Chapter 277: Chapter 127.1: Rebirth of the Black Lotus (4)

The people waiting outside heard Lin Shiheng’s call. They quickly pushed the door open and came in, “Here, Your Highness.”

“Throw this woman out, don’t let her taint this Prince’s eyes.”

Lin Shiheng turned his head to stop looking, as if looking at Pu Tao was too dirty for his eyes.

Mu Qingling looked at him, then at Pu Tao kneeling on the ground. Her expression turned a little confused.

Pu Tao had been up all night, and now, after hearing his heartless words, she felt as if she had suddenly fallen into hell.

When she saw the servants grabbing her arms and dragging her out, she screamed and struggled, “Your Highness, don’t you know this servant? I’m Pu Tao! Yesterday you personally told this servant that you would take me into your bedroom!”

“Wait a minute.”

Lin Shiheng called out to the crowd, and they stopped moving. He frowned and went up to take a closer look at Pu Tao’s face.

After looking at her, those furrowed brows wrinkled even more.

“Are you Pu Tao? How did you turn so ugly in just one night?”

Pu Tao was first delighted and then startled. She hesitantly touched her face. As if she thought of something, she stumbled to her feet and ran to the bronze mirror in Mu Qingling’s room to look at it with some tension.

She also knew that some drugs could make a woman’s face red and ugly. She was relieved to see that her appearance hadn’t changed and she wasn’t disfigured.

She knelt back down and pitifully tried to grab Lin Shiheng’s clothes, “Your Highness, this servant girl didn’t sleep a wink last night, so my eyes are a bit swollen. Please let me rest for a night, tomorrow I’ll definitely look the same as yesterday.”

“You can’t.”

Lin Shiheng quickly evaded her hand that was about to grab his clothes. His expression was full of disgust and he didn’t hide it, “You don’t even see how you look now! You have narrow eyes, big and black nostrils, lips as thin as paper and your waxy face. Even a peasant woman outside would be a hundred times better than you. “

An attack on a woman’s looks, especially in ancient times, was the cruelest thing that could happen.

Mu Qingling watched as tears fell from Pu Tao’s eyes. She was crying like a flower in the rain, full of grievances.

Her appearance was already on the tender side, and with her eyes so red and her head slightly drooping with tears, she didn’t only look pretty, but also very pity-inducing. Even Mu Qingling, who was somewhat disgusted by her behavior, had to admit Pu Tao’s face was really beautiful when she saw her like this.

But Prince Linjiang, who was standing by the bed, seemed to be blind to this beauty. He was still ranting on, “And your waist, I’m afraid it’s even fatter than the bucket outside. Compared to your unattractive appearance, the clothes and jewelry look much better. It’s a pity that such good things are worn on you. Wouldn’t that be a waste!?”

He seemed to recall something and turned his head to disapprovingly ask, “Princess Consort, a maid should have the appearance of a maid. Look at the maid beside you, a serving maid, what is the point of wearing such a rich and luxurious dress? “

Mu Qingling looked at Lin Shiheng, almost dumbstruck. After he finished, he went to cover his eyes with a look of ‘this woman is hurting my eyes’.

She stuttered, then paused, then stuttered again before reluctantly responding, “Replying to Your Highness, because you yesterday said you wanted to take this maid into your room; she is at least someone beside this consort, which is why I had clothes and jewelry sent to her.”

“Aren’t these things wasted on her!? Hurry up and tell someone to take them back later.”

What kind of person gives something to a girl and takes it back...?!

Mu Qingling couldn’t comprehend why the noble Prince could have such frugal ideas, but he was the husband and she was the wife, so naturally, she had to obey.

So, she respectfully answered, and gave another glance at Pu Tao, who was huffing and puffing with a blazing expression, “Then does Your Highness... still want to take this girl to your bedroom?”

“Such an ugly girl! How could I sleep when she enters my room?! Tell her to get lost, this Prince doesn’t want to see her again!”

Pu Tao, who was still weeping while putting on her best act, was stunned.

This was what it felt like to fall from heaven to hell.

She couldn’t be bothered to look her best in crying at the moment, and she promptly went forward on her knees, reaching out her hand to grab Lin Shiheng.

“Your Highness, Your Highness, have you forgotten what you said to this servant yesterday? This servant girl just hasn’t slept well, I’ll be back to my old self tomorrow Your Highness!!!”

Lin Shiheng was full of disgust and loathing, taking several steps back, as if Pu Tao’s hands were poisonous and he would die if he touched them.

“Don’t come any closer! You look like this and still have the nerve to ask this Prince to take you into my room.... Urk... No, it’s too disgusting. Servants, take her down and give her twenty strikes with the board. Throw her out to the outskirts of the capital for this Prince. No...”

Halfway through the order, Prince Linjiang thought of something else, and hesitantly turned his head to look at Mu Qingling, “Since the person is a member of the Princess Consort’s retinue, it’s up to the Princess Consort to handle it.”

Mu Qingling, who was already prepared for an additional side consort, responded blankly, “Yes.”

“This girl is ugly in appearance, unpleasant in virtue, and so debauched as to try to seduce this Prince. I don’t care where the Princess wants to send her, but this Prince doesn’t want to see her in the Mansion again in the future.”

Mu Qingling understood in seconds, “Don’t worry, Your Highness, this girl will be sent back to the Marquis’s Residence and I’ll never let her disturb Your Highness’s interest again.”

Lin Shiheng then nodded in satisfaction. He glanced at the few servants who were holding down the crying Pu Tao, and with a glare, “What are you waiting for! Drag her down and flog her!”

“Twenty strikes!”

Pu Tao screamed, “Your Highness!!"

Prince Linjiang’s body trembled at the sound of the woman’s voice, and he hastily covered his ears with his hands, “You’re making a lot of noise! Thirty more strikes of the board! After the punishment, the Princess will take care of her. Hurry up and take her away!”

“Yes!”

Those few servants obediently dragged the person out. Pu Tao was grabbed by the hand but was still desperately begging for mercy, “Your Highness please have mercy, Your Highness, this servant knows that I was wrong. Your Highness, I beg you..."

Lin Shiheng followed them to the door and added, “Cover her mouth and beat her right in front of the courtyard, so that all these servants can see what happens to those who are ugly but still try to seduce the Prince!”

“Your Highness! This servant girl... wuwuwuw..."

Pu Tao, who challenged the Princess Consort yesterday because she wanted to be a side consort, was escorted to the bench, gagged and beaten with fifty strikes.

At first, she screamed. Later, when the blood soaked her clothes, she turned pale and fell to the ground with a head full of cold sweat. She couldn’t even scream anymore.

The servants had to serve their master, so they weren’t called out to watch her being beaten, but the muffled sound of the board hitting her flesh rang through their ears very vividly.

The main courtyard had never been so quiet. Both the servants who were already in the Imperial Mansion and the maids Mu Qingling had brought from the Marquis’s Residence were all even more obedient and respectful at the moment. They quietly attended to their own duties, not daring to make a sound, for fear that the moody Prince Linjiang would have them dragged out and beaten with a board at any moment.

In the room, however, the man who started it all was hand-feeding his consort her usual medicine.

“I’m going to the palace today to visit the Empress Dowager, but you’re not well enough yet, so I won’t take you with me for now. I’ll bring you with me next time, when you’re feeling better.”

Mu Qingling was obediently taking a sip of the soup, but hesitantly raised her eyes at these words, “Wouldn’t that be improper?”

Even in a normal household, a daughter-in-law would have to go and meet her mother-in-law, let alone the Imperial family. She had yet to meet the Empress Dowager, apart from the day of her marriage.

“No harm, you aren’t well enough to get up, so I’ll talk to the Empress Dowager about it.”

When he saw that the medicinal soup was all consumed, Lin Shiheng seemed to be relieved to have completed some task, and placed the medicine bowl to one side. He clapped his hands, “I have to ask my Emperor Brother what kind of doctor was sent here.”