“Your Highness, please calm down!” Two elderly maids immediately stepped forward to support her.
They were none other than the ruthless Zhang Mama and Li Mama, long at Meng Wanqing’s side.
Zhang Mama steadied her arm and whispered, “Your Highness, now is not the time for anger. Meng Wantang has the protection of His Highness. Forcing the issue won’t work—we must plan carefully.”
Li Mama nodded in agreement, her voice equally cautious. “Indeed, Your Highness. I suspect Meng Wantang is well-prepared; otherwise, how could she have just happened to be discovered by His Highness? We must first understand her backing before we think of a way to deal with her.”
Meng Wanqing drew a deep breath, forcing down her fury. Suddenly, she recalled the Taoist she had secretly summoned yesterday.
A glint of hope flickered in her eyes.
The Taoist had said she lacked fortune. To regain Xiao Jingyuan’s favor and solidify her position, she needed a “fortune treasure” by her side—one that had to come from her womb to be effective.
But her body was unable to conceive. The Taoist suggested that Meng Wantang could be used as a surrogate. Meng Wanqing could then take the child and raise it under her own name. In doing so, the fortune would transfer to her.
“Yes… the fortune treasure!” A madness sparked in Meng Wanqing’s eyes. “Once I have the treasure, His Highness will no longer favor that bitch!”
She immediately commanded her maid, “Bring Meng Wantang here. Tell her I have urgent matters to discuss.”
Soon, Meng Wantang arrived with her maid. Upon entering, she found Zhang Mama and Li Mama standing on either side of the table, their gazes hostile.
Before she could speak, Zhang Mama snapped first, her tone sharp and venomous: “Meng girl, you’re growing bolder by the day, using your charms to spin His Highness around and even disregarding the princess?”
Li Mama followed with her own poisoned words: “A lowly illegitimate daughter, yet fortunate enough to enter the prince’s residence, and now you dare incite His Highness to kill the princess? You’re truly insolent! I see you as a broom star—bringing doom to the Meng family, and now aiming to curse the prince’s household as well!”
The two of them worked in perfect tandem, each word meant to belittle Meng Wantang and crush her spirit, a deliberate attempt at psychological manipulation.
Meng Wantang remained calm. She waited until their mouths went dry from berating her, then slowly raised her eyes, a cold glint flashing within them. “Done talking?”
Shamed and furious at her lack of fear, Zhang Mama raised her hand to slap her. “You filthy girl! How dare you talk back!”
Before her hand could touch Meng Wantang’s cheek, Meng Wantang swiftly sidestepped, grabbed her wrist, and twisted hard.
“Crack!” The sound of bone dislocating echoed clearly.
Zhang Mama screamed in agony, cold sweat pouring down.
Li Mama leapt to assist her, but Meng Wantang’s kick landed squarely in her abdomen, sending her flying against the wall. She slid to the ground, curling up, clutching her stomach.
“You… you dare hit us?” Zhang Mama’s face drained of color, disbelief in her eyes.
Meng Wantang sneered and stepped closer, two silver lights flicking from her fingertips—special slow-acting poisons aimed at the necks of the two maids.
Once activated, the venom would cause bone-deep pain to spread from the marrow outward.
Daily torment, yet not immediately fatal.
“Hit you, and what of it?” Her voice was icy. “Your mistress can hardly secure her own life, yet you dare act like a dog in power here?”
The moment her words fell, Zhang Mama and Li Mama felt an unbearable pain surge through their bodies.
It was as if countless insects gnawed at their bones. They writhed on the floor, blood trickling from their mouths, staining the ground red.
“Meng Wantang! You’ve rebelled!” Meng Wanqing trembled with fury, pointing at her. “How dare you attack in my courtyard? I will tell His Highness to punish you!”
“Punish me?” Meng Wantang turned slowly, advancing step by step, her eyes full of mockery. “Meng Wanqing… do you even have the right?”
She raised her hand and—smack!—slapped Meng Wanqing hard across the face.
The force sent her head snapping aside, half her cheek instantly swelling.
“You dare hit me?!” Meng Wanqing clutched her face, disbelief written across her features.
“Hit you, and what then?” Meng Wantang bent close, her voice cutting like ice. “Your dowry is gone, your villa empty, your parents and four brothers reduced to paupers. Even your precious face has been trampled. How does it feel to fall from the clouds into hell?”
She paused, watching Meng Wanqing’s face drain of color.
A cruel smile tugged at her lips. “And this is only the beginning, Meng Wanqing. What you owe me, I will reclaim—thousands of times over. Consider this merely the appetizer.”
Meng Wanqing trembled violently, a chill running from her feet to her head.
She stared at Meng Wantang’s icy gaze and commanding presence, no longer arrogant, now consumed by fear that had pierced to her very bones.
Zhang Mama and Li Mama writhed on the ground, blood seeping from their mouths, too weak even to rise.
They could only watch as Meng Wantang stepped toward Meng Wanqing.
Now, she exuded neither the frailty nor softness of her former self, radiating a piercing aura.
Her eyes were as cold as ice, her elevated posture sending a shiver of fear down Meng Wanqing’s spine.
Standing over her, Meng Wantang’s eyes mocked her, recalling how in the previous life, Meng Wanqing had trampled over her hands, watched her agony, reveling in her suffering.
Now, it was Meng Wanqing’s turn to taste that pain.
Meng Wantang lifted her foot without hesitation, pressing it down on Meng Wanqing’s hand.
The tip of her shoe crushed the bones.
“Ah!” The pain forced Meng Wanqing to scream, tears streaming uncontrollably. She struggled to pull her hand back, only to be pressed harder, as if her bones would shatter.
“Meng Wantang! Let go! My hand will break!”
Meng Wantang’s laugh was cold. Not loosening her grip, she bent down and slapped Meng Wanqing across both cheeks repeatedly.
The sharp slaps echoed, leaving her face red and swollen.
“These few slaps,” she said, icy and bone-chilling, “are returned to you.”
She leaned closer, voice cutting: “You wanted me to bear a child for you, to give you a fortune treasure, didn’t you?”
Meng Wanqing trembled in pain, yet still glared defiantly. “You dare refuse? My parents and four brothers will deal with you! They love me most and will never let you go!”
She assumed Meng Wantang would crave familial approval, desiring recognition from her kin.
But Meng Wantang laughed—a sound full of disdain and cold indifference, as if hearing the greatest joke in the world.
“You think I don’t know they are my own parents and brothers?” she said, brow raised, dripping with sarcasm. “You think I care for their approval? Or crave their love? Meng Wanqing… you are far too naive.”v