Cangyuan Kingdom, Prince Rong's Mansion—
Intricately carved eaves and gorgeously painted rafters, pavilions, towers, and attics were all illuminated by the dazzling sun, reflecting onto the slightly ajar doorway of Lingyuxuan.
"Your Highness, it's serious... your Highness... your Highness..."
The tranquility of the courtyard was suddenly disrupted by this urgent cry.
Lingyuxuan was an inconspicuous ancillary hall in Prince Rong's Mansion. This was where Chu Chi, the principal wife of Prince Rong aka Rong Yu, resided.
With lush shrubs blocking out much of the sunlight, Chu Chi lay on a reclining chair, swinging one leg back and forth, squinting her eyes in enjoyment of the cool breezes that the summer day brought.
Before one could see the person, they could hear the voice. The frantic cry of the servant has caused Chu Chi, who was luxuriously laying on the chair with closed eyes, to slightly knit her brows.
With reluctance, she opened her eyes to see her usual attendant, 9527, running hurriedly through the courtyard gate in her direction.
"What's the rush?"
"Your Highness, Ginkgo... Ginkgo is being beaten up, you need to go take a look."
9527 was somewhat out of breath from running.
"Being beaten up? What happened?"
Chu Chi was taken aback. The next second, her graceful figure had already swiftly disappeared from Lingyuxuan.
"Red Paper, I'm sorry, I was wrong, forgive me this once, Red Paper..."
Just as she entered the front yard, she noticed a maid in red clothes who was raising a long whip, about to strike her maid Ginkgo repeatedly with it. In just a few seconds, Ginkgo was already covered in wounds.
She knelt on the ground, incessantly kowtowing to the maiden dressed in red, begging for mercy. But none of her pleas could sway the servant girl.
She recognized this servant in red - she was Hong Jian, the personal maid of Bao Yan, the concubine of Prince Rong Yu. She had encountered her arrogance on several previous occasions when she had been with the little concubine.
Chu Ci's lips curled up into a cold smirk, her downcast eyes hiding the serious look that flitted through them. Without a word, she picked up a small stone from the ground and threw it in Hong Jian's direction, hitting her right on the wrist.
Just as the hot-blooded saying goes, "A tiger doesn't show its power and you think it's HelloKitty?"
"Ahh!"
A piercing scream echoed around; pain and numbness followed in Hong Jian’s wrist, and the long whip she had been holding fell to the ground.
"Who! Who threw a stone at me?"
Hong Jian was furious. In the prince's manor, besides the prince and Madam Bao, no one else dared to throw a stone at her. Even Ling Yu Xuan, that good-for-nothing, low-ranking queen, was always polite to her.
As Hong Jian was thinking, a weary voice, neither hurried nor slow, slid past her ear, "It was me."
"Who gave you the nerve…”
Before she could finish, Hong Jian's face turned crimson with rage. But as she turned her head and saw Chu Ci, her voice abruptly stopped, and the anger from just a moment ago was replaced by surprise.
But such surprise didn’t last long, it quickly turned into a jest followed by a cold glare at Chu Ci.
Chu Ci clearly saw the undisguised contempt in the eyes of Hong Jian, and she couldn't help but curse inwardly.
"So, it’s Her Highness, the Queen. I wonder, what offense did this servant commit, to have you personally come to teach me a lesson?"
Although Hongjian refers to herself as a servant, her attitude is far from subservient - she's so close to being rude and disrespectful, thinking herself to be the Epress Dowager Cixi.
Chu Ci gave her a quick glance, covered her mouth, and gave a light chuckle. Shaking her head, she stepped forward to assist the kneeling Ginkgo. She then handed him to Nine-Five-Two-Seven, who was following by her side.
"There’s no mistake, it's just that I saw you acting rabid, so I compassionately decided to cure you. I was afraid that if you accidentally bit your master, you wouldn’t know how to explain it to his lordship."
Hong Jian was stunned. She certainly hadn’t expected this lower-ranking queen, who was even lower than a maid in the palace, to dare to speak to her in such a way.
"You... did you just call me a dog?"
The next moment, she rapidly grasped the meaning behind Chu Ci's words, her face immediately turning ashen.
Raising an eyebrow, Chu Ci did not deny it. Looking Hong Jian up and down with a covered mouth, she burst into laughter, "Indeed, you're quite the clever dog. If I didn't cure you now, it would certainly be a pity."
Turning around, she noticed the shocked faces of her servant boy and maid by her side. A hint of smugness danced in her eyes.
"You bit someone from my side today. There's no telling that you might run into the streets and bite somebody else tomorrow. When that time comes, and you're responsible for hurting someone, how could I, as part of the Rong Prince's mansion, explain it to the common people? I can't possibly ask his highness to clean up after you, right?"
She maintained a smile throughout, yet her words elicited snickers and raucous laughter from the surrounding onlookers.
Simultaneously, they were somewhat surprised. This queen, with the status of a princess and the only official queen of the Rong Prince Mansion, was using words that seemed a touch too vulgar, not like something a princess would say.
Hong Jian had no interest in noticing this, her face alternating between red and white with anger. Especially when she saw the servants holding back their laughter as they watched the drama unfold, she finally lost her patience.
"Chu Ci!"
She widened her eyes, and calling Chu Ci by her name without any respect, she forgot about the so-called formalities of the official queen, "You dare to call me a dog, aren't you afraid I'll tell…"
Thwack!
Halfway through her sentence, a palm slapped directly across her face without any warning.
Chu Ci's move completely dumbfounded the onlookers again. Almost everyone widened their eyes, staring at this unbelievable scene in disbelief.
The... the Queen has actually slapped the favored one in front of Lady Bao! Heaven, has the Queen gone mad?
The current Chu Ci's face was fierce, the usually timid and weak pair of eyes showed an unprecedented threatening gleam, which stunned the stunned Hong Jian.
"Do you—a lowly servant have the right to call my name?"
As her words fell, a cold light swept under her eyes again, which made Hong Jian tremble with fear.
"Hasn't your master taught you what is called seniority?"
She took a step forward, with her slightly taller stature coupled with the momentum of the queen at that moment, Hong Jian was already scared out of her wits.
She covered her own face, staring at Chu Ci incredulously, too scared to utter a word.
"It seems that you, this dog, are really too ill to even distinguish between superiors and inferiors. Since your master doesn't know how to teach you how to be a well-behaved servant, let me teach you instead."
Chu Ci's words sent a jolt through Hong Jian. At the same time, it brought her back to her senses from the shock, and she couldn't help but curse her own cowardice. She had actually been frightened by a faded queen.
After all, she had the support of a favored Lady Bao. What was there to be afraid of?