Chapter 54: Xie Yao, Fickle!

Let’s see how long she could stay arrogant!

Although Xie Yujiao had yet to meet with Yingtao’s people, she firmly believed Yingtao would succeed.

Yingtao admired Xiao Ji. In the previous life, she had once succeeded in striking against her…

Dealing with a Xie Yao now would surely be effortless!

Xie Yao’s eyes flickered with mockery. Her expression icy, she walked forward and seated herself at the head position.

Madam Zhang dabbed at her tears with a handkerchief, her eyes brimming with pitiful sorrow as she said in a delicate voice, “Crown Princess, Master, Jiao-jiao is still young, her temper impatient, and she only wished to protect me. She truly meant nothing else. I beg the Crown Princess not to blame her.”

She looked the picture of grievance.

Xie Yujiao’s heart ached all the more for her mother and said again, “In any case, I do not agree!”

“Jiao-jiao.” Madam Zhang cast her daughter a warning glare before continuing, “Though the Crown Princess was not born of me, she has been raised by my side for many years. In my heart, she is no different from Jiao-jiao.”

“If the Crown Princess feels pain for her late mother, I of course have no objection. But… if we adopt another child, and the brothers one day quarrel, would that not cause greater harm?”

Xie Yao lifted her teacup, her gaze landing on Master Xie, who stood off to the side, looking utterly troubled.

In that moment, she understood.

Master Xie did not wish to adopt a son under her mother’s name, but neither did he wish to offend her. Thus, he had told Madam Zhang and Xie Yujiao, letting them resist on his behalf while he reaped the benefits.

Truly a fine calculation.

“And furthermore…” Madam Zhang began again.

Xie Yao set down her cup with a clear, crisp sound. Though not loud, it silenced the entire hall at once.

She raised her eyes to Master Xie. Her voice was cool. “Father, what do you think?”

His expression stiffened. After a moment’s hesitation, he said, “Yao-yao, all these years… I have indeed wronged your mother. She married me when I was still of humble means, yet her soul departed too soon, unable to share my later prosperity.”

“But…” his tone shifted, “your mother is not wrong either. She raised you for many years, treated you as her own. You must also consider her feelings.”

His voice gradually trailed off.

Xie Yao’s face grew darker and darker, yet at the end, she suddenly laughed. “Treated me as her own?”

They could actually say something so shameless?

A flicker of awkwardness passed across Master Xie’s face, but Madam Zhang pressed on, “If not so, then how would it have been you who married the Crown Prince? Was it not because I raised you well? Yet my own daughter, Jiao-jiao, only married a poor scholar.” Even now, Madam Zhang felt bitter over this.

“Then why not switch?” Xie Yao arched her brows lightly.

Before Madam Zhang or Master Xie could speak, Xie Yujiao shrieked, her voice sharp and loud. “Don’t you dare!”

Her eyes blazed with suspicion.

She knew it; this wretched woman was trying to seduce her husband. Otherwise, why would he often say she was inferior to Xie Yao?

It had to be that Xie Yao had enticed him behind her back…

The more she thought about it, the more furious she became. Xie Yujiao lost control of her tongue. “Xie Yao! My mother raised you all these years. Even without the grace of giving you life, her nurture was greater than the heavens! Now that you are the Crown Princess, you would humiliate my mother like this? Are you even human?!”

“For disrespecting this palace, what punishment should there be?” Xie Yao asked evenly.

Immediately, a momo declared, “Slap her twenty times, to serve as warning.”

At Xie Yao’s slight wave of the hand, one of her palace momos stepped forward and, with a swift motion, delivered a sharp slap across Xie Yujiao’s face.

Smack.

Smack.

Smack, smack, smack.

One blow after another, until the hall rang only with the sound of slaps.

Madam Zhang, who had been feigning frailty, took a long moment to react. She rushed forward to shield her daughter. “Enough, enough, stop hitting her!”

But the momo belonged to the palace, and obeyed only Xie Yao. Madam Zhang could not pull her back.

“If Younger Sister’s tongue had offended another, the punishment would not end at this. Today I merely discipline lightly, hoping she will remember her manners.”

“The madam has always shown me affection, and I must repay kindness in kind. There’s no need for thanks,” Xie Yao said unhurriedly.

That mouth of Xie Yujiao’s; last lifetime, she had only been sent off to a temple to spend her days with Buddha’s light. That had already been fortune enough.

Madam Zhang’s heart burned with hatred, but she could only bow her head. “Thank you, Crown Princess.”

Never before had Xie Yujiao understood so clearly what she had lost when she lost the position of Crown Princess.

“As for the heir, Father, would you not reconsider?” Only then did Xie Yao turn her gaze back to Master Xie, her lips curved in a smile, yet her eyes glinted with icy sharpness.

Did they really take her for a fool?

Master Xie, though seasoned in the political arena and long dismissive of the women of his household, found himself strangely unsettled under her gaze.

Xie Yao’s expression was calm, but beneath it surged a hidden current, as though at any moment it might erupt.

And he… actually felt fear.

Xie Yao’s throat moved faintly, but just then the steward hurried in from outside. “Crown Princess, His Highness the Crown Prince has arrived!”

Everyone went out to greet him.

Xie Yao saw Xiao Ji. Just as she moved to salute, her hands were caught and lifted. “Crown Princess, no need for formality.”

The couple received the Xie family’s bows together in serenity.

Master Xie promptly declared, “Crown Princess may rest assured, everything will proceed as you command. When the clan’s children arrive, I will invite the Crown Princess to the manor to personally select an heir for Madam Zhao.”

Xie Yao wanted to laugh. Would it not have been easier if he had said this from the start?

With the Crown Prince present, neither Madam Zhang nor Xie Yujiao dared voice their discontent, however unwilling they were.

All the more so, Xie Yujiao’s attention was fixed on the sight of Xie Yao and Xiao Ji’s hands joined together.

How could it be?

How was it possible?

The Crown Prince must already have caught Xie Yao in bed with another man, so how could he still treat her so tenderly?

Unless… Yingtao had failed?

The thought struck her, and dread welled up inside.

If Yingtao had failed, what of herself, who had colluded with her?

No… impossible.

If Xie Yao knew she had a hand in it, she would never spare her.

Xie Yujiao’s mind whirled with panic.

Then she looked up, and saw the two about to depart. Xiao Ji steadied Xie Yao as she descended the steps, his handsome brows lowered, his attention wholly on her footing, as though terrified she might stumble.

The sight filled Xie Yujiao with murderous jealousy.

How was Xie Yao worthy of this?

“Your Highness!”

Unable to restrain herself, Xie Yujiao shouted, “Xie Yao is promiscuous and unfaithful, loose in her ways! She is no longer pure and is utterly unworthy to be Crown Princess!”

In an instant, the Xie family courtyard fell silent enough to hear a pin drop.

Xiao Ji halted, turning his gaze upon her. “What did you say?”