Zi Cheng: "...Little Feng, don't dismantle my stage so quickly. Leave your cousin some face."
Xiao Feng blinked, then asked doubtfully, "But Cousin, do you have any face?"
"Daddy always says that you, Cousin, have no face, so there's no need to leave you any."
Zi Cheng cast a mournful glance at his uncle, "Uncle, you shouldn't teach Little Feng like this. I am, after all, the Crown Prince. I need face."
Mo Lingxi responded with a perfunctory "Oh."
The dismissive tone made Zi Cheng want to roll his eyes. "Little Feng, you mustn't learn from your Daddy. Look at him. If your Mother weren't kind-hearted, he'd never get a wife in this lifetime."
Xiao Feng wholeheartedly agreed, "Little Feng's Mother is the best Mother in the world. It's Daddy's good fortune from several lifetimes to be able to marry Mother."
Mo Lingxi's thin lips curved slightly, his voice gentle, "Little Feng is right."
The guests present: "..." Are they invisible?
"Madam!"
A maidservant hurried in and curtsied, "Madam, Sheng Li and the Tao family are making a scene at the main gate, saying they don't acknowledge the eldest daughter. Sheng Li even claims she is the only young lady of the Sheng family."
Madam Sheng was impatient, her tone filled with disgust, "Have them beaten away!"
"Godmother, I'll go take a look. We can't have people gossiping." Tao Lengshuang sighed helplessly. "If Sheng Li hadn't repeatedly tried to harm Godfather and Godmother, they wouldn't have done this."
The guests gasped.
"Although we've heard that Sheng Li did something to be kicked out of the Sheng family, I never imagined she tried to kill her own parents. Is she even human? Even beasts wouldn't do such a thing."
"Aren't Sheng Li's wicked deeds enough? My daughter was merely more beautiful than others, and she schemed to disfigure her. Fortunately, my daughter found a husband who dotes on her, otherwise, Sheng Li and I would be finished."
Tao Lengshuang curtsied and apologized, "Everyone, I am truly sorry. Although Sheng Li has been expelled from the Sheng family, she once used the Sheng family's name to do these bad things. I ask for your forgiveness today."
Her demeanor, when compared to Sheng Li's haughty attitude, made the guests hate Sheng Li even more. True lineage cannot represent everything; just look at Sheng Li and Princess Ming Rui.
Tao Lengshuang, accompanied by several maidservants and old women, arrived at the main gate. She saw the Tao family acting up and Sheng Li shouting, scolding the gatekeepers.
"Today is a joyous occasion for the manor. Beggars have arrived. Why aren't you giving them food? If people find out, it will be bad for the manor's reputation. Quickly, fetch some food to give to the beggars."
The gatekeeper understood this wasn't a true reprimand. He apologized and brought over many steamed buns and flatbreads, tossing them to the Tao family and Sheng Li. "Quickly thank our eldest young lady. It is our eldest young lady's kindness that you have these good things."
Sheng Li and the Tao family had never endured such humiliation. They glared hatefully at Tao Lengshuang.
"Tao Lengshuang, don't get smug. Soon my parents will see your true colors." Sheng Li pointed at her furiously, her words laced with killing intent.
Tao Lengshuang glanced at the Tao family, who dared not speak but were clearly angry, and smiled charmingly as she looked down at Sheng Li. "Listen to the words of a stray dog like you. I find it laughable. I truly don't know how you can say such things."
Sheng Li suddenly took out a fire starter and kerosene, her face contorted as she roared, "Tao Lengshuang, I'll give you two choices: either you obediently kneel and get out of the Sheng family, or I'll burn down the entire Sheng family."
"What I cannot have, I will not let anyone else have."
Tao Lengshuang pointed to her own head, mockingly, "Sheng Li, I really suspect your head is empty. Do you think you can threaten me? Or do you think these servants and hidden guards don't exist?"
Before she finished speaking, she saw a hidden guard subdue Sheng Li, while other hidden guards extinguished the fire and threw the kerosene far away.
"Let go of me, you son of a bitch, let go of me!" Sheng Li struggled fiercely, cursing with all sorts of foul language.
Tao Lengshuang walked up to her and stepped on her head, grinding it. "Sheng Li, are you afraid I'll tell General and Madam Sheng about that incident?"
Sheng Li's struggling and cursing stopped. She looked at Tao Lengshuang with fear and anger. "Don't say it, you must not say it, do you hear me? You must not say it. It's not true, it's not true!"
She was not the youngest daughter of lowly peasants; she was the only daughter of the prestigious Sheng family.
Tao Lengshuang let out a cold laugh. "Tell me, who sent you here? What other arrangements do they have? If you confess honestly, I'll spare your life. If you delay, you know best what methods of torture exist."
Sheng Li continued to shout that Tao Lengshuang couldn't do such things.
Tao Lengshuang, too lazy to waste more words, directly ordered the hidden guards to deal with her. She then walked to the Tao family and asked coldly, "What do you know? If you tell me, I'll prescribe you a medicine to prolong your lives."
Upon hearing this, the Tao family blurted out everything in a jumble.
They had been living in Sheng Li's residence during this time, constantly thinking of seizing the Sheng family's assets. To that end, they had incited Sheng Li many times, but she had never done anything.
It wasn't until today that a middle-aged man with a scar on his face found Sheng Li and ordered her to bring her family to the Sheng family's main gate to cause a scene. He also handed Sheng Li kerosene, telling her to set the Sheng family on fire if necessary.
The man also said he would help Sheng Li from the shadows, and this time she would surely achieve her wish.
Tao Lengshuang narrowed her eyes. "Help Sheng Li from the shadows?" This meant the mastermind had indeed laid a trap within the Sheng family.
She just didn't know what kind of trap the mastermind had set.
She wrote a prescription for the Tao family, then ordered her servants to gag Sheng Li and take her inside, thinking Sheng Li might be of some use.
Just as she was about to instruct her servants to lock Sheng Li in the woodshed, a maidservant hurried over.
"Eldest Young Lady." The maidservant curtsied with a look of embarrassment. "Eldest Young Lady, something seems to have happened over there. I heard some strange noises and didn't dare to go and look."
Tao Lengshuang glanced in the direction indicated, her eyes darkening slightly. "Have you reported to Master and Madam?"
The maidservant said no. She had originally intended to report to Master and Madam, but seeing the eldest young lady here, she reported to her first.
Tao Lengshuang responded with an ambiguous "Oh," and asked the maidservant to lead the way. She also temporarily refrained from sending Sheng Li to the woodshed.
The maidservant made a gesture of invitation and walked ahead.
As Tao Lengshuang walked, she noticed the surroundings becoming more secluded and the number of people decreasing. Her eyebrows rose high. "You didn't help out today? You came to such a secluded place to slack off."
The maidservant's heart tightened, and she said nervously, "I wanted to take a shortcut, which is why I heard those strange noises."
She glanced at the servants following Tao Lengshuang and was anxious about how to lure all these servants away.