Chapter 8 — I Only Waited for Father, Yet the Court Called Me a Temptress

"Your Majesty, the palace maid who passed the wine at the banquet just now said that the County Lord personally said that if she were not favored by the Royal Family in bed, then what right would she have to sit next to the Royal Family."

Thuy Vuong's eyes turned dark. Tieu Lenh Nghi shouted:

"How can the words of a palace maid be trusted? She slandered me!"

The palace maid was immediately led to the main hall and knelt down on the ground in fear.

"This servant does not dare to slander. When Lord Huyen said those words, the lady of the Ly family was also right next to her."

All eyes immediately turned to Ly So Anh. Ly So Anh cried and bowed her head.

"Yes... The district lord really said so. The goddess also laughed. Please forgive the district lord."

Tieu Lenh Nghi looked at her in disbelief.

"You sold me out?"

Ly So Anh cried even harder.

"I don't want to involve the whole family."

That sentence was like a knife strike. Tieu Lenh Nghi finally learned to be afraid. She knelt and crawled in front of me.

"Princess An Ninh, I was wrong. I shouldn't have laughed at you, nor should I have said those words. Please forgive me, Queen Mother."

I nestled close to the Queen Mother's lap. The scent of incense on her body reminded me of the laughter in the main hall before. Bao Bao doesn't like it. The Queen Mother reached out to cover me.

"Pull down, slap twenty times, be grounded for half a year, copy Nu Gioi a hundred times. Thuy Vuong doesn't teach you strictly, punish him for a year."

Thuy Vuong did not dare to ask for love, he could only kneel down to give thanks. When Tieu Lenh Nghi was dragged away, she was still crying and calling:

"Uncle Wang save me!"

Ly So Anh still knelt in place, his whole body trembling. Her father looked towards her.

"You're also honest."

Ly So Anh raised her head, a ray of hope flashing in her eyes. Parents said:

"Slap ten times, go back to the palace and close the door to self-reflect for a year. Ly Ngu taught your son impolitely, tomorrow he will present himself and ask to be transferred out to take office."

Ly So Anh's face immediately turned pale. In the main hall, no one dared to open their mouth to propose love. The cool wind after the rain blew into the main hall. Khuong Nhuoc Phu's pitiful screams outside were suddenly interrupted for a moment. Khuong Nhuoc Phu did not die. After suffering eighty hits, she only had half her life left. When the Hinh Bo people carried her away, she still stared at me fiercely. Those eyes looked like they were filled with poison. Father hugged me and left the palace. Khuong Nhuoc Phu suddenly rolled down from the stretcher.

"Tham Tri Hanh!"

Her voice was so hoarse that she could no longer make a sound. The palace servants intended to keep her. However, she desperately crawled forward, her nails scratching on the stone floor until she drew blood.

"What do you rely on? It's just a good reincarnation! You're stupid and useless, yet you're protected by the Queen Mother and pampered by the Regent. I worked very hard to climb up to the position of female official, so what do you rely on to lose everything in just one day?"

Parents stopped walking. I lay on her shoulder, looking at her face covered in blood and dirt. Bao Bao is afraid of her. But this time, she couldn't crawl in front of me anymore. Khuong Nhuoc Phu both cried and laughed.

"I just want to rise up, what's wrong with me? Is there any noble person in this palace who has never trampled on others? It's just that I stepped on the wrong person!"

Father turned around.

"You are wrong in thinking that the weak deserve to be trampled by others."

Khuong Nhuoc Phu was stunned. Parents said:

"If the person sitting in this king's position today is really just a servant, then you can arbitrarily smear her innocence, destroy her honor, and arbitrarily use personal punishment on her?"

Khuong Nhuoc Phu's lips trembled slightly. But not a word could be said. Father looked at the Penal Ministry official.

"Another crime. Arbitrarily setting up a prison, humiliating the palace, strictly investigating everything she has handled since entering the Thuong Nghi Department."

The Criminal Ministry official clasped his hands.

"The officer obeys."

After investigation, I discovered that the person who was bullied by Khuong Nhuoc Phu was not the only one. She entered the palace for three months, cut off the monthly salaries of low-ranking maids, cut the hair of three palace maids in the name of checking their appearance, and even forced a young palace maid to take the blame for breaking the tribute tray on her behalf. That little palace maid was beaten twenty times, and to this day she still walks with a limp, as if her legs were crippled. When those testimonies were brought to the Royal Palace, I was sitting by the window taking medicine. The medicine is very bitter. I frowned, intending to push the bowl of medicine aside.