"What do you think you are!" Sheng Li looked at her as if she were an ant, her words full of contempt. "You're just a lowly country bumpkin. Don't think that just because you've caught my parents' eye, you can walk into our home. I won't allow it."
"You want my permission?" Tao Lengshuang scanned her from head to toe, making a tutting sound. "Look at your ugly face. Even as a woman, I can't stand it, let alone anyone else. No wonder you were divorced. What man would like an ugly woman like you?"
Sheng Li cared most about her appearance and figure. Upon hearing this, she glared at Tao Lengshuang with murderous intent. "You damned dog... Guards, drag this dog out and beat her to death!"
Tao Lengshuang stood there composedly.
The servants all lowered their heads, none obeying Sheng Li.
This almost drove Sheng Li mad. "Fine, fine, fine. I'll sell you all off later and send you to the harshest places. Let's see if you dare to disobey your master again."
"Oh, Miss Sheng, what great authority you have."
Tao Lengshuang's gaze was cold, her smile mocking. "Are you in charge of the household? Do you have their deeds of sale?"
"You're neither in charge of the household nor do you have their deeds of sale. What right do you have to sell them? Just with your mouth? I must say, your mouth is truly enormous, it looks particularly terrifying."
Continuously provoked by Tao Lengshuang's comments about her appearance, Sheng Li's face contorted as she lunged at her. "You damned slut, you damned slut, I'll kill you today!"
"Be careful!" General Sheng and his wife cried out in alarm.
Tao Lengshuang nimbly dodged the attack and simultaneously extended her right foot, tripping Sheng Li.
With a thud, Sheng Li, weighing about 130 catties, crashed heavily to the ground, crying out in pain.
"Father, Mother, quickly help me up. Do you hear me?" she commanded, her tone like that of a servant.
Madam Sheng, heartbroken, was about to help Sheng Li when General Sheng stopped her. "You're still helping her? Have you forgotten what she did to us?"
Upon hearing this, Madam Sheng's lingering concern and pity for Sheng Li turned into coldness. "My husband is right."
"Are you still my parents?"
Sheng Li scrambled to her feet, glaring at General Sheng and his wife with a sinister look. "I was by that bitch..."
*Slap.*
Madam Sheng, extremely disappointed, slapped her, covering her mouth and coughing lightly. "Shouldn't she have scolded you? She was born to our parents, no less than you... Forget it, there's no point in talking to you, as you're capable of poisoning me and your father."
Sheng Li's expression faltered for a moment, but she quickly regained her composure. "Mother, who told you such nonsense? You are my parents. How could I possibly do such a thing?"
How did these old two find out? She had been so discreet.
Just seeing Sheng Li's gloomy eyes made Madam Sheng feel dizzy. She cried and questioned, "Sheng Li, your father and I doted on you like a precious jewel since childhood, always thinking of you. Why did you try to poison us? Are you even human?"
Sheng Li stubbornly refused to admit it, instantly changing to a tearful expression. "Mother, I know you and Father are disappointed in me and want to recognize another goddaughter, but Mother, you can't frame me like this."
Madam Sheng found Sheng Li increasingly unfamiliar and terrifying. How malicious must one's heart be to poison their own parents.
"Fine, you won't admit it."
She took several deep breaths and instructed the steward, "Steward, thoroughly interrogate everyone in the young lady's courtyard and the kitchen. I want to see who gave my husband and me this bowl of poison."
The steward received the order and was about to withdraw to investigate when Sheng Li stopped him.
"You are not allowed to go!"
Sheng Li glared at Madam Sheng with hostility, her tone extremely unpleasant. "Mother, you have no right to interrogate the people in my courtyard."
This look made Madam Sheng gasp for breath, and she collapsed onto General Sheng, crying, "What sin have I committed to have such a daughter, worse than an animal?"
General Sheng sternly ordered the steward to proceed with the interrogation and had Sheng Li bound. He then gently comforted Madam Sheng. "My dear, let's pretend we don't have this daughter. We'll live our lives well from now on."
Madam Sheng covered her face and wept, her cries filled with pain and self-reproach. How did her good daughter become so hideous?
Tao Lengshuang, who had been watching the drama unfold for a long time, opened her mouth, wanting to offer comfort but not knowing how. She felt even more disgusted with Sheng Li.
Seeing Sheng Li tied to a chair and gagged, she couldn't help but sneer. "Miss Sheng, do you know what your fate would be if General Sheng and his wife had met with an accident?"
Looking at Sheng Li's indifferent and arrogant demeanor, she said slowly, "Without General Sheng and his wife, who would tolerate you? Based on your arrogant and overbearing nature? Or based on your excess fat?"
"Just because your family has no male heirs, the Sheng family clan can divide your property and marry you off to anyone. Don't forget the ways of the world."
Sheng Li simply refused to listen. In her eyes, as the only daughter of the Sheng family, everyone should pamper her and obey her, even her parents.
If anyone dared to disobey her, she would kill them.
Seeing this, Tao Lengshuang stopped talking to her and turned to advise General Sheng and his wife. "General Sheng, Madam Sheng, I suggest you expel Sheng Li from the Sheng family and let her experience the harsh realities of the world. Perhaps then she will realize her mistakes."
General Sheng shook his head with a troubled expression. "She won't. She will never realize her mistakes, only blame others."
Tao Lengshuang said "oh" and said nothing more.
"Enough, Sheng Li. Since you wished to poison me and your mother, we will consider you no longer our daughter."
General Sheng had made up his mind, looking at Sheng Li as if she were a stranger. "I am expelling you from the Sheng family, and we will no longer pursue the matter of your poisoning."
"From this day forward, you are no longer a member of the Sheng family, and we will not help you again."
With that, he ordered the steward to throw Sheng Li out and to have all the maids in her courtyard beaten.
Sheng Li's mind went blank. Her eyes widened in disbelief as she stared intently at General Sheng and his wife, unable to believe that this couple would do such a thing.
She whimpered, her eyes filled with resentment and killing intent that almost materialized. These two old people were so cruel to treat her this way.
This was her family, her place. These two old people had no right to treat her like this.
Her appearance made the last shred of pity in General Sheng and his wife's hearts disappear.
General Sheng waved his hand, signaling the steward to throw her out. He didn't want to see this wicked creature again.
The steward arranged for two servants to carry the whimpering Sheng Li and throw her out of the Sheng family.
"Remember clearly, this person has been expelled from the Sheng family. Do not let her in casually from now on, understand?" he instructed the gatekeepers.