Nan Shiying stopped, turned, and looked back.
A faint smile played on her lips as she stood unmoving, gazing at the old woman without any intention of entering Jingren Palace.
The old woman glanced at Nan Shiying, then suddenly turned and slapped the palace maid’s face fiercely. She berated loudly, “You blind fool! Who gave you the audacity to be disrespectful to the Consort? Hurry and kneel to beg for forgiveness.”
Though these words were directed at the maid, they carried an unmistakable implication of scolding someone else. Nan Shiying’s smile deepened.
The palace maid, covering her face, walked to Nan Shiying and knelt down, “This servant has sinned. I beg Your Highness to punish me.”
Nan Shiying raised her hand, stroked the maid’s head, and said with a light, mocking tone, “What a pity. You were merely following orders, and now you’re being berated. But then again, what else can you expect from a mere palace maid? Be smarter in the future. Look at this one, and this one; they are much smarter than you.”
Nan Shiying gestured towards the old woman and then towards Eunuch Wang.
The palace maid lowered her head, not daring to reply, but the hand hanging by her side clenched into a tight fist.
The old woman frowned imperceptibly, scoffing inwardly. Yet, her face was a mask of respectful smiles as she bowed to Nan Shiying, “Consort, the Empress Dowager awaits you.”
“Why the rush?” Nan Shiying looked up, a sharp glint flashing in her eyes. Her commanding presence made even the old woman, who always accompanied the Empress Dowager, feel a shiver of apprehension.
She lowered her head, her clasped hands held tightly together.
“Remember what I told you.”
Nan Shiying’s words echoed in the maid’s ears like a devil’s whisper. Even knowing that stepping forward might lead to an abyss, she couldn’t resist peeking in.
She smiled and stepped into Jingren Palace.
Inside Jingren Palace, on the phoenix throne in the center of the main hall sat a woman in her mid-forties. She wore a dark gold dress and a phoenix hairpin. The wrinkles around her eyes revealed the charm time had bestowed upon her. Though her youth had passed, time had not diminished her elegance, but rather added a layer of composure and serenity.
Compared to her, Nan Yuan’er, standing beside her, was like an unripe fruit. Apart from the firmness and fullness of youth, there was nothing comparable. She looked like a maid of considerable beauty.
“Your servant greets the Empress Dowager.”
Nan Shiying gracefully entered the hall and bowed to the Empress Dowager.
This was Nan Yuan’er’s first time seeing Nan Shiying after she married into the Prince’s manor. She had changed. Previously, she used to lower her head even when speaking, never daring to meet anyone’s eyes directly. Yet now, even facing the Empress Dowager, she was fearless.
Moreover, the Empress Dowager’s own maid had just been punished because of her.
As Nan Yuan’er observed Nan Shiying, Nan Shiying paid no attention to her, her gaze fixed on the Empress Dowager with a smile.
“You are Nan Shiying?”
The Empress Dowager toyed with a string of beads, making no move to grant Nan Shiying permission to rise, and instead inquired.
Nan Shiying straightened herself, smiling as she asked, “Why, has Your Highness met another Nan Shiying?”
“Sister, do not be rude.”
Before the Empress Dowager could speak, Nan Yuan’er couldn’t help but reprimand her, “How can you be so presumptuous before the Empress Dowager? Hurry and beg for her forgiveness.”
Nan Shiying raised her eyelids, cast a faint glance at Nan Yuan’er, and her voice, though sharp, was precise and cutting, “What right do you have to speak? When I speak with the Empress Dowager, who are you to interject? Sister? Who is your sister? You should kneel and respectfully address me as Consort. If not for the Empress Dowager’s presence, I would have the Prime Minister’s permission to teach you a good lesson.”
Nan Yuan’er had not expected Nan Shiying to become so sharp-tongued. In the past, whenever she had admonished her, Nan Shiying would always appear timid and dare not resist. Now, after marrying into the Prince’s manor, did she think she had a protector to speak to her like this? It was utterly detestable.
She lowered her face, as if surprised and deeply wronged by Nan Shiying’s words, her eyes instantly reddening.
She opened her mouth, but in the end, nothing came out.
She appeared to be utterly shocked and wronged.
The Empress Dowager gently took Nan Yuan’er’s hand, patted it reassuringly, and then raised her eyes, a sharp, icy glint erupting in her gaze as she reprimanded sternly, “Presumptuous!”
Nan Shiying, however, smiled without fear, even saying to Nan Yuan’er, “Did you hear that? Even the Empress Dowager says you are presumptuous.”
“I am speaking of you, the Regent’s Consort!”
Nan Shiying raised an eyebrow. A faint smile still played on her lips, but her eyes were cold, devoid of any mirth, “I thought, how could the dignified daughter of the Prime Minister be so disrespectful of hierarchy? It turns out it is Your Highness who spoils her!”
“Indeed, sharp-tongued.”
The Empress Dowager’s grip on the string of beads tightened abruptly. Anger flashed in her eyes, then, as if she had never lost her temper, she lowered her gaze slightly.
Nan Shiying then said, “Whose words did Your Highness hear that I am sharp-tongued from? Could it be from this future ‘Empress’?”
“Enough!”
The Empress Dowager interrupted Nan Shiying displeasedly, stating in a deep voice, “Why are you arguing with a junior?”
Nan Shiying smiled, “Your Highness’s reprimand is accurate. I truly should not be arguing with a junior.” Nan Shiying deliberately emphasized the word ‘junior’.
Nan Yuan’er’s expression changed drastically. She desperately controlled the rage that wanted to tear Nan Shiying into a thousand pieces.
This Nan Shiying was truly different from her reputation.
The outside world said she was ugly and crude, and Nan Yuan’er had often mentioned how weak and easily bullied Nan Shiying was. Yet, seeing her now, it was completely untrue. Her beauty was such that even in the Empress’s court, filled with splendor, no one could match her. Compared to Nan Yuan’er, praised by the world, she possessed a more vibrant vitality.
Lively, sharp, and radiant.
And her temper.
She simply stood there, smiling dismissively, and gave Nan Yuan’er the illusion of Ji Jinmo standing tall in the hall.
Such a person was married off to Ji Jinmo as a discarded pawn?
Fool!
The Empress Dowager couldn’t help but curse Nan Chaoyin.
Yet, she also had to begin contemplating whether Nan Shiying had been enduring all along, or if… the current Nan Shiying was not the Nan Shiying of the past.
Was she still herself?