The next day.
Chu Zhao slept until noon before getting up. She practiced a set of spear forms in the courtyard, paying no mind to the astonished looks from the maids and serving women around her.
She drove the spear into the ground. The three-foot-thick bluestone paving slab was pierced straight through and shattered into pieces.
A serving woman peeking from a corner shuddered. Chu Zhao glanced sideways at her, and the woman immediately hunched her shoulders in fright, pretending nothing had happened as she went back to tending the flowers.
Chu Zhao ignored her. After changing and washing up, she ate as usual.
Chu Nanxing’s father had traveled day and night to get here; he was due to arrive in the capital that very morning. The boy had already gone to meet him.
Chu Zhao had just finished eating when an unfamiliar young maid came in, holding a long whip. “P-Princess Regent, as you instructed, the craftsmen at the prince’s residence have finished reworking the whip.”
Chu Zhao took it and gave it a look, then gave a noncommittal “Hmm.”
The length was acceptable, and the flexibility would do. It was good enough for beating people.
Just then, the steward hurried in. “Princess Regent, someone from the Court of Judicial Review is here. They’re at the main gate. You’d better go out.”
Crack!
The whip lashed across Steward Wang’s old face. He cried out in pain, clutching his cheek as he stared at Chu Zhao in shock.
Chu Zhao looked down at him. “You insolent thing. Who gave you permission to come in without announcing yourself?”
Steward Wang’s anger flared, but he forced down his contempt and resentment. “This old servant overstepped, but the Court of Judicial Review is waiting outside. Princess Regent, you should hurry out!” He sneered inwardly. She was just a green girl; she’d been a fool before, and now that she wasn’t, did she really think she could turn the world upside down?
Now that something like this had happened at Duke Shen’s Residence, how could the Noble Consort allow a disgraced woman like her to remain her daughter-in-law?
Chu Zhao smiled with a hint of amusement. Since returning from the dead, she’d been so busy dealing with the scum at Duke Shen’s Residence that she’d nearly forgotten there were a few more grasshoppers in this prince’s residence.
She walked out unhurriedly. As she passed him, she said coolly, “Go kneel at the courtyard gate. You’re not to get up until you’ve been there for ten shichen.”
“You!” Steward Wang was furious. He was a longtime servant of the household, bestowed on the prince by the Noble Consort when His Highness first established his residence!
Chu Zhao gave him a sidelong glance. A chill shot up Steward Wang’s spine. He recalled the rumors circulating around the residence these past few days and, in the end, swallowed his anger.
The Court of Judicial Review had come to arrest her! The Noble Consort had summoned the prince to the palace today. By the time His Highness returned, this wretched woman would surely have been cast aside!
He’d like to see what Shen Zhaozhao could do then!
“You. Keep an eye on him.” Chu Zhao pointed at the unfamiliar young maid.
The maid looked frightened. Steward Wang’s vicious glare made her face go pale, but Chu Zhao had already left. Steward Wang spat toward her back and started to walk off. The maid shakily reached out. “Steward Wang, the Princess Regent ordered you to—t-to go kneel… W-wah…”
Steward Wang: “…” This was outrageous! Now even a lowly maid dared to climb all over him!
Meanwhile, the Prince of You’s carriage had already left the palace.
Yan Qi sat inside, wrapped in his cloak, his brows slightly furrowed with impatience.
Qi Yun sat beside him, tense and uneasy.
“I told you to send the pills Daoist You had refined to the palace for the Noble Consort. What did you send her?”
Qi Yun dropped to his knees with a thud and replied in fearful embarrassment, “This subordinate took it upon himself to be clever… I had Daoist You fire up the furnace and refine… refine the real beauty elixir.”
Heaven knew, the pills Daoist You had made before would have left you tongue-tied—or turned you into an idiot—if they hadn’t poisoned you first.
Qi Yun had figured that no matter how ruthless His Highness was, he wouldn’t actually want to poison his own mother into silence, would he?
Who could have guessed…
Yan Qi rubbed his brow, then lifted his eyes and fixed Qi Yun with a cold stare. “There won’t be a next time.”
“Yes.” Qi Yun hurriedly agreed. He wouldn’t dare take it upon himself again.
Yan Qi drew a deep breath. Earlier, in the palace, Noble Consort Yu had been like a cawing old crow, every word of hers an absurdity. She’d gone on about how he was no longer what he used to be, how he commanded troops, how the Crown Prince’s position was within his grasp, and how Yu family’s pack of good-for-nothings could be of great use…
After a whole jumble of nonsense, she’d had only one aim: make him divorce Shen Zhaozhao and marry a noblewoman from a powerful family.
“Have Daoist You start the furnace again. Get him to refine some spirit pills that’ll make people watch their tongues, and send them to the palace.”
Qi Yun shivered. “Yes, Your Highness.”
The carriage went down one street. As it neared the residence, a noisy commotion reached them, and Yan Qi frowned.
Qi Yun immediately called out to the outside. “What’s going on?”
The guard driving the carriage replied, “Your Highness, it’s people from the Court of Judicial Review. They’ve brought constables and blocked the entrance to the residence. They say someone has accused the Princess Regent of poisoning her birth mother and causing the deaths of Duke Shen and his wife. They’ve come to take her back to the Court of Judicial Review for questioning.”
Qi Yun was so angry he laughed. “It must be those people from the Shen family! And the Court of Judicial Review has some nerve, coming to arrest someone at our residence!”
Yan Qi’s gaze darkened. He lifted the carriage curtain at his leisure and looked at the commotion outside his residence. “Surround them,” he said flatly.
Qi Yun took the order and got out.
Outside the prince’s residence, the people from the Court of Judicial Review were furious. The Prince of You’s personal guards wouldn’t budge an inch. It didn’t matter who they were: without the prince’s orders, anyone who trespassed would die!
They argued back and forth, citing every law and regulation of the Great Xuan Dynasty, but the bunch of ruffians remained unmoved.
Just then, a large force of armored guards with drawn weapons poured out from the far end of the street. The residence’s main gates opened, and another group of guards charged out, surrounding the people from the Court of Judicial Review.
The Assistant Judicial Commissioner of the Court of Judicial Review leading them went pale. “Y-you! What are you doing?!”
The carriage made its way through the crowd and stopped right at the gate. As the Court of Judicial Review officials watched in alarm, a man stepped down from the carriage without haste. He wore a fox-fur cloak, his eyes cold as snow. One casual glance from him was enough to make their hearts tremble.
“P-Prince of You…” The Assistant Judicial Commissioner of the Court of Judicial Review swallowed and steeled himself to step forward. “Your Highness, we are acting under orders. Duke Shen and his wife died suddenly at their residence, and now the Shen family has accused the Princess Regent of—”
“Then bring them here,” Yan Qi said coldly.
The Assistant Judicial Commissioner of the Court of Judicial Review didn’t understand at first. Bring them here?
“Isn’t my Princess Regent the one they’re accusing? I’ll lend you a place to hold court. Go ahead…” Yan Qi glanced at him. “Assistant Judicial Commissioner Li.”
Assistant Judicial Commissioner Li was sweating profusely. “Your Highness, that would be against the rules…”
Yan Qi ignored him and went straight inside. “Take Assistant Judicial Commissioner Li to fetch them. Bring the accusers, the witnesses—not one of them is to be left out.”
Assistant Judicial Commissioner Li’s legs gave way. The prince’s guards hoisted him up and carried him off to “fetch” them.
As for the remaining people from the Court of Judicial Review, they were all “invited” into the prince’s residence.
Yan Qi had just entered and passed the screen wall when he saw someone strolling lazily toward him.
With both hands tucked into her sleeves, she sauntered along like some rich young dandy who’d come to watch the fun.
“Well, you’ve ‘invited’ them inside already?” Chu Zhao said with a lazy smile. “Did you ‘invite them in’ to arrest me, or to ‘put me on trial’?”
Yan Qi caught the barbs in her words. Seeing that she was alone again, he frowned. “Where are the servants attending you?”
Chu Zhao smiled sardonically. “What servants? Everyone in Your Highness the Prince of You’s residence is a master except me~”
Qi Yun was sweating bullets.
Good grief, it was only one morning. Which fool had managed to offend this ancestor now?
The answer soon appeared.
Steward Wang hurried over and dropped to his knees as soon as he arrived. Clutching his whipped face, he made a show of admitting his guilt in a pitiful voice. “Your Highness, this old servant is guilty. I certainly didn’t mean to slight the people from the Court of Judicial Review~”
“This old servant went to fetch the Princess Regent, but the moment she saw me, she whipped me and ordered me to kneel… Wuwu…”
Steward Wang’s tears and self-pity seemed entirely genuine.
For a long while, he heard no response. He sneaked a glance upward—and nearly collapsed at what he saw.
Yan Qi looked down at him coldly, his gaze full of disdain. “The Princess Regent ordered you to kneel. Why aren’t you kneeling properly? What are you doing in the front courtyard?”
Steward Wang was drenched in cold sweat. His lips moved, but no words came out.
Chu Zhao spotted a small figure behind the crowd and pointed. The young maid’s eyes were red, and she timidly hurried over. “Y-Your Highness… I’m useless…”
Her voice was indistinct, and her face was swollen from the blows, with one palm print layered over another.
Chu Zhao lifted her chin. There was little emotion in her eyes. “You are pretty useless. I told you to keep an eye on him while he knelt, and you let him turn you into a punching bag instead?”
Tears spilled down the maid’s cheeks. She started to kneel, but Chu Zhao still had her chin in her grasp, so she couldn’t get down.
“What’s your name?”
“T-this servant is Xiaohua.”
“I don’t keep cowards—Little Ghost Grandson included—at my side,” Chu Zhao said coolly. She released the maid’s chin and handed her the whip. “Hit him back.”
Xiaohua’s eyes widened. Steward Wang looked just as incredulous and whipped around to stare at Yan Qi. “Your Highness, the Princess Consort—”
Yan Qi looked at him coldly, his eyes devoid of warmth.
Steward Wang felt as if he’d fallen into an ice cellar. The next moment, a whip cracked across his face. He yelped, clutching his cheek and staring in disbelief at Xiaohua, who had whipped him.
That lowborn maid actually dared to hit him?!
Chu Zhao said, “Haven’t you eaten? If you don’t beat his mouth bloody today, you can go hungry.”
At the mention of going without food, Xiaohua found her spirit. The girl was clearly terrified—her breath even hitched with sobs—but she swung the whip with such force that it whooshed through the air. Eyes shut, she lashed wildly at him, again and again.
The guards nearby twitched at the corners of their eyes. The people from the Court of Judicial Review, “forced” to watch, were even more dumbfounded.
Xiaohua: Wuwu… I can’t swing it anymore…
Chu Zhao: “Are you swatting mosquitoes? Put some more strength into it.”
Xiaohua: Wuwu… I really am using all my strength…
Chu Zhao: “You’re all skinny arms and legs, and still so useless. Give him a full one hundred and eight lashes, and you’ll get roast chicken for every meal for the next month.”
Xiaohua: I can do it! I could swing it another one thousand and eighty times!
Everyone else: Sweating bullets…
Brutal…
Truly brutal…
Who on earth said the Princess Consort of You was a fool everyone could bully? How could she be a fool?! She was clearly a fiendish ancestor!