Chapter 182: Chapter 182: 182: Prince Longevity (12)

“Your servant, my daughter dares not,” she said.

“Then why do you tremble?” the Emperor, with narrowed eyes that hinted at danger, ran his palm along her back.

“Your servant… your servant did not,” Cheng Xiao said with her eyes closed, not daring to look at the Emperor.

Her body suddenly tensed, and then she was thrown onto the bed, the man’s body covering hers.

The garments on her body were torn off with violence.

Before she could react, she had already been penetrated, and Cheng Xiao’s face turned deathly pale.

“Your Majesty, General Ye requests an audience.”

In her pain, Cheng Xiao vaguely heard the palace attendant’s report from outside, the sound growing distant.

–

Wanfu Palace.

The vast palace was desolate and neglected, with many areas dilapidated due to lack of maintenance over the years.

Only the main hall was still barely presentable.

The young man slowly removed the clothes that were extremely luxurious.

A suffocating stillness wreathed him.

It almost seemed to suit the rundown palace.

The clothes fell to the floor, and the young man walked barefoot over them.

Behind him, the Little Eunuch was full of anger: “Prince Rong has truly gone too far, you’re a Prince too, how can he make you wear such clothes.”

The young man softly reminded, “Be careful of what you say, if someone hears, you will be punished.”

“Prince, I am angry for you.”

The young man lowered his eyes, his long lashes covering them, and after a moment he finally spoke, “It doesn’t matter.”

“How does it not matter? Prince Rong is becoming more and more outrageous, last time on the street, and this time in front of so many people…”

The young man raised his head, a strange sparkle in his light brown pupils: “Staying alive is more important.”

Only if he was alive could he take revenge.

Only if he remained alive…

The Little Eunuch felt heartache for his master.

But he was just a Little Eunuch, the kind that couldn’t even raise his voice among other eunuchs.

His master should have been someone held in the palm of one’s hand, so why…

“Prince…these clothes?”

The young man let down his hair, his slender fingers passing through it smoothly, the tips slowly moving down.

The hair escaped through his fingers, and he grabbed at the air: “Hang them up.”

“Prince?”

“If they are damaged, Prince Rong will have more reasons.” He needed to see them, to remind himself of what they had done to him.

“Yes.”

The young man sat down on a chair.

His body gradually relaxed.

Barefoot, he gently swayed his feet.

There seemed to be a wind outside.

It blew against the decrepit windows, causing a clattering noise.

After a while, he lay down in bed, and the Little Eunuch tucked him under the covers.

The palace was very cold, and the cotton quilt was old and thin, not warm at all.

The icy quilt on his body made him even colder.

He closed his eyes, and for some reason, the cold façade of that girl inside the hall flashed through his mind.

The current head of the Prince Cheng Residence was Princess Consort Cheng; she wasn’t born to the Princess Consort, so surely her days in the residence were not easy.

Yet she seemed…

To be doing well.

–

Cheng Xiao was left in the palace, and Princess Consort Cheng made a scene at Chuzheng’s place that very night.

“You harlot, why wasn’t it you who was left behind?”

“Why should it have been me?”

“It was you, it was all your doing, wasn’t it!” Princess Consort Cheng pointed at Chuzheng: “Xiaoxiao’s entry into the palace was all your doing, right?”

“It was not,” Chuzheng denied.

“You harlot dare to do but not admit, you wretch, return my Xiaoxiao to me…”

Princess Consort Cheng almost threw caution to the wind, lunging forward to strike Chuzheng.

Lv Zhu blocked her with a heart pounding with fear.

Chuzheng picked up something nearby and smashed it down on Princess Consort Cheng’s head.

Princess Consort Cheng’s eyes rolled back, and she fainted.

Chuzheng discarded the weapon in her hand, “Throw this person out.” It’s so much simpler this way!

The servants exchanged glances, thinking how fierce the young mistress has become…

Chuzheng pulled out several silver notes, which Lv Zhu distributed one by one.

“Remember, from now on in the Prince’s Mansion, the young mistress’s word is law.”

Of course, Princess Consort Cheng had also bought the loyalty of the servants in the residence, but she was never as generous as Chuzheng.

Each silver note was worth a hundred taels.

Chuzheng sat at the stone table, her eyes and brows filled with coldness, “If you want money, come directly to me. Don’t do anything behind my back, everything can be discussed.”

The servants swallowed hard.

Princess Consort Cheng was carried out by the servants, who didn’t dare to take her back to her courtyard, and directly threw her outside.

Just as the young mistress had ordered…

The following day.

Chuzheng had just gotten up when Lv Zhu hurried over, “Miss, I just heard the news, the second miss has been beaten with a plank, almost half-dead.”

“Why?”

The original owner had not been beaten.

Could it be that Cheng Xiao had done something?

Lv Zhu lowered her voice, “It is said that the second miss and His Majesty… at that moment, suddenly developed red spots on her body, which also spread to His Majesty.”

Lv Zhu hesitated, “Miss, the dress the second miss was wearing seems to be the one they sent over before, which you asked me to throw away. I returned it, and somehow the second miss ended up wearing it.”

Chuzheng: “…” Thankfully, I didn’t wear it.

Lv Zhu continued, “The second miss was beaten because the Imperial Physician found something wrong with that dress. His Majesty thought the second miss didn’t want to serve him in bed and did it on purpose, that’s why she was punished.”

“That dress was originally for you to wear. If you had worn it and something happened…”

Even if she hadn’t been selected, any issue that arose in the palace could potentially have cost her life.

Lv Zhu shuddered at the thought, feeling a chill running through her limbs.

Thankfully, the miss did not wear it.

Princess Consort Cheng and the second miss were simply unreasonable.

The miss did not compete or scramble for anything, so where had she offended them to be treated like this.

–

When Princess Consort Cheng heard the news, it was noon. She didn’t bother to pick a fight with Chuzheng and tried to find a way to enter the Imperial Palace to see Cheng Xiao.

Although the Emperor had punished Cheng Xiao, he had not sent her away from the palace.

Princess Consort Cheng knelt for half a day but couldn’t bring her daughter back with her.

Ye Yang had only entered the palace that night and hadn’t gone there since.

Having spent a night in the palace, Cheng Xiao was now the Emperor’s woman.

If Ye Yang still wanted a future, he wouldn’t be foolish enough to openly seek out Cheng Xiao.

Not to mention, the Emperor had heard rumors outside that suggested something inappropriate between Ye Yang and Cheng Xiao.

Even if it had happened before, as an emperor, could he not feel a bit disgusted?

Sure enough, within a couple of days, Ye Yang received an Imperial Decree.

On the surface, it was a promotion, but in reality, it was a demotion.

There was really nothing Princess Consort Cheng could do, so she had to quiet down.

By the time she thought of the matters at home, the entire Prince’s Mansion had already come under Chuzheng’s sway.

“You despicable girl, do you have no sense of propriety?” Princess Consort Cheng raged outside in the courtyard, flanked by a trusted confidante who had always followed her.

“Is the Prince’s Mansion something a little wench like you can control?”

“You come out here!”

“How can you be so wicked? If it weren’t for you, Xiaoxiao wouldn’t have entered the palace! You wretched jinx, come out here! Do you think hiding will settle everything?”

Her pitiable Xiaoxiao.

The Imperial Palace is a place that devours people without spitting out the bones; they have no backing now, how can Xiaoxiao survive in there?

The more Princess Consort Cheng worried about Cheng Xiao, the more she resented Chuzheng.

But no matter how much she caused a commotion, she couldn’t even catch a glimpse of Chuzheng.

Even the people in the Prince’s Mansion wouldn’t listen to her commands.

This made Princess Consort Cheng so angry that she felt like her heart was on fire.