Listening to the mockery in Nan Shiying's words, Madam Qin replied with a smile full of smiles, showing no hint of shame or anger, "Thank you, Your Highness, for your concern. My leg has indeed improved a lot."
Heh~
Old thing!
Nan Shiying suddenly dropped the smile from her face, raised her head, and glared at the steward, asking sternly, "Didn't I say for Madam Liu to personally come and greet me? Why, in Madam Liu's eyes, am I only worthy of such a servant to greet me?"
"Good, very good!"
"Xuan Yi!"
Nan Shiying's sudden outburst caught Madam Qin off guard. Before she could recover from Nan Shiying's change, she heard her sharp call, her spine suddenly stiffened, and she hurriedly stopped her, "Your Highness, wait!"
"Your Highness, it's not that Madam is unwilling to come and greet you into the mansion, but rather that Madam is deeply ill and cannot get out of bed. In recent days, due to her serious illness, she has neglected her management of the mansion, which is why today's events occurred. When Madam heard of such matters, her anger surged, and her illness worsened again, making it truly impossible for her to get up and greet you."
"Please forgive Your Highness!"
Looking at this glib old thing, Nan Shiying's palms itched slightly, and she wished she could slap her to death.
If it weren't for this old thing by Madam Liu's side, Madam Liu wouldn't have been able to be so triumphant all these years. Those past events, one by one, were all related to this old thing. She was truly a loyal and helpful servant.
And now she wanted to use these words to make her yield? Hmph, dream on.
Nan Shiying lowered her eyelids, the slightly upturned eyelashes casting a shadow beneath her eyes. She turned her head, her sinister eyes swept lightly over Lu Wan. Lu Wan, with a tacit understanding, stepped forward, lifted Madam Qin's head, drew her arm back like a bow, and slapped Madam Qin hard across the face, the accusation coming as naturally as breathing, "You disrespectful thing, don't you even know who you're talking to? Did my mistress tell you to speak?"
"If the Nan mansion cannot discipline its servants, my royal mansion is willing to do so!!"
With Lu Wan's slap, Madam Qin's head spun, her ears rang incessantly, and a trickle of blood seeped from the corner of her mouth. Then, she felt something hard rolling in her mouth along with the blood.
After spitting it out, she realized it was her tooth.
Her, tooth was knocked out?
Since her young lady took charge of the household affairs, let alone the servants, even the young masters and ladies of the mansion, who didn't give Madam Qin some respect? Not to mention being slapped, over the years following Madam Liu, she had been so dignified that she could be compared to the principal wife of an official family. Now, she was slapped by a young maidservant by Nan Shiying's side?
Such humiliation was like having her face ground into the dirt.
Madam Qin suddenly raised her head, her eyes seeming to be blazing with fiery anger. Before she could utter any harsh words, her other cheek was violently slapped again.
This time, the force was even greater, directly knocking Madam Qin to the ground.
Lu Wan glared at Madam Qin furiously. Although Lu Wan was as gentle and obedient as a cat by Nan Shiying's side, in front of others, she was a fierce tiger with its teeth retracted. Before serving Nan Shiying, she had been Ji Jinmo's personal maid.
She pointed at Madam Qin's nose and shouted angrily, "You dog slave, you dare to glare at Princess Consort? I see you are birds of a feather with that doorkeeper earlier, all disobedient."
"Your Highness, why don't we let Lord Xuanwei escort her to the Jingzhao Prefecture and let Jingzhao Yin Wang Sheng interrogate her properly and see if such a rebellious person is a spy from a neighboring country hidden in the Nan mansion."
This charge was so severe that it was as if they wanted Madam Qin to die unjustly.
Madam Qin's face showed a look of horror. The Regent Ji Jinmo was unrestrained, and even the servants in the mansion were so arrogant as to directly slander her. However, she also knew that if she were truly escorted to the Jingzhao Prefecture by the mansion's servants today, even Madam would not be able to save her.
Only at this moment did Madam Qin suddenly realize that the current Nan Shiying was no longer the Nan Shiying of the past. She had thought the steward was useless and had been scared to death by Nan Shiying earlier, but now she was shocked to realize that it was not that the steward was useless, but that the current Nan Shiying could truly hold their lives in her hands and knead them as she pleased.
"Niang Niang, Niang Niang, even if you gave me a hundred times the courage, I would not dare to glare at you. Please be magnanimous and spare this old servant this time. Your Highness, I kowtow to you, Your Highness!"
Madam Qin's face was swollen like a steamed bun, making it impossible for her to speak clearly. She could only kowtow repeatedly, with tears and snot on her face, her former calm and self-assured demeanor, completely disregarding Nan Shiying, gone.
Looking at Madam Qin kneeling and kowtowing, Nan Shiying curled her lips and reprimanded Lu Wan in a low voice, "Lu Wan, stop talking nonsense. Madam Qin is Madam Liu's wet nurse, how can she be a spy from a neighboring country? If she were a spy from a neighboring country, then Madam Liu..." Nan Shiying suddenly gasped. Madam Qin saw that she was about to implicate her own young lady and felt a chill rise in her heart. Just as she was about to speak, she heard Nan Shiying continue, "Slandering others, Lu Wan, this is not a minor offense."
"Your servant knows her mistake!"
Lu Wan readily admitted her error.
Nan Shiying nodded with satisfaction, then said gently to Madam Qin, "Madam, please do not be alarmed. As the Regent's Consort, how could I wrong someone without reason? Oh, right, Madam, you just said Madam Liu is seriously ill, right? Has a doctor come to diagnose her? How about this, I'll have a servant take the royal mansion's token to the palace to invite an imperial physician to diagnose Madam Liu, so that I, as a junior, can be at ease, won't I?"
"Xuan Yi..."
"No, Your Highness—"
The steward dared not remain silent any longer. Nan Shiying's words were too clear: she would not wrong people, she would only solidify the charges.
Didn't she say Madam was seriously ill and unable to greet her? Then she would invite an imperial physician to check. If it was true, so be it, but if it was false, then Madam's crime of disrespecting royalty would likely not be avoidable.
The steward glanced deeply at Nan Shiying, unable to connect the timid, bullied, pitiable creature of the past with the sharp-tongued and ruthless person of today.
At the time, she really shouldn't have let her impersonate her young lady and marry into the royal mansion.
But now, it was too late no matter what she said!!