Virtuous Consort carried a small flower basket as she picked blossoms, chatting with her palace attendants, her charming smile as gentle and beautiful as flowing water.
“Your Highness, why not wear this smiling beauty flower? His Majesty loves seeing you adorned with blossoms, praising your graceful elegance,” the chief palace maid teased her mistress with a light-hearted smile, holding a pale purple peony.
“You little minx, what nonsense are you speaking?” the beauty chided with feigned anger, a flicker of gloom soon passing over her face.
The Emperor did favor her, but with the imperial harem blooming like a hundred flowers and the Empress holding the highest position, His Majesty had not visited for over ten days.
“Enough, where is the princess? Wasn’t she just here playing with her ball?” Virtuous Consort grew somewhat worried. Her daughter had been spoiled a bit too much and had developed a slightly stronger temper.
However, with only two princesses in the palace, her daughter held the most noble status and was also the youngest. What harm was there if others yielded to her?
Others were simply narrow-minded. It was merely a young girl’s willfulness—why make such a fuss?
Mu’er was always most obedient in her presence, proving her heart was good at its core. With more teaching, she would understand propriety.
Sure enough, a servant stumbled over in a panic. “Your Highness, please come quickly! The princess… the princess has been beaten!”
What! The group was shocked. Virtuous Consort hurried over, determined to stand up for her daughter.
Gritting her teeth, she vowed fiercely to make the perpetrator pay dearly.
Upon arriving at the scene, the other palace attendants gradually halted their steps.
The Second Princess sat slumped on the ground, her face crisscrossed with swollen, broken whip marks, her entire body covered in dirt from rolling around, wailing in pain.
Yet none of the surrounding attendants stepped forward to comfort her. Instead, they watched coldly, their expressions full of mockery.
Looking further, those groaning and lying haphazardly nearby were none other than the princess’s own attendants.
All were cunning foxes with centuries of experience. Exchanging meaningful glances, they tacitly stopped in their tracks.
Seeing Virtuous Consort arrive, the Second Princess cried out, “Mother Consort, it hurts so much!”
Kicking and flailing wildly, her cries suddenly grew louder. Ling Xiao, noticing the girl’s triumphant glance toward her, found it amusing and twirled the whip in her hand.
Virtuous Consort embraced her daughter, soothing her while examining the injuries. The whip had struck with immense force, leaving deep wounds across the little princess’s face—a pitiful sight indeed.
The wounds were on her daughter’s body, but the pain pierced her own heart. Raising her head to glare at the small figure in the cool pavilion, waves of resentment surged within her!
She had only this one daughter, conceived after ten arduous months of pregnancy and a difficult birth. Due to her weak constitution, the imperial physicians had said she would never bear children again.
No one could casually bully her daughter.
“Grand Princess, Mu’er is your grand-niece! Even if she offended you in some way, you should direct your anger at me, not bully her.”
“Poor child, so young and already beaten like this…”
As she spoke, her jade-like arms tightened around her daughter, and she buried her head in weeping. Secretly, she thought that once these words spread, this demoness’s reputation would be ruined.
She resolved to plant more seeds of discord against her before the Emperor and send people to spread tales of this demoness’s wicked deeds!
What Goddess? Virtuous Consort thought again of the reason the Emperor no longer visited the harem, her hatred deepening.
Using her daughter as an excuse, even if she acted out of line, it would be understandable.
The Emperor would cover for her, and as for that demoness—ignorant of human affairs, savage and rude—how could she possibly detect her schemes?
“Hah, I’ve never seen someone ask for a beating themselves,” Ling Xiao remarked indifferently.
Virtuous Consort, not understanding her meaning, leaned her graceful neck forward slightly. The next moment, a heavy whip carrying a fierce gust of wind sent her tumbling to the ground.
“Ah, save me!” The cry was utterly wretched, the pain truly unbearable, yet the whip continued to fall, each strike more vicious than the last.
It lashed directly at the softest, most tender parts of the body. Consort Xian could not escape no matter how she dodged, only managing to protect her face as she rolled about wildly under the blows.
Now she finally understood how her daughter had gotten covered in mud!
The Second Princess, standing too close, was occasionally struck by the tip of the whip, so she cried while trying to flee from her mother.
Scrambling on hands and knees, she kicked Consort Xian in the face during her struggle before finally escaping.
Witnessing this scene of dogs biting dogs, Ling Xiao laughed even more joyfully.
Consort Xian’s palace attendants were not merely standing by idly; when their mistress was beaten like this, the servants had to intervene.
With a single glance from Lady Yang, the attendants of Fengyang Palace outnumbered the others, and Consort Xian’s people were hesitant—after all, they were facing the Goddess!
The situation was completely one-sided.
Still, a few loyal ones tried to throw themselves in front of the whip. The System watched gleefully as they were flung aside one by one:
“This wicked little princess’s whip is quite well-made, truly substantial.”
“Indeed, it can strike heavily when needed, or lightly when desired—truly an excellent whip,” Ling Xiao agreed wholeheartedly.
Consort Xian was beaten to the point of near-death agony. Any thoughts of revenge vanished, replaced only by the desire to avoid further blows. She babbled incoherently:
“Stop hitting! We are to become family, we’re all relatives!”
Good heavens, the entire scene fell silent.
Then Consort Xian spilled everything: her maternal family name was Gao, originally a fallen aristocratic clan.
They claimed to be a millennium-old family, but in truth, they relied on selling their daughters to maintain their outward facade.
Perhaps the ancestors could not bear the sight of such unfilial descendants, for a stroke of luck emerged from the ancestral graves: the family produced an exceptionally outstanding young man.
He excelled in both literary and martial arts, and was remarkably handsome as well. The noble families of the capital held him in extremely high regard.
Other families with such a son would practically worship him, hoping he would bring glory to the clan once grown.
Only the Gao family was different.
After Ling Xiao appeared, other families thought about how to flatter and fawn over the Goddess.
The Gao family did not think this way—they dreamed even bigger. Why fawn over Ling Xiao? Our family will simply marry the Goddess into our household.
Consort Xian, having lost all reason, muttered incessantly, “It’s a pity Lang’er has to marry a demoness. The family has wronged him, though it will benefit his future.”
As for why the Second Princess went mad at the sight of Ling Xiao, while part of it was frustration at being restrained, the majority of the reason lay with that so-called maternal uncle. Of course, it wasn’t some ridiculous love affair.
At most, it was the displeasure of a pampered imperial princess whose favorite toy had been taken away.
The System roared with laughter in Ling Xiao’s mind, “Oh my, this System has never seen such delusional confidence—and it turns out the whole family is this confident!”
Ling Xiao also laughed, sweetly so. Fools always brought joy.
All the palace attendants around dared not make a single sound. In their eyes, the supreme Goddess was not only coveted but also looked down upon—this was simply a death wish.
Consort Xian, who had survived palace intrigues, how had she become as foolish as her maternal family?
Only the painful sobs of the mother and daughter filled the scene. The Emperor rushed to the site as quickly as he could.
Consort Xian tilted her head slightly, a strand of hair falling beside her cheek. Her misty eyes, struggling to hold back tears, finally let a single pearl-like drop fall.
Impressive, truly impressive. The System and Ling Xiao marveled at the combat prowess of palace consorts. Such a performance could earn a little golden statue even in the entertainment world.
However, Li Yue was oblivious to such subtleties, passing by the virtuous consort and the young girl without a second thought, his mind entirely preoccupied with how to appease his aunt.
“Enough said. How could you, my dear nephew, marry such a woman with ample bosom but little intellect? Aren’t you afraid it might be passed on to your children?”
Unclear about the concept of inheritance but vaguely grasping the meaning, Li Yue offered an awkward smile. “When choosing a wife, one naturally considers such things, but when taking a concubine…”
Of course, it was all about whether she was beautiful or not.
Ling Xiao shot him a disdainful look, having vented enough of her frustration.
Suddenly turning serious, she said, “Everything is too coincidental, dear nephew.”
Li Yue was taken aback, his mind racing.