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Zhuang Yuexi felt that Empress Dowager Zhuang's aura suddenly got very cold. She inwardly told herself that this girl was really done for. Empress Dowager was really angry this time. Even if His Majesty came right now to save her, it was futile!
However, contrary to Zhuang Yuexi’s expectations, Empress Dowager Zhuang didn't burst out with anger and merely stared at Gu Jiao's outstretched hand for a while, her eyes getting colder and colder.
As an elder, you must control your anger!
Empress Dowager Zhuang closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and somehow managed to suppress the overflowing anger in her heart.
Zhuang Yuexi became excited. Here it comes, here it comes!
"Who allowed you in?!”
Empress Dowager Zhuang shouted with a stern voice.
That’s right, who let you in? Zhuang Yuexi felt smug, but she soon realized that something wasn’t right. Why were Eunuch Qin and all of them looking at her?
Her heart thumped for no reason. She looked at Empress Dowager Zhuang and realized in hindsight that the question just now seemed to be directed at her.
The Empress Dowager… was blaming her for breaking into her bedchamber?
How come?!
That girl was obviously the one who broke in first, right? She even climbed the Empress Dowager's phoenix bed!
Even at this moment, that girl was still on the bed and hadn't come down yet! But instead of punishing her, Empress Dowager scolded her own grandniece? What kind of logic was this?!
Without waiting for Zhuang Yuexi to figure out what was going on, Empress Dowager Zhuang spoke again, her voice as majestic and cold as ever, "Who is guarding the bedchamber today?"
Eunuch Qin hurriedly answered, "Responding to Empress Dowager, it's Little Li and Little De."
Without batting an eyelid, Empress Dowager Zhuang said without mercy, "Flog them twenty times and kick them out of Renshou Palace. Aijia doesn't want to see them again!"
Zhuang Yuexi's body shivered!
It was her who asked Eunuch Li and Eunuch De to let her in and promised them that she would be responsible for anything that would happen later. But in the end, she dragged them both down with her.
Empress Dowager Zhuang didn’t necessarily fail to understand that it was her who persuaded the two of them to let her in, but Empress Dowager Zhuang punished them anyway, which was to set an example.
"Spare this servant—— Empress——"
Outside the bedchamber, before the two people could utter a complete sentence, Eunuch Qin quickly had people gag their mouths and dragged them away to be punished.
This was the imperial palace, where there was no room for the slightest mistake. It was the same for Empress Dowager in those days. Everyone only saw her glorious side, but they had no idea how much hardship she had suffered while walking every step of this bloody path.
Was the Empress Dowager born with such decisiveness and fierceness? The answer was no. It wasn’t until she had suffered a lot of losses and many people died that she decided to step on the bones of the dead and ascend to the phoenix seat of Empress Dowager.
Did Eunuch Qin sympathize with them?
Not at all.
Today, they were easily persuaded by Zhuang Yuexi; if one day they were easily bewitched by the enemy, wouldn’t it be their side that would suffer?
The sound of a plank hitting the flesh could be heard outside. With each beating, Zhuang Yuexi's face turned paler and paler. By the time Eunuch Qin came back to give a report, Zhuang Yuexi's face had lost its color.
She looked at herself kneeling at the feet of the Empress Dowager, and then at Gu Jiao sitting comfortably on Empress Dowager's phoenix bed. For a moment, she couldn’t figure out what went wrong.
Obviously, she was the precious daughter of the Zhuang Family while that girl was just mud in the dust.
Empress Dowager Zhuang spoke with a heavy tone, "What are you still doing here? Do you still need Aijia to tell you what to do? You trespassed in Aijia's bedchamber and broke Aijia's phoenix seal, what? Are you still waiting for Aijia to reward you? You should be glad that your surname is Zhuang and you are a part of Aijia's maiden family, otherwise, even if you have ten heads, they wouldn't be enough for Aijia to chop off!"
“Empress Dowager!” Zhuang Yuexi was so frightened that her whole person prostrated on the floor.
Empress Dowager Zhuang looked away indifferently and said firmly, "Go back to the Zhuang Family and reflect on your mistakes behind closed doors for Aijia!"
Zhuang Yuexi said with grievance in her tone, "The phoenix seal isn’t..."
Empress Dowager Zhuang interrupted her coldly, "You don’t want your life anymore, it seems."
This remark was too heartbreaking.
In front of the palace maids, in front of Gu Jiao, Zhuang Yuexi felt as if she had been severely slapped in the face. The punishment of reflecting behind closed doors wasn’t terrible; the terrible thing was losing face in front of the people who were looked down upon by her family.
Gu Jiao's slap only hurt Zhuang Yuexi's face, but Empress Dowager's slap ruthlessly crushed Zhuang Yuexi's self-esteem.
Zhuang Yuexi felt extremely wronged, so wronged that her tears began to swirl in her eyes, "...Yes, Yuexi shall excuse herself. May the Empress Dowager take care of her health. Yuexi will visit Empress Dowager in the palace another day."
Empress Dowager Zhuang blandly said, "You'd better not come without Aijia's summons."
Zhuang Yuexi: It’s just a polite remark. Is it really necessary to be so ruthless?
Zhuang Yuexi left the palace with a sorry figure.
The two sisters of the Zhuang Family entered the palace together a few days ago to accompany the Empress Dowager, but because Empress Dowager only doted on Zhuang Yuexi, Zhuang Mengdie lost interest and packed her bags to go home early, which ironically saved her from embarrassment.
Eunuch Qin brought in the palace maids in charge of cleaning and had them tidy up the mess on the floor.
A lamp was lit in the bedchamber.
Perhaps it was because of the little girl on the phoenix bed, even though it looked out of place, it unexpectedly made people feel a trace of vitality within this cold and harsh palace.
Gu Jiao sat on the bed, pointing her fingers together, not knowing whether she should come down or not.
Empress Dowager Zhuang came to the bed and sat down, staring at the reddened back of her hand with burning eyes. She remained silent.
Eunuch Qin walked over with sharp eyes and said to Gu Jiao with a smile, "Young miss, your hand is hurt. This servant has some jinchuang medicine here. Let us apply some for young miss."
Gu Jiao looked at her hand oddly, "Where is it hurt? It’s not."
Empress Dowager Zhuang's gaze became chilly.
Gu Jiao looked at her, then at Eunuch Qin.
Eunuch Qin winked at her meaningfully.
Gu Jiao: "Oh."
She held out her little paw forward, "Alright."
Eunuch Qin was about to apply medicine to Gu Jiao, but as if something suddenly crossed his mind, he patted his head and said, "Look at my memory ah. This servant has just finished cleaning, so this servant’s hands are not clean at the moment. I’ll have to trouble the Empress Dowager to apply medicine to the young miss’s hand."
Look, look, this was what it meant to be a man of great experience and smarts.
Raz P.'s Thoughts
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