and cute. “Gonggong, I’m afraid no one else would dare. This rule… I’ll have to trouble Gonggong to help enforce it.”
This meant she intended to proceed with punishing Xie Yumo!
A sharp glint flashed in Qu Pei’s eyes as he asked, “May I ask the Princess Consort, is the punishment to be whipping?”
Xie Yuantang paused. Naturally, she wanted the beating to be as harsh as possible, but Qu Pei represented the Emperor, and she couldn’t appear too ruthless in front of him.
Thinking of this, Xie Yuantang sighed. “We are sisters, after all. She can treat me this way, but I cannot be so unjust. Let’s substitute it with thirty slaps to the face. I’ve troubled Gonggong.”
Qu Pei bowed his head and complied. “Princess Consort is too serious. This servant is merely acting on orders.”
With that, he stepped toward Xie Yumo.
“No, I don’t want to be hit!”
Never expecting that Xie Yuantang would actually dare to have her beaten, Xie Yumo panicked and cried out, “I don’t want my face to be ruined! Father, save me!”
“Yumo! You can’t…”
Wei Lian’s eyes were red with anxiety. Forgetting that she was still kneeling, she scrambled forward to block the servants, not allowing them to take Xie Yumo away. “Princess Consort, how can you be so cruel? Yumo is only nine years old, and she’s your younger sister!”
“You only suffered a small injury, but Yumo was humiliated by you in front of everyone!”
Xie Yuantang: “?”
Smelling the overwhelming scent of manipulation wafting from Wei Lian, Xie Yuantang was so angry she had to laugh.
“Yes, yes, I was injured, but I’m still alive, am I not? Though she hasn’t been slapped once, her spirit has been wounded!”
Xie Yuantang blinked her large eyes. “Is that what you were going to say? Just two days ago, I read a storybook where a vicious old woman said exactly that. Even your expression is identical to hers!”
Wei Lian: “…”
Xie Yuantang smiled harmlessly. “Eh? Why have you stopped talking?”
“Is it because I stole your lines and you don’t know what to say anymore?”
Wei Lian’s face flushed red, partly from anger, partly from shame.
Si Tu Yan watched this scene with curiosity, leaning his head in to ask in a low voice, “Wife, you’re so amazing! How did you know what she was going to say?”
“That’s nothing. I even know what she’s going to say next.”
Xie Yuantang winked triumphantly at Si Tu Yan. “She’s definitely going to call for my father. All green tea bitches are like this. Just you wait and see if you don’t believe me.”
The moment her voice fell, Wei Lian’s affected cry was heard, “Master~~~”
“Wow!”
Si Tu Yan’s Peach Blossom Eyes widened in surprise, and he clapped his hands excitedly. “Wife, you were so accurate! She really did call for your father!”
Wei Lian: “…”
Xie Zhaoqing: “…”
“Ahem…”
Qu Pei cleared his throat, trying his best to control the corners of his mouth from turning up in a smile. He walked up to Xie Yumo. “Second Miss Xie, if you please.”
“No, I don’t want to!”
“Yumo! Gonggong, I beg you to show mercy…”
Qu Pei let out a cold snort.
He would give face to Xie Zhaoqing, but he certainly wouldn’t give face to a mere concubine like Wei Lian. He immediately ordered his men to drag Xie Yumo out.
“Smack! Smack! Smack!”
One crisp slap after another echoed from the courtyard.
Just from the sound, one could tell how exquisitely those slaps were delivered!
Coupled with Xie Yumo’s miserable screams, Xie Yuantang felt as if her ears were receiving a massage.
This was how it should be. This was only one ten-thousandth of what she owed the original owner of this body!
“Yumo, oh, Yumo…”
Wei Lian rushed out in a panic and threw herself over Xie Yumo, trying to stop Qu Pei.
For a moment, only Xie Yuantang, Si Tu Yan, and Xie Zhaoqing were left in the hall.
Xie Zhaoqing glanced outside, then looked back at Xie Yuantang.
He saw things more clearly than Wei Lian. The one calling the shots here wasn’t Qu Pei, but Xie Yuantang. To save Xie Yumo, he had to get Xie Yuantang to relent.
“Yuantang, Father knows you’ve been wronged at home in the past.”
Xie Zhaoqing sighed, his face full of deep pain. “Yumo has been spoiled rotten, so it’s inevitable that she neglected you at times. But she is your younger sister, isn’t she? You’ve taught her a lesson, and you should have vented enough of your anger by now, right?”
His words implied that Xie Yuantang was the unruly and domineering daughter.
Xie Yuantang tilted her little head, her fingers hooking the tassels that hung from her twin buns and playfully winding them around her finger. She smiled slightly and said, “Father, actually, I also want to get along well with my younger sister.”
“That’s good. Then quickly tell them to release…”
“Where is my mother?”
Before Xie Zhaoqing could finish, he was suddenly interrupted by Xie Yuantang.
The young, frail girl’s large eyes were filled with an unyielding insistence.
“Today is my homecoming visit. Logically, my mother should be the one to come out. Why is it Wei Lian, a mere concubine, who is by Father’s side?”
Xie Yuantang’s voice turned slightly cold.
Although she was only nine, when her dark eyes stared straight at someone like this, they inexplicably inspired fear.
A chill ran through Xie Zhaoqing’s heart as he suddenly realized that this was Xie Yuantang’s true goal!
From the very beginning, she had been aiming for Leng Yunwan!
From cozying up to him when she entered, to slapping down Wei Lian and Xie Yumo, all of that was incidental, and also a show of force for his benefit.
Her real objective was simply to see Leng Yunwan!
“Your mother…”
Xie Zhaoqing chose his words carefully, pondering for a moment before saying, “She is gravely ill and not fit to see guests. You know this.”
“It’s alright. My husband and I will find an Imperial Physician to treat Mother.”
Xie Yuantang turned to Si Tu Yan with a sweet smile. “Right, Husband?”
“Mm, we’ll get a doctor for Wife’s mother!” Si Tu Yan nodded emphatically.
Xie Zhaoqing’s gaze darkened. Listening to Xie Yumo’s increasingly miserable cries from outside, he took a deep breath before finally saying, “Your mother is not at home.”
“Your mother was gravely ill, so for her sake, Father has already sent her to Hua Jue Temple to recuperate.”
Xie Yuantang’s expression changed drastically.
Damn it!
The scum dad sent her mother away?!!